Bightmares

Chapter Three

It took Emi’s stomach three days to marginally settle so she could wean herself off a diet of Ford’s soup and ginger tea. Nearly a week after their arrival at the orbital hub, Emi felt better, nearly normal, although sometimes dizzying waves of vertigo threatened to send her running for a head.

She kept a conscious eye on the locations of available trash receptacles whenever she left the close proximity of a head.

The men took her out to dinner at Charlie Tacos, where she braved a real meal. Later, they gave her a tour of the orbital hub before returning to the Tamora Bight. Truth be told, for her first week in space she found it…

Pretty boring.

They didn’t need a night watch while docked at the hub, but Ford and Caph had maintenance chores they wanted to take care of while the ship lay on the dark side of the Earth, more systems checks to complete.

In their large, shared crew cabin, Emi cuddled with Aaron on their enormous bed. More like a gigantic pallet on the floor, there was plenty of room for them all to stretch out and sleep, or play.

“Did you guys plan it this way?” she mumbled against his shoulder. The faintest rumblings of her libido had returned as her condition improved. “So you wouldn’t have to share me with the twins?” That was their nickname for Caph and Ford, so dubbed by Aaron years earlier due to the men’s habit of “twinspeak”—frequently saying the same thing at the same time.

“No, but you won’t hear me complaining.” He stroked his fingers up and down her spine with a featherlight touch. “What kind of mood are you in?”

“I’m in a ‘glad it’s just you tonight because I’m exhausted’ mood.”

He slanted his mouth over hers, gently kissing her. His warm and tender kiss stirred more than a little interest deep inside her. “Then let’s roll over and go to sleep.”

“I’m not that exhausted.” She wiggled a hand between them where she wrapped her fingers around his cock, which immediately responded and grew hard in her palm. “Besides, you guys haven’t played much lately.” The men had absolutely no problems making love to each other when she wasn’t in the mood. They hadn’t even done that since they’d reached the hub, unusual for her normally horny husbands.

“We’ve been busy. Now that we’re in space, it’s not like we have the luxury of a quickie whenever we want.” He kissed her again, his tongue gently sweeping across hers as he rocked his hips against her hand. He rolled her onto her back and slowly kissed his way down her tummy, between her thighs. He needed no encouragement from her to lower his head to the juncture between her legs, where his tongue slowly traced every contour of her sex. His hair brushed against her thighs, soft and seductive. He urged her to drape her legs over his broad shoulders.

Emi tangled her fingers in his hair. Eyes closed, her heart raced as he skillfully brought her closer to release. Before she met Aaron, Caph, and Ford, she’d only been with two other men.

Those two other men were no comparison. While each of her three husbands had a distinct style, they all shared the ability to blow her mind and unhinge her control in an indescribable way.

As Aaron’s lips and tongue playfully tormented her clit, he slipped two fingers inside her entrance and slowly stroked. Her muscles, already slick with her juices, clamped down on him, trying to keep him there.

She felt her nerves tightening, straining, struggling for release. Now wound into her passion, she missed her other two men, wished they were there to add the exquisite pleasure of their hot mouths on her breasts, gentle grazing of their teeth against her nipples…

That thought pushed her over the edge. Control shattered as she bucked her hips, trying to press her mound firmly into the delicious, hot pressure from his lips and tongue. She cried Aaron’s name as he drew out her climax, pulling her release from her like an over-wound wire that finally snapped from too much pressure.

When he sensed she’d had enough, he rose up and grabbed her hips, the weight of his body pressing her thighs onto her chest. She felt her muscles quiver again as his hard cock slid deep inside her without the slightest hesitation, parting her and hitting nerve endings within her in an incredibly erotic way.

His brown eyes smoldered, dark and smoky. “I love the way you sound like that, babe.” He took long, slow, teasing strokes, her body still trembling from the aftershocks.

She pulled his head down and kissed him, plunging her tongue into him. He wouldn’t let her rush him even when she wrapped her legs around him and tried to rock him into a faster rhythm.

