Bend (5 page)

“Ta da!” Josh bounced on his toes and waved at a garment lying on his bed. “And there’s shoes, too, right”—he bent and pulled a box from under his bed—“here!”

Eyeing both items with a tinge of trepidation, Annabelle approached the bed and began opening the garment bag. There was, she noted, quite a bit more bag than garment. She laughed as she saw what Josh had picked out for her then turned and hugged him, nearly toppling them both. It looked like Josh had the same plan she’d had—to get his best friend laid, and damned if she didn’t think they would both succeed.

BEND

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“You want her.” It wasn’t a question, Evan knew his lover well enough to pick up on the signs, and even if he hadn’t, he’d have to have been blind to miss them. Justin was flushed from the open collar of his shirt up to where the brim of his Stetson set on his brow.

His lips were darker, parted, his nostrils flaring slightly with each breath. His big body was tensed, the muscles coiled as if he were holding himself back from slamming Annabelle on the floor and burying his cock inside her. Fisted hands, erection straining in his jeans—yeah, Evan knew the signs, and since he felt the same way himself, he only smiled when Justin opened his mouth to deny it.

“She
is
an interesting mix,” Evan continued as he glanced at Josh’s bedroom door. “Face of an angel, mouth of a sailor—” an image of those full red lips flashed in his mind. “Well, language of a sailor, that mouth is definitely made for sin,” he corrected. “Temper that sparks and ignites in a snap, and that body…” Evan palmed his own aching dick as Justin grunted.

“Yeah, and she obviously thinks I’m the devil himself,” Justin pointed out. “That last look she gave me nearly singed my balls off, and not in the way I’d have liked.”

Evan snorted and plopped down on the ratty couch. “Well, you were eye fucking her, and she knows we’re a couple, what’d you expect? She probably thinks you’re a whore and I’m an idiot for putting up with it.”

Justin humphed and gingerly sat beside Evan. “You were drooling, too.”

Evan snickered and danced his fingers over Justin’s cock. “Well, yeah, but
I
didn’t get caught.”

“Oh fuck,” Justin groaned, his hand trapping Evan’s against his groin. “Stop or I’m gonna make a mess.” Actions contrary to words, he thrust into Evan’s hand. “Fuck—Ev—”

Justin’s lids dropped down and he hissed, the air whistling past his clenched teeth.

Evan cupped Justin’s length, rubbing the heel of his hand hard against it like he knew Justin needed him to. Justin shuddered and groaned, his big body clenching then going still as he struggled for control. Evan toyed with the idea of making his lover come; Justin in climax was a sight to behold. Evan had fallen in love with the man the first time he’d BEND

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watched him come, his thick cock shoved into Evan’s mouth, the tip buried in his throat.

Evan had been so entranced he’d nearly choked, forgetting to swallow the load of spunk.

Laughter—Josh’s and Annabelle’s—rang out from the bedroom. Evan’s skin heated with need at the sound of Annabelle’s infectious laugh even as a trill of fear wound into his spine. He found himself drawn back to Justin, unsurprised at the knowing look in the man’s eyes. Justin studied him closely. Evan tried to hide his fears but his lover knew him too well.

In the blink of an eye, Evan was embraced in Justin’s arms, his slighter body pulled up tight to the bigger man’s.

“We don’t have to, if you’re not ready yet,” Justin whispered the words against Evan’s skin, his moist breath warming Evan, chasing back memories that still made Evan’s heart ache.

“Josh would probably hate me anyway if…” But Evan knew Josh hated him anyway, Justin just didn’t seem to see it. While Evan really didn’t want there to be discord between the two brothers—more discord, that is—he hadn’t seen Justin ever react as strongly to a potential third as he had Annabelle. Then again, Evan hadn’t been so tempted before, either.

Yet he knew, despite his and Justin’s reactions to Annabelle, all he had to do was say ‘no’ and Justin would honour his decision.

The thing was, Evan wondered if Justin wouldn’t resent him for it eventually. They’d agreed from the beginning that, as much as they fit, they needed a woman to complete their relationship. It’d taken a while for them to figure out one-night stands weren’t fulfilling for either of them; they wanted someone permanent, someone who wanted more than just the thrill of fucking two guys at once. A surprising number of women had been open to trying it once, but mention a relationship, and most of them thought he and Justin were nuts.

