Page 12 of Bailey

“Careful, bro,” he warned Boone, “she looks like she’s scheming.”

“I’d expect nothing less,” Boone said with a laugh. He bent over and set me down. As soon as my feet hit the floor, I would introduce him to my knee, but he didn’t give me the opportunity. Instead, he kept me crowded close to him as he ran his hands down my arms. Too late, I realized it wasn’t just a comforting gesture, and he gripped my wrists behind my back in one of his hands.

“Are you going to behave, or am I going to have to tie you down?” he asked.

I glared up at Boone. Being pressed up against him was wreaking havoc on my emotions. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Believe me, Honey Bee, if it meant keeping you safe, I absolutely would,” Boone replied.

We stared at each other in a battle of wills, neither willing to back down. Finally, I conceded with a compromise. “You have one hour,” I said to him, proud of my voice's strength. “If Caleb and Ethan aren’t back in an hour, I’m going after them, even if I have to hurt you.”

I tugged at my wrists as he returned my stare. When he released them, I stomped over to my crossbow and slung it and the quiver over my shoulder. I stomped down to my room, grabbed a machete and a couple of other knives, returned to the kitchen, slammed myself into a kitchen chair, and put my feet on the table to wait. I crossed my arms and ankles while looking pointedly at the time on the stove before glaring at Pike and Boone.

Pike stood there smiling, always finding humor in whatever was happening. Boone glared back at me, then walked away, muttering about how much of a brat I was and how he should put me over his knee and spank it out of me. I pretended I didn’t hear him as I glared at Pike.

“You know Bailey, we’re just trying to look out for you. I know you’re used to being the one who takes care of everyone, so I know this is going to be an adjustment for you." He walked casually around the table until he reached me. He leaned over me, bracing his arms on the armrests of my chair. “But make no mistake, Sweetling, as long as we’re here, we will make sure we take care of you right back. Sometimes, that will mean letting us run into danger and do the heavy lifting instead of doing it yourself. That doesn’t mean we think you’re any less capable than us. It just means that you are far too important to us to risk any harm coming to you. The sooner you deal with that, the easier this will be for everyone.”

I turned my head to the side so I didn’t have to look at him. His chuckle turned to a growl as he leaned in closer. “But by all means, keep fighting us. It gets the blood pumping and gives me ideas on what to do with you,” he said in my ear. I yelped as he quickly bit, then released my shoulder as he walked away. Fucking hell, they were going to be the death of me. Maybe they should be protecting me from themselves.

The minutes ticked by as I sat in the kitchen and listened to the murmuring voices of the guys as they sat in Gray's room talking. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but one of them would laugh occasionally. I peeked down the hall as I quietly moved my feet off the table. I knew I could make it to the door without making a sound. The challenge was the screen door. But I’m fast. I’m sure I can make it over the gate before they catch me.

I did say I’d wait an hour, but there were twenty minutes left, and twenty minutes didn’t mean shit to us safely in the house. But for Ethan and Caleb, twenty minutes could mean the difference between life and death. Silently, I crept to the door, listening closely to the sound of their voices for any sign that they knew what I was up to. I placed my hand on the screen door, ready to shove it open and make a run for it when it swung open. I started to shriek, then slapped a hand over my mouth as Caleb and Ethan crowded inside the door.

“Bailey, where the hell were you going?” Ethan asked. He and Caleb were soaking wet and dripping on the floor, but they were here and safe. I backed up to give them more room and bumped into a hard chest. I hadn’t even heard him come into the kitchen.

“If she’s smart, her answer will be nowhere for at least twenty more minutes,” Boone said darkly. Ethan raised an eyebrow as he looked between us.

I moved around Boone with a smile. “I guess we’ll never know since it doesn’t matter now that they’re home,” I said. I hung up all my weapons and put water on to boil to make tea. Pike came in with towels, which Ethan and Caleb took graciously.

“What did we miss?” Ethan asked.

