The Crime of Protection

by Gloria Martin

  In fact, it worked better than any relationship I’d ever been in before! There was no bickering, no jealousy, no concerns—we were always open and honest about our feelings and that had led us to be happier than I’d ever thought possible.

  One of my favorite things of it all was simply hanging out as a threesome, watching films, eating takeout, laughing and joking—just doing the normal couple type things. We may not have been a traditional relationship, but to us it felt completely normal and natural. There was nothing wrong or complex about it at all.

  “Well.” Olivia yawned loudly, throwing her hands above her head, in a cute gesture that I couldn’t help but smile at. “That film was junk, it wasn’t even scary.”

  “I don’t know.” I teased, smiling. “I thought I saw Max peeing his pants once or twice.”

  “Hey!” He yelled indignantly, before jumping on top of me, playfully tickling me, before planting kisses all over my face.

  *****

  Olivia

  As soon as I saw Max start to kiss Jace, I instantly knew where the night was headed. The thought of having these two guys at my disposal once more sent all of my exhaustion floating away. I was excited and horny all over again, so I jumped in the middle of them, and began kissing them passionately in turn, marveling over their unique styles once more.

  Because we were all in our pajamas, it didn’t take long for our clothes to shed in a flurry of scattered material, and for us to find ourselves surrounded by never ending flesh once more.

  When we were like this, all together, all naked, it felt perfect. It felt right. It felt like it was exactly all where we were meant to be. I’d never cared about living outside of society’s rules—and that still applied here. We hadn’t faced any adversity from anyone we knew—although I was aware that Max hadn’t told his parents yet—but even if we had, I wouldn’t have cared. As long as we were happy, we weren’t exactly hurting anyone else, so what did it matter?

  Jace carefully laid me back on the living room floor, before reining kisses down my body, trailing towards where I was suddenly aching for him. As he began to flick his tongue all over me, occasionally plunging it deep into me, I looked upwards, trying to find Max. I knew he wasn’t too far away, and that knowledge had me desperate for him.

  Max sensed that I was hunting for him, and he hovered above me, showing me his excitement. I sent him a wild grin, just drinking in his hunky, lean, muscular body—which somehow managed to look even better from this angle. I would always be grateful to him for allowing this to happen, for encouraging it, and in that moment I wanted to repay him in the way I knew that he liked best.

  I grabbed hold of his thick, throbbing erection and brought it down to my mouth, wrapping my red lips around him. His arms buckled and he groaned loudly as I flicked my tongue over him, and my back arched with the pleasure of what Jace was doing to me.

  It was like an intense sensory overload, that my body could only just about cope with. Soon a warm pool of pleasure began to creep all over my body, making me wild and excitable all at once.

  *****

  Max

  Liv was already close to the edge, I could see it in her expression, and I was overcome with a sudden desire to feel her contract around me as she came. I needed her to crumble, to thrash, to fall apart on top of me, so I tugged her away from Jace’s mouth and twisted until she was sitting on my lap in one quick, smooth gesture.

  As she slid down onto me, I almost lost it right there and then, she always managed to feel so damn amazing no matter what. Her body was the most perfect, feminine curvaceous shape which had always driven me wild. But now that I had Jace’s strong masculinity as a comparison, it was somehow even better.

  She was the sexiest damn woman alive, and if I could only stop panting for long enough to form words, I would ensure that I told her that.

  Not wanting to be left out of what was now happening; Jace stood up and moved to Liv’s side, twisting her head so that she was face to face with his length. There, without even a second’s hesitation, she hungrily wrapped her mouth around him, doing to him what she’d been doing to me only moments ago. I knew how good that felt, and I was happy for him to be able to get that from her. I knew she would have him on the brink of orgasm in only a few moments, and I couldn’t wait to see it play out.

  It wasn’t long before I could feel her walls beginning to constrict around me, and I knew that the waves of pleasure were beginning to crash over her. I thrust harder, more powerfully, wanting to make it amazing for her.