As for Josh…Evan frowned. That was something Justin had to decide. Josh had been more than clear on his feelings about Evan—he didn’t matter. Period.

Justin smoothed his thumb over Evan’s brow, humming softly. “Josh didn’t have a problem with Amanda, until the end.”

Evan didn’t even ask how Justin had known what he was worrying about. The man just
did
. “Yeah, but Mindy wasn’t his BFF to begin with. He only tolerated her because of you.”

“And he hasn’t known Annabelle for all that long.” Justin shrugged, his breath hitching when Annabelle’s laughter rang out again. “Besides which, he told me people should love who they love and it wasn’t anyone else’s business how that went down. I think, if BEND

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Annabelle’s interested, or if we can get her interested, it should be her choice we are concerned with, not my brother’s. He’ll come around if she’s happy.”

“Huhn.” Evan wasn’t too sure about that. If nothing else, Josh would hate for Annabelle to be with him. Still, Justin obviously thought Annabelle was worth taking a risk on and Evan, even though he was terrified after Mindy,
was
extremely attracted to Annabelle. He looked into Justin’s eyes, seeing the love and acceptance that had never faltered in their years together, not even when they were both plunged into despair. He’d do anything for the man who looked at him like that, and when it was something Evan wanted as well…

Evan saw the subtle shift in Justin’s expression and knew his lover had read the answer in Evan’s eyes before Evan spoke. “I think, if we can convince Annabelle, she just might be the woman we’ve been looking for.” He only wished he wasn’t absolutely terrified by the truth of those words. Then Annabelle came out of Josh’s bedroom and Evan forgot his worries. He couldn’t think past the blood roaring in his ears, rushing to his dick as Annabelle turned her heated gaze on him.

“Holy shit.”

“Holy shit indeed,” Justin muttered.

Annabelle might have laughed at Josh’s declaration that Justin
and
Evan had both been

‘drooling like idiots’ over her, but she wasn’t laughing now. When Josh had warned her in his bedroom about his brother and Evan’s tastes, she’d been intrigued, but figured her friend had it wrong. She’d convinced herself she’d misunderstood the look Justin had given her before she’d been dragged off so Josh could play fairy godmother. After all, the fire in Justin’s eyes could very well have been nothing more than temper, and she hadn’t seen Evan’s expression. But Josh had, and Annabelle had found herself in the position of being warned about dangerous men and protecting her virtue. She’d laughed so hard she’d nearly peed.

Then she’d stepped out of Josh’s bedroom wearing what amounted to a scrap of hot pink material that barely covered up her fun bits and mile-high fuck-me shoes splashed with bits of sparkly silver. Her hair had been freed from its ‘prison’, as Josh referred to her French braid, and finger-combed until it gleamed like waves of pale moonlight down to the top of BEND

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her ass. Josh had bemoaned her makeup skills, then grabbed a bag from his dresser drawer.

Annabelle didn’t even want to know why he had a makeup bag. By the time he was done with her, she’d felt like a different woman, and that was fine, being feminine was okay at times—but it was especially okay when it left two gorgeous men gaping at her like they wanted to toss her down and eat her up.

Josh had snarled and pretty much dragged her from the apartment. Annabelle had only balked when he’d tried to get her to agree to take one vehicle. No way was she leaving her truck in this shithole of a neighbourhood.

Justin and Evan hadn’t been far behind them, and while Annabelle had waited in her truck, there’d been a conversation between Josh, Justin and Evan that had resulted in Josh shoving at Evan, Justin looming over Josh, and all three of the men stomping away in long, angry-looking strides.

Josh had still been vibrating with the force of his anger when Annabelle met up with him in the parking lot of the Xxchange. She’d tried to get him to tell her what was going on, but he’d only shaken his head and grabbed her wrist, leading her into the club. Once inside, he’d ordered a shot of tequila then hit the dance floor with the leather-clad stud who’d watched Josh from the moment they’d entered the Xxchange. Annabelle wasn’t sure leather-stud was the right type of guy for Joshie, but for now, he seemed to be unwinding on the dance floor with the guy, so she’d just keep an eye on him.

Movement from her left caught her attention. She looked over to find an attractive blond man leering at her. Too attractive to appeal to her, really, one of those flawlessly handsome men who could have been a model. Tall, nicely built, every strand of his highlighted blond hair in place and dark brows, and just perfect. Annabelle wanted to sling a few fresh cow patties at him.

