Laikyn
When I woke the next morning, I felt better than I’d felt in … well, maybe ever.
Last night … fucking Rule and Jinx … even the thought sent a shiver down my spine. I would admit I hadn’t been exactly picky about the men I fucked in the past. My only requirement was that they were safe and clean and could hold a relatively intelligent conversation. Other than that, it was fair game.
For the most part, the encounters had been good. Not great, not terrible. Just good. I measured that by whether I achieved orgasm. Most of the time, I did. I didn’t believe in faking it because it wasn’t worth the hassle, and if that meant rubbing one out while they watched, so be it. If I was going to give my body to someone, by God, I was going to get something out of the deal. And if they couldn’t do it the first time, I wasn’t willing to risk a repeat. For that reason and others, I tended to keep my encounters casual. At least since I graduated from high school.
But last night, I learned that good sex wasn’t great sex. Not even in the same ballpark.
Good sex was achieving orgasm. Great sex was … well, it was Rule and Jinx fucking me in a way I’d never been fucked before. Part of it had to do with their impressively large cocks. I’d gotten a good look at Rule’s long, thick dick, and let me just say, he was not average by any stretch of the imagination. When I sank down on him, I thought Rule was going to split me in two, but then Jinx buried his monster dick inside me, and I realized I hadn’t known what big was until him.
No doubt, any man who came after them would probably pale in comparison.
However, size wasn’t everything. While it certainly didn’t hurt, the best part was the way they used the tools they’d been given. Never had a cock stroked me so intensely from the inside. No doubt, with age, came experience, and they’d been paying attention because they knew the exact right things to do to make my head explode. I had a feeling I was going to have to be pickier with my selection of men in the future because not only did Rule and Jinx have the goods, but they knew how to use them. I’d never had an orgasm like the ones they gave me. Never.
Maybe I should change my rating system based on the intensity of the orgasm instead. That would put Rule and Jinx at a ten on the Richter scale and the next best at around a three.
Kinda sad, really.
Because I knew Rule was going to avoid me like the plague, I took my time getting up. I showered and dressed, then ventured out to get something for breakfast, smiling with every step because the soreness between my legs was a constant reminder of what we’d done last night.
“Hey, Waldo,” I greeted when the dog lifted his head from his doggy bed. “Are we here by ourselves?”
His tongue lolled out of his mouth, and I swore he smiled.
“I know. It’s kinda fun being home alone, huh?”
Or it had been. For whatever reason, I was hoping I’d have a chance to see them before they left for the day.
“Oh well,” I muttered to myself.
As soon as I walked into the kitchen, I stopped, a laugh bubbling up from my belly when I saw all the packages of batteries sitting on the island. Evidently, Rule remembered me mentioning AAs because there were probably three dozen or so—all unopened.
“Sorry, husband of mine. The vibrator no longer holds my interest.”
If he thought I was reverting to getting myself off, he was sadly mistaken. I had every intention of fucking both of them again. I now knew what it felt like to take a drug. That first hit was euphoric, and now I would go to the ends of the earth for another.
I was an addict.
They were my drug.
Rehab wasn’t an option.
I glanced in the garage to see if Rule’s car was there. I hadn’t expected it to be, and I was right. He was becoming predictable in that regard. As for Jinx… His motorcycle was still there, but that didn’t mean he was home. Since he was attached to Rule at the hip most days, I assumed he’d gone with him.
I returned to the kitchen and pulled the loaf of bread out of the pantry. I took out a piece and dropped it into the toaster. While the bread browned, I grabbed the butter from the refrigerator and a knife from the utensil drawer. I purposely left the bread loaf out but couldn’t be so cruel as to leave it open, so I tied it up and tossed it carelessly on the center island.
When the toast popped, I buttered it, then left the knife on the counter. Again, my inane desire not to waste things caused me to return the butter stick to the refrigerator. After that, I took a trip through the house, nibbling on the toast, aware that I was leaving crumbs in my wake. I didn’t care. Waldo would get to them eventually, and if he didn’t, well, this was Rule’s punishment for leaving me home alone. I mean, sure, it was nice not to have anyone to answer to, but the least he could’ve done was stick around the morning after.
Then again, I was the one who walked out on them, leaving them to stare after me dumbfounded. I hadn’t wanted to, necessarily, but I knew it was the only choice I had. I’d told Rule specifically that I would not get attached, and lingering for cuddle time felt far too intimate for what we were doing.
