Given (7 page)

He looked away from her and she saw something she couldn’t
name flicker across his face. For some completely irrational reason, the expression
crushed her feelings; this experience had caused her to be far more delicate
than she’d expected. His opinion, above them all, mattered. There was something
about the quiet man—he stirred up complicated emotions inside of her.

Mal had something on his flat stomach. Krista craned her
neck, frowning as she squinted to read red writing on his skin. Her head cocked
slightly to the side. “Enjoy here?” she uttered. She burst out laughing.
Hard.
Mal had written the words and drawn an arrow pointing
south. The others all turned to look at him, giving him varying looks of
amusement, annoyance, and anger.

“It’s edible!” he announced, far too proudly. Krista
couldn’t stop her bubble of chuckles from rising up and out. The massive
emotional pressure had been crying out for an outlet, and Malcolm’s prank was
delightfully ridiculous. She’d needed something other than cock and chest hair
to focus on to chase away her terror.

“For Christ’s sake, go wash that shit off,” Max growled at
the shorter man.

Mal shrugged and looked Krista in the eye, his expression
still filled with playfulness. “Do you want a taste first?
It’s
strawberry,” he said with a wink, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

She rolled her eyes, still chuckling. She pinched her lips
together, trying to keep a straight
face.
“I’ll take your word for it, but strawberry is my favorite.”

His expression softened toward her very subtly. “I know. I
heard you tell Steve.”

She couldn’t take the grin off her face. “
Mmm
, I appreciate your thoughtfulness, I think.”

This time it was
Mal’s
turn to
chuckle. “I’d better go wash this off before Max decides to take a bite.”

What happened next came so completely out-of-the-blue,
Krista scrambled back, almost falling off the back of the couch. Max swung,
hard and fast, hitting Mal in the face. Blood spurted from
Mal’s
nose and he held his face, rambling off a string of profanity so profound it
made Krista’s ears burn.

“Why did you do that? Jesus, it’s Mal, we know how his sense
of humor is, and frankly I’m surprised he didn’t do something even more
outrageous,”
DeAnthony
said. He looked as confused as
Krista felt. She feared Max’s volatile temper and didn’t relish the idea of
ever being alone with him. However, she knew it would be impossible to avoid
that happening at some point in her near future.

“I… Fuck!” Max grabbed his clothes and rushed out of the
room.

“I’ll talk to him,” Damon said, going after the angry man.

Krista jumped up and hurried to the bathroom, returning with
a cool, damp towel, which she handed to Malcolm.

“Thanks,” he said, and his voice sounded funny. Jared was
already looking at his face. She was worried that his nose was broken. She
should hate him, all of them, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel that way.

“It’s not broken,” Jared said, alleviating her fears. “It’ll
hurt like hell, and you’ll have a nice matching set of black eyes, but it’ll
heal before your next tour.”

“Damn, I could’ve made some great ‘you should see the other
guy’ jokes,” he teased, but held the towel to his face.

“Go put your head between your legs and keep pressure on it
to stop the bleeding,” Jared prescribed.

“Yes, doctor,” Mal teased, but he followed Jared’s orders.

DeAnthony’s
hand began rubbing her
back. “Don’t worry about this, Krista. Max has always been a hot head. Mal
should’ve known not to make a joke at his expense when he was already tense.
Come over to the bed and relax.” His voice was pitched in a way that told her
the fight hadn’t dampened his lust. He kept rubbing her back in slow sensual
circles, and she allowed him to gently lead her to the bed.

“Shouldn’t we go check on Max?” she asked nervously. Her
earlier sexual interest was gone.

“He’ll be fine. Let us make this up to you,” Jared quickly
spoke, there was a desperate quality to his words. Krista realized just how desperate
the men were for this and she forced herself to remain where she was. She tried
to stop her body from trembling. It was slight, but she felt embarrassed by her
weakness. She’d had years to prepare for tonight, but she didn’t feel ready.

