by Cara Adams
“Where is everyone? What’s going on?”
“Half the men are over at the movie studio setting up the wooden frameworks to film the new series of advertisements, and the other half are down at the lake building the retaining wall.”
He pointed to the people laboring in the vegetable garden. “And the third half are here?”
Autumn laughed. “Pretty much.”
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for a particular pattern. They’ve just told me to make a sweater in a particular cable-knit pattern that I’m sure we’ve done before. I want to check we’ve used it already, and that they haven’t sent me the wrong instructions, before I start work.”
Galen suddenly realized that Autumn’s craftwork was more complicated than he’d previously thought. Seeing her sitting watching TV or talking with friends while sewing or knitting had made him think her job was pretty easy. But now he understood there was a mental component involved that was more than just remembering when to add or subtract stitches from a pattern.
“Uh-huh. I hope you find it. I think I’ll disappear before I get told to weed the garden and need to confess I don’t know the difference between a plant and a weed.”
“If you say that, they’ll just send you up to the lake and hand you a shovel and tell you to start digging.”
Galen sighed dramatically. “And I suppose if I go into the kitchen and mention the word ‘lunch,’ Alyce will hand me a potato peeler or a dishcloth.”
Autumn giggled. “Oh, it’s a hard life.”
Nonetheless he went to the kitchen, resigned to wash dishes if necessary, because he was very hungry. Alyce, the cook, welcomed him with a hot baked potato covered in melted cheese straight out of the oven, and he stayed to help her prepare dinner and wash the dishes afterward, her usual helpers being exhausted after a day of heavy physical labor out by the lake.
So when William woke him up in the early hours of the morning, he was quite alert, having had an easy day and an early night to bed.
“William? What can I help you with?” William was a human and a nurse. Galen couldn’t imagine why William wanted him.
“I’m sorry to wake you up, but Leticia sent me to tell you what’s happening.”
If possible, Galen was even more confused. Leticia had sent William? “I’m awake. What’s happening?”
“The police are here interviewing David. They seem to think he’s involved with the graffiti attacks on the movie studio.”
“But that’s insane. Why would David do a thing like that? Nicholas and Curtis have never done anything to hurt David.”
“Hey! I didn’t say it was logical. I just said it was happening.”
“Sorry, William. I don’t disbelieve you, I’m just confused. Should I go somewhere? Do something? What did Leticia say? And what about Omar? What does our Alpha say?”
“Leticia only knows what Oliver has told her with mental telepathy. Omar, Oliver, and Larry are there with David and the police. Leticia sent me to get Cameron then told me to come and tell you.”
“Cameron? Oh, right, he’s an attorney. Shit! If David needs a lawyer, things can’t be all that good. And what about Diane? Have y’all talked to her?”
“Leticia was going to tell her. Perhaps you and Diane should get together and talk as well. I don’t think breaking into Larry’s office would be a good idea right now.”
“Hell, no. Omar can handle a couple of cops all by himself. But Diane and David may need me. Thanks, William. I guess you didn’t get much sleep.”
“S’okay. We nurses are used to that.”
Galen climbed out of bed and pulled on the clothes he’d taken off the night before, which were still on the chair by his bed. He was about to go to Diane’s room when he wondered about the etiquette. Although he was her Dom, that didn’t give him the right to impose on her personal private space. But he didn’t want to wait until nine o’clock to go to her office. He fished in the pocket of his jeans for his cell phone. It was still fairly dark outside, but what time was it? A little after six. Oh well, not that early after all.
He sat on the chair and thought. If Cameron had been called, that was not a good sign. Likely it meant the police were going to put David in jail. Cameron would apply for bail of course, but David had no money, except what he’d earned as wages over the past few months. Nowhere near enough for bail. Galen had some savings. There’d been a monetary prize as part of the award he’d won with his photographs, but it wasn’t a huge amount. He’d intended to put the money toward starting his own photography business, but then he’d been given a job by World Photography, plus he was doing a bit of work for the movie studio, so most of his prize winnings were intact. But would it be enough to make bail for David? How much did that kind of thing cost?
He didn’t even know Diane well enough to know if she had savings. Actually, he didn’t know if she was supporting elderly parents, or a widowed sister with ten kids, or anything. From what he’d seen of her it didn’t appear as if she spent all her money on a flashy sports car or one hundred pairs of shoes, but again, what did he know? And asking her would be beyond rude. Dammit, why hadn’t he gotten to know her better yet?
Just then his phone beeped. What the hell? He took out his phone and saw the message was from Diane.
We need to give David an alibi 24/7. I’ll be in my office in half an hour.
“An alibi? Now what?” Galen shook his head and typed I’ll be there. That was all he could do for now.
* * * *
“Why are we going to Diane’s office? She won’t be at work for hours yet,” David asked Cameron. The last few hours had been the most stressful and confusing he’d experienced since the day the man he’d learned was his true father had tried to kill him with a very large knife.
“I would be stunned if the entire community isn’t aware of what’s been happening this morning by now. I expect Diane will be in her office, or if not, she’ll arrive quite soon. Oliver and Leticia were talking to each other, you know. That’s how I knew to come to that meeting.”
