The Irresistible Bundle (61 page)

"Were you guys in an open relationship too" Leticia inquired, trying to sound nonchalant about it. According to Desirae, Jaxon had been the one who'd insisted on the monogamous relationship.

Jaxon opened and closed his hands. He needed to get to the gym and beat the shit out of something. Talking things out didn't make him feel better and he wasn't in the mood to fuck someone after being with Carina tonight. His limp dick was testament to that.

"I don't share Carina" Jaxon hissed. There was no way he could be like Valentino and Marco. What the fuck was wrong with them anyways? How could they watch Carina have sex with someone else?

"Did she like sharing you" Leticia quietly asked.

Jaxon stumbled at her words. He hadn't slept with anyone while he was with Carina. He'd only flirted and toed the line but he never stuck his dick anywhere. Not until Carina said goodbye for good.... Jaxon stared at the wall as memories assaulted him. The scenario was a little too familiar to the first time they were together. They hadn't been dating. Shit, they hadn't even talked about being exclusive. Jaxon was confident Carina hadn't been with anyone else and she'd been enough for him in those first few weeks of school. It was that fucking sorority party that had changed things. He growled with frustration. He really fucking hated sorority parties when it came to memories of him and Carina. The shit always hit the fan under their roofs.

He tilted his head back and sighed. Weren't the circumstances about the same then too? He'd been flirting with some nameless chicks. Okay maybe there'd been three or four of them. Carina had watched him for a while but hadn't approached. He grudgingly admitted to letting one of them rub his chest to see what Carina would do. But all she did was motion to Desirae who exited the party and then she mouthed goodbye to him. Jaxon remembered every detail of that night. He'd relived it over and over for weeks afterwards. He had winked at her and smiled thinking he'd be buried balls deep in her the next day. But that never happened. Carina had walked away and stayed away. That had fucking hurt his pride and grazed his heart. They'd gotten along beautifully. Carina was a perfect fit. She satisfied his needs like no one else ever could. Jaxon had confessed things to her that he hadn't told anyone. If they hadn't attended his high school they didn't know his back story.

Leticia's words bounced around Jaxon's head. "Apparently not" he answered. It still made no sense why Carina had left him that first time. She never spoke with him about it and Jaxon couldn't understand for the life of him how standing around a bunch of females merited getting permanently ditched. It was almost a year later and he still felt like it was some fucked up shit. There was nothing worse than getting left behind without some kind of reason or explanation.

"Huh" Leticia huffed. "Isn't that something" she mused. Had Carina changed that much in the time she'd dated Jaxon to when she'd begun double-dating Marco and Valentino?

Jaxon crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Leticia. "Care to elaborate?"

"I just find it interesting that neither you nor Carina wanted to share -"

"Damn right" Jaxon interrupted.

"Would you at least have been okay with her messing around with guys, just not sleeping with them?" She innocently asked.

"Fuck no" He snapped "Every inch of her belonged to me and only me."

"But it was okay for you to" She replied. Jaxon had walked right into that one but he needed to hear it. Leticia suspected this was the root of Carina's issues with Jaxon. For as open as Marco and Valentino were with their inner circle, Leticia never saw them disrespecting their relationship by feeling up every girl that noticed them or fucking anyone without their other partners' consents. The trio had a complicated relationship that simply worked.

"That's not fair" Jaxon protested. Leticia wasn't understanding things.

"What isn't fair" Leticia challenged. She wanted to hear Jaxon's justifications.

"I didn't fuck any of them. I only wanted Carina" He clarified.

"What did you do with them?" She inquired. "It had to have been something for Carina to break things off."

Jaxon scowled. He still couldn't remember that one fucking night. He'd been drunk as fuck on whiskey and Carina had confronted him. If Jaxon hadn't woken up to a room of naked bodies he wouldn't have believed that he'd fucked someone that night. The pictures that later surfaced only damned him more. Jaxon knew Carina was permanently done with him then. There was no coming back from that epic fuck-up.

"Carina had gone away for the holiday week" He nearly growled at the memory. "I went out with friends and I danced at the clubs... That's no crime."

Leticia nodded but said nothing. Jaxon needed to be the one who confessed without her pressuring him.

"When you dance you make bodily contact" Jaxon continued. He stood taller and spoke with confidence as he presented his case. "Body parts get touched which causes friction... There may have been a time or two when a female got the wrong impression and began kissing me but I always corrected them."

