Briar Valley: The Complete Duet

8. Willow

CHAPTER 8

WILLOW

I STILL LOVE YOU – BISHOP brIGGS

Leaving the drinks reception in Lola’s cabin, I abandon the funeral for a breath of fresh air. The service was nice—simple and quiet in the cloak of trees and snow at Briar Valley’s graveyard.

Lola’s final resting place is beneath a huge cherry blossom tree that will bloom in the spring in a field of wildflowers that will scent the air when summer returns. Pops lies next to her in his grave.

Outside the cabin, I crunch down the wide porch steps then make a beeline around the back of the cabin to find the quiet vegetable patch where I can have a moment’s peace.

I don’t expect to find someone already there—his head tilted downwards as he rapidly taps out a text message on his phone.

“Willow.” Ethan startles, a cigarette clasped in his other hand.

“Oh… I’m sorry.” My feet quickly backtrack. “I… should get back inside.”

“No, wait. Please just let me have five minutes of your time.”

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, I have no choice but to grit out a breath and join him. He offers me a cigarette which I politely decline, the acrid smoke curling in the freezing cold air.

“I’m so sorry about your Grams,” he sympathises. “She was a good woman.”

“She really was.”

“You came back to Briar Valley fast.”

I spare him a look. “I didn’t have much of a choice.”

“I know that Katie passed along our information to you. My team is working night and day to bring this human trafficking ring down.”

“I wasn’t trafficked, Ethan.”

“Listen, love.” His voice is filled with infinite patience. “We all know what that bastard did to you. Continuing to live in denial is helping nobody, including yourself.”

Mouth snapping shut, I sigh through my nostrils. He’s right. Out there somewhere, Mr Sanchez still has the freedom to beat, bruise and kill whomever he pleases. I’m allowing that to happen.

If someone else had been able to wield the power to free me, I would’ve begged for them to save us. For Arianna. For a single second of peace from the pain and abuse. Now I’m allowing others to endure the same thing.

“I want to help,” I say in a tiny voice. “But I’m so fucking scared. You don’t know him like I do.”

“I’ve spent the past twelve months investigating that son of a bitch and his associates across the globe,” he replies grimly. “I know enough to confidently say he’ll rot behind bars for the rest of his life.”

My laugh is bitter. “He has power and influence in places you can’t even begin to imagine. Prison wouldn’t hold someone like him. Trust me.”

Crushing the cigarette in the snow, Ethan rests a hand on my shoulder. “Trust us, Willow. Sabre Security is the real deal. Give us a chance to prove ourselves to you.”

I look up into his hopeful gaze. “How?”

“Talk to us. Tell us your story, and let us help you. All we want is justice for every last person this trafficking ring has hurt. There’re a lot of people out there waiting for that.”

Caught in a trap of indecision, my heart feels like it’s going to explode out of my ribcage and tear itself into a million anxious pieces. The thought of another Arianna being stuck in a mansion seals the deal for me.

“I’ll do it.”

Ethan clasps my shoulder. “You will?”

“On the condition that your company offers me and Arianna protection,” I decide. “We want round-the-clock surveillance until this is all over and Mr Sanchez is behind bars.”

“We can do that. I’ll need you to come down to London to testify, though.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll let you know a date to come down,” he rushes out excitedly. “Want to tell the guys about this, or should I?”

“I guess it should be me.”

“You’re doing the right thing, Willow. We’re going to catch this motherfucker, and you’ll finally be able to put this all behind you.”

I rest a hand on top of his. “I really hope so.”

With another smile, Ethan leaves me to have a moment of privacy. It doesn’t last long. The crunch of footsteps approaching soon ends my solitude, and I know who it is without having to look.

The combined warmth of Killian and Zach sandwiches me in. I press my face into Zach’s dress shirt and feel Killian’s hands move to hold my hips as he nuzzles the back of my head.

With their strength around me, I let my brave face fall aside. I don’t need to pretend in front of them that everything is even remotely okay when it feels like my entire world is ending.

“What was that all about?” Killian rumbles.

“Mr Sanchez,” I whisper into Zach’s chest. “He’s being investigated by Ethan’s company, and I’ve agreed to testify to help bring him down.”

Zach pushes my shoulders back so he can see my face. “You’re kidding? Why didn’t we know about this sooner?”

“I heard a couple of weeks ago from Katie. I wasn’t planning to do it until now.”

Killian squeezes my hips with his two paws. “Why not?”

“Because he’s a powerful son a bitch with the money and influence to wipe Briar Valley off the map. You don’t mess with someone like that. Not when they know exactly where you are.”

