Scarlet Disaster by Colette Rhodes
Chapter 17
Brooks was a good helper. He spent hours happily taking directions as I pointed out which boxes to put stuff in, carried the heavy stuff out to my car, tidied up as he went, and was just a generally joyful person to be around. I got the sense that there was a bit of darkness underneath that cheerful persona—Gabriel had already alluded to it—but Brooks worked hard at not letting it show.
I thought the kitchen cupboards would take me days to empty and sort, but we’d got the whole job done at once and I’d barely broken a sweat with Brooks doing all the hard labor. Maybe I should consider painting the other rooms after all, if I had him around to help.
“We’re a good team, Red,” Brooks said cheerfully, returning to the kitchen after loading the final box into the Yukon. He held his hand up for a high five and I raised up on my tiptoes to reach it, making his grin widen.
“We’re a great team,” I agreed. “I feel like we’ve earned a reward. Donuts? I’ll eat mindfully… later.”
I could have sworn his blue eyes got a little brighter at that. Was he happy I remembered us binging donuts at the coffee shop when we’d met? Maybe Brooks had an unexpectedly sappy side.
“You know I’m always down for donuts, Red.”
I shot him a shy smile because after a few hours together my resolve was as shredded as my screen door and I really liked Brooks, which was massively inconvenient given I was supposed to be staying away from men.
But you don’t have to, the slutty Scarlet devil on my shoulder whispered. Just take Gabriel up on his offer.
I waited for the Lou angel to pop up on my other side in a white gown to remind me that the Nate thing had been an absolute shitshow and all three of them were keeping secrets, but she was suspiciously quiet.
I had put my water bottle up on the shelf to keep the counter clear while we were working and I reached up on my tiptoes to get it—suddenly hella thirsty—one hand planted on the counter to give me some extra reach.
“Let me, Red,” Brooks rumbled in a smooth low voice, a lot less playful than usual. His firm chest pressed against my shoulder blades as he easily grabbed the bottle over my head, his arm brushing against mine.
Don’t overthink it,I instructed myself. You’ve already got permission. Enjoy it for what it is.
I leaned back against Brooks, dropping back onto my heels and letting my shoulders slide down against him. Brooks’ arm curled around me, setting the bottle down on the counter, but his hand lingered at my waist.
God, it sounded super needy even in my own head, but even this weak not-quite cuddle was so nice. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed just being held until Nate had bailed before we could get to that part.
“What are we doing, Red?” Brooks murmured next to my ear. His nose brushed against my hair and I could have sworn he took a deep breath like he was trying to inhale me. It was unexpectedly erotic.
“Whatever I want with any of you, wasn’t that the arrangement?” I replied, my voice dropping a little as I automatically slipped into Scarlet mode.
Brooks grabbed my hips, turning me to face him without moving back, pinning me between him and the counter. I had to lean back against it so I could tip my face up to meet his eyes, my hands resting on the counter behind me, my chest pushed up on display.
“And what is it that you want?” Brooks asked, leaning down and running his nose up the side of my face. I tipped my head back, exposing my neck in case he was feeling in a throat kissing mood. Brooks paused before making a rumbling sound deep in his chest that was definitely all pleasure, even if I didn’t exactly understand how he was making it. It was so… growly.
“What was the question?” I breathed, forgetting all about how I was supposed to act, how I was supposed to seduce, and just letting myself feel for a moment.
Brooks pulled back to smirk at me, all hooded eyes and sharp jawline before his huge hands found my waist and lifted me up onto the counter. I pulled him in to stand between my legs, gripping his hoodie to keep him close, and he closed his eyes, inhaling again like he had just smelled the most delicious thing on earth.
“Lady’s choice,” he rumbled. “What does the lady want?”
A large part of my brain was flashing ‘SEX’ in neon lights, but there was another part of my brain that was more reluctant. That remembered how rejected I’d felt when Nate had run out on me, and she wasn’t in a rush to repeat that experience.
“I want to taste you,” I murmured, leaning forward to brush my lips against his. “Everywhere.”
