Lost Bird

  They both nodded. Oscar leaned in first and kissed her. “I promise.”

  John kissed her next. “Me, too. I promise.”

  She offered them a smile. “Then let’s grab a quick nap before round two, because I suspect you boys won’t have any trouble revving my engine again.”

  John spoke up. “Can I ask for a promise?”

  She nodded.

  “You don’t give us Snarky Sachi to hide when you’re in pain or afraid or triggered. We need to know you trust us, too. You don’t joke it away when you’re alone with us. If you can’t talk about it right then, you say so. And when you can talk about it, you do.”

  She glanced at Oscar, who nodded. “Please?”

  This felt like running toward the cliff’s edge at full bore without attempting to slow down.

  “I promise to try,” she said. “I don’t have a lot of experience with it though. It’s kind of my survival mechanism.”

  “I’m good with trying,” Oscar said.

  John kissed her again. “So am I.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The next morning, Sachi awoke feeling disoriented. At first she’d be damned if she could remember where she was or how the hell she even got there.

  Or why she felt pleasant aches and pains in places she wasn’t used to having them.

  Then she realized John and Oscar lay on either side of her, and the entire night—and their second round of early morning boinkage—came rushing back to her.

  Closing her eyes, she mentally counted to three before opening them again.

  They weren’t a mirage. They were real, peacefully sleeping, their blue auras flowing over and through her.

  She closed her eyes again and breathed a sigh relief. Thank you, Goddess. Thank you, Julie. And thank you, Mandaline, you sneaky, thoughtful little witchypoo. I really owe you. Big-time.

  On that thought she had to clamp a hand over her mouth to smother the happy sob that wanted to break through. She lay there silently crying, trying really hard not to sniffle too loudly and awaken them.

  She’d had absolutely no dreams that she could recall, good or bad. And this morning, despite all the unfamiliar and not entirely unpleasant aches and pains in her body, she still didn’t regret the decision to step forward and move things along with the men.

  They were men of their word. A year from now if she hadn’t taken this step, they would still be doing the same dance with her, never looking at anyone else, never pressing her for more than she was ready to give.

  After a few minutes she got her emotions under control and carefully climbed down and out the end of the bed and headed to the bathroom.

  When she closed the door and flipped on the light, she had to clap a hand over her mouth again. This time, to smother her cry of surprise.

  In the mirror, she saw the same brilliant blue aura that surrounded the men.

  Never before had she seen her own aura.

  Ever.

  Even after trying countless times to do so.

  Julie’s best advice had been that maybe it was a fluke, since many others could see their own auras.

  In fact, her own aura was the only aura, before now, that she’d never been able to see. No one that she knew who could read auras could ever see it, either.

  She reached out, touching the mirror, her mirror-image arm and hand swathed in the brilliant blue glow.

  This is new.

  Then the giggles hit her. She grabbed a bath towel from the bar on the wall and held it pressed over her mouth as she laughed into it, unable to take her eyes off the mirror, the blue halo surrounding her.

  When she looked down at her arms and legs, she couldn’t see it. Only in the mirror.

  But it was enough.

  It was proof.

  She’d made the right decision, of that she was now absolutely certain.

  After she used the bathroom and cleaned up a little, she returned to the bedroom. According to the time on the cable box, it was a little after nine.

  The men stirred as she nestled herself between them again. Oscar, then John, let out yawns before both appearing to be startled to see her there.

  She grinned up at them. “Good morning, gents.”

  Equally handsome grins spread across their faces.

  Wake up to this every morning?

  Yeah, I could get used to that.

  * * * *

  John stared at Sachi. Part of him had been convinced he’d dreamed the whole thing, so to see her lying there between them was a relief at a molecular level.

  He was about to lean in and kiss her when somewhere on the floor his phone rang, the special ringtone he used for his mom’s cell.