He lifted his head, his deep voice soft and sultry. “Oh, no you don’t. I’m taking my time. I don’t mind sharing you with the twins, but I’m going to enjoy every second of this. You’re all mine for now.”

His shaft slid along her throbbing clit, not enough to push her over a second time, but more than enough to make her beg. “Harder!”

He grinned as he nuzzled her neck, gently nipping the tender skin at the base of her throat. “No.”

She whined, moaned, pleaded, but he held fast and firm, torturously slow, enjoying her body.

Then he switched to short, shallow strokes, the engorged head of his shaft teasing her as he rocked his hips away from her despite her desperate efforts to draw him deeper.

After a few minutes, he stopped altogether. He sat up and held her hips still. “Tell me what you want, baby.”

“Fuck me!”

“You want to come again?”

She eagerly nodded.

A wicked smile painted his face. He used his thumb to caress her clit, not enough to get her over again, just to tease. “I don’t think you want it badly enough.”

“Please!”

He pulled her up into a sitting position and withdrew his cock, kissing her before rolling her over onto her hands and knees. As he plunged deep inside her again, he reached around and found her clit. “Show me how badly you want it, baby.” He feathered his lips down her spine as she fucked herself on his cock, doing all the work as he teased her closer to release.

Just when she wasn’t sure if she’d ever make it, the dam burst, and she cried out as her muscles clamped down around his thick shaft.

“That’s my girl.” He grabbed her hips and fucked her, hard and fast, quickly coming with her before they both collapsed to the bed. Spent, panting, and sweaty, he tightly wrapped his arms around her.

He pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. “Good?” Too wiped out to speak, she nodded, earning another pleased chuckle from him. “Go to sleep, sweetheart. You need to rest. Love you.” He pulled the sheet over them.

“Love you,” she managed to whisper before she crashed into sleep.

Emi rolled over to snuggle closer to Aaron and found him gone. That’s when she heard the men’s low voices in the corridor. She glanced at the clock and realized she didn’t have to get up yet, but Aaron had an early meeting at the dockmaster’s office about their cargo. She closed her eyes and nearly went back to sleep when she heard the door open, followed by the sound of clothing hitting the floor. A moment later, she felt the bed move as Ford and Caph climbed in with her.

“She’s still asleep,” Ford softly said. “Don’t wake her up.”

She heard the rustle of bedsheets, and then Ford let out a soft, familiar moan that brought a smile to Emi’s face. She cracked open an eye and watched. Ford lay on his stomach, eyes closed, his head resting on his arms. Caph straddled him and slowly rubbed his back, sensuously kneading his muscles. He took his time, his large hands knowing from years of experience exactly where and how to apply pressure.

As he worked lower, his thumbs traced along Ford’s spine, every vertebrae, the hollow in his lower back behind his hips that dipped between his firm ass cheeks. She resisted the urge to count the vertebrae in her head and name the muscles. These were her husbands, not anatomy models.

Although they were damn fine specimens of the male anatomy. All three of them.

Ford’s hips slowly gyrated against the bed as Caph lowered his head. His tongue slowly brushed from between Ford’s shoulders and down his back, following the path his fingers had taken. Caph’s large hands kneaded Ford’s ass. “You got any problems that need taken care of?” he hoarsely asked. She spotted his rigid cock nestled against the seam of Ford’s ass.

Ford softly chuckled against the mattress. “Ah, you know I do, big guy. And you always know how to scratch my itch, don’t you?”

Caph reached over, grabbed the bottle of lube from beside the bed, and then lay on his back on Ford’s other side. “How you want me?”

Ford sat up. “Just like that.” He leaned in and kissed Caph. Emi felt heat pulse between her legs at the sight of the men’s passion. Watching her men together always did that to her. Every action screamed their love for each other. It wasn’t just sex between them, it was soul mates joining.

Caph pulled his legs up, his rock-hard thighs touching his chest as Ford teased him. He fisted Caph’s stiff cock and stroked it. “How do I take care of this later? That’s the next question.” His playful smile lit the dim room. He palmed Caph’s heavy sac, stroking it, working his way lower. “Do I suck it or fuck it?”

