by Tara Rose
Phil collapsed into a chair and ran a hand over his face. “Who was in the trunk?”
“A woman named Gale Taylor who owns a silver 2010 Toyota Corolla. We’re looking for the car, assuming Martin is now driving it, but the cops in Durango think Martin is in New Mexico or even across the border by now.”
“How do they know it was Martin?” Darrin had driven a silver Toyota, but Darrin hadn’t done this. Darrin had taken off over two years ago after he and Tommy had him busted, like the fucking coward that he was. And besides, Tommy had said they knew who the car belonged to, and it wasn’t Darrin.
“They don’t, but I think it is. This was his MO. They’re running everything they got from the car and the body to see if he left behind DNA.”
“Tommy, are you sure we shouldn’t be posting his picture all over town?”
“You know why I’m still on Ken’s side that we not do that? Because if Martin had come here looking for you, he’d have found you by now. You live in the same house that you did when you helped put him and the others in jail. You still work here, in the same building. You’re a creature of habit. He’d be following you, and you’d have seen him doing it. No one has seen him again, Phil. He’s not still here.”
“But he was. Even once was too much. Why was he here?”
Tommy shrugged. “It was probably a coincidence. He was driving down Route 5 when Knox and Nash spotted him. He might have followed it south until the Interstate, then got on the back roads again. Maybe he followed the back roads out of Rawlins, and ended up here? He didn’t stay in town. That’s the important part.”
“Then why did he drive past the garage four times?”
“I don’t know. But there’s no way he could know that Knox is your cousin.”
“Passing through town doesn’t mean you retrace you steps four times. I don’t like it, Tommy. I know you agree with Ken on this, but I don’t.”
“Okay. But we’re all watching, Phil. The guy isn’t going to drive or walk around town without someone seeing him. And now we have another vehicle to look for. What else can we do?”
“Nothing.” And that’s the part that Phil hated. There wasn’t one fucking thing that any of them could do except watch and wait.
“Go home. Get some sleep. You look like shit.”
* * * *
Eve loved Van and Rowena’s house. It was a restored Queen Anne that Rowena’s great-aunt Lunette had left to her. Everyone had called her Aunt Loony because she was an eccentric nut, but Eve had loved her as much as she loved any of her own family members. Eve had grown up next to this house, and her parents still lived next door, but she’d spent more time here than she had in her own house. Van and Rowena had done an amazing job of revitalizing it, although sometimes Eve still imagined the way it used to look, both inside and out.
They sat in the dining room eating pasta and garlic bread, doing more gossiping than planning. Angela’s baby wasn’t due until June, and both women had agreed that they didn’t need eight months to plan a shower, but they hadn’t had an evening together in far too long, so the excuse had seemed as good as any.
Eve had been delighted to see Carma here as well. This was perfect. Carma was now a sub to Mateo and Blaine Peterson, and she lived with both men at Mystic Ridge Enterprises. Eve could ask her the same questions she’d asked Felicity, and see if her answers varied. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure she was looking for a definitive rule book of any kind. It was more that she was searching for validation that her excitement about this adventure didn’t mean she loved Phil any less, or that she had some latent desire to cheat on him. Was it cheating if both men agreed to have sex with her?
“Earth to Eve. Where did you go just now?” Rowena’s voice snapped her back to the present.
It was now or never. “I need advice.”
“On what?”
“On something Phil wants to do.”
Rowena stood. “If you two are going to start talking about that kinky shit you do at Indulgence, I have laundry to do.”
Carma laughed. “Shut up and sit down. You’re stuck with us, woman. All your friends are in kinky ménages, so you’d better just get used to listening to us talk about it.” Carma winked at Eve. “Well, at least most of us are in ménages. Eve here is just into kink.”
Rowena took her seat, shaking her head. “You’re all nuts. What does he want you to do, Eve? Hang from the chandelier? Get tied up with barbed wire? Blow him in Rio Blanco Lake in the middle of January?”