  “Oh, fuck.” She ground, giving in to the sensations wholeheartedly. “Oh, my God, Max, Jace.” She called out both of our names, acknowledging that we’d both taken her to the edge, and then she shuddered and collapsed on top of me, breathless and panting.

  *****

  Jace

  Seeing Olivia orgasm was the best damn experience of my life—it was something that I would never ever get bored of. Especially since it never stopped her from wanting to continue to give myself and Max pleasure too. She could step out and leave us to it, but she never did. She always wanted to stay; she never wanted to be pushed aside, which was just one of the many amazing things about her. We all preferred it when it was the three of us, and for that I was grateful.

  Max and I eventually succumbed to the pleasure too, before we all collapsed, panting and giggling on the ground. I’d never been happier, and I didn’t see a way in which I could be.

  “Do you know what?” Olivia asked, causing us both to turn and face her. Her expression was unusually serious, so I knew whatever she was going to say next would have a big impact on us all. “I know this is only supposed to be fun—well, at least it started out that way—but I really feel like I’m falling in love with you both.” The way she said it, so matter of fact, even though it could cause an awkward conversation, filled me with a warmth. Her honesty, which occasionally teetered into brutal, had helped me and Max open up more in the beginning. The way she insisted that we always be truthful had undoubtedly helped us to get to where we were, and we had to be grateful for that. Without her, we may have fallen apart before we’d really gotten started. Max had been right about her being smart and knowing exactly what to do!

  “Oh me too.” Max announced causally, smiling as if it was obvious. “I just didn’t want to be the first one to say it.”

  I knew that they both wanted me to say it too, they both looked at me expectantly, and I knew that I felt it, but for some reason the words got stuck in my throat. “I… I…”

  “Oh Jace, come on.” Olivia laughed loudly. “We know you feel the same.” She was so unabashed with her words, which loosened me up enough to at least make a joke of it.

  “I know.” I smirked. “I just don’t want any of you to get big headed about it…”

  As we all collapsed into laughter, I knew that now we’d said those three loaded words, it would have to be something catastrophic to tear us apart, because it felt like none of us were going anywhere!

  THE END

  Bonus Story 32/40

  Heart of the Dragons

  “Doctor Reinhart you’re just in time. We just got a hit and run and the other two vets are busy in surgeries at the moment. We won’t get Doctors Neil or Ryan in for another two hours since they drove out to Blue Farm to check on their goats.” I was barely through the door and already having to go into a surgery. Who would have thought working at a pet hospital would be just as busy as working in a regular emergency room?

  “Okay, take me to our patient,” I told Suzan. She was one of our longest standing vet techs and great at her job, no matter how busy it got, she was never frazzled. Sometimes we poked fun at her, asking why she didn’t go into regular human medicine, goodness knows she was smart enough. But she loved animals and that was ultimately what kept us all here at the busiest pet hospital in Seattle. I made my way through the relatively tame waiting room, there was only about ten people waiting with their animals. I quickly hung up my things in the lock
er room and went back to see the poor Boston Terrier sedated on a table and being monitored by one of the other techs, Jackson.

  “How’s she doing?” I asked and did a cursory glance, noting she most likely had a broken pelvis and displaced left hind leg.

  “In pain, though we can’t give her much more sedative. We went ahead and took some x rays of her if you want to take a look,” Jackson walked over to the view box where the dog’s films were already set up. He flipped the light on and I nearly winced as I studied her scans.

  “This doesn’t look good…” I sighed. “Not only is her leg dislocated—her thigh bone is broken, and it looks like she has a sacroiliac fracture.” I took a deep breath and studied the next film. “It’ll be a long road for this girl that’s for sure. First, we have to get her realigned and set to heal, then stabilize the leg…”

  “We can’t put it back in place until her hip heals right?” Jackson glanced at me curiously and I studied the fractures in her hip more closely.

