All the air whooshed out of my lungs, and the room spun. Fuck me, was I about to pass out? No, I could handle this news. I'd dealt with more shocking stuff. It still took me a moment or two to force my lungs to work again, though, in which time Steele crossed the room and crouched beside the bed. His hand rubbed soothing circles on my back until I nodded and assured him I was fine.
"Okay," I breathed. "Okay. Good. That explains a few things, right?" I met Steele's concerned gaze, and he nodded. "Does James know? Did we get in touch with him already?"
Steele grimaced. "Yeah, we found him." He sighed. "He's at the hospital. Someone apparently mugged him last night outside his apartment. He fought them off and they ran, but he took a knife to the ribs for his efforts."
My jaw dropped. "What the fuck? Is he okay?"
Steele nodded. "Should be fine. The mugger only got that far thanks to the element of surprise. James sounds like he's in a foul mood but will be released soon. He's coming by after he gets done filing police reports."
I snorted a bitter laugh. "For all the good that will do. This can't be a coincidence."
"Agreed." Steele stood up from his crouch and tipped his head towards my bathroom. "Go shower before I change my mind and take that invitation now." He left my room before I could tell him that I was all for a little more stress relief, so I made my way into my bathroom.
Luckily, Kody was still under the hot spray, all soaped-up and gorgeous.
Who the fuck needed therapy when you could maintain good mental health through copious orgasms, right?
28
The following morning, James tagged along to the gun range with us. The conversation we'd had when he finally arrived at the house—just in time for dinner—had been awkward at best. But then, what else was to be expected? I was nearly nineteen, and he'd never known he had a child. More than that, my mom hadn't been some great love of his life. She'd been a two-week romance that ended poorly.
It was weird; I was more than willing to admit that much.
But when Steele suggested James come to the shooting range with us, I was cautiously optimistic. Maybe we just needed to spend some time together and find some common ground?
To my relief, it was an enjoyable day. James's almost twenty-year career in the marines had afforded him a wealth of knowledge in weapons, and it took no time at all for him to relax. Before long, he and Steele were engaged in friendly banter about guns, and I was left with Archer overseeing my lesson.
"Princess," Arch murmured in my ear as he adjusted my stance with his hands on my hips. "Are you okay with this?"
I wriggled my hips under his fingers. "With this?"
Archer huffed a laugh. "No, with this, James being here."
I glanced over at our new addition, my biological dad. He and Steele laughed together, and the scene touched something inside me.
"I am," I admitted, "but I still can't shake the paranoia that we shouldn't let anyone into our circle right now."
Archer murmured a sound of agreement. "Good."
I turned my face to meet his gaze. "Good?"
He jerked a nod. "I want you to be happy, Kate. I want you to know what it's like to have a family, to know your real father. But right now..."
I nodded. "I agree. Right now isn't the time. If he really means us no harm, then I think he should understand that."
Archer's hands moved from my hips, his arms tightening around me in a hug as he kissed my hair. "I'll take care of it when we get home. Keep shooting, Princess; you're getting good."
With that pep talk, he sauntered away and left me alone with my thoughts and my target for a while. I threw myself into it, mentally talking myself through all the instructions I'd been given by Steele and peppering my paper target full of holes.
Despite the chat Archer and I had just had, all three boys seemed to genuinely enjoy his company. Like minds and all that. I watched them from the corner of my eye as they chatted comfortably, and I wondered if this was what it was like for other girls when their boyfriends met their dad for the first time.
Obviously not because, for one thing, it wasn't even close to the first time they'd met. For another, most girls didn't have three boyfriends.
But they should. It was the fucking best.
"Hey babe," Kody called out when I tugged my earmuffs off and placed my gun down. "We're going to go to the rifle range. Wanna see who's the best shot long range?" His eyes sparkled with excitement, and his smile was wide.
James scoffed a laugh. "Kid, you don't stand a damn chance. I'll cream you."
Steele shrugged. "I'm game."
Archer and Kody both chuckled, knowing full damn well that Steele would win, regardless of how good James might be.
"Go set it up," Steele told them. "I just want to run through some feedback with Hellcat while it's fresh in my mind."
Kody, Archer, and James all headed outside to the rifle range, and Steele moved across the room toward me with a predatory expression on his face.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "You have feedback for me, huh?"
His lips tugged in a smirk. "You're damn right I do." He moved past me, flipped the lock on the door, then turned back. "Put your hands on the table, Hellcat."
I arched a brow, but did as I was told. Steele moved to stand behind me, his hands lightly on my hips as I bent forward.
"My feedback, beautiful," he murmured as he reached around to unbutton my jeans, then pull them down over my ass, "is that watching you with a gun in your hands is one of the biggest turn-ons I've ever goddamn seen."
I gasped as he impaled me on his studded dick, not even taking a second to warm up. He didn't need to when he was already hard as granite.
"Shhh," Steele murmured when I cried out, "we only have a couple of minutes before one of them comes looking. I want you back out there with my cum soaking your jeans before anyone notices."
I groaned, then bit my lip. Fucking hell, just picturing that was turning me the hell on. Not to mention the way his dick piercings were rubbing me in all the right ways from this angle.
"Christ," I muttered when he started fucking me hard and fast. "You're gonna need to gag me to keep me quiet, Max."
He snickered but obliged. When I came a few minutes later, the sounds of my screams were muffled by his hand clamped over my mouth.
Two minutes later, I found myself uncomfortably trying to focus on shooting a rifle while trying to ignore how soaked my panties and jeans were.
Still, oxytocin had to be hands down the best antidepressant known to man, because I was on cloud fucking nine the rest of our day at the shooting range.
As the next few days passed, my anxiety kept building to the point that not even multiple orgasms could shake it for long. Come midweek, I was near my breaking point.
"Alright, spill," Archer growled, tucking his dick back into his shorts after a mid-workout fuck that I'd lured him into. "You're more keyed up than usual," he told me accusingly. "What's on your mind that you're not talking about?"
I pulled my yoga pants back on and searched for my crop top. It was hanging off the chin-up bar... however the fuck that had happened.