Double Entendre: (City of Steel 2) (The Vault)

by Katherine Rhodes

  “Don’t stop.” She gasped. “Don’t stop… oh, fuck, yes. Don’t…”

  I came with a grunt and another shove deep inside her. The heat of my cum tipped her over the edge, and she came with me, throwing the massager away from Vanity in a quick fit of clarity. Vanity cried out, denied again, and I held on to Laicy so she—and I—didn’t fall over.

  I managed to lean forward and press the third ball inside Vanity, who screamed again.

  This was going to be a long and amazing night.

  Laicy

  Waking up in a tangle of limbs with Vanity and Simon was one of the best experiences of my life.

  I had been so frightened this wasn’t going to work, that one of us would back out, or decide this was a bad idea. And I had been more terrified that it would be me.

  But instead, it was perfect. Not just the sex, but everything that had happened since the dinner. The way we texted, talked, interacted. Even the way we had fallen asleep.

  I extracted myself from the bed and headed into the bathroom. Again, I was shocked at how comfortable I was here—I’d run away like a scared pigeon over a year ago.

  This was still home.

  The shower had been replaced and it was even nicer than I remembered. Simon had always had good taste and the four wall mounted showerheads were proof of that. I could see the three of us making a lot of trouble in this bathroom.

  Now, I really needed a shower.

  Once I was done, I walked back out and found the two of them still asleep. That was good. I could have some time to myself and make some coffee for all of us.

  Borrowing one of Simon’s shirts and slipping on a pair of his boxers, I trotted downstairs to find that at some point, someone had come down and put the chili away. Vanity made amazing chili, and I was glad it was saved. The coffee pot was brewing away in just a few minutes, as I found everything where we always kept it.

  I sat at the table quietly and watched the pot fill. There were a thousand thoughts going through my head at the same time, and I wasn’t sure which one to follow. How I got here? How I was in love with two people? How we were going to work this relationship?

  How I was going to tell Simon I was pregnant?

  That was probably the one I ought to really pursue first. It was our fault for the encounter in the kitchen—neither of us thought about protection because we knew each other and just trusted each other.

  I hadn’t freaked out until nearly ten days later when things started to smell strong and taste strange. And when I threw up coffee and a bagel I knew there was something wrong.

  Four pregnancy tests later, I wasn’t sure if it was wrong or it was right. There was no doubt I was having this baby, I just didn’t know if he was on board with having a baby where we were in this relationship.

  “Is that coffee?”

  Turning, I found Simon standing in the door in sweatpants and a T-shirt. Looking thoroughly pleased and thoroughly fucked.

  I was getting used to this new thought process. That was for sure. For years, I had just quietly appreciated my husband’s physique—now the desire to share what I was thinking, with very heavy undertones of sex, still caught me off guard.

  “You look good, Si,” I said, heading for the cabinet with the coffee mugs.

  “So do you, Laicy.” He smiled and joined me. “I can do that.”

  He kissed me sweetly on the lips and pulled out three mugs. I grabbed the sugar and brought it over to the coffee pot.

  “So, I was thinking that we could move your stuff back in through the month—”

  I gasped. “Wait, what?”

  “Isn’t that…” He sighed. “I don’t know how to do this stuff, Cam. Laicy. Last night convinced me this is all right, but you’re kind of my almost-ex-wife, so do we just move you back in? Do we wait? Do we try this out on weekends? Is there—”

  I leaned in and shut him up with a kiss. “Simon. I would like to move back in. I would. I wasn’t expecting it this quickly, but I’m not against it. Just remember there are three of us now, and we have to make sure Vanessa is on board with this.”

  He smirked. “Right. Right. Hard to forget that.”

  “Hard indeed.” I smiled.

  “Oh, boy,” he mumbled. But there was no anger in his voice. “I have to put a lock on that room in the basement. Just in case. There’s always a chance someone could walk in there and we don’t want our personal lives being turned out into the public.”