I felt Brooks’ lips curl into a smile against mine before he deepened the kiss, sucking my lower lip into his mouth and letting his teeth drag against my sensitive skin as he released it. I felt refreshingly out of control. Maybe I’d started this thinking I was running this seduction, but it was pretty clear that Brooks could give as good as he got.
“That’s a very generous offer, Red,” Brooks murmured between kisses. “But I would much rather taste you.”
“Really?” I breathed with way too much excitement, completely losing my chill in the face of oral sex. Oral sex with Brooks’ face. Whatever.
“Fuck yes.” Brooks slid his hands under my butt, lifting me off the counter like I didn’t weigh anything as I wrapped my legs around his waist, clinging to his shoulders. I seriously didn’t understand how they were all so strong when they lived off junk food and I’d never even heard them mention a gym. “Direct me to your boudoir, my lady.”
I laughed, pointing him towards my bedroom. It was only as he pushed open the door that I realized I hadn’t even contemplated heading down to the sex cave. Having him in my room felt infinitely more personal.
Brooks tossed me down on the bed before crawling over me, his tongue sweeping my mouth like he couldn’t get enough of my taste. I writhed impatiently underneath him, tugging at his stupid hoodie—why was he wearing so many clothes?—before giving up and concentrating on myself, shimmying my leggings awkwardly down my legs.
Brooks moved down my body, pushing my jumper aside to rest his nose against my neck, holding himself impossibly still for a moment, before moving down my body with another one of those deep rumbly noises that seemed to connect straight to my clit.
“You smell fucking delicious,” Brooks growled, helping me get my leggings over my feet before rather unceremoniously tugging my panties off me.
“I smell delicious?” I repeated doubtfully, pressing my thighs together self consciously. I mean, I didn’t think I smelled gross or anything, but delicious seemed a little generous.
“Like melted chocolate,” Brooks murmured, his hand tracing the wing of the phoenix tattoo on my thigh for a brief moment, making my breath catch before he pushed my thighs apart and stared at my pussy like it was a portal to heaven.
Eh, maybe I wasn’t self conscious after all. When he looked at me like that, I sort of felt like a goddess. Or a succubus.
Brooks settled himself between my legs, shooting me a devastating smile, his blue eyes so bright they almost glowed. And then his thumbs were brushing the inside of my thighs, his tongue running teasingly over my slit, and my brain was short circuiting.
Brooks had always struck me as kind of impatient, but apparently when it came to this, he was more than happy to take his time. There were moments where I thought my pleasure may have just been incidental to Brooks’ exploring as he thoroughly mapped the contours of my pussy like he was an adventurer discovering new lands.
He was infuriatingly slow to explore my clit, and there was nothing accidental about it. Maybe he was more a mountaineer than adventurer, and my clitoris was the summit.
“You’re killing me,” I gasped, trying to wriggle down the bed to get his mouth where I wanted it.
“What a way to go though,” Brooks drawled, shooting me a salacious grin before returning to his all consuming work.
Finally, his tongue grazed my clit, the most featherlight of touches, and my back arched entirely off the bed. Brooks pulled away again, the fucking tease, and I contemplated draping a leg over his back and kicking him a few times like a horse to see if it would spur him into action.
“Are you always this impatient?” Brooks tutted, sounding amused, his thumbs spreading me wide. The cool air on my folds only added to my frustration. I needed more.
“This is only the second time someone has done this to me,” I groused. “So I don’t have a good sample size to choose from. I’m leaning towards yes though.”
Brooks stopped completely, head popping up comically fast. Or it would have been comical if my throbbing nerves hadn’t been throwing a tantrum from lack of attention.
“This is only the second time someone’s gone down on you?” Brooks repeated, sounding mildly horrified. “Oh no, that is not okay, Red. Hold on tight. I’m staying down here until my tongue cramps.”