“Yeah, thank you for that. I can’t imagine what might have happened to me if you hadn’t arrived right then.”
Cameron patted David’s shoulder. “Omar and Larry would have thought of something. Nguyen and Diaz are good cops. I expect their boss, or their boss’s boss, has been leaning on them to solve the crime and you were the only lead they had, because of your past history as the leader of the rogue panthers. Well, now they know it couldn’t have been you and they’ll just have to wait until the geeks back at the police headquarters have analyzed the pictures Verity took on her phone. She did a good job and the quality isn’t as bad as it is with a lot of phones, but I expect it’ll take them a while to check their files for face matches. It may be easier to find the truck they used, unless it was stolen, of course.”
David walked beside Cameron, his head bowed. Every time he thought he’d gotten his life sorted out, he found it was just a mess. Again. He really thought this community was his home. He loved having met up with Leticia. A sister, a family at last. The people in the community were caring, accepting, and helpful. They treated him like he was one of them. Then there was Galen, his very own Dom. A man who challenged him but accepted him. And Diane, a warm, loving person who seemed to understand his needs. Together with Galen and Diane he’d thought he was about to build a new life. He had work he enjoyed, that fulfilled him. Work that was worthwhile to the community as well as giving him a reason to get up every morning.
All this, and now the police were after him for a crime he hadn’t committed. A crime he didn’t even understand. Why the fuck draw on a building? If someone wanted to draw, why not paint pictures as a job or something?
The whole situation was crazy. Either that or he was crazy.
Cameron stopped at Diane’s office door and knocked. Despite what Cameron had said, David was still surprised when Diane called out, “It’s open. Come on in.”
Cameron pushed h
im into the room then followed, shutting the door again. Diane jumped out of her chair and ran to him, throwing her arms around him and holding on to him. Startled, David wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. He had the craziest urge to burst into tears. Then he realized a growing damp patch on his chest was her tears.
“Aw, Diane, honey, don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying. I was just a little bit worried about you.” Her voice sounded wobbly to David, but maybe that was just because her face was buried against his sweater. His damp sweater.
“I’m fine,” he said, blinking hard, sniffing, and hoping to hell it was true. Actually he didn’t have a fucking clue what was going on, but he knew he wasn’t worthy of her tears. He pushed the strawberry-blonde hair off her face and bent to kiss her cheek, which was all he could reach at the moment.
A hand appeared over his shoulder with a freshly ironed white linen handkerchief. An honest-to-God linen handkerchief. He hadn’t seen one of those since he was in elementary school.
Gently he lifted Diane’s face up and dried her eyes. She took the handkerchief from him and blew her nose then flipped her hair back from her face and walked back to her chair.
David had to admire her strength. He could almost see her physically straighten her mind as she straightened her spine. What an amazing woman. And she’d been crying because of him. How could he have hurt her like that? It made him lower than a slug in Leticia’s garden.
“I’ll launder this and get it back to you, Cameron,” Diane said, tucking the handkerchief up her sleeve.
“It’s okay. I have a box of them I keep for clients.”
Clients. Fuck, yes. He was Cameron’s client now. What exactly did that mean? “Uh, Cameron—”
There was a sharp rap on the door and it opened, showing Galen in the gap.
“Come in, Galen. Now that you’re here we can talk,” said Cameron, taking over.
Just as well. I don’t have a fucking clue what to do or say.
“Right, first off, I expect the police will change their tactics and actually try to find the real culprits now, but nonetheless, David needs to have an alibi for every second of every day from now on until this case is solved. Understand?” This was how Cameron must sound when he was in court. His voice was measured, low, but very firm.
“I agree.” Diane’s voice was firm now, too, but her eyes were suspiciously bright and her nose was just the tiniest bit pink. She looked adorable. He wanted to kiss her eyes and her nose.
“Good. David, under no circumstances are you to talk to the police or anyone else without me there. If I’m in court, I’ll get one of my colleagues to come in my stead. He’ll have a codeword to give you to prove he’s genuine. What word should he say?”
“Parsnip,” said David instantly. Diane giggled and tried to cover it with a cough.
“The Carnal Connections safe word? Good idea. Parsnip it is. Right, now I’ll leave you three to sort everything out.” Cameron turned to the door.
“Cameron, I can’t thank you enough. I appreciate you coming so much,” said David.
“No problems.” The door shut quietly behind him.
Diane pulled her chair to the side of her desk and waved to her client chairs. “Okay, both of you, sit down, and let’s do what David’s attorney suggested and work out what happens next. I’ve had a couple of ideas.”
“I’m glad you do. I don’t have a fucking clue what’s happening,” said David then realized he sounded both angry and ungrateful. “I mean, I truly appreciate you standing by me now, I just don’t understand why the police want me. Isn’t it just a group of kids painting graffiti?”
“No, Verity said it was two adult men who got out of the truck.”
“You’ve talked to her?” David was amazed that Diane had managed to do so much so early in the morning.
“Yep. Anyway, while I’m talking I thought we should move my bed out of my room here and bring in a big bed so the three of us can sleep together. That way David will have an alibi at night, and the attacks are far more likely to occur at night, let’s face it.”
