by Avery Gale
Chapter 22
Boy if that didn’t just about frost her cookies Holly didn’t know what would. Here she’d been so close to having wild monkey sex again only to find out she was going to have to give up everything and become their little zombie sex-slave if she wanted to go any further. Damn it all to hell in a Honda anyway. She wasn’t going to wear some skank-wear or eat from a bowl on the floor or any of the other crap she’d seen on the websites she’d browsed through. She had enough people in her life willing and all too able to dish out humiliation, she sure didn’t need to sign up for more.
When she finally stopped pacing she looked up at them and just whispered, “I’m sorry. If you can help me call a cab…or maybe Abby could drive me to the airport…but I really think it’s time for me to suck it up and get back to my real life.” Damn, she had barely been keeping her head above water before, and now that she’d lost so many days, she was probably on everyone’s shit list. Well, she’d dodged her responsibilities long enough.
Turning toward the closet, Holly had only taken a couple of steps when Jace’s voice boomed through the room, “Stop right there, pet.” She wanted to slap her palm against her forehead when she realized she had obeyed without even thinking. Damn, she was already behaving like a dog they’d taken to obedience classes, she shuddered to think what else she might do if…Oh my God…they called it training, but I never even considered that it would be like this. She felt herself sway at the realization that they had actually already started training her and she hadn’t even realized it.
* * * *
While Jace was all for gathering all the information they could by allowing her to rant unchecked, he was beyond frustrated with her continuing misconception. And the worst part was that he and Gage had no one but themselves to blame. They’d shared subs at the club before and had never failed to find out their soft and hard limits and negotiate the scene in advance. So why the hell were they fucking up with the only sub who had ever really mattered? Mentally shaking his head at the absurdity of it he looked over to see the same look of frustration on Gage’s face. Nodding his face toward the sofa, he knew Gage understood and they both grabbed one of Holly’s elbows and led her in that direction.
Settling her on the coffee table so that she was facing them with her legs spread wide so they could view her glistening folds, they directed her to grasp her wrists behind her back so that her beautiful breasts were lifted in offering to them. “Why do I have to sit like this? I look like a slut for heaven’s sake. You can’t possibly be serious about having a conversation like this.” Ah, I do believe thou dost protest too much, sweet lady.
Jace smiled at her and nodded, “We do indeed expect exactly that. And I’ll caution you to watch your tone, sweet sub. We’ll be keeping a careful count of the punishments you rack up. Now, the first thing we need to clear up is your misconception about what our expectations are for you.”
“Sweetness, we want to add to your life, not take away from it. Now, you need to know we’ll be quick to step up to the plate if we feel you are overextending yourself to the point it is causing you either physical or emotional distress, and we won’t be subtle about it. Our job as your Dominants is to cherish and care for you, and to see to it that you always get exactly what you need.”
Jace was sure Gage had intentionally left him the perfect opening. “Keep in mind, pet, that what you want and what you need may not always be the same thing. But since you have placed yourself in our care, it will be our responsibility and honor to care for you—in all ways.”
Gage’s expression seemed to soften and Jace watched as his friend leaned forward and gently pushed Holly’s knees back apart. She probably hadn’t even been aware that she had been slowly drawing them back together. But the message her body was sending was crystal clear, she was uncomfortable and drawing in on herself. Jace would be willing to bet, she had been basically left to her own devices long before she’d been out of grade school. It was a miracle she hadn’t fallen in with the wrong group of rich kids and gotten mixed up in drugs or worse.
“Don’t hide yourself from us, baby. We know this is new for you, but if I have to correct that behavior again, we’ll have to figure out a way to secure those pretty legs in the position we’ve put them.” Both men watched as a fresh stream of Holly’s sweet cream moistened her pussy lips. She must have noticed them watching because her face was absolutely the brightest shade of crimson he’d ever seen when he looked up at her.
“We want to talk to you about hard and soft limits, pet. Do you know what those are?”
“Yes, sir. I think so. Hard limits are things I absolutely do not want to do or even try, like body fluids, knives, blood, cages, and humiliation. And soft limits are things that scare me, but that I might be willing to try at some point, like wax play.” By the time she had finished her answer he noticed her breathing was once again becoming rapid and her pulse had spiked.
“Very good, pet. Master Gage and I appreciate your candid answer. And for now, that is enough information for us to start. Here is what we’d like to propose to you. We’d like for you to commit to a three-month long training. At the end of that time, we’ll all sit down and re-evaluate and decide how we’ll proceed.” Jace was surprised to see tears fill her pretty green eyes, “Pet, tell me exactly what you heard, right now. Because we obviously have a serious communication problem.” Jace kept his voice steady despite the fact he was desperate to find out what on earth she was thinking.
“I’m sorry, I know you only agreed to show me the ropes…and I shouldn’t have expected anything more…and I didn’t think I had let myself slip over that edge, but obviously I had. And well hearing you put a time limit on our time together was just so blatant.” Jace watched her take a deep bracing breath before she went on, “I’m tired of living my life from the sidelines though, so if three months is all there is for us, then I’ll take it. I won’t lie to you, it will be hard to let go, but I promise I won’t make it ugly.”
