Healing the Wounds by M.Q. Barber Read Free Book Online Page A

“We’ll see if we can’t increase your comfort level, dearest. You need only watch.” He leveled his gaze at her over Jay’s shoulder. “And if that demands too much of you, what will you say?”
    “Pistachio.”
    His smile calmed her. “Exactly right.”
    He rubbed Jay’s cock with his knuckles.
    The way Jay’d been denying himself, she half expected him to pop off the second Henry touched him.
    Whimpering, Jay trembled. His cock softened and flopped over Henry’s hand. Jay bowed his head, chin to his chest, eyes scrunched closed.
    Lose an erection, Jay? Fuck, he walked around with a perpetual hard-on.
    Henry curled his left arm around Jay’s chest. His right hand guarded Jay’s cock, protectively cupped over his groin. “Tell me, Jay.” In contrast to his tender hold, Henry’s voice commanded obedience. “The truth, now.”
    “I’m sorry. I do want to. I do.” Pleading with her, Jay opened eyes brimming with tears. “You know I want to. You know I love you.”
    “I know, sweetheart. It’s okay.” Whatever the problem, it sure as hell wasn’t that he didn’t find her arousing. She’d never doubted that Jay did.
    “The thought, Jay. The one that distracted you. Share it with us.”
    He clenched his fists atop his knees. “I don’t want Alice to be afraid of me.”
    Henry held him tighter. “Of course not, my dear boy. Nor do I desire for you to inspire Alice’s fear.”
    She tugged Jay’s hands alongside her hips, coaxed them open, and slipped her fingers between his. He wouldn’t need them, not with Henry taking care of him.
    “It’s not you that frightens her, no more than it was I who frightened you at first.” Henry nudged Jay, bending their heads together. “Do you remember, brave boy? Better associations. Pleasant memories. We’ll help our sweet girl together.”
    She couldn’t imagine the work they’d done to make Jay as comfortable and playful as he usually behaved in bed. As secure in Henry’s love. She’d had a slim fraction of the exposure to Cal’s viciousness. “I’m not afraid of you, Jay. But I do need your help.”
    Saying words she’d expected would make her feel weak made her oddly stronger. She didn’t have to defeat Cal’s echoes alone. She had Henry and Jay to help banish them. “I’m ready to watch. To remember how beautiful you are.”
    Jay nodded, a low moan escaping.
    Henry’s doing. Not caused by the hand secure over Jay’s heart, but by the one squeezing and tugging his balls with gentle strength. Henry rubbed with an almost flat palm, avoiding more than incidental brushes against Jay’s cock.
    “An excellent example, my boy. Exactly what Alice needs to see from you.”
    Palms pressed to her hips, Jay leaned into Henry’s hold. His cock gained thickness and length and the deepening colors of arousal. Her own private showing, Henry creating art before her eyes.
    “Not a demand.” Henry ran his fingers up Jay’s cock. “A gift. An offer.” He traced the thick ridge along the underside and circled the plump head. “One she may accept or decline.”
    A gift she wouldn’t refuse, just as she never refused Henry’s demands. He could’ve demonstrated using his own cock. A deliberate choice, a rejection of intimidation.
    Not that he always intimidated her, but she encouraged that forceful demand from him. The one that told her he would, and could, take care of her needs without making her ashamed of craving his dominance.
    She didn’t seek that treatment from every man. The jackass trying it at the club had turned her off lickety-split. She loved Henry’s singular brand of control.
    “He’s a beautiful gift, Henry.” She stroked upward, over the curves of Jay’s knuckles and past the narrowing of his wrists to the lean strength in his muscled forearms. Her gentle partner and playmate. Her sometimes-submissive boy who yearned for forceful control from her, too. “Thank you.”
    Henry half shielded his smile beside Jay, white teeth and