Didn’t mean a text good morning wouldn’t have gone a long way to making me feel like it had been as good for them as it had been for me. But there were no texts, no voicemails. Not even a note beside the batteries.
Once I was finished with my breakfast, I went out to the rec room, which I’d been using as an art studio. When I stepped inside, I came to an abrupt stop, my heart leaping right into my throat.
“Holy fuck.”
Those were the only words my brain could process as I stared at the room. It was entirely different than it had been yesterday when I was out here. And I don’t mean simply rearranged. It was … different. The walls had been painted a brilliant white—no more satin gray—and dozens of lights had been installed overhead along tracts, making it possible to position them all around the room.
But the most impressive were the rows of shelves and the rolling cart and the desk—all in a glossy white that allowed for real organization of the space. My blank canvasses had tripled in number, all neatly arranged in a section designed to hold them. There were supplies of all kinds in the tubs and bins attached to an enormous steel pegboard permanently fixed on the wall.
How had they done this? No doubt they would’ve had to stay up all night, not only shopping but painting. How? Why?
I was grinning when I noticed a bright orange Post-it note stuck to the top of the white desk. I moved closer, then leaned down to read it.
THOUGHT MAYBE THIS WOULD HELP. LET US KNOW WHAT ELSE YOU NEED.
~ R/J
Fine. So maybe the text wasn’t necessary because this … well, this said it all.
“You aren’t going to make it easy on a girl, are you?” I muttered to myself, giggling as I took another look around. If they didn’t want me to fall in love with them, they were doing things all wrong.
I spent the next few hours organizing the space so that it worked better for me, then working on my sunset piece. It was turning out better than I anticipated, but I figured I owed Rule for that. I will never forget that moment for as long as I live because my brain had documented that kiss with an ethereal sunset. It was my duty to capture the moment on canvas.
By lunchtime, I was bored, so I checked my social media accounts, then found myself lost on TikTok for two freaking hours while I lounged on the back patio with Waldo keeping me company. When my eyes started to drift closed, I tossed my phone aside and went back into the house. With every day I was there, I was getting nosier and nosier. I’d already gone through Rule’s records, which was pretty much the only real thing he owned in this house. He didn’t have any photographs to peruse, no knickknacks to admire, and there were no books to nose through.
My curiosity got the best of me, so I headed down the hall to the bedrooms, bypassing mine. I tried the door to Jinx’s room but found it locked. Hmm. Interesting.
Waldo stared up at me from a few feet away. “Does he hide the key around here somewhere?”
I felt along the top of the door frame for a key but came up empty.
“Looks like we’re SOL, my friend.”
Since my B and E skills were sorely lacking, I gave up and went in search of something else to snoop through. I ended up in Rule’s bedroom, Waldo right behind me. While he hopped up on the padded bench at the end of the bed, I went through Rule’s drawers, leaving them haphazardly open along the way. Socks, underwear, shorts. Check, check, check. All were neatly folded and arranged in a fashion that was appealing to the eye.
When I went into his closet, I flipped on the light. There was a large safe—the size of a small closet—in one corner. I checked it. Locked.
Probably best I didn’t know what was in there anyway.
I skimmed through his clothes. He had a very casual style. Mostly jeans and cotton Henleys with graphics of some sort on them. His choice of footwear was shit-kicker style boots with laces. He had them in two colors—beige and black. He had a pair of Adidas—black with white stripes—and a pair of black Gucci loafers, which probably went with the one suit hanging nearby. That was the extent of his shoe collection. No boat shoes or flip-flops for this man.
Because I was feeling petulant, I pulled one of his T-shirts off the hanger and brought it to my nose. It smelled clean. Like laundry detergent, not his unique, intoxicating scent. I rummaged through the drawers in the closet until I found a small bottle of cologne. I spritzed a tiny bit on the shirt, then stripped off my clothes and pulled it on. I left my clothes on his closet floor and didn’t bother to close the drawers or cabinets. By the time I was finished, it looked like someone had ransacked the space, searching for something.
Bored and with no idea what to do next, I crawled up into his unmade bed and slipped beneath the blanket. I rested my head on the pillow that had an indent on it, and that was when I smelled him. I smiled to myself, closed my eyes, and drifted off to thoughts of him.
* * *
Rule
It was still daylight when I got home, but the sun was beginning to set. Jinx had stayed at the office to work on a job he was helping Rhyan with. She offered to drive him home, and since I’d been too restless to hang out, I spent an hour driving around, hoping that some of the anticipation of seeing Laikyn would wear off.
