Chains Read online

  “I hope you’re right.”

  The men moved in, hugging both women. “She is,” Logan said.

  “Listen to her,” Toby said.

  “Yeah, listen to me.” Eliza gently poked her in the forehead. “And tonight, dinner, our place. Bring your laptop. Cali and her guys are coming over.”

  “Why?”

  “I want you to talk to her about ideas for your website and theirs.” She nodded to where Chewi was standing there watching them. “And bring him. Dominayshun dog there would be a hysterical model for the website in addition to Baxter and George.”

  “George?”

  “Abbey’s tortoise.”

  “Oh.” Rebecca looked at Chewi. “What do you think?”

  He sat, sneezing at them.

  “I think he approves,” Rebecca said.

  “Of course he does. We’re even going to try Boo as a model. A bulldog Domme. It’ll be hysterical and help both your sales and theirs. Now, no more talk about Sam, right?”

  Taking a deep breath, she nodded. “Right.”

  “Good.” Eliza turned to the men. “Next time, tie her up before you leave for work, huh?”

  Chapter Twelve

  Rebecca had several more shows to vend at over the next couple of months. The three of them spent as much time together as they could, sometimes the men driving or flying out to see her, or meeting somewhere halfway, so they could have a few days here and there.

  Then she had a three-month break. There’d been a show she’d originally planned to vend at, but she’d managed to make the cancellation deadline to get a refund of her money, meaning she could, in good conscience, settle down for a little while with the men.

  She rolled into their yard Tuesday morning around five, and feeling close to collapse. She didn’t even unhook the Toad, just grabbed Chewi and headed inside, used the bathroom, and snuggled in bed between her guys.

  Toby rolled over and kissed her. “Morning, gorgeous.”

  From the foot of the bed, Chewi sneezed at them.

  “Not you, buddy,” Logan sleepily said, rolling over to sling an arm around her waist. “I’d molest you now, but I know you’re exhausted and we have to get up for work shortly.”

  “I’m assuming you’re talking to me and not Chewi,” she teased.

  Logan nibbled the back of her neck. “Duh.”

  “Oh,” Toby said. “We were going to the coffee time at Perkins tonight. Everyone’s missed you and been asking about you. Might be able to sell some goodies.”

  Part of her wanted to say no, to hog her men.

  But she had missed her friends.

  “Tilly and Loren will be there, too,” Logan said.

  “Okay, you talked me into it.”

  She fell asleep and didn’t even wake up when they got up to get ready for work. She texted them after lunchtime, once she’d woken up, got some coffee in her, and unloaded the Toad from the dolly. The plan was they would try to come pick her up as long as they didn’t get hung up at work and stuck in traffic. Otherwise, she’d meet them there.

  The estate sale had cleared out the majority of the stuff at her uncle’s house. Now she was left with the tractor and trailer, the truck, and less than half of one of the storage sheds filled with odds and ends.

  She was trying out different ideas for the house, on paper and on a computer program she’d bought, 3-D modeling software that allowed her to move stuff around in the house based on the dimensions she’d inputted.

  It was no longer a matter of if she made this her home, but when.

  The men finished at work in time to come pick Rebecca up. The three of them drove out to the Perkins where the coffee time would be held. They weren’t the first ones there, fortunately. They recognized several people already milling around in the back room area.

  As they sat there talking, and more people joined them, out of the corner of her eye Rebecca spotted a familiar face walk into the room and home in on her like a beacon.

  Staring at her, Sam took a seat at a table across the room where she couldn’t help but see him.

  The men started to get up but she stayed them. “No. I got this.”

  Smiling, she stood, walked over to the table, and sat down across from him without saying a word.

  The room fell silent as everyone realized what was going on.

  Eventually, Sam straightened and spoke up. “What?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. You were staring at me. I thought you wanted something.”

  “I don’t want anything from you.”

  “Good. Then you’ll get out of here.”

  “I have a right to be here.”

  As one body, everyone else got up, walked over to stand behind Rebecca, and stared at Sam, most of them with angry glares on their faces.

  “Sure, you do,” Rebecca said. “But you might want to ask everyone here if they want you here.” She looked up and back. “Do you, guys?”

  “No.”

  Sam leaned back, retreating from the force of the unified response.

  Loren, standing next to Rebecca, spoke up. “I’m the host of the group tonight, and I say I don’t want you here, either. Would you like to try for a banning by the restaurant?”

