by Zoey Marcel
“I'm not going to send you away, little bird.” His finger caught the tear drizzling down her cheek. “Whether you stay with us or leave for him, it'll be your choice. Go to the Black Dragon with Hugh. Spend some time with him again and see if you don't want him more. If you do, then leave with him. If not, then come back to us.”
“What about...”
“I know you love Virgil, too. If you want vanilla, then leave with him.”
The trickle of tears evolved into a steady stream of salty warmth. “I'm sorry. I don't think I can choose.”
“You have to.”
She brushed away the fallen moisture, sniffling through the onset of congestion. “Why? You're already sharing me with Travis and Jake. What does it matter if there are two more men involved?”
She winced at how greedy she sounded and the coolness in his manner.
“So is that how it is? Anytime you soak your panties over a stud, you expect us to let you go to bed with him?”
“No. I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry. If it was just an attraction, I wouldn't even...” She hid her face in her palms, heart aching over the impasse. There was just no way she could choose from the five of them.
“I know. You care about them, too.” His palm glided over her hair, sympathetic yet slightly condescending, though she didn't resent him for it. “It's not that hard, baby. Just choose the man or men you love the most.”
“I can't.”
“Yes, you can. You wouldn't want to share us with four other women would you, even if we claimed to love them, too?”
She sobbed into her hands. “No.”
“Then you agree it's only fair that we want you to make a choice, especially when we're already being generous enough sharing you with our brothers?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Here. Dry your eyes and go spend some time with Hugh. Tonight you can tell us your decision.”
She felt a bit like Moses in The Ten Commandments urged to choose a wife from a group of dancers. His dilemma had been that he didn't know those girls as well and the apple of his eye was out tending the sheep.
Her reality was that she knew all five men. How on earth could she choose from them any more than she could choose between breathing and her heartbeat?
Chapter Thirteen: Completion
Jake wanted to shake Travis and punch Keith. Two scheming clowns. He'd gone along with Keith's harebrained little plan, but deep down he feared the odds were stacked against them.
“We're gonna lose her thanks to you.”
Travis stood near Jake as he paced, shaking his head. “No, Jake. I think Keith is right. I don't think she'll be able to choose between us and him and that other fella.”
A little half smirk curved Keith's lips from where he sat at the dining room table. “You mean Virgil?”
Travis pointed at his brother in agreement. “Yeah, him.”
“Okay, let's say for argument's sake she doesn't run off with Uncle Daddy. What then?” Jake asked.
“Well, then I guess it's just a matter of who backs down,” Travis mused, scratching his head in concern. “I sure won't.”
“None of us will, and the other two fuckers probably won't either.” Jake stewed, tossing a dirty look at Keith, who wisely relocated his attention elsewhere. Stupid bastard, losing their little sister. His heart clenched with ripping pain. If Keith wasn't flesh and blood, he'd have to kill him.
“You know there is one alternative nobody's mentioned yet,” Keith began. “We could just share her with them.”
Jake glared at the clown, too infuriated to notice Travis's reaction much. “Are you out of your damned mind?”
“Probably,” Keith said.
The smartass.
Travis rubbed the back of his neck under his long hair with a heavy exhale. “No, he's right. We share with each other. It's even less weird sharing with a non-relation.”
“Except for our uncle.” Jake folded his arms, eyes narrowing when they fell on Keith.
Travis shrugged. “It's not really any different than what we do now.”
“It's a whole lot different,” Jake said. “I don't want to see our uncle without his clothes or playing suck-face with Kayla. If you get me drunk, I might agree to share with that Southern clown, but only if his dick is smaller.”
Travis rolled his eyes and shook his head with a “There he goes again” smile. “It's always about dicks with you, isn't it, Jake? What does it matter what size his cock is?”
“Mine has to be the biggest.”
Keith smirked, avoiding Jake's warning glance.
“Okay, Jake, however you want to fantasize,” Travis teased. “I'd rather not share Kayla, but I'm more afraid of losing her. Remember what happened last time before we ever agreed to this arrangement? She up and left. She was gone seven years, and we almost lost her. Do you really want to run that risk again? 'Cause I'll tell you something, little brother, I've got a real bad feeling that if we lose her again, this time it would be forever.”
Jake's eyelids descended as he took a deep breath and then let it out. “Fine, happy dick can stay, but I'm not having a ménage with our uncle in the same room.”
Keith leaned back in his chair with one arm resting on the table and the other draped across his arched knee with both feet propped on another chair. “I didn't mean we'd have him in the same room. The three of us can have four-ways with her, and maybe Virgil can join in eventually when we get to know him better. I just meant we could have a polyandrous relationship as far as our uncle and Kayla are concerned. She could be with each of us on a different night of the week, and sometimes the three of us would have her at once. Four if Virgil wants to join in.”
“That's fine by me,” Travis said, “but I think we ought to give her one night of the week as a break from all that sex.”
“What?” Jake raised his octave. “Why the hell does she need a break? I need her more than once a week, clown.”
Keith grinned.