This time, Eve laughed with Carma. “Rowena, you need to come to Indulgence with us so you can see what actually goes on.”
“No, I don’t. I’ve been there.”
“For collaring ceremonies only,” said Carma. “That’s not the same thing.”
“It was enough to see chains and shit hanging from the walls. Chains are something you use to pull out tree stumps, not as sex toys.”
“You’re not even going to the Halloween party?”
“Have I ever gone?”
“Rowena, it’s not right,” said Eve. “Every year you help half the guests make amazing costumes, but you never show up. And don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about. Everyone says the same thing.” Rowena was a costume designer who did freelance work, and she even had contacts on Broadway.
“I agree,” said Carma. “Come with Mateo, Blaine, and me. This will be our first year, too, so I’ve already asked Nash what to expect. There’s no play at the parties. He makes food with a spooky Halloween theme, Dalton makes a punch that looks like blood, the entire place will be decorated like an old-fashioned fifties movie creepy mansion, and we’ll play silly games. He said it’s totally vanilla. Just a party like we had when we were kids.”
“Will he put away the whips and chains?”
Eve and Carma both laughed at Rowena’s question.
“Okay,” said Carma, shaking her head. “Let’s change the subject. Eve, what’s going on with Phil? Talk to us.”
She took a deep breath. “Phil asked Knox to have a threesome with us. Not with him, I mean. Knox would have sex with me. And Phil would, too. And, Phil would let Knox top me during play.”
Rowena’s big green eyes widened. “Holy shit.”
Carma smiled. “Sounds like fun. Knox is a looker. Go for it.”
“That’s it? Holy shit and go for it? That’s all you two have to say?”
Rowena stood again. “I really do have to put in a load of laundry. I’ll be right back. Eve, do what feels right in your heart. Van likes Phil, so that means I trust him, too.”
As soon as Rowena left the room, Carma squeezed her hands. “How fun is that? Are you going to do it? What am I asking? Of course you are. He’s your Dom. You’ve never refused him anything. You love Phil. You are going to do it, right?”
Eve opened and closed her mouth twice before she finally answered Carma. “I am. Yes. I want to. But I’m so confused.”
“About what?”
“What happens if I like it too much? What happens if I fall for Knox? Is it cheating?”
Carma smiled. “It’s not cheating if they agree to it beforehand. And I understand how you feel. The first time Mateo invited Blaine to join us for anything, we were at Indulgence. I didn’t make it past watching a bondage scene.”
“But that was different. It was a trigger for you.”
“Yes, but then we went back to Mateo’s place and everything was fine. We had a wonderful time.”
“But did it start out that way? As just a one-time thing?”
“I’m not sure we knew what we were calling it, Eve. It just happened. Blaine and Mateo were friends, remember? They had been for years. I think that helped a lot.”
“Phil and Knox are closer than most brothers.”
“Exactly. He wouldn’t want to do this with just any guy. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“So stop worrying about things that may never happen and just enjoy it. And thank God that you have a man who
isn’t afraid to experiment and have a little fun, you know?” Carma glanced toward the archway. “I love Van and Rowena, but they must have the most boring sex life in town.”
“I don’t know. She doesn’t really talk about it as openly as some of us. For all we know, Rowena has floggers and nipple clamps hidden upstairs, alongside her Hitachi Wand.”
Carma laughed, and both she and Eve were still laughing when Rowena walked in. “All settled?”
Carma narrowed her eyes. “Not quite. Eve and I were wondering if you and Van are covering up a secret, kinky side to your sex life.”
Rowena’s smile was sly. “Fuck you, Mandanici. As if I’d tell either of you something like that. The entire town would know the details by noon tomorrow.” Rowena pulled over the legal pad that she’d put on the table earlier. “Okay, you two. Let’s get some planning done while we still have the house to ourselves.”
