Crux Untamed (Hades Hangmen 6)

Sia punched my arm. I threw her a wink.

An engine roared in the background. We looked over to see Hush slowly tracing the perimeter of the far field. In a second my damn mood switched from happy to frustrated.

“Did I do something to offend him?” Sia’s question pulled my attention from my best friend to her still-flushed face. “At Styx’s and Ky’s weddings he seemed so good with me.” She sighed. “I know you and I did most of the talking, but he chatted some too. Now . . . nothing. Nothing but anger and cold stares.” She glanced over at my brother fading away into the distance. “I thought he liked me.”

“He does.” A few moments of quiet went by before I explained, “Look, cher, he’s a quiet guy. Always has been. But . . .” I closed my eyes and tipped my head back. “I ain’t gonna go into all the reasons, because I wouldn’t disrespect Hush like that.” I could feel her watching me. “He’s shutting you out.”

Sia’s brow was wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“If he shuts you out, it’s because he likes you. He’s shutting you out because it’s how he protects himself.”

“From what?” she whispered.

“Getting hurt again.”

“Again?”

Leaning over to where she rode beside me, I said, “You ain’t the only one who’s had trouble in their past, cher. I don’t know fully what happened with you and this Garcia dick, but I get it was bad and you wanna move on from it.”

“Hush is the same,” she replied knowingly.

“He’s got his own past too. He’s shutting you out because he knows you could make him want you.” I shook my head. “No. The stubborn asshole already does. Therefore, he’s ignoring you. It’s his failsafe.” I sighed. “Brother has more layers than a damn onion.”

Sia seemed to stop breathing. I looked into her shocked eyes. She licked along her lips, and asked, “He wants me?”

“Have you seen you?”

That made her smile. Before the smile dropped and she said, “And . . . you?”

A slow grin spread on my lips. “Me what?”

She narrowed her eyes at me, knowing exactly what I was doing. “You want me,” she said, as ballsy as I loved her for being.

“Fuck yeah,” I confirmed and watched her blush.

Sia stared in the direction of where Hush had just been. “And it doesn’t cause issues between you? That you might both like the same woman?”

My dick started to harden as that question passed her lips. Because the fucking image it painted in my head, I wanted to come real fucking true. “We don’t work like that, cher.” I saw the confusion on her face. So I explained, “The jealousy thing? Doesn’t really happen between me and Hush.” I let her sit with that awhile.

After about ten minutes of silence, Sia leaned forward and kissed the neck of her mare. Noticing me watching, she said, “They’re my emotional therapy.” She barely met my eyes before looking away and patting her mare’s neck. “My horses. I’ve always loved them. I’ve always been into barrel racing. But after . . . when I came back . . .” She took a deep breath. “They became my emotional crutch. They held me up when I thought I might crumble.” Her eyes drifted off to stare blankly at the trees to our left. “It’s why I couldn’t stay at the club. Every day got worse for me without them . . . I . . .”

I reached over and took her hand. It was shaking. Anger that I wasn’t used to feeling built in me at how fucking scared she was. And when I held her hand, she didn’t push me away; the bitch gripped on tight.

Sia didn’t move her hand from mine as we traveled over two other fields. When we started heading back, she said, “Cowboy?”

“Mmm?”

“You and Hush . . .” I couldn’t help but smile when she dropped her head and her cheeks beamed bright red. I stayed quiet, letting her ask what she wanted to ask. When she glanced up and saw my smirk, she manned the fuck up and said, “I’ve heard rumors . . .”

“What rumors?”

She blew out an exasperated breath. “You’re gonna make me ask, aren’t you?”

I sat back in my saddle, getting real fucking comfortable. “Yeah, darlin’. I think I fucking am.”

“Are you gay?” she blurted, then blinked like she couldn’t believe she asked it. “I mean . . . but you said you liked me . . . so, bisexual, maybe?”

I fucking hated labels. Always had. Never labeled myself as shit. I didn’t roll like that, but, “We’re close,” I said and shrugged. “People can think what they want. We just do everything together. I don’t care what people want to call it.”

“Everything?”

Now that got her fucking attention. “Well, Hush don’t ride horses, so not quite everything.”

“Cowboy!” Sia exclaimed, clearly sick of my dancing in circles.

I smirked. “But he’s there, with me, when we fuck sluts, so I’d say we’re pretty damn close.”

Sia’s mouth dropped open and her chest heaved. “You fuck women together? You . . . you have threesomes?”

“Yeah.” I studied her face closely. I wanted to know what the bitch thought of that bit of information.

“You never fuck women on your own?”

“Nope.”

“Ever?”

I shook my head.

“Only with Hush there as well?”

I

nodded. Then smiled. Leaning closer, I asked, “What do you think of that, cher?” Her nipples hardening under her shirt showed me exactly what she thought of that.

“You don’t touch each other while doing it?”

“Ahh . . . the million-dollar question.” I made her wait, one, two, three seconds, before, “I mean, sure we touch . . .” Her eyes widened. “But we don’t sink the swords in each other, if that’s what you’re getting at.” I held up my hands. “Strictly into sinking the bitch’s pink.”

Her lip twitched, and she shook her head at my response. “Well . . . y’all are just regular spit-roasting Prince Charmings, huh?”

I choked on a laugh, but I leaned over to where she sat and looked her dead in the eyes. “Not just spit-roasting, cher.” Her breath hitched. “Double penetration is the position of choice.”

Sia’s cheeks beamed red. But, owning that shit, she whispered, “Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.”

I grinned and straightened. “Too true, cher.” I shrugged. “Way I see it, life is too fucking short. Live how you wanna live, have to live, and fuck everyone else.”

“I can’t imagine Hush doing that with anybody,” she said. “You, however, after this chat, I have no fucking doubt.”

I laughed, then taking her hand in mine again, said, “Don’t worry, cher, we’ll wear Hush down together. Get him seeing things our way. His walls are high, but I reckon we can smash through them if we try hard enough.”

“I . . . Cowboy . . . I don’t—” she tried to argue, but I dropped her hand and kicked Triumph off into a gallop. I let the bitch sit with that image awhile. Of having both of us. Her, crushed against our chests. Both our mouths on her neck.

After a few stalled seconds, Sia came sprinting after me. I glanced back and tapped my Stetson at her. Her face was determined as she tried to catch me. I’d give the bitch her dues. She could fucking ride.

She didn’t catch me as I entered the yard. Face flushed and out of breath, she dismounted and walked past me, muttering, “If that was a fair race I’d have spanked your Cajun ass. Next time, I’ll show you what Sandy here can really do.”