By the time Holly had finished speaking Jace wasn’t sure who he was angrier with—and there were several prime candidates. First of all, he was furious at her parents for their irresponsible parenting. How could parents with such an amazing daughter continually make her feel as if she wasn’t enough? And he was frustrated with her for not recognizing how deeply both he and Gage had fallen for her. But most of all, he was disappointed in himself. How could he have let her believe she was only a temporary stop in his and Gage’s lives?
* * * *
Gage rarely stepped in when Jace was leading with Holly because he respected his friend’s experience with permanent ménage relationships, and quite frankly, this was just too important to risk. But it was obvious that Jace was holding on by a thread. The muscles in Jace’s jaw were clenched so tightly that Gage was worried the poor bastard was going to shatter his teeth. Gage was sure most of Jace’s anger was self-directed, but he doubted that would be how Holly would see it. All their sweet woman would see would be the explosion and with her deep desire to please those she cared about, Holly would no doubt place the entire burden of her Master’s anger directly on her own shoulders.
Scooting to the edge of the sofa, Gage pulled Holly closer and held out his hand. “Give me your wrists, Holly.” He’d used her name deliberately and watching her eyes widen in response, he knew she hadn’t missed the change. He watched her wince as she moved her arms back in front of her so that she could lay her wrists in his upturned palm. Gage silently cursed himself for leaving her in that position for so long without checking on her, and he was relieved to find her fingers were still warm and pink so at least her circulation hadn’t been compromised.
Her eyes were the most amazing shade of green and their shade was ever-changing, depending on her mood and level of arousal. Right now they were so filled with sadness his heart clenched knowing that he and Jace were responsible. “Sweetness, I’m afraid your Masters have done a very poor job of meeting one of the most basic principles of our
lifestyle. We have clearly not adequately communicated exactly what we meant by the three month limitation.”
Taking a deep breath, Gage decided to just go for broke and tell the fragile soul sitting before him exactly what he and Jace had planned. “You see, both Master Jace and I want this to be a permanent relationship. We’d like to marry you. Well, you would actually marry Jace in a civil ceremony, because he is older. But the ceremony we would all consider binding would be the commitment ceremony that would follow. In our hearts we would both be your husbands, sharing equally in the responsibilities and joys that bond brings.”
Watching as the sadness that had painted her expression slowly changed to hope, Gage slowly released the breath he hadn’t even known he was holding. “We wanted to give you the three months as a ‘trial period’ but it was intended as a chance for you to decide if you wanted us, not the other way around. Sweetness we already know that we want you in our lives forever, but you have been through a lot and we didn’t want to overwhelm you.” This time when the tears came, Gage was sure that they were tears of joy, but he wasn’t leaving anything to chance. Reaching up to thumb away her tears, he was relieved to see her shy smile. “I sure hope those are happy tears, sweetheart.”
* * * *
Holly didn’t hesitate to show Gage that her tears were indeed, tears of pure joy. She heard his soft chuckle when she scrambled onto his lap and buried her face in his chest and clung to him like a vine. “Yes, they are tears of joy. I was so afraid you didn’t want me and it was going to break my heart to have to walk away from you both. I really had no idea how I would be able to do it, but I wanted to treasure each moment…so if three months was all I could have, well, then it was just going to have to be enough.”
The feel of his large, callused palm rubbing soothing circles over her bare back was a balm to her soul. She wasn’t sure she fully understood why surrendering to them made her feel fulfilled but it reminded her of the joy she’d always found in placing the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle in place. Holly knew there were never any guarantees in any relationship because people’s lives are never static…they grow and change. But she knew what the three of them shared was worth the risk.
Chapter 23
Standing up for Holly as she’d married Jace had been one of Abby’s happiest moments. She and her brother had always been incredibly close, so seeing him this happy brought her joy as well. Who could have guessed that their relationship would progress so quickly? It had only been a week since Kalen and Logan had whisked her away from the pool area so Jace and Gage could seduce Holly. That had been a very interesting afternoon, indeed.
Leaning back against a rock wall in her parents’ backyard watching as couples danced following the commitment ceremony that had given Holly a second husband, Abby watched from the shadows as Gage danced with his new bride. Holly was an amazing woman, and she and Abby had hit it off immediately. How her brother and bonus brother had managed to score such a talented and famous wife was a mystery to Abby. Smiling at her own mental joke she let her mind drift back to the afternoon she had almost given in to her attraction to Logan Douglas and Kalen Black.
Abby had been fighting the almost magnetic pull she felt to both men for years. She’d been a college student despite the fact she was only fifteen when she’d first met them. And much to her disappointment, they’d seen her as the young girl she’d been and not the mature woman she’d envisioned herself to be. Looking back on how she’d shamelessly flirted with all of her brother’s friends, it was a wonder any of them had ever visited the ranch more than once. But she had learned some valuable lessons hanging around all those alpha males. They had taught her enough about self-defense to spark a lifetime interest. She still trained at least twice a week…more often if she could manage it. She also learned to speak her mind and think on her feet, because they had loved challenging her.
