Forbidden Awakenings (Awakenings #1) Read online

  “I …” Derek blew out a heavy breath. “Do it. Just … just be gentle, okay?”

  “I’d never hurt you, babe,” Callum said, placing a kiss in the middle of his back. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” he murmured.

  Sadie moved so that she was sitting behind Elle, her arms wrapping around her as they watched Derek and Callum together. Callum went slow, making sure Derek was ready for him. As he pressed one finger inside of him, Derek’s hands shot out and he grabbed Elle’s legs, dragging her toward him.

  “I need your pussy while he’s fucking me.” He looked up at her. “Please.”

  “I’m yours, lover,” she murmured, sliding beneath him.

  Derek shifted his hips forward, filling Elle in one, quick thrust. “Son of a … Beautiful, you feel so fucking good.”

  “I love you,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding onto him as he started moving at a slow pace. From over his shoulder, she could see Callum watching them as he prepared Derek for the first time. One finger became two, which turned into three. Derek moaned and groaned against Elle’s skin, holding onto her as he waited for his best friend to make love to him. They were taking a huge step in their relationship, putting behind their fears and doubts and finally giving into the desire that had been brewing under the surface since they’d first met. Today, Derek and Callum would become lovers, just as Sadie and Elle were, and the four of them would move past any lingering qualms and lay it all on the line.

  By the time Callum grabbed one of the condoms from his nightstand, he was hard and ready to go. As he rolled the latex down his shaft, he asked, “Are you ready, babe?”

  Derek nodded, taking a deep breath. “I trust you.”

  Callum gripped Derek’s hip with one hand before pressing himself into him. Derek cried out, one hand sliding under Elle’s head while the other one grabbed her leg and pulled it up over his hip.

  “Do I need to stop?” Callum grunted.

  “Fuck no,” he growled. “More! Give me more.”

  From over his shoulder, Elle saw Callum’s eyes darken with lust as he compelled more of himself inside their lover. When his hips were pressed against Derek’s ass, he paused and blew out a husky breath. Shifting his eyes to Elle’s, he pulled back before pushing forward once more.

  “Oh, Jesus fuck!” Derek gasped, bracing himself on one hand as he looked back at Callum. “Dude!”

  “I know,” he gritted. “I fucking love the way your ass feels.”

  Derek allowed Callum to set the pace for them. With each thrust of Callum’s hips, he’d fill Elle, stroking her pussy at a new angle each time. She struggled to hold her orgasm back, in awe of the way her lovers were moving their bodies together. Sadie was running her fingers through her hair, while caressing Derek’s with every lunge of his hips.

  “I’m gonna …” The words died out in Elle’s throat as her pussy clenched around Derek.

  “Gah, fuck, shit,” he sputtered. “Babe, I’m close.”

  “Come for me, Der,” Callum ordered, almost slamming his hips against Derek’s. “Come on, babe.”

  With a roar, Derek stilled his hips and found his release. Callum’s eyes fluttered to a close and Elle could only imagine what it must feel like to be balls deep in Derek’s ass, to feel him tightening around him as he found his release. Callum managed another handful of thrusts before his head fell backward and he climaxed.

  Callum was gentle as he pulled himself out of Derek and then disposed of the condom. Derek rolled onto the bed, covered his eyes with his arm, and released a deep breath. Elle rolled onto her side, sliding her arm around his waist and waited for him so say something, anything. Callum and Sadie were snuggled up together, and while they were anxious for Derek to speak, the room was filled with an eerie calm.

  Finally, after almost two minutes, Derek lowered his arm around Elle and began laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked.

  “It’s just …” He shook his head and looked at her with a goofy grin on his face. “I feel like such an idiot.”

  “Why?” Elle asked.

  “Because if I’d known it’d feel that good, I would have let him fuck me years ago,” he snickered, rolling onto his side so that the fronts of their bodies were pressed together. “As cliché as this is going to sound, I’ve never felt so complete before.”

  “Aw, dude,” Callum teased. “I love you, too.”

