Jenna's Consent (42 page)

He looked over his shoulder in Cyn’s direction, where she
stood talking to Haleigh and Skye and their guys.

“Yes, it is.”

Jenna moved down the steps and hugged them both. What she’d
been working toward for years was coming full circle and she was finally ready
to own it.

Enthusiasm nearly bowled her over. She hugged Jared and
Chris and turned back to Ryder. “I’d be honored to teach you rope.”

Ryder nodded and then glanced at Oscar. “Thank you. For
everything.”

He moved across the stage and knelt beside him. Oscar leaned
toward him automatically.

Jenna smiled as she grabbed her bag off the side of the
stage. Nick took it from her, shouldering it before she could tell him she
could handle it on her own.

They knew she could and that was all that mattered.

She cast one more peek at Oscar and knew he was exactly
where he was supposed to be.

Ian took her hand and led her from the room. She reached
back and held her hand out to Nick.

He took it with his free hand and the other still held her
corset. He saw where she was looking and grinned. Her heart nearly burst from
her chest.

Her side tingled.

She couldn’t wait to talk to them.

Well. Talk and…

She expected Ian to take her into the room they were in
before. The thought of going in there again honestly hadn’t been that
appealing.

But it was them.

And maybe it would be different this time. A flash of
insecurity washed through her.

What if they fought again?

What if they ended up hating her for this?

What if…?

Instead, he walked past it and turned the opposite direction
into a playroom that was normally empty.

“Sirs?”

As soon as they crossed the threshold, Nick dropped the bag
and locked the door. He turned to her, ripped her tank over her head, cupped
her cheeks and kissed her lips. “New room for a new beginning.”

“Huuu,” whooshed out of her lungs. She wanted to beg them to
fuck her, to plead for physical satisfaction because her entire body hummed in
need.

But this was too important.

They could never go back and start over again.

The foundation of their future began here. In this moment.

This moment.

“What changed?” she prompted.

Nick stared at her, inside her, past every wall she’d ever
erected around her heart. She glanced at Ian, taking a deep breath and lowered
every barrier she’d built between them.

“I did.”

Her eyebrows pulled low and she didn’t know how to take
that.

Nick kissed her mouth and took her to the center of the
room.

“Kneel.”

Without thinking, she clasped her hands behind her back and
knelt before him, legs closed. Ian walked around her then stood side by side
with Nick.

Side by side. Like family. A united front. Tears filled her
eyes.

Ian took a deep breath and she wondered what he had to tell
her that was so bad he had to prepare himself.

“Growing up my younger brother was awesome, at least that’s
what they told me. Every chance they got. He was the favorite. The baby. Me, on
the other hand? Expendable.”

“But why?” she whispered.

“I thought it was because of the kink. I started young. They
found out, etcetera. Right before I left you so many years ago, that night when
I couldn’t keep my shit together and bailed… I’d just learned that I wasn’t my
father’s kid at all. My mother had gotten pregnant with me when she was having
an affair.” He palmed his head. “The blond hair. I should have known. Everyone
else in the family has dark hair.”

“That’s…awful. But why wouldn’t you tell me all of this
then? Why would you just walk away instead of talking to me about it?”

“The look of pity I got from members of my family for all my
life, I couldn’t see that from you. Just couldn’t do it. So I walked away.”

“It’s more than just that. Ménage? That’s what set you off
that night. I know it. What about it scared you so badly?”

“My parents picked my brother for everything and anything.
My mom picked her husband and legitimate kid over me. Every time. In some ways
I was glad to learn I wasn’t really my father’s because it made that rejection
easier to take but from my mom? Not getting me? Loving another person more.
Leaving me behind…”

“You were worried the same thing would happen if we had a
threesome? You were worried I’d pick someone else over you?”

He nodded and then looked at Nick. “But I think I’ve found
someone to trust.” He stared back at her. “Two someones.”

“Yes, Sir. You most definitely have.”

“Your corsets. Why do you wear them?” Ian asked the question
and she tried to swallow her emotion ready to do some confessing of her own.

“They’re pretty and feminine and made of steel. They held me
together when I couldn’t do it for myself.”

Regret filled Ian’s intense gaze and she stared right back,
allowing him access to everything she felt. Each and every emotion he couldn’t
handle before.

