Page 38 of Addicted to the Ruin

“I take it you slept well?” Aeron asks, raising a hand and pushing some hair from my forehead.

“This bed is the comfiest I’ve ever slept in, though that’s not hard given the beds I have spent most of my life in,” I answer, the room feeling like it darkens slightly as memories try to crowd to the surface. His hand moves from my face to find mine, tangling our fingers together.

“Tell me,” he commands gently, his voice lowered so as not to wake Jude and Tarl who lie on the other side of me. I'm not sure where Knox is, but he mentioned something about getting back into his workout routine last night so maybe he’s doing that. “Tell me one dark thing every day, and I won’t pressure you into seeing a shrink.”

My mouth goes dry at his words, and I raise a shaky hand to push more hair from my face as I stare into his beautiful eyes, full of the depths of the ocean. If anyone can be trusted with my secrets, it’s him.

“O–okay,” I answer, my stomach knotting as I think about what I’m going to say. “After Mom died, Rufus took me out of school, claiming that I didn’t need to learn that shit anyway. They mostly kept me in my room, and he allowed me access to the internet—well, he didn’t take my laptop away—so I used to take part in free online courses to try to keep up with my education. There was always the possibility that one of the inner circle would interrupt me, and you can imagine a bed that’s seen that much action and not changed in years gets a bit…scummy after a while.” His hand is tight on my own, the surrounding room almost fading, and I’m back in my tiny three-by-four room with Hello Kitty posters on the walls, the small single bed made with clean sheets, but no longer a place of comfort. “I could wash the sheets, they expected it of me to do the laundry, but after a while, I couldn’t bear to sleep in that bed, so I often slept on the floor. You saw the other bed that I had for Friday nights and the…ceremony.” My skin feels too tight, and I know by the way my chest rapidly rises and falls that I’m breathing too quickly.

“Breathe with me, Dove,” Aeron orders, placing my hand on his chest and taking deep, lung-filling inhales. I automatically follow him, the spots that had dotted my vision fading with each inhale. “Good girl.”

I feel Jude snuggle into my back, pulling me close, and his warmth serves to further calm me down.

“If I could raise the dead, Nightingale,” he murmurs in my ear, letting me know he was awake for longer than I realized. “I would bring Rufus back so that we could torture him in the worst ways, make him beg for a mercy that we wouldn’t give him for years.”

A small sob falls from my lips, and Aeron shuffles closer so that I’m sandwiched between the two brothers, their bodies protecting me from any harm that may try to come for me. But they can’t protect from the pain I’ve already experienced, and I think Aeron is right, I need to purge it somehow, otherwise, it’ll eat away at me from the inside.

“Another tomorrow?” I finally question, my voice muffled as I bury my face into Aeron’s bare chest.

“Yes, until they are all out of you, however long it takes, my love,” he whispers back, tipping my face up and kissing the tears on my cheeks that I hadn’t even realized had fallen.

“What’s the plan for today?” I ask after a few moments where we just drink each other in.

“Well,” Aeron pauses, pulling away slightly so that he can look at me without my neck straining upwards on the pillow. “A decision needs to be made about the old Soldiers HQ. Rook has decided that he wants a fresh start, and doesn’t want the old clubhouse.” My heart gives a painful thud at the mention of the place that holds such terrible memories for me.

“Okay…”

“And I thought that you should be the one to decide what happens with it,” he finishes, and my jaw goes slack at his suggestion.

“Me?”

“Yes,” he replies, tone firm, broking no arguments. “Although it was a place of horror for you, it’s also a big part of your history. You can burn it to the ground if you like. Or…” He looks at me with a glint in his eyes that I must admit piques my curiosity.

“Or what?” I ask, a little breathless, my eyebrow raising as I try to work out what he’s getting at. He gives my hand a squeeze, a small smile tugging up his lips.

“Or you can turn it into the most sought-after club in Whetstone, bring it back to its former glory,” he suggests, his smile widening as he takes in my face.

“Make it into a speakeasy, a roaring twenties theme…” I muse aloud, ideas for red velvet couches and beaded fringing already swirling around my head.

“Whatever you want, Nightingale,” Jude adds behind me, leaning closer. “It’ll be your club, the money it makes will also be yours.” My eyes go wide as my dreams of crimson velvet halt, and I look at Aeron.

“My club? My money?” I ask, the idea of having something of my own, something that I’m not reliant on anyone else for, making my stomach dip.

“Your club,” he answers, placing a kiss on my lips. “Your money.” Another kiss has me arching into him, our naked bodies pressed together. “All yours.”

A hand runs down my side, making my back arch and pressing me into Aeron more as Jude strokes my skin, his hand coming around the front of me. It dips lower, caressing over my stomach, and then pauses at my mound.

“Anything you want, Nightingale. We’ll make it happen exactly as you want, and it’ll be yours for life.” His words are a whispered caress against the shell of my ear, a moan leaving my lips when Aeron dips down and sucks a nipple into his mouth, letting go of my hand in order to fondle my other breast.

“But first,” Aeron purrs against my flesh, my hands going to his thick hair as Jude finally strokes over my clit, sending shock waves from my bundle of nerves to join those Aeron is sending from my nipple.

I grind against Jude’s touch, my mouth falling open as they work together to bring me to the brink and then shove me off into the abyss. I shudder and tremble with my orgasm, my fingers gripping Aeron’s hair in a tight fist as the pleasure rolls over and through me, coating me in the bliss of their touch.

As I come down, Jude places a small kiss on my shoulder, Aeron doing the same to my breast, and then they go to pull away. I grab hold of them, my fingers digging into their arms.

“I want you inside me,” I rasp, my cheeks heating even after everything we’ve done together. “Ineedyou inside me.”

They freeze, Aeron looking straight into my eyes. “Are you sure, Dove?”

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