  “Yeah, yeah; love you, but I get to fuck your ass next time,” Derek said, winking at Callum.

  “Oh, babe, I’m looking forward to it.” Callum smirked and buried his face in Sadie’s hair, causing her to squeal.

  Elle laid her head on Derek’s chest and smiled. Everything was perfect. She had been so afraid of letting them in, of trusting them not to hurt her, yet as they found themselves lost in each other’s bodies, she knew her fears had been misplaced. The four of them were meant to be together, and regardless of how society or her parents felt about them, she refused to let them go. Not now, not ever. They were hers to love, and in return, she’d give herself to them without fear of them hurting her.

  Seventeen

  Monday morning, Elle and Sadie slipped out of Derek and Callum’s arms before the sun had even begun to rise. Though they were resistant to leave the warm embrace of the men they loved, they needed to return to their apartment and get ready for work. Every time Elle had to leave them, even for just a few minutes, she struggled to keep her heart from bursting out of her chest. It wasn’t logical, that much she knew. She and Sadie had only known Derek and Callum a couple of months, but in that time, she’d grown to depend on them more than she should. Based on the wistful sigh that left Sadie’s lips as Elle parked her car in her parking space, Sadie felt the same.

  “I know this weekend didn’t go as planned, but I had the best time.” Sadie slid her hand over Elle’s. “It feels like we’re stronger now. Does that make sense?”

  Elle nodded. “We always said that we were just friends with benefits, but I don’t think of us like that anymore, Sadie. I think I’ve loved you since I was sixteen. No, I know I’ve loved you since I was sixteen. I was just too scared to admit how I felt, even to myself.” She paused. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m still on an emotional high after last night.”

  Sadie laughed. “Last night was … incredible, wasn’t it? The way they just gave into their desires and let go of all their fears.”

  “Yeah,” she mused, biting her lip and looking over at Sadie. “For the first time in my life, I feel free. Like I’m able to just be me without having to worry about who’s watching.”

  Sadie smiled and leaned across the seat, pressing her lips against Elle’s. “You are free, baby. No, we’re free. You and me, Derek and Callum, we don’t have to hide our relationship from anyone.”

  After a few moments, they slipped out of the car and headed up to their apartment. While normally Elle felt the comfort of home when she walked inside, she didn’t this time. Her home was with Derek and Callum, with Sadie and the way the three of them loved her. They were her everything and all she would ever need.

  An hour later, both women had showered and dressed for work. While Elle waited for the coffee to finish brewing so that she could fill her travel cup, she pressed the flashing red light on the answering machine.

  “You have two new messages,” the machine’s automated voice announced. Sadie slipped her arm around Elle as they waited for the first message to play.

  “Hello, this is a courtesy call from Visa. Due to your outstanding credit, we’re pleased to inform you that you now qualify for a higher credit limit.”

  “Delete,” Sadie snickered, pressing the delete button.

  “No, shit,” Elle scoffed. “Can we say trap?”

  The machine beeped just before a new message began to play.

  “Elle? Are you there?” Ivy asked, and Elle tried to keep from falling apart. “I guess not. Look, I am so sorry about … well … everything. I
can’t believe Mom would … That’s not true. I can believe that she would be so cruel. I just never thought she’d be like that at my wedding.” Ivy sighed. “Nick and I wanted to come after you, but we couldn’t just leave our reception, not with everyone there, you know? Anyway, um, we’re about to board our plane. Nick’s taking me to Hawaii. If you need me, just call, okay? I love you, Elle. Nick loves you, and though it doesn’t seem like it, Mom and Dad love you, too. Just call me, okay?”

  As the message ended, Sadie wrapped her arms around her, leaning her head on her shoulder. Elle tried to hide her disappointment that her neither her mother nor her father had called, but on the same token, she wasn’t surprised. They’d made their feelings about her and the people she loved painfully clear, and she refused to make the first move, not again.

  “I know it hurts, sweetie.”

  “It does,” Elle admitted. “My mom and dad, they don’t want me anymore, Sadie. They never did because I wasn’t like Ivy. And I hate that I ruined Ivy and Nick’s wedding.”