Leticia rolled her eyes. Jaxon couldn't even say that last part with a straight face. He should've added the word
eventually
to the sentence to make it more believable. Things were finally making sense. The missing puzzle pieces were coming together to make a clearer picture. Carina didn't trust Jaxon... Maybe rightly so. Carina refused to give all of herself to Jaxon. Perhaps to protect herself; but then why be in the relationship to begin with? Jaxon obviously wanted something more. Something Carina wasn't willing to give. None of those pieces fit together but Jaxon couldn't see that. All he could see was the big picture but he couldn't get there.

"I know I majorly fucked up that night" Jaxon acknowledged. "But what's done is done. I can't undo having that Goddamn orgy with the sorority."

Shock was the understatement of the year. Appalled. Disgusted. Okay who was Leticia kidding? The man was a fucking stud! The whole sorority?! That was some epically fucked up shit. This just blew her partially completed puzzle to smithereens. "This was before or after the holiday week" She inquired. She was sure her voice didn't sound as weak to his ears as it had to hers.

"Right after" Jaxon groaned in defeat. "It was the night Carina supposedly confronted me. I drank too much and can't remember shit about that night but I have too many witnesses and pictures that say I fucked each and every one of them. Still don't know how I could keep my dick working if my brain barely functioned. But that was the night Carina turned to Valentino and the rest is history."

Leticia knew she should feel something more than stunned but her mind and body were still in shock mode. That was a lot to take in. She knew Jaxon was promiscuous but damn if that didn't take the cake. Her stomach twisted. She really didn't want to know how many people Jaxon had slept with. If she did that he'd begin looking like a walking billboard for HPV and not one for sex incarnate. She had access to member's files. It was easy enough to see Jaxon's medical history without having to ask him about it...

"Then maybe it's time you moved on too" She sat forward. "If you're meant to be it'll happen. Stop trying to force it. But if it's not then you're the only one who keeps getting burned. Right now Carina is somewhere in the arms of two men who care for her very deeply, while you're here pacing back and forth mourning the memory of her."

"Well shit" Jaxon stopped pacing. He blinked several times slowly processing Leticia's words. These last few weeks had been exactly that. He had forced himself into Carina's life. He'd obligated her to do the scenes, confident that it would make her remember. And she did remember; Carina's body couldn't lie... But it wasn't enough. Carina wasn't questioning her relationship with Valentino and Marco. She wasn't reminiscing about her days with him whenever she had the chance.

Jaxon gritted his teeth. He hated throwing in the towel but this wasn't a fight he could win. Damn... It wasn't even a battle. There was no one to compete with if Carina wasn't interested. He stared at Leticia who patiently waited for him to say something. He tried not to compare Leticia to Carina but it was hard not to. They shared similar physical characteristics but not enough to be mistaken as family or anything. It just made it more difficult for Jaxon to
not
notice Leticia. He liked talking openly with her. This was unheard of in his world. He'd actually spent a few hours with a hot chick and hadn't fucked her. His dick wasn't onboard with this but his dick was the root of all his problems as of recently.

"Thank you Leti" Jaxon humbly replied. "I needed to hear that."

Leticia's heart fluttered at the endearment. Jaxon didn't give any of the other girls nicknames, aside from Carina, and she was someone important to him. She'd been afraid to voice her opinion but the risk had been worth it. Jaxon was finally getting the message.

She rose from the couch and walked over to Jaxon hugging him tightly. She'd wanted to do that all evening and it was finally the right time. Jaxon wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly. She breathed in the smell of his soap and cherished this small moment. She might not get it again and it felt really nice.

"See you around Jaxon" She said as she separated herself from his warm embrace. Her body screamed to wrap herself around him again but her cautious heart needed the distance. Jaxon was devastating on so many levels. Leticia wanted to get to know him better but she was afraid that was going to make him all the harder to resist him later.

"Looking forward to it" Jaxon whispered against her cheek before softly kissing it. His soft lips shot her nervous system to shit. Leticia tried to calm her palpitating heart and rugged breathing with sobering thoughts. She reminded herself that Jaxon did that as a form of saying hello and goodbye to plenty of people.

