Taken by Two

by Sam J. D. Hunt

  With a stubborn sigh, Nate stood and pulled his hospital gown around him. “They’re letting me go this afternoon, might as well face the Colonel now,” he said. We walked across the long hospital to Rex’s room—Nate was silent, like a death row inmate being lead to imminent slaughter.

  Rex smiled as Nate shuffled into his room. I squeezed Nate’s hand—more than a part of me was worried that Rex’s calm had been false. I held my breath as we approached Rex. He looked up at Nate and his expression warmed, and I knew we were going to be okay.

  “Hey, man,” Rex said, reaching a hand to Nate. “How’s the arm?”

  Nate froze—his face morphing into a ghostly white. He dropped my hand and flung himself at Rex’s side, kneeling on the floor by his bed. “Holy shit—you’re hooked up to all this, it’s all my fault…”

  “It’s not,” Rex answered calmly, his fingers reaching over to run through Nate’s hair in an intimate gesture that had become their own.

  “You told me to protect her…I put you in danger, I put…” Nate’s body shook as his mind went through the could-have-beens.

  “You did what you could do. Evelyn paid off Maria to let those thugs into my house. Into our house.”

  “The maid?” I couldn’t believe she’d been responsible. He nodded, “Yeah, she did this with Rodrigo’s help.”

  “Why would he…?”

  “She’s been fucking him forever. And, Evelyn hired her. Plus, that amount of money set her entire family up for life, most likely.”

  “So it wasn’t because of me? Because of the drugs?” Nate relaxed, the weight of guilt lifted from him. But his calm quickly turned to anger. “What are you going to do to them?” Nate asked, his face red in rage.

  “Nothing. I mean, they’re fired, of course. But, they aren’t the real villains here.”

  Rex’s fingers went down to Nate’s face, his thumb cradling the indent of Nate’s elegant chin. “There’s nothing you could do, okay?” Nate nodded, his eyes rimmed red as he fought the swell of emotion.

  We sat there silently, Nate on his knees on the floor beside Rex’s hospital bed.

  “Seeing you like this…” Nate whispered.

  “I’m going to be fine, man, I swear. We trained the Princess well.” He smiled at me, reaching a hand out for me to come closer.

  I crouched on the floor next to Nate. Like two baby chicks waiting to be fed by a momma bird, we waited for Rex’s guidance. He held up his hand, three fingers splayed out at us. “Three,” he said, “we are three. I love you both.”

  I reached up three fingers and held them to Rex’s, my hand tiny against his. “Three, I love you both,” I repeated.

  Nate flushed, a warm glow lighting his face. He held up three fingers from his left hand to ours and repeated the words that would become an oath binding us together.

  “Now, take those meds the doc is going to give you. Trust me, they won’t trigger anything. When they release you, get a room at the hotel across the street. Don’t let Penny out of your sight—she’s been stuck sleeping here this whole time. I think it’ll be another few days before I can convince this quack to let me go home.”

  “I will,” Nate nodded, his confidence restored.

  “She should be safe—Murdock, the guy hired to do the hit on her, has been, well, taken care of. Evelyn was going to turn Penny over to him as soon as he got back—apparently he was on his way from Vegas where he was looking for her.”

  “So what’s Pablo’s role in this?”

  “None. He wasn’t involved. But, thanks to Evelyn’s lunacy, there was a massive DEA raid on his mansion. It just happened to turn up two kidnapped Americans. It’s a shame that Major Daniel Bowen, a special ops Chaplain, had no choice but to shoot Evelyn with my Glock in self defense.” He winked at us and added, “Helps to have friends you can call in a favor to.” My mind drifted to the night of our rescue, and the burly Priest, Father Dan, who saved our lives. “Poor drug lord Pablo, his wife is dead and he’s sitting in a Colombian jail cell. DEA turned up all sorts of incriminating shit in his tacky mansion.”

  “Won’t Lynn just hire someone else to do the job?” Nate shot a worried glance toward me.

  “Oh, that piece of shit. Well, as odd as it may seem, he was involved in a hit and run accident the other night on the Strip. Seems he didn’t make it,” Rex shook his head in mock sadness. Clearly his network of contacts ran deep.

  “I’m safe then? Can I call my dad?” I was relieved to finally not have a price on my head.