“They kept everyone at a safe distance. They made me feel
safe when nothing else did.”

“When I cut your corset off, something felt wrong to you. I
can’t figure out what but it did. Tonight. When you took it off, it was
completely different. Why?”

“It was like that moment when a butterfly breaks free of its
chrysalis, beating its wings so hard, so strong. It can’t survive that process
with help. It will wither and die because it can’t make it on its own. I needed
to do it on my own. I wanted to earn them.”

“Earn what?”

“My wings.”

She took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders and her
arms, pulling them around to the front. Her palms brushed the floor in front of
her knees and she spread her legs wide. Her backside rested on her heels as she
placed her hands palm-up on her open thighs.

She looked at the two men in front of her, giving herself to
them both, finally ready to accept each of them as perfect sections of one
whole.

Emotion swam inside her, unwilling to hide any longer and
she bit her lip.

Submission is a gift she gave to them freely and without
reservation. But that was all she could control.

They had each been so concerned with protecting themselves
that nothing could ever grow in that darkness.

They were her light and she wanted to grow with them.

She could control and share that much.

The rest was up to them.

“Say it,” Nick ordered with a passion that bordered on
violence. “I can see it in your eyes but I want the words.”

“I love you, Sir.” Her chest slumped like a balloon
deflating, now that she was finally getting to say the words. But he filled her
back up with the joy and excitement of voicing it.

“Fuck, I love you, too. Didn’t want to. Scares the shit out
of me. But…dammit, I do.” Not the most romantic declaration of feelings but
that was him. And it was perfect. “You’re ours now. Permanently, if I have
anything to say about it.”

She smiled hugely but it faltered when Ian didn’t say
anything. He’d been so silent that she glanced up at him. No emotion. Like ice.

“Sir?”

“Have I messed up too many times to ask forgiveness now? I
couldn’t see past my own pride years ago to focus on what was truly important.
Your needs, your care. And I know I’ve been acting like a dog with a bone.”

“We.” Nick nodded. “We’re both guilty of that.”

Ian looked at him, nodded and then focused on her again. “Do
I have a chance of earning your love again?”

She wanted to make it easy on him and tell him all was
forgiven. But that wouldn’t be honest and it wouldn’t be fair.

“Will you get my mask?” She glanced over her shoulder at her
bag and then back to Ian. “Please, Sir?”

He walked past her, trailing his fingers across her
shoulder. She closed her eyes, leaning into his leg when he paused to touch
her. Too soon, he was gone.

He retrieved her mask then stood in front of her again.

“I wanted to throw your collar out years ago. I thought
maybe then I’d stop hurting. You broke me when you walked away and it took a
lot of time to put me back together.”
Deep breath.
“I’m giving myself to
you.” Glanced between them. “Both of you. I love you and I want this to work.
But if you can’t accept what I need, if you can’t give me your all, then we’ll
call it quits now. I can’t go through that again.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Jenna. I’m finally where I belong.
And even Nick’s growing on me.”

“Like a fungus,” Nick joked and knocked Ian on the shoulder.

They all laughed, breaking some of the tension. It was as if
a storm cloud just blew away.

“Sirs, for whatever comes next tonight, I’d like to wear my
mask. I want a piece of each of you on me when—”

“No.” Ian said it, cutting her off.

No? She mouthed the word but no sound actually made it past
the panic tightening her chest.

Ian held the mask up. “This is for when you tie. When you
tie others, when you self-suspend. That way you’ll always know we’re with you,
supporting you.” He shoved her mask in the back of his pants and glanced at
Nick who was drawing something out of his front pocket.

“For the rest of the time, we had something made for you.”
He held out a necklace. No… It was a collar. A metal collar. “Three sets of
chains all welded together with a lock holding them all together.”

Ian pulled a lock out of his pocket and gestured with it
toward the metal collar. “Mine’s titanium, since my head is so hard.” Ian
smiled at her as they approached. “It will remind me to let you in.”

“And mine’s iron. From my fighting days. Every time I see
it, I’ll remember to be gentle with you. Even if you need my pain, it will be
given with love.

“And mine?” Tears flowed down her cheeks, splashing onto her
chest.

Nick and Ian reached for her at the same time, wiping them
from her skin, taking care of her.

