Her Titans by Genevieve Jasper
Quincy
19
We all get up feeling a little delicate on Saturday morning and since the weather is supposed to stay awful all weekend, decide on a movie day. This is a major change we’ve made since Lai came into our lives, actually taking time off to relax, and I don’t even remember doing it consciously. Before we were always in work mode, wandering in and out of the office at all times of the day. Now we have weekends because Lai has weekends and we all want to spend as much time with her as possible.
Lai looks ridiculously pleased when Max picks movies from her gift and crosses them off as we go. She’s cuddled up between Max and Atlas, looking adorably dressed down and relaxed. I love her like this. She looks hot as sin dressed up to the nines going out, and the sexy secretary look she has going for her at work is killer, but she’s so pure and beautiful when she’s natural and chill.
We watch a couple of films before starting to get a bit antsy from sitting around for too long. With the rain not letting up we swap movies for cards, introducing Lai to her first Titans poker night, albeit scaled back slightly. It starts out light by betting little things like who orders dinner, that we then eat as we play. Who makes the next round, who gets out of our super early meeting tomorrow morning. A good one for me to win, especially as they were going to Atlas’s weekly lunch with his family after. I could do without his mom wiping my face after every bite, as lovely as she was.
“What about strip poker?” Atlas suggests, leering at Lai, who rolls her eyes at him.
I groan at the thought of Lai sitting there in her underwear or less. “Does it have to be so torturous?”
Max laughs and takes pity on me. “Or the winner gets to take Lai to bed.”
Lai raises her eyebrows at that. “What if Lai wins?” After a few fortunate hands at the beginning, her streak had fully gone down the drain by this point. The only reason she hadn’t made every drink so far is that she was playing with three guys she had fully whipped.
“Beginner’s luck, baby,” Atlas tells her. “You’re mine tonight.”
“Wouldn’t count on it,” Max replies, proceeding to decimate every one of us.
“Where did that come from?!” Atlas demands.
“Just had the right motivation.” Max downs his drink and lifts Lai over his shoulder as she laughs from upside down. “Night, guys.”
I turn to Atlas. “Joining me with blue balls tonight, dude?”
“I’ve just been hustled,” he complains into his drink.
I gather the cards from across the table and shuffle. “Preference?” There’s no way I’m going to bed just yet, not with my room sharing a wall with Maxton’s.
“Slapjack,” he replies. We haven’t played that in years. “How’s it going with Madelaine?” Atlas asks.
“Okay, I think. What do you think?” I deal the cards out between us, but we’re distracted and don’t start playing just yet.
“You know I think you were an idiot from the very beginning.”
“Not massively helpful now,” I say. “I’m trying to take it slow and gain her trust properly. I don’t want her to think I’m saying I believe her just because you two are getting some and I want to join in.”
“But you do.”
“Of course I do, but that’s because of her, not my massive FOMO.”
“Well, I’m not going to tell you anything she’s said to me, but I’d say you were heading in the right direction.”
“Oh, hoes before bros now, is it?” I joke.
“More like Madelaine before anything these days,” he says with a slightly confused expression on his face, as if he’s not quite sure how that happened.
“I can’t blame you for that.”
I’m laying in bed the next morning, revelling in my lie-in after my win last night and wondering if Lai would be up yet when a scream comes from next door. Max’s room. I burst in and scan the room for anything amiss. There’s nothing immediately obvious, so I turn my focus on Lai in the middle of the vast bed. She’s breathing heavily and looks on the verge of panic.
“Shit, Lai, are you okay?” I sit down hesitantly on the edge
She whips her head around to face me as if she’s come out of a trance. “Yeah, sorry,” she chokes out, “just a bad dream, I guess.”
She starts to shake and I get up next to her, taking her in my arms.
“I hate this,” she says as she continues to tremble.
“It’s been an extreme time,” I say, trying to console her.
“No one else is cracking.”
“We’ve been through worse than the past few weeks, so it’s not shocking to us. It’s a good thing it is to you. Do you want to go back to sleep?”
“Where’s Max?” she asks, belatedly looking around the room as she registers where she still is.
“He had that early meeting with Atlas this morning and probably didn’t want to wake you. They’ve got lunch with Atlas’s mom after, so they’ll be there for a while.”
She stiffens and I hate that it could be at the thought of being left here alone with me.
“Can I come to your room?” she practically whispers.
“I can lie with you here, I won’t leave,” I answer truthfully. I’d lay next to her all day if it brought her comfort.
“Do you have a balcony?”
I suddenly get the link between this room and her unexpected nightmare.
“I do,” I admit. My room is next to Max’s along the back of the house, so we both open up onto balconies and the back view.
“Oh, okay. Ignore me, I’m being stupid.”
“You’re not. Why don’t we go to your room?”
She nods, and I let her go so she can wrap the bed sheet around her, padding to her own room.
The next time she wakes is a lot more peaceful. I’ve been awake for about an hour, having woken to her wrapped around me and happily enjoying the feeling. She slowly opens her eyes and registers her face nestled into my neck, an arm and a leg thrown over me. She pulls back gently, flicking her gaze up and finding me awake, unable to hide the smile she gives me.
