The Barter System (52 page)

The doorman called ahead and
she told him to send them up.  Somehow, she’d known it would be Ric.  Being a
cop, he would have the best resources to find her.  The elevator doors opened
and she smiled.  Ric approached her carefully.  She held out her hands to him. 
“I’m fine now, Ricardo.  Really.”

Then he and Malina gave her
a crushing hug and they were all crying together.  It was this sight that
greeted her men when they got off the elevator.  Riya introduced them as ‘her
Max and Micah’ to her friends.  Ricardo’s brow went up and she raised hers as
well.  There was a tense silence.

Malina snorted, “
Chica
,
if there was ever a woman who could handle two men…it would be you.”  And they
all laughed when Ricardo agreed.  The five of them made dinner together and the
‘three M’s’ gave them privacy as Riya and Ricardo spoke in her glass office. 

None of the other three
specifically
watched
the room but when they caught one another’s sly
glances in that general direction, they laughed at each other.

She showed him the pictures
of them from her time in LA and he whistled.  “Damn, we were seriously hot.” 
He looked at her a long time.  “You were right, you know?  I settled back into
my life, Riya.  Malina is pregnant.  She’s due next summer.  Things are good. 
I took a job in cyber-crimes so I could be home more and its better, and
hotter, than it ever was before the divorce.  I want to thank you for
everything you ever said to me, did for me…and to me.  Because I have what I
need, what I want sure, but what I need most of all.  You’re still the coolest
chick on the planet.  Even Malina knows that.  And I love her like a fat kid
loves cake.”

They laughed and she hugged
him before saying, “Okay, they’re trying not to be nosey, but we need to show
mercy.”  He wanted copies of the less risqué pics and she made them for him. 
With that, they went back to the main room. 

Malina loved the ones of
them dancing and had to share the details with Micah and Max who whistled.  “An
LA club DJ pointed you out, love?  We’ll get you out on the floor again when
you’re ready.”

Much later that night, when
Ric and Malina told her they’d call her when they renewed their vows and when
the baby came, Riya and her men saw them to the elevator. 

As it started down, Max and
Micah turned to her in wonder.  “Riya, we actually like that guy,” Micah said
in surprise.

Max added, “God, I’m so glad
we ended up being the last subjects, Micah.  He might have won her over.”  Riya
shook her head.  “No, Riya.  He could have had your heart if you’d let it go
completely like you thankfully did with us.”

A week later, Micah called
her from her office and she came, distracted as always with reading glasses on
her nose.  “Darling,” Max said softly, trying to get her attention. 

“Yes, Max, baby?  I’m on
Lucas’s chapter and I’m very distracted…”  She glanced up to see Lucas standing
in her living room as if she’d summoned him.  Next to him stood Amelia, Shay,
and Victor.  She reached back to grab the kitchen counter and Micah caught her
when she went right past it.  “Wh…?  How did you all…?  I…I can’t believe…Oh my
God, hi!”  Then she ran forward to hug them. 

Shay and Amelia were hugging
her so hard she had to whisper, “Ribs…ribs.”  Finally Victor got it and yanked
the women away.  Then he stepped up to hug her gently and kiss her head.  He
held her at arms’ length and winked. 

Lucas was smiling his quiet
smile when she approached him and slipped her hands around his waist.  After he
hugged her, he asked if she’d heard from her father.  She shook her head and
started crying. 

He wiped away her tears and
said softly, “Then he’s a fool, Riya and doesn’t deserve your tears.”  She
nodded and sighed.  He wiped her face and gave her a big smile. 

She stepped away and went to
Micah and Max, putting her arms around their waists.  “This is Micah and Max,
and yes…this is exactly what you’re thinking it is.” 

Shay’s mouth was a big ‘O’
of surprise, Amelia whispered ‘damn’, while Lucas and Victor laughed hard and
loud.  “Victor, I believe we discussed this?”  Victor nodded with a smug look. 

Lucas explained, “At first,
as you can imagine, we were a little, confrontational with one another.  Victor
had a little distance by that point and he had Shay.  I was still a little, uh,
raw.  Hadn’t opened up to Amy completely yet, felt like I was kind of cheating
at first.  Victor and I were riding on the ridge one day and he said he didn’t
think one man would ever hold you.  I said it would have to be men made of
stronger stuff than either of us to be willing to share Riya.  You’re happy, honey?”
he asked, watching her carefully. 

At her nod and smile, he
nodded too, “Then that’s all I care about.  Who the hell am I to judge?  I’m
about to marry the sister of my former lover’s lover.”  They all laughed as
Riya ran to them, hugging and kissing and congratulating each of them with all
her heart.

A while later, Riya spent a
few minutes in her office with Victor and showed him their pics.  “These are so
hot.  We both look damn good in these, Riya.  I’d love this one of when we met
and when we’re dancing.  I can’t be caught dead with the other ones.”  They
both laughed in agreement.  “You happy, baby?” 

She scanned him copies and
he held them to his heart as she said, “Thank you for everything, Victor. 
You’ll know your chapter in the book when you read it.  I think you’ll like it
a lot.” 

He kissed her chastely on
the corner of her mouth and they joined the others.  Shay grinned at his
statement that the pictures he had were the most revealing.  She didn’t believe
him for a second but knew where she stood in his life.

