Chains (9 page)

* * * *

Rebecca ate a bowl of cereal before meeting the crew over at her uncle’s house. It looked a lot different now than when she’d first seen it. Most of the rooms were empty, and the carpet had been ripped out of every room as it was cleared. Bare concrete slab meant sounds echoed throughout the house in an eerie, hollow way.

There hadn’t been a lot in the way of personal effects to save. Not much she wanted, anyway. There were papers from her uncle’s time in the military, and a couple of photo albums with pictures of him and people she didn’t know during his military service. A few older family photos, and some of his military awards.

Even his furniture had been practical, and most of it not worth saving, unfortunately.

The Collins brothers had given her a list of estate sale companies she’d have to contact for estimates. She’d also started going through the storage sheds. They were full of tractor and small engine parts, nothing that she could see value in, but she realized they might be worth something if he’d collected them.

So far, he hadn’t collected garbage. At least, nothing that was obvious garbage. Even his bathroom had been reasonably clean, albeit cluttered. The grout needed a good scrubbing, but other than a ring in the toilet, it had been clean, too. There was a second bathroom that had been used as storage, so other than needing to be scrubbed out with the rest of the house, it wasn’t bad, either.

Today the crew would finish emptying the house so the cleaning crew could come in tomorrow, as well as the AC company to clean the ductwork. Once that happened…

Then she’d have to figure that out. The estate sale first, obviously.

Then…

She could sell the house as-is, but that wasn’t an option she liked.

More and more, she leaned toward remodeling and…well, settling down. It would be nice to have a place of her own to call home when she wasn’t wandering around the country. To have her mom and dad fly to Florida for the holidays and stay with her.

Toby and Logan complicated matters even more. It was a good complication to have, but still, she knew she couldn’t base the rest of her life on a possibility when she didn’t know if there was a long-term future there.

Hell, all she’d had was one night of good sex. Regardless of what Eliza thought about the two men, she was the one who needed to have a relationship with them. Right now, she barely knew them.

She didn’t want to be chained somewhere, physically or emotionally, the way Sam had chained her to him.

I don’t have to decide today.

* * * *

Rebecca cleaned up and put a pot roast into the oven for dinner. It was nice being able to cook large meals again. She usually didn’t get to do that with her tiny abode.

A full-sized range, like a full-sized shower, was a luxury.

And a full-sized fridge.

She was sitting on the couch with Chewi and working on a bracelet when the men returned home.

From the way her heart raced when Chewi jumped down and ran over to the back door to greet them, she knew she was in trouble.

Yes, she was eager to see them.

Setting her project aside, she walked into the kitchen to find the men feeding Chewi treats.

“He’s going to need to go on a diet if you guys keep that up,” she teased.

Chewi threw her a glare, as if to order her to shut her mouth.

The men walked over to her and took turns kissing her hello.

That’s when she decided to take a chance. “You know, I’m thinking next weekend I will go ahead and bring the RV back down here. I’ll have two weeks before my next show. No reason not to. I can change my park reservation dates. What do you think?”

Both men grinned. “Oh, baby,” Logan said, pulling her close. “That sounds like a plan I can get behind.”

“Me, too,” Toby said.

They looked happy. Both of them wearing smiles that reached their eyes.

Maybe it was her past experience with Sam, but she’d been hypervigilant, keeping an eye out for any of the same signs he’d thrown, the red flags she’d willfully ignored in lieu of what she thought she wanted.

So far, not a single warning sign. If anything, the men were going out of their way not to pressure her to do anything.

There was an empty house next door that proved to her why she should take a risk on these two men. A perfect, silently screaming metaphor of what her life could be like if she chose wrong and denied herself a future because of the shit Sam put her through in the past.

“I’ll get the estate sale stuff going, and then once that’s handled, I can figure out what the next step is. I can use your help.”

“Sure,” Toby said. “Just tell us what you need us to do.”

