Edwards, Willa - Midnight Mirage (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (12 page)

“I told you I’d get here just fine, Kris. There’s no reason to be worried.”

“Who’s Kris?” A rough, dark voice rumbled in her ear. Mallory turned, staring out the rolled-down window, making contact with Lincoln’s dark gaze. Even the cool January air keeping her awake through her trek couldn’t damper the missile of his gaze.

“I just got here. I’ll give you a call when I know what’s going on,” Mallory mumbled into the phone before slamming the lid shut. That wouldn’t be enough for Krista, not for long, especially if she’d heard Lincoln’s voice in the phone, but it would buy Mallory a little time.

Mallory opened the door and eased out of the car to the paved ground, never taking her eyes off Lincoln. She slammed the car door behind her, the entire vehicle shaking from the force.

Behind Lincoln the bus door opened, and Gabe stepped down the stairs. His guitar slung over his shoulder. His golden eyes, which had turned dull and stormy since she’d last seen him, glowed brighter as he looked over to her. A smile turned up the corners of his mouth. At least there was some hope.

“Who’s Kris?” Lincoln repeated. “Is he who you left us for?”

“
Krista
is my best friend. And I did go and have coffee with her, if that’s all right with you?” Mallory made no effort to disguise the bite in her words. Regardless of how vulnerable she felt, how painful it would be if they sent her away forever, never to feel the heat and comfort of two warm male bodies surrounding her again, she wouldn’t let them treat her like property. They didn’t own her. She could go anywhere and see anyone she wanted to.

“Calm down, Linc,” Gabe, the voice of reason, called from behind him. He advanced toward where Lincoln and Mallory stood on the concrete, staring each other down. For a moment the two men shared a terse stare, the tension emanating from their interaction and a newfound worry coiled in Mallory stomach. Had her leaving had some kind of effect on their relationship? Was she the new Yoko?

Gabe came to stand before her, placing himself an inch closer to her than Lincoln. “He gets like this when people run out on us without even a good-bye.”

Her shoulders slumped, guilt flooding her system as the two sets of eyes, one dark and challenging, one warm and sweet, stared her down.

Mallory opened her mouth, unsure what to say. She wanted to tell them the truth, to open her heart to them as Kris had suggested, but the words clumped into a hard ball in her throat.

“Can I come in?” She motioned toward the bus as their twin stares pinned her to the asphalt.

“Can she, Lincoln?” There was no mistaking the hostility in Gabe’s voice and Mallory stomach twisted tighter.

“Of course,” Lincoln responded, his words croaked, filled with strain.

Gabe marched the remaining foot between them, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and ushering her toward the scene of their life-changing night together.

Just like the last time she’d entered this bus, Lincoln trailed behind her, his sight a brand upon her body. As they approached the entrance, a warm hand trailed down her back, cupped her ass, and hoisted her into the bus on suddenly wobbly feet.

Her two men pounded up the stairs behind her. At least she hoped they’d be her men.

Her heart pounded, filling her ears with its irregular beat at the sensation of Lincoln and Gabe’s fingers on her body. Their slight caress was conquering, revived images of last night strong and hot in her mind.

Neither Lincoln nor Gabe had made any amorous suggestions, their voices filled with more anger and hurt than desire. But her body didn’t seem to understand the difference. Heat coiled her blood, wetness dripping between her legs.

Once inside the bus, the hand dropped from her body, the sudden lack of sensation chilling her. A shiver raced down her spine as she turned to them. Anger flamed in both their eyes, their jaws set. Her chest dropped, regardless of the lust this location and these men created within her. This wouldn’t be easy. There was too much pain between them. But that wouldn’t deter her. This time she wasn’t going anywhere until they asked her to.

“Why did you leave?” Gabe asked, jumping to the point before Lincoln had even made it all the way up the stairs behind them. He slid the guitar off his back, leaning it against the opposite wall as his gaze pinned her down.