  “Hold that thought,” he told Sachi. His mom rarely called him from her cell, and then it was usually important. Hoping it wasn’t something to do with his dad, he got out of bed and dug through the pile of clothes until he found his pants. He managed to locate his phone in his pocket and answer it before it went to voice mail.

  “Mom?”

  “Don’t you dare ‘mom’ me! When were you planning on telling me, huh?”

  What few vestiges of sleep remained in his system vanished at her biting tone. “Huh?”

  How the hell could she have found out about Sachi already?

  He walked out into the living room as she continued her rant. “I had to hear at Sunday school this morning from Emma Davis that your apartment was destroyed by a tornado the other night!”

  Oh. “Since when do you go to Sunday school?”

  “Really, John? That’s what you ask me? Are you two all right? And where are you staying?”

  Relief flowed. Not only was this call not about Sachi, his mom hadn’t figured out they were staying with Aunt Tammy.

  Yet.

  “Um, we’ve got it covered for right now, thanks. Friends came and helped us save our stuff. We’ve got a temporary place to stay.”

  “Well why don’t you both come here? We have the room. And why didn’t we get a call about this?”

  To be honest, the last person he’d wanted to call when it happened was his mom or dad. He didn’t want his dad feeling the stress, and he didn’t want his mom trying to logic him into moving home with them. “It was late and I didn’t want to worry you and it sort of happened really fast. It’s not like we had a lot of stuff to move.”

  “So where, exactly, are you staying?”

  Shit. He didn’t want to outright lie to his mom. “Well, right now we’re at a friend’s apartment.” Technically not a lie.

  “Jonathan Roger Evans, you answer my question.”

  Oh…crap. She’d used both first and middle names.

  He winced in preparation. “We moved in with Aunt Tammy.”

  Silence met his answer. He checked the phone and the call hadn’t dropped.

  “Then why,” his mom finally said, her voice sounding way too calm and steady for his liking, “did you just say you’re at a friend’s apartment?”

  This was getting deeper by the second. He turned and spotted Sachi and Oscar, both naked, standing in the bedroom doorway and staring at him with concern on their faces. “Because last night, we did.” Before he even realized what he was doing, he plunged into the icy waters of his mother’s foul mood. “Oscar and I have a girlfriend and we spent the night with her last night.”

  Both Sachi’s and Oscar’s mouths dropped open into nearly identical Os of shock.

  “What?”

  Well, she was already pissed off at him. Wasn’t like it could get much worse at that moment.

  Might as well bite the bullet. “Oscar and I have a girlfriend.”

  “You mean you and Oscar have girlfriends? Since when?”

  “No. A girlfriend, Mom. She’s our girlfriend. Together.”

  Another moment of silence. Then, “I do not want to have this conversation with you.”

  “Good. Are we done?”

  “How dare you talk to me like that!”

&n
bsp; He wasn’t going to fall for her guilt-trip trap this time. “Like what? I’m sorry we didn’t call you about the tornado, but it happened really fast. The reason I didn’t tell you we went to Aunt Tammy’s should be self-evident.” Well, at least we’re off the girlfriend topic.

  “How can you be so irresponsible! You can’t take care of an elderly person. You have a business to run!”

  “Yeah, and it’s been a bitch of a week, to be honest, and it’s Sunday, and it’s my freaking day off. Aunt Tammy is not an invalid, and I don’t know why you keep insisting she is. I’m not you, Mom. I am thirty-two and can make decisions on my own. Aunt Tammy generously invited me and Oscar to move in with her and we accepted. It’s temporary, but frankly, she’s got her shit together better than I do at this point, and I enjoy her company.”

  “This conversation is not over.”

  “Um, yeah, actually, it is. I love you, Mom, but this is a case of where you need to butt out.” He hit end, then immediately silenced his phone in case she called back.

  As he stood there staring at his phone, she didn’t.

  He walked over and set it on the kitchen counter.

  Oscar stared at him. “Dude. That was…Duuude. I’ve never seen you stand up to your mom like that before.”