  Rebecca leaned in, dropping her voice. “Here’s what I know, asshole. You haven’t been able to get over the fact that I left you, even ten-plus years after the fact. People have told me you’ve had a string of disastrous relationships that never lasted more than a few months each after I left your sorry, abusive ass. So guess what? You don’t deserve anything other than a minor footnote in my personal history. If you don’t have anything further to say to me, I suggest you leave now, with what little is left of your dignity, because no one here tonight will say a damn word to you.”

  “Bitch.”

  She smiled. “That’s Ms. Bitch to you, asshole.” And with that she slowly stood, flipping him a bird before she turned and headed back to her original seat.

  Before she turned to sit, she leaned in toward Toby. “Did he leave?”

  He glanced over his shoulder. “Yep.”

  “Whew.”

  Tilly walked over, looking smug. “Ah, I see the backbone implant has taken just fine. I’m proud of you, girl.”

  “Yeah, well, you wouldn’t look good in prison orange.” She stepped in to hug Tilly.

  “He’s not worth prison orange. Honestly, sweetie, had you said something sooner, he would have gotten booted sooner. Derrick and Kel don’t put up with shit like that at their club.”

  “I didn’t know he was going there until that night I ran into him.”

  “I’d seen him a couple of times before, and heard about his bullshit, but never realized who he was in relation to you. He was always alone when he came in.”

  “Figures.”

  “Wait’ll we tell Eliza,” Logan said. “She’ll be happy.”

  “She’ll be pissed off she wasn’t here to witness it,” Rebecca said. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell her.”

  “Too late,” Gilo said. “I got it on video with my phone, just in case he tried something. I’ve already sent the clip to Eliza.”

  “You wh—” She was interrupted by her phone ringing.

  Eliza.

  “You go, girl!” her bestie screamed over the line when Rebecca answered the call. “Good on ya!”

  Those standing close enough to hear Eliza’s voice booming from the phone started laughing.

  Rebecca stepped across the room away from the others. “Tone it back a few decibels, please. I need my hearing.”

  “No, seriously. That was awesome. I’m so proud of you!”

  “Did I pass, sensei?”

  “You are an amazing grasshopper! You passed with all the epic win there is.”

  Rebecca was still talking with her when she turned and noticed an identical, strange look on her men’s faces. When she followed their gaze, she saw them watching a woman who’d just entered, hugged a guy who’d walked in ahead of her, and then they’d taken a
booth on the other side of the room.

  It didn’t look like the woman had noticed them.

  She quickly did the mental math. “Eliza, I need to run. I’ll call you back later.” She ended the call and walked toward her guys, but Tilly intercepted her on the way, hooking elbows with her and swinging her around and back to some privacy.

  “Heads-up,” Tilly said. “We have another bogey at eleven o’clock.”

  Rebecca swiveled her head, trying to look. “Is that Julie?”

  “Let’s play nice.”

  “I just ran Sam off.”

  Tilly nodded. “And that was nice.”

  She pulled loose of Tilly and made a beeline toward the booth, vaguely aware of her men scrambling to get up and make it over to her first.

  “If you’re going to get in trouble,” Tilly called out, “at least do me proud in the process.”

  Rebecca pasted a syrupy smile on her face as she walked over to the booth. “Hi, Julie?” Rebecca stuck a hand out to shake with her.

  Julie frowned. “Um, yeah?” She briefly shook with Rebecca.

  Rebecca kept her tone light, conversational. “Yeah, listen, see, we have a little problem. You fucked my guys over royally. Is this the douchenozzle you cheated on them with?”

  Logan and Toby rushed up behind her, but Rebecca leaned in, her hands on the table as she dropped her voice. “Based on the look of shock on your guy’s face, I’m gonna guess that’s a no.” She smiled at the man. “Hi, Rebecca. Listen, see, she screwed my guys over and ripped money out of their bank account that wasn’t hers to take. Oh, and she cheated on them. And they’re pretty fucking hot guys, too, as you can see. So…you might want to guard your ATM card and keep an eye on her social media traffic. Just sayin’.”

  The guy stared at Julie. “You said it was your money.”

  Julie looked like she’d expected anything but this. “Of course it was—”

  Toby’s cough sounded suspiciously like, “Bullshit!”

  “I mean, seriously,” Rebecca said, stepping back and indicating her men. “These two are hot. And great in bed. If she’d fuck them over, why do you think you stand a long-term chance with her? Oh, unless you’ve got money, that is.”