  “I think you’re safe, yeah, but can you just wait until we’re all home? I’d feel better then.”

  “The rooster wants all of his chickens home to roost before he can relax,” Nate teased.

  “What the fuck do you know about livestock, Mr. Internet Billionaire?” He shot Nate a smile. “Go back and rest, take those meds, and get yourself released so Penny can get out of this hospital.”

  “Yes, sir,” Nate quipped with a mock salute. He kissed me before heading back to his room.

  “You’re so bossy,” I said to Rex with a grin.

  “Damn straight I am,” he pointed his large index finger at me. “Now, park yourself over on that spare bed and let me sleep so I can get the fuck out of here.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  I sat on the floor in the hallway outside of Rex’s room a few days later, my knees to my chest, my head resting on them, exhausted. Nate had been released, and I spent my nights across the street at a hotel with him, but my worry for Rex prevented me from sleeping. After sitting with Rex all morning, I’d left the men to go down the hall to get a candy bar from the vending machine, and when I returned, Nate and Rex were embroiled in conversation. I drifted off, but at some point Rex’s deep voice lulled me from sleep.

  “No way—no. Nate, I won’t lose you…we won’t lose you. Forget it.”

  “I-I don’t want to. I just thought that you might want to be with Penny, that the two of you could be a regular couple, be… You know, get married, have kids.” Nate’s voice was ragged with pain. I knew he loved me, loved us both, so much that he would sacrifice himself for our happiness. My heart ached for him.

  Rex’s answered, low and comforting. “Do you love her?”

  “Yes, more than anything. Both of you… But how can this work? Seriously? The three of us?”

  “You brought us together, and it’s right. I don’t give a rat’s ass about what anyone thinks about anything—I never have. I don’t get the impression she gives a fuck about traditional either. Did you even ask her?” Rex’s tone was loving, but he was annoyed.

  “No, I wanted to see…I’d do anything for you two to be happy.”

  “We are happy, bro. Did you seriously think she’d be okay without you? Nate, it’d be like asking her to cut out half of her heart.” In a lower voice, Rex added, “And…half of my heart. No fucking way.”

  I was ecstatic that Rex wanted the three of us together and rejected Nate’s offer to step aside. It had crossed my mind more than once in moments of doubt that I’d be asked to choose between these two men—to love only one of them. When my mother was dying, my father asked me to choose him over her. The idea of it was sickening—I loved them both. To him, though, my decision to stay by her side was a betrayal. I never wanted to be forced to choose between people I loved again. My love was complete with both men, and I prayed that they could accept that. As I wiped away a tear, I knew that Rex understood.

  The room was silent, and I rose up to rejoin them when I heard Rex speak.

  “Is it enough for you?”

  “From her? Of course! I want her to love you.”

  “I meant from me? I’m never going to give you the level of… I doubt I’m ever going to give you what you desire from me. Is what the three of us have, physically, enough?”

  “What we have is enough—with Penny, it’s complete. You two are my all; I just…I don’t want to ever hurt her. What if I fuck up again?”

  “Then you fuck up again, and
we are here for you this time.”

  A doctor came up behind me, urging me forward in agitated Spanish I didn’t understand. “Inside,” he barked when I didn’t move. I walked into Rex’s room through the open door. He was propped up on pillows, his golden color once again gracing his skin. Nate’s long fingers rested on Rex’s forearm. He didn’t remove them when the doctor came in behind me, and Rex, to my surprise, didn’t either.

  Rex smiled at me and tapped the edge of the bed. “Come sit, Penny—seems the doc here has news.”

  The doctor spoke in loud, hurried Spanish—the news sounded dire, except when he was finished speaking, Rex smiled. “Gracias,” he said as the doctor left. “What?” Nate asked nervously. “I can go home tomorrow.”

  Nate was thrilled; I wasn’t. “No, it’s too dangerous, who will take care of you?”

  “We will,” Nate answered, annoyed that I wasn’t as excited at the news as he was.

  “Yeah, of course, but I mean shouldn’t we hire a nurse or something? I don’t want to risk his health with—”

  “With us idiots?” Nate snapped.

  “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just afraid, that’s all. I thought we lost him not that long ago.”