“I’m thinking I’m going to need a contractor. Keep it or sell it, I need to put some work into the house. Can you guys find me someone honest and dependable?”

“Absolutely,” Logan assured her.

“Does that mean you’re thinking about staying?” Toby asked.

“I’m thinking about changing how I do a lot of things. Maybe not be here all the time, but it might not be a bad idea to have a permanent base of operations.”

Toby smiled. “Right next door to us.”

“Ah, isn’t
that
a nice coincidence?” she teased.

“We meant it about not pressuring you,” Logan said. “You set the pace. We’re looking long-term. So whatever you need from us, you’ve got it. We’re not going anywhere.”

“Just keep doing what you’re doing and I think we’ll be good,” she said. “Real good.”

* * * *

Tuesday night, the three of them fell into an exhausted sleep after wearing each other out in bed. The sex was beyond hot, no denying that.

Wednesday afternoon, the mortuary called to let Rebecca know her uncle’s remains were ready to be picked up. The cleaning crew really didn’t need her there at the house, so she drove into Sarasota without changing clothes to pick him up.

The autopsy reports showed he’d died of a heart attack, very likely instantly and with no suffering or lingering. He had a medical history of heart issues she hadn’t known about, documented in his military and VA medical paperwork that she’d found in the desk.

It was one small relief.

She buckled the urn into the passenger seat so it didn’t go flying if she had to slam on the brakes, and returned to the house. This whole thing felt…surreal. She knew she’d need to grieve at some point. If it hadn’t been for her uncle, she would have struggled to pay for the divorce, even though Rusty and Eliza had offered to loan her money at the time.

Because of her uncle, she’d shed Sam’s chains and had a chance for a life.

I owe him everything, and can’t even tell him that now.

She took the urn inside Toby and Logan’s house and set it on the dining room table for now. She wasn’t exactly sure what she’d do with it. Other than specifying cremation, he hadn’t said what he wanted her to do with his ashes.

Chewi jumped up into one of the chairs, stretched his nose toward the urn, and gave it a dismissive sniff before glaring at her.

That is
not
an appropriate minun, woman.

He jumped down and headed into the kitchen.

“Not everything’s about you, you know,” she called out.

Then she stared at the urn again. “Why am I being a damn wuss about this?” she muttered to herself. She trusted Toby and Logan. The sex between them was great. Eliza and Rusty trusted them.

This weekend, she had to finish up at the venue. Then…

Next weekend, I’ll let them take me to Venture. To play.

Peace settled over her with that decision made. She needed to know sooner rather than later, before she invested any more of her heart, time, or energy into the men, that they would be compatible in the play department.

And if they were…well, then it was just a matter of settling in with them into some semblance of a routine, working around her schedule, and figuring out what to do with what they were building together.

Hell, Chewi was in love with them. There’d been times she’d met guys and Chewi hadn’t liked them.

Those guys didn’t even get her phone number.

She trusted Chewi’s radar.

He emerged from the kitchen and stared at her.

As well you should, woman. As well you should.

“Know it all,” she said.

He sniffed at her and turned to head back into the kitchen.

Rebecca spent the weekend texting with the men during her brief free times during the day, and then on the phone with them over an hour each night.

She missed them. It was a strange and new—and welcomed—feeling.

Sunday evening, after packing everything up in the RV and getting the Toad loaded onto the car dolly, Rebecca checked out of the park and got on the road. It would be nearly morning by the time she arrived in Florida, but that was okay.

Toby and Logan were worth the overnight drive.

Dawn had just started painting the eastern horizon with pastels when she made the turn into their driveway and parked her rig alongside it so she didn’t block them in.

The men emerged from the house, sleepy smiles on their faces. Chewi, now freed from his safety harness, bolted out the side door as soon as she’d opened it. He went running right for the men, jumping up on them, tail a blurry fury of wagging.