Caph threw his head back, eyes closed, and moaned.

“Like the way that feels?” Ford asked.

He nodded. “Please fuck me, man. I need it.”

Ford slicked himself with lube before prepping the other man. Emi’s heart pounded as she watched him press the head of his cock against Caph’s rim. “Gonna fuck you real good, buddy,” he promised as he slid home.

He wiggled his ass against Ford’s thighs as his hands tightly fisted the sheets.

Ford’s firm ass and thighs flexed as he stroked his cock inside Caph. “You like that?”

Caph nodded, his bottom lip caught under his teeth.

Both of Emi’s eyes were now wide open as she watched the men. Ford held on to Caph’s thighs as he fucked him. “Jesus, you feel good,” he whispered.

Caph let out another soft moan.

Unable to take it anymore, Emi rolled over and kissed Caph as Ford laughed. “Whoops, we woke her up.”

Caph’s tongue deeply plundered her mouth as his hand found one of her breasts and tweaked her nipple. He nudged her up. “Turn around,” he gasped. His large hands grabbed her hips. He urged her to straddle his face as he pulled her over his mouth, his tongue lightly flicking her clit. She felt the morning stubble on his cheeks rasp along the insides of her thighs, a delicious contrast to his soft, shaggy blond curls.

She rested her hands on Caph’s chest, balancing herself, playing with his nipples. Ford leaned in and kissed her.

“Jesus, that’s fucking sexy, watching you on him like that!” Ford was their chatterbox, even in bed.

She didn’t mind.

Caph’s rigid cock bobbed with each thrust Ford took inside him. Not one to waste an opportunity, Emi lowered herself over Caph’s body and sucked his cock into her mouth.

She didn’t know who moaned more loudly, Ford or Caph.

Caph doubled his efforts between her legs, his hands clamped around her thighs, holding her in place. Not that she wanted to move. She laved her tongue over the head and crown, flicking the slit and tasting the salty tang of pre-come. She felt him grow even harder between her lips.

Ford twined one hand in her hair. “That’s it, baby. Suck his cock.” Between her legs, Caph’s tongue plundered her depths and drove her closer to climax.

She felt Caph’s hands change position, one finger gently pressing against her puckered rim without pushing for entrance. It was enough to send her over the edge. As she moaned around his cock, his hands once again clamped around her thighs as he sucked on her clit.

Ford’s thrusts came harder, faster. “Come for us, baby. Let him eat that sweet pussy. Scream for us.”

Screaming wasn’t an option with several thick inches of Caph’s man-meat filling her mouth, but she gave it her best. As she felt her insides melt into a passionate puddle, she ground her hips against Caph’s face.

“Suck the juices right out of his cock, baby,” Ford urged. “Make him come before I do. I want to feel his ass clench.”

She redoubled her efforts, taking him deeply into her throat and stroking the veined surface with her tongue.

“Come on, big guy. Quit holding back, you damn tease.” Ford fucked him harder. “I’m almost there.”

Emi wiggled one of her hands free and slipped it between Caph’s legs. She squeezed his sac and sent him over the edge, making him loudly moan against her.

Ford felt it before he heard him. “Fuck, yeah! There he blows!” He pounded into Caph’s ass, crying out as he sank his cock balls-deep inside his lover and fell still, hanging on to Caph’s legs for support.

He slowly untangled himself and stepped into the head to clean up, returning with a washcloth for Caph. Emi rolled off Caph, curling up next to him. She smiled when Ford leaned in for a kiss. “Morning, sugar.”

“Good morning.” She was going to say something to Caph when they heard his soft snore.

“So much for cuddling,” Ford snarked. “Poor guy. He’s wiped out, stayed up all night. At least I had time to catch a little catnap.”

Emi wished she could lay there all morning with the men, but then she glanced at the time. “I need to get up. I’ve got to go over the sick bay and medical inventories one more time in case I need to put in another order before we leave. Then I need to get to work in the hydro lab.”