Mallory’s stomach twisted as she looked up at the two sets of eyes staring her down, undressing her emotionally and physically.

“I…” She stammered. How was she supposed to tell them she’d wanted to stay but had been too scared to? That she’d feared they weren’t interested in any more of her than one night of scorching-hot sex?

Lincoln stepped forward until his body was almost pressed up against hers. He tilted his head and pushed close enough his nose brushed her hair, his breath a warm breeze on her ear that made her shudder. “We weren’t through with you yet.”

Mallory took a deep breath, her head swimming. She wanted to explain, but was unsure what to say. They hadn’t made any mention of wanting any more of her, anything beyond one night, but even in her mind, the notion hit a false note.

She hadn’t run because she thought they were through with her. She’d left because they weren’t. It had been a long time since she’d been with anyone who was interested in more than a night with her.

She tried to step away, but Lincoln’s hard body stopped her process, trapping her effectively beneath his iron gaze. Across the bus Gabe’s eyes met Lincoln’s, and he dipped his head slightly to the side, giving Lincoln some signal Mallory didn’t understand. He crossed his arms over his chest like a bouncer at a nightclub, blocking her path. Not allowing her entrance without the cover. The price of the truth was steep, but fair.

“New Year’s was over.” Mallory shook her head, her long ebony, emerald, and violet hair slapping against her. She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her dark jeans, looking down. “I thought we were, too.”

“Did we say anything to make you think that?” Concern filled Gabe’s words, the resigned withdrawal evaporating his expression.

“You didn’t say anything otherwise,” Mallory lashed out, feeling their concern cut too close.

Neither Lincoln nor Gabe said a word, instead sitting down on the lumpy charcoal bus couch before her, patiently waiting for her to continue. They were the picture of contradiction, one dark with piercing midnight eyes, one light and blond, one rough and dominant, one caring and funny, yet exactly what she needed. They were exactly what she’d always wanted. What she’d asked for on her dream list, without realizing she could ever receive her heart’s desire.

Yet unlike all the others, if she opened herself to these men and they left, the damage would be more severe, leaving an injury so deep it might never heal.

Mallory took a deep breath, forcing herself to a calm she didn’t really feel. She needed to know their intentions before she opened herself completely to them, before she gave them the power to wound her so deeply. “Even if you had asked me to stay, how long do you think we could continue this?”

Mallory sniffled, her throat suddenly clogging with emotion, fighting as best she could the futile battle against her oncoming tears. If this was what opening herself up to someone meant, she understood why she’d avoided it for so long. “This would have to end eventually. And then what? I’m sick of being left. I’m sick of people leaving.”

Mallory pushed the words out through her emotion-raw throat. The sentiment stabbed at her heart like a deep, penetrating wound to her very core. Yet she couldn’t hold back anymore. That was her real New Year’s resolution, and this year she was determined to complete it.

“We don’t want you to leave,” Lincoln’s whiskey voice whispered from the couch. Beside him Gabe nodded. “We don’t want to leave you, either.”

“I can’t choose.” With each new truth, the words flowed easier.

She couldn’t imagine which of these men to pick, which one she couldn’t live without, which one she could accept never to be so close to again. How could she give up Lincoln’s dominance or Gabe’s compassion? How could she go without Lincoln’s rough, pleasant touch or Gabe’s humor at the most inappropriate time? Which man would she see every day, talk to, joke with, and at the end of the day, let him go off to find other women?

“I won’t,” she declared, realizing the truth. She could never pick just one. She needed them both.

“We wouldn’t ask you to do that, love.” Gabe’s warm eyes looked up at her, understanding.

“What are you asking, then?” Mallory fisted her hands at her hips, curling her fingers around the edge of her pockets to keep from reaching for them. All she wanted was to pull her men off the couch and wrap her body around them. To feel their arms around her again, their lips kissing her, tongues licking her.

“We want to be with you. Both of us.”