I spluttered a noise that might have been outrage or excitement, impossible to tell, because Brooks rolled up his metaphorical sleeves and went to work. He catalogued every little reaction and worked fucking magic with his tongue from every angle, settling into a rhythm when he found what made me squeal. I assumed I’d need penetration as well to come, but apparently not because when he sucked my clit lightly into his mouth, an orgasm jumped up on me and dragged me into its depth when I least expected it, ripping me apart from the inside so thoroughly I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to put myself back together again.
“That was glorious,” Brooks finally said, staring at me like he was in awe before licking his shiny lips. I couldn’t find it in me to be self conscious now. If anything, I was a little smug. That was me on his lips. If I kept this up, I was going to start sniffing and growling the way they seemed to.
“Don’t tell me your tongue is cramping already,” I teased, though it didn’t sound as sassy as it was meant to since I was panting like I’d just run a marathon.
“Not even close,” Brooks replied with a grin. “But I think it’s time for the next step in your oral sex journey.”
“Oh?” I asked, definitely curious. “And what would that be?”
Brooks flopped down on his back next to me, shooting me another grin that lit up his entire face before tapping his mouth with his finger. “Hop on, baby girl.”
It was like all my years as a cool-as-fuck seductress never existed. I scrambled up the bed like my ass was on fire, swinging a leg over Brooks’ head to straddle his face. It wasn’t like I hadn’t given people close ups of the downstairs before, though this definitely felt a lot more intimate than angling my lady bits towards a webcam. I could feel Brooks’ hot breath on my skin, and even that bordered on too much stimulation for my still tingling nerves.
Brooks smiled up at me through my spread thighs and I couldn’t quite suppress my giggle in time. His hands smoothed up my legs, helping me come down from my high before working me back up again.
“You have a beautiful laugh, Lou,” Brooks said quietly. My heart stuttered in my chest at the sincerity in his voice, and a tiny thread of panic zipped up my chest. Sexy stuff was safe ground. Heartfelt compliments were a rickety bridge suspended over a bubbling pit of lava. Like he knew that I was flailing, Brooks’ soft expression turned reassuringly arrogant again, and then there was no more talking.
I slumped forward, bracing my hands on the wall behind the bed and held on for dear life as Brooks’ hands gripped my ass, holding me in place as he made good on his promise.
* * *
Two hours later, I was curled up in a boneless puddle in the middle of my bed, fighting to keep my heavy eyelids open. So good. So many orgasms. Just a little nap.
“Just rest,” Brooks chuckled, pulling the blanket up over my naked body. I had mentally prepared myself for him to just leave when he was done, Nate-style, but he hadn’t. He hadn’t even orgasmed! He’d been on a single-minded mission to make up for all the years of me not receiving oral apparently.
I wasn’t exactly complaining about it.
He was lying on his side next to me, still fully dressed—which made my nakedness seem all the more scandalous—stroking my hair which felt divine. If anything, I was the one resisting snuggles, keeping my body firmly next to him on the bed, rather than draped all over him like I wanted to be. Managing my expectations and all that.
“You’re probably hungry,” Brooks said, sounding as concerned as Gabriel had that first day I’d stayed with them.
“You all make it sound like I’ll drop dead if I don’t eat every few hours,” I slurred, my face half buried in my blanket. I was probably drooling and I didn’t even care.
Brooks chuckled. “Sorry not sorry. Should I see if there’s anything in the fridge?”
I mumbled an affirmative. “If there’s not, just give me two minutes and we can go out to eat. ”
Maybe five minutes.
“I know what I want to eat,” Brooks teased, brushing an entirely too affectionate kiss over my hair before he rolled away. My lower belly flip flopped, like my body had forgotten we’d just had at least a week’s worth of orgasms in two hours and my clit needed a nap.
“I’m off the menu. For like, at least an hour.”
Brooks scoffed as he paused by the door. “You have no idea how tempted I am to prove I can change your mind.”
I felt around for a pillow to throw at him, but it was too far away and I was too wrecked to move. “Shoo. Too sleepy to deal with you.”
