Bend (18 page)

Josh gave the room a long, critical look. “It needs something. Colour, maybe—”

Annabelle cringed.

“Pink.”

“I think I’ll pass.” Annabelle walked to her dresser and started to dig out fresh underwear. She’d already cleared taking the day off with Chance yesterday, but she realised as she thought about it, that she just didn’t feel right running off to spend time with Evan and Justin when her brother was so obviously torn up over their dad’s death. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it. A dull ache kept trying to start in her chest, and her mind kept trying to grab for whatever good memories she had of her father.

There weren’t many. The time Annabelle had helped birth a calf that had got stuck, and when she’d left college to return to the ranch. Her dad had actually slapped her on the back then and told her he was glad she was back where she’d belonged. Annabelle had been angry then, feeling like she’d been reprimanded for leaving, but now she wondered if the old man might have actually missed her. Had he ever loved her or Rory?

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“I can’t think about this right now.” And if she went back to Justin and Evan’s house, she’d have to. They’d have questions she wasn’t ready to answer yet.

“Hey sweetie,” Josh said as he put his arm around her shoulders. “I know it’s been a rough day for you. If there’s anything I can do to help, just say so.”

Annabelle turned and embraced Josh, resting her head on his shoulder. “Goes both ways, Joshie. You never told me about whoever marked you.”

Josh snickered as he hugged her tight enough to force the air from her lungs. “Ah, diversion. Well I will let you get away with it this time and tell you the jackass who hoovered my neck is history. He doesn’t matter, we never had sex, he was a great gaping mistake.”

Josh tried to keep his tone light, but Annabelle heard the pain and anger buried in his voice. “I’m sorry, Joshie. You point him out if he shows up at the Xxchange and I will castrate the fucker for you. I’ll use toenail clippers so it’ll take a while.”

“It’s a deal.” Josh rubbed her back then met her gaze when Annabelle raised her head.

“So, you’re staying here with Rory, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I think I need to.” Annabelle released Josh and turned back to dig out the clean clothes she needed. “He’s my brother, and he’s hurting. Justin and Evan are…”
the sexiest
fuckers I’ve ever known, under my skin, in my head and—“
I don’t know what they are, what the three of us are, but finding out will have to wait. I can’t leave Rory right now.” Annabelle piled the clothes into her arms then turned to Josh. She bumped the dresser drawer shut with her hip. “And if Rory’s up to it, he and I need to have a chat about this long lost brother or whatever the hell he is. Maybe we can call the ranch, talk to Navarra.”

“You’re not running from Justin and Evan again are you?” Josh asked a question Annabelle was, even at that moment, asking herself. She scrubbed at her forehead as she seriously considered her motivations.

“No, I think Rory and I need to spend some time together. I hope Evan and Justin understand, but if they don’t…” Annabelle shrugged. Anyone who expected her to choose between them and Rory wasn’t worth her time. She didn’t think Justin or Evan was like that, but since they kept fucking more than talking, she couldn’t be sure.

Josh rolled his eyes and batted his lashes at her. “They’ll be fine with it. Neither would expect you to ditch your brother at a time like this.”

“Goof,” Annabelle muttered. “I need to get cleaned up then hunt my brother down.”

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“And I need to go back to work and make up for the time I took off early. Give me a hug.”

Annabelle stepped into Josh’s arms and did him one better, giving him a slobbery kiss on the cheek.

“Ewww, gross!” Josh leapt back and gave her a mock glare as he swiped at the spot.

“Why did you do that? Keep your body fluids to yourself!” For all his mock indignation, Josh was grinning from ear to ear.

Annabelle laughed and shoo’d him towards the door. “Go on now, before I put you to mucking stalls!”

Once Josh was gone, Annabelle hopped in the shower and washed away the traces of her night with Justin and Evan. She was towelled off and dressed in a matter of minutes, then she went to find her brother, dialling Justin’s number as she walked towards the house.

Justin’s voicemail came on so Annabelle stuttered out a message about her brother needing her then ended the call.

Annabelle bounded up the porch steps and tapped at the front door. Chance was almost immediately on the other side of it, pulling open the screen to gesture her inside.

“How’s he doing?”