Mallory tossed her hair out of her eyes, using the small movement to calm her rising heart rate, the hope brimming in her chest. They didn’t want to leave her. They wanted her. Both of them.

“We want you to stay with us. Indefinitely.” Lincoln’s words were firm and resolved.

“Whatever that involves,” Gabe reassured from his other side.

“You can’t possibly mean that? You can’t want to keep doing this?” Mallory’s eyes focused down to the floor, where they’d stripped her naked last night. Her body vibrated with memories of Lincoln bending her over and pounded into her from behind, of Gabe licking her to nirvana. Her mouth dried up as she remembered sucking them both last night until her checks ached, drinking down their cum, and demanding more.

She wanted to be with both of them. It was the reason she’d come back, but it was still hard for her to believe they could want her forever.

“Why not?” Lincoln stated matter-of-factly, as if there were happy, committed threesomes on every corner, and last night was an average Tuesday for most people.

“What if someone found out?” Mallory continued, jumping ahead of the personal arguments streaming through her head to the insurmountable obstacle. “What would your fans think…if they found out…about us?” She looked up at them, Lincoln’s eyes intense, his full lips parted on a deep breath.

“We’re rock stars,” Gabe’s honeyed tone answered, as if their profession answered everything, surprising her with the joy in his words. “People would be amazed if we weren’t indulging in some kind of unorthodox sex practices.”

“But this? Sharing a woman? I think they’d expect it the other way, but I don’t know if anyone can accept this.”

“We’re not embarrassed of what we feel,” Logan interjected, the rough rumble of his voice returning, the anger flashing in his midnight eyes.

Gabe turned to stare at Lincoln, sharing some communication through their gaze she didn’t understand, before returning to her. “But we understand if you are.” Gabe’s voice was sympathetic. “It may be understandable for us to have an unusual social life, but you’re a normal woman, with normal friends. We understand if you don’t want to risk all that for us.”

Mallory had spent a majority of her life kowtowing to convention, fighting it in words while every Monday morning she got up to do as others wanted. She’d buried all that with her mother a mournful November ago.

She needed to make sure she entered into this relationship for the right reasons. She wanted to be with Lincoln and Gabe. She cared about them, maybe even loved them, though it was too early for her to consider such an emotion. But she needed to treat them right, as she hadn’t been by any men in a very long time, except for them.

She had to ease her fears before she entered into this relationship. For them. She refused to be another person to leave.

“What am I supposed to do for a living? I can’t follow you around like a groupie. I need to do something with my time.”

Mallory’s blue-collar background had instilled in her a strong work ethic, the same drive that pushed her to take an interview on New Year’s Eve, when all she’d really wanted to do was stay home and celebrate the New Year with her friends.

But she couldn’t regret that now. How could she, with these two delicious men sitting before her, watching her with more interest than the entire world had on the clock last night.

“When we told your editor we wanted to do an interview with you for the February edition—”

“Wait, you told her what?”

Lincoln looked down at the floor sheepishly. It was the only time she’d seen him look apologetic or concerned. The control he usually so easily inhabited vanished.

“We didn’t want to spend the holiday without you. Even if you didn’t return our affection, we wanted be with you.”

Mallory’s heart glowed. They’d orchestrated the whole night to spend time with her. She should have been upset by how far they’d gone to bring her into their lives, into this complicated connection that made no sense to the outside world, to keep her from her friends and family.

Instead it just felt right. Like all they’d been through, all the time and distance, loneliness and self doubt, was how it was supposed to be to bring them together. It was a bizarre feeling to Mallory, who never believed in such sentimentality, but she decided, just the once, to give in to it. Maybe it was time to take a chance on something, just like Krista had told her.

“What did my editor say?”

Lincoln’s head picked up, his eyes brighter than she’d ever seen them before. Gabe stared at her with the same wonder, as if they’d both expected her to race out of the bus at that very moment.