I heard Brooks laugh as he disappeared into the house, hopefully to find whatever sad remnants were still in the fridge, because I hadn’t ordered groceries in a few days. This was definitely a much more pleasant post-orgasmic experience than what Nate and I had shared. Everything had been much easier with Brooks, much more relaxed, much less work, but weirdly it hadn’t erased Nate from my mind the way I’d hoped it would.
I still wanted him, now I just wanted Brooks too. And there was zero doubt in my mind that if the opportunity presented itself, I’d have my wicked way with Gabriel. I wasn’t sure he realized the can of worms he’d opened when he suggested I date all of them.
Except I wasn’t dating Nate because I didn’t like Nate. We don’t like Nate, I repeated sternly, making sure my hormones got the message.
Eventually, as comfortable as I was, I felt weird about Brooks pottering around my house while I laid around naked, so I forced myself to get up and put clothes on, stopping in the bathroom for a quick cleanup. My cheeks were flushed such a vivid shade of pink, I was worried they would just stay that way. Like maybe I’d had so many orgasms I’d burst some blood vessels?
I wobbled towards the kitchen on weak legs, expecting to hear Brooks in there, but the house was silent. Oh good. It would be just my luck that he would pull a Nate and run. That was obviously the kind of man I attracted in real life. Married men and assholes.
Maybe I should have just stayed married. Jake hadn’t been an asshole, he just wasn’t right for me. People stayed in miserable marriages all the time, didn’t they? I could have school-aged kids and entirely given up on my hopes and dreams by now.
Before I could spiral any further into that abyss of misery, I spotted Brooks in my backyard, frowning as he paced around the treeline, staring at the ground like he was following a trail. Weird. I let myself outside and Brooks was so absorbed in what he was doing that he didn’t even seem to notice my presence.
“Hellooooooooo,” I called from the back porch. “Are you done doing… whatever you’re doing?” I asked, arms crossed over my chest because it was fucking cold out here.
Brooks looked up in surprise, shooting me a strained smile as he walked back towards the house. “Just getting some fresh air, Red. Ready to get some food?”
My heart sank a little even though I forced myself to keep my mask in place. At the end of the day, they were still all keeping something from me, and it would do me good to remember that. For all the delightful orgasms and easy banter between us, Brooks was keeping a secret.
“Let’s hit the drive thru,” I replied with a tight smile. “I have a lot of stuff I need to do today.”
“Lou—” Brooks sighed, sounding pained.
“See you in the car,” I called breezily over my shoulder, locking him out. If he was going to lie to my face, the least he could do was traipse around the house in the snow.
Don’t forget, I told myself. Don’t ever forget that no matter how good any of them make you feel, they’re not being honest with you.
* * *
Nate shuffled into the kitchen the next morning while I was making my coffee, careful as always to keep a few feet between us like he’d catch cooties if he got too close to me, and I suddenly realized I hadn’t seen him since I’d stormed out of the kitchen three days ago. That was kind of weird, but then again I had been actively avoiding him, so I guess he could have been here the whole time.
Though had he just come in from outside? Where had he gone so early in the morning?
I stirred my coffee as I leaned back against the counter, waiting to see if he was going to speak to me or not. One of us had to be the first to break the tension after our confrontation the other day, and I voted it be him.
“Ria is stopping by today,” Nate grunted, not making eye contact. He reached up to get a cup and I could have sworn his entire face contorted in pain, but it happened so fast I might have imagined it.
“She is?” I asked, surprised. “Why?”
I knew Nate was friends with Ria’s boyfriends—that’s how he’d met her—but I didn’t realize they were close enough to make plans.
“To see you,” Nate replied, shooting me a sidelong look like that was an obvious answer. “I bumped into Eli and suggested they come for a visit.”
Huh. That was unexpectedly nice of him.
“When did you see Eli?” I asked. “I thought they were basically holed up in their cabin for the winter.”
Nate froze for a moment as I brushed past him to grab a mug.
“I, er, ran into him in the woods,” Nate said evasively before scurrying out of the kitchen even faster than he’d bailed from my bed, obviously forgetting that he’d been getting coffee.
