Page 22 of Room Ten: Praise Times Three

7

SOREN

Jealousy pumps through my veins—its tangy bitterness bubbling up and touching the back of my tongue, leaving a rancid taste in my mouth. When Leti slid her toes underneath my thigh in the car, I froze—positive I should not call attention to the intimate, if also innocuous, touch. But when she started crying, I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out and rubbing her exposed calf. Considering she calmed down instantly, I’m confident it was the right move.

But watching my partners surround her in a Leti sandwich fills me with a sense of possessiveness I’ve yet experienced when the three of us have bedded a woman. There’s something about our brains that makes taking a woman together feel natural. From the first time it happened, we just knew this is the way it will always be for us. At first it was fun, especially for me, who is by far the least experienced of the three of us. I was a virgin when I entered the military and only lost it on a drunken night during our first break from training. But after we got out of the military and settled in Chicago, we talked about wanting more.

We talked about finding the one who would complete our family.

Obviously, finding a woman who would take on a relationship with three men isn’t easy. Finding a woman all three of us are attracted to? Just as hard. But Caiden summed up all of our feelings in three simple words:We’re in trouble.

She’s the one. No doubt in my mind. In Caiden’s mind. Or Reese’s.

But he’s right. Now is not the time. We are on a mission. She was brutalized, if not physically, definitely mentally. And while she seems perfectly attuned to our style of soft dominance, the question we have to ask and answer is when?

The door to the back bedroom cracks open, and Leti comes down the hallway with a throw blanket and pillow. She presses her lips together, her eyes bouncing from Caiden in the kitchen, to Reese on the couch, and then to me. “I’m sorry about that.”

Reese shakes his head and takes the phone she offers. “It’s fine. Did you want to talk to your father?”

“Do you think we can put that off until tomorrow?” She tries for a smile, but it doesn’t quite land.

“I’ll text Victor and let him know you went to sleep.”

“You should try to get some sleep, Leti,” Caiden says from the kitchen.

“Do you think we could watch a movie or something?” She twirls her finger over her head. “I need a distraction to quiet my mind, and I don’t have any of my usual tools.”

I stand up and set my laptop down on the coffee table. “What would you like to watch?”

“Whatever you want to watch will be fine.” Leti sits in the middle of the couch, placing the pillow and blanket on her lap.

“No, Leti. You tell me what you want, and I’ll make it happen.”

She bites her lip, bringing her jade green eyes up to meet mine. “I’d really like to watch one of the Scooby-Doo movies.”

I chuckle. “Really?”

She smiles and nods, a light blush hitting her cheeks. “They’re my favorite. I always watch them when I’m sad or sick.”

Damn, her smile could light up a room. It definitely does something funny to my insides. Now it’s my mission to make her smile as often as possible. “Get comfortable, and I’ll have it on in a few minutes.”

Reese motions to me and then turns to Leti as she scoots closer to him. “There’s one thing we need to do before we watch a movie.”

“Okay. What?” She curls her legs up underneath her, her knee resting on his thigh.

He looks down and then back up at her, letting out a slow breath. “We need you to look at a few pictures and let us know if you recognize any of the people.”

She stiffens, her gaze bouncing between us, her voice utterly defeated. “Okay.”

I open the lid to my computer and swing it around to face her. The first picture that comes to life is of Claudine Humphreys.

She sucks in her breath. “Who is she?”

“Your sister’s ex-IT manager. I guess she came to Epiphany with a business proposal that your sister passed on, and now Claudine has a grudge she thinks is worth nearly two hundred million dollars.”

“Two hundred?” Leti’s eyes pop wide. “Wow.”

“Are you giving us a positive ID?”

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