Secrets & Sin: A MFM Romance

by Callahan, Kelli

  “Yeah, I have an open invitation. Why not?” I shrugged and reached for the book.

  “Okay, I guess I’ll cover for you if you decide to spend another night with them, but you have to share some of the details. My love life is a disaster. At least I can live vicariously through you.” She smiled and shook her head. “But don’t forget that you promised to hang out with me this weekend!”

  “I haven’t forgotten. It’ll be just like the old days.” I smiled and extended my arms for a hug.

  After Jackie left, I started looking through the journal again. I was totally captivated by Abigail Herrington’s story. It was more than just a journal of punishments, although there were a lot of them detailed in the pages. I could feel the emotion dripping off each page. Some of the pages were harder to read and stained by smeared ink, but there was enough to fully understand what she was going through. She didn’t marry out of love, and her first punishment was definitely harsh, but things changed as time went on. The trips to the old basement became a part of their relationship—a bond that pulled them together. Her need for her husband’s dominance was clear, and that was enough to overcome the darkness that brought them together to begin with.

  Perhaps that is why I feel the way I do about Dante and Shane. Or maybe there’s just something in the water in this town…

  18

  Dante

  The next day

  “I forgot how hard it was to actually work all day.” I stretched my muscles as I walked downstairs after my shower.

  “Especially after we worked all night too.” Shane smirked and chuckled. “Now you have to tear your Funhouse down.”

  “I’ll get to that tomorrow.” I dropped down into a chair and smiled. “Brianna will be here soon, I’m sure.”

  “Not soon—she’s here.” Shane leaned forward and looked out the window. “I see her car coming this way.”

  “Perfect. I showered at the right time. I’m glad I didn’t try to get an early start on the deconstruction.” I stood up and ran my fingers through my dark colored hair to straighten some of the mess that the comb didn’t fix.

  We both got to our feet and watched Brianna park her car near the road. She truly was a vision of loveliness, the sun reflecting on her beautiful face as she walked towards the house. I walked over and opened the door once she started up the steps. The second she was inside the house, I pulled her close for a kiss. I didn’t hide my affection for her. The kiss was filled with passion and practically set off fireworks in my head. When I pulled back from her lips, she was gasping, but she wasn’t going to get a chance to breathe until Shane had his turn. He tried to outdo me as he pulled her into his arms, teased her with his touch, and then crushed her pouty lips beneath his. They kissed for almost a minute before the seal was finally broken.

  “Hello to the two of you as well.” Brianna gasped and exhaled sharply. “Okay, I returned the book for the twenty four hour mark, so I’ll be on my way.”

  “Wait a second.” I reached out and grabbed her arm. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

  “You said I had to bring it back and I did. I’ll be back tomorrow, don’t worry.” She gave me a grin that confirmed she was just messing with us.

  “Don’t even try that shit.” I gave her a smack on the back of her jeans and pushed her towards the living room.

  “Okay.” She faked a disappointed sigh. “I guess I’ll stay for one glass of iced tea.”

  Shane went to the kitchen and I followed Brianna into the living room. Spending the day away from her after all we did the night before was enough to bring my desires back to the surface. She was no longer our naughty cheerleader, but she was just as tempting and delicious. I fought against my urges and waited until Shane brought our drinks. Brianna sat down on the couch and immediately pulled out the journal, along with a notebook. I was surprised to see that she had pages of notes and had stuffed bookmarks into multiple pages of the book. I was a bit intrigued and I could see that she was about to burst with whatever news she had to share. Even her foot bounced with anticipation as she waited for Shane to come back.

  “Did you read the whole thing in one night?” I raised my eyebrows as I took a seat across from her.

  “Yes.” She nodded quickly. “I spent some time in the school library after my classes were done, too.”

  “Oh really?” Shane seemed intrigued as he sat down. “I didn’t realize it was that interesting.”

  “It’s very interesting, actually.” Brianna tapped her finger on the notebook. “There’s not much information available about Abigail Herrington, but there is a lot of stuff written about her husband. He had a couple of patents that made the family quite wealthy.”

  “Seriously?” I blinked in surprise. “I’ve never even heard of him and we bought his house. The house belonged to some estate, but it was a different last name.”

  “Yeah, that part gets a little confusing, but it looks like Abigail outlived her husband. I mean, he was older than her, so I guess it makes sense. After he passed, there was some sort of family squabble with the children and the house changed hands a few times over the years. I don’t know what happened to Abigail, but I found an obituary that was dated about twenty years after he passed.” Brianna nodded and sighed. “She lived in Bakersfield her whole life and nobody even knows her name.”

  “It was a really long time ago.” Shane shrugged. “This house was abandoned by the time we bought it.”

  “It’s hard to follow the trail, especially with the daughters getting married and changing their last names, but it looks like the house ended up in an estate for some of the surviving heirs. They probably forgot about it before you guys came along and offered to buy it. They were pretty wealthy from what I can gather.” Brianna tapped her notebook again. “I took a lot of notes.”

  “I see that.” I chuckled and tilted my head inquisitively. “But why?”