Chance shook his head. “I don’t know. One minute he seems fine, then he’s back to crying. I don’t know how to help him deal with this.”

“Just be with him,” Annabelle advised. “He’s older than me by eighteen months, but in some ways he still seems so much younger.”

Chance nodded as he hooked his arm through hers. “All right, I can do that, and so can you.”

It was almost midnight by the time Annabelle left Chance and Rory’s. Justin had called hours ago and she’d given him the bare bones version of today’s events when she’d stepped outside for a little privacy. Rory hadn’t asked her any more questions about the two men she was involved with, instead spending hours talking about their dad and wondering why he’d been such a cruel man. But when she’d taken Justin’s call, she could feel Rory’s gaze on her through the window, and she wondered if he really was going to try to accept the fledgeling BEND

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relationship she was entering. She hoped so; when she thought about the choice she might have to make if he didn’t, something close to panic swelled in her. She couldn’t give her brother up, and even though she wasn’t sure how serious Justin and Evan were, she knew she was feeling a lot more for both men than she’d ever thought she’d feel for anyone.

Twice the men, twice the intensity.
Annabelle stripped and dropped into bed, pulling the sheet over her body. It was too hot for the blanket.

Annabelle squirmed and shoved at her pillows, but she couldn’t get comfortable and she was afraid she knew why. One night spent cuddling between two gorgeous men seemed to have spoilt her. Stupid to be so invested so quickly, but it was what it was and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She wanted Evan and Justin, wanted to be with them right now—

“Fuck!” Annabelle sat up in the bed and looked at the alarm clock. It was after midnight, too late to call Justin like she’d said she would. Still, he’d be pissed if she didn’t do something, so she grabbed her cell off the nightstand and sent a text to him and Evan both, explaining that she thought it too late to call them. Her phone rang before she could set it back down. Annabelle yelped and slapped her free hand over her heart as she glared at the phone’s display.

Justin, you dick! Nearly gave me a heart attack!
Not that she was mad. Pure joy rushed from her head to her toes, warming her already hot skin and sending all sorts of body parts throbbing. Annabelle tapped the answer button and set the phone to her ear.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Annabelle asked, ruining it by snickering through the accusation.

“You about worried me and Justin to death, so we’re even,” Evan hollered, sounding kind of tinny over the phone. “You’re on speaker, by the way.”

Well, that explains the hollow sound to Evan’s voice.
“I didn’t mean to.” And she wasn’t going to apologise for spending time with her brother. “Rory and I had a lot to talk about.”

“We understand, Evan wasn’t criticizing,” Justin soothed, and Annabelle couldn’t hold back a gasp as liquid heat pooled in her cunt. Justin must have been closer to the phone. His deep baritone sent a vibration of lust rippling over her skin. “You do what you need to. We just…we missed you, is all.”

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Annabelle was stunned for a moment, then her heart started pounding, pushing the happy feeling growing in her through her bloodstream. “I missed y’all too.” That wasn’t as hard to admit as she’d feared it would be.

“How much?” Justin’s voice dipped impossibly lower, warming with desire at the same time.

“Enough that I couldn’t sleep,” Annabelle said, shocking herself even. “That’s probably more than you’re ready to hear, both of you, but—”

“No, no it isn’t,” Evan exclaimed, now sounding as close to the phone as Justin. “That’s exactly what we needed to hear. God, I wish you were here.” Justin echoed Evan’s wish and Annabelle felt a lightness inside she hadn’t ever experienced, as if helium filled her completely.

“Rory knows about us,” Annabelle confessed, though why right then she couldn’t say.

“He didn’t handle it so well at first, but then he apologised and said he’d do better.”

“Do you believe him? Was he saying that just to keep you from coming back here?”

Justin asked after a long silence that undid all the warm fuzzy feelings Annabelle had been enjoying.

“He’s not a liar,” Annabelle snapped, then continued, speaking over Justin and Evan.

“Rory’s sweet and kind of naïve about…about sex, in a way, though I think Chance is educating him on the subject at least a couple of times a day. Still, they’re in a monogamous relationship, so Rory doesn’t really have any comprehension of a ménage. And I sure as shit don’t have a lot, but even I would know better than to insult your brother.”

