Almost Gothic [Suncoast Socitey] (Siren Publishing Sensations)

by Tymber Dalton

  If it hadn’t been for her parents, Eliza wasn’t sure what would have happened next. At least Samantha had a life insurance policy, and Eliza’s father and his attorney had figured out her finances and bills and filed an emergency motion to give Rusty custody of Corey, which had been granted. She’d also had a will, which her father’s attorney was handling the probate for. With the insurance policy, there was enough to finish paying off the house and give them a comfortable cushion to pay bills until Corey was out of high school, if they were careful. The rest could be put toward Corey’s college education if he needed it, but he’d already started applying for scholarships.

  Her father’s attorney had mentioned there might even be scholarships for orphans, and her dad had started looking into that, as well.

  The house now belonged to Rusty. Samantha had added Rusty to the title when he’d turned eighteen, which was when she’d apparently redone her will without telling the boys. She’d also granted custody of Corey to him.

  Fortunately, no mention was made of Borden in the will.

  And Rusty now had her car, which was older but reliable. Her dad talked about keeping the other car so Corey could start driving it when he turned sixteen.

  Rusty signed what was put in front of him where he was told to, nodded his head a lot, and hardly spoke.

  After the service, Eliza kept her arm around his in the receiving line as people gave the brothers their condolences. Finally, after what felt like forever, they climbed into her parents’ car and he drove them back to what was now Rusty’s house.

  Corey retreated to his bedroom and Eliza finally convinced her parents to go home for a while and come back later, for dinner. She had her car there if she needed it, and had brought over more things.

  Including something she suspected Rusty needed.

  She changed into yoga pants and a sports bra with a black T-shirt over it. No shoes, because she’d be faster without them. After getting the back yard ready she went to Rusty’s room. He sat on the edge of his bed, still dressed in his slacks and dress shirt.

  He wore his mom’s wedding and engagement rings on his right pinky finger, turning them around. Eliza hadn’t really noticed until Samantha died that she still wore her wedding rings. Her heart had broken when Martin died, and she’d never tried to replace him. She’d worn Martin’s wedding band on a gold necklace, and had been wearing it the night she died. Rusty had started wearing it.

  Eliza loosened his tie and removed the necklace now, coaxing him to hand her the rings so she could add them to the necklace. But instead of putting it around his neck, she tucked it into his nightstand drawer.

  “I want that,” he softly said.

  “Later. We need to do something first.”

  “Okay.”

  It broke her heart. He didn’t question, and while always gentle, the soft tone of voice he now used sounded a step away from the grave.

  She got him into shorts and a T-shirt and sneakers, because he’d need them. Then she led him out to the backyard.

  This was the real reason she’d needed her parents to leave for a while. They might not understand.

  She’d left two sets of bastons in the back yard.

  Not padded ones—real ones.

  She picked up both pairs and handed one to him and hoped she hadn’t misjudged her barbarian, because neither of them had protective gear and if he misjudged a hit it could kill her, as strong as he was.

  It was a risk she was willing to take. He’d lost over ten pounds so far and no way he’d be able to function if he didn’t find his way back to the land of the living. His dreams for a college degree would disintegrate, and no way Samantha would want that.

  She’d loved her boys and had confided to Eliza at their high school graduation that she loved her like a daughter and hoped they’d get married. That she loved how happy Eliza made Rusty.

  How he smiled in a way with her in his life that he hadn’t smiled in years.

  And Eliza had promised to spend her life taking care of him and keeping him smiling.

  Promises to keep…and miles and miles before I sleep.

  Rusty stared at her as if he hadn’t spent countless hours working out with her, mock combat and training with the sticks, as well as wasters and other weapons.

  “Get on, then, barbarian,” she taunted in the Scottish accent she liked to use when going up against him like that. “Come at me, aye?”

  “Eliza—”

  She reached out and whacked him, hard, in the left thigh, hard enough to make him step back.

  “Fuck! What the hell?”

  She darted in again and smacked him in the right thigh, dropping the accent. “Only way this ends is you take me down.”

