by Sandy Smyth
“Here! What do you mean here?” Tom cried in alarm.
John jumped in. “He’s right, Tom. You must have three or four rooms in our wing alone that are unused, as well as quite a few in your own wing. If the cameras are remoted to a recorder in one of the empty rooms, all this guy would have to do is wait until we’re out of the house, pop in and extract the recorded disc, and replace it with a blank one and leave. Somehow this asshole has managed to gain access to the house without being picked up by our security sensors.” John began pacing back and forth.
“The first thing we have to do is an electronics sweep of Tom’s bedroom and the bedrooms on either side of his. Since he obviously managed to get into Tom’s room, it’s likely that he left some type of camera or voice recorder there. Not only that, but I want that physical therapy room checked out thoroughly. We should be able to contact the contractor who built the room and get a list of the employees he used as well as the blueprint.”
“We’ll need a list of all personnel who have, or have had, access to this house,” Mike said as he rubbed the back of his neck distractedly and then rolled his shoulders. “We know most of them, having lived here for so long, but maybe there is someone else, someone we’re not familiar with. We’re going to need a list of past employees, too. And even the ones who did the attic renovation, we’ll need to know their names, as well.”
John came up behind Mike and put his hands on Mike’s shoulders, his thumbs digging, seeking out the knots of tension. Mike groaned in pleasure.
“Relax, Mike,” said John. “Mark and Carolanne should be here in just a few minutes, but we still have to wait for Trey and Connor, since they have the equipment we’ll need. Why don’t you sit across from Tom, and we’ll see if he will tell us why he’s kept his physical progress such a secret from us.” John followed Mike to the desk and stood behind his chair, his hands kneading the tight muscles of Mike’s shoulders and neck, his eyes coldly locked on Tom’s.
Kate moved to the back of Tom’s chair and, mimicking John’s position, put her hands on Tom’s shoulders, lightly massaging.
“No double-teaming permitted here,” she said coolly but firmly. “Tom will tell us what he needs to tell us whenever he’s ready.”
Mike and John regarded Kate with stunned surprise.
Then Kate smiled with almost feral anticipation. “But, after Tom’s surgeries are completed and he is through his recovery stages, I think we should take him to bed where we can triple-team him sexually. We can make him pay for his secrecy, but not with anger. We outnumber him and can make sure he takes whatever sexual punishment we determine he is due for his deception. And we can all enjoy making him take his punishment like a big boy.”
“Katie! You’re incredible.” Mike gasped, his jaw dropping in shock.
John’s eyes flared with hot, flaming desire. “You missed being here earlier, Mike, when Kate said she’d stay if we got her a gun and trained her to use it. She claimed she’d have no problem shooting any ‘asshole’ who tried to kill the men she loved. I believe she meant every word. I also believe she meant you and me and Tom when she said the men she loved. If I’m wrong, you can just shoot me now.”
“You don’t have to worry because you’re right. I definitely meant you and Mike and Tom were the men I love. But just because I love all three of you doesn’t mean any of you can play bully or make judgments without listening to the facts. Tom will tell us what’s going on, just give him a chance.”
Obviously overwhelmed with emotion and with physical exhaustion, Tom’s hands reached back and covered Kate’s hands on his shoulders, gripping them tightly. He tried several times to speak, but finally gave it up.
John looked at Tom with unexpected understanding. “Kate’s right, Tom. We know you’ll tell us when you’re ready. But it was such a shock. There was no preparation. No crutches, no cane, not even a fucking walking stick. You just went flat out from wheelchair to walking tall, apparently prematurely, based on your physical reaction a few minutes ago. But what really fries my ass is that I should have expected it. You always did manage to do the impossible, didn’t you?” He put his hands on his hips and smiled at Tom with affectionate amusement.
Mike got up and walked around the table. He stroked Kate’s face with one hand and looked deeply into her eyes.
“It’s been a long time, Katie. They say you can’t miss what you’ve never had, but that’s not true. We’ve loved you, right along with Tom, and we missed making love to you, we missed holding you, and we missed kissing you, but you’ve had a place in our hearts since the first day we met you.” Mike leaned forward and his mouth claimed hers urgently. His hands cupped her face while his mouth ravaged hers. His tongue swept into her mouth, dueling with hers as passion exploded between them. When he stepped back, they both looked down at Tom, who was watching them with satisfaction, unmistakable pride, and hunger.
“It’s been a long time, Katie,” Mike said again, his voice ragged, as he looked down at Tom with unconcealed desire.
This was it. Kate didn’t know what her reaction would be to seeing Tom, her husband, being kissed by a man, by Mike. And she knew it was coming now.
She nodded at Mike and Tom with a small smile and watched as Mike knelt beside Tom’s chair.
“We’ve missed you, Tommy. I’ve missed you. It’s so good to have you back with us,” Mike said, raw emotion in his voice. And then they were kissing. There was so much love, so much tenderness, and so much beauty in their embrace that Kate’s eyes burned with unshed tears.
Warm, strong arms enfolded her from behind. “Thank you, Kate, for sharing him with us. We love him, too,” John said quietly.
“I can see that you do,” Kate replied shakily.