He helped her to her feet. “Need help?”

“You in the hydro lab? I don’t think so.” Ford had a black thumb.

He laughed. “No, babe. I meant with inventory. I want our plants to live, not die.”

“Nah, stay here with him and rest.”

She grabbed a quick shower and dressed, casting one last look at Caph and Ford before she left their cabin. Cuddled together, Caph had rolled onto his side and thrown his arm around Ford’s waist. Ford was already dozing. They looked so cute like that. She enjoyed seeing them intimate together, whether having sex, or simply the way they worked together, or even while cooking dinner in the galley, a hand to the small of the other man’s back as they passed, totally comfortable with each other.

Her men. Not too many mornings they’d all be in bed at the same time while in space. Not when someone had to stay on watch all the time. She walked to the galley to make her coffee. Aaron had promised her before they left the hub that they’d have a night together, the four of them. Then at least one more before they left Mars.

She knew she shouldn’t complain because it wasn’t like she had to spend time away from them. She could see them any time she wanted. But she’d miss their comfortably full bed, all four of them tangled together after making love.

All through his meeting, Aaron constantly referred to his hand-held, both notes he’d made earlier and to take notes of points made by the hub’s retrofit crew manager. He couldn’t concentrate. His mind lay elsewhere, his sleep the night before ragged and ripped apart by the nightmares again, despite having had Emi all to himself.

Maybe because of it. He hadn’t dared wake her to talk, and he’d sworn Ford to silence. He’d desperately missed Ford’s quiet solace in bed to steady him as he’d always had in the past.

Emi might rip him a new one if she found out he wasn’t talking to her about this, but he wasn’t ready to dump that burden on her yet. No matter how much he loved her and despite her medical background, Ford was the one he knew he could unburden himself on and not crush him under his emotions. The way he’d always been able to rely on him.

When he returned to the Tamora Bight later that afternoon after his meetings, he checked the ship’s locator sensors and knew Emi worked down in the hydro lab while Caph still slept in their cabin. He headed to the galley, where Ford was taking inventory, and made himself some lunch. Ford sat across from Aaron at the galley table and aimed a pointed gaze at him.

After a few minutes of silence, he quietly said, “Tell me, Aar. Don’t hold it in. Not with me. Never with me, you know that.”

Aaron looked down at his sandwich, his appetite temporarily deserting him. “More of the same shit, different night.” He pushed the plate away. “They’d gotten better. Then when we met Emi, I thought they’d be gone for good.”

“She’s been the best damn thing to ever happen to us. I think you and I agree on that.”

“Then why are my nightmares coming back?” he wondered, more to himself than Ford. “Why now, when I’m happier than I’ve felt since…” He couldn’t say it, but he knew Ford understood what he meant.

Since Kels’ death.

Ford shrugged. “You’re worried. It’s the first time we’ve had her on a mission with us. You’re afraid you can’t protect her. I don’t need Emi’s psych degree or empath skills to know that.”

“The past several fucking nights. Every goddamned night. I haven’t dreamed this bad in years!”

Ford reached across the table and laid his hand over Aaron’s. He waited until Aaron finally looked him in the eye to speak again. “Don’t shut her out. Let her help you with this. You know she can. She’ll want to.”

“I don’t want her knowing about the dark times. She doesn’t deserve that. She has enough of her own shit to deal with the way she lost her parents.”

“She already knows the basics. She knows what I could tell her about what happened. I think when you can bring yourself to open up to her and talk to her about it all, tell her the story in your words, not mine.” Ford squeezed Aaron’s hand before he released it and sat back in his chair. “One day, you have to face this, get it out of you, quit holding it in. This is her job. Not just as our wife, but as our med officer. Don’t you trust her?”

“Of course I do! How can you even ask me that?”

“Then trust her skills. Trust that she can deal with this. Trust her to help you through it. She won’t just be pissed if she finds out you’ve been holding back, she’ll be hurt.”

“Hurt?”

