“In other words, two wrongs make a right.”
“Two wrongs make it easier to forgive each other,” I corrected. “Intentions matter, River. I can be irritated about him going around lying to Sadists, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand him. He’s lost, angry, confused, and hurting.”
He nodded slowly, then pressed a brief kiss to my shoulder.
I leaned back in my seat and scrubbed my hands over my face. Having always enjoyed a good puzzle, it wasn’t a big surprise to me that I felt so invested. But my reactions to him today did surprise me. He’d been amazing all day. Cuddly, sweet, funny, and carefree. Hesitant too. Like an abused animal that’d just arrived with new owners who meant no harm. Skittish and careful, yet hopeful and sufficiently starved for affection that he didn’t need much coaxing to take a leap of faith.
I suspected River had drawn similar conclusions, hence nicknaming Shay pup.
“All right, so the fight tomorrow.” He stubbed out his smoke. “You’ll strike some deal, yeah?”
“Yes.” One way or another, I’d make the boy stay the week. “Depending on how hard he crashes, I might give him a release at the house.” A solid pain session would drain him of tensions and allow him to cry shit out. “Our plan with Macklin and the others is for Wednesday, right?”
He nodded.
Right. “So, we’ll want Shay in higher spirits by then.”
“He’ll need a break,” River agreed. “I know where you’re going, and I think we should wait till the week after before I get involved.”
He had a point. We’d stick to physical pain this week. Then when he came back after next Friday, and he fucking would, we’d dig deeper.
“It’s a plan.”
He snorted softly. “Can’t wait to see it fall apart.”
I grinned and leaned in to kiss his jaw. “Come on. Grab a shower while I tidy up.”
He smirked wryly and lifted a brow. “You want me to heat up the water before it’s your turn, you mean.”
I chuckled as I stood up. “Whatever. I want us to smell nice when we fuck our new toy.”
“Finally,” he groaned. “I almost took him earlier on the couch.”
I sucked my teeth, gathering the leftovers on the tray I’d brought out earlier. If River was impatient to fuck a partner of ours, it meant all good things. It meant he found the boy special and something extra. But we had our way of doing things, and the first fuck was always a threesome. It was the ultimate way to experience our chemistry together.
Damn, my brother was eager. He wasn’t the type to show it outwardly, but he’d already placed lube, rubbers, and a damp towel on his nightstand.
He was downstairs killing time with the news right now.
Shay was asleep in the middle of our bed, tonight without the duvet, instead opting for just the top sheet. No tee either. His back was exposed, and I studied the stunning artwork as I dragged my towel over my hair.
Two koi fish swam upstream across his spine, the waves shifting in different blue lines with beautiful but subtle shadow work. The tail of a dragon danced over his lower left side, snaking toward his front, and flames and smoke came up from the right side.
His stepdad had trained him in martial arts, I was certain. He’d made a massive impact on Shay, and I believed the man was key to figuring out Shay’s grief.
After returning the towel to the bathroom, I stopped at the top of the stairs. “Riv.”
He leaned sideways and peered up here. “Ah, my nudist brother. Christ. I’ll be right there.”
My mouth twitched. He was about as shameless as I was, yet he’d never consider walking naked around our own house. He could engage in an orgy and act like a heathen, only to leave the room and put on swimwear to go into the pool.
The downstairs went dark before he started climbing the stairs. “He asleep?”
“For now.”
Together we walked over to the bed, and I let River set the pace. I wanted to watch him with Shay. The way they’d made out on the couch earlier today had stirred something in me. I hadn’t identified it yet, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t go away anytime soon.
Shay was different.
River dropped his boxer briefs and crawled onto the bed, aiming straight for Shay’s sleeping form. The sheets were discarded, and… Ha. That sweet boy had gone to bed stark naked. River and I exchanged a glance, thinking the same thing.
Refocusing on Shay, River hovered over the boy and planted a trail of kisses up his spine. Shay shifted and mumbled something incoherent. I snatched up the lube and a rubber from the nightstand, ready to give them to my brother. For being such a meticulous planner and slow to jump into anything, he liked to catch subbies when they were the most vulnerable.
“Um, wh…” Shay grunted and lifted his head, eyelids heavy, a crease between his brows, confusion and sleep written all over, just as River slid his fingers into Shay’s hair and yanked back. Shay gasped before exhaling a groan.
“Do you remember your safeword?” River murmured.
I poured some lube onto my fingers and climbed up to kneel on the mattress.
“Yeah,” Shay rasped.
With my fingers coated, I slipped my hand down Shay’s ass and between the cheeks. Christ. What a fuckable little ass. River sat back on his heels and accepted the condom from me, and his gaze was glued to what I was doing. I circled Shay’s asshole with my middle finger, then slid it right inside and cursed. Either he did his Kegels, or he hadn’t been fucked in a long time.
I forced a second finger inside him as River rolled the condom down his cock.
“Oh God,” Shay groaned, pushing his ass out for me.
“Do you swallow come, boy?” I asked.
“Yes, Sir.” He nodded.
Second time he’d called me Sir.
What I wouldn’t give to hear him call me Daddy.
River jerked his chin at me, indicating he was done and didn’t want any more preparations, so I withdrew my fingers. What happened next turned me on beyond fucking belief. He didn’t order Shay onto all fours; he just gripped Shay’s hips tightly and hauled him up, then quickly positioned his cock and forced himself inside. I swallowed dryly and hoped to remember the scene for years to come. Seeing River impatient and wholly focused on claiming a tight ass was intoxicating.
Shay choked on a sharp gasp and white-knuckled the sheets, but it didn’t escape our attention how he was already meeting the pain River delivered. I eased my hand along the sexy arch of Shay’s spine, up to his shoulder blades and then his neck.
For a brief moment, they existed solely for each other. River with his cock buried all the way in, his chest rising and falling with deep breaths, and Shay on pins and needles, eyes closed, and—I assumed—focused only on the thick cock stretching his asshole.
A tremor ran through him.
My brother let his head drop. I could practically read his mind. How he reveled in that first moment of taking someone, how he soaked up the pleasure at the expense of someone else suffering for him. It was heady as fuck and would never get old.
While River let Shay get adjusted to his size, I moved in front of our boy and removed some of the pillows. I asked him if he had any limits or triggers about deep-throating, and his response flooded me with possessiveness and pleasure. He shook his head quickly, gaze fixed on my cock, and barely waited for me to get settled before he tried to reach for me.