  “You did no such thing,” Sadie argued.

  She shook her head. “I did, though. Everything was supposed to be about them, about celebrating their new life together. What did I do? I fucked you in one of the Sunday school rooms.”

  “Are you saying that you regret being with me that night?” Though she tried to hide it, Elle heard the sorrow in Sadie’s voice.

  “No,” she admitted. “I never regret a moment that I’m with you. I just … I don’t know, I guess I wish things hadn’t come out the way they did. I wish my mother loved me, I wish that when she looked at me, she saw someone beautiful and special. Why can’t she see me like that?” she pleaded.

  “I don’t know,” Sadie murmured, looking down at her watch. “But we’re going to be late if we don’t hurry.”

  “You’re right. Besides, there’s nothing I can do to change what happened,” Elle agreed with a heavy heart.

  Once Elle had her coffee made, she grabbed her bag and followed Sadie out of their apartment and back down to the car. She slipped in behind the wheel, knowing that Sadie hated driving in the early morning traffic.

  Half an hour later, Elle parked in their usual space outside of the Davis Building, right next to Derek’s truck. He and Callum climbed out at the same time as her and Sadie. The smiles on their faces had Elle’s heart beating fanatically in her chest. She’d just seen them a couple of hours ago, yet she’d missed them so much. What was it about them that had her feeling like a sixteen year old girl again?

  “Good morning, beautiful,” Derek mumbled before leaning in and kissing her cheek.

  “Morning,” she breathed, before looking around to make sure nobody was watching them. While they’d ‘come out’ at Ivy’s wedding, Elle knew they still had to be cautious at work. Their professional reputations were at risk, and none of them could risk their names being run through the gossip mills, especially with the Alvarez Park project on the line.

  Derek sighed, but didn’t call her out on her paranoia. Instead, he cleared his throat, pulling Callum and Sadie out of the small moment they were having and tilted his head toward the building. “Are we ready?”

  “I suppose,” Sadie replied with a flare of drama.

  Elle laughed. “Come on, lover.”

  The moment the four of them stepped into the building, dozens of eyes were locked on them; everyone from the receptionist at the information desk to the people milling around the elevators. The way they were staring made Elle uncomfortable, almost like they could see right through her, which had her fidgeting. Why did she have a sinking feeling that her world was about to be shattered once more?

  “Ignore them,” Callum murmured just loud enough for the three of them to hear.

  They followed him to the elevator, aware that not one person had moved since they walked into the building. When the door to the elevator opened, the four of them stepped inside and waited for the others to join them, but each of them shook their heads and muttering about how they’d wait for the next one. An odd reaction considering they’d never had a problem riding in the same car as them before.

  The moment the doors were closed, Derek asked, “Okay, that was weird, right?”

  “Um, yeah,” Sadie scoffed. “I was starting to think I’d forgotten to wear pants this morning.”

  “They know,” Elle whispered, blowing out a thick breath as she looked at each of them. “About the four of us, they know.”

  “But how?” Callum asked.

  However, before she could respond, the doors to the elevator opened on the tenth floor, and they found an annoyed-looking Samuel pacing back and forth. He snapped his head up and for the first time in the two months since Elle and Sadie had been working for him, he looked at her without smiling.

  “Follow me,” he told them.

  Without a word to each other, the four of them stepped out of the elevator and followed him down the hallway and into the conference room. From her position behind her desk, the look of despair on Greta’s face didn’t go unnoticed by Elle, and she hadn’t been the only person staring at them, either. Several of their co-workers stood in the doorways of their offices, watching them; some with looks of pity, while other, such as Trixie Maxwell, glared at them. Elle tried to keep her tears from filling her eyes, but found it was almost impossible. From the moment she and Sadie started working at Davis Architecture and Design, Elle had come to enjoy the company of her co-workers, so for them to be heaving judgment over her now was hurtful.

