Unfortunately, we would have to finish this conversation later. I met Roark’s eyes over Jesse’s shoulder. “Where’s Michio?”
“He headed to the surface to find Link. He doesn’t trust the crazy wanker like we do, so he’s double-checking the security.” Roark crossed the room in long strides, angling toward the side of the bed, where his bottle of whiskey waited. “He’s nursing a dose of tender wounds, love.”
His brogue resonated off the cement walls and echoed painfully inside my ribcage.
Jesse slid off me and shifted us to sit against a pile of pillows at the head of the bed, bracketing my hips with his thighs. He tapped the screen on the phone, muting the music, and pulled a blanket over us to chase away the chill.
I reclined against his chest and searched Roark’s face. “Did Michio confide in you? Did he talk about Elaine?”
After a long pull on the whiskey, Roark lowered to the bed beside us. With one foot on the floor, he bent his other leg on the mattress and leaned on his knee, balancing the bottle on the bedding.
“He told me everything.” His voice was as hard as his eyes. “Elaine is a dickhead. A dirty, lousy-dick-sucking dickhead.”
My brain latched onto dick sucking. Anger ignited the air in my lungs, burning through my voice. “What did she do to him?”
“She molested him for two weeks. Never succeeded in getting him fully hard, but it didn’t stop the manky cocktrough from riding him, creaming all over him, and fucking with his head.”
My quickening breaths wavered the air, my hands tightening into fists.
Jesse hooked his arms around me and uncurled my fingers, twining our hands together in my lap. “Did you help him? Counsel him?”
Roark lowered his head, his eyes peering up to level on Jesse. “I told him the same things I told ye after the Lakota died.”
Jesse nodded, the movement rocking his chest against my back. “Okay.”
“Okay what?” I angled my neck to see Jesse’s eyes. “What did he tell you and Michio?”
“That you are the cure.” His thumb stroked over my fingers. “Not just for the nymphs, but for the deepest, hardest-to-reach aches. That your love has the power to soothe a tormented mind and mend a broken heart. He told me I only needed to let you in.” He dropped his head back against the wall. “Of course, it wasn’t until you knocked me on my ass in a river that I heeded his advice.”
My chest hitched, and I lowered my gaze to the blanket, overcome by Roark’s impression of me and the reverent tone in Jesse’s voice. I wasn’t as strong as they thought. Not nearly as selfless in my purpose. Not like Shea, who would devote her life to helping strangers. This brutal world had corroded any benevolence I might’ve had once, and now, I could count on one hand the number of people I’d allowed in my heart.
I lifted my eyes and found Roark watching me. “It goes both ways, you know. I wouldn’t be whole without the three of you.”
“We know that, love.”
“How did you leave things with Michio? He’ll return to our room after he checks on the security, right?” I would go to him and drag him back if I needed to.
“His mind is all twisted up, but he’s working through it.” Roark’s eyes softened. “He’ll come to ye when he’s ready.”
“That’ll be tonight though, right?”
My heartbeat was slow and heavy as Roark swigged the whiskey and swirled the bottle, watching the amber liquor slosh against the sides.
“He won’t spend another night away from you,” Jesse murmured at my ear.
Roark capped the bottle and set it on the floor. “I prayed for him on the walk back to the room.”
“Uh huh.” I rested my head on Jesse’s shoulder. “You prayed for me, too, and look what that got you.”
Roark grabbed the bedding near my feet and yanked, stripping the covers from my body as his eyes feasted on the apex of my thighs.
“Yeah,” he said, gruffly. “Look wha’ it got me.”
My breathing sped up, and my pussy clenched beneath his gaze, soaking with arousal. Holy fuck, his expression was mesmerizing. The cleft of his whiskered chin, the way his lips separated and his eyes smoldered. I ached for him to put his mouth on me, to taste Jesse’s essence coating my swollen flesh.
Shifting on the bed, Roark crawled toward me, the mattress sloping beneath his weight. He shoved his knees between my legs and put his face in mine.
Emerald glints of light and desire ringed his irises, his breaths rushing past his lips, as if he'd just run miles to reach me. “I love the way ye look at me, those gorgeous eyes begging me to give it to ye, balls and all.”
I angled toward him, seeking the feel of his lips on mine. He swooped down, ducking past my mouth, and clamped his teeth around my nipple, jolting a sting of pleasure through my chest.