by Mia Ashlinn
“Go,” Landon whispered in a voice barely loud enough for Shane to hear. “We’re fine.”
“Be right back,” he whispered back then slipped into the bathroom. He hauled his naked ass across the cold floor, the only sound within the four walls was his feet sticking gently to the tiles.
Reaching the toilet, he stood there for a moment, attempting to relax. He took several, cleansing breaths before he relieved himself. When he was done, he washed up then headed for the door, but, halfway across the bathroom, he paused. Since I’m in here, I might as well take a quick shower. Maybe that’ll relax me enough to sleep. God knows I’m going to need some rest before they get up.
Spinning around, Shane returned to the far end of bathroom where the shower stall stood. He opened the glass door then turned on the water faucet and jumped in. Twenty minutes later, he was clean and refreshed and more-than-ready to rejoin his spouses in their big bed.
Turning the doorknob, Shane lets himself back into the bedroom but as soon as he crossed the threshold, a light switched on. Landon and Katie-Anne sat up with their backs against the ornate headboard. While he’d been gone, both of them had half-dressed themselves. Katie-Anne had on an enormous white T-shirt that covered all of her naughty parts from her neck to the middle of her thighs, and Landon had on no shirt at all, only a pair of gray jogging shorts. They both frowned when they saw him. This is not good. Not good at all.
“Um—” Shane began, but since he didn’t know what to say or how to say it, he clamped his mouth shut and stood awkwardly in the doorway. Looking from a teary-eyed Katie-Anne to a stoic-faced Landon, he waited for something. He just didn’t know what.
Finally, Landon spoke gravely. “We need to talk.”
Shane cleared his suddenly dry throat, pretending not to notice the anxiety assaulting him. “What do we need to talk about before the ass crack of dawn?” he asked. “I just had to get up and take a—”
Landon narrowed his eyes, daring him to finish his sentence. For some reason, his husband had issues with certain words in front of the ladies. Leak and piss were two of them.
Shane found it rather ironic that Landon talked dirty fluently—when sex was involved. However, when they were not in the bedroom, seducing Katie-Anne, or discussing the actual act of fucking, he was very selective of his naughty word choices. It was rather sweet. His husband was a gentleman. But I’m not.
Shaking his head, Shane continued, “Le—”
Landon cleared his throat gruffly, but Katie-Anne cut him off before he had a chance to speak. “Leak. Piss. It’s all the same. We have more important things to discuss than the politically correct word for urination. Thank you very much.”
Instinctively, Shane’s cock rose slowly in response to his smart-ass wife’s defiant tone, and he stepped toward her like a predator with his prey. “Katie-Anne Jacobs…”
She grinned at him cheekily then dropped her blue-green eyes to his crotch. Quickly smothering her wicked expression, she raised her gaze to his. “Put that thing down, boy. We need to talk to you.”
“What the hell happened to you?” Shane inquired. Feeling like pissing her off, instead of having the serious discussion she and Landon wanted to have, he prodded at her. “I go to bed with you, and you are all sappy and sweet and satisfied. But, when I wake up, you’re a smartass siren who needs her sexy bottom spanked again. There is something wrong with this picture.”
His words struck an odd chord with him. As they crossed his lips, he realized that the only time Katie-Anne lashed out or acted up was when she felt defensive or hurt. His mind worked in over drive, frantically searching for what could have upset his woman and coming up with nothing. “Katie-Anne? What’s wrong, little one?”
Ignoring his anxious query, she raised a pillow over her head in preparation for what looked to be a hell of a flight at his. When Landon plucked it right of her hand, her face turned red, and she grumbled, “Motherfucking ass burgers always stick together.”
“That’s right, kitten,” Landon crooned. “We stick together through the good and the bad, just like we’ll stick to you. Right now, we need to think about that and remember it, too.”
Katie-Anne looked away, a delicate blush spreading through her pretty face. “Oh yeah,” she mumbled. “The two of you distracted me.”