  He pulled Sachi into his arms. “Yeah, well, I’ve had it with her bullshit.”

  “What did she say about me?” Sachi softly asked.

  “I don’t think she really processed that part. She was too outraged about us moving in with Aunt Tammy.” He kissed her. “I’m sure once that filters through and she’s had some time to think about it that she’ll be just as outraged.”

  Oscar laughed. “You think she’ll call my mom and dad?”

  “Who knows? And who cares.” He tucked Sachi’s hair behind her ears. “All I want to do right now is go back to bed and snuggle before we get up and go in search of breakfast.”

  * * * *

  Sachi stepped into the kitchen and opened the fridge. There were still condiments and stuff in there, but it looked like Mandaline and her guys had moved the bulk of the food to their house. “Yeah, I would have offered to make eggs or something, but the cupboard is bare. Sorry.”

  John scooped her up into his arms. “Then how about we work up more of an appetite before we go in search of food?”

  Sachi laughed as he carried her into the bedroom and playfully dumped her onto the bed, Oscar and John climbing in on either side to join her. “What did you have in mind?” Sachi asked. “You guys will have to go easy on me this morning. Let me build up my tolerance.”

  That was the wrong thing to say. Both of them immediately sported worried looks as their auras reflected their concerns.

  “We didn’t hurt you last night, did we?” John asked.

  “A lot of words come to mind about what we did, but hurt is definitely not one of those words.” She smiled. “Think of it more as I need some sports conditioning. I think we burned off more calories in a couple of hours than I do in a whole month’s worth of shooting.”

  “Then how about we take it easy this morning?” Oscar asked with a sexy grin. Before she could respond to that, he dove between her legs, his talented fingers and tongue quickly robbing her of the ability to speak.

  John stroked her cheek as he smiled down at her. “When he’s done, I want my turn, too,” he said. “I love seeing that helpless look on your face.”

  Her hand brushed against his cock, which had grown stiff and was rubbing against her. He let out a soft moan as she tugged on it, urging him to change positions. “Oh, I see what you’re up to.” He grinned as he sat up and moved to kneel next to her.

  She eagerly swallowed him, her eyes blissfully sinking closed as his moan spoke to her soul. He caressed the back of her head, stroking her hair before gently gathering it up in one hand, holding her there.

  Something else her soul craved, letting go with full trust in them.

  Oscar soon coaxed the first orgasm out of her, but she hadn’t gotten John off yet. “Oh, baby,” he gasped. “That feels so good when you moan around my cock!”

  Apparently Oscar was going to help her do it again, because he didn’t relent until he pulled a second orgasm out of her moments later.

  That triggered John’s explosion. His balls tightened in her hand, his cock going even harder before she tasted the first spurts of cum flowing from him.

  She let out another moan, a pleased one, matching John’s groan of pleasure. Sucking, licking, she didn’t want to release him until he finally started laughing and used her hair to actually pull her off his cock.

  “I’m done, baby. No more, please. Uncle.”

  Oscar had also stopped, his playful grin lighting more fires inside her. “Switch places,” Oscar said.

  Before she could react, they had, Oscar’s stiff cock now down her throat while John busied himself between her legs.

  She didn’t think it’d be possible for John to get her off again…and she soon found out how wrong she was. She was moaning her way through her third orgasm of the morning a few minutes later when Oscar couldn’t hold back any longer. After she swallowed his cum, he braced himself against the headboard to catch his breath.

  “Dammit, it’s like you’re humming all over my cock when you do that,” he gasped. “I can’t hold back when you do that.”

  She giggled, nuzzling her face against his thigh. “It’s not a bad thing.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t want you thinking I can’t last more than a few minutes.”

  “I don’t think that. You lasted pretty long when you were fucking me for the second time last night. Didn’t hear me complaining, did you?”