  “That’s why Peter and Nicci always stay at the Vault,” I said. “If Peter Billings ever got caught with sex furniture in his house…”

  He laughed. “If anyone in Pittsburgh knew that Peter Billings was the Prime Dom at Club Imperial…”

  I couldn’t help laughing with him. We sat at the table and he took my hand and wound his fingers in mine. “What happened to us, Laicy? What happened that you ran from us?”

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I got scared, Simon. One of my student’s mothers came in and we were talking. She started talking about how much she resented having children before she was ready, before she had finished what she wanted to do. Her sad face and words wouldn’t leave me. I just kept playing the whole thing in my head, over and over.

  “You were almost ready for kids, and I thought I was until I freaked out one night and realized that I hadn’t been able to be me in college.”

  “Be you?” He looked terrified. “We started dating in college…”

  “It wasn’t your fault, Simon. I didn’t let me be who I was. There were things that Mom and Dad expected out of me, and I was in love with you, so I just pushed everything aside.”

  “Like, women? And BDSM?”

  I chuckled. “Yes. And traveling the world.”

  “I would take you anywhere,” he said.

  “I know you would, but I wanted to do some on my own, like a week in Delhi, or a week hiking through the Rockies. A chance to go walkabout Down Under. There were only so many things I could do, but about six months into my adventure, I missed you. Terribly. I started staying closer to home, pursuing some other…urges.”

  “Did you know that you were bi?”

  That was the second time he asked. And I wasn’t about to lie. “Well…I wouldn’t even call me bi now. I would say I’m omnisexual.”

  “That’s one I haven’t heard…” he said, confused.

  I grimaced. “I had several different partners when I was learning to Dom. I always accepted their chosen gender identity, but I didn’t much care.”

  I stared at my mug, uncomfortable. This was everything we needed to talk about and everything I didn’t want to. “I still assumed we’d be getting a divorce. I dated all over the world, all over the sexual spectrum.”

  Simon shook his head, slowly. “I don’t want you to feel like you did something wrong, Laicy. You didn’t. We weren’t together, and there was nothing wrong with you trying to find happiness.” He pointed at the ceiling. “I did.”

  He made me smile. He could always make me smile. “Okay, fair enough. Once I started to explore who I was, I realized I didn’t care who I was with. No, that’s not right. I did care who they were, I didn’t care about what their sexuality was.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “So, omni?”

  “Yeah, omni,” I said.

  Leaning in, he whispered conspiratorially, “Best one?”

  I bit my lip. “Dana. They were gender fluid queer and totally open to anything. Any. Thing. Dirty. They took me to an orgy. My one and only, because that was even beyond me, and I had to break up with them the next day. For the simple reason that while I’m omni, I still want a family and they didn’t. They just wanted to fuck their way from the Battery to the Cloisters, no regrets.”

  Taking a sip of coffee, I was quiet a moment. “By that time, I was already having regrets. I was having a lot of regrets a lot of the time.”

  “Leaving?”

  “Leaving, thinking I couldn’t be happy here, thinking I didn’t want to be a part of
your life. Thinking I’d be happier away from everything I knew.” I turned and looked at him. “I wasn’t happier, I was kind of lost. I realized what we had was what I wanted, and you wouldn’t be against us changing things up. Going crazy places on vacation. Hiking the Canadian Rockies or taking the Orient Express.”

  “I want all that, too, Laicy, I always did. We just put our work lives ahead of what we wanted. We won’t do that this time. We’ll do all of it, and we get to bring Vanity with us.”

  I smiled. “And the bedroom?”

  “We need a bigger bed.” He laughed.

  “The harem bed?”

  “Damn straight.”

  “And the basement room?”

  Simon nodded. “I created that for her. I expected I would ask you or Darien over to have a…scene with Vanity. I know she’s unconventional and likes the serious masochism.”

  “A perfect example of how out of whack my thinking process was when I left you.” I squeezed his hand. I took a deep breath. “We have one other thing I need to talk to you about.”

  “Is that coffee?”

  We turned and found Vanity standing the door, also looking well fucked. She had found another one of Simon’s shirts, but she had opted for panties, not boxers.