“Oh, come on, Aar! You can’t be that frakking dense. Let her in the way you’ve let me in. I’d be willing to bet that when you do, then you can put the nightmares to rest for good.”

They enjoyed a final night out together the evening before their scheduled departure from the hub. After six weeks of staring at Earth from nearly three hundred miles above the surface, Emi would leave it completely behind.

They ate in a quiet corner booth at Charlie Tacos. Fortunately, despite the name, the restaurant offered a wide variety of fare, cuisine from all over the globe now spinning beneath them. The men’s excitement and pleasant nervous tension rolled through Emi throughout dinner as they talked about the ship, the journey to Mars, and last-minute details. Emi remained quiet and listened, not having much to contribute to the conversation. This was their bailiwick.

Then she felt a quiet melancholy take Aaron over. He lifted his glass as Caph and Ford also fell silent. Emi picked up her glass. He turned his brown eyes on her. Held in his intense gaze, Emi listened as he gave his toast.

“I know we sort of did this before we left Earth, but this is our first mission together as not just crew, but real family. Babe, you have no idea how much we love you and are glad you chose us. I promise that, no matter what, we’ll take care of you.” They all touched glasses together in the middle of the table, but Aaron’s eyes never left hers. “Crew first,” he softly said.

She smiled. “Crew first,” she and the others repeated.

They returned to the Tamora Bight and fell into bed. She sensed the men’s shift from anticipation to be underway to their urgent need to be together one last time, like this, in a way they wouldn’t normally be able to enjoy every night. A farewell of sorts, only without the sad undertones of a good-bye.

The men slowly took their time undressing her, kissing every bit of bared flesh as they removed her clothes. By the time she lay naked and writhing with need in the middle of their bed, the three men stared down at her with nearly identical expressions of lust branded on their faces.

“You guys going to sit there and stare, or are you going to get naked?” she teased.

“Get naked,” they all echoed. The twins laughed while Aaron rolled his eyes and sighed.

“And so it begins,” he said with a playful smirk. “I’m telling you, Em, twinspeak gets really old, really fast.”

The men quickly stripped. Aaron knelt over her and kissed her. He teased her, gently tracing her lips with his tongue, his touch so light it almost tickled.

Emi wrapped her arms around him and sighed as she felt Ford and Caph massage her feet and legs. Aaron lifted his head so he could look into her eyes. “Tell us what you want, babe.”

“I want all of you.” It didn’t matter to her how or where, as long as they were together. At any time during their mission she could make love with any of them, but to have them all at once, even if just the feel of their flesh against hers, completed her.

Aaron kissed her again, then blazed a hot and moist trail with his lips along her jaw, behind her ear, down her neck to the base of her throat. She closed her eyes and reached out with her empathic senses, drank in their passion and love. It only compounded her desire.

Aaron didn’t stop there. He moved lower and latched his mouth onto one of her nipples while he teased the other with his hand. He used his tongue and teeth to bring the one to a hard peak. Then he switched to the other and repeated the process. She felt her clit throb in response, every pull of his mouth on her breast triggering a responding pulsation between her legs.

He continued his southerly journey until she felt his hot breath on her clit. He pushed her thighs wider apart with his palms and gently nuzzled his lips against her.

As one, Ford and Caph changed position. Each man latched onto one of her breasts, drawing a long, low moan from her. She twined her fingers in their hair and held on. How could she not love this exquisite pleasure?

Aaron teased her clit with his tongue while Ford and Caph stroked her body with their hands. Raw passion singed her nerves. It felt like their hot touch was everywhere at once. Aaron wrapped his hands around her thighs as he settled himself between her legs. His tongue plunged deeply inside her before he returned to tracing slow, lazy circles around her clit. Back inside her again, teasing, not giving her enough friction to get off even as he pulled her closer to the brink.

Ford lifted his head and used his fingers to torment her nipple. “Look at me, babe,” he said.

Unable to resist, she forced her eyes open.

In the dim light, or maybe because of his own desire, Ford’s blue eyes had taken on the color of infinitely deep ocean seas. “Does it feel good? Do you like feeling his mouth on you?”