His nose teases the slope of my neck as he inhales my scent. Feeling the brief touch of his lips on my skin has my pulse racing, even as the funeral continues in the cabin behind us.

Killian’s been a tough nut to crack ever since I returned home several days ago. His anger still bubbles to the surface when I least expect it. But he’s trying hard to be fair and hold it at bay.

“Can we get out of here?” Zach complains. “The kid’s playing with Johan and the others inside. Everyone else is going to head home soon too.”

“I’ll go and get Ari,” I offer.

“No.” Killian traps me to stop my movements. “Aalia will watch them for a bit. We need to talk first.”

“About what?”

“Not here. Let’s go home.”

He pins me against his hard, muscled side and marches me out of the vegetable patch. Zach follows, and we ascend the steep, snowy slope back up to their shared cabin.

Once inside, Killian flicks on lights and locates a bottle of amber-coloured liquid from the cupboard. He sets us up with three glasses then sits down at the breakfast bar.

“This time nine months ago, we sat in this very spot,” he begins thoughtfully. “We asked you to stay in Briar Valley, where we could keep you safe. And you agreed.”

I linger in the kitchen, afraid to move any closer. “I did.”

Zach remains at my back, his breath stirring my curls. “We’re asking you the same thing again now. You need to stay now that the funeral’s over. This is your home.”

“I don’t have a home,” I answer sadly.

Killian knocks back a mouthful of liquor. “Now that’s not true, is it?”

Pushing me forwards with a hand on my lower back, Zach moves me closer to his cousin until I’m again caught between them. But this time, I’m looking up at Killian’s impassive expression.

The strong curvatures and razor-sharp angles of his face all could slice deep into my skin and rip me apart, limb from limb. I wouldn’t even mind right now. I’m turning into putty beneath his intense gaze.

“Is it?” he demands.

“I… don’t know, Kill.”

“Yeah. You do.”

Grasping my legs, he lifts me up and encourages my legs to wrap around his broad waist. My body can’t help reacting on instinct, trained by mere touch alone to react to his strength and domination.

“We can’t do this right now,” I gasp.

“Right now is exactly when we should be doing this,” he counters. “We need to feel alive and appreciate what we’ve got, baby, because it’s fucking special. That has to be protected.”

I close my legs around his waist. “I think what we have is special too.”

“Good.”

Then his mouth is on mine, hot and demanding, as his hands cup my butt. Zach’s hard chest meets my back again, and his two hands land on my hips to hold me against his cousin’s hardening cock.

Zach’s lips graze against the shell of my ear. “That’s more like it. My left hand just ain’t cutting it anymore.”

“Charming.” I pepper kisses down Killian’s beard-covered neck. “So there haven’t been… you know, any other women?”

Abruptly, Killian freezes, his tone turning hard and angry. “Are you kidding me with that shit? You really think we would do that to you?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

Zach’s fingers painfully dig into my hips. “There’s been no one. You really think any other woman would match up to you?”

Trailing a hand down Killian’s chest, I unfasten his jeans and slip a hand inside his boxers to cup his cock. His eyes darken as I find his length and stroke teasingly.

“Nobody?” I double-check.

He leans in to bite my lip hard enough to draw blood. “Hell no, baby. I couldn’t stop thinking about you, even when I hated the living daylights out of you for leaving.”

“Seconded,” Zach hums in a playful voice.

“Should we take this to the bedroom?”

Killian smirks. “Why? I quite like the idea of seeing you naked and begging in my kitchen.”

His hands disappear, leaving me to slide down his body. Killian spins me around so I’m facing Zach again before reaching beneath my dress to rip my panties down in one swift move.

I’m left bare and wet beneath the dress, my pussy contracting with the waves of need that blur my vision. My brief, interrupted session with Zach the other day has done nothing to sate my desires.

“Is our girl wet for us?” Zach wonders.

Killian’s hand sneaks between my legs to find my dripping core. “Soaked as always.”

Mouth capturing mine, I gasp into Zach’s lips as his cousin’s fingers slide through my folds, gathering moisture before pushing inside me. His thumb swipes over my clit, causing me to moan.

“So wet and tight,” Killian murmurs.

Zach breaks the kiss. “I want a taste.”

“Wait your fucking turn, kid. She’s mine right now.”

“Spoilsport,” he mutters.

Spinning me back around before dropping to his knees in front of me, Killian lifts the hem of my dress to expose my bare cunt to him.

His lips graze over my heat, tongue flicking across my sensitive bundle of nerves. I cover my mouth with my hand to silence my moaning.

