I TREMBLED as that delicious warmth of Caleb’s fingers marked me. They branded me as theirs with every touch and every kiss, with every look…God, even with their scent. The tang of sweat and sex was heavy in the air, staining every inch of my memory.
The crack of the small refrigerator in Nick’s room came before footsteps. “Drink, Ryth,” Tobias directed as he cracked open a bottle of electrolytes. “You need to stay hydrated.”
I slowly pushed up, my body feeling battered as I reached for the bottle in Tobias’ hand and took a swallow. Tobias dressed, yanking on his jeans, boots, and shirt. Nick followed, but it was Caleb who grabbed my clothes from the floor. “You’re going to feel a bit sensitive for a while, until your body gets used to it.” He lifted my panties, letting me slip my feet through the openings.
He did his best not to touch me, letting me slide my underwear up before he handed me my bra. “And I know you have that assignment due tomorrow,” he continued. “So we’re setting your desk up in here.”
Nick was already moving to his desk, making room…for me.
I hooked my bra, then took my jeans from Caleb and slid them on. “Okay, why?” I wasn’t sure about this.
“Just in case you need something,” Tobias murmured, watching me.
“In case I need something, huh?” I rose from the bed on shaking legs. Caleb was right, my body trembled, even with the weight of my shirt as I slid it over my head.
“Let us take care of you, Ryth,” Tobias added as Nick moved to the door, crackled it open, and stepped out. “After all, that’s what big brothers do, right?”
Big brothers…the words collided with what we’d just done. I tracked the thud of Nick’s footsteps to my room, then he returned moments later, carrying my laptop and notepad.
“You were having a little trouble, referencing.” Caleb met my gaze. “You know I could help you with that?”
“I’m getting us food,” Tobias muttered and strode toward the door.
In a heartbeat, the room was filled with movement. A space was made for me, sitting next to Nick. I drank the drink they gave me and stepped forward, sitting as Caleb motioned. It felt awkward, being in their room, and yet part of me wanted it. Part of me ached for it, no longer on the outside.
No…now I belonged.
I opened up my laptop and found my assignment. Caleb was right, the referencing was a hot mess. It was one of my most hated parts. Caleb left, then returned moments later with his own laptop. He sank to the floor at the bottom of Nick’s bed, barefoot, sleeves rolled up, then opened a screen. “Send me the links and I’ll reference for you.”
“Isn’t that cheating?” I gave a sigh, glancing over my shoulder.
His cocky smile was instant. “I won’t tell if you don’t, little sister.”
My cheeks flushed at the wicked wink, making my chest flutter. Thank God. I smiled, pulled up the email draft I’d had the forethought to copy, and pasted the details. “What’s your email?”
I sent it to him as Tobias strode in, placing a plate in front of me with a ham, cheese, and mayo sandwich. My stomach howled, even though I’d only just had breakfast. I glanced at the clock and stiffened. “It’s two in the afternoon?”
Caleb chuckled.
“Yeah, it is.” Tobias looked down at me, those coal eyes glittering with pride. “Time flies when you’re having fun, right, little mouse?”
“Where’s mine?” Nick muttered.
“Kitchen,” Tobias growled as he strode past. “I’m not your fucking maid.”
Caleb roared with laughter behind me as Nick turned and gave Tobias a shove, then the next minute, Tobias’ sandwich went flying as they wrestled right behind me.
Grunts and growls, strength against training. Neither of them won. But by the time they were finished, Nick had taken a huge bite out of half of T’s sandwich, earning him a threatening snarl. “Brothers,” Caleb warned, his focus on the screen in front of him. Nick sank to his chair as I broke my half in two, handing one piece over.
“Thanks, sis,” Nick said, and gave me a wink.
Jesus, I couldn’t keep up with this. One minute Nick had his head between my legs, his tongue deep inside me, and the next he was calling me sis. Heat flushed in my cheeks as I forced myself back to my laptop. Caleb was right, I had only a few hours to finish this damn assignment and make sure it was compelling.
We lost track of time. I re-wrote chunks based on Caleb’s input. Nick worked on his laptop on some kind of Bitcoin trade site, and Tobias just lay back on Nick’s bed with his EarPods in, as he played a game on his phone. It all felt…totally normal.
We worked until the sun dimmed outside and night closed in.
“Food?” Tobias muttered.
“I swear, you’re like a bottomless stomach, T.” Caleb muttered.
“I’m fucking starving, too,” Nick announced as he tossed his headphones aside and rose, stretching cramped muscles.
I lifted my head, but all I saw were passages I needed to rewrite before morning. But my body ached and my head felt fuzzy. “I think I need a break, too.”
“Food it is then.” Tobias shoved up from the bed. “This time someone else is cooking.”
“You didn’t cook last time,” Nick glared. “A sandwich isn’t cooking.”
Tobias gave a shrug. “Bite me.” He strode from the room, heading for his bedroom.
“Come on,” Caleb said as he pushed up from the floor and moaned, stretching. “Looks like it’s you and me, kid.”
I glanced at Nick, who grinned and urged me onwards. I followed Caleb down to the kitchen, moving to the panty. “Right, what can you cook?”