Braxton came over and sat next to her on the bed. He took
her hand in his and she couldn’t stop her eyes from glancing at his erection,
only inches from her hand. “Are you sure you want all of us here tonight?”

“I don’t want anyone to hate me. I may have to live with you
for a long time. I’m afraid. I won’t lie.”

“We talked about this earlier. We think having all of us
inside of you might be too much for you, but there are things we can do to
alleviate your discomfort, and ours. Would you like me to tell you how I see
this working the best for everyone?”

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear the words spoken.
Doing it was one thing, but hearing it felt…strange. Curiosity won and she
nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

“There are more things that a man and a woman can do than
just the act of him—penetrating her. A woman can use her mouth to release a
man’s natural tension. She can also use her hand. I’d like you to lie back and
just allow us to touch you, explore you, and when you feel ready, you can let
us know what you need. Let us make tonight one that’ll show you just how good
it can be. Afterward, you can decide if you are willing to allow more than one
of us here, and we can make a rotation. I don’t want you to feel used, but
there’s only one of you and six of us. I wish we had the luxury of time, but we
don’t.”

She nodded. He was
right,
getting
her pregnant right away was the only way to ensure she remained with them. Even
Max’s anger didn’t make her want to leave these men. Realizing she wanted to
remain here, for now, was a shock. If she had to be
Given
,
she was glad it was to this group of men.

“Lay back and close your eyes,”
Brax
whispered.

She did as he’d asked. Then his hands were touching her
hair, shoulders, and face. She shivered, feeling as if this was a dream.
Thinking of it that way helped her to relax and gave her an analytical distance
from what was actually happening. Someone pulled her panties off her hips and
down her legs.

She knew which one of them was touching her, even if she
couldn’t see. She could smell Jared’s over-saturation of body spray to her
left; he was touching her hair and face tenderly.
DeAnthony
had the largest hands, and she sucked in a quick breath when he touched her
thighs. His touch was gentle, but the location was most uncomfortable. Malcolm
wasn’t touching her, and she knew he was sitting on the couch, bleeding in
agony. She wanted to say something to him, but she was afraid to move or open
her eyes. The experience was leaving her on the verge of panic, so she lay
still and just did her best to relax by taking deep, calming breaths.
Brax’s
fingers traced her collarbone, and then his
fingertips trailed over the curve of her shoulder. Slowly, she started to relax
under the soft caresses of the men.

“Damn, you’re beautiful, woman,”
DeAnthony
uttered. “I’d love for you to part those legs. I want to see you, Krista. All
of you.”

She was shaking, but decided to give him what he wanted.
That feeling from earlier, the one that promised she might actually like this,
returned. She knew she wasn’t beautiful, but a sweet lie was forgivable. She
opened her legs, just a little.

“Oh baby, give us a little more,”
DeAnthony
requested huskily.

Heat warmed her cheeks. She only opened her legs a little
wider. She doubted they could see much, but she was still nervous.

A gentle touch against her nipples made her hiss. She knew
two different men were touching her breasts. One was a little rougher than the
other was, but the sensation was wonderful and she parted her legs wider for
the men. The slow growing flame of want began to burn hotter and she unclenched
her fists. She hadn’t even realized she was doing it until she relaxed a
little.

She heard a moan and knew it was
DeAnthony
getting a good look between her legs. “I want to touch your pussy, Krista,”
DeAnthony
whispered.

She nodded, her eyes still closed. The first touch made her
jump. He ran his fingertip against the outside of her pussy, but then he
flicked the little nub that hid there and she bucked her hips.

“
Shh
, baby, you’ll like this,”
DeAnthony
promised. He began rubbing there and at first, it
was almost a violation, but then warmth began to fill her and arrows of
excitement struck her core. Her stomach muscles became taut and tight.
Brax
and Jared were rolling her nipples with more pressure,
and she realized she liked it, all of it.

Cautiously, she opened her eyes. Jared smiled down at her,
but
Brax
wore his typically serious, contemplative
expression. She smiled at both men.