Each touch feels like the first time I’ve ever been pleasured by a man. It’s been so long, my body is working on overdrive, with every sense dialled to ten.

Killian pushes his finger back inside me, securing his mouth to my clit at the same time. I whimper, the sound filling the cabin as Zach prises my hand away from my mouth.

“Let me hear you,” he growls. “I want to know how much you love my cousin eating your pretty little cunt out.”

“Fuck,” I moan as Killian adds a second finger.

He’s stretching me wide, using his digits to work me into a frenzy of need. Zach’s erection rubs into my ass while he softly kisses my neck and shoulder. I need to feel them. Touch them. Taste them.

“Please. I’m ready.”

“Not yet,” Zach purrs. “You have to wait.”

“I want you to fuck me, Zachariah.”

“Do you now?”

He slaps my backside hard enough to sting. My ass cheek tingles, but it only adds to the cresting wave of pleasure that’s on the horizon, rapidly moving closer. It’s going to swallow me whole.

“Come all over Killian’s face,” Zach whispers into my ear. “Then we’ll fuck you raw, baby girl.”

Tweaking my clit again, Killian moves his fingers even faster. In and out. Circling, swirling, curling deep inside of me to reach that tender spot that forces me to explode.

“Now,” he commands.

I cry out as my release hits, spreading come across his face that’s still buried between my thighs. He thrusts his thick fingers into me until I have nothing left to give.

Coming up for air, there’s stickiness scored across his mouth and lips. He licks up every last drop, making sure not to waste a single bit. The sight of him cleaning his lips makes me wet all over again.

“Is it my turn yet?” Zach whines, still standing behind me.

“Not yet, kid.” Killian’s eyes blaze with carnal fire as he looks up at me. “Ready for me, princess?”

“Yes,” I breathe.

He sits back on his haunches, pulling his massive, bulging cock out of his jeans. “Come and ride me then, baby.”

Too excited to think of anything but filling myself with him, I slide free from Zach’s grip and position myself in Killian’s lap. Zach takes the opportunity to sink down to the floor, pouting in disappointment.

“I’ll just watch then,” he complains.

I glance over my shoulder at him. “Be with you soon, Zachariah.”

“Fucking better be.”

“Eyes on me,” Killian snaps, regaining my attention.

Holding the base of his dick, he feeds the long, hard length deep into my entrance. The moment he’s inside of me, I throw my head back and mewl in ecstasy.

“Fuck,” he hisses. “That’s it, beautiful. Ride my cock.”

I lift myself then slam back down on him with the fuel of desperation behind me. Killian’s dick sheathes even deeper inside my cunt, and the pressure is almost unbearable, I feel so exquisitely full.

With each thrust of his hips rising to meet my movements, we collide in a spectacular fashion, both battling for ownership of the other. I want to brand myself back into the meaty flesh of his heart.

An insecure part of me couldn’t help but wonder if there had been anyone else. I wouldn’t have blamed them if there was. I was gone for a long time. But an even bigger part of me is satisfied that there wasn’t.

They’re mine.

All. Fucking. Mine.

Breathing hard, I look back over my shoulder at Zach. He’s freed his cock and strokes it, his eyes locked on us fucking mere metres away. When I wink at him, his eyes sparkle with devilish promise.

“Hurry up,” he mouths.

Spanking my ass, Killian forces me to look back at him. He ruts into me with fast, frenzied strokes, battering his possession into my soul with the same ferocity that I’m reclaiming his. We’re back. Alive. This is where we belong—together.

Without warning, Killian roars through an orgasm, and I feel the hot spurt of his come filling me up. The sensation causes me to fall apart again, stronger this time, crying out my own incandescent relief.

Warmth spreads between us, and the feeling is so exquisite. I’m full of him, coated and claimed. Killian hides his face in my chest as he battles to catch his breath.

“Shit.” He swipes his forehead with the back of his arm. “I wasn’t expecting to finish so fast.”

I kiss the top of his dark-blonde hair. “It’s okay. I came too.”

“What about me?” a voice drones. “I’ve waited very patiently.”

Standing behind us, Zach’s naked from the waist down now and fisting his proud length. I watch as he pumps his cock, the heat burning bright in his emerald eyes.

“Princess,” he rasps. “I need you too.”

I take his offered hand and clamber off Killian’s lap. Zach seizes the zip on the back of my dress then quickly shoves it down. Thankfully, he’s too preoccupied with removing my bra to notice my arms.

With the bra discarded, his mouth secures to the hardened point of my left nipple. His teeth graze against the peak, causing desire to flood my veins again. I want him inside of me too.

