Haleigh's Ink (10 page)

“Two days later, I got the call. They told me over the phone
I had breast cancer. I was so shocked I don’t remember much about anything else
for the next couple days. There were a frenzy of phone calls and appointments,
but none of it touched me. I was too numb. Alone.”

Kyle touched a scar on her ribs, totally unable to speak.
His mind filled with images of her scared and suffering. The horror she must
have faced without him.

“I was lucky. Luckier than most, actually. It was in only
one breast and I made it through all of the treatments. Chemo, radiation, chemo
again, mastectomy, reconstruction. I lost all of my hair. Scars…everywhere.
Still don’t know if I can have children after all of the radiation. My nurses
were awesome. Surgeons were top notch. They took good care of me but I still
feel like a victim. I hate it. The damage it does, it never really goes away.
It never ends.”

He gently caressed another scar but his hands shook with
fury.

“Where were your parents through all of this? Who was with
you?”

She stayed quiet and that was all the answer he needed. He
clenched his jaw, accepting things would get ugly if he ever ran into her
family again.

She closed her eyes, calming beneath his touch. She
whispered, “Do you remember in the summers growing up, we used to sneak away to
that field behind your parents’ house? The one with all the butterflies? They
used to land on the flowers. If it was windy the petals would fly away. That’s
what I pictured. When I was dying. Us in the field together. You holding my
hand like you used to. The doctors told me to visualize the cancer leaving my
body. Picture it floating away. So that’s what I pictured. The two of us in the
field, watching the butterflies, along with the petals being carried off on the
breeze.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked more harshly than he’d
intended. “Why didn’t you find me?” he added through clenched teeth. She was a
survivor with no real family support and he had been gone worrying about his
stupid shit.

She got mad, which suited him better than shrinking violet
any day. “Really? You think that’s the conversation I wanted to bridge the gap
of us being kids and adults? Especially since you were the only one I wanted
to…have sex with? ‘Hey, Kyle, stage three breast cancer. Had to have one taken
off and I look like a freak. Thirty-percent chance of surviving five years and
the odds go down after that. How are you?’ Are you kidding me?”

“You’re right. We are both to blame for not trusting each
other. And I’m going to make sure it never happens again.” He shifted her legs
apart, settling against her mound, and they groaned at the contact. “You can’t
pick the family you’re born into, but you can sure as hell pick the family you
make and cherish.” He trapped her bound wrists over her head, latching onto her
mouth as if it were his first kiss.

It was hot, sexy. An emotional meeting of flesh, sealing
their fates together like a brand. He could feel her passion, her need sinking
inside his chest, but there was something else roaring through her. Another
emotion filling the space between them.

She kissed him back until ripping her head away. “I don’t
need your pity!” she yelled at him.

“Good thing, ’cause pity doesn’t make my dick hard. You do
that all on your own.” He took her mouth again, consuming her cry of pleasure.

Vaguely he felt Scott at his waist, removing his pants, and
groaned into Haleigh’s mouth when his cock sprang free. He touched between her
thighs, finding her soaked. He spread her lube on the head of his cock, then
positioned it at her entrance, rubbing against her hymen. He stilled, not
wanting to hurt her, to cause her pain. He’d cut off his left nut to avoid it
if he could, but knew he couldn’t control his hips much longer.

He’d wanted her far too long.

She groaned and arched to meet him, wrapping her legs around
the backs of his thighs. The greedy sounds she made caused his balls to suck up
tight to his groin. The head of his dick met the resistance of her virginity
when she squeezed his lower body, and the alpha male inside, he hadn’t known
existed, roared to the forefront.

His mind was gone.

There were no thoughts, no rationalizations or woulda,
shoulda, couldas.

He stuffed his cock inside, tearing through her virginity.
She jerked and cried out as he shoved in deep. He couldn’t stop or slow down.
He kept her arms above her head so he could lick and kiss her exposed breast.
He nuzzled the reconstructed one, nipping it through her tank enough to leave a
mark and she screamed as she came.