  He’d never taken her down before. He’d come close several times, but he’d told her he never wanted her throwing a combat just because she felt sorry for him. If he won, he wanted it to be fairly won.

  In return, he’d promised her he wouldn’t hold back with her just because she was a girl. That he’d go after her as hard as he would any other guy of comparable size and skills. He had her in size and strength, but she definitely had him in skill, and that leveled the playing field.

  His green eyes darkened. “Li—”

  “Shadows are calling,” she softly said. “Come and get me…if you can.”

  He flashed over, letting out a blood-curdling roar of rage and pain as he charged her. She easily dodged him, delivering two hard smacks just under his hips, one with each stick.

  When he turned on her, there was nothing left of Rusty. This was pure grief and anger and, finally, she breathed a sigh of relief that she’d pulled the scab off his mental wound so the abscess could freely drain.

  No more talking, no friendly banter. He stalked her and she hated that it made her hornier than hell, but she paid close attention to his body language and dodged his every attack, landing hard blows along fleshy muscle and trying to avoid bony projections like knees and elbows.

  The sun slowly arced over them and they took no breaks, sweat pouring down her face and his as they sparred. That was her eventual undoing. She lost her grip on the right baston on one pass, allowing him to flip it out of her hand with his. Before she could twist away from him, he pulled a judo move on her, knocking her legs out from under her and putting her on her back, driving the breath from her.

  Then he was on her, his forearm against her neck and static in his gaze as sweat dripped from his face onto hers and she felt the world starting to spin as his hold choked her.

  “I yield,” she finally gasped, then coughed as he sat back, still straddling her hips, his weight fully on her and pinning her to the grass.

  When she stopped coughing he leaned in and kissed her, hard, his fist in her hair holding her in place and something good spun free inside her.

  “When you get your degree,” he hoarsely said. “Then we’ll get married. Four years. Okay? I have to take care of Corey.”

  “Bet you I can do it in three.” She’d decided to be a teacher, because she loved history. So she was going for an education degree with a minor in medieval history.

  He blinked, then nodded. “Okay. Three. Degree first.”

  “You’re gonna make me wait three years?”

  “Want me to make it until I get my doctorate?”

  “Fuck no.” She pulled him in for another kiss. “We can still do other stuff, right?”

  He nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”

  It was almost a physical shift, like a filter snapping into place over a camera lens, and she felt it.

  She cupped his cheek with her hand. “You have to want to live. Keep living.”

  “For you I will. Wait here.” He was up and off her before she could ask why.

  She sat up and waited. When he returned, he knelt next to her. “I…I can’t afford a ring right now. I’ll buy you one of your own later, when I can. But Eliza, will you please marry me?”

  Now she was the one crying as he slid his mom’s engage
ment ring onto her left ring finger.

  It fit perfectly.

  “Yes. But only if you promise me something.”

  “Anything.”

  “I don’t want another ring. I want this ring, and their wedding rings. They loved each other. She never stopped loving him. If you’re okay with it, I’m okay with it.”

  His eyes filled with tears. “I love you so much, Li.”

  “I love you, too, sweetie.” She finally looked at both of them, filthy and sweaty and in need of a shower. “Let’s go clean up.”

  He nodded and after helping her stand, let her lead him into the house.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Now

  Eliza looped Rusty’s name badge around his collar and secured it. “There you go.” Take a look at yourself.

  He turned to look at himself in the full-length mirror on the closet door. The T-Rex outfit, complete with bondage harness and collar, was…hilarious, if she did say so herself.

  “I’m going to be a hit. Can you make out my face?” He turned so she could look.

  “No, between the costume and the face mask, no one will be able to know who you are.” They’d written their FetLife names on their badges, not their real names. There was nothing on their FetLife accounts that could be traced back to their real identities, either. Not that it was much of a worry. With Eliza retired, and nothing they did that weekend that would impact Rusty’s job, it was more a comfort issue for them.

  Eliza knocked on the adjoining door between the rooms. “We’re ready when you are,” she called out.