“Table,” Zach grunts.

Walking me backwards, my tailbone connects with the solid lump of wood. I hop up and let him shift me backwards so he can settle between my legs and return his mouth to my chest.

Killian sits on the floor, watching us both as Zach presses up against the slick heat of my entrance. I’m even wetter after my first two orgasms and still dripping with Killian’s seed, but Zach doesn’t seem to mind.

“I love seeing you soaked in my family’s come.” He flashes me a wolfish grin.

“Zach,” I groan.

“Don’t worry, princess. I’m gonna make you feel good.”

“Please. Now.”

Suddenly, he surges inside of me, burying himself deep and letting out a guttural sound. The table shakes each time he pushes back into my cunt, slam after slam, pump after pump.

His strokes set my soul on fire and leave me to burn into handfuls of ashes. I can’t breathe. Think. Feel. Exist. All that I am is contingent on him, and him alone, for these breathless moments.

“So fucking perfect,” he praises while hammering into me.

I grip the edges of the table and hold on for dear life. The salt and pepper shakers go flying and smash against the floor, but no one pays any attention. Not even Killian who watches us fuck with interest.

We cause chaos as we slap against each other in a heat-fuelled tangle. Zach moves to clasp my throat. I was hoping he’d pull out his signature move.

There’s no other man in the world I’d allow to hold such power over me again, but when Zach does it, I don’t mind surrendering to him. In return, he gives me the safety of knowing he’ll allow me to breathe again.

His nails dig into my neck as he roughly fucks me into the table, causing pain to slice through me. I relish in it—every satisfying drop of agony that makes me feel alive for the first time in months.

“I couldn’t breathe when you left us behind,” Zach says gruffly. “You made me feel like this, beautiful girl. Like I was slowly dying with no way out of the darkness.”

His grip intensifies. I don’t tap out. Not yet. I need to be punished. To feel the pain that I inflicted upon them. To hurt. To suffer. To be reborn in ashes and rise again into the person I previously became here.

“I fucking loved you with everything I had to give,” he adds. “And you threw my heart away like it meant nothing to you. How can I forgive that?”

Hand loosening enough for me to answer, I choke out a response. “You can’t.”

Zach shakes his head. “You’re wrong. I fucking can, and I fucking will.”

When he releases my neck, the rush of oxygen into my lungs is excruciating. Pain bursts in my chest and my vision swims from the sheer intensity of relief that the end of his torture brings. I could cry.

I’m being forgiven.

Reborn.

Reclaimed.

Slamming his lips against mine, Zach swallows my scream of pleasure as he climaxes at the same time. Our bodies press together in a slick ocean of sweat, blending us into one unidentifiable person.

He pours himself into me, and I’m filled with his hot come. I can feel it spilling over my thighs as he lifts his head to look up at me.

“Jesus Christ.”

“You okay?” I laugh breathlessly.

“That wasn’t what I had planned on doing today.”

“Are you complaining?”

“Not in the slightest.”

Killian grabs a sheet of kitchen tissue and tosses it over Zach’s shoulder. He looks sheepish as he moves it between my thighs after pulling out, cleaning up the mess he’s made all over my legs.

My mind is a puddle of numbness. No other thoughts dare to creep in. All I care about is the treacle-like warmth pumping through my veins, bringing molten happiness and satisfaction.

“Willow?” Zach asks uncertainly.

“Hmm,” I reply back.

“We meant what we said before. You have to stay. There’s no other option on the table anymore.”

My pleasure fades as I reopen my eyes to look at them both. They’re wearing identical expressions of desperate, borderline obsessive hope. I fear for my life if I utter anything other than yes right now.

“What if he comes for us?” I vocalise my fears.

“Let the bastard fucking try,” Killian growls darkly. “I’d enjoy seeing him face to face. Though he won’t have much of a face left by the time I’m done.”

“Kill,” I gasp.

“Exactly.”

Fighting the urge to faceplant, I push Zach’s shoulder to make space for my feet to land back on the floor. After cleaning myself up, I ditch the tissue in the rubbish bin and face them both with defeat.

“It’s not like I want to run.”

“Then stay,” Zach demands.

Killian bobs his head in agreement. “Forever.”

Between the weight of their combined gazes and the pressure that’s reaching a breaking point, I have no choice but to nod. It takes all of my courage to summon that one gesture.

“Fine. But we’re moving back into our cabin.”

I’m almost knocked off my feet by the pair rugby-tackling me. Sandwiched between them, there’s no space to breathe, let alone change my mind. Our fates have been sealed.

We’re home.

For good.