She nodded, his words further inflaming her.

“As much as I love being the one to make you scream, I love seeing you like this, watching one or both of them make love to you. Is he fucking you with his tongue?”

She nodded, speech escaping her.

“Is he sucking on your sweet clit?” As he said it, Aaron did it, making her arch her back to get more contact.

“Yes!”

Caph moaned around her other nipple as his stiff cock rubbed against her thigh. Just listening to Ford’s pillow talk could nearly make him come.

“I bet that beautiful pussy of yours is totally wet, isn’t it?”

Caph moaned again, louder, and started shifting his hips against Emi in earnest.

“Yes!”

He lowered his face to hers, his lips not quite touching. She felt his breath against her lips. “Come for us. Scream for us. Give it all to us, we want it.”

Her breath hitched in her throat as she felt it start. An erotic bubble of need and passion rapidly swelling until it burst. Her eyes clamped shut as she cried out. Ford kissed her, fucking her with his tongue and swallowing her passionate sounds as she lost control of her muscles and felt like her insides had been replaced by hot lava.

Only when she couldn’t take it anymore, her cries replaced by soft mewling noises and breathy protests that she was done, did Ford and Aaron both lift their heads from her body. Ford rained kisses on her forehead, across her closed eyelids, the tip of her nose. Aaron nuzzled his face against her thighs, kissing her there, gently kneading her flesh with his hands.

Caph’s agitation only increased with her release. She felt slick, warm moisture, pre-come from his cock as he ground it into her thigh. He softly moaned around her breast.

Ford moved out of Aaron’s way as the other man sat up and positioned himself between her legs. His cock felt hard and stiff as he pressed against the entrance to her pussy.

“He’s gonna fuck you good, baby,” Ford said as they both watched Aaron prepare to take her.

She shifted her hips, trying to nudge Aaron to do it, to fuck her, to fill her to her very core.

Then he slowly sank his entire length into her. He held still, his eyes closed, savoring the sensation. As he paused like that, Emi felt something else from him, an emotion, a thought she couldn’t quite grasp clearly enough while caught in her own passion.

He opened his eyes again and stretched to retrieve something from beside the bed, just past her head. He pressed it into Ford’s hand as he leaned over and deeply kissed him. “Do it,” he hoarsely said. “I want it.”

She sensed Ford’s shocked surprise, almost enough to snap him out of his own passion. “You’re sure?”

Aaron closed his eyes and nodded before he rested his head on Emi’s chest, between her breasts.

Caph changed position, his head nestled against Emi’s shoulder, face-to-face with Aaron. He draped an arm over Aaron and nuzzled his forehead with his lips while Emi wrapped her arms around him.

Ford, apparently stunned, glanced at Emi, as if needing confirmation from her that he’d heard Aaron correctly.

She smiled and nodded a little, silently mouthing, “It’s okay.”

Ford slowly sat up and changed positions to kneel behind Aaron. He dropped the bottle of lube that Aaron had handed him to the bed. Taking his time and moving slowly, he started stroking Aaron’s back, from shoulders to waist to ass, kissing him, loving him.

Aaron kept his eyes closed and his forehead touching Caph’s as he slowly rocked his hips back and forth a little.

Emi, absorbed in this more as spectator than participant, shared Ford’s happy surprise. One of the first things she’d learned about her men was the sad fact that “Cap doesn’t bottom.” Not until they’d shared their crew story with her, about Kels’ death and Aaron’s vicious torture at the hands of the raiders, did she understand why. Before that time, Aaron had no trouble playing the bottom or top role, enjoying both.

For the first time since then, he was asking to rejoin them in this way.

Emi focused on Aaron’s energy but kept her eyes locked with Ford’s. Aaron did want this, desperately, having missed it all these years but unable to consider enjoying it before now. After a few minutes, when she gave Ford another slight nod, he picked up the lube and used some to slowly work one finger into Aaron’s dark hole.

Ford stopped when Aaron moaned, but Emi nodded again, encouraging, when she knew Aaron’s sounds were from pleasure, not pain.