  “This story needs to be told.” She held up the journal. “This is a part of history, but more importantly—it’s a love story. Abigail Herrington recorded her deepest thoughts, her rawest emotions, and you can feel the love flowing off these pages.”

  “What are you going to do, write a book?” Shane sipped his iced tea and laughed. “I don’t think people are going to like reading about all the beatings she got.”

  “No, I’m not big on writing books. I’m going to write a screenplay.” Brianna nodded and grinned. “This is such a good story. I’ll be in California soon. Maybe I’ll get a chance to pitch it to someone if I get it written down.”

  “Wow, you’re serious about this.” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Well, if you’re that interested, I think there’s something you should see.”

  “What’s that?” Brianna tilted her head inquisitively.

  “You know the room she described in the book? The one in the basement? We found it.” I grinned and started to stand.

  “There’s no way—it would have been found by now.” Brianna’s curiosity was definitely piqued.

  “It was hidden.” Shane chuckled and stood. “Come on, we’ll show you. We need to run some lights down there first, though. It’s hard to see much with the flashlights.”

  It took Shane and I a while to drag down some of the lights that we used to light up the house while we worked, especially evenings when we pulled some late hours. After we got them set up, we had to run a couple of extension cords just to get them powered. I wasn’t particularly happy about dragging Brianna through the dirty mess, but I thought she should see the room. I helped her down the stairs, and since we had already found the room, it didn’t take us long to make a straight line over to it. I pulled one of the lights close and it illuminated most of the space. Brianna’s mouth fell open immediately as she let go of my hand and started walking into the Herrington’s former punishment room.

  “Oh my god.” Brianna walked up and touched the bench. “It’s just like she described.”

  “I didn’t get to that part where she
described it, just the part where she said it was almost found by someone who was visiting.” I shrugged and followed her into the room.

  “All of these… toys.” Brianna looked up at the wall like a kid in a candy store. “He bought them to satisfy her desires.”

  “I don’t know if I’d call them toys.” Shane chuckled and shook his head. “Some of them look like they would leave marks.”

  “This is remarkable. Do you mind if I take some pictures?” Brianna dug her cell phone out of her pocket.

  “No, go ahead. I don’t care.” I shook my head and looked at Shane.

  Brianna took some time taking photographs, and I could see the curiosity in her eyes as she checked out the different implements. Her curiosity and budding desires were just like the woman who lived in the house all of those years ago. Brianna wasn’t at the point where she wanted to be strapped down to a bench and whipped, but some of the items seemed to interest her. All of the leather items had aged too much to be used, but most of the thicker pieces of wood were still salvageable. Especially if they had the kind of attention I gave the paddle we found the first time we were in the room. Even it wasn’t in the best shape. Once she had taken enough photographs, she took down a smaller paddle from the wall and turned around.

  “This one still looks like it’s in good shape.” She gave it a smack on her palm. “Hurts, too.”

  “Maybe.” I reached out and took it from her. “I could clean it up and see if it’s still sturdy enough to use if that’s what you want.”

  “You do that and I’ll find a way to be naughty.” She batted her eyelashes and giggled.

  “Well, we don’t need it tonight.” Shane walked over and put his arms around her waist. “We just want to get you upstairs.”

  “Finally, I thought you were just going to give me a tour of your dusty basement!” Brianna giggled again and pulled out of his embrace. “Race you to the top.”

  “Be careful!” I sighed as she started trying to run across the basement floor with Shane in hot pursuit.

  19

  Brianna

  Two weeks later

  My life returned to normal after Halloween night, except for the time that I spent with Dante and Shane. We didn’t get many chances to spend the entire night together, but we made the most of the time we had. While we were hot and heavy most of the time, we didn’t have sex every time I visited. Sometimes it was nice to just hang out and talk, or look at their progress on the house. Dante even showed me some of his artwork, which was truly phenomenal. I was falling hard for both of them, but I was staring at an invisible hourglass that was going to eventually run out of sand. I would finish up my classes at the local university in December, and start packing for California. I was really excited when they offered to make an exception and let me enroll for the Winter semester instead of waiting for fall, but after meeting Dante and Shane, I wished I was waiting longer.

  The three of us really hadn’t talked much about the future. They made vague comments about keeping me around, but we all understood that time was not on our side. When I wasn’t working on school stuff or visiting them, I was busy transcribing Abigail Herrington’s life. I had the beginning of what I thought was a fairly good screenplay. It was going to be dark and gritty, but that was how her story actually was. The beauty was in how she carved a place for herself in that tumultuous world. It was a story of discovery and triumph, much like the one I was living as I explored my own fantasies with Dante and Shane. I just didn’t know if my own story would end with the kind of happiness she found once she understood who she really was.

  “Brianna, Jackie’s here!” My mother’s voice echoed up the stairs.

  “Okay, she knows where my room is!” I saved what I was working on and turned off my computer as Jackie walked up the stairs.

  “This job is going to kill me.” Jackie didn’t even say hello, she just headed to my bed and crashed face first into the mattress.

  “You’re saving money, right? That’s what matters.” I turned my chair towards the bed and shrugged.