I missed you guys…my friends with the nommies…my minuns…

She walked over to them, enjoying the feel of their arms around her, their welcome-home kisses.

This felt right. This felt like the right thing to do.

For once, she wasn’t second-guessing herself, the self-doubt blessedly silent.

“That is some RV,” Toby said. “Now I see why you were humoring us when we worried about you driving back and forth in the CRV.”

“Yep. The Toad is easy compared to this. I’ve put over a hundred thousand miles on this rig already.”

“I guess,” Logan said, “I had it in my mind for some reason that it was one of those tiny camper vans. I don’t know why I couldn’t picture this. I know you told us how big it was. It just didn’t compute.”

“It’s home sweet home.”

“You must be exhausted,” Toby said. “Let’s get you two inside and settled in bed. We have to get up for work in a little bit anyway.”

“Thanks. I’ll unload what I need from it later and move it over to my uncle’s place. He’s got a hook up there.” It was still difficult to think about him in the past-tense even though his urn now sat on a shelf in a corner of her bedroom in the RV.

She’d climbed into bed, where the men were tucking her and Chewi in, when she said it. “Can we go to the club this weekend?”

“Venture?” Toby asked.

She nodded. “Maybe…to play a little?”

A seductive smile filled Logan’s face. “Getting your feet wet again?”

“A little. I’ll need plenty of warm-up.”

His smile faded. “Are you asking this because it’s what you think we want, or because it’s what
you
want? We told you, we’re good with taking this as slow as you want to take it. Don’t do it just because of us.”

“No, I’m not. I have to start somewhere. I decided I have to be able to trust you guys, and I do. You haven’t given me any reason not to trust you yet. Eliza obviously trusts you. So I should, too.”

“That means a lot to us, baby,” Toby said.

“Great. Then that’ll be our plan.”

They both kissed her before heading into the shower. She lay there trying to go to sleep and realized one thing.

Shower. Both of them.

Throwing back the covers, she quickly stripped her T-shirt and panties off and pulled her long, unruly curls into a messy bun on top of her head.

The men were a little startled when she slipped into the shower with them, but then their cocks started inflating.

“I was wrong. I can’t sleep yet. I need something.”

“What?” they asked in unison.

“I need my guys. I missed you.”

They closed in, Logan in front of her, Toby behind. With the steam billowing around them, they started making love to her, Toby’s hands cupping her breasts, playing with her nipples, rolling them, teasing them, while Logan sank to his knees and pressed his mouth to her pussy.

Good thing Toby was holding her up or her knees would have given out. Logan’s tongue flicked out, swiping up and down her clit, lips working at it, pulling her damn close.

When he slid two fingers up into her pussy, she exploded.

“That’s it, baby,” Toby whispered in her ear. “Let us take care of you like this. We’ll do anything you want, whatever you want. We just want you to feel good.”

This felt a
lot
better than good. It felt
damn
good. Great, even.

After he pulled the third orgasm from her, Logan stepped out of the shower and returned a moment later, two condoms in hand. He immediately rolled one onto his shaft and lined up his cock with her pussy before sinking deep inside her with a happy moan.

“Oh, sweetheart, I missed the hell out of you,” he said. He slanted his mouth over hers, a crushing kiss as he fucked her that drew one more small orgasm from her. He felt it, too, his own release not far behind.

When he finished and withdrew, he turned her around, his arms around her, while Toby rolled on the other condom and took Logan’s place. As he slid his cock inside her with a happy moan, he leaned in and kissed her, deeply, his tongue sliding into her mouth in time with his cock.

Yes, this is where she wanted to be.
Nothing
felt wrong about this.

At all.

He nibbled the side of her neck as he fucked her, faster, a long, sexy groan escaping him when he took a few last hard, deep thrusts inside her and climaxed.

They stood there under the water in silence for a few minutes, their arms around her and each other.

“We
really
missed you,” Toby finally said. “And not just for sex. We missed
you
.”