For the record, it didn’t.
I wasted a little more time stopping at the Chinese restaurant around the corner from my house to pick up dinner for the three of us. I didn’t know what Laikyn preferred to eat, and since she hadn’t turned her nose up at Chinese food when Rhyan and Willy brought it, I figured it was a safe bet. Since I knew Jinx didn’t care what was on the menu—when you spent months on end eating only scraps of whatever you could find, it affected your palate—I ordered a variety of shit.
Now, as I sat in the garage with the aroma of moo shu pork filling the car, I found myself both eager and reluctant to go inside. After last night … I knew there was no fucking way I would be able to keep my hands off Laikyn. Not unless she specifically ordered me to. Sure, there was a good possibility that would happen since I’d insisted she fuck both of us or neither. That hadn’t been my finest moment, and though I’d enjoyed the fuck out of it—far more than I expected I would—that didn’t mean Laikyn was on the same page. I hadn’t heard anything from her all day, and I wouldn’t pretend I hadn’t checked my phone a few dozen times, hoping for a text message.
“Suck it up,” I muttered, grabbing the bags of food and forcing myself out of the car. When I walked inside, the house felt different. I couldn’t explain what it was exactly, but it was … off.
Waldo came racing across the floor, sliding on the hardwood in his haste to get to me, his tail whipping and wagging back and forth.
“Where is she?” I asked him.
As expected, he didn’t answer, but he shoved his nose against the bags of food.
“Not for you, man. Yours is in here,” I told him as I made my way to the kitchen.
I set the bags on the counter, noticing the bread was out and a butter knife was lying on the counter. The batteries I’d left for Laikyn were still there, unopened. The retractable walls at the back of the house were open, and the outdoor living area lights were on. Laikyn’s phone was on the small table, but she wasn’t lounging around. Nor was she in the pool.
I ventured out to the recreation room but knew before I reached it that she wasn’t there, either. Whenever she was, there was always music coming from inside. I went in anyway. The lights were off, so I flipped the switch, the room brightening instantly.
I felt a strange sense of relief when I noticed she’d been out here. This was one of the reasons I’d been expecting a text. Jinx had talked me into spending the entire night working out here, painting walls, installing shelves and lights and shit to make it more of a space for her. He was considerate like that, while I would’ve assumed she was content with whatever she had until she told me otherwise.
It looked the same as it had at five this morning when we finished and returned to the house. Only now, it felt more like Laikyn’s space because she’d rearranged several things. The place was both messy and organized, although I wasn’t sure how that was even possible. The important things like her pencils, brushes, and paint were neatly set on a shelf, while drop cloths and canvases were strode out everywhere.
My gaze snagged on the piece that looked like a child had been throwing paint, not caring where it landed. When I first saw it yesterday, I noticed the drop cloths arranged around it to shield the wall and the floor, which I took to mean the design was intentional. For whatever reason, I liked this one. It made me smile. Had Laikyn been pissed at me when she did it? If so, it would be the first sign of genuine emotion I’d seen from her since I first met her. Although she had no problem talking about her life, she managed to mask her feelings with sarcasm, wit, and seduction. This felt real to me.
When I turned to go back to the house, I noticed another painting, this one definitely not done from frustration. I moved closer, admiring the brush strokes, the way Laikyn had made the colors pop as though they were coming off the white background. It wasn’t finished, but it felt familiar. As though I’d seen that particular sunset before.
Something pinched in my chest, but it wasn’t the first time that day. Whenever I thought about Laikyn, I had this foreign squeezing sensation in the center of my body. I was doing well to ignore it. Mostly.
Okay, fine. I wasn’t, but I damn sure didn’t want to admit that it could mean something.
Feeling petulant myself, I returned to the house, my destination her bedroom. Laikyn’s door was open, but she wasn’t in there. I turned on my heel and headed for the stairs, a tightness in my groin beginning as I thought about what Laikyn had been doing in my bathroom last night. If she were at it again, I would have to paddle her ass for taunting me.
The air slowly leaked out of my lungs, and a sense of peace settled over me when I found her asleep in my bed. She was under the blankets, her dark, multi-colored hair fanned out on my pillow.
She looked good there.
Also something I wasn’t going to admit aloud.
I took in the room, most notably the drawers hanging out of the dresser and the nightstands. I grinned, then detoured to the closet and found it in the same state of disarray. A pile of clothes was on the floor—far too small to be mine. I crouched down and picked up the delicate white lace. Laikyn’s panties. Beneath them, her bra, her shorts, and her T-shirt.