  In fact, he’d fucked her so long and well that he’d managed to find and hit the sweet spot and trigger an orgasm in her without any assist from fingers. “Okay. Just saying.”

  The shower wasn’t big enough for the three of them, but even though she didn’t have clean clothes she didn’t want to go home smelling like sex, much less go out to breakfast that way. The men opted to take individual showers after she did, and forty-five minutes later, they were heading out to eat with Oscar driving and Sachi riding shotgun.

  “Your dad won’t be upset you didn’t come home last night, will he?” John asked.

  “No, I don’t think so. I told him I’d be at the store late. Really late. He’ll probably think I just stayed over since I told him Mandaline and her guys were going to be at the house.”

  “How do you think your dad’s going to take this?” Oscar asked.

  “I don’t know. Hopefully better than John’s mother.” She smiled at him over the seat.

  John laughed. “He couldn’t take it much worse.”

  “Maybe I should let Ellis hold my skeet guns for me again until after we tell my dad,” she joked.

  But apparently the men thought she was serious. “You really think so?” Oscar asked.

  “No. I’m joking. Guys, if this is going to work, you need to remember my snarkage filter is frequently nonexistent.”

  “One of your many charms?” John teased.

  “Yeah, sure. Let’s go with that.” She turned back to the front again. “More a survival mechanism, but charm sounds better.” She had a thought. “Maybe we could have dinner with Dad tonight.”

  “Isn’t tonight the do-over for the investigation?” Oscar asked.

  She winced. “D’oh. Sorry, yeah, it is. I guess we’ll have to figure something out.”

  “I don’t want you stressing out over your dad,” John said. “If you need to wait to tell him, we understand.”

  “Again, don’t give me the out.” She tempered her comment with a smile. “I’m a big girl. I can do this. I’ll be twenty-eight here soon. I’m better off right now in life, more stable than a lot of people older than me. I have a house that’s paid off, a car that’s paid off, and two jobs that pay my bills. I have money in the bank.” She grinned. “Saaaay, you dudes aren’t gold-diggers after me for my money, are you?”


  Both their auras flashed with worry just long enough she thought she might have to apologize for the joke when they started laughing.

  “I guess being with you means I need to loosen up some, huh?” John asked.

  “Uh, yeah.” She squirmed in her seat, those same pleasant aches reminding her how they’d spent the night. “You wouldn’t be the only one loosened up,” she snarked. “Just not in the same way I am.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sachi knew it’d be even harder to focus on the investigation now that she’d slept with Oscar and John. But she also knew how important it was to try to get to the bottom of things. To come up with a definitive answer that would either put John’s mind at ease that his aunt wasn’t senile, or answer the questions once and for all.

  She wished she’d had equipment in the bathroom with her that night when she’d seen the aura and heard the voice, but oh well.

  No use whining about that now.

  Maybe they’d get lucky again. Just in case, she would have Brad hook up an IR camera in the bathroom, as well as a digital voice recorder. They’d use the bathroom down the hall that the men were now sharing.

  They once again assembled a team at Tammy’s house an hour before sunset Sunday evening. This time, with Ellis and Mandaline there to lend assistance, as well as Brad, Anna, and Mina. The entire time, Sachi tried to quell her nerves.

  And her libido.

  It would be too tempting to drag one or both of her men off somewhere in the darkened house and get it on with them.

  Down, girl. Detective work now, dirty time later.

  It wasn’t dark yet. While Brad handled the equipment wrangling, Sachi grabbed Oscar and John. “Come with.”

  “Oooh.” John grinned.

  “Not that. Work.”

  “Damn,” Oscar muttered.

  She led them across the backyard and through the fence. Well, she crossed through the fence, and Oscar and John stood there, staring at her through it.

  “What?” she asked when she realized they weren’t right behind her.

  “You want us to go in there?” John asked.

  “Um, yeah,” Sachi said. “You’re a plumber. Aren’t you used to going under houses and shit?”