“O-kay,” I said to myself. I mean, maybe other people enjoyed going on walks in the woods in snow up to their eyeballs? That was… a very unrelatable experience for me.
I’d put cookie dough on Nate’s grocery list so I decided to chuck in some chocolate chip cookies while I had my coffee, patting myself on the back for my excellent hostessing skills the entire time. I changed into an apricot-colored yoga pants and sweater set that Ria would probably hate because her wardrobe was mostly black like her soul, before heading back into the living room when I heard the sound of a vehicle rumbling down the driveway.
Brooks was out somewhere and I had no idea where Nate had vanished to, but I was pretty sure I’d heard Gabriel typing away when I’d walked past his room. I pulled open the front door, ushering them in from out of the cold before they could knock, not that Ria needed any encouragement. When I’d first met her, I’d thought she was obnoxiously confident, but after I’d gotten to know her I’d realized she just didn’t give a fuck about things that didn’t matter to her, and gave a lot of fucks about the things that did. She was kind of my hero that way.
“Oh my god, Lou!” Ria announced, striding into the guys’ house with her quietest boyfriend, Seth, on her heels. “You’re living with three guys? What the actual fuck?”
I gave her a disbelieving look as Seth helped her out of her winter clothes. He must run hot too—like Nate, Gabriel, and Brooks, he was way underdressed for the Alaskan winter and didn’t seem bothered at all by it.
“This feels like déjà vu,” I laughed. “Did you not end up living with three guys totally out of the blue?”
“That was different,” Ria replied, flicking her hand dismissively before wandering into the living room, inspecting the place. “Ooh, did you make cookies? It smells like Pillsbury heaven in here.”
“How was it different?” I asked, squeezing past her to get to the kitchen, pausing in the doorway.
“You probably didn’t break in,” Seth supplied quietly, sounding amused.
“Well, that’s true,” I admitted, gesturing for them to take a seat on the couch. “This whole extended visit was very much at Nate’s invitation. Or insistence, rather.”
“He mentioned you had an unwanted visitor,” Ria said, looking furious on my behalf. “The nerve of that guy, showing up at your house in the middle of the night.”
I frowned at her. “That’s just Nate’s theory. Frank is in town, but I’m pretty sure it was animals outside my house the night I called you. Weirdly aggressive ones, sure, but just animals.”
“Right,” Ria said, clearing her throat. “Of course, that’s… animals. Um, you know you can come stay with us whenever you want? You don’t have to stay here.”
Seth nodded, his expression serious, though he always looked like that.
“That’s not necessary,” I assured her, letting her change the subject. “I mean, maybe it’d be less awkward, but I need to be close to my house to finish getting it ready to sell. Also you’re savages who don’t have internet at your house and you know I’d die without it.”
“You wouldn’t die,” Ria scoffed. “It’s actually very therapeutic being off-grid. I feel very in touch with my inner nature goddess these days.”
“Mm, sure,” I replied doubtfully. Ria had weird romanticized dreams about life in the wild that I could not relate to at all. I assumed it was a phase that she’d get over after actually living out there, but apparently it was still going strong.
“Are you okay here? Are they treating you well?” Seth asked seriously.
“If they’re not, my guys can totally kick their asses,” Ria added smugly. A sudden urge to defend Nate, Gabriel and Brooks rose, and I shook my head slightly to clear it. They weren’t my guys to defend. Even if they were, one of Ria’s boyfriends, Noah, was built like a fucking tank and probably could take them all out.
“No ass kicking necessary,” I told her with a smile, though I was a little tempted to tell them to kick Nate’s ass. Maybe one percent tempted. “They’ve been really accommodating, if not a little overprotective.”
And a lot squirrely. I didn’t want to talk about that with Seth here though. I didn’t know him well enough, and I felt kind of awkward.
Ria’s smile turned brittle. “In this situation, I don’t think that overprotective is a thing, Lou. The more protection you have, the better.”
