Breathless (The Game 3)

Holy fuck. That was… Goddammit. I scrubbed a hand over my mouth and exchanged a glance with River.

Shay panted wildly and gulped tearfully, clutching at River.

“I’ve got you, pup.” River hugged the boy to him and stroked his fingers down Shay’s back. “Let it all out. You did good.”

Now to make Shay come back for more and more.SixShay Acton“So, Reese is a morning person.” I squinted sleepily and took a sip of my coffee.

Rain was pouring down. I knew this because Reese had yelled at us from the kitchen to wake up and drag our asses outside for breakfast at the ungodly hour of nine AM. He’d set up an impressive spread of fruit, crispy bacon, eggs, and coffee at the pool outside the main house. Or rather, on a side table next to a large sunbed that thankfully had its umbrella up.

It was admittedly cozy to sit under here and listen to the rain patter down on the umbrella above us, and Reese made coffee and bacon to perfection. I bit into a piece and glanced out over the pool where he was swimming laps.

River was next to me and hadn’t woken up enough to speak yet. Or eat, for that matter. He settled for sipping his coffee and having a smoke.

“Can I have one, please?” I asked. I’d finished my pack last night.

River didn’t respond verbally. He took a cigarette from the pack, lit it up for me, and handed it over.

“Thanks.”

He sighed contentedly and lifted the blanket that’d pooled around my middle, and he brushed a hand over my thigh. He couldn’t possibly be as pleased about the red marks as I was. I counted about six vivid welts on each thigh, then a bunch of mostly faded stripes from his belt. I couldn’t stop running my fingers over them to feel the soft swollenness of the flesh.

River dipped down and kissed one of the marks before he returned to his coffee and morning cigarette.

I liked River so much. I liked Reese too, but he communicated like a regular person and had quickly become an addiction in a more self-explanatory way. With his brother, I needed another language. Another set of eyes. But I was getting there. I was getting better at reading him, at understanding his way of expressing himself.

After last night, I wasn’t sure if I could put up a fight with them. Even physically—the fight I was supposed to have against Reese…? I didn’t know if I could. I had no anger or resentment in my body. I had the opposite. Well…not literally. I couldn’t claim I was aflutter with joy or anything, but there was a sense of tranquility I hadn’t felt in years. A steady heartbeat, an absolute calm, and marks on my skin. The dream of a masochist.

I scooted forward and planted my feet on the ground, then rested my head on River’s shoulder and took a drag from my smoke.

“I don’t think you and Reese are so scary.” I sipped my coffee, gaze fixed on Reese in the water. He swam fast, and he swam naked. Slicing through the water with practiced ease and skill.

River chuckled under his breath and kissed the top of my head.

“I mean it,” I said. “You have this reputation. Subs are intimidated by you. There’s a freaking group dedicated to you in the online community. But they don’t know shit.”

He hummed, and as soon as the sound reached my ears, I knew I had to go further.

“I know. I don’t know shit either.” Because I didn’t. I’d underestimated the Tenley twins from the start, and I’d understood since then—particularly after last night—that they had another agenda with me. “You’re not scary, though.” I lifted my head again and inhaled from the smoke. “You’re sweet.”

River narrowed his eyes playfully and leaned in halfway.

I grinned and smacked a kiss to his lips.

There was something fundamentally wrong with me. For two years, I’d managed to remain cold and distant, allowing only my brothers to see a bit more of me. I was protective of them and worked hard to be able to give them what our parents had given me. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for them. And to the outside world, I’d successfully created the image of being fairly social, moderately carefree, and somewhat aloof. Then one single weekend with these two motherfuckers…

They wanted me to stay.

They wanted to dig into my mind.

Resisting that would be a fight much more difficult than facing Reese in a cage, because I had to admit to myself there was a part of me that was desperate to let go of everything. Just…take it all from me, have at it, go nuts, let’s see what’s left of me when I’m naked in every sense of the word. I took a deep breath, feeling the nerves settle in my stomach. I wasn’t sure I could take that leap.