If her clothes were here…
I returned to the bedroom and moved closer to the bed. She wasn’t naked because I could see gray cotton covering her shoulder.
Waldo came over, sniffing her hand where it rested.
“No,” I said firmly, then pointed for the door.
He peered up at me for a moment, then turned and sauntered out. There was a good chance the food would be strewn across the kitchen when I went down—Waldo wasn’t one to sulk gracefully—but at the moment, I didn’t give a shit. He could have it.
I tapped Laikyn’s arm gently, then nudged her more insistently when she didn’t budge.
Finally, her eyes fluttered open. A moment later, a smile formed on her face.
I cocked an eyebrow and met her gaze. “You’ve been busy, I see.”
She rolled to her back, brushing her hair from her face. I resisted the urge to sit down beside her. I had this ridiculous need to be closer to her, but as I’d told myself all day, it wasn’t in her best interest. Or mine. Once she figured out what I was up to, she was going to hate me. That was going to be difficult enough to deal with. The last thing I wanted was to have her body imprinted on mine. I didn’t need her haunting my soul for all of eternity, yet I feared that was exactly what was going to happen when all was said and done.
Odd since I’d never had this sort of attraction to any other woman from my past. They’d been appealing on a physical level, and when available to sate the urge, I’d accepted what they were offering. But this thing I felt for Laikyn, whatever the fuck it was, was unnerving. I damn sure didn’t want to give in to it.
Laikyn glanced around the room momentarily. “What time is it?”
“A little after seven.”
She stretched. “Is Jinx here?”
“Will be soon. I brought dinner.”
“Yeah? What are we having?”
“Chinese.”
Her smile made my dick thicken. “You don’t leave your comfort zone much, do you?”
“Figured it was a safe bet. Until I know what you like…” I let the sentence trail and immediately realized my mistake when her hand slipped from under the blanket.
I was standing next to the bed so she didn’t have to reach far to graze her knuckles over the ridge of my cock, currently protected by my jeans.
“I happen to be quite fond of this,” she said, gently rubbing my dick.
My brain ordered my feet to move, to take me out of the room, but they remained rooted to the floor, encouraging her not to stop.
Laikyn turned her hand over, pressing more firmly against my dick, rubbing vigorously enough to have the blood redirecting, throbbing with an urgency I’d never felt before. Her green eyes were locked on mine, and I could sense the dare. She knew how to push my buttons already.
“About last night…” I grunted when she kicked the blankets away, revealing her mile-long, bare legs.
“You were saying?”
What the fuck was I saying? I didn’t know because my attention was now on the smooth, bare skin between her parted thighs. Only then did I notice she was wearing my shirt.
“Rule?”
“Hmm.” I couldn’t look away when she brushed her fingertips over her bare mound, teasing me.
“Maybe we should have dessert first.”
The words didn’t penetrate my gray matter until I felt the tug on the button of my jeans. She deftly freed it and was working the zipper down before I had the mind to step back.
“We can’t,” I told her, and I fucking hated that it sounded like a goddamn question.
“Attached already?” she teased, sitting up and pulling my shirt over her head.
Fuck.
“How about you let me suck your cock. That way, you don’t risk falling in love with me more than you already are.”
This was not supposed to fucking happen. I’d never gone back for seconds before. Never allowed myself to indulge more than once because it confused things. With the exception of Jinx, of course. But he was different. What I felt for him … it was different. Right?
But Laikyn wasn’t Jinx, which meant sex was meant to be simple. It was a biological urge that could be sated by pretty much anyone.
No one but Jinx has ever sated you like her.
I hated that fucking devil on my shoulder. He’d been there all damn day, taunting me with reminders of how fucking good Laikyn had felt wrapped around me. How much I’d enjoyed watching her and Jinx together. How I’d wanted to join them, to crush Laikyn between us, to slide into the hot depths of her body at the same time as him so I could feel them both.
It made no fucking sense, but that never stopped the memories from assaulting me.
“Do you need to wait for Jinx?”
I met her gaze. “What?”
“Jinx? He’s your safety net, right?”
I stared at her, forcing my eyes to remain on her face and not her gorgeous breasts.
“That’s why you had him join us last night, isn’t it?”
How the fuck could she be so perceptive?
“Did it work?” she asked.
Not the way I’d intended, no. If it had, I wouldn’t be here right now, my cock straining against my jeans in a desperate effort to get closer to her.