“You’d do that? Share your room with us?” David was once again astonished at the way Diane so freely shared herself and her possessions. Sleeping with his partners would be awesome, but it meant she had to give up her personal space for them to do it, and that was a big ask, especially so early in their relationship.
“I have to warn you that my room isn’t huge. You wouldn’t be able to bring much stuff with you, just an overnight bag maybe.”
“We also need to remember how Noah, Ezra, and Verity smashed the bed in her room. Maybe it’d be safer to just have a big mattress on the floor,” said Galen.
Diane laughed. “Oh yes, I’d forgotten about that. Maybe it would be better, and we could roll it up when it isn’t in use, which would give us a lot more space in the room, too.”
David nodded. It sounded like they would be able to do more than just share a bed, which was an even bigger bonus. Just holding her all night long, being able to talk to Diane and Galen, would be wonderful, but sex as well would be even more amazing.
“Now, during the day, I think I’ll need to work with you on whatever project you’re doing, David. I’m warning you I have two left thumbs, but I should be able to do some of the laboring tasks or hold the ladder for you or something. But don’t count on me as a full-fledged tradesman,” said Galen.
“We’ve got a lot of work still to do building the retaining wall down at the river. I’ve been driving the trencher, so everyone knows where I am, but when I’m not doing that I’ll make sure you’re beside me.”
David began to relax. Diane and Galen were so understanding, so helpful, his heart was bursting with love for them. Holding a crying Diane in his arms had been the most beautiful feeling. She was crying because she cared about him. Him! And now they were busily rearranging their own lives to take care of him. To shield him from being wrongly accused of anything. He could hardly believe he’d found not one person but two who cared so much about him.
The three of them went around to the dining room for breakfast and Alyce rushed out to serve him herself, giving him the biggest plate of bacon and grits he’d ever seen. Every person in the room came over to clap him on the shoulder, high-five him, or just say hey. David had to keep blinking his eyes. These were his people, his community, his friends, and they were showing their support for him in such a magnificent way he was almost unmanned.
* * * *
Galen was surprised to find he actually enjoyed working all day down by the river. The retaining wall was measurably higher at the end of the day, the last of the pipes were laid, and the shape-shifters were already crawling around inside the giant pipes closest to the river trying to guess whether they’d be able to get up enough speed to run up the sides of them or not.
They’d dug the rainwater tank into the ground to avoid needing to use a pump to get the water to flow into it, and that soil was now added to the retaining wall, which was very thick across the lowest portion of the land, where the inlet for the large pipes was set.
He’d kept watch over David all day, and it seemed to him the rest of the panthers were also rallying around David, because he was always surrounded by two or three men. Even when they went back to the apartment to clean up at the end of the day a group of noisy men gathered at the bathroom door, talking and laughing as they took turns to shower.
All day Galen had been puzzling over how to arrange a BDSM scene in Diane’s bedroom. A mattress flat on the floor allowed for no bedposts to chain anyone to, so that would mean bringing his own rope and handcuffs. There couldn’t be loud screaming or moaning in the bedrooms without the risk of someone kicking the door down, so that could be solved by him borrowing a couple ball gags. But once he had them tied up and gagged, what would he do?
All day as he’d shoveled dirt and lifted pipes he’d mulled over the problem, until finally, as he’d watched a couple of the
men splash through the shallow, icy-cold water, he’d got an idea.
After dinner David and Diane had walked up the stairs to her room while he’d gone back to the apartment to collect his pillowcase of toys. I really must buy myself a proper toy box.
Diane had arranged with Larry to move her bed into an empty guestroom on the same floor for the time being, and when Galen got back to the room she and David had stripped the bedding off it, ready for the two men to move it. Diane helped by holding the doors open for them. Then they unrolled their new camping mattress, which had a solid insulated base and which Diane had purchased during the day, and made it up with a set of sheets she’d also bought. The blankets were the ones they’d all already had, layered over the bed to make up for the fact that they were none of them really wide enough.
“Time to undress, my subs,” said Galen, beginning the scene.
Diane moved over to the dressing table, taking off her clothes and dropping them on it. David looked around and left his things on a chair.
Galen deliberately kept his face blank as he watched them. It was fascinating to see what they’d do when the pattern was changed. He was so looking forward to this scene with them. He was also looking forward to sleeping all night with them in a bed, too. And maybe a bit of prework sex, or at least some touching in the morning as well. Oh, yes, the possibilities were limitless and all good.
As soon as they were naked he said to them, “Sit on the bed facing each other, legs wide apart.”
While they were arranging themselves he went to his pillowcase and took out two pairs of handcuffs, the fluffy padded ones he’d originally chosen for Diane. Kneeling beside them he cuffed their ankles together, first one side then the other.
Next he got out the ball gags he’d borrowed from the main dungeon and gagged first David then Diane. “We wouldn’t want anyone interrupting us in the middle of our games, now, would we?” he asked rhetorically.
Finally he took out two lengths of rope. He tied one around Diane’s waist then tied her right wrist to her center back. With the second piece of rope he did the same thing to David.