Sex was something he’d had a lot of, especially in the last
two years since Scott had claimed him. Combine that with the training he’d received
on control and orgasm denial and he should have been able to keep going for
hours. Pleasuring her, stroking her, filling her with his cock again and again
should have been easy.

But as she thrashed beneath him, coming all over his dick as
he shuttled inside her pulsating core, there wasn’t anything he could do to
hold back the orgasm racing down his spine.

His harsh shout chased hers around the room. It echoed off
the ceiling. He came with her, filling her pussy with his seed. The top of his
dick erupted inside her and he couldn’t find it in him to care that he wasn’t
wearing a condom.

He marked her inside and out, claiming a piece of her,
unable to stop his hips from flexing over and over. The sensations were too
good to stop, but he was going to collapse if he didn’t regroup.

He rolled with her, moving them both to their sides, keeping
his throbbing shaft buried inside. He hugged her close, tucking her bound hands
against his chest. Her exhale tickled his chest and he kissed the top of her
head.

“Sorry I was so rough.” He rubbed her side, chastising
himself for not even getting her to a bed.

She strained to cover his mouth with hers, kissing him,
smiling against him. “I umm…like it rough apparently.” She locked on him again.
He shallowly thrust in and out, spreading his cum inside her.

Probably should have talked about protection, but he was
clean. He and Scott got tested regularly, and if she got pregnant? The thought
definitely didn’t freak him out near as much as he expected it to.

He couldn’t help but get hard again thinking about Scott
watching. He’d seen him stroking his thick hard-on a few feet away while Kyle
made love to Haleigh for the first time.

“It was perfect and intense and…I want to do it again.” His
cock twitched anew with her eagerness, but he withdrew and rolled beside her.
Scott was there immediately. He kissed Kyle then scooped Haleigh up, tossing
her on the bed on her stomach.

He hooked her wrists on the headboard, spreading her legs.
She gasped in pleasure as he plunged inside.

Kyle struggled up onto shaky legs, making his way over to
watch his Dom and his…woman going at it.

Sexiest thing he’d ever seen.

The arch of Scott’s back, the way his ass clenched on every
thrust. Haleigh’s mewled shouts as she writhed in pleasure. The whispered words
between them. He knew how Scott sounded all sexed up.

Commanding. Dominant. Growly with his characteristic hint of
rough-edged sexy.

He caught sight of Scott plunging in and out of their girl’s
tiny pussy, making his cock spring to attention. Bet she loved feeling Scott’s
piercing inside her pretty core.

Kyle sat on the bed close to Haleigh’s head and moved her
hair out of her face. She moaned when she saw him, craning her head toward him.
Begging with her eyes for him to touch her. Even if she couldn’t speak, he
heard her. If he wasn’t completely in love with her before then, that clinched
it.

He ground his teeth together to keep from saying the words.

“Suck his dick, princess.” Scott’s growled order shot pure
lust into Kyle’s veins.

She eyed his cock and ran her tongue along her top row of
teeth, glancing up at him then down again. He shifted closer and she dove on
his shaft. Licking it, sucking it, nuzzling his balls until he was certain he
was gonna blow.

He grabbed a handful of her hair, deciding how much she
could get to. He understood for the first time why Scott liked it so much.
Being in control. He’d never considered himself a switch before, but it just
hadn’t ever been right. With Haleigh, it was. She submitted to them like she
was born for it.

“You humble me,” he told her as she sucked him inside again.
Her gaze found his and her excitement was palpable. Her pupils were dilated and
she was flying high on the adrenaline rushing through her veins.

“Lick the head,” Scott ordered. She complied, making Kyle
jerk inside her mouth.