Jace had always been proud of her and had never made any secret of her advanced placement in school, so his friends had enjoyed sparring with her on any topic…no matter how obscure…they could come up with. It had only taken her a few minutes to figure out that their quoted statistics and “facts” were highly suspect at best and that she should question everything. Now, looking back on those late night discussions around the fire pit she knew they were trying to make sure she knew better than to just accept what someone was trying to spoon-feed her.
Abby had mentioned it to Jace one time and he’d laughed, “It’s their twisted way of making sure you don’t fall for every line of bull-shit someone tosses your way. Think of it as having lots of big brothers who are all trying to make sure you are safe from the predators they know are out there…because they are among the worst.” They had both laughed, but she had always known there was a definite truth to his words.
Last week, Logan and Kalen had both asked her a hundred and one questions about what she had meant by her comments about coming home to escape alpha male bullshit. Technically her comments had been accurate, even if grossly understated. The man in question was actually the front for a group of men who hoped to profit…enormously…from her current project. When the Energy Consortium hadn’t been able to hire her away from Garrett Oil, they’d sent in Sergio Fantella. Oh he’d swept her off her feet at first. He’d been charming and had obviously done his homework well because he’d known all of her interests and exploited his “knowledge” of them shamelessly.
It still embarrassed her that she’d been suckered so easily, cripes. Shaking off those memories she focused on the fact she had managed to avoid spilling the whole story to the two men she least wanted to share it with. Shivering as she pushed off the stone wall, she turned to walk back through the party. She wanted to dance with Jace before she made her excuses and disappeared. Suddenly the hair on the back of her nape stood on end. Never one to discount instinct she quickly darted her gaze around, paying particular attention to the shadows. It was the same feeling anytime Kalen Black or Logan Douglas were near…but that couldn’t be it tonight because Jace had told her before the wedding they weren’t going to make it back as planned. And while she’d been relieved to know she wouldn’t have to dodge them all day and evening, there had been a small part of her that had been disappointed also.
Shaking her head at her own wayward thoughts, Abby made her way over to her brother and politely cut in on the elderly librarian who had been stepping all over his loafer-clad feet. “Bet that was fun, those dress shoes are no match for her orthopedic clodhoppers.”
Jace chuckled, “True that, but her heart is in the right place even though I had to remove her hand from my ass more than once.”
“Bet my new sister-in-law loved that.”
“Oh, she is going to get a few swats for the giggling fit she had when she and Gage danced by me, don’t think she won’t.” His words might have been harsh, but his tone was teasing. And while Abby knew that Holly was both Jace and Gage’s submissive, she also recognized that both men were sap-happy in love with the woman. Both the Garrett and Hughes families had fallen in love with Holly as well. She was smart, driven, caring, and willing to take on their Dominant sons…what wasn’t to love about that?
“She’s wonderful, be nice to her…I wanna keep her around. She’s good for you and think of the bragging rights I’ll have now.” Abby had teased her brother and bonus brother this past week unmercifully wondering what the talented writer and actress saw in the two of them.
“Be nice, Short Round, or I’ll hand you over to the stalkers at the edge of the dance floor.” When Abby tried to look, her brother had already anticipated her response and spun her around so that his large torso blocked her view. “Aw hell, I’m going to hand you off anyway because it’s my turn to dance with Holly.” He stopped and brushed his fingers down her cheek, “Sweetie, please give them a chance to help you with whatever sent you high-tailing it home. If you won’t talk to me, please talk to them. Protecting people is what we do.” He pulled her into a rib-crushing hug and then before she
could even blink he turned her away from him and stalked away.
Blinking at his sudden movements and departure, Abby looked up to find herself face to chest with Kalen and Logan. And in an instant she found herself right back on the Bi-Polar Express…wishing they hadn’t made it back and thrilled to find them standing in front of her.
* * * *
Kalen didn’t even try to suppress his smile at the way her eyes widened in surprise and then desire. Nor did he miss the small gasp or the way the pulse at the base of her neck picked up. Oh, love, your body knows something your mind has yet to accept.
“Abigail, dance with me.” He didn’t ask—he wasn’t going to give her a chance to say no. He watched her gulp and he saw the questions in her eyes.
Logan stepped forward and kissed her on the forehead, “We were delayed, sorry baby. You look gorgeous by the way. Now dance with Kalen, but the next one is mine.” Logan stepped back and Kalen pulled her close and moved them smoothly around the small dance floor. The candlelight highlighted the golden tone of Abby’s skin and gave it an almost ethereal appearance. The deep red gown she wore shimmered as the gold-tinted lights danced in its sheen. Kalen was just under six feet tall and even in the heels she was wearing, he still towered over her. And there was something about her that brought out every protective instinct he possessed. He had spent years studying the writings of the ancient mystics and had often wondered at their descriptions of the one. And even though he and Logan believed Abby was their destiny, he was all too aware that they had a mountain of resistance ahead of them. She was going to fight them all the way—but her submission would be all the sweeter because of their struggle to earn it.