Carefully, gently, Ford worked to loosen him. Aaron’s breathing quickened as he continued to rock his hips against Emi, his cock even harder inside her.

When Ford added a second finger, Aaron gasped and lightly breathed, “Yes!”

“You like that?” Ford softly asked.

“Yes!”

Ford stroked his back with his free hand. “I want to love you like this again, Aar. I’ve missed this so much. I want to show you how much I love you.”

Aaron moaned again, encouraging him to continue.

She tightened her grip around both men. Caph fully realized what was happening and had stopped his frantic dry-humping against Emi’s leg to focus his attention on Aaron. He twined his fingers in the other man’s hair, kissed him, softly whispered to him as Aaron kept his eyes closed and held on to Emi.

By the time Ford reached three fingers, Aaron was begging for more. When Ford felt Aaron was ready, he slicked his cock with lube and positioned it at his ass. With one last, reassuring look at Emi to confirm it was okay, he slowly pressed forward.

Aaron thrust back to meet him with an inarticulate cry. “Yes!” he sobbed. “Yes!”

Emi and Caph both tightened their hold on Aaron, loving him as he started moving his hips in synchronized time with Ford’s thrusts.

Ford stroked his hands down Aaron’s back. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t stop!”

Caph recaptured his mouth. Emi felt mesmerized, awestruck by the loving passion engulfing the three men, so thick it almost formed a visible aura around them. They’d needed this, the last missing piece to help them shed whatever pain still haunted their souls. Especially Aaron.

Finally convinced Aaron was okay, Ford was drawn into his own passion. His eyes closed as his lower lip caught under his teeth. It wouldn’t take him long to come, not as close to the edge as Emi sensed he was.

Aaron didn’t so much fuck her with his cock embedded inside her as he drew safety and comfort from her, enjoying this long-missing pleasure.

“Jesus, I love you, Aar,” Ford whispered. “Goddamn, I love you so much.”

Bless his heart, she sensed Caph wanted to jump in there as soon as Ford finished, but she knew he would wait to see if Aaron wanted him to. “We’ve both missed you,” Caph whispered to Aaron. “I used to love it when you’d put me in the middle and he’d fuck me while I fucked you. Remember that?”

“Gods, yes!” Aaron gasped.

Emi felt her own sex throb at that mental image, of the larger man sandwiched between the others.

Holy crap! She couldn’t wait to see that!

“I can’t hold it,” Ford said.

“Do it,” Aaron told him. “Please!”

Emi felt the bed shake as Ford’s thrusts came faster, harder, until he gave a cry and fell forward onto his arms to keep from crushing them all, gasping and panting.

Aaron’s hips still worked his hard cock inside Emi.

“You okay, Aar?” Ford asked, worry now tainting his post-coital energy.

“Yeah,” Aaron whispered. Then he opened his eyes and looked at Caph. “You.”

“Yeah?”

Aaron kissed him. “Yeah. Right now. I want you, too. I need you.”

Ford carefully withdrew and stepped into the head to clean up. By the time he returned, Caph had positioned himself and slicked his shaft with lube. Ford lay where Caph had, his arm around Aaron as he softly whispered to him.

“We love you, man. We love you so much.”

Caph carefully pressed for entrance. Emi felt his keen worry, even more than Ford’s. When he looked up, she met his gaze and smiled. “It’s okay,” she silently mouthed, not wanting to interrupt them. This was their healing, and she was happy to take a backseat to helping Aaron cross this bridge, however he needed to do it.

Slowly, he pushed his thick cock inside Aaron. Aaron stilled his hips for a moment until Caph was positioned. “Do it, buddy,” he said as Ford stroked his back. “Fuck me.”

Caph carefully held Aaron’s hips while he slowly thrust.

Ford tangled his fingers in Aaron’s hair. “Come for him. I remember how much you enjoyed his cock. You used to love sitting back on his lap, leaning against him while me and Kels sucked your cock and played with your balls.