  “Penny, I’m a doctor. I can care for these two wounds myself. My legs are fine—I need to rest, recover, keep the pain at bay.” I nodded, the idea of going home beginning to sink in. “This arm will be in a sling for a little while longer until the shoulder wound heals, so I’ll need you two, but we can handle this.” In a whisper, he added, “Home is far safer, and cleaner, than this place.”

  “I’m going to go get the house ready for Rex—we need groceries, supplies, and bourbon,” Nate said, reaching for my hand and pulling me to my feet in front of him. “Will you stay here with him tonight? I don’t want him left alone.” I nodded as I wrapped my arms around his waist. His fingers raised my chin to look into his mesmerizing eyes. “I love you, babe. Call me if anything changes, okay?” He leaned down to kiss me before sliding his fingers through Rex’s hair. “Thanks, man,” Rex said as Nate left the room.

  I sat on the bed next to Rex, careful not to put pressure on his injuries. “Penny, you’re going to have to help with the meds. Nate can’t be around the kind of shit I’m going to be on—it has to stay locked in the medical room. Under no circumstances do you let Nate have access to that area, are we clear?”

  “Yes, sir,” I answered to the domineering Rex. I knew, and Nate knew, he shouldn’t be around prescription strength painkillers.

  “And do not let him give me a sponge bath!” I giggled as he took my hand in his. “Nate wanted to leave us—let us be a regular couple,” Rex said with a grimace.

  “I overheard from the hallway. I worry that he doesn’t know how much I love him. How do I ever show you both that my love is equal, that—”

  “Love isn’t a finite quantity, sweetheart,” he interrupted. “Our love, the three of us, is threefold because we share it—multiplied not divided. Our way may not work for everybody, shit it wouldn’t work for most people, but for us, it just is. It’s right and perfect. Nate got off-track in trying to fit us square pegs into round holes, that’s all.”

  “I love you both so much,” I said as his hand wrapped around mine.

  With a sigh, Rex explained, “He wants us happy—but I need him in the equation to be happy. I don’t feel like I’m sharing either of you. The three of us together, however that shakes out, is what I want. Maybe if I’d met you first, I wouldn’t see it that way. But, honestly—I wouldn’t have let you in if Nate hadn’t already broken down that barrier. Without him, I never would have allowed myself to love you.”

  “We just need to get back home, together,” I answered.

  The next day, we piled into the large, overly-chilled van, driven by one of the security guards rather than the fired Rodrigo, and took Rex home. He was his old-bossy self, only moving a little slower. “I hope you can cook, Penny, because I’m not allowing staff inside the house ever again. No maid, no cook, no—”

  “I don’t know how to cook!” I protested.

  “You can Wiki it or something—because I like to eat.”

  “You’re sexist. How come Nate doesn’t have to cook?”

  “Nate can cook. I just liked the image of you scurrying around the kitchen in a skimpy little apron. Maybe cleaning the house in a tiny French maid outfit…”

  “Now we’re talking,” Nate said with a poke to my thigh.

  “Fuck you both,” I spat out.

  “You will, princess, very soon. And don’t forget I’m still well enough to spank your fine ass if you can’t control your tongue.”

  “I control my tongue just fine,” I flirted.

  “Well, that I’d like to see again soon,” he winked.

  Nate’s arm continued to heal as we cared for Rex. I controlled the meds, which Nate never questioned. We took turns night and day ensuring Rex was taken care of, and yes, I did cook. A week after we brought him home, Rex asked me to cut his meds in half, and then a few days later, to cut them entirely. He had some pain as his body adjusted to being off the heavy opiates, but he fought through it.

  One afternoon, a few days after going off the meds, Rex called me into his room. With a pat he motioned for me to sit next to him on the bed. “Hey sweetheart, you asked me about calling your father. My brain has been muddled, but is that something you still want to do?”

  “Yes,” I answered eagerly. “I’m sure he’s been a worried wreck…”

  “Just realize he doesn’t know anything more than that you ran off with Nathaniel Slater on a getaway. Us taking you, I’d rather you skip that part.”

  “I-I hadn’t thought about that. You don’t think he’d understand why you did it? He should know about the—”

  He shook his head and placed his hand on my knee. “No, Penny, he wouldn’t understand. Your father would love to use that as an excuse to harm me. We have some history, he and I. That’s one of the reasons I freaked when Nate took you. That’s why they tried to hire me to kill his daughter.”

  “History?”