“My name’s Stone,” the man said, offering his hand. “Would you like to dance?”

Annabelle gave Stone points for not tossing out some lame-ass pickup line, but as she shook his hand and introduced herself, she knew he wasn’t someone she wanted to spend much time with. It was on the tip of her tongue to politely-ish decline his offer when she noticed the two men entering the club. Annabelle felt a fierce flare of heat spear through her as she pushed up from her chair and hooked her arm through Stone’s.

BEND

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“Sure, love to,” Annabelle said as she looked up at him through her lashes. His answering smile showed off his perfect, even, brilliantly white teeth. Annabelle had to check her impulse to see if her reflection showed in his pearly whites.

Once they were pressed together on the dance floor, Annabelle discovered Stone was aptly named. His feet were certainly made of the stuff. She grimaced as he pulled her close and ground his dick against her belly. Her breasts were squished to the point they were nearly popping from the top of her dress. Annabelle grabbed Stone’s biceps and tried to push away but he only tightened his arms around her hips and shoulders as he trounced on her toes.

“Do you think you could spare a centimetre of space between us?” Annabelle rasped out snarkily. “I’d like to breathe.”

Stone’s smiled widened but he loosened his hold. “Sorry. You’re just so sexy, I want to feel you all over.” He thrust his hips, his hard length rubbing against her.

Annabelle slid her hand down between them and squeezed his dick lightly before pushing his hips back. “Stabbing at me with this thing isn’t going to get you what you want.

Have some manners.” She wanted to get laid…eventually, not right here on the damn dance floor. She sure didn’t want to be dry-humped by a guy she wasn’t even attracted to.

“Sorry,” Stone said with enough insincerity in his voice that Annabelle’s temper spiked.

“But when you’re wearing an outfit like that—”

Annabelle shoved his arms away and glared at Stone. “Oh for Christ’s sake, you’re a moron.” She turned away, prepared to make a truly self-righteous exit, and promptly slammed into a broad chest. The big hands that landed on her hips sent a wave of lust straight to her pussy. Another set of hands, smaller but no less strong in their grip, settled right above the first set. Heat spread over her back as a leanly muscled body pressed up against her.

Sandwiched between two hard, hot bodies—and there were certainly two hard cocks attached to those bodies, each one nearly singeing her skin through her dress—Annabelle looked up and grinned at Justin. The lust in his amber eyes echoed inside her, and reverberated through to Evan’s body behind her.

“Thought you boys would never get here,” Annabelle teased as her heart pounded in her chest. She was a little scared, but damned if she’d let them know. With one hand BEND

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clutching at Justin’s hip, and the other behind her on Evan’s, at least the two men couldn’t tell her fingers were trembling. She hoped.

“Wasn’t sure we were welcome,” Justin said, his voice low and rough. “Josh didn’t want us around you.”

Annabelle caught Josh’s eye and shook her head when he would have approached. “I’m not sure y’all are welcome,”
or that this is a good idea, but…
“And I think Josh still doesn’t want y’all around me, but that’s my decision.” She took a breath that threatened to stutter, then exhaled slowly as, careful of her wrist, she gingerly nudged at Evan to move around to her front. Once he did, Annabelle looked at the two men sombrely. They really were stunning, everything appealing to her, not the sheer perfection of Stone, but her idea of perfect masculine beauty. Annabelle nodded and took one of their hands in each of hers.

“All we’re doing is dancing,” she informed them. “If that isn’t okay with the pair of you, then y’all best leave. I promised Joshie I wouldn’t do anything without giving it some thought first.” Her body would hate her for it, but she’d given her word, and she wouldn’t break it just to scratch an itch.

Evan was the first to nod, then he glanced at Justin. “I’m good with dancing.” He smiled at the other man when Justin only grunted. “It’s not like either of us won’t get laid at the end of the night.”

Justin grinned finally and nodded as well. “True enough.
We
aren’t the ones who—”

“Will be getting in my panties,” Annabelle interrupted coolly. “I promised Joshie I’d think about it before I did anything with you two. I damn sure didn’t promise him that about anyone else in this club.” That knocked the smug look right off Justin’s face. Annabelle figured she should have felt bad, but found it hard to when the truth was, no one else in the club held the least bit of appeal for her. And she
had
promised Josh, which meant Justin and Evan had it right, and that pissed her off.