When she asked Lucas to
speak to him for a moment, he came without hesitation.  He was awed and pissed
about the photos but wanted the one of them riding horses on the range. 
“That’s my favorite one, too.”  She told him with a soft smile.

“Pretty Riya.  How relieved
I am to see you smiling.  When we managed to track Tawny down and found out
everything that happened, none of us could think about anything but checking on
you.  Other than Max and Micah, of course, I’d say you had the biggest impact
on Victor and me.  Changed our lives from desolate to full of love.  I don’t
think you’ll ever know what it meant to me.  The boys, and the friends you made
while you were in Montana, speak of you often.”  He pulled her into a big hug
and whispered, “I expect you to keep the little piece of my heart as safe as I
keep yours.”  She nodded into his chest and they went back to the others. 

Climbing into Micah’s lap,
she happily relished the feel of his strong arms going around her.  When Max
came from the kitchen, he pulled her feet over so he could massage them.  They
stayed this way until it was very late and their guests said they hated to
leave but they were heading out the next day. 

At the elevator, Victor
said, “You’d better be at our weddings, Riya.  I won’t forgive you if you don’t
come and Aunt Cyndi said you have one more week to call her before she makes a
trip herself.”

They hugged her goodbye and
then they were gone.  Max said bluntly, “I always said those two would have
been the biggest risk.  They would have loved her the hardest of all our
competition.” 

Micah nodded in agreement
and hugged their Riya, “Thank God you matched them all up or we’d have been in
trouble, baby.” 

“No, neither of you would
have had any competition but one another…which makes this ever so convenient.” 
She hugged and kissed them soundly.

She wasn’t really surprised
when Max and Micah arranged for Joshua and Jessica to enjoy a little trip to
Manhattan.  They didn’t tell her until they were on their way up in the
elevator. 

As much as they’d known
Joshua was the youngest of her subjects, seeing him step into their foyer
certainly put them on their toes. 

He kissed her thoroughly
with a hand behind her neck then Jessica French-kissed her and groped her ass. 
Riya moved away from them laughing.  “Both of you behave or you’ll upset my Max
and Micah.” 

At Joshua’s questioning look
she added, “You would have happily maintained a long-term with relationship
with Jessica and me so don’t be a chauvinist.”  He laughed and agreed she was
right, it was hypocritical. 

Jessica gave her a
resounding, “You go girl.” 

They took them to dinner and
Riya danced carefully with Joshua while Jessica asked very intimate and
embarrassing questions of Micah and Max, keeping them totally off-balance. 
Joshua asked her about what happened to her, and she told him, feeling him
tighten around her as they danced. 

“It really is alright now. 
I promise.  They take very good care of me.  How are you doing, Joshua?”  He
told her about school and his team.  She told him about the pictures and he
wanted copies of all of them.  She laughed and said she’d made them already. 

When they got back to the
table, Jessica begged to see them and said she was framing the one of all three
of them. 

Micah and Max didn’t
remember ever being as young as these two.  When the restaurant closed, they
saw them into a cab after several hugs and some seriously inappropriate
touching, then they took their Riya home.

Two weeks later, they had a
visit from Sean and Alyssa.  Of all her subjects, he was the most nervous with
their ménage, and Riya had expected it since he was also most like her father. 
All things considered, he adapted well, and soon settled into talk of business
with her men. 

Sean was furious about the
pictures, but wanted the unrevealing one of them on the boat, as she’d known he
would.  They enjoyed dinner together and by the time they saw them to the door,
Sean kissed her forehead and told her be happy because she’d earned it by
changing so many lives for the better.

It was January when she
asked her men to take her to Boston to see Bobby in jail and they flipped out
completely on her.  They even called Tawny who totally backed them up.  She
stuck to her guns finally throwing a hissy until she got her way. 

They insisted on going with
her, which she was grateful for.  Rodney drove them to Boston to the jail where
her attacker was being held.  After searching her belongings, and patting down
Micah and Max, she was told she could visit for five minutes only.  The men
would have to wait outside the visiting area but would be able to see her
through the glass.

Bobby was brought into the
visiting area, looking much better than the last time she’d seen him.  His hair
was cut, he was bathed, and his flesh had filled out a bit. 

When he saw her sitting at a
table, his eyes took on a look of panic.  She smiled gently and asked him to
sit.  He did, stiffly, unable to meet her eyes.

“Bobby, I want to show you
something I hope you will carry with you, and remember, for the rest of your
life.  She slid the picture of her going into the warehouse side by side with
the picture of her being taken out on a gurney.  He looked at them for a long
time and then burst into tears.  She didn’t say a word, but she reached across
the table and took his hand.  “Bobby?  Can you look at me now?” 

He raised his head and she
saw the terror and shame in his eyes. 

“You have the choice to
change your life.  To make sure you never do anything like this again.  Do you
know that?”  He nodded miserably.  “You’re going to be in prison for a couple
of years, but you need to stop living like this, Bobby.  You hurt me and I
think you may have hurt others.”

He gripped her hand, “I’m so
sorry for what I did to you.  I…never used to be like this.  Like the person I
am now.  I think I’d almost feel better if I’d lost the, you know, my whole
package.”  He swallowed hard.

Riya felt a huge weight lift
from her shoulders and was glad she’d come.  “Bobby, I came here to tell you to
please get whatever help you need to make sure you never do anything like this
again.  I also wanted to tell you…I forgive you.”