  “It is.” Simon nodded. “Want some?”

  “God, yes, please.” She walked in and sat down at the table next to Simon’s now empty seat.

  I watched Simon as he made her coffee just the way she liked it and realized he had done the same for me, without me even realizing he had. He walked back and sat down after placing the mug in front of her.

  “Thank you.” She took a deep draught of the magical elixir and let out a sigh. “Oh, that’s good. So good.” Vanity looked at me and then at Simon. “And thank you. I’m glad we’re taking a chance on this.”

  “Me too,” I said and grabbed her hand as Simon took mine again. “We’re all in on this?”

  Simon nodded and Vanity nodded after taking another drink.

  Vanity smiled. “How are we going to handle this? I mean…I don’t expect that you two will always wait for me for sexy stuff.”

  Shaking his head, Simon smiled. “Look, there’s three of us in this. I honestly think our only rule should be, we all sleep in the same bed. There’s going to be days when I can’t get home early, or Vanity is at Imperial, or Laicy just doesn’t feel like being a part of this. I’ve got some pretty filthy ideas from last night and there’s no reason we all have to have sex every time.”

  “I agree,” I said. “I have dirty ideas that don’t involve me.”

  Vanity nodded and giggled. “Oh, same here. Same here.”

  “Our biggest rule is, we have to involve all of us in the decisions that get made here,” Simon said. “Communication. We have to talk about everything. Chores, schedules, sex, vacations, cars, lawn care. Nothing is off the table.”

  “I agree,” Vanity said. “It’s what got us here, both good and bad.”

  I turned the coffee cup in my hand. “Then, let me start.” Turning and looking at my husband, I hauled in a breath. “Simon. We didn’t use protection in the kitchen. At all.”

  “Shit,” he hissed.

  “I’m pregnant. I just found out on Monday.”

  Vanity gasped and put a free hand over her mouth. Simon stared out into space, not saying anything. He trailed his thumb over my knuckles for a quiet minute, then looked at me. “How do you feel about that?”

  I glanced at Vanity, then back to him. “Happy, actually. I’m not upset at all. The idea of having a baby with you, with both of you, feels right.”

  Simon smiled. “You know where we were before, and you were right. I was about to bring up having kids before the separation.”

  “You’re not mad?”

  “If I recall, we were both in that kitchen, fucking up.”

  I smirked. “Well, we were both fucking.”

  “Not helping.” He sighed.

  Vanity giggled. “Does just the idea of fucking get you hard?”

  “Only when it’s one of you two. Or both of you.”

  Vanity clapped her hands, excited. “Morning wood!”

  I leaned my cheek on my fist and grinned. “Go ahead, Vanity. It’s all yours.”

  Our coffee got very, very cold.

  Simon

  Nick and Killian stared at me as I walked to the bar top. They exchanged looks like Paul and Peter, and a stupid grin burst out on all of their faces.

  “What?” I sat at the bar as the bartender put my favorite beer on the counter. I glanced around again. “What?”

  “You have Stupid Satisfied Sex Grin all over your face,” Killian said.

  “Well, maybe I am. Stupid and satisfied.” I lifted an eyebrow.

  “Nope, no no. Morgan won’t let me hear the end of it,” Nick said. “We need more detail. Much more detail.”

  Killian put his chin on his fist. “Spill.”

  “You are all worse than the women, you know,” I groused.

  “And you’ll be just as bad soon enough,” Paul answered.

  I snickered. “I guess that means I’ll actually be twice as bad?”

  All of their jaws fell open. I laughed.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second here,” Paul said, leaning forward on the bar. “Twice as bad? Am I understanding this correctly? You opted in on both of them? And they know this?”

  Rolling my eyes, I took a comfortably long sip from my beer and let it drip carefully down the back of my throat. It was beyond hilarious to me that these men, some of the most powerful, most wealthy, most influential in Pittsburgh were hanging on my words. I kept my answer simple. “Yes.”