The ringing of John’s cell phone interrupted the heavily charged, emotional atmosphere.
“You’re here already? No, as far as I know Mike’s cell phone is working fine. Okay, I’ll be right down to let you in.” John shut his cell phone off and tapped Mike on the shoulder. “Mark and Carolanne are at the door. I’m going down to let them in.”
“No, I’ll go. I need to…um. No. I’ll go.” He stood, just a little unsteady on his feet, and turned to Kate. Mike started to say something, stopped, then held up his hand, turned, and quickly left the room.
“I’m going after him. You two need some time together, too.” Crossing to Tom, John leaned down and took Tom’s chin between his thumb and forefinger.
“I missed you, too, dickhead.” Then John leaned forward and kissed Tom, hard. “Later,” he said roughly and left the room.
There was a long, awkward silence after John left the room. Finally, Kate got up and brought Tom’s wheelchair to him.
“I figure you’ll need to be mobile when the teams arrive, won’t you?” Kate said. She hoped that the process involved in moving into his wheelchair would give Tom a chance to get his emotions under control, and in fact, it did.
“Kate,” he began once he was settled. “I can’t begin to tell you…”
“Tom, it’s been a long, long time, and they love you very much, as much as you love them. Let’s just leave it at that for now, shall we?”
“Well, we can do that, if you want. But later I think we’re going to have to discuss it in more detail, a lot more detail. Right now, I want to get more information on the ‘triple-teaming.’ Did you really say that? My heart stopped at your words and then started beating so fast I thought it would pound right out of my chest. And did you hear those gasps from Mike and John? They can’t wait, and neither can I. It’s the best incentive you could have given me to get well quickly. Triple-teaming! You and Mike and John and me together, sexually. It is the culmination of every dream I’ve had since I met and fell in love with you. I swear, Kate, I feel like a kid at Christmas.”
“Tom, I’ve never seen you like this,” Kate said with a grin. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were high on something.”
“I’m high on loving you,” Tom said softly.
“Oh, Tom, I love you, too.”
“You remember, Kate, how I loved to take charge and plot and plan our, um, more outrageous sexual encounters before my accident. Well, if you think I was controlling, wait until you see what John is capable of. Mike and I have both called John a control freak to his face more than once.”
When Kate looked at him in concern, Tom continued quickly.
“No, Kate, not in a bad way. He’s not into pain or humiliation or anything at all negative, but he does like to take control of people, situations, problems, and anything else, including sex, especially sex! But you stood up to him today, for me, and he backed down. I was stunned. I’ll warn you now, John thrives on challenge, and you challenged him.”
“I don’t know Tom. I think he just realized that his reaction was a shocked response to seeing you on your feet for the first time. Not only that, he was man enough to admit it, which says a lot for his strength of character.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that.” Tom looked closely at Kate. “Tell me honestly, Kate. Are you okay with the way things are working out? Do you have any misgivings, anything that’s bothering you about the situation? Are you really all right watching me with them? I mean—”
“I know just what you mean, Tom,” she interrupted. “I’ll admit to a slight uneasiness before I saw you and Mike kiss. I wasn’t sure how I would react. I wasn’t sure how I would feel watching my husband kiss a man. But, I thought it was beautiful, just like when John and Mike made love at the pool. There was so much love and emotion that gender didn’t figure into it at all.”
“Kate, I can’t tell you how much that means to me. I honestly thought it would be enough to watch them love you, and to watch you make love to them. I thought I could pull myself back from needing and wanting them physically and just…I don’t know, love them through you maybe.”
“Tom, I can’t make any promises. I don’t know how I’ll feel at the sight of you sucking their cocks, or whoa, maybe I do. Wow. Just saying those words made my clit throb and made me hot! Picturing you sucking Mike’s or John’s cock has the juices gushing from my pussy. Damn, I must be perverted as hell because I can’t wait to see that, or to see one of them sucking your cock. Oh, damn. Let’s change the subject. I can hear someone coming down the hall.”
“One thing before they get here. You are not perverted in any way, shape, or form. We are four consenting adults, and the love we express to each other sexually is not wrong, in any way. Do you understand? No one is involved but the four of us, and we’re not hurting anyone at all, not even ourselves.”
“Got it,” she said as the door opened. She leaned over and whispered in his ear. “I can see by the size of your erection that the thought of sucking, or being sucked, turned you on, too.” Kate winked at him as she turned to greet the new arrivals.
“Payback’s a bitch, babe,” he retorted, laughing, his voice just loud enough for Kate to hear.
Chapter 5
The van with Connor and Trey drove up only a few minutes after Carolanne and Mark arrived. As the crew unloaded the necessary items from the van, John pulled Tom aside.
“Tom, I’ve advised the teams that we’ll need them overnight, at least. Maybe longer. They’ll patrol in twos and rotate during the night. I want every single room checked out for listening devices or cameras, and that’s going to take some time. Right now they’re bringing the equipment in, and we’ll need a room to use as a command center.”
