The final pump sends me catapulting off the precipice, straight into the arms of another eruption. My body is wrung out, tingling with stimulation, barely able to hold itself up.
Axel roars my name, his grip on my hair slackening, hips stilling as he finds his release. Despite the condom, heat spreads through me, warming my inner walls. The feeling only intensifies the orgasm charging through me at breakneck speed.
Each internal tremor saps the last of my energy, roughly depositing me in the blissful oblivion of aftershocks. We collapse simultaneously, slippery limbs entwining to form a sweaty heap on the bed.
I twist to land cradled between Axel’s arm and his heaving chest, dotted with beads of moisture. He’s limp too, flopped on his back with his eyelids hanging at half-mast.
“Did you die?” I taunt between pants.
“Yes. Went to heaven.”
Smiling, I hook my leg over his, uncaring of the sticky warmth covering my thighs from multiple orgasms. Axel tugs off the condom then ties it off and sets it aside.
“You okay?”
“Mm.” Dazed, I moan in reply. “Think I quite like being fucked into behaving.”
“Then you should be a stubborn pain in the ass more often.”
“Perhaps I will.”
“Preferably without causing a fight or fitting in secret somewhere,” he clarifies, two narrowed eyes turning on me. “Warner’s heart can’t take it.”
“His heart needs a damn good talking to.”
“I’ll leave that pleasure for you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
We curl into each other, basking in the post-sex glow. I’m in no rush to leave his arms; I need a minute until I have to face the music. We’re alone here, but that doesn’t mean things haven’t changed. I know where Axel stands. Hyland? Blaine? Warner? Complete unknowns.
I’m not stupid enough to think that what I’m asking for isn’t too much. By any normal standard, what I want with all of my teammates is wrong. Greedy. Immoral. But I know what I want and who I’m willing to share my life with. After years of powerlessness, this is my decision.
I want Axel. Hyland.
Warner.
Blaine too.
I want us to find the love and security we’ve never had before in each other. To endure this storm as a team, a unit… a family. After so much heartache, it’s clear to me now. The only way we end this is if we work together.
The soft vibrating of my phone eventually breaks our peace. I disentangle myself from Axel to check, finding two missed calls and a text message from Hyland in the group chat.
“Shit.”
“What is it?” Axel props his head up.
“Tom’s doctor tried to call me. He’s waking up.”
CHAPTER 14
EMBER
WHAT I NEED – HIGH JUNE
Impatience forms an electrified cattle prod,jabbing into my soft tissue as I watch the doctor talk to Tom through the pane of glass in his door. He’s disorientated, still confined to the hospital bed, his heavy eyes forming slits that seem reluctant to open at all.
I doubt he even knows where he is after being sedated while the antibiotics did their work. As much as I want to race in there and throw my arms around him, I’m holding back until the doctor’s done his job.