  “Well the socket is fine as well as her femoral head. We can put her leg back in place and insert a simple screw to get the bone healing. My concern is that we have to make sure her nerves haven’t been compromised before I go in with a lag screw to realign her pelvis and she’s heavily sedated right now,” my mind was working at a hundred miles per hour and I hadn’t even gotten my coffee yet for the morning.

  “Put her in a crate for now, make sure she’s comfortable and run some fluids so we can get her alert. Do you know if she has an owner waiting out there?” I asked him.

  “Uh yeah, she was chipped so we contacted the owner, he’s on the way. Dog’s name is Lacey by the way.” Jack turned off the light behind the viewer and went to go get Lacey set up in a bed.

  Before retreating to the break room for a cup of coffee I checked on my overnight patients. I had an eleven-year-old cat with appendicitis and was scheduled for surgery, and four rescue puppies of the same litter with parvo that were being treated and monitored. After making sure they were alright I got my coffee and saw a couple of my patients from the waiting room, thankfully it was just routine checkups and a small eye infection.

  “Doctor C, Lacey’s owner just arrived, and her sedatives have worn off if you’d like to get started now?” Jackson found me by the computers updating charts. I usually hid there to take breaks from the craziness as charts were usually a tech’s duty to update.

  “Sure, sure. Where did her owner come from anyway? It took him a while to get here,” I said as Jackson led me back to the patient rooms.

  “He drove in from Renton. Said Lacey had gotten out in the middle of the night, he was trying to find her around his neighborhood, but she wandered a long way from home,” he filled me in before we reached room four and I knocked briefly before walking in. A tall, lanky guy stood up as soon as he saw us. He looked to be in his early twenties and had a cute boy next door look about him with the curly mop of hair and bright blue eyes.

  “Hi, I’m Chloe Reinhart, or Doctor C.”

  “Hi Doctor C, I’m Cody, Lacey’s dad,” Cody shook my hand nervously and I glanced at Jack who was pulling up Lacey’s file. “So how is she doing?”

  “Well she’s just come out of a pain med fog and I haven’t been back to see her again yet. But she does have quite a bit going on with her left thigh and pelvis…” Cody’s eyes widened and he glanced at Jack.

  “Uh, Jackson told me that everything was operable though?” he said and I pursed my lips. I didn’t know the state of Lacey’s sciatic nerve nor had I gotten a good take on her lumbosacral trunk. Jackson shouldn’t have told Cody that.

  “Well as far as I’ve seen from some initial x-rays I’d say the bones appear operable. But I still don’t know if any of the nerves along her lower spine have been damaged. That would have to take priority over her bones before we do anything,” I told him. Cody took it all in with wide eyes and I felt bad for him, truly. It wasn’t anything a pet owner should have to go through. Plus, he was so young I wondered if he could afford what it would cost in the end to get Lacey back on all four paws even if I could try and work some things out for him.

  After talking extensively with Cody and getting his consent on my proposed course of action I took him back to see Lacey. I stood by while Cody gave her kisses and Jackson tried to get him to look at the bright side of things. As I stood next to Lacey’s crate I felt an odd dizziness and had to hold on to a nearby counter. Had I drank too much coffee?

  “You alright Doctor C?” Jackson asked in a low voice when he glanced over and saw me. I waved him off though as I could feel the dizziness passing.

  “Yeah, I’m alright. So are we ready to get started?” I looked to Cody who gave Lacey one last pat. After a few more reassurances he left for the day and I snagged myself another tech to get started on fixing Lacey.

  *****

  “We did great today guys,” I high fived Jackson and my other tech, Melissa. We found that Lacey’s nerves weren’t damaged and even got the lag screw inserted as well as positioned her leg back into the socket. All that was left was to insert another screw into her femur so that the fracture could heal properly as well.

  “Cody will be happy when he comes in tomorrow that’s for sure,” Jackson said and yawned. We all had stayed late, as well as a few other vets and their techs. The owner of the hospital was thinking of making us a twenty-four hour hospital since most of the vets stayed after hours. It wasn’t something I was on board for since I worked so much, but if he hired extra vets then I’d be more for it.