Huh. I hadn’t expected Ria to react with the same intensity that the guys had to the whole Frank situation. Was I being too relaxed about it? He’d shown up, stalked me a little, but mostly left me alone. It really felt like a lot of hype over nothing.
“Seth has to go meet some people, can I hang out here?” Ria asked, perking up. “We could watch Austenland again? I love my guys, but they have a tragic lack of interest in Jane Austen. I guess nobody’s perfect,” she sighed dramatically while Seth looked indulgently at her, like nothing more adorable had ever existed.
Ugh, I was so jealous. I wanted someone to look at me like I was cute when I was acting ridiculous.
“Sounds great,” I told her. “I’ll get the cookies.”
* * *
I had to admit, the girl-time with Ria had been seriously amazing. For a few hours, I hadn’t thought about stupid Frank, or the house, or the sexy liars I was staying with.
“I really think you should do a big reveal and then bam, red hair,” Ria said, scrolling through my profile on my phone. “You’re a cute blonde, but you’re a smoking redhead. And do you really want to be dealing with the wig while you’re traveling?”
“No,” I sighed, curling up into a ball in the corner of the couch with my hot cocoa. “It’s just a crutch, I guess. The wig helps me slip into character.”
“My favorite character is Lou,” Ria declared confidently.
“That’s because you haven’t seen Scarlet orgasm from nipple play alone on camera,” I shot back.
“Dang girl, you’re going to have to give me pointers,” Ria laughed. “I think my nipples might just be decorative?”
I heard a cupboard door shut in the kitchen and exchanged a wide-eyed look with Ria because I had completely forgotten that Gabriel was home. She not-so-discreetly leaned over the arm of the couch, craning her neck to peer into the kitchen.
“I saw him, but he’s gone back down the hallway now,” she whispered dramatically. “Also, please tell me you’re tapping that muy caliente ass.”
“Except make it Portugese because he’s Brazilian,” I replied, bumping her leg with my foot. “And no. Not yet. I don’t know.”
Ria wiggled her eyebrows at me and I sighed loudly as if I hadn’t been dying to talk about this with someone.
“I slept with Nate. And got frisky with Brooks. And Gabriel was like ‘do whatever with whoever’ since we’re all leaving Fairbanks in a few weeks anyway. Well, except Nate, but I despise him, so you know.”
Ria frowned. “No, I don’t know. Why? What’d he do?”
“Tapped and gapped.” I shrugged. “Whatever, I was probably reading too much into things anyway.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but I kept going, not wanting to explore that emotional minefield. “Do you think I’m being a super hoe?”
Ria choked on the sip of cocoa she’d just taken. “I have three m—, er, boyfriends. No, of course I don’t think that. Why?” she asked suspiciously. “Did you think I was a super hoe?”
“Hard no. You’re out there having foursomes on the regular like a Queen. Zero judgment from me,” I assured her. “It’s not the same thing though. It’s all separate. I’m not in some kind of poly relationship here—”
“Yet,” Ria interjected.
“Ever,” I corrected. “We’re all going our own ways at the end of winter.”
“So go together.” Ria shrugged like it was no big deal. “These guys… they’re not so different from my guys in a lot of ways. I don’t think they’re going to go to all this effort to keep you safe just to walk away from you at the end of it.”
She was making some pretty big generalizations, considering she hadn’t actually met Brooks or Gabriel, but I appreciated the sentiment.
“I’m going to miss you,” Ria told me seriously, leaning over to squeeze my arm.
“Not as much as I’ll miss you,” I promised. “You’ll be here popping out babies with all your lovers and you’ll probably forget all about me.”
There was a strange twinge in my chest that might have been jealousy. Not on the baby front, but the fact that she was surrounded by men who absolutely adored her and had a whole future ahead of her that she was excited about… I had things in my future that I was excited about, but I was also aware of how alone I was. How alone I would continue to be.
“Pft, I will not forget about you. And you better come back and visit. And message me all the time. I want photos of all the places you visit. Without the wig,” she added pointedly. “It’s time for the world to see Lou.”