  “Yeah, but all these hours on my feet. I’m going to have freaking callouses.” Jackie shifted her legs and kicked off her shoes.

  “You could always move to California with me.” I tilted my head to the side. “They got jobs out there too. I’m sure you could find something better than what you’re doing here.”

  “I wish I could.” She rolled over on her back and groaned. “I can’t afford out of state tuition. If there’s one thing this job has taught me, it’s that I definitely need a degree if I’m going to get a job that doesn’t make me want to jump out of a window.”

  “I know.” I nodded in understanding and sighed.

  “How are things going with Dante and Shane? Glorious, I’m sure.” She sat up and looked at me.

  “I don’t have any complaints.” I shrugged and smiled. “They’re better than I deserve and then some, especially since they know I’m leaving in a couple of months.”

  “The old ladies at the grocery store were gossiping about the place the other day. They’re convinced Dante and Shane are long lost relatives of the family that used to live there, back to extract vengeance on the town for betraying them.” Jackie rolled her eyes as she relayed the latest small town dirt.

  “I’m pretty sure that story isn’t even true.” I chuckled and rolled my eyes as well. “I think the family just got tired of Bakersfield like everyone else who lives here does eventually.”

  “My grandfather always said it was some sort of issue with the will. Who knows.” Jackie shrugged. “They made all their money from working people to death in the coal mines anyway, and there wasn’t much use in staying after it got shut down.”

  “Yeah, that’s why my parents always called it blood money. They got rich while the rest of the town buried bodies.” I nodded and shrugged. “But you know how stories go. They get twisted up the more people tell them.”

  Which is one of the reasons why Abigail’s diary is so important. It’s a true reflection of how life was like for her without misinformation and second hand tales.

  “Are we still on for a movie tonight, or are you going to go see Dante and Shane?” Jackie shifted on the bed and tilted her head.

  “Yeah, I stopped by on my way home. They’re not expecting me.” I nodded and stood up to grab my jacket.

  “I wonder if the theater would mind if I just went barefoot.” Jackie let out a grunt as she picked up her shoes.

  “They probably wouldn’t care if we’re buying a ticket, but knowing your luck? You’d step on a piece of glass and get fired because you couldn’t go to work tomorrow.” I smirked and slid my arms into the jacket sleeves.

  “That’s true.” She shook her head and sighed.

  Jackie and I opted for the latest romantic comedy movie at our local theater. It had one of her favorite actresses, although she was no longer the dashing young beauty we used to watch when we were kids. We ate too much popcorn and drank so much soda that we had to go to the bathroom halfway through. After the movie was over and I headed home, I realized that was another thing I wouldn’t have much longer. I truly was going to be all alone when I got to California. That feeling was terrifying. I spent my whole life planning to leave Bakersfield to chase my dreams, never expecting that I would find true happiness in the quiet little town. I went to sleep that night depressed, wondering if I was truly making the right decision.

  Maybe I don’t want the future I used to dream about anymore. Would I really throw all that away for two guys I’ve only known a couple of weeks?

  * * *

  The next day

  “We have something to show you.” Shane met me at the door with a smile and immediately took my hand. “Come with me!”

  “What? Are you that eager to get me to the bedroom?” I giggled as he pulled me towards the stairs.

  “Yes, but not the one you expect.” Dante motioned from the top of the stairs.

  “This house is fucking crazy.” Shane
smiled wider as we walked up to where Dante was standing.

  “That’s nothing new.” I smiled and shook my head as they led me down the hallway.

  Dante and Shane led me to one of the bedrooms that hadn’t been renovated or even touched when I spent the night in their funhouse. It didn’t look particularly interesting. The bed hadn’t fared as well as some of the others, and it looked like it needed more than a new mattress. There was a dresser with drawers open and a couple of them appeared to be broken. Any valuables that had been inside the room had been looted long before they bought it. Dante walked to the closet and stepped inside. I tilted my head to the side as he pressed against the wood on the back of the wall. A couple of seconds later, I heard it shift and then he slid it to the side. Shane let go of my hand and motioned with a nod of his head as he stepped into the closet. I couldn’t see much in the darkness, but I followed them through the mysterious door.

  “Since we found the secret room in the basement, we’ve been checking each room that we work on and comparing the dimensions to the blueprints.” Dante hit a button on one of their lanterns and the room was immediately illuminated.

  “I think someone found this room at some point, but just decided to close it off. The door in the closet was nailed shut.” Shane motioned with his hand. “Welcome to the Herrington home porn studio.”

  “Say what!?” I blinked in surprise.

  The room in the back of the closet was fairly simple, but it wasn’t as dirty as the rest of the house. It was similar to the room in the basement that was preserved because it was closed off. There was an old camera in the corner sitting on a tripod, a bed in the center of the room, and I saw boxes of pictures sitting open. I walked over and my mouth fell open when I started flipping through them. They appeared to be of Abigail Herrington and her husband, based on the faded writing on the back of a few of them, and they were quite graphic. There were pictures of them in various sexual poses, and an entire box that appeared to be dedicated to nothing but pictures of her after she had been punished. It was hard to see the real effects that were left behind on the black and white photographs, but there was obvious discoloration on her ass.