Tyler, Lynn - Be With Us (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (12 page)

Nick jumped from his chair and stalked her as Liam slumped at the table. He’d known this was coming, just as he knew there was going to be no changing her mind. “Come on, Nick,” he said quietly. “Let’s go home.”

Liam took Nick’s hand and led him to the door. “Lindsay, I can only swear that we will never leave you. I wish I could fight this battle for you, but unfortunately, it’s one you have to fight on your own.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead, praying with all his might that this wasn’t their last kiss. “I love you.”

He waited while Nick repeated the gesture with Lindsay and then they walked into the hall, waiting until they heard Lindsay lock the door before catching the elevator. The two men were silent until they reached Nick’s car.

“What the hell just happened?” Nick asked. Liam felt sorry for the guy. He looked shell shocked and not just a little confused.

Liam filled Nick in as they drove home.

“Well, it’s little wonder she doesn’t trust us,” Nick murmured.

By the time they got home, Liam was drooping with exhaustion, both physical and mental. But despite the fatigue and even the pain of his broken heart, his cock was thrilled to be home with his partner. “I need you, Nicky.”

* * * *

The exhaustion and pain in Liam’s voice tugged on Nick’s already abused heartstrings. “Oh, Lee.” Nick had only seen Liam this devastated once before, when several of the firefighters at his station had died in a fire. And experience told him that what Liam needed most now was actually fairly complicated. He would want Nick to take control, to command him, to take away his decisions without dominating him.

Nick slowly stripped him and then himself before urging Liam into their bathroom. He adjusted the water to the perfect temperature while Liam stood, almost docile, beside him. “Get in,” he whispered huskily, gently pushing Liam through the glass doors and under the spray of water.

He soaped up his lover’s body, using the slick bubbles to massage the tight muscles along Liam’s spine. Dipping his hand between Liam’s legs, Nick cleaned Liam’s cock and balls carefully, jacking him slowly until Liam began to pant.

As Nick washed him, he considered how best to satisfy both Liam’s need for sexual release and his need to be topped gently, and he settled on a course of action. Soaping up his hands, Nick parted the firm globes of Liam’s ass and cleaned him delicately.

Liam placed his hands on the shower wall and leaned his full weight on his palms, stretching out his back and elongating his body. Good Glory, Liam was beautiful. His muscles stood out as if they were carved from marble, and his dick jutted straight out from his hips, undoubtedly leaking pre-cum. Water streaked down Liam’s back to drip off his butt cheeks, and his knees locked. He took one slick finger and slid it inside Liam’s hole, Liam’s drawn-out moan sending shivers down Nick’s spine.

Nick pulled out and back, smoothing his hand down his partner’s back in sympathy. “Don’t worry, babe. You’ll get what you need. I’ll take care of you.”

Liam craned his neck to look over his shoulder. “You always do take care of me,” he muttered.

“And I always will. Because I love you,” Nick said against Liam’s back.

He drew Liam from the stall and dried him thoroughly. “Go lie on the bed on your back, hands under your ass.” Nick watched Liam do as he ordered as he dried himself off. He hoped that he could succeed at taking their minds off Lindsay, even if it was only for a few minutes.

Climbing onto the bed, Nick reached over and grabbed a bottle of lube and a jelly butt plug from the drawer of the nightstand. He pushed Liam’s legs up so that his knees were bent and his anus displayed enticingly. Liam’s hips were tilted by his hands, making for the angle perfect. Nick slowly inserted the butt plug, rotating it just the way Liam liked it. Liam whimpered and shifted restlessly, earning a small kiss on one of his butt cheeks. “It’s okay, babe. We’ll get there.”

He patted the inside of one thigh gently, lovingly, before giving his next order. “Don’t move.”

Nick rummaged again in the bedside table, searching for his newest purchase. His hand closed on the gold penis crown, which he discarded for later. Liam needed to be loved slowly, gently, and Nick didn’t think he could be all that slow
or
gentle faced with the sight of Liam’s dick wreathed so deliciously. The stiff feather tickled his fingers as he grasped it in his palm.

He stroked it up the Liam’s length, enjoying the shiver that raced over his lover’s body. Liam was really quite sensitive, and it always thrilled Nick to see how little it really took to send Liam over the edge.

He circled that feather over the rim of the flushed mushroom head. Liam lifted his hips, searching for more stimulation. Any other time he would have disciplined Liam for ignoring his instructions, but he let it go this time. The combination of the jelly nestled snuggly against his prostate and the stiff feather teasing along his ultra-sensitive cock must have been driving Liam crazy.

Nick kept at it, providing no other stimulation, just the plug and the feather, teasing and stroking until Liam’s big body was vibrating with need.
“
Nicky
,” he gasped. “
Nicky,
s’il
’ te plaît
.
S’il’ te plaît
!”

He
wiggled the tip of the feather against the weeping slit, using it to draw more pre-cum from Liam and spreading it around the throbbing head, which was always a sign that he was close. Nick concentrated on the nerve-rich spot right under the head, worrying the responsive flesh until Liam began groaning and his length pulsed.

“Come for me, Lee,” Nick growled, keeping the pressure of the stiff feather steady.

Liam grunted, and a slow wave contracted his abdomen as semen eased over the tip and down the shaft in rivers. “
Je t’aime,
” he groaned over and over as streams of his cream pumped steadily. The slow, powerful orgasm seemed to last forever and left him limp and sweaty.