“Fuck,” Kyle cursed. “Your mouth.” He guided her along the
shaft of his cock, increasing the speed of his thrusts on each pass. “Squeeze
the muscles in your pussy. Suck Scott’s dick inside each time he tries to tug
free. He’s fucking you, using my cum as lube. Hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Scott groaned and slapped her ass cheek. She shrieked,
closing her lids in pleasure, squeezing them tight. “You’re pussy’s milking my
dick. I’m gonna fill it with my cum. You’ll have a piece of both of us inside
you. Claiming you. You’re ours. All ours.” He lifted the bottom half of her
body by her thighs and fucked her so she had no control on how deep he could
get.

Kyle had to hold her hair and jaw in place to keep the
rhythm going. Her coordination was shot and her body tightened like a stretched
rubber band. When the tension snapped she was going to fly.

“Lock your ankles behind me and squeeze me with your
thighs,” Scott ordered. Haleigh complied, as best she could, so Scott could spank
her again. “Your ass is so damn pretty, red from my hand.”

“Oh fuck.” The smacks on her lily-white skin. The wet sex
noises filling the air did him in. “Scott, can I come? Please, fuck, let me
come. Her mouth, it’s so…perfect.”

“Come, Kyle. Fill her mouth. Show her how much you love
being with her.”

An orgasm raced up Kyle’s legs, exploding out the head of
his dick. He thrust sporadically into her mouth, feeding her his cum. She
swallowed, moaning as each spurt burst across her taste buds.

He had to convince his grip to unclench from her hair. He
collapsed on the bed. With the last of his strength he rubbed her clit in tight
circles, using her own arousal to get her off. He reached a tiny bit farther
every few strokes to feel Scott’s dick as he plunged it inside her.

“I’m gonna come again. Oh, God…please let me come, Sirs. I
can’t stop it, please…”

“Come.”

“Come for us,” the men commanded at the same time.

She yanked against the cuffs holding her immobile, opening
her mouth in a soundless scream. Scott screwed into her tight pussy ruthlessly,
while Kyle rubbed her clit. She didn’t stand a chance.

Kyle smiled at the thought.

“Fffuuuccckkk…” broke the tense silence as Scott came inside
her. He bucked against her, thrusting deep, grinding his balls against Kyle’s
palm.

Kyle handled them both, plucking at Haleigh’s clit then
cupping Scott’s balls. “Keep…doing…that,” Scott ground out.

Cum leaked out of Haleigh’s pretty pussy onto Kyle’s fingers
and he used it to slide across her clit a few more times.

Scott arched, holding himself inside her until they both
stopped twitching. He laid her on the mattress, lifting her wrists free from
the hook on the headboard, then collapsed on the far side. Kyle removed the
cuffs from her wrists and tugged her close.

He knew exactly the high she was flying. If he didn’t hold
her tight she’d probably fly up to the ceiling and float for a few days.

Scott rolled over, spooning her. He rested an arm across the
dip of her waist, settling his hand on Kyle’s side.

“Fucking rush, isn’t it?” Scott asked, his eyes already
closing.

Kyle smiled and brushed hair off Haleigh’s cheek. Her tiny
mouth opened on a sweet sigh.

He had to concentrate to form a coherent response. “Like
nothing I’ve felt before. Is that what it’s like for you? When you’re inside
me?”

“Hell yes.” He squeezed his side. “She’s the only other
person I’ve felt that rush with.”

Kyle got up, brought two washrags in, tossed one to Scott
then used the other to clean up Haleigh. She let him raise her leg so he could
clean between them, and her slightly flushed pink flesh called to him. He
couldn’t wait to have her again. He tossed the washrags in the bathroom then
climbed back in, covering all three of them with the comforter from the end of
the mattress.

Naked in bed with the two people he wanted most in the
world. Best way to fall asleep he’d ever had.

Tomorrow was going to be a great day.

The mood in Kyle’s truck the next morning as they made their
way over to the shop was quiet in a nice kind of way. Scott hadn’t come with
them; he had to help Chris and Jared. Come to find out, they not only owned
CJ’s Bar but The Library as well.

Small world
, she thought to herself.

“I wish you would have shown me all of the scars last
night,” Kyle prompted. She couldn’t think of anything to say, other than she
was glad she hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. “It won’t change the way I feel about
you. You get that, right?”