Shane forced a grin to his face. Yet it was contrived and had to look as fake as a three dollar bill. “Was that so hard for you to say? It’s obvious that you cannot be around us without wanting our banging bods. You might as well admit it.” Banging bods? Shit, I’ve lost my damn mind.
Katie-Anne rolled her exotic eyes. “Or wanting to strangle you,” she said snarkily, but she sounded as strained as his face had probably looked fake.
“Guys,” Landon cut in. “We really need to talk. I know that you two have lots of fighting to make up for, but it’s going to have to wait.”
Shane didn’t like the tenseness around Landon’s eyes or the thin line of his sensual lips. Hell, he not only didn’t like it, but he also felt agitated by it. Something major had happened, and it looked like one of them was in a lot of trouble. Apparently me.
Shane didn’t believe in hiding his head in the sand. At least, not anymore. It only wasted his time and energy so he planned to face every challenge. With his partners by his side, he could handle anything. After taking a deep breath, he asked, “What is it, Landon?”
Before Landon had time to answer, Katie-Anne reached out for Shane, offering her hand to him and beckoning him over. Something told him that he needed to sit down for this one. And, if he was going to sit down, he wanted to hold one of them. Since Landon looked like he would be the talker, Shane knew he needed to cuddle Katie-Anne in his arms.
Striding across the room, Shane joined Katie-Anne and Landon on the bed. He pulled his woman on his lap and snuggled her close. Stroking her hair, he let the methodical motion soothe the anxiety coiling inside his gut. Then, when he felt more relaxed, he nodded to Landon to continue. “Hit me with it. I’m ready.”
“It’s your dad, Shane. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has forced the District Attorney in Ocean Park to re-open his murder case because of new evidence that has come to light.”
Well, that sucked the air right out of him. He’d been expecting a lot of things, but that had not entered his mind. It wasn’t like he thought about his father or his father’s murder often. Hell, since he’d left his grandparents’ house, he’d blocked out most of the memories that went along with his life in the exclusive Florida town. It was easier that way, and it kept the nightmares at bay.
Walking in on his stabbed father had caused a lot of emotional damage that he’d wanted to work through but never had. The child psychologist his grandfather had hired only fucked with his head. And, once he’d arrived in Serenity, his foster mother couldn’t bear his tears. She’d been too sweet to deal with his pain. So he’d bottled everything up, and it had stayed there since. Apparently, that shit is over.
“Shane?” Katie-Anne inquired, her voice soft and hesitant. She touched the side of his neck gently, curling her long fingers around the nape. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“No,” Shane replied in a clipped tone. “It has nothing to do with me.”
Landon crossed his beefy arms, accentuating the size and strength in them. “That’s where you’re wrong. It has everything to do with you.”
“He’s right,” Katie-Anne agreed. Tightening her hand, she dragged his head down toward hers as she lifted up to him. She kissed his jaw line in a tender gesture then pulled back and spoke again. “He was your father, and she was your mother. There’s no changing that—no matter how much you wish it. Trust me.”
“She was never my mother,” Shane snapped at Katie-Anne. “Beth Foster was my mother and Landon’s foster mother, Yvonne Frankenberg, was the other woman in my life. She raised me, too. I grew up surrounded by their love for each other and us.”
Instantly, Shane felt angry—with himself�
�for taking out his animosity on Katie-Anne. She’d done nothing wrong. All she’d done was be by his side as Landon shared the bad news with him, news he didn’t want to hear or even discuss news about the family he’d left behind.
Then, out of nowhere, it hit him. Katie-Anne knew. She had to. Otherwise, she would look confused or shocked or something. And she didn’t—not in the least. She seemed compassionate, even understanding, but she did not seem lost. How the hell didn’t I notice that before now? We have been talking about the whole clusterfuck for the past few minutes, and I totally missed the boat. Idiot.
Surprisingly, he didn’t mind that she knew once the realization settled in. He didn’t even care that Landon had told her. The only thing he gave a damn about was the regret he felt. He should have told her himself or, at the very least, been there when she found out.
