Jase was having a hard time sucking air into his lungs, his sole focus on taking out his aggression on Leyton, letting the pleasure drown out the emotions that swamped him. But that term of endearment had his heart clenching tightly in his chest.
Digging his fingers into Leyton’s flesh, Jase let himself go, his release surging through him. “Coming! Fuck… Leyton… Fuck.”
Leyton groaned, his hand stroking his own cock furiously. “That’s it. Come inside me.” Leyton’s hand stilled. “Fuck.”
Unable to hold himself up, Jase pulled out of Leyton, then leaned forward and wrapped his arms around him, fearing he would never be able to let go. Leyton’s arm cradled Jase’s. They remained just like that for several minutes.
“It’s okay,” Leyton assured him as he somehow managed to get free of Jase’s grip, turning to face him.
But rather than leave, Leyton simply pulled him into his arms and held him tightly as they stood there under the water, neither of them speaking. Jase took the comfort Leyton offered, holding on to him, burying his face in Leyton’s neck as he battled the emotions that he’d fought to keep buried.
Although Moroso was dead, it wasn’t over yet. The hard part was still to come, because Jase had to bury his brother, he had to say his final good-byes to Sal. No, killing Moroso had been easy compared to that.
That didn’t mean, while he geared up for the worst part, he couldn’t embrace what Leyton was willing to give.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Good-bye has never been this hard.
Present day
Friday, November 20 th
When the procession had arrived at the gravesite nearly forty-five minutes ago, Ashlynn had done her best to keep it together. During the funeral, she’d sobbed uncontrollably, mourning the loss of two men she’d considered family, and when they’d lowered those caskets into the ground, it’d taken every ounce of her control not to fall apart in front of all those people.
For the past few days, she’d been preparing, trying to convince herself she needed closure, needed to make peace with Derrick and Sal so she could move on, so they could move on with their lives. Unfortunately, she didn’t think their lives would ever be the same without them.
Max had been the one to claim both bodies, doing whatever it was he did, calling in favors and getting everything handled without Jase having to lift a finger. It’d been hard enough for Jase when he’d called his mother. Ashlynn had been witness to that horrific event, heard the woman blame Jase for every bad thing that’d ever happened to their family. Never once had the woman accepted that she was a failure as a parent; instead, she’d torn Jase down until Ashlynn had been forced to take the phone from him.
Of course, she hadn’t been able to simply hang up on the woman. Instead, she’d given Amy Malone a piece of her mind. Not that it’d helped, but at least Ashlynn had felt somewhat better. At that point, Leyton had made the call to Max, and her brother had taken it from there, calling Jase’s mother and paying her off to keep her away from the funeral. They hadn’t been willing to risk her causing a scene and making Jase feel worse than he already did. Still, it hadn’t changed a thing, as they’d learned with everything that had happened in the past week. Derrick and Sal were still dead, never coming back.
With Sal, there hadn’t been anyone to call. His parents were both deceased, and he had no siblings, no wife, no children. They’d been the only family he had.
Saying good-bye had never been so painful.
Not even when her father had died had Ashlynn felt such an overwhelming loss. No, when Samuel had died, she’d felt somewhat relieved.
There was no relief at the moment, only pain.
Perhaps that was because Derrick was Jase’s brother and because she loved Jase, watching him suffer was weighing on her. She wanted to comfort him, but it seemed he was the one comforting her. The three of them had consoled one another, or tried to for the past few days, but they all knew that until this day was behind them, they couldn’t move forward.
And here they were, watching as the dirt was being tossed into the holes where the two men’s bodies would forever rest while their souls moved on.
“We’ll stay as long as you need,” Leyton told Jase, standing beside him while Ashlynn stood on Jase’s other side, a death grip on his arm.
There were more enforcers there than she’d ever seen, but most of them weren’t there for the funeral. They were there as protection. With all of them there, the entire Adorite family, they knew shit could go bad in a minute. So Max had been prepared. They wouldn’t leave until everyone was safely where they were supposed to be.
“I’m good,” Jase finally said after several minutes.
“You sure?” Leyton asked.
The only response was a nod, and then Jase placed his arm around Ashlynn’s shoulder, pulling her against him and kissing her forehead. Again, he seemed to be the one consoling her, but she hoped, simply by being there, that he knew how much she loved him, how much he meant to her.
Several more minutes passed before Jase began backing away. Ashlynn moved with him, keeping her arm around his waist. And when they were in the limo, she didn’t let go.
“I love you,” Jase whispered, his breath fanning her hair as he rested his cheek against her head. “Both of you.”
“I love you, too,” Leyton said softly at the same time Ashlynn did.
“Thank you,” Jase muttered. “For being there.”
No thanks were needed, but Ashlynn didn’t say as much. The three of them would forever be there for one another, that she was sure of. Through good and bad…
Though she prayed like hell that the bad shit was behind them.
Because it was time they got their shit together and moved forward.
It was definitely time.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
This.
Jase rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. Ashlynn and Leyton were in the bed beside him, sleeping while he couldn’t seem to close his eyes.
He’d tried. Numerous times, in fact, to no avail. For whatever reason, he couldn’t get his brain to shut off. It wasn’t simply the events of the day that were keeping him awake. More that he was thinking about everything that had happened over the last few weeks. How much his life had changed in so many ways.
Maybe that was guilt eating at him once more because he knew he should still be mourning his brother. It seemed as though everyone expected him to be thinking about Derrick every single minute. But the truth was, sure, it pained him that his brother was gone, but Jase couldn’t help but be thankful that he had Ashlynn and Leyton. As devastating as it was to have lost Derrick, Jase knew his world would’ve been shattered beyond repair had something happened to Ashlynn.
“Hey.” Ashlynn pressed her lips against his chest. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”
“Shouldn’t you?” he whispered, turning his head and brushing his lips across her forehead.
“Can’t,” she replied.
Jase smiled into the darkness. Possibly the first smile all week. “Horny?”
Ashlynn chuckled. “How’d you know?”
“I know everything there is to know about you,” he told her.
“Is that right? Then what am I thinkin’ right now?”
Jase rolled to his side, forcing her onto her back. Glancing over, he noticed that Leyton was watching them. So clearly no one was sleeping tonight.
Turning his attention back to Ashlynn, Jase crawled over her, pressing his cock against her thigh as he kissed her gently. Her soft fingers brushed his cheeks, and he lifted his mouth from hers, staring down at her. He hadn’t expected her to be quite so gentle. Although he’d made love to her numerous times over the past year, she’d never reciprocated, always attempting to keep a certain level of tension between them.
But tonight, something was different.
Staring down at her, he smiled again. “Make love to me, Ash.”