She cleared her throat, desperately trying to find the right
words. “Last night changed me. It showed me a whole new world ready to be
discovered. I didn’t want to taint it, showing you something I find so awful. I
wish I was beautiful for you. For Scott. You deserve that.”

“Come here,” Kyle ordered. He unsnapped her seat belt and
urged her to slide next to him on the bench seat. She scooted closer,
re-buckling beside him. His arm was warm across her shoulders. He hugged her
and smelled like a little slice of heaven.

“Do you want to know what I see looking at you?” Kyle asked
as he kissed the top of her head. “A survivor. You aren’t a victim, you’re a
warrior. With no real support, you fought and won a battle thousands of people
lose every day. I am proud to know you. I’m wrecked by what happened between
the three of us last night.”

His words sank inside her, settling her nerves. She wished
she could believe that wouldn’t change.

“Can I ask a question?” he added after several quiet minutes
passed.

“Sure.” It was an automatic answer though. She wasn’t
certain she wanted him to.

“Why did you show Scott and not me?”

“It’s not because I don’t trust you.” She peeked up at him
and he nodded. His shoulders relaxed and she was glad she’d guessed at least
part of the why’s of the conversation. “He didn’t know me before. There aren’t
any preconceived notions about me in his mind like there are with you.” He
stiffened and she petted his thigh. “We have history together, Kyle. You knew
me as the perfect best friend who always had on a new dress. The prom queen,
the socialite. I’m not that girl anymore. I’m—”

“Perfect the way you are.”

“I’m not perfect. I’m—”

“Perfect, Haleigh. Just the way you are. Because you’re you.
Perfect doesn’t mean anything except what you want it to. And trust me. Your
mother’s idea of perfection is more than a bit skewed.”

She tried to see past the swarm of emotions fluttering
inside her. “Last night, in bed with you and Scott, was the first time since I
was diagnosed I felt someone’s full support. You know…from someone I cared
about. And it came from both of you. It scared and excited me at the same time.
Having that. Feeling that connection, the bond between us, is that how it
always is? It overwhelmed me, and I never wanted it to end.”

He hugged her close, rubbing circles on her arm. The warmth
of his hand heated her insides.

“No clue about other people, but I’ve only ever felt it with
Scott. And now you. Sex like that doesn’t happen very often.”

Sex. Not love. She needed to remember that. Simply because
she loved him didn’t mean he felt the same.

“I don’t want to settle anymore. I’m tired of doing everything
for other people, and putting my needs and desires at the bottom of the pile. I
want to feel happy in my own skin again.”

“Let us put them on the top of the stack for once. We want
you to come to the club this afternoon. Chris is holding a whipping class.
Scott and I both want you to be there with us. Scott has a new pair of
five-foot hybrid nylon whips he’s been dying to try. So, you up for it?”

“Umm…whips? I don’t know. That sounds scary.”

“It is. But I bet your nipple got hard, just because I mentioned
it. And guess what? If I was a rich man I’d bet your pussy got wet too. There’s
going to be a lot of stuff you’re afraid of because it’s unknown.” He nuzzled
her ear and she leaned her head away to give him better room. He bit her
earlobe, making her moan. “You deserve nothing short of wonderful. It’s up to
us to show you what you’ve been missing.”

He licked the sting away then focused on the road again. His
cocky smirk told her just how smug he was feeling after their night together.
She wanted to say something sexy and perfect but didn’t have a clue what that
would be. She’d never been able to practice flirting before and loved the
thought of getting to start with Kyle…and Scott.

Two men.

Her cheeks heated and she struggled to find something mundane
to discuss so she wouldn’t embarrass herself. Wanting to lick on him in the car
probably wasn’t safe in a motor vehicle but her gaze flicked to his crotch for
a second anyway. She cleared her throat, trying her best to concentrate. “Do we
have a few minutes at the shop before I run to my parents’ house for a little
bit? I’d really like to take some pictures of your ink. If you wouldn’t mind,
of course.”