Nick swiped his hand through the pool on Liam’s stomach and used it to coat his prick. Gently removing the butt plug, he rocked into Liam’s ass urgently, pumping his own spunk into his partner after just a few strokes. He collapsed onto Liam, not caring that the sticky mess would eventually glue them together. “Love you, too.”

Liam was quiet for a few minutes, stroking Nick’s spine almost contemplatively. “What are we going to do,
cher
?”

“About Lindsay?” At Liam’s grunt of confirmation, Nick continued. “We have to show her that she can’t push us away. We make sure she gets her space to work things out on her own, but we’ll also keep in touch. She needs to know she can trust us.”

Nick slid off Liam and snuggled into his side, letting the bigger man cradle him close. He stroked Liam’s chest and stomach until he felt Liam’s muscles relax, hoping beyond hope that he was right.

Chapter 12

Lindsay rolled over in bed and groaned. Her head ached, her nose was plugged, her throat hurt, her chest was heavy, and she was shaking from cold even though the apartment was hotter than hell. It figured that her body would break down in sympathy with her broken heart. She glanced at the phone, fighting the urge to call her men. All she really wanted was to hear their voices and to be wrapped up in their arms.

She sighed, melancholia sweeping over her. Maybe a bath would make her feel better. She wandered into the bathroom and stared at the tub, her eyes filling with tears. This was where she was when she’d had her first conversation with her men. In fact, every single room in this apartment held memories of them.

She collapsed on the couch and cuddled up with a box of tissues. She flicked through the television channels without really noticing what was on until a knock came on her door. Who would be calling on her? She shuffled over to the door, toting the tissue box with her. “Coming,” she croaked.

She stood on her toes to look through the peep hole and got the shock of her life. “Mom?”

Lindsay threw the door open and stared at her mother. “How did you know where to find me?”

Her mother offered her a weak smile. “I looked you up on Canada 411.” She took a deep breath and reached out her hand toward Lindsay as if all she wanted was to touch her daughter, but she dropped her hand before it could graze her cheek. “Can I come in so we can talk?”

Lindsay moved aside to let her in the door but didn’t say a word. She wasn’t about to make her mother’s explanation any easier. What her mother did next surprised her though. “Lindsay, baby, you’re sick. Where do you keep your cold medicine and thermometer?”

Lindsay blinked her eyes as tears threatened to spill over again. How many times in her childhood had she wished to hear those exact words from her mother?

She watched her mother bustle around her apartment as if she’d been there a million times, getting out the orange juice and rummaging through the cabinets until she found the cold medication. A weird sense of dissociation floated over her. “Mom, what are you doing here?”

Her mother visibly tensed. “I came because I owe you an apology.”

Lindsay rubbed her throbbing forehead, her headache getting worse. “You know what, Mom? I really don’t feel like listening to you make excuses right now. Besides, what kind of excuse can you make anyway? You left me and then you
replaced
me.”

“You’re right, Lindsay,” her mother said quietly. “I was selfish and only thinking about myself. I should never have left you like that.”

That was it? That was all her mother had to say? “You let me go through hell, do you know that? I didn’t even know if you were dead or alive and all you can say is that you were selfish?”

Her mother walked up to her and looked her dead in the eye. “I was sick, Lindsay. I have struggled with depression and anxiety for years.”

Her mother raised her hand again and this time she allowed it to stroke Lindsay’s arm gently. “I couldn’t take care of myself, let alone a child. I’m on medication now, and it’s a little better. I still have ups and downs.”

Lindsay shrugged her mother’s hand off her arm. She was starting to understand what had been going on in her mother’s mind all those years ago. But it still didn’t mean she was ready to forgive and forget. There was too much pain and loneliness still simmering away under the surface. “You’ve re-married.” It wasn’t a question, it was a fact.

Her mother nodded but didn’t smile. “Yes. To be honest, things aren’t going very well with my husband. We’re in therapy now and I hope we can save our marriage. Speaking of which, where is your Liam? He seems very protective, and I can’t believe he would leave you alone while you are this sick. He, umm, mentioned that you have another partner, Nick?”

Lindsay swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat. “I broke up with them, Mom. I was so scared that they would leave me once the gossip of our relationship got out.”

“Oh, honey. My leaving had absolutely nothing to do with you. You were the best thing in my life. I know I wasn’t the most responsible of mothers, but I love you.”

She led Lindsay to a chair and sat her down before kneeling at her feet. “Baby girl, I know what I did hurt you. But don’t let that stop you from loving them and don’t push away their love.”

Lindsay stared at her, completely at a loss for something to say. She sniffled pathetically and slumped in her chair, suddenly feeling more miserable than ever.

* * * *

Holy Hannah, Lindsay was tired. More than tired. She felt like the subway had run over her. She hadn’t been sleeping well and was still getting over a raging case of the flu. So much for her flu shot. But she couldn’t hang around her apartment anymore wallowing in misery, so she had hauled her sorry butt into work that morning.

She suspected that most of her melancholy was actually caused by the absence of two tall pieces of man-art, as Marla had put it, in her life. They had called every day, sending her flowers and chicken soup when they found out she was ill. They e-mailed and texted her regularly, telling her they loved her and that they missed her.