In His Home Pt 16

I took time to decide how the book was going to end thats why the updates were late in case I needed to come back and change anything. Im dropping a character list next, and then the long awaited LoveSong!

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My nipples pricked in the cool air, snow hadn't fallen and yet it was still just too damn cold. Jamie took to lifting me again when I slipped on an awry piece of ice one of the men trekked into the building and I haven't lived it down all day. He watches me like a hawk, I'm not allowed out of his sight, and should we move to another room, god forbid, I'm right back on his shoulder.

How was I supposed to keep all my boyfriends happy when my husband was being stingy like this?

From my vantage point I saw in the distance a squirrelly little girl with bouncing dark hair and too pale skin, her straight and narrow nose tipped up and her bowed lips parted on nasty words no doubt. Her brown eyes narrowed to slits when Rebecca saw me on Jamie's shoulder and it took everything that I was not to flip her off right in front of everyone.

I was still angry with Jamie behind closed doors but in public I pretended otherwise, doting on him just the same as before I received that shitty news in that shitty way. I gave her a little smirk and looked away like she was beneath me, that was the only thing I could get away with for now.

Jamie dropped me off in front of Landon and Bon with some quick excuse and asked them to watch me. Once he was out of eyesight I slid into Landon's waiting embrace and drew attention to my cleavage by pretending to wipe something from my chest. Bon all but drooled and I looked away as if nothing happened.

"The weather is getting so cold, and from what I hear it's only getting colder." I said absentmindedly, trying to pry more information from him than Tate would offer up even when my stiletto dug into his balls. "How much longer are we going to be here?" I said suggestively towards Bon to throw them off the scent.

"We'll be here another month, through new years." Landon answered eyeing me kindly. "Why is there something you want to do?"

I tilted my head softly and denied it even though I never tore my eyes away from Bon. "No one in particular."

"I see." He mused with a quieter voice.

"We plan on asking Jamie for another night before preparations." Bon pressed a cigarette to his lips. "What do you think he'll say?"

Landon looked at him as if he grew another head, surprise and something else flitted across his features before he fixed his face. "You never do the same woman twice, no?"

He sucked his tongue slowly, "people change all the time."

Landon raised his brows but said nothing else, and I didn't miss the way Bon's fingers sought out mine.

*

"What the fuck did you do?" Roman called incredulous, storming into the room and getting a little too close to my face for comfort. I withdrew my tongue from Ethan's mouth but didn't turn to look at him, or stop kissing for that matter. "Opal."

"What are you talking about?" I said between our lips and Ethan was the one to pull away, out of respect no doubt, but to my disappointment. I sucked my teeth and ran my fingertips along his length instead, he couldn't have sex yet but I was gunning for him the second he was cleared.

"Garret's family wants another night with you." He stated evenly, drawing everyone's attention. The room went silent and I shrugged.

"So?"

"So, I'll ask again, bird. What did you do while you were there?"

"Well," I sighed thoughtfully and fisted Ethan's cock, drawing my hand up and down along his length and felt him grow hard beneath my touch. He made pretty noises but remained still, his hand caressing my back and the roundness of my ass as I spoke. "If you must know, we had conversation, some drinks, lots of sex, and then I went home."

"Opal, they have never in their career been with the same woman twice." He enunciated each important word as if I was a stupid little child needing explaining to. "Your loudmouth, grating, disobedient ass goes in there, comes out with nothing more than hickeys, and a request to have you again, and you tell me you're not sure why?"

I took a dramatic deep breath and pressed my thumb to Ethan's tip eliciting a shiver and a few choice curse words. "Roman, you put an experienced older woman with big tits and a fat ass in front of eleven, maybe-twenty-year-olds and you think they left unscathed? Let me get specific for you, since you're oh so curious, baby boy. I sucked them off the way Tate likes, I kissed them the way Stelle likes, I arched for them the way you like, I touched them how I like, and I fucked them how Jamie likes, and I talked to them however I wanted to. I had half of them coming in their pants before they even touched me and the other half hard before I was even naked."

He grunted and rubbed his eyes clearly turned on himself. "Opal..."

"It really did take all those boys to get Bon off of me," I murmured as Ethan came into my hand and looked for all the world like he wanted to do more than bend me over. "But that might have something to do with... Oh, what am I saying? You don't like long stories, do you Roman? I'm sorry for wasting your time."