Justin sighed loud enough to make Annabelle want to snap at him again. If he was going to give her crap over her outburst…

“I’m sorry,” Justin said, and Annabelle thought her eyes might pop out of her head. She snapped her mouth shut as Justin spoke again. “I shouldn’t have said anything like that. It’s not an excuse, but I was—am still, to tell the truth—afraid of what you’d do if Rory didn’t accept us. We don’t want to lose you.”

Shit, my emotions are swinging up and down and up again so fast I can’t keep track of them!

Annabelle was thrumming with joy, and she bet she probably even glowed a little. “It’s not going to come to that. Chance understands, he’ll talk to my brother. I think he’s had a ménage or two in the past, although probably not for long. He didn’t do long term until Rory.”

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Annabelle heard murmuring between Justin and Evan but she couldn’t make out their conversation. Justin filled her in quickly though.

“Evan wants to know if you’re naked…” Justin exhaled, his breath a shaky rasp that fuelled Annabelle’s rekindled arousal. “And so do I. We’re both laying here in bed butt nekkid, horny as hell, thinking about you.”

Annabelle lay back on her pillow and plucked at one nipple, drawing out a shuddering breath of her own as she thought of her two studs naked in bed. “I’m not wearing a damn thing other than the sheet. If you two are so horny, why haven’t y’all—”

“Because it’s the three of us,” Evan stated firmly. “We weren’t going to get off together.

But now…”

Justin moaned and Annabelle felt more cream slick her pussy. “Tell me.” She put the phone on speaker and lay it by her head then pinched both of her nipples between her thumbs and forefingers.

Justin answered in a strained voice, speaking between pants. “Ev is…oh God…he’s got my dick crammed into his throat and…yes, baby, do it!” Justin cried out and Annabelle whimpered as she desperately tried to picture the two men and what they were doing. She pinched her nipples harder, needing the firmer touch her lovers could so expertly administer.

Annabelle spread her legs wide open then cupped her breasts, squeezing the handfuls as her hips jerked.

“Tell me,” she demanded, except it came out more as an aching plea. “Tell me, please.”

Justin was moaning and gasping almost constantly. Annabelle heard a lewd slurp that had her reaching for her clit.

“I have two fingers in Justin’s ass,” Evan rasped, “and I’m fucking him hard as I can, making him feel it like he likes to.”

“Oh fuck, I want to see that.” Annabelle flicked her clit then slid her fingers lower to pull at her slick lips. She hadn’t thought Justin liked to receive ass play, he seemed so toppy, but his moans were even louder now, and Annabelle wanted to play along.

“Show you next time,” Evan grunted, “or as soon as his sweet ass can handle it. You fingering your cunt yet?”

Annabelle shivered and pushed the tips of two fingers into her wet sex. “Yes, fuck, Evan, Justin…” She thrust her fingers in deeper, but the achy needy feeling in her didn’t seem to notice. “Not enough, Evan…”

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“Fuck! You have a toy, a fat dildo or vibrator?” Evan was breathing heavy now, his voice so rough Annabelle wouldn’t have recognised it. “I have three fingers in him now, fixing to make it four—”

Justin’s groan was loud and beautiful, the agony of arousal at a perfect pitch. Annabelle ached to be there with them. She stretched her arm and fumbled for the nightstand drawer.

Opening it was tricky at the angle she was laying, but she found the big blue vibrator that she used occasionally.

“Got it.” Annabelle didn’t bother with the lube. Her cunt was wet enough, and if there was that burn of friction, so much the better. “Going to fuck myself with it and imagine it’s both of you, though it isn’t big enough.”

“Shit!” Justin shouted and Evan laughed, a pleased, loving sound that spurred Annabelle on.

“You just made our lover shoot his load before he wanted to,” Evan crooned. “Now he’s going to suck me until I flood his mouth with my cum.”

“Do it. Want to hear you lose it.” She wedged the thick vibrator between her thighs and pushed the first few inches in. “Uhn. Not enough…”

“Push it in, fill that needy pussy up,” Justin’s rough voice ordered.

“That’s enough talking,” Evan said, “I’ve got better uses for your mouth right now, Jus.

Do it, Belle, right now, when I’m shoving my dick in Justin’s mouth.”