  Samuel opened the door to the conference room and pointed for them to step inside. However, Elle froze when she saw Gabriel Alvarez sitting at the table, his hands clasped in front of him and a harsh expression on his face.

  “Have a seat,” Samuel ordered as he walked around and sat in his usual chair at the head of the table.

  Elle shifted her eyes to Callum, Derek, and Sadie before the four of them slid into their seats and turned their attention to Samuel. The grim look on his face had her on edge. Samuel Davis had always been welcoming and kind, especially toward Elle, who wore her emotions on her sleeve. To have him sitting at the end of the table with such an ominous look on his face had her struggling to keep herself composed.

  “Well, there isn’t an easy way to put this, so I will just say it.” Samuel shifted his eyes from Sadie to Elle to Derek before letting them rest on Callum, where they seemed to soften a bit. “Mr. Alvarez has decided to terminate his project with the company.”

  Elle gasped and turned to Gabriel. “What? Why?”

  The man’s hard glare shifted toward her, and she struggled not to flinch from his obvious hatred. “Because of you, actually.”

  The anger in his voice had her trembling and she tried to stifle the hurt running rampant through her veins. “Me?”

  Gabriel nodded. “I know all about you, Ms. Reid. You and your …” Gabriel waved his hand toward Derek, Callum, and Sadie. “My project is too important to me to risk leaving it in your hands.”

  “I’m sorry, but you’re taking your project away from us because of my personal and private relationship with them?” Elle asked and when the man nodded, her eyes closed. She should have expected it, but the shock still struck her.

  “I can’t sit back and watch as your behavior rips apart everything I’ve worked for,” he added, pulling her attention back to him.

  “My behavior?” she asked. “I have done nothing to deserve for you to come in here and rip away months of work out from under us.”

  “You made a fool of my nephew,” he roared, standing up and slamming his hand on the table.

  Elle sunk back in her chair; the quick and viscous movement startled her, causing to her tremble, and both Derek and Callum reached over, placing a protective hand on her shoulders.

  “I don’t even know your nephew!” she wailed.

  “Sit down,” Samuel snarled, standing up and pushing Gabriel back into his seat. “As I’ve already told you once, Mr. Alvarez, you will not treat my employ
ees with such little regard. You’ve made your choice, and while I don’t agree with you, I can’t force you to keep your project here, not even with the contract that you signed not even two months ago.”

  “Yes, I am well aware of the contract, including the morals clause that states that every person working on my project will behave in an acceptable manner. I don’t think having immortal sex in a church, not to mention the scene they,” Gabriel pointed to Elle and Sadie, “caused when they were caught is acceptable. Now, I offered you the chance to keep my account, Samuel, but you were the one who decided to side with them instead of working with me.”

  Elle shifted her eyes to Samuel. “What is he talking about?”

  “In order to keep his business, I would have to …” Samuel shook his head as the words hung in the air.

  “Have to what?” Callum asked, but Elle already knew the answer.

  “Fire us,” she said, everyone shifted her eyes to her, but her attention was on Samuel. “Right? You’d have to fire me and Sadie if you wanted to keep his account.”

  Samuel nodded. “But I refused.”

  Pressing her lips together, Elle looked from him to Derek, Callum, and Sadie before shifting her attention over to Gabriel Alvarez. While he may have been an asshole, his project was too important to Samuel’s company. Sharing a look with Sadie, Elle knew what she needed to do. She released a deep breath as she pushed her chair away from the table and stood up, and Sadie followed with a sigh.

  “We appreciate you putting everything on the line for us, Mr. Davis,” she said, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice but failing. “However, Sadie and I quit.”

  Turning on their heels, Elle and Sadie walked out of the conference room and down to their office. The moment the door was closed behind them, the tears Elle had been struggling to keep at bay since they stepped off the elevator spilled down her cheeks. One moment of carefree fun had cost them everything.

  Elle pushed away from the door and rushed over to her desk, grabbing her personal belongings and hugging them to her chest. She’d just picked up a small plastic heart that Callum had given to her two weeks after she and Sadie started working for the company when the door to the office opened.