He flared his nostrils as I licked the cum from my fingers from anger, or maybe something more sinister, and he got to his feet. "Cute. That's real cute."

"Thanks, I learned that from you as well." I giggled.

He hummed humorless laughter and stalked away. "Stelle."

And like a good girl she got in her knees.

*

The girls gathered in the bathroom and I sat on a stool as Tawny did my hair and Stelle held out curious items of lingerie to me to choose from. One was nothing but straps, not a strip of cloth in sight. Another did have some cloth though it was open in the nipples, ass, and crotch instead.

I furrowed my brow and looked between her and the insane things she owned. "I appreciate you as a friend, I cherish you, I love you."

"Aw, thank you." She giggled and held up her chosen hero, the crotch less body suit.

"I am not wearing that, are you out of your mind." I screamed my laughter and the other girls joined in as she sucked air through her teeth and hit me with the hanger.

"You have no taste." She admonished.

" Perhaps, you're right." I patted her arm lovingly, "I am far too traditional, maybe one day I'll accept the new trends."

"Your generation is nothing but prudes." She said and flicked braids off her shoulder disappearing into the room before coming back with a pile of more acceptable items, ones from my own closet. "You should wear this one," she held up a pretty dress, smooth to the touch and a pretty burnt color. "The tags are still on it."

I held the hem of the dress and tilted my head at it, Tawny made complaints and I righted myself still thinking of this dress. It was one of the first ones Jamie had bought me before he even had me, it wasn't right to wear it for someone else and I said so. I made a mental note of it, though. I'd wear it one day.

*

Til walked bare chested in front of me, his sweatpants hanging dangerously low on his hips and one arm was loose at one side while his other hand was stuffed into his pocket. I flared my nostrils at that and walked at his side, catching up to him easily with my long strides.

"Can I ask you something?" I said once the halls were empty. At this time of night all the men were in their beds with a woman heating their sides.

He shrugged and wiped pale hair from his elven face, his soft eyes met mine briefly and he looked away just as quickly. "If you see me as the type to care about anything really, you don't know me at all."

My heels clicking against the ground was the only sound aside from his deep inhales of a cigarette. "You're right, I don't know you very well at all." I admitted clasping his arm and tugging him lightly to make him stop for a moment.

He acquiesced, shoulders falling against the wall lazily and his arm came around my waist pulling me closer to him. He blew the smoke across my face and ashed on my shoulder. It was all too intimate and yet, felt like nothing at all. His stern and strict features didn't match his personality, I had no idea what to expect from him. I shifted beneath his consuming gaze and yet found myself leaning in all the same.

"Are you going to ask me if I like you?" He spoke lowly, and yet it echoed, rattled in my bones.

"No." I answered. "I was going to ask what Catherine means to you."

His brows pulled momentarily, like the question was something he never expected in a million years. "Cath is a girl I keep around because I'm bored and she's easy." He dragged his cig again but this time he didn't ash it on me. "It's like taking candy from a baby, that's the best way to sum up our relationship."

"So you're aware she has feelings for you?"

"We've been in each other's company longer than even Roman had Stelle, before I was a mercenary, before I was an Executioner." He flicked it out and again blew the smoke in my face. He tipped my chin, looking me over as if seeing me for the first time. "You're prettier up close." He told me and dropped his hand.

"You don't like her?"

"We get along well enough." He said with finality. "She might have chosen to be mine but I am not hers, I made that clear from the moment I met her, whether she chose to fall in love with me or not is not on my conscious. I take no blame."

I noticed he moved his head like a snake as he spoke, it was so subtle I didn't catch it at first. But once seen, it could not be unseen. Like a form of hypnosis, and he rarely blinked, another reason I believed it. "Yet, you drag her along anyways."

"I have yet to seen her dig her feet into the mud." He replied. "I'm done talking about her, I want to know about you, what you said."

It was my turn to furrow my brows both in anger in defense of my friend and curiosity in what he could've overheard. But I chose the higher route, the right one. "I might be low, and dirty, but your sheets are something I will never be acquainted with as long as she loves you."