“It’s okay,” Laikyn said. “I enjoyed him as much as I enjoyed you.”
This woman … the fact that she spoke her mind so freely was unnerving. I never knew what would come out of her mouth. She was talking about last night as though it had been her idea and not mine.
“Did you really?” I asked. “Enjoy him, I mean?”
Her forehead creased, but she answered. “You have doubts? You watched us.”
Yes, I definitely watched. And I found that watching was almost as satisfying as participating. That didn’t mean she didn’t have reservations about the encounter.
“What are you afraid of, Rule?”
I turned away from her, thrusting my hand through my hair. I didn’t want her to see the truth on my face because I couldn’t hide it. I was afraid of everything, that’s what.
Every.
Goddamn.
Thing.
“I get it,” she said, and I forced myself to turn around to look at her again.
Huge mistake.
“What do you get?”
She smiled coyly, palming one beautiful tit. “You don’t know how to keep sex and love separate.”
The hell I didn’t.
She dropped her feet to the floor and stood up slowly.
“But you set the course for what happened last night. You can’t take it back.”
“Actually, I can,” I told her.
Laikyn shook her head. “No. You gave me a taste, and now I have a craving. You can’t deny me.”
“And if I do?”
Her eyes lifted to meet mine. “You’re not the only one I crave.”
I held her stare for a moment. I sensed she wasn’t as confident with that admission as she wanted to be. Did she think I was going to accuse her of cheating? It had been my idea. Not to mention, this marriage wasn’t real. She could fuck Jinx all day, every day, if she wanted.
“Does it bother you that I’m attracted to him?”
“No.” The word came out too quickly.
“I didn’t think so.” She moved toward me. “You’re not the kind of man who would let someone else play with your toys if you weren’t interested, too.”
I didn’t back away, refusing to give her more ammunition. She was taunting me on purpose. It was what she did. Admittedly, I fucking liked it, even if it made her impossible to resist.
“No means no, Rule,” she said, her fingers dipping into my jeans. “All you have to do is say the word.”
Two letters.
One syllable.
It should’ve been easy to say, but only a fucking idiot would tell this woman no, and I wasn’t a fucking idiot. I had a genius-level IQ and a highly superior memory. I’d skipped three grades in school because I was far more advanced than most people. I took the SATs for shits and giggles after studying for one day. I scored 1590, but only because I purposely skipped two questions on the math portion. I was dared to take the LSAT—law school admission test—and after studying for one day, I scored 175. I purposely answered five incorrectly because it amused me to do so. I pointed out which five they were before the test was graded.
As I said, I wasn’t a fucking idiot.
“Yes or no, Rule?”
I grabbed Laikyn’s wrists, pulled her arms behind her back, and pressed my chest to hers. She gasped, her eyes wide.
“I won’t refuse you, sweet butterfly, but you have to understand one thing?”
Her eyes shifted to my mouth. “What’s that?”
“You don’t make the rules. I do.”
Before she could come up with a snide remark, I kissed her, crushing my mouth to hers as I steered her toward the curved lounge chair near the fireplace. I’d always wondered what the fuck I was supposed to do with a chair in my bedroom. Now I knew. I released her arms and gently pushed her down onto the chair. She giggled, but it died on a moan when I put my hands under her knees and forced her legs back and wide so I could admire her beautiful pussy up close.
“No means no, Laikyn. That goes for you, too.”
She stared up at me, her beautiful eyes full of heat. “I’ll never tell you no, Rule.”
I wasn’t so sure that was true, but I wasn’t about to go into it now. My mouth watered with the urge to taste her, but my brain ran through the repercussions of letting this happen. I lived by a code, and I was violating every rule after knowing this woman for such a short time. She was a weakness I couldn’t afford, yet I couldn’t resist her, and there was no sense pretending otherwise.
“Fuck it,” I muttered, dropping to my knees. “Totally worth it.”
I leaned forward and licked her from entrance to clit.
Her back arched into the chair, her pelvis tipping, bringing her pussy closer to my mouth. Her soft moan was a melody I wanted to plan my nights by.
I did it again. Slower this time. Savoring.
She tasted like sin. A delicacy that should be bottled and sold on the black market so those daring enough could savor her sweetness.
“I’m not a gentle lover,” I told her, folding her legs back so her knees were closer to her chest.
“Good.”
I got the sense she didn’t believe me. That or she preferred it rough.
It was time I showed her what she was up against.