“Whatever you feel like.” He yanked open the refrigerator door and peered inside. “I make a mean omelet, how about that?”
“Sounds delicious,” I said, my mouth watering. “It just so happens, I make a mean buttered toast.”
He shot me a grin over his shoulder, his face brightened by the refrigerator lights. “Sounds like a match made in heaven.”
That fluttering in my chest came once again as he pulled out cartons of eggs and butter, placing them on the counter. We worked silently. He plundered the fridge while I pulled out a bowl and whisk and started cracking eggs. One careful look toward the stairs, and Caleb grabbed my hips as he moved around me, kissing me on the shoulder.
I froze at the brush of his lips, my pulse stuttering and fear punching high as I jerked my own gaze to the stairs. “You still feel my cum on your skin, princess?” came the low murmur at my back.
Shivers tore along my spine as my body responded. “Yes,” I answered.
“Good.”
He moved away, grabbing one of the heavy pans and setting it on the stove. Good? That’s it? I swallowed hard and tried to control the shake in my hand. He lit the burner, shifting the pan, and I was drawn to those hands, thick fingers clenched around the handle. I knew what was under that shirt, knew what lay under all his clothes, and knew what he tasted like.
“You’re staring into space again,” he murmured, and then turned.
Faint amusement shone like stars in his eyes, and the tight curl of his lips told me he liked the attention. “I forgot what we were doing,” I answered.
He crossed the space toward me.
“Cooking dinner, by the looks of it,” Mom groaned from the doorway, the faint thud of her steps finally registering. “Really, Ryth, you’d forget your head most days if it wasn’t attached.”
I flinched at the bite in her tone, watching her come toward us. She looked like hell, barely glancing at Caleb. No, instead, her bleary glare seemed to be fixed on me. “Where have you been?”
“Here,” I answered, my tone cold.
“All day?” She yanked out a seat at the island and slumped down hard.
“All day.” Caleb turned, sliding butter in the bottom of the pan before he grabbed the bowl of cracked eggs. “Ryth has been working hard on her assignment.”
“Working,” mom gave a huff and closed her eyes. “Just like her damn father, no doubt.”
I froze, pain cutting through me at the words. Anger darkened Caleb’s eyes as he turned on her, striding forward to brace his arms on the island in front of her. “You know, if you paid a little more attention, you’d actually see her for who she was, and not just an extension of you or her father.”
She opened her eyes, finding Caleb right there, and gave a ghost of a smile. She seemed to notice him then, noticed his open shirt and the rolled-up sleeves, noticed the way he exuded seductive control. Her breaths deepened and a look of molten desire seemed to melt the ice she had for me. “I didn’t mean…” she started.
“Didn’t mean what?” Tobias growled, striding into the kitchen.
He rounded the corner, peered into the pan on the stove, and headed my way, reaching over my shoulder to snag a piece of cheese and plop it into his mouth, then turned toward her, standing at my back.
“Elle was just saying that Ryth—”
“That Ryth what?” Nick strode toward us as he, too, entered the kitchen, and headed to the fridge, grabbing out a beer before he cracked it open and took a step closer to me, peering at Mom.
The moves couldn’t have been more deliberate, Caleb on one side, Nick on the other, and Tobias…Tobias standing at my back. She glanced from one to the other, and gave a small smile. “Nothing.” She turned that smile to me. “Nothing, honey. Don’t mind me, I’m just tired.”
“Then maybe you should take your pissy attitude back to bed?” Tobias growled.
Mom flinched, glancing at Caleb. Did she see Creed in him? Did she think he’d turn on his own brother to take her side?
“You look tired, Elle,” Caleb murmured.
“Those sleeping pills are hell,” Nick added.
I glanced away, this was all my fault, if I hadn’t…Tobias reached over me once more, grasping a piece of ham, his arm brushing mine with the movement. His chest was warm pressed against my back.
“I think you’re right,” Mom muttered, sliding from the chair. “I can’t seem to shake this damn throbbing.”
“Night,” Caleb finished as the slow hiss of the butter melting filled the air.
Nick turned toward the stove. “I’m fucking starving, don’t burn it, brother.”
Dismissed, just like that. She never even looked at me before she slowly made her way back to the stairs and climbed. I tried to find a fragment of the mom I’d once known in the curve of her back and the slump of her shoulders.
But the truth was, she was as much a stranger to me now as she’d been then. I never really knew her, had never known her love. It was so hard, trying to find the feeling when it had never really existed at all. Mom gave only what she wanted, like a leaky faucet, and I’d clung to every drop, waiting for it with a ravenous thirst.
Pain coursed through me as her steps faded. Scrape, whisk, mumble, even the low brotherly jabs from Nick didn’t invade the fog of my memories.
“You wait for her, and you’ll be waiting a lifetime,” Tobias said at my back. “Believe me…I should know.”
He was right, I knew that. Still, it didn’t ease the sting, nothing did. But as the scents and the sounds of my brothers closed in, they soothed the wound, pulling me away, until the ache of her was replaced by something else.
Something I’d never had in my entire life…a sense of belonging.