* * * *
Phil was no longer tired by the time he parked his car in front of Knox’s garage. He sprinted up the stairs along the side of the building and knocked on the door. When Knox answered, he was on his cell phone and motioned Phil inside. Phil helped himself to two beers from the fridge and opened the pizza boxes. He took out a piece of the pepperoni and sausage, knowing that Knox had bought that one for him, and then he found paper plates and put his pizza on one while he waited for Knox to get off the phone.
When he did, Knox took a piece of his own pizza and grabbed the beer that Phil handed him. “Want to watch TV?”
“Sure.”
They carried their plates and beer into the living room and sat side-by-side on the sofa. Knox flipped to ESPN.
“Who was on the phone?”
“Van. One of his company’s trucks is acting up. He’s bringing it by in the morning.”
“Good. That’s more business for you. So, what did you want to talk about?”
Knox gave him a droll look. “You’re not wasting any time tonight.”
“Sorry, dude. I’m tired. There won’t be much chit-chat from me.”
“I’m just messing with you, Phil. Thanks for coming over.” Knox ate his piece of pizza and drained half the beer, then he rose and brought back two more pieces.
Phil did the same and grabbed two more beers out of the fridge on his way back. He handed one to Knox. “Is this about Eve?” Why else would he have asked that they have a talk before Friday?
“Yes.”
Knox was staring at the TV, but Phil doubted he was watching it. “What about her?”
“Why do you want to do this, Phil?”
Knox still hadn’t met Phil’s gaze, but that was all right. Knox wasn’t his sub. He’d never let Eve get away with that because he needed to look into her eyes in order to get an accurate read on her emotions, but he didn’t need to do that with his cousin. They could sense each other’s thoughts. They’d always been able to do that. “Because she wants to. Because I want to. Because I have this long-standing fantasy about watching another guy get off on how fucking gorgeous and sexy she is.”
“You’re twisted.”
“No shit. You just figured that out?”
Knox finally smiled, but only a little.
“What has you so freaked out about it?”
“Lots of things.”
“Name a few.”
“Have you done it before? I don’t mean with Eve. I mean with another sub.”
Phil shook his head. “Not the sex. Only the play.”
“Then how do you know you can handle it?”
“Because it’s you. Any other guy and I couldn’t.”
“Not sure that says much about me, Phil.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Phil shifted in his seat to face Knox. “I mean that with you I won’t get jealous because you’d never try to take her from me.”
Knox gave him a dark look. “How do you know that?”
A shiver ran down Phil’s spine. “Because we’re blood. And you know how much I love her. And you just wouldn’t do it, that’s why.”
Knox nodded slowly. There was no trace of anger in his eyes, only resignation, and Phil hated that. “Look. What I mean is, you’re not some sneaky son of a bitch who would call her behind my back or shit like that. I know you don’t consider yourself as being in the lifestyle, but you respect that I’m her Dom, just the same. You understand what it means.”
“I understand what it means.” Knox finally faced him. “But here’s what you need to understand. I can’t just be a fuck buddy for her. If we do this, it’s either a one-time thing to give her the fantasy, like you said, or we figure out a way to make me part of her life as well.”
Phil swallowed hard and eyed his cousin as if seeing him for the first time. To say the guy hadn’t dated much was an understatement. Had he harbored a secret thing for Eve all this time? No. Phil would have seen it. Something else was going on. “Where is this coming from, Knox?”
“Decades of frustration. You do remember high school, right? The one woman who gave me more than the time of day ended up cheating on me after I was stupid enough to finally marry her. And now she has a thriving business and I’m here.”
Knox flipped off the TV and leaned forward, his eyes blazing with emotion. “I’m tired of living like the town loser. I’m sick of watching everyone in this town fall into relationships while I scrape by, hoping that everyone’s car breaks down so I’ll have some business. I can’t even afford to earn a degree in something I love, just for the sake of earning it, like Nash did. I’ll do this for you and Eve, and I have no doubt that I’ll enjoy it. And I understand that Eve is all yours. I get that. But I’m not going to become someone you two invite over to play with like a toy whenever you get bored.”