“Oh, you know, Bailey was going to look for you because you didn’t return before the storm started. Boone threatened to tie her up if she tried. They compromised with Bailey agreeing to give you an hour to return,” Pike answered.

“Has it been an hour since the storm started?” Caleb asked.

“No,” Boone growled, glaring at me across the kitchen.

Caleb looked at me and grinned. “You bad girl, trying to sneak out. It’s a good thing we came home when we did.”

I rolled my eyes and decided it was time to regain control of the room. “Where the hell were you?” I demanded. “When it’s going to storm, you come home immediately. Nothing out there is more important than getting back home safely. You don’t know these woods. You don’t know that if you travel too far in that direction,” I said, pointing, “you run into ravines that pop up out of nowhere. Or that if you go too far in the other direction, there is a creek that quickly overflows with fast rushing water during a storm, and if you aren’t careful, you can easily get swept away in it.” I walked forward until I was standing in the middle of them. I faced Pike and poked him in the center of his chest. “So, if you don’t want me running off into the woods to find your asses, I highly suggest you get home before the storm starts. The sooner you do as I say, the easier it will be for everyone,” I said, throwing his earlier words back in his face.

“I’m really sorry for worrying you, baby,” Caleb said, grabbing my hand to get my attention. “Maybe Boone and Pike should have told you about a rule between us. If anyone gets lost, we don’t go looking for them. We stay at the agreed-upon meeting place so nobody else gets lost, but I don’t care about all of that right now,” he said as he pulled me closer. “I really need you to say we have to come home before the storm starts.”

I was confused but did as he asked. “Make sure you come home before the storm starts.” He let out a groan as his lips crashed down onto mine. I made a startled sound, leaving my mouth open just enough for him to dip his tongue in. My knees started giving out when a hard body pressed against me from behind, sandwiching me between them. I didn’t even know who it was, and I didn’t know that I cared.

Whoever it was began to kiss my neck as Caleb devoured me with his mouth. Lust clouded my brain as my touch-starved body responded to their mouths. I moaned as my hands fisted into the ends of Caleb’s hair, and his hands ran down my body to grab my ass and lift me. My legs wrapped around his waist, and I became aware of two very hard dicks pressed against me. I rubbed myself against Caleb’s dick as I deepened the kiss, losing myself to lust.

I felt us moving backward and became aware that my back was wet, which told me the person behind me must be Ethan. There was a slight scraping sound of wood on wood as Ethan was backed into the table. I sat on Ethan’s lap as Caleb pressed closer between my legs. Their cocks pressed against my pussy, and my hips moved on their own accord in response. Ethan ran his hands under my shirt to cup my breasts, and I moaned into Caleb’s mouth when he lightly plucked my nipples between his fingers and thumbs.

“Fucking hell, that’s hot,” I heard Pike say. That was all it took to break the spell the two men had cast upon me.

“Wait,” I panted, pulling my mouth from Caleb’s. They both froze in place as I tried to sort through my thoughts. Did I want to stop? Was I ready for something like this? As much as my body was screaming for me to keep going, in my head, I knew I wasn’t. I knew as soon as this moved past a simple but undeniably hot make-out session that I would have a panic attack like last night. It was beginning to become frustrating as hell.

“What do you want, Bails?” Ethan whispered behind me. “You call the shots,” he reminded me.

“I… I don’t know,” I stuttered. “I want this. My body wants this, wants you. All of you. But my head… my head won’t let it move past this. It won’t… I can’t… Let me go,” I said slightly louder as everything began to close around me.

The words weren’t out of my mouth for more than a few seconds when Caleb had taken several steps back, and Ethan had carefully extracted himself from beneath me and moved several steps away. Boone and Pike were also a careful distance away, giving me a wide berth. Tears sprung into my eyes at their kindness and understanding. I wasn’t sure I deserved it. “I’m so sorry,” I croaked as I ran for the sanctuary of my bedroom.

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