DeAnthony
dipped his finger into
the slickness that was forming at her entrance and when he returned his fingers
to her clit, she cried out softly. “
Mmm
, you like
that, baby?”

“Y…yes, oh, yes,” she answered, finding her missing voice.
“I want…”

“What do you want,
Kristannie
?”
Brax
asked,
his focus so
completely on her that she had to swallow around the lump in her throat. His
eyes had the power to captivate her unlike anything she’d ever experienced. She
just needed him to keep looking at her like that to find the courage to voice
her pleasure.

“I want to learn…how to make you feel good, all of you.” She
never took her eyes from Braxton as she spoke.

“I don’t think you could do much to make us feel bad, baby,”
DeAnthony
answered.

“Jared’s dick is the smallest.”
Brax
paused to look at Jared. “Nothing personal, dude,” he said, and Jared just
shrugged in response. “We thought you could learn to take a man in your mouth
on him. Would you like to take Jared’s cock in your mouth?”
Brax
asked, and his voice had an instructional tone that made her feel strange. She
realized hearing him ask such a sexual question in such a casual tone, he might
as well be asking if she wanted the last cookie, but his question heightened
her building sexual curiosity.

“Yes,” she replied, and she bit her lip, afraid of making a
mistake.

Jared stopped playing with her nipple and knelt on the bed
beside her. She glanced at his erection. He wasn’t that much smaller than the
others were, but she thought she could do it. Rolling to her side, her lips
were just an inch or so away from him. Krista licked her lips. She leaned in
and took his cock gently into her mouth. He made a low sound and she gasped,
pulling away.

“Did that hurt?” she asked shyly.

“Hell no.
You’re doing fine,” he
replied gruffly.

She leaned forward again and took more of him in her mouth.

“Put your lips over your teeth, Krista. That’s it. Now slide
over him. Press the bottom of him with your tongue,”
Brax
instructed.

“Stop…ordering…her around. She’s doing just fine.
Ahhh
,” Jared ground out between his moans.

Krista gasped against his cock as a new sensation of warm
heat settled on her pussy. She pulled away from Jared to look down and
DeAnthony’s
dark head was between her pale thighs. The
sight was beautifully erotic and, for a moment, she watched him as he licked
her. She turned and took Jared into her mouth again. She’d never have imagined
it, but she didn’t want to stop. A peculiar power surged through her. What
should have been degrading was instead uplifting. The realization struck her
sharply as she glanced up at Jared’s face. She had the power to give or
withhold pleasure from this man. He was lucky—she was in a giving mood.

Feeling the position of her newfound knowledge, she
quickened her pace, all the while enjoying the growing sensitivity in her pussy
as her clit swelled from all the attention
DeAnthony
lavished on it. When Jared cried out loudly,
DeAnthony
stopped licking her and the bed dipped where he was lifting himself up to get a
better look at what she was doing.

“Oh God, I…I’m going to come, Krista.
I…
Ahhh
!”

Something hot filled her mouth. She forced herself to
swallow, not sure what else to do with the strange, sour flavor. She pulled
away.

“Go get her some water, now,” Braxton ordered Jared, who
stumbled away toward the bathroom. She heard the soft hiss of the sink and then
Jared rushed back with a paper cup.

“Sorry. I should’ve pulled away.” He looked flushed, and she
wasn’t sure if he was embarrassed or if it was from his gratification.

“Shouldn’t I have swallowed that?” She glanced at Braxton,
since he seemed to be the conductor of this orgiastic symphony.

“You did great. It’s your choice if you swallow, but Jared
should’ve shown a little more restraint and given you warning enough to be able
to make a choice.”

She took a drink of the water, not sure what to say or do.

“Her mouth felt so damn good. I’d like to see you try not to
come if she was sucking your cock.”

“I’d love for her to suck my cock,” Mal said, and his voice
still sounded funny as he held the once white, and now red, towel to his face.

Krista felt uncomfortable, used. She wanted them to like
her, to keep her, but this was a bit like she was trading herself for security
and peace.