Kyle barked out a laugh and squeezed her tight. She inhaled
his scent and it warmed her like sunshine. “I always did love your formal
speech. I want you to talk like that the next time either of us is buried
inside you. Bet we can fuck it right out of you.”

“I dare you to try,” she sniffed, trying to cover up her
arousal.

“You’re on.”

They pulled into the shop parking lot and had to drive
behind the building to find a spot.

“Busy today. Guess it is Saturday, huh? My timing’s been all
off since I found you again.”

They made their way inside, and Kyle grabbed her camera bag
from the office where Scott had locked it up.

She opened it, picking up the camera, then asked. “I’m sure
it’s not my business, but the first night here you and Scott were having an
argument. What was it about?”

“Fuck. I completely forgot about my sister’s wedding.”

“Eve or Jillian?”

He tunneled his fingers in his hair, tugging on the ends
before answering. “Apparently Jillian’s too busy with her practice for dating,
much less marriage.”

“You’ll have to tell Eve congratulations for me. I’m so
happy for her.”

“Why don’t you tell her yourself?” he asked.

Haleigh stopped what she was doing, facing him. He looked so
unsure, with those ocean-blue eyes pleading with her.

“I’m honored, but what about Scott?”

His eyebrows lowered, and he seemed genuinely perplexed.
“What about him?”

“Shouldn’t you be taking him? He is your boyfriend.”

“Yeah, but he wouldn’t want to hang out with my family and
be ridiculed all evening.”

“Have you asked him?”

“Well no, but—”

“But nothing. You’ve been together for two years, and I bet
he would love to go with you, and not as a friend.”

Kyle started to pace the small confines of the office.

“I’m not saying you have to do it. You don’t even have to
decide today, but you shouldn’t assume what he wants. He said he’d been trying
to get you to open up. You both deserve the chance to be a couple on your own
terms, and I’ll be happy to go with you. But I don’t want there to be bad
feelings between you and Scott either. Not because of me.”

“I’ll think about it,” he finally said. She hoped he and
Scott could find the common ground they needed to grow and stay together. She
also wished for room for one more in that relationship, but she shook her head,
determined not to get caught up in an uncertain future.

For once she was going to enjoy the present and let the
pieces fall where they may.

“Okay. You ready to have your picture taken?”

Kyle whipped off his shirt, much like Scott had the day
before. His longish hair fell almost to his shoulders and she ached to run her
fingers through it again.

“Where do you want me?” he asked.

She decided to use Scott’s line and laughed at her brazen
flirting. “Anywhere I can have you.”

Kyle’s lips twisted into a sexy smirk. “Lead the way,
Butterfly. Lead the way.”

* * * * *

By the time she had taken pictures of Kyle’s ink, along with
several other clients’ who were there getting tattoos, she only had a couple
hours to go home and get ready.

She took a quick shower, blow-dried her hair and put on some
gray leggings over lacy pink panties. Her cheeks flamed, thinking of the guys,
of seeing them later. Her heart felt lighter than it had in years, and she was
determined to soak up every ounce of living she could. She had a lot to make up
for.

A laugh bubbled up inside her as she stood bare-breasted in
her closet and for once, she let it out. It bounced away from her, like a child
playing hopscotch, and she hugged herself.

Her excitement dimmed a bit when she glanced in the corner
where a full-length mirror faced the wall. She’d twisted it around when she’d
come home after the first surgery. Seeing the damage done to her in living
color was more than she could take on a daily basis.

“No time like the present,” she muttered.

It didn’t take her long to set it right.

She backed up, next to the island in the middle, and stared
at herself.

The light from above glinted off her nipple ring. She palmed
her breast, running her thumb across her tight nipple. She palmed her other
breast, cupping them both, squeezing them together. Kyle’s faint teeth marks
from the day before had faded on her augmented breast, but just remembering
them made her pussy clench. Heat spread up her torso and she exhaled on a sigh.