Phil averted his gaze for a few seconds and tried to put himself in Knox’s shoes. The view from them wasn’t pretty. The guy was beyond lonely, and he lived hand-to-mouth. Most of the town didn’t see him the way Phil did, and that was because they didn’t know him as well. They didn’t understand that Knox Parkwood was a talented, kind man who saw only the good in everything. The reason Zoe had been able to take him to the cleaners in their divorce was because Knox had refused to hire a cutthroat attorney to go after her.
And Knox didn’t know this, but Phil had been jealous of him for most of his life. Whereas women were always afraid or at least wary of him, they had flocked to Knox. Not as a lover, but as a friend. Phil had never had many female friends, but Knox had. They craved the intimacy that he could give them, even if they weren’t interested in having a sexual relationship with him. He was sensitive, and women loved that shit. Eve would love that about Knox. She probably already did.
Why the hell had he ever gone down this road? It was too late to back out. He’d started this, and now he had to deal with the consequences. “Okay. I get what you’re saying. I won’t let it end up that way. I promise. But the person who will ultimately decide what your role ends up being is Eve. You get that, right?”
Knox nodded. “I get that. I’m glad to know you do, too.”
“The subs have all the power, Knox. Her submission isn’t a given. We negotiate everything. And I’m certainly not going to lose her over something that started off as a selfish fantasy of mine.”
“I thought it was her fantasy, too?”
“It is. But I didn’t know that until I pushed her to confess it.”
The corners of Knox’s mouth turned up slightly. “Are you actually admitting that you brought this karma down on your own head?”
“Yeah. I guess I am.”
“Do you want to forget about it? It’s not too late to change your mind.”
Phil shook his head. “No. It is too late. I can’t do that. Not after dinner last night. She’d think we argued or something and she’d never stop trying to blame herself for it. But let me ask you one more thing. If Eve ends up choosing to have this be a one-time thing, can you handle that? I need to know up front whether you’ll be all right with that. I need to know this won’t
change things between us.”
“Can you handle it if she decides it’s not a one-time thing?” Knox’s question was quiet, but it hit Phil right in the gut. Knox had done it again. He’d reached in and read Phil’s heart.
Phil lifted his beer and clinked it against the side of Knox’s bottle. “Touché, cousin.” He took a long sip. “Yes. I can handle that. I want her happy. That’s what really matters.”
Knox finally smiled. He touched his bottle to Phil’s. “To Eve’s happiness, then.”
Chapter Nine
Eve had driven home after work to eat dinner and change her clothes, and then she’d walked to Rowena’s house. But she hadn’t meant to stay so late, and as she descended Rowena’s front stairs she thought about calling Phil to ask him to drive her home, but he’d worked a double and was having dinner with Knox. She didn’t want to bother him. She’d suck it up and walk home. The sun had already set, but it’s not like she’d never walked through the streets of Passion Peak in the dark before.
She turned up the collar of her coat and put her head down as she made her way east on Arapaho Street. It was cold tonight, and the air smelled like snow. The tops of Passion Peak and Sleepy Cat Peak were visible above the tree line, but it was too dark for her to make out the snow already on top of them.
She loved this time of year, when the smell of leaves was in heavy in the air, and everyone was starting to put out Halloween decorations. Phil had mentioned the costume party they held at Indulgence every year, and Eve was looking forward to going with him. Would Knox be there, too? Halloween was just over three weeks away.
Would Knox be part of hers and Phil’s life in a new way by then, or was this going to be strictly a one-time thing on Friday? She could still hardly believe this was really going to happen. She was glad she’d taken the time to talk to both Felicity and Carma. No one else seemed to think it was a big deal, and Eve decided it was time she simply relaxed and enjoyed it. Phil was okay with it. Knox was okay with it. What more did she need?