Emi hoped they didn’t hear her gasp. At this rate, she’d be more than ready for another round of her own. That mental image was just too frakking delicious not to store away for future use.

Aaron softly moaned. “Oh, fuck yeah. I remember.”

“You used to say you felt like we’d suck your balls right out through your cock.”

Aaron groaned as his strokes inside Emi became harder, more erratic as he seesawed between fucking her and fucking himself onto Caph’s cock.

“Maybe next time you can suck my cock while he’s fucking you,” Ford said.

That did it. Aaron thrust hard and let out a loud moan. Emi felt his body shudder as he climaxed. Caph quickly caught up and added his orgasm to it, but before he could pull out, Emi grabbed his arm and shook her head, indicating for him to stay right there.

Now Aaron cried. Not in pain, Emi sensed, but in relief as he demolished some of the mental barriers he’d held on to for years to protect his heart from the excruciating memories. Long, deep, anguished sobs wracked his body as the others held him.

“He’s okay,” Emi whispered to the other two men, reassuring them. “He needs this. This is good.”

Aaron’s sobs turned into loud, long moans, painful to hear. The other two men tightly held onto him as he cried. Emi stroked his hair, feeling him finally letting out at least some of the pain and anguish and loss he’d carried deep inside for so many years. After nearly twenty minutes, he’d cried himself to sleep in their arms.

She patted Caph on the arm. “Be careful, baby. Don’t wake him,” she warned.

“Is he okay?” Caph worriedly asked. “Did I hurt him? Please tell me I didn’t hurt him.”

She smiled as she glanced at Ford. She knew he understood in a way Caph wouldn’t. “Don’t worry, you didn’t hurt him. He’s okay. He’s better than he’s been in a long time.”

Caph cleaned up, brought a washcloth for Aaron, and then slipped into bed on Emi’s other side. He and Ford both kept their arms around Aaron.

She lay there in the dark, unable to sleep as she focused her attention on Aaron. His pain still unwound and drained from him as he felt his lovers around him, holding him safe in their arms. This wasn’t a one-time quick fix for his problems, but it truly started the deeper healing she’d longed to help him find.

Eyes closed, she felt their energies, their emotions. Caph, then Ford, slipped into deeper sleep, into dreams she couldn’t see but which didn’t appear to trouble them. Aaron’s energy curled around him, his body asleep, but his mind still lodged in that half-conscious area where the brain tenaciously refused to let go of thought.

After an hour, she felt him break through that veil and lift his head.

“Em?” he whispered.

She stroked his hair. “Love you.”

He kissed her before he settled back onto her chest. “Love you, too. Am I squishing you?”

“Nope. You stay right there.”

He shifted position anyway, carefully rolling them onto their sides, his back to Caph, hers to Ford. Neither man awoke. Then he nuzzled his lips against her chest, kissing her. “I love you, babe. You have no idea how fucking much I love you.”

“Good, because you’re stuck with me for life.” His energy felt lighter, a brighter mental color than she’d ever sensed from him even in the best and happiest of times they’d had together so far. “And you do realize I want to do some of those things they talked about, right?”

He chuckled. “Gonna help me make up for lost time?”

“As Ford would say, ‘Oh, hell yeah.’”

She closed her eyes and, content to know Aaron was okay, she drifted to sleep.

Aaron lay there long after he knew she’d fallen asleep. He listened to the sounds of all of them breathing, enjoyed the feel of their flesh against his, the sweet, musky scent of their lovemaking still lingering in the air.

He hadn’t planned to do that, but caught in the moment, it felt right. Even the tears later felt good. No guilt over enjoying it, no bad memories to sully it.

Nothing but their love and arms holding him.

I’m a lucky bastard.

Then one of them, he suspected Caph, let out a long, rolling, musical fart in his sleep.

Aaron clamped his mouth shut and tried not to laugh, fearing if he started not only would he not be able to stop, but that he’d wake the others. It felt good to want to laugh like that.

It felt good to want to live again.

He finally drifted back to sleep. That night, at least, he didn’t have anything but good dreams.