Leticia focused her entire being on taking one step at a time out of the room. She didn't look back. Hell, she didn't even breathe until she was a safe distance away. Jaxon needed a friend right now and that's what she was going to be. No friend with benefits. Just an honest friend who was attracted to him... Ah hell...

Chapter Thirteen

Carina closed her eyes as saltwater sprayed her face. The cruise ship was at full speed heading back to port. The sun warmed her skin as she leaned against the balcony rail. Valentino had whisked them away on a 6-day cruise to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. It was the first time they'd ever traveled together as a trio and Carina had loved every minute. The spontaneous trip had been the perfect escape from it all. Carina felt bad for leaving Desirae, Andrea, and Diego behind but not enough to decline the getaway. She'd needed this time to clear her head and straighten her heart.

"I'm not ready to go back" Valentino murmured into her ear. Carina shivered as he wrapped his strong arms around her body.

"Me neither" her breathy reply made Valentino's cock swell. Carina moaned with appreciation as his rigid appendage prodded her back end.

"We have a few hours before we dock" he nibbled her ear. He and Marco had been buried between her thighs all week. They didn't want her thinking about Jaxon for even a second.

Carina's womb clenched. She was deliciously sore yet she still wanted more. As much as she wanted to love on her two men they needed to talk. She still sensed their desperation and uncertainty and she wanted none of it when they returned home. She turned to face Valentino. His dark, serious eyes shone with love. Carina rubbed the palm of her hand against the aching spot in her chest. She woke up every day honored and humbled to be loved by not one but two phenomenal men... And they were men. Fine. Talented. And sexy as hell. Valentino and Marco weren't immature college students. They were well-respected and highly successful businessmen.

"Can we talk first" She nervously nibbled her lips. It was always so easy to talk to them about anything but this was the first time she felt completely unsure of her place in their future.

Valentino stilled. His normally confident stance slightly slumped. He nodded before leading her into their suite. They silently headed towards the single king-sized bed in the room watching Marco zip his suitcase as they approached. His smile vanished once he noticed their serious faces.

"Carina wants to talk" Valentino flatly stated. Marco's breath quickened as his eyes darted between his two lovers. Marco didn't want to talk. He could pretend last weekend hadn't happen. He could promise not to kill Jaxon the next time he saw the fucker - as long as Carina didn't leave them.

"Sit down you two" Carina sighed. You'd think she'd said 'dead man walking' as they exited their cell and walked down to the death chamber. "We need to discuss a few things" She held up her hand as both men opened their mouths to say something. She just wanted to get it all off her chest. If this was going to work between them Jaxon couldn't be an ongoing issue. She'd allowed his presence to shadow their bright light for too long.

"You know my history with Jaxon" Carina stated slowly and clearly. They'd seen the infamous videos online. They'd witnessed past interactions between her and Jaxon. Carina looked at each man as she spoke. There were a few things she had to say that she preferred to keep to herself... but they'd agreed from the onset of this intimate threesome that if they were going to have an open relationship there had to be open and honest communication with clear transparency in everything. "I wasn't happy with Nicholas when he insisted I perform with Jaxon. Quite frankly I was surprised that you were okay with it."

"We weren't" Valentino interjected. They hadn't seen Nicholas since he left the suite at
Hedonism
. Valentino had been grateful that Nicholas had given them time alone but it didn't make up for everything that happened. "We respect and understand making business decisions but Nicholas understood that this was personal too. He basically made the decision and informed us after the fact. Nicholas has been punished in his own way."

Marco smirked. "He gets no nookie from you until we say so."

Carina softly laughed. No wonder Nicholas had been melancholy those last few days. He enjoyed his trysts with her. Perhaps this would teach him not to meddle.

"Very well" She replied. The flare in Valentino's eyes made Carina aware that they had indeed fought with Nicholas regarding the decision. She was immensely relieved that they hadn't easily acquiesced. Somehow she felt like if they hadn't fought it was akin to whoring her out. She took a cleansing breath before continuing. She needed to say this.

"The dance numbers were acceptable for me. I thought I could handle them with no issue. I was more concerned with the erotic numbers. I needed to be genuine in my responses but I didn't want to send mixed messages to everyone. Jaxon and I were previously an item. We fucked like animals for weeks at a time. There's no denying the potent chemistry between us."

Carina stumbled on her words as the men flinched. "Something happened between me and Jaxon after one of the dance numbers" She confessed. The words rushed out of her mouth before she could process what she was actually trying to say.