With that I pulled away, and began the walk myself. Men were so gross, how casual he said it, how easily he put her aside. If what he said was true then she has been by his side for more than a decade, and he doesn't even care. It hurt me and it wasn't even my life.

"I would throw her away then." He said calmly after me, "if you refuse to sleep with me on account of her I would kill her with my bare hands and be done with it."

My mind raced with her smile, her quiet mousy nature, her laugh, her loyalty, her sad eyes. I turned on him with disgust and anger. I was utterly speechless, pain laced through my veins like tourniquets. "Fuck you."

"No harm will come to her if you do." He pushed off the wall and grazed his knuckles across my cheekbones like before. "Choose between her friendship or her life, and give your decision to me before we get back home or find her dead in the hills of Nevada for all I care."

I made a guttural noise in my throat and he laughed- actually laughed, and walked off like nothing had happened. Like he didn't just put a price on the most beautiful girl in the world.

And it was worth nothing.

*

A soft song played through the speakers while Bon sucked on a weed vape, his arm laced around my shoulders and his cheek pressed to my forehead as the world screamed around us. Yet, he was so tranquil, undisturbed water in a rocking ocean. I had already had him and yet I wanted him again, and again, and again.

Stelle was right, his true intentions were quiet words and whispered seductions. Everything he said to me in my ear he meant in a way, even if its not what I expected.

Harper had taken plenty pictures of me, even now he straddled my waist, camera poised to capture me nude. I didn't mind, I had bigger things on my plate at the moment.

Evan's hand sifted through my hair as his other fingers found my entrance once more and he fucked them into me slowly, stretching and feeling before pounding them against a spot so pleasurable I thought I'd die. I clung to Bon and he let me, pressing soft kisses to my mouth before his tongue found it's way between my teeth.

The flash of Harper's camera gained my attention and my eyes flew open, I looked up at him as I kissed Bon and let a smile lift my lips as I came. Again the flash of his camera and this time he let out a low grunt.

"Can you hurry it up, I'm exhausted and I have to get her back to Jamie soon." Garret grumbled and sat up in his bed, his hair that was usually combed neatly now stuck out at random from the path my nails raked through the ash blonde strands.

Evan sucked his tongue but pulled me under his chest, shooing Bon off his own bed and kissed my shoulder as he fucked me. Harper recorded the whole thing and I wondered if that was allowed but I wouldn't snitch. That's what they call 'Men Business' around here, which meant I didn't have to tell unless I wanted to. Neat wasn't it?

*

Garret threw an arm over my shoulders and walked me through the halls and elevator, dropping me off as unceremoniously as before and disappeared after giving a quick report on how I behaved. Roman was all but steaming but kept his lips screwed tight, shaking Stelle awake he gathered all the girls into a semi-circle on the ground and the boys pulled up chairs in front of us. All stern and serious in their expressions and body language.

This was going to be a long talk.

I settled in and Stelle let her head rest on my shoulder.

Landon loosened a deep breath and parted his lips, "The games are tomorrow." He stated and the girls let out loud yelps of excitement. I furrowed my brow and Erik threw a nasty look at Jamie.

"You really didn't tell her shit." He chided. Jamie shrugged but Roman answered for him.

"That's exactly what he was supposed to do, they're not supposed to know, you know that." He replied curtly. Erik's feathers ruffled at the tone but he shut up, that's a first.

"That means LoveSong is in two days." Stelle told me quietly, "the games is like an assessment of sorts, gives all the men a chance to see what their odds are, just how good the prizes are."

I didn't reply, only looked to Landon for more information.

"Everyone settle," He told us and waited for the chatters to die down. "I'm sure you're all tired of hearing the rules for LoveSong but alas, I'll say them anyway. There is no teaming up, you run solo, the only time you're allowed to gather is to trade supplies or exchange information. You stay in bounds, one foot out and you'll be labeled a Runner, then you're as good as dead. If you are tired or run out of supplies and you cant find one of us, you find one of Garret's family. Otherwise I cannot guarantee your safety. I cannot guarantee your life."

I looked to Jamie and he nodded softly. "You belong... to who finds you."

"It's a temporary arrangement until the gathering is over and we go home. Should you get caught by another, you are not Jamie's, he has no say over what they do with you." Roman interjected.