  Cali opened their door and immediately burst out laughing at the sight of Rusty dressed in the T-Rex costume. “Oh. My. God! That’s awesome!”

  Rusty curtsied, which was simultaneously awkward and hilarious. He pinwheeled his stubby arms in front of him. “Rawr.”

  Sean appeared in the doorway. “Hey! You used my bondage harness and collar. Cool!”

  Eliza hung her badge around her neck. “I’m hoping it draws spectators, if nothing else. People wanting to take pics of him.”

  Cali snapped her fingers. “A couple of the fetish models I sent products to! Maybe we can get them to let us take a few pics with them. No one will know it’s him and not Sean. Hell, no one knows it’s Sean in the pics on our website, anyway. To everyone else, he’s just Stumpy.”

  “I like how you think, Cali.” Eliza turned to Rusty. “Unless you know someone, do the silent act.”

  He snapped his fingers and pointed double finger guns at her, then gave her a double thumbs-up.

  Eliza grinned. “Smartass.”

  He turned and apparently tried to slap his own ass, then realized it wouldn’t be possible with the costume.

  “Aww. Help, please, Ma’am.” He turned so she could slap his ass for him, and she obliged. That cracked up Cali, Sean, and Max, who’d also walked over.

  “We’d better head down,” Cali said.

  They waited for the elevator. When the door of a car coming down from a floor above them opened, they all reacted the same when they saw the lone occupant.

  Eliza finally said it. “Niall?”

  “Long time, no see, eh?” he asked in his Irish brogue. He stepped forward and hit a button on the panel, holding it. “Going down, then, are we?”

  “What are you doing here?” But his orange badge clearly meant he was a presenter. He had a different name on it than he used to use on FetLife when he lived in Sarasota five years ago and was still Aden’s Master. Before he’d moved out to California.

  Aden had finally moved on but they’d all wondered before that if he’d ever get over his broken heart. Now Aden was dating a sweet woman and was her Dominant, but Eliza could painfully see the ache in his eyes when he watched Landry or any of the other male Doms playing with their male submissives or slaves.

  “Teachin’ a couple o’ classes.”

  Eliza finally stepped in, moving to the side so Rusty would have room in his costume to fit. Cali, Max, and Sean followed.

  Niall punched the close door button. “I take it yer goin’ to the second floor?”

  “Yeah,” Cali said. “Vending room. I didn’t realize you were teaching this year.”

  “Heh.” Niall rubbed at the back of his neck. “Actually movin’ back,” he said. “Drove in a few days ago. Spent a couple o’ nights in Tampa with my Da, then I’ll start looking for a new place after this weekend. Start my new job next week. Hadn’t really told anyone yet. Can’t wait to get back together with the gang.”

  Eliza exchanged a glance with Cali but kept her mouth shut.

  Like hell she wanted to be the one who told Niall that Aden had moved on. They’d all liked Niall, and Aden. The men had parted amicably because Niall had gotten a good job out in California. Apparently Niall had tried to talk Aden into moving with him, but Aden had just bought a house and had a good job of his own and hadn’t been willing to give that up.

  Fortunately, more people were able to cram into the elevator car on floors below them, sparing any of them from more talk. As they rode down, Eliza found herself rubbing her left thumb against her engagement and wedding rings, a nervous gesture she had, one she used to do all the time in her early teaching days, before she learned how to hold her own against classes full of middle-school kids. They’d used Rusty’s parents’ rings, Rusty’s father’s ring fitting him perfectly the day they’d married each other with her parents and Corey looking on in the county clerk’s office.

  Cali grabbed Eliza’s arm after they all left the elevator and let Niall go on ahead of them. She held Eliza back.

  “I saw Aden and Etsu earlier today,” Cali whispered. “When I finished checking in. They’re here.”

  “Maybe they know. He sounded pretty chill.”

  “No, I’d put money on Aden and Etsu not knowing. Aden would have said something. He’s never really gotten over Niall.”

