“She will need them, too.” Sachi appeared in the hallway, running, an expression of terror on her face. “Not the way you do.”
Before Mandaline could ask about that, the scene shifted once more. Now they were staring at a TV screen. The images flashing quickly across it were of news stories about Julie’s murder, shots of the store, including her and Sachi and Mina working behind the counter, Sachi getting into it with a paparazzi film crew who wanted into the shop and she flipped them off, even more footage Mandaline wasn’t even aware had been taken, followed by images from the tree memorial.
“Lots of people are watching right now. People you don’t even know about.”
“Why did Carl really show up yesterday?”
Julie looked away. Without a word she waved her arm in a wide arc. The scene changed. They stood on the sidewalk outside a McDonald’s in Dade City. Inside, at a booth by a window, sat Carl and the reporter that had showed up at the store earlier that day.
“That motherfucker!” Mandaline screamed.
Julie turned to her and placed both her arms on Mandaline’s shoulders. Now they stood outside of Ellis and Brad’s house. “This is your home. With them. Their hearts are yours. All you have to do is quit fighting yourself, get out of your own way, and let yourself feel pleasure and joy.” She sadly smiled. “It’s only disrespecting my memory if you continue martyring yourself for no good reason.”
She pulled Mandaline in for a hug. Mandaline could even smell the scent of Julie’s strawberry shampoo, a bottle of which stood, half used, in the bathtub because Mandaline couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it.
“Please let me go,” Julie whispered. “Love me and remember me, but let me go. I’ll always be around in your heart and soul when you truly need me. But right now, you need them. And they need you. Especially Ellis. Just…believe.”
Mandaline’s eyes popped open to find the first edges of morning’s grey light trying to work their way through the bedroom window. On her left, Brad slept, his head tucked against her shoulder, his handsome lips slightly parted.
To her right, Ellis lay on his left side, his fingers laced through hers. His eyes opened and met her gaze.
“Good morning,” he whispered.
She rolled on top of him and kissed him, hard, before she could lose her nerve and talk herself out of it. She didn’t give a shit about morning breath or grabbing a shower. She wanted him. Them.
And she wanted them now.
He briefly resisted before his hands settled on her hips and he returned her kiss. She felt his cock harden between them and she wanted it inside her, right then.
His hands traveled up her back, pushing her T-shirt up, until she had to sit up and pull it off. She dropped it on the floor and bent down to kiss him again, but he grabbed her wrists and stared up at her.
“I’m not looking for a quick romance,” he said. “I’m looking for life. For him and for me.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
His eyes searched her face. “We can work out all the legal details later,” he said. “I’ll sign whatever Grover puts in front of us to protect you and your assets.”
She shook her head. “I don’t need or want that. I trust you. Both of you.”
“But you’re worth a lot of money.”
“Are you going to ask for a disclaimer every time we make love? Because if you are, that’s going to get really old really fast.”
“Oh my god, dude, shut up and scrump her already,” Brad mumbled from beside them.
They both looked over at him. He peeled open one sweet brown eye. “If you don’t hurry up, I’m going to take her away from you and you’ll have to wait until tonight when you get back from work.”
Mandaline and Ellis looked at each other and laughed. Ellis reached up, grabbed her hair, and pulled her mouth down to his.
Her nipples rubbed against the dusting of hair on his chest as he kissed her, adding erotic friction to the sizzle already rippling through her body. His cock pressed between her legs, against her clit, through the fabric of her underwear and his shorts.
She lifted her head. “Both,” she whispered. “I want both of you. Now.”
Brad, apparently now wide awake, threw back the covers and dove for the side table. He grabbed condoms and a bottle of lube they’d apparently stashed there. He leaned in and kissed her. “Get those panties off now,” he ordered.
His commanding tone sent yet another wave of heat through her, stealing her breath. He jumped out of bed and rushed from the room, returning seconds later with a towel and minus his shorts. She rose up to push her panties down her thighs, but Brad pushed her off Ellis, onto her side, and yanked them off her.
“I want to do something first,” he said, his tone growly with desire. He pushed her thighs apart and dove between them, unerringly finding her clit with his tongue.
When she opened her mouth to let out a moan of pleasure, Ellis covered her mouth with his and swallowed her cries. There was nothing slow or gentle about Brad’s motions as he eagerly flicked at her clit with his tongue, relentlessly, determined.
Ellis grabbed her hands and raised them over her head, gently pinning her in place and setting something inside her heart and soul free as her need took over. She rocked her pussy against Brad’s mouth, wanting and needing even more.
Reading her body, he slowly worked two fingers inside her pussy, filling her and driving her close to the edge. Just as her orgasm was ready to break, he stopped.
She let out a desperate cry.
“Don’t worry,” he said with a laugh as he grabbed something. “I just want you ready for the fucking you are about to receive.” She tried to lift her head but Ellis kept her pinned, distracting her with his kisses, his tongue fucking her the way she wished their cocks were fucking her.
She felt something cool against her ass and realized what Brad was doing. Tendrils of worry started to fill her when she realized she was about to fuck both of them at the same time and didn’t know if her body could handle the fantasy. Then his mouth returned to her clit, rendering her unable to think coherently. He slowly pressed one finger into her ass, the delicious things he was doing with his mouth distracting her from the strange sensation of her rim being stretched. She’d had anal play before, mostly with toys, but it’d been a long time.
And both these men were bigger than the toys she’d ever used back there.
He kept her coasting, surfing the edge of release, refusing to let her fall over as he added a second finger to her ass. She whined, at first uncomfortable with the intrusion until his mouth on her clit once again distracted her.
Ellis switched her wrists to one hand and used the other to begin gently rolling first one nipple, then the other, between his fingers, back and forth and adding to the erotic torment.
She wanted release. Right then. But Brad wasn’t about to grant it yet. He backed off again as he worked a third finger into her tight ring of muscle. This time she froze, trying to breathe through her kiss with Ellis as the pinching burn overrode the pleasure center of her brain.
Brad began flicking at her clit again with his tongue, waiting until her body relaxed and she started moaning again to make more progress in her ass. It wasn’t until she felt him pick up speed with his hand that she realized he was fucking her ass with it, loosening her body. Then he added his thumb into her pussy and lightly bit down on her clit.
She screamed into Ellis’ mouth as her release hit, molten pleasure surging through her. His hand clamped down on her wrists as her body arched against them. She was vaguely aware of Brad’s hand fucking her, hard, slamming against her even as she tried to fuck herself more deeply onto it.
He finally lifted his head from her pussy, but kept fucking her with his hand, her body refusing to stop coming. “Good girl,” he whispered. “That’s going to be our cocks here in a minute.”