"In some cases, men will settle debts with the life of their enemy's woman." Tawny told me, "there's not a man out there who doesn't have a long standing issue with Jamie... or Roman... or Tate. And now that Jamie has a woman, you're just not safe."

"At all." Landon emphasized. "I fear for you and Stelle the most this year, I really do." I huffed air but said nothing, looking down to my toes instead. "Your bags are packed, you'll be set out in the morning, given three days like usual and after that it's up to you. Have you chosen your songs?"

My hand found the strip of paper in my pocket and I dropped it in Jamie's waiting palm as Stelle did to Roman. He took it, read it, and stuffed it into his pants.

"Good, I'll run them by Halle in the morning and get back to you." He nodded and rubbed the stress from his jaw. "Do your best." He said to everyone, "make us proud." He said to me.

*

I smoothed the skirt to my skin tight dress. It was black with little sparkles woven into the silky fabric and barely covered my ass, and slit up the front of my thighs to my lower stomach. Stelle's heels clicked across the hard floor as she hung off Roman's arm and pointed out insignificant little things he didn't care about at all but smiled and nodded anyways. My heels were as pitch as my dress and had so many inches it was impossible to do anything but hold Jamie's hand as we walked side by side. Something else unheard of around here.

A dead kind of feeling overtook my chest as my mind whirled with the horrors that were pushed onto my shoulders. That I was to be thrown into an arena of sorts and left to be hunted or die until I couldn't take it anymore, and even then if I surrendered to the wrong shadow I was as good as dead.

Jamie nudged me sensing my foul mood no doubt but I said nothing back, didn't even look at him. He just couldn't do a single thing right by me, he really just fucking couldn't.

The gathering hall was as loud and as rambunctious as ever. More men than I ever cared to see in my life laughed and shook hands, exchanged women and money from tightly closed fists. I saw Bon and headed his way, letting my hands slide across his cheeks and arms close behind his neck. "If Jamie doesn't find me I'm coming to you." I told him just as Landon had told me to.

He barely even nodded, never once dropping that feline smile and let his palms drift wherever they wanted to. "Do you run or hide?"

"Both." I murmured as if telling him how badly I needed his cock.

"Good girl." He said just as softly. "Stick to packed areas, most the men are too big to get between them easily, and don't go to the river. That's where they wait."

"Why?"

He touched his forehead to mine as if it was common sense, "you're running day and night, Opal. You'd be doing their dirty work for them."

So don't get thirsty. "Right."

"Don't sweat it, bunny." He said with finality, "if I doubt anyone here, I don't doubt you."

I blinked at that and pressed a small kiss to his lips, walking back to Jamie but not finding him where I left him. Roman pulled me into an empty little cove, meant for impatient lovers no doubt, and placed a mean little smirk on his lips. "I have a favor to ask you."

I took a step back and clutched a hand to my chest. "I wouldn't for a million dollars."

"Oh, shut up." He sneered and slapped the back of my head. "Its about Stelle, are you listening or not?"

My eyes narrowed as I took him in. A light sheen of sweat coated his forehead and he seemed jumpy. It was true then, that both our heads were on the prettiest of platters. I could've screamed.

"I'm all ears."

*

We sat at a fine dining table, Stelle on Roman's knee, and I sat on Jamie's. Champagne and expensive looking brown liquor were passed out in glasses and flutes while they ate breakfast in their straight suits, hair laid neatly, and fed us the scraps off their plates while they talked and laughed along with each other.

A tall woman took to the stage after the last announcer exited, her brown hair pinned up at the sides and was left to flow down her slim back and beautiful shoulders. She was pretty with dark skin and older, maybe early forties, and the age around her eyes and mouth spoke of a life of bliss.

Her red lips parted and she commanded the room, every eye was on her, there were no whispers either. Only their full attention. In Jamie's eyes I noted respect, she meant something big around here. That was nice to see.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Cassie, and I'm here to present the very first task to your women today before you throw them against each other and they get filthy. Though you may enjoy that." Raucous laughter erupted from the men and I could've snorted. "Not every man was born to fight, some are poets, singers, artists, passionate in their own right. That speaks to women as well, so I would like to invite two up at a time and give them time to paint for you, whatever they'd like, with nothing but their bodies."