  Eliza stared down the hallway Niall had walked as Rusty waited for them to finish talking. “Not much we can do. It’s not our circus, nor our monkeys. Might want to tell Tony, though. I know he and Aden are good friends. If anyone’s going to know what to do, it’ll be him.”

  “Good point.”

  * * * *

  Rusty couldn’t hear very well in the inflatable T-Rex costume, but he knew Eliza and Cali were trying to decide how or if they should say something to…someone, about Niall’s presence.

  If given a vote, he’d vote to stay the hell out of it.

  They got moving again, people smiling and laughing at his costume and even a few people wanting pictures of him or with him. Eliza stayed out of the shots, smiling as she looked on and finally got him into the vendor room so she could help the triad finish setting up.

  “I think I need to hire you to help with promotions,” Cali said. “You called that right.”

  “Hey, everyone loves the T-Rex videos online. That shit’s hysterical. They’re just damn funny. Bondage T-Rex only makes it funnier. Excuse me. ‘Stumpy.’” She pointed at Rusty. “Remember, you answer to Stumpy today.”

  He snapped his fingers and pointed finger guns at her.

  He supposed there was a lull in the class schedule, because as soon as the vendor room doors were open to customers, people flooded into the vendor hall. Part of his duties, in addition to being comic relief, were to help keep an eye on merchandise to prevent shrink. Cali had inventoried everything they brought, so at the end of the weekend, she’d know how much they were missing that was unaccounted for by purchases.

  They’d been open for an hour when Cali had to run to the bathroom. Sean and Max were talking to customers. Eliza had just finished ringing up a customer when a man walked up behind her.

  “Cali?”

  She turned, smiling. “Hi. Can I help you?”

  “I’m Dave Stuckey. We’ve been e-mailing.” He had a Georgia drawl and was about six two and lanky.

  “Oh, sure. Hold on, let me get those things we put aside.” She dug a box out from under the table, a
nd Rusty stepped in closer as her gaze caught and held his for a moment.

  Dave Stuckey leaned in and said something to Eliza too low for Rusty to hear, but he could tell from the look on her face that it wasn’t exactly innocent.

  Rusty made a stumpy-armed wave in Sean’s direction, finally catching his eye a couple of minutes later, and pointing at Eliza and the guy.

  Sean stepped in. “How we doing, babe?” He slid an arm around Eliza’s waist and Rusty was shocked that, despite knowing this was the plan and that Sean was only acting, he had to take a deep breath and force himself not to step in and kick Sean’s ass.

  Holy shit.

  The irony didn’t escape him that the few times they’d had to deal with a drunk or idiot, like at a bar, Rusty had smiled and sat back and watched Eliza put the fear of her into them.

  Except this was a BDSM convention where people should know better than to touch what wasn’t theirs, especially people.

  Sean took over talking with the guy while keeping an arm around Eliza’s waist. When Rusty caught a glimpse of Cali rounding the corner on her way back, he caught her in his arms, turning his back to the booth and pretending to dance with her.

  “Swap out name badges with me,” he whispered. “Now.” Hers had their vendor name on it. His only had his username on it, not their booth.

  She was quick on the draw and did it without asking why. When he finally turned back, Max had swapped places with Sean talking with Dave Stuckey, while Sean was ringing someone up on the tablet. Eliza wore an evilly playful look Rusty knew far too well…

  And Dave Stuckey wore a wide-eyed look that could only be described as, Oh, fuck.

  Cali hung back. “I wonder what she said to him,” she muttered to Rusty.

  He held his stubby arms up in a who knows? gesture, since shrugging in the outfit didn’t really translate.

  Unfortunately, by the time they got the guy rung up and out of their booth, there were even more people browsing, wanting pictures with Rusty, and the evening got away from him. Even a brief power outage didn’t slow foot traffic down too much. Emergency lights in the ballroom that was the vendor area, combined with people using the flashlights on their cell phones, and a few of the vendors using battery-operated Christmas lights or other alternate lights as part of their displays, kept it safe and lit enough to see.