“That’s fine, John. You can use the library as your command center after you check it out. Also, I want you and Mike to move into the bedroom next to Kate and me. Your people can each choose a room in the wing where you and Mike were staying. There are plenty of rooms to choose from. I’ll have Kate call Mrs. Mallory to fix lunch and dinner, as well as breakfast in the morning for the next few days. Please let your teams know that they are more than welcome to use the pool. They can do double duty and check out all possible hiding places for a person or cameras or other devices in and around the pool, the waterfall, and the island while enjoying themselves. We have plenty of bathing suits and robes and towels down there, as you know. Can you think of anything else you’ll need?”
“Well, seeing as we’re going to investigate this place from the top to the bottom, I’ll need a key to the attic,” John said wryly.
“Not on a bet! I’d work from bottom to top if I were you. You do want your teams able to think of something besides sex, don’t you? But I would like you and Mike to come up to the attic this evening with Kate and me. The four of us should be able to check out everything up there without any problem. You and Mike were up there when construction was in progress, so you know the basic layout of the place. In fact, I’ve already had keys made up for you and Mike as well as for Kate.”
John’s eyebrows shot upward in surprise. “I thought that was a special place for you and Kate.”
“It was always my hope that the four of us would one day be able to use the attic together. And, as Kate pointed out to me last night, the four of us are already a family. After tonight, the room will also be yours and Mike’s to use whenever you want. I ask that no one outside of the four of us be invited into the attic room, ever. And, until I leave for the hospital, I’d like to be present if you or Mike ask Kate up to the attic for fun and games. I know the three of you enjoy being watched, and I admit I would be building up a store of memories to keep my mind occupied while I’m recovering from the surgeries.” Tom looked up at John seriously.
“While I’m in the hospital, the attic belongs to the three of you, and when I come home it will belong to the four of us. Just once in a while though, you might throw me a few salacious tidbits to tide me over until I come home from the hospital.” Tom looked at John expectantly, his eyes alive with excitement.
“I agree to all of the above. I do have one condition of my own though, and I’ll tell you what it is tonight in the attic. Agreed?” John smiled with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
“Knowing you, John, I almost hesitate to agree.” At John’s raised eyebrow, Tom relented with a knowing smile. “Okay, okay, I agree. Now go get your teams organized. I’ll talk to you later.” Tom shook his head as he headed out to find Kate. He had a feeling tonight was going to be very interesting.
* * * *
Kate sat with the M-G crew during lunch, and could literally feel the excitement bubbling from them as they talked about their successes earlier this morning.
The four members of the M-G crew had gone over every inch of Tom’s bedroom and the physical therapy room. Heating and air-conditioning vents and ductwork, as well as every electrical switch, outlet, and light fixture had been minutely examined. One listening device had been found stuck to the back of the nightstand next to Tom’s bed. Two cameras and three listening devices, none of which were high tech pieces, had been found in the physical therapy room.
Kate shook her head and nearly grinned as she recalled the high fives and back-slapping when a hidden passageway on the back outside wall of the physical therapy room was found. Carolanne had been tapping on the walls and noticed a slightly hollow sound. When she looked more closely, she noticed a very slight protrusion in the center of a knot in the paneling. When she pushed on it, a door opened, revealing the space behind the wall. The passage was just over three feet deep, but ran the length of the outside back wall of the physical therapy room as well as along part of the pool room wall, with cleverly concealed openings for viewing. The passage exited near some boulders at the back of the building.
Sheriff Benjamin Whittaker was called immediately after the secret passage had been found and was given the threatening notes as well as the spyware on his arrival. Kate could hear the loud argument taking place in the office as they finished their lunch. It was obvious that Sheriff Whittaker was not a happy man at being called in after the M-G crew had gone over everything first.
* * * *
“Come on, Ben,” John said angrily. “We found the entrance this gu
y was using to get inside the house. Christ, it looks as though he was almost living back there. He could come and go through the back without setting off any of our security alarms. You can’t even see that there is a door there from the outside.”
“You know you should have called me before your people touched anything.”
“Damn it, man, we’re not trying to step on your toes in this matter. We have the technical equipment that your office doesn’t have, as well as the training and experience to use it properly. Our people are aware of the importance of fingerprinting and the need to preserve evidence. None of the spyware was physically touched by our teams unless they were wearing exam gloves. Besides that, Ben, you don’t have enough men to cover this place. To check every room in this mansion for surveillance equipment is going to take time and personnel, not to mention the specialized detection equipment.”
“I know, I know,” Ben said wearily. He ran his hands through his short, light blond hair in frustration. He was almost an inch short of six feet tall and his body was muscular, tapering from a broad chest and shoulders to narrow hips, but the cowboy boots he wore pushed him over the six foot mark.
“Well, will you at least keep me informed of anything new?” Ben asked.
“I can tell you something new, right now,” said Mike as he hung up the phone. “Tom, I just spoke with the contractor who put up the physical therapy room. He claims none of his guys could have done anything as extensive as a secret passage without his knowledge and that of his co-workers. He said it had to be the worker you hired to come in at night to expedite the construction. He claims the guy always came in right before his crew’s quitting time. At the end of the first week he said he was told by Mr. Martins that he was supposed to finish the back wall. When they came in the next day, the wallboard was up. A few days later the paneling was finished, and a week later he was gone.”