  “Princess, I haven’t gone into it because I know you love your father. But…he’s deep into the drug cartels here, laundering their money. I, well I was on the other side of that, trying to bring him down. He wouldn’t know who Roger Renton is, but he sure as hell will go ape shit if you mention Rex in Colombia, get my drift?”

  I sat silently. It was hard for me to accept that my father was a criminal, but I knew it was true. “Do you think my mother knew?” I said barely above a whisper.

  “I don’t know.” He rubbed my knee, waiting for me to absorb the truth about my father.

  “I’ll call him, but leave you out of it.”

  “Use the phone in my office—the black one. Dial this code first,” he wrote some numbers on a notepad and handed it to me. “It’ll make the line untraceable.”

  I took the paper with the cryptic numbers into Rex’s office and picked up the black phone on his desk. I keyed in the sequence of numbers, and after an odd dial tone, dialed my father’s cell number. He picked up on the fourth ring.

  “Dad? It’s Penny.”

  “Penelope, where the fuck are you?”

  “Oh, I—I’m in…I’m with Nate Slater, do you remember him?”

  “Yeah, good luck with that. He’s way out of your league. He’ll dump you faster than a hand of Blackjack.”

  Same old Dad. “Well, we’re together now. I plan to stay with him, unless you…”

  “No, that’s great. Spend his money instead of mine. It’ll keep you out of my hair until he tires of you and tosses you back. Good luck, I guess.”

  “Dad, um, is there any way you can have someone send my passport and stuff to me?”

  “I’ll have them pack up all of your shit, Penelope. Hospitality could really use your penthouse to comp whales with. Where do you want your belongings sent?”

  “Uh,” I paused. I couldn’t have it sent here. “His
father’s house in Wilson, North Carolina. I think I have the address here, can you hang on a sec…”

  “We’ll 411 it.” He was quiet for a moment before adding, “I hope you’re happy with him, Penny. I really do.”

  “Thanks, Dad, I will be. I love you.”

  “Love ya, too. Gotta go, there’s trouble on the floor. Some freaking autistic card counter is cleaning out the house. We’ll talk soon, okay?”

  “Yeah, Dad, sure thing.” The line went dead.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Are you sure you’re ready?” I asked him.

  “Oh, baby, I’m more than ready—I’m about to explode. I need you.”

  Rex had been home from the hospital for a while, and he was healing fast. Because the wound was abdominal, he hadn’t had sex other than a few strained blowjobs. Nate and I felt guilty, but not guilty enough not to fuck like rabbits whenever the recovering Rex wasn’t around. While eating dinner, cooked by Nate, Rex called us out on our sneaky sex. As he popped a meatball into his mouth, he asked, “When do I get back in on all the fucking that’s going around?”

  “Fucking?” Nate asked, his cheeks blushing in a guilty tell.

  “Cut the shit, I get it. But I’m ready to re-join civilization.”

  We both smiled wide—we’d missed him. Nate sipped his wine and answered, “Well, King Rex, let’s finish this food and wander over to Threesome Land.”

  “Which position? I mean I don’t want to put any pressure on the incision—and the pull from when you—” I was looking at the shirtless Rex, the long cut from his surgery was almost fully healed, but inside there was still some pain.

  “Fuck, Penny, cut out the clinical shit! It’s not turning me on. I want to be a man again, not a damn patient!”

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, my voice as sultry as I could manage. I slid my hands across his chest and around his broad back. “I want you so badly—I just worry about hurting you.”

  “Let me worry about that, okay?” His lips brushed mine—the electric charge igniting from my tongue to my clit as he pulled me closer. “You are so beautiful,” he said into my ear. “I’m not waiting for Nate,” he breathed, slowly undressing me until I stood naked in front of him. My hands reached for his belt, pulling it from his jeans as I grappled for his fly. “It’s been so long… I need you inside me,” I moaned as I freed his hefty erection from the worn jeans. “I love you so much, Penny.” He stepped from the jeans and leaned back on the bed, my eager body following to straddle his wide hips. “This okay?” I asked, still nervous to hurt him. “It’s perfect,” he groaned as I sank onto him, my pussy straining to stretch quickly enough to take his full length. My lips found his as Nate, back from cleaning up dinner, undressed and crept behind me—his silky naked skin brushing against my ass as I was filled by Rex.