"I suspected as much" Valentino surmised. He'd noticed Desirae and Sati's behavior that one night. He didn't want to ask because he hadn't wanted to know.

"We didn't have sex" Carina quickly reassured them. She swallowed the sour taste in her mouth. She really was no better than Jaxon.

Marco squeezed her knee. She was visibly distressed and warring with herself. He knew whatever she had to say wouldn't be easy for any of them. "It's okay" He assured her, "Talk to us."

"We kissed and practically fucked each other with our clothes on... in the same exact spot where the curtain closed on us" tears streamed down Carina's face as she blurted the confession. She should've told them about it when it happened. Instead she'd made excuses and entirely avoided the conversation.

Valentino looked away. He couldn't stare at her tears without wanting to console her but he needed to hear it all. "What else" he asked.

His gruff and hurt voice made her want to ball up with shame. "Nothing more happened" She stated, "But I didn't discourage him from anything else."

"Did you initiate or encourage things yourself" Valentino flatly asked. He just wanted to know one question but Carina seemed to be taking forever to get there.

"No" Carina whispered fiercely. "I hated that I'd forgotten myself in that moment. I hated my body for enjoying it. I was angry with Jaxon for knowing what to do..."

"Because he made you come" Marco said it for her. He knew that was what she was dancing around.

"Yes" She softly wailed. They were going to leave her now. Even in a three-way, open relationship she couldn't placate the slut in her.

"So the only time you've had sex with him in these last two weeks was that scene we all witnessed" Valentino clarified. Hope fluttered in his chest. Maybe things weren't as bad as he feared. Maybe Jaxon had been an itch she'd needed to scratch.

"Absolutely" Carina adamantly stated. She looked both men directly in the eyes to let them see she wasn't hiding anything. "You saw the scene. Jaxon knows my body well. Sex has always been good between us but it's not something I'm willing to do again at the risk of losing either of you. My feelings for Jaxon aren't even a blimp on the radar. I love you Valentino. I love you Marco." She vehemently stated as she looked at both of her men.

Valentino exhaled loudly. The pressing weight on his chest lifted with her words. He could breathe again. He could look at Jaxon and know that no matter what kind of sexual thrall that bastard put Carina in that he'd never have her heart. Valentino understood the score. Jaxon was her kryptonite. They just had to find a way to counteract it.

Marco pulled Carina into his arms. He trembled under her tight embrace. She always knew what to say to assuage their concerns and fears. She was so intricately connected to them. Marco didn't want to lose her but he didn't want to scare her off. She was still young and experiencing the world and all it had to offer. "We love you too" Marco whispered. She shivered with his words.

Valentino grabbed his luggage and sifted through it. He made eye contact with Marco silently communicating something before pulling out the item and placing it under the nearest pillow. It was time to present Carina with her gift. It was the perfect way to bring closure to this conversation.

"I know we've only been together for eight months" Valentino angled Carina so she could look at both of them. "But I thank God, the universe, and everything else in between that we found you." He pulled a small square box from beneath the pillow and slowly opened it. "Autumn is officially my favorite season because it's when we found you. It's when I fell in love with you Carina. It's when you brought Marco to me, to us..."

"I was already there" Marco caressed Valentino's jaw. "You just weren't ready to see it."

"But Carina did" Valentino softly kissed her lips. He leaned over and kissed Marco with the same tenderness. Marco was right. Valentino hadn't been able to see what was right in front of him until Carina opened his eyes.

"Oh my God it's beautiful" She gasped. She hadn't understood why Valentino was talking about seasons, until now. Inside the small box was a platinum and diamond bracelet, shaped like maple leaves with small baby breaths between the leaves, reminding her of autumn. The bracelet was held together with a thin platinum band that looked like a slender tree branch holding the leaves together. Carina was afraid to put on such an exquisite piece of jewelry.

"We want you to look at that bracelet every day and know how much we love you." Marco put the bracelet on Carina's wrist, kissing it reverently.

"I'll treasure this" She breathed. "It's a beautiful reminder."

Valentino and Marco smiled. It was the first time all week that they confidently radiated happiness and love. Carina had cleared the air, addressed their concerns, and cherished their gift. Marco threw himself onto Carina and Valentino. The trio laughed as they ripped their clothes off and climbed higher onto the bed.