Page 19 of Badmouths & Bards

Casimine hissed when Ameriden bit his neck. “It’s terrible how much—fuck, Amer, we just met her.”

The confession was like relief as he grabbed Casimine by the ass and yanked him closer. The gasp that escaped Casi’s mouth tickled Ameriden’s neck.

“And you were thinking about her between us,” Ameriden laughed. “You were thinking about what she’d feel like—”

“Stop,” Casimine whined.

“I don’t think you want me to,” Ameriden teased, rocking Casimine’s hips toward him. “I think I could get you off just talking about her—”

“Amer—”

“Shut me up, Casi, or I’ll keep—”

When Casimine’s mouth met his, Ameriden couldn’t help but groan. He greedily explored the familiar mouth, hotly sliding his tongue along his. Casimine had always felt like bliss. Every part of him Ameriden was allowed to touch, stroke, explore—it had always felt like Casimine was made for him and he was dead set on showing him. His mouth traveled toward his ear, all the while Casimine shivered in his embrace.

“Amer,” Casimine gasped. “Fuck, Amer, wait—”

The word was like falling into the frigid waters of the Grey Depths. Ameriden froze, removing his hands from Casimine entirely. While he might have been horny beyond belief, no was always a word Ameriden reacted to, especially when it came from Casimine’s mouth.

“I’m sorry,” Casimine sighed. He rubbed his face, hands trailing to his neck. “I—I’m sorry. I just—we should talk about this. About what we want to do here. With her—I mean about her.”

Ameriden placed his hands behind him, leaning away though everything in him wanted to cling to Casimine like his life depended on it. He knew Casimine needed his space. If anything, it was a testament to how much of an effect he had on him that Casimine couldn’t even think straight when Ameriden had his hands on him.

“Right, responsible stuff… rules?”

“I—” Casimine licked his lips. “She has to want it, too.”

“Of course. Consent is always required.”

“Right, no drugs, no excessive drink—I don’t know about you, but I’m a little over waking up next to strangers and not remembering everything we did,” Casimine said, cheeks blooming lilac in color.

“Agreed,” Ameriden said.

What went unsaid was how much Ameriden wanted to remember Casimine. The others had mattered, but not in the way that Casimine did, and it killed Ameriden that those memories were like sea foam dissolving in his mind.

“We don’t do this with anyone else while we’re doing this with her. I think it’s already going to be messy seeing how she’ll be our bodyguard for the next few months and while we just met, I get the feeling she might be the jealous type.”

“Oh, definitely,” Ameriden hummed. “You don’t go around with that expression without having a few hangups.”

Casimine nodded, seemingly satisfied. “What about you?”

“Oh, I only ever have the one rule, Casi, you know that,” Ameriden took Casimine’s hand in his, bringing it to his mouth and kissing his knuckles. “It’s both of us or neither of us.”

That had always been the unwritten rule, but one that Ameriden and Casimine had started utilizing when they began to actively seek out bedfellows versus accidentally falling into bed with others. While their relationship might not have had a proper name, the rules of it had always been clear. They didn’t sleep with people on their own—Amer was too jealous and Casimine too lonely.

“She accepts us both, or we don’t pursue this at all,” Casimine agreed. “I guess the real question now is how do we proceed? She wasn’t very receptive to our flirting.”

Ameriden thought otherwise, but hated seeing the worry on Casimine’s face. He leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to his mouth.

“We’ll figure it out .”

Chapter 9

Taldesa

“Avie, I swear to the gods, if someone’s murdered you, I will find them, kick their ass and then kick your ass, because the fuck?”

The words lit up and disappeared into the opal in Tala’s hand. A moment later, the gem was cold. It had been more than two weeks since Tala had contact with her best friend. It was difficult not to assume the worst. Maybe Avie had gotten into a fight with her dad? Avie didn’t talk about him much—not that Tala talked about her family, either. If anything, she was even more guarded than her friend was.