Travis rolled his eyes. “What is it with you and clowns? We can figure on a different arrangement if that doesn't please your frigging majesty. We'll talk it over with Kayla, of course. All I'm saying is we should give the little lady some space and a day to rest her lady bits. Everybody needs a break from sex once in a while.”
“No, they don't,” Jake snapped. “What language are you speaking? I'd be fucking her non-stop of it weren't for the fucking refractory period and her special time of the month. That can be her break.”
“I think we should let Kayla decide,” Travis told him.
Jake rolled his eyes. “She wants Doms, not gingerbread men.”
Keith and Travis grinned and shook their heads. Travis turned to look over at Keith. “I understand you wanted to know whether or not she loved one of us more than the other, but I hate to see her suffer.”
“All I did was give her a few hours to reflect and be honest with herself and us,” Keith said.
Jake scowled before an epiphany demanded he throw an outright hostile expression in Keith's direction. “Hold on a minute. There's more to the story, you sly bastard. You didn't just want Kayla to be honest with us and herself. You were hoping to get our grouchy uncle to stay.”
Keith stared back at him, tapping his fingernails on the table. His face wasn't expressive at the moment, but Jake knew him well enough to detect a lack of denial.
“Well, he is family, Jake,” Travis pointed out. “And he's the closest thing to a decent father we ever had. If it hadn't been for him, all we'd have are the lousy memories of our real dad.”
“I know it, but Hugh was gone for years, and I'm just supposed to relax now that I know he's not our dad and he decides to show back up in our lives and take our woman away from us?” Jake asked, trying to figure out why the other two weren't as annoyed over the situation as he was. “And Keith's so forgiving he'd probably have hugged our real dad and welcomed him back into our house and offered him Kayla.”
Keith stiffened, and hi
s face grew frigid with hostility. “Trust me, I would never.”
“Uncle Hugh is a decent guy,” Travis said, “and Virgil seems all right.”
“And just think, Jake. With a non-blood related man in the mix, that allows certain possibilities we can treat our little sub to that we wouldn't otherwise be able to,” Keith informed him.
Jake got excited. Oh, the delicious ecstasies they could show her. There wasn't a gay bone in his body, but he wasn't a homophobe either. He'd be fine squeezing into her pussy with another dick he wasn't related to, provided the cock was smaller, of course.
He scowled. “Don't tempt me. She loved us first, and that's just too bad for the other fuckers.”
Virgil rushed into the room, white with worry.
“Well, look who it is,” Jake said in a saucy tone.
“Kayla's gone.” Virgil held up a letter.
“What?” they all shrieked.
“She left us for that crotchety old geezer?” Jake shouted, wanting to slug the old man in the face for taking away the only woman who had ever meant anything to him.
Virgil shook his head, extending the note to them. “No. She left all of us, including him.”
****
Kayla's heart felt like deadweight in her chest as she made her way down the rural road in the cool air of early morning. Not too long ago she'd walked up this same road toward the Langleys’ ranch on a balmy afternoon. She'd been troubled then but had known that walking back home into their arms would bring her comfort. She belonged with them.
Now she walked away from them in the opposite direction. Her chest felt just as weighed down this morning as it had that day, but this time the pressure wasn't accompanied by numbness. A deep ache hovered over her heart, cutting like a knife, twisting until the pain worsened and her heart bled little red tears like the crystalline drops falling from her eyes.
She couldn't choose from the five men she adored beyond reason. She'd rather lose them all than make an impossible choice that would rip her heart out as badly as it would hurt the men she abandoned.
A truck came up behind her. “Kayla!”
Her heart skipped a beat like a stone skipping over the surface of water. Master's voice. She wanted to keep walking, but her feet resembled lead, anchoring her in place.
“You're not leaving. Come here.”
Can't do that, Master.
She started to take a step.
“Cinnamon, you take a step away from me and I'll give you a sore ass. Now get in the truck.”
Kayla stood in place, weighed down like an anvil, unable to defy him or obey him. She couldn't make that heart-wrenching decision they required of her.
His tone sharpened. “Now, slave.”
She drew in a deep breath and turned her back on the long stretch of road and green rolling hills that felt like a dead end road to nowhere. Her shoes fell light and almost soundlessly on the blacktop as she made her way back to the stern Master who threatened discipline over her continued belligerence.
She climbed up into the truck with him, the sound of the door shutting and locking resonating with her. Sitting locked in a confined space with him felt more like freedom than strolling independently down the road to wherever she wanted. Master made the choice for her, removed the burden of a tough decision. He freed her.
“What do you think you're doing?” His hard, reprimanding stare made her feel small.
“Sparing everybody heartache,” she mumbled.
“By leaving? Your logic is flawed. Everyone is worried sick.”
“I can't go back.”
Hugh didn't argue with her. He studied her for a moment in silence. “Why not?”
She sniffled, wiping her nose. “They want me to choose between you and them and Virgil. I can't do that. I love you all.”
“We all have to make difficult decisions in life. Is walking away from everyone really your genius conclusion to the puzzle?”
“I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me. I know leaving will hurt, but I can't choose. I love all of you.” She buried her face in her hands, sobbing. “Why can't I be normal?”