In his defense, he’d planned to tell her, but he’d put it off. And now she’d heard it from Landon rather than him. He didn’t want her to believe that he didn’t trust her. Nothing could be further from the truth. This woman was infinitely loveable and trustable. She would never tell his secrets, and she would never lie to him. In reality, she would have been the first one to talk through this with him, if only he’d given her a chance before now.
Damn it. Stupid regret ate away at him, demanding that he share something with her, requiring that he say something to fix his mistakes. He cradled her head against his shoulder. Looking down at her awkwardly, he said, “I should have told you sooner. I was going to at the cemetery yesterday. I promise. But it didn’t seem right to lay it all on you when you had just dealt with something so life-altering.”
Katie-Anne smiled up at him, so openly, so lovingly. Her turquoise eyes sparkled, the light from the lamp bringing out the deep ocean-like waters in her eyes. “It’s okay,” she assured him. “I know that you didn’t hide it from me, silly. Honestly, I wish you had told me sooner—”
Shane opened his mouth to apologize again, but she went on without giving him a chance to speak “—but I didn’t tell you all of my dirty history, either. I wish I had, but I didn’t. So I am not going to sit here and judge you for something that I did myself.”
“But it’s different,” Shane replied, defending her more than defending himself.
“How so?” Katie-Anne asked with an edge to her tone that told him he was treading on very thin ice.
Apparently, Landon agreed. “Be careful,” he warned. “You’re heading into some deep shit here.”
“Aren’t we getting off topic?” Shane asked. “We were talking about my father’s murder case. Weren’t we?”
Landon shook his head. “Damn, you must be desperate.”
You have no idea. Shane shifted on the bed in an attempt to get more comfortable, but it was futile. Even in the most intimate, most cozy room in the house, he couldn’t relax.
Sitting on his lap, Katie-Anne moved with him as he repositioned himself a second time. She situated herself to where she was further away from him than he liked, so he pulled her close again. “Don’t do that,” he scolded gently. “I want you as close to me as you can get.”
Katie-Anne flushed. “I want to be, too,” she whispered.
Clearing his throat, Landon stared at Shane pointedly. “They need you to testify.”
Shit. That got his attention, and everything around him drained away in a flash. With his heart picking up speed, he asked, “Do they finally have enough evidence to put Sharon away for good? Is that what they need me for—to help make the charges stick this time?”
Landon frowned at Shane’s reference to his biological mother as Sharon. His partner didn’t agree with his refusal to call Sharon by anything other than her given name. But Shane couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t. It indicated a deeper connection than was really there.
Sharon might have given birth to him, but she was no mother. The woman was a drug addict and a murderer. She never nurtured him, and she never loved him. She barely even acknowledged his existence. No, Sharon wasn’t his mother.
“No,” Landon snapped. “They couldn’t try her again if they wanted to because that would be double jeopardy. But that isn’t the issue. They now have a confession and new evidence that will clear your mother’s name.”
Bullshit. Shane snorted. “Wonder how grandfather worked that one. It takes talent to fabricate evidence or a hell of a lot of money. Of course, he has plenty of that.”
“Shane,” Katie-Anne said, censuring him. “Listen to Landon before you make up your mind about anything.”
Shane figured it was pointless to listen, but he would do it to appease Landon and Katie-Anne. Then they could finish this conversation and forget it ever happened. It wasn’t like the case had anything to do with him. Not really, at least, not anymore. And, if they needed him to testify, they would have to force his hand because he refused to go back to Florida unless he had to.
“Okay. Fine,” Shane acquiesced against his better judgment. “I’m listening.”
Landon reached out and brushed Shane’s face tenderly. “I wish you would be reasonable,” he told him. “They don’t need to fabricate anything. She was never convicted.”
“Money talks,” Shane snapped defensively. He and Landon had always had a bone of contention over his family and the choices he’d made. Landon naively believed that Shane’s mother was innocent and that they should be living together in happy, familial bliss.