  “Alright guys get home and rest, you went above and beyond today,” I told them and soon we were all filing out of the back entrance. As I made my way to my car another wave of dizziness hit me and I had to focus on each step so I wouldn’t fall over. I definitely needed to make it home and into my bed, my busy days at the office were obviously having a real effect on me.

  I don’t know how I made it home. But as soon as I did I fed my orange tabbies, King and Charles, then went straight for a shower and bed.

  The same dream that had taken residence in my subconscious of late was waiting for me as I fell into sleep. They were there, two men smiling at me and coaxing me forward. One had eyes so icy blue they could have been gems, and the other had eyes like amber and wouldn’t look away from me. I fell into bed with them every time, they were so warm and my dream self was filled with such need and passion that I could never refuse. I didn’t want to. When I woke up I always felt such a chill, as if they had been real and right next to me as I slept.

  I sat up and turned off the alarm on my phone. My cats were curled up at the foot of the bed as they always were. I sighed, I was in for yet another crazy day at the hospital. As I got out of bed I felt more lethargic than usual, what with my vivid dreams, I wondered how much sleep I was really getting. I definitely needed a vacation and soon.

  By the time I got to work I was debating taking a sick day. I couldn’t shake the lethargy, and the dizziness from the day before was hitting me hard. I practically ran right through the back entrance to get to the bathroom. I had just enough time to get to a toilet before I emptied the contents of my stomach.

  “Doctor C? Are you okay?” there was a knock on the door, but I couldn’t even answer as another bout of heaving started up. After my stomach settled a bit I washed my mouth and opened the door to see Doctor Evan standing there. He owned the hospital and was looking at me in concern.

  “Are you alright?” he asked again and I nodded.

  “I think so, just need some ginger ale or something,” I said, trying to downplay things.

  “If you have a stomach bug you know you can stay home and rest, take care of yourself,” he said and steadied me as I swayed a bit from the then ever persistent dizziness. Stomach bug wasn’t hardly the half of it.

  “I think it could be a stomach bug…” I mumbled and rubbed my belly. My doctor said some of my symptoms should be subsiding. I really needed my body to hurry up and get used to being pregnant.
>
  “Well then let me drive you home, you don’t look good at all,” he said in concern. Evan was your everyday dependable guy. He had an athletic build and strong masculine features. It was a joke around the office for people to call him ‘Doctor McSteamy.’ I couldn’t even form a response before he took my keys and my elbow to lead me back out to the car.

  “You know Jackson said you looked kind of pale yesterday…he also told me about the dog Lacey. You did a fantastic job on her,” he said as he helped me into the car before rounding to the driver’s seat.

  “Yeah she was a refreshing case actually. Though it was terrible how she was hit like that. I just liked that she was a bit more of a challenge,” I said.

  “That’s why I hired you. Nothing but the best. All she needs now is for her leg to be fully set and she can go home. She’s actually pretty lucky,” he said. I couldn’t help smirking, the thing about Evan was that he could talk about animals and the patients at the hospital for hours on end. “Also I think it’s time for you to take a little vacation time for yourself. You’ve been working almost nonstop lately. I took a look at your charts…” he glanced at me briefly with a quirked brow and I chuckled.

  “Yeah I have let work consume me a little. I barely have time for King and Charles anymore…” I debated telling him that I was pregnant, even though I should have right after my first OB appointment. I’ve just been heavy in some sort of shock or denial.

  “Then it’s settled, I’m giving you two weeks’ vacation and I’ll take care of all your patients,” he said resolutely.

  “Two weeks?” I asked incredulously.

  “Yeah, you’ve earned it. Plus, when is the last time you’ve taken any of your vacation days? Not to mention you’re sick so if you wanted two and a half weeks I could stretch it.” I stared at him with a dropped jaw.