Master Hugh placed a comforting palm on her shoulder. “Do you want to be a sub or a slave?”
“God, you sound like Keith. I don't know what I want or who. What does it matter anyway? I'm losing everything that means anything to me.” She pulled her fingers from between her closed eyelids and her glasses, reaching into the glove compartment for a napkin. “BDSM, vanilla, strawberry—none of that means crap to me if I can't share it with my soul mates.”
She wiped her fogged up glasses. Would contacts be as annoying when she cried? Once clear, she put her glasses back on, waiting to be rebuked for her sleazy fickleness. None came.
Her Master's voice softened to the texture of rabbit pelts. “Look at me.”
She turned her attention to him, glad she got to look on him one last time before walking away.
“If you want to be a slave, if you'd rather avoid making that kind of choice, just tell me, and I'll take you away.”
His offer tempted her. She could have her Master. She'd lose her cowboys, but she would have the man who'd made her a woman and first trained her in submission.
She took his hand in hers. “Thank you. I love you.”
“I love you, too, cinnamon.”
He pulled her onto his lap and ran his fingers through her hair. She brushed his cheek, enjoying the ticklish rasp of his stubble on her fingertips.
“I do want to be your slave.” But she needed the other four men as well.
Master Hugh looked at her seriously. “I won't share you with them.”
A painful little spasm rippled through her heart. “I know.”
Their lips met, rubbing and nibbling, his stubble scratching and soothing the skin around her mouth, roughing her up and warming her. Their tongues twined and rolled, licking and sucking. The kiss heated her, awakening her libido and turning her insides to warm pudding.
She pressed her pussy into his clearly interested groin, making him moan. The sound made her crazy, and the kiss intensified. She broke the kiss, crying out when he cupped her crotch, teasing the zipper with his thumb. The look in his determined eyes burned her alive.
“Are you choosing me?”
“I can't make the decision,” she whispered. “Can you make it for me?”
He smiled before his eyes drifted over her shoulder. She glanced over her shoulder to see what he was looking at. An old couple walked to their mailbox together, holding hands while they checked the mail.
Master carefully pushed Kayla off his lap and started the engine.
“What are you doing?”
“Making the decision for you.” He started to drive ... back in the direction they came from.
“You're taking me back? I don't understand. You said you wouldn't share me with them.”
“I'm not. I'm giving you to them.”
Surreal shock numbed Kayla before the burning in her eyes made her feel the pain in her chest. “You're leaving me?”
His grief-stricken eyes were the only windows to the misery betraying his serious expression. “Kayla, I'm more than twice your age. When I'm an old man you'll still be in your prime. I don't want you to have to take care of me and then watch me die while you're still young.”
The tears returned, and she grabbed his hand. “You're not that much older, and I wouldn't care if you were. I would be honored to take care of you.”
“My boys are only a few years older than you. They can take care of you for longer without being a burden.”
“But I want to take care of you, too. I want them and you and Virgil. I want to grow old with you.”
He gave her hand a light squeeze. “I'll grow old before you ever see your first gray hair. You need someone younger than me. They're willing to share you. I'm not.”
She brought his hand to her lips, her tears dripping onto his skin. “Please. I love you so much, Hugh.”
His hand
brushed over her tearstained cheek with a soul-wrenching look in his eyes. “I love you back, cinnamon. Don't forget me.”
She cried harder, kissing his hand. “Not ever. Please don't leave me, Master.”
“I'm not leaving until Romanov is either dead or behind bars. Isn't it better this way, Kayla—to have a few of your lovers instead of losing everyone?”
“I don't know.” Her eyes closed, throat growing tight with pain. “Either way I'm incomplete.”
****
Guilt plagued Kayla when she entered the house alone and was pretty much accosted by cowboys. Everywhere she looked there was either a Langley or a Virgil hugging her, pawing at, or grabbing her to kiss her face. Their lung-crushing embraces emulated hugs Junior Bear might give.
“On your knees, sub,” Jake ordered in a tone that spelled trouble should she refuse.
She lowered to her knees, knowing what was coming.
“Kayla, we've been worried sick,” Travis told her, forehead creased with concern. “Why would you run away like that?”
“Keith wanted me to choose between you, Virgil, and Ma—Hugh. I couldn't.”
“So you left all of us?” Jake snapped.
“I'm sorry.”
“Suppose Black Dragon had come after you,” Virgil pointed out. “What then?”
“I was really depressed over leaving you guys.” Her head drooped, and she longed for their favor again. “I didn't think—”
“No, you didn't,” Jake growled. “You know you're not supposed to put yourself in danger.”
“We've been talking, Kayla,” Keith informed her. “It's not worth losing you over like we did years ago. We're not gonna make the same mistake again. That's why we're sharing you with Virgil.”
Her head jerked, eyes widening and lips parting in shock. “You guys like him now?”
Jake snorted. “We didn't say that.”
Virgil smirked. “Thanks, partner.”
“You're welcome, clown.”
Kayla's focus returned to Keith, who stood in front of her, cradling her chin gently with two of his fingers. “Thank you. That really means a lot to me.”