“Sorry, it took me a while to wake up. I feel like I’ve been in a coma,” she explains, rolling onto her back and rubbing her eyes fervently.
My smile turns into a chuckle. “That’s what happens when you nap for six hours.”
She gapes at me, then turns to look out the window. “Jesus, how do I still feel drained?”
She sits up too fast and wobbles slightly. I place my hand on her back to steady her and she puts both hands out to stabilize herself, one straight down onto my very solid cock.
“Shit, sorry,” she says, pulling her hand back like it’s been burnt, which makes me laugh.
“It’s okay, I don’t know any man who could lay here with you draped all over them and not have this result.”
“Quincy...” she starts, spinning to face me. She put a T-shirt on when we got into her room for some modesty. I can’t wait to see her in one of mine, nothing underneath. Thoughts like that are not helping with the erection situation.
“Lai, it's fine. I know I don’t deserve to have you yet, but I will.”
She smiles. “You still want that?”
“You? Absolutely. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugs. “I’ve spoken to Max and Atlas about being both of theirs and I guess I’ve never heard it from you.”
“Then let me be very clear,” I say, sitting up and gripping her face in my hands. “I want you more than any other woman I’ve ever met. Not because those lucky fuckers already have you, and not because I think I’m missing out with the group. I want you because you are fucking incredible and I can’t wait to call you my girl.”
Her face splits into a grin as I speak, causing her cheeks to chipmunk in my hands.
“I can’t wait for that either,” Lai admits. “I swear I’m not dragging it out to punish you.”
“I’d deserve it if you were, but I know you’re not that type of person. As soon as you’re ready, I’m ready.”
She turns her head and places a kiss on my palm. I pull her face towards me and give her a simple peck on the corner of her mouth, then release her. I’m fighting against every instinct in my body to lay her out underneath me and kiss every inch of her, but I meant every word I said. This needs to be on her terms.
“That was pretty intense, wasn’t it?” she smiles mischievously.
“How about we start from the beginning?”
“Like a fresh start?”
“Like a first date,” I offer.
“I’d love that,” she replies, beaming at me. Fuck, she’s gorgeous. Her whole face lights up when she smiles.
Max and Atlas interrupt that conversation from going any further by barging into her room, the frowns on their faces replaced with surprise when they take us in.
“Did we miss all the fun?” Atlas asks with a smirk.
“Fuck off, At,” I say lightly, hopping off the bed and heading back to my room to get ready. I’ll leave Lai to fill them in on everything that happened, however much she wants to tell them.
Later in the evening, I join them at the dining table.
“This smells amazing, Lucy,” I admit. She smiles warmly at me as I sit in front of a huge plate loaded with roast dinner. “Where’s Lai?” I ask the others, noting only our places with food.
“She went for dinner with Lia,” Atlas tells me. “Apparently her boyfriend took her away for the weekend last-minute, which is why she missed our party.”
“How she’s going to eat anything after all of those tacos she had when she got up, I’m not sure,” Max laughs.
“She slept for ages, I bet she was starving.” I chuckle along with him.
“That nightmare must’ve taken it out of her. We need to get this creep sorted already before it affects her even more. She’s strong, but it’s a lot to have going on for anyone.”
“I know,” Max agrees with Atlas. “He’s definitely escalating, both in what he’s doing and how often he does it.”
“We have nothing on them whatsoever. Nothing to tie him to the Vipers or anyone else. As soon as we do, whoever it is will be annihilated, mutual destruction or not,” Atlas promises.
“Agreed. In the meantime, Lai goes nowhere alone,” Max adds. “Jeremy’s going into work with her instead of just dropping her off. The security they have is useless, they shut those balcony doors with a catch, not even a lock.”
“Which has changed now, surely,” I say, and he gives me a straight stare. Of course it has. I wouldn’t be surprised if that place was tighter than Fort Knox by now. “What about the event tomorrow?” It was some fundraiser used to raise money for the city but really turned into a peacocking contest between the powerful and elite of Ironhaven. Realistically, we have to go. It will be our first one since moving into town.
“We’ll still go,” Atlas decides. “Even just to show our faces. Whoever it is can’t think we’re rattled and we can’t afford to lose any ground.”
“We’ll give Madelaine the choice but we’re not hiding her away either. Sounds like your plan’s going in the right direction,” Max adds.
“Hopefully,” I say happily. “Slow and steady wins the race.”
“I’m sure she’s due to make decisions about what to do with the insurers this week.” Atlas and I slow our eating and look up at Max.
“What’s she said?” I ask him.
“Doesn’t matter,” Atlas declares. “She’s not going anywhere, not while it’s so unsafe.”
“So once this is all over, you’ll let her move out, then?”
“Fuck, no. She’s our girl, and she’s staying here with us.”
“We all want that, At,” Max agrees. “But don’t get carried away with your stubbornness. At least pretend to let her decide,” he half jokes.
Atlas shrugs. “No promises.”