Page 41 of Judgment Day

“Grey,” she moaned.

The world stopped. I froze.

Lincoln pulled his face from between her thighs and fell back onto his haunches. “Tell me that was a mistake. Tell me you didn’t fucking say what I think you said.” There was a pain in his voice I couldn’t imagine ever feeling.

Lyric looked down at him, then slid off the desk, raking her fingers through his curly hair as she dropped to her knees in front of him. Her eyes met mine over his shoulder.

Lincoln spun around, jumping up the minute he saw me. “I swear to God, I’ll fucking kill you.”

Lyric grabbed his arm, pulling him back down to her level. “Linc, no.”

I had no words to soothe him or offer him solace. It wasn’t a mistake. I could’ve left when I saw them. But I didn’t. I stayed. I stayed because, yes, she was his, but part of her belonged to me, too. And I was jealous. Jealous that he got to taste her. Jealous that his mouth glistened with remnants of her. Jealous that she fucking kneeled for him right now.

I clenched my fists as I turned to leave without a word. Staying meant walking in there and touching her, licking her, fucking her, and that would have only made things worse.

Lyric’s gentle voice stopped me. “Grey, don’t go.”

I didn’t want to go. I wanted to finish what he started. I wanted to hear my name on her lips again. And again.

But this went beyond me, beyond her. There were three of us, tangled and twisted and confused, a chaotic storm that I wasn’t sure any of us had the strength to navigate right now.

TWENTY FOUR

“I have to,”Grey said, then disappeared down the hall.

Tears stung the back of my eyes. “Linc…”

“Tell me it was a mistake. Tell me you didn’t intentionally say his name with my mouth on your cunt.”

I was ripped open and raw. Words, feelings, excuses, all eluded me now, leaving me stranded—a wounded songbird with broken wings and no voice. Funny, since it was my voice that caused this.

“Lyric.” His hazel eyes scanned me, begging for an easy explanation.I wished I had one.“Tell me.”

“Linc—”

“Fuck.” He dug his fingers into his hair, then looked up at the ceiling, like there might be some answer there, some relief. “FUCK!”

“I don’t know what happened.” I crawled to him, on my knees, like a sinner seeking redemption. “Being here, back in this place, seeing him—”

He dropped his hands. “Seeing him what?”

I couldn’t answer. I didn’t know. It was hard to put into words for him something I didn’t fully understand myself.

“Seeing him what, Lyric? Makes you wet?” His words clenched my heart, turned it into a twisted knot of confusion and guilt. “Was it me you wanted just now or him?”

The answer sat heavily on my chest. My life had been divided into two parts: before the Brotherhood and after. Before the Brotherhood, there was only Linc. He was all I saw, all I felt, all I breathed. And then there was the after. Thenow. When, according to the world, Lyric no longer existed. When I was surrounded by brokenness every fucking day. When I saw what those men did to young girls and was reminded what they would have done tome. When the man I was supposed to fear saved me from that. When good people did bad things and men with black hearts became heroes.

Lincoln’s voice broke through my thoughts. “Answer me, goddammit.”

“Both,” I said, finally, emotions exploding violently from my chest. “I wanted you both.” The truth was bone-crushing. I felt it in my marrow, saw it in his eyes.

Linc shook his head. “You’re mine.” He reached forward and cupped my face in both of his hands. “Do you get that?” He leaned his forehead against mine. “You’re mine until the day we die, and after that, when we come back as—” His breath swept over my face when he blew out. He still smelled likeme. “Fuck… dolphins or some shit. You’re mine then, too.” He kissed my mouth, a soft, lingering of lips on lips, like he needed to make sure I wanted it, that I wantedhim. “You’re my fucking dolphin.”

I dug my fingers into his dark curls. “I’m your dolphin.”

He pulled away and met my eyes. “Do you love him?”

“No.” My answer was immediate. I couldn’t love Grey. You didn’t get to love two people with one heart.

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