“Steel,” Ian explained. “You don’t need your corsets
anymore. Not for protection anyway. To keep the world away. We’ll keep you
safe. Both of us. For always.”

Nick placed the collar around her neck, holding the tiny
rings together at her sternum. Ian locked it together. The tiny snick of the
tumblers latching made her giddy.

With a trembling hand she reached for the lock that hung
down from the collar, holding it close.

There was something on the back. Something engraved.

She flipped it over, focusing on the tiny letters.

Love.

She looked up at Ian, then Nick, feeling it from both of
them.

“As long as we have that holding us together, we can’t
fail.” Ian threaded his fingers into her hair, giving her his warmth.

Nick thumbed away another tear. “Close to your heart.
Forever.”

“Forever, Owners. Forever,” she whispered.

She bowed before them and her lock made a tiny tinging sound
when it hit the concrete. She laid her forehead on the front of each of their
leather boots…and cried.

A little while later she stirred against a very warm, naked
man.

She vaguely remembered one of the men lifting her, placing
her in bed and them climbing in with her after they’d stripped.

A few minutes before, Nick had kissed her shoulder and told
her, “I’ll be right back.” His cell had gone off and someone in the club needed
him for something.

His warmth still lingered behind her, inside her.

“I liked you with the other girls.” Ian confessed out of the
blue.

“What?” She blinked, unable to keep the incongruity out of
her voice. She tried to focus on him in the near darkness. “You hated me even
talking about it when we were together before.”

“I felt threatened before.”

“And now you don’t?”

“No.”

“No?” She shook her head, leaning up on an elbow to see him
better, unwilling to only get parts of him anymore. “You can’t just say no and
expect that to be good enough anymore.”

He pulled her on top of him, spreading her thighs wide as he
sought the entrance of her sex with his cock.

He stilled, looked up at her, not voicing what he wanted.
But she knew.

“I’m clean. Never been with anyone without protection. I
want you. Just like this. No barriers. Not from either of you. If I can’t have
mine anymore, then you shouldn’t get any either.”

He pushed inside the slightest bit and clenched his teeth.
He could have used the change in topic as an excuse not to finish their
conversation but he didn’t.

“It’s different now. I know I’m enough, even if you need
Nick too.”

She stilled, thinking she really heard
him
for the
first time. “So the sharing, you mean…”

“Do you love me, Jenna? Really love me? And not the tiny
portion left over because you couldn’t get rid of it from before. I mean do you
love me now? Even with all of my mistakes toward you? Awful mistakes.” He
whispered the last two words against her mouth.

“I never stopped loving you. Never. I wanted to.” She peered
into his eyes and then down to where his body was impaling her, joining hers.
“But you’re a part of me. A part I never wanted to lose. I don’t think I was
ready for you back then.” It was easier to confess her part in him leaving than
she expected.

He pushed inside, gritting his teeth and trying to make it
gentle. “What do you mean?”

She moved on him with his hands guiding her, urging her on.
“I knew I needed two men, even back then. One was never going to be it for me
but I thought I had to hold some piece of myself apart. Reserve something of
myself to give someone else. I was wrong. I can give you both everything and
somehow I always have more I want to give. Hmm…” A whimper broke free as he
slid in deep and bottomed out, holding himself inside her tight sheath.

“Do you love me?” Ian’s quiet question stunned her.

She palmed his cheek, sliding her hand along his jaw and
stopped with her fingers in his hair. “Yes. I love you. For always.”

“Then that’s enough for me. It’s more than I deserve and
I’ll try to earn it a little more each day. I trust you. To love me with all of
you, even if in the same breath as you love Nick. Your love and mine. It’s more
than enough to make this work. I love you.”

Her forehead rested against his and she closed her eyes,
wondering what in the world she must have done so right to be lucky enough to
have two men who loved her.

Fierce men who love her completely and would shatter
anything in her path that held her back—if she needed them to.

They would let her stand by herself…but never alone.

Her lock bumped her chest on each thrust, reminding her of
everything they gained and the life they had in front of them.

Ian held her up and jackhammered into her pussy, hitting her
G-spot in such a way that she cried out. “Ian!”

“I’m here. I’m here.”

He pumped inside her and she latched on to his shoulders,
not knowing how she was going to survive the orgasm about to wreck her.