She was lucky to have a breast at all and she’d been taking
it for granted. Reality stared her in the face and she decided for the first
time, it wasn’t all that bad.

With a smile she drew a gray cami over her head and dug
through her clothes on a mission. She pulled an off-the-shoulder pink sweater
from a hanger. It was several years old but the new tags fluttered from the
long sleeve.

Someone had given it to her as a present, but she hadn’t
been comfortable enough to wear it. Unease still skated up her spine as she
tugged it on, settling the cashmere material in place. She was tired of hiding.
It wasn’t a huge step; she wasn’t parading down Main Street bare-chested with a
sign that said, “Yep, I bought ’em. The real ones tried to kill me.” But it was
a step. One she couldn’t have taken two weeks before.

She put on a tiny bit of makeup in the bathroom. Some
eyeliner and lip gloss. Then she wrapped her hair up in a chignon. A style
she’d loved but had avoided due to her increasing need to hide. She adored her
long hair, but she knew she’d been hiding in it.

Her watch lay on the counter and she slipped it over her
wrist, noticing she didn’t have much time before Kyle came to get her.

“Haleigh, we’re going out with the—” Her mother stood in the
doorway, staring at her. She lingered on her hair in the mirror then focused on
her bare left shoulder. The sweater hung midway along her bicep, showing two
scars above the cami.

Haleigh fought the urge to cover them, fisting her hands by
her sides. She faced her mother, letting her get a good look.

“Do you have a date?”

The incredulousness soaking her mother’s words made her
laugh. Amazingly, it didn’t hurt so badly. “Yes.”

“Anyone we know?” she asked skeptically. As if she might be
dating an alien.

“Actually, you do. It’s Kyle Muse. Remember him from high
school?”

Her mother’s nose lifted into the air and she sniffed
haughtily. “I heard he wasn’t someone you need to associate with. He
disappeared for years, doing God knows what. I also heard he’s…”

She waited until her mom choked on the word.

Haleigh brushed past her and went into her closet again. She
tucked her feet into sparkly silver high heels and slipped dangly pearl
earrings in. She glanced in the mirror one more time, catching her mother’s
reflection in the glass. She stood in the doorway, like a fish out of water.
Her gaze darted from the mirror to her bare shoulder.

“But he’s…”

“What, gay? Don’t worry, Mother. It turns out he isn’t
completely gay. Who knew?”

“Watch your tone of voice with me, and how do you know he’s
not… What have you done?”

You could practically see the angry hamster in her cage
running a mini marathon as she added things up.

Haleigh stepped out into the hall and headed down the
stairs. Her mother nipped at her heels like a terrier. Sounded about like one,
too.

“Don’t go sullying yourself with the likes of men like him.
After your next surgery, everything will be back to norma—”

Haleigh halted in the middle of the stairs. Her mother
barely stopped in enough time to keep from bowling both of them over. She
peered up at her, wondering why she’d tried to make her happy for so long.
“There will be no more surgeries.” Haleigh’s temper rose and she counted to ten.
“And I will never be normal again. Not what
you
think I should be,
anyway. I earned my scars and I’ve decided to keep them, and be proud of them.”

“I never said you—”

“No, you never said anything except they could be fixed.
That I’ll never be perfect again, and you know what? I’m okay with that. I’m
sorry if it’s not good enough for you or Father. I haven’t asked for much, but
love and acceptance were two things I never should have had to request.”

She descended the rest of the stairs, pivoting toward the front
door. “It’s high time I got a place of my own and…I’m thinking about opening up
my own photography studio.”

The gasp from her mom was comical. You’d assume Haleigh had
gotten arrested for wearing her underwear in public to paintball the Pope.

“Maybe you could consider being happy for me since I’ve
found something I love. Plus, it turns out I’m pretty good at it.”

She grabbed her purse and opened the front door. Kyle stood
there with his fist raised, ready to knock. She wrapped her arms around his
neck, kissing him full on the mouth. It only took him a heartbeat worth of time
to get with the program before he lifted her to her tiptoes and took over the
kiss.