  “Yes what?” Nick roared. “Yes, you’ve opted in on both? Yes, they know?”

  “Yes.”

  “Both of them?” Nathaniel asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Fuck you, man!” Paul bit out. “Tell us! What’s going on! I don’t care if you think I’m a gossip Gertie!”

  I laughed even harder. “All right, all right, calm down. Yes, they both know because they are both living in the house with me. After talking to my brother and his husband—that was fun to find out, Nick, warn a guy next time?—I realized the solution wasn’t to walk away from one of them and hurt the other. It was to just circle the wagons and see if we could try being a…”

  “Throuple?” Nick offered.

  “Sal hates that word,” I said, lifting my eyebrow again.

  “Yeah, I know. That’s why I use it all the time.” Nick cackled deviously. “But it works. It’s stupid, but it works.”

  “So a three-way?” Paul asked.

  “A three-way relationship. Ultimately, down the road and once we settle in, I’ll have to get used to saying my wives.”

  Nathaniel slapped me on the back. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

  “Dude, they took it all out of me this weekend.”

  Nick, Paul, and Peter chuckled. I grinned and looked over the rim of my glass, watching them. I spilled the last bit of information before I took a sip.

  “Laicy is pregnant.”

  “Holy shit!” Killian yelled, and the others agreed with him.

  “You do not waste time.” Paul shook his head.

  Shrugging, I put my beer down. “It was a mistake. Part of the mistake that started this whole mess. But we’re happy about it, and I think we’re going to be awesome parents.”

  “You totally are,” Killian said. “Totally, totally are.”

  “Thanks, man.” I ducked my head.

  Nick held up his glass. “To Simon. Who managed to score in ways I’m not sure I’d want to!”

  Vanity

  There was a knock on the door, and I glanced over at Laicy, who was putting dishes in the dishwasher. She shrugged, and I walked to answer it.

  Beyond the door stood a very well-dressed Gordon Stilton. His manner was all business, but he had a gracious smile for me.

  “Vanity. Just the woman I wanted to see. May I c
ome in?”

  “Sure, of course,” I said, stepping out of the way. I saw Laicy lean out of the doorway to see what was going on, and I offered her a shrug.

  Donny headed for the kitchen, and Laicy skittered out of the way. He grinned and waited for me. “Who is your friend?”

  I cleared my throat. “This is my girlfriend, Laicy Garabaldi.”

  His eyes shot over to me. “Laicy?”

  Wiping off her hands on the paper towel, Laicy walked over and offered her hand. “Hi. I’m Laicy. You might have heard my husband call me Cameron?”

  “Oh, this is juicy.” He cackled.

  “It’s also not a secret,” I offered. “Tell who you like.”

  Rubbing his hands together, he smiled. “I will. I will.” Finally finding his manners, he offered a hand to Laicy. “Hello. It’s nice to finally meet the legendary Mistress Laicy that half of Pittsburgh won’t shut up about.”

  “Me? Really?”

  “Well, when you get involved with the well-loved detective that the community trusts, you kind of become infamous,” Donny explained.

  “But…I was—am his wife…”

  “You are, but we didn’t know that.”

  I folded my arms and sat down. “Okay, Donny. What are you doing here? And what’s with the zoot suit?”

  He pulled the lapels sharply. “I am the official new owner of Sadique. This is not what I expected, but…here I am.”

  “Is Cece just as amused as I am?” I asked.

  He coughed. “Haven’t talked to her in person yet. I’m sure Mistress Dusty Rose will burst out laughing to see me in the suit. She always seems to be highly amused when I’m not in khakis and a terrible shirt.”

  “You nearly raised her.” I smirked.

  “Not quite, otherwise this would get weird,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “However, Mistress is the reason I am here.”

  “She is?”

  He nodded and motioned Laicy to the table. “She is. It seems that no amount of money I throw at her will convince her to come and work at Sadique with me. Which, truth be told, I’d only gotten to the second number before she cut me off and said she wouldn’t. Which leaves me with a hole in my staff.”