Then again, Deke and Adam agreed with his partner. But they had not been there. They hadn’t seen her standing over his father’s dead body with a blood-covered knife in her hand. They hadn’t experienced his mother when she’d been higher than a kite, and she had been that day. What a fucking shocker. The woman was always drugged up, and he’d hated it almost as much as he’d hated her.
The only sane one at his house the day his father had died was his nanny, Wanda. She’d calmly guided him out of the room and taken him upstairs. Once she’d settled him, she’d called the police. Her boyfriend, Max, had been the first police officer on the scene so they’d dealt with everything together.
“I’ve read all of the reports they sent Deke, and I am as convinced as ever that she didn’t kill your father,” Landon insisted.
Glowering, Shane replied, “She did kill him. I know. I was there. Remember?”
“You were not,” Landon disagreed. “You were in the other room when it happened. You came in after he’d been stabbed. That means that you weren’t there. That means you cannot know.”
Pretending not to hear his husband, Shane asked, “So who is the scapegoat?”
“Your grandfather,” Katie-Anne answered, “and your nanny are believed to be behind the murder.”
“What the fuck?” Shane blurted out without thought. “Wanda would never do that.”
His grandfather might be capable of murder, but she was not. The woman had practically raised him. She’d treated him better than she had either of her own children. It was just not possible that she would do something so heinous to him or his father. He was absolutely sure of it.
Landon took Shane’s hand in his own and looked him dead in the eye. In an even voice, he said, “Your grandfather confessed, Shane.”
If this had been anyone else besides Landon or Katie-Anne, Shane would have believed that it had to be a joke. His aristocratic grandfather would never have confessed, even if he had done it. Yet something in Landon’s face told him that this was no prank.
Landon linked their fingers together, squeezing his hand tightly. “I can see that you hesitate to believe me. But, apparently, he is dying and wants to atone for his sins.”
“That old coot can’t die. I’m not that lucky,” Shane retorted, but it was half-hearted. He despised the bastard. He really and truly did, but he couldn’t celebrate his suffering or death. He couldn’t do that to anyone—no matter how evil they were.
“You don’t mean that,” Katie-Anne said softly, patting his chest.
“Like you’re broken up about your
mother,” he snapped. But, before he finished his harsh retort, Shane felt guilty for treating her that way again. It wasn’t her fault. None of this was, and he shouldn’t act as though it were. “I’m sorry, little one,” he apologized wholeheartedly, brushing the length of her hair from crown to tip.
Katie-Anne didn’t even bat an eyelash. “I’m not sad that she’s gone, but I wouldn’t have wished her death on her. I wouldn’t do that to anyone.” She continued to soothe him with her touch, her pats on his chest morphing into slow rubs.
Shane’s cock awakened, despite the gravity of their discussion. With Landon and Katie-Anne touching him, even innocently, the love and lust he felt for them stirred him up, and his body prepared to take them, to possess what was his.
Shane couldn’t help his body’s response, but he could calm down the dirty thoughts popping up in his mind. Taking a deep breath, he willed himself to focus on the moment and not his hardening dick. “No, you wouldn’t, but maybe I would.”
“Whatever. Believe what you want, Shane,” Katie-Anne informed him curtly. “It doesn’t matter anyway. We are not here to talk about me. We are here to talk about you, my love.”
My love. Shane’s heart stuttered as her words wound their way around his heart. He couldn’t explain why but hearing her call him her ‘love’ touched him in a primitive way, even though she’d already told him how she felt. It was different somehow, and he knew he’d never grow tired of hearing what she felt, of seeing who she really was.
Katie-Anne feared that he wouldn’t love the person she’d hidden for years, but he had no worries about that. His instincts told him everything he needed to know. This was his woman, just as Landon was his man. It was pure, and it was true. They were his reality and his fantasy, all converged into one. Shit, I’m starting to sound like a sappy, lovesick fool. Landon would laugh his ass off, if he could hear my thoughts right now.