  He looked at Rebecca, looked at Toby and Logan, looked across the table at where Julie now sat wide-eyed and gape-jawed, then stood and left.

  Tilly walked up. Rebecca held up her hand, and Tilly high-fived her.

  Loren also joined them, arms crossed over her chest and shaking her head at Julie. “Okay, I’m not even going to be half as polite to you as I was to Sam. Get the fuck out of here. I’ve heard too many stories about you and your sugar daddies to even stand the sight of you. How many guys have you fucked over who didn’t report you to the police for fear of you bringing abuse or assault charges against them?”

  Now red-faced, and with the room silent and glaring at Julie, she grabbed her purse and stormed out.

  Tilly high-fived Rebecca again.

  Loren turned on Tilly and pointed a finger at her. “You are a bad influence.”

  “Me? What’d I do?”

  “You can’t go siccing her on people.”

  “Why not?”

  At least five other people echoed that sentiment out loud.

  “It’s not nice,” Loren explained.

  “To the asshats, no, it’s not,” Tilly said. “Not supposed to be, either. I’m proud of her for standing up for herself and her guys.”

  Rebecca high-fived her.

  Landry and Cris walked over and leaned in. “Eh, you two sure you want our Tilly mentoring your woman?” Landry asked.

  Cris snorted. “Yeah. She doesn’t hit like a girl.”

  “Hey, we needed a topic of conversation for tonight,” Rebecca shot back. “So now we have one. How to deal with asshole exes.”

  Laughter rippled through the room.

  Toby and Logan pulled Rebecca close, each of them kissing her.

  “Maybe someone needs a paddling to remind her who’s in charge,” Logan said.

  “That’s not much of a threat,” Toby noted.

  “It is if I take away orgasms,” Logan said.

  Rebecca pouted. “That’s just mean.”

  “Hence why I’m the sadist,” Logan told her.

  * * * *

  They managed to get through the rest of the dinner without any further interruptions of the bad kind. Logan wouldn’t really spank Rebecca as punishment, and she knew it. He knew she knew it.

  Didn’t mean he wouldn’t spank her at all. In fact, replaying in his mind how she’d stood up for herself, and them, had not only made him proud, but horny.

  Unlike Sam, he and Toby liked their women to come with fully-functioning backbones and high spirits.

  Rebecca was, however, inundated by her friends to look at the jewelry pieces she’d brought with her. She ran sales on her tablet and ended the evening taking in far more money than they’d spent on dinner, including several custom orders for day collars.

  “Remind me why I’m on the road again?” she asked them as they returned to the men’s house.

  Logan, who was riding shotgun, shook his head. “You tell us, babe. You don’t need the money.”

  “But I can’t afford to just be lazy for the rest of my life.”

  “Then go back to school. Or cut back on your shows and focus on the website. Doesn’t hurt that Cali and her guys are selling your stuff, too.”

  No, that didn’t hurt at all. They carried a limited, special edition line she’d created, items that could only be purchased through the Two Crafty Bastards website. She almost couldn’t make them fast enough to keep them stocked, and several times had to ask her men to help her out.

  If she was home most the time, she could build up her inventory.

  Plus, she missed her guys when she was on the road.

  “Or,” Toby said, “you could tell your guys it’s okay for them to tell you their opinion.”

  That sounded like a charged statement. “Why would I have to tell you that?”

  “Because,” Logan said, “we don’t want you to think we’re controlling like Sam.”

  “I would never think that. You guys are nothing like him.”

  “Then the truth is,” Toby said, “that we wish you were home more.”

  “Then why didn’t you just say that?”

  “Because we don’t want you to think we’re trying to order you. We want it to be what you want.”

  She had hated every single good-bye over the past two months. There’d been a few nights she’d curled around Chewi and cried herself to sleep while he licked her face and probably wondered why his head minun, the provider of his food and water, was suddenly leaking from her eyeballs and his friends and minuns with the good nommies were gone.

  Stoopid woman.

  “What are you asking me?” She wanted them to say it, to put it out there first.

  Logan took over again. “What we’re saying is that we love you, we miss you when you’re not here, and we wish you were living full-time with us, because we hate like fuck coming home to an empty house. It doesn’t feel right anymore. It feels like you’re supposed to be there.”

  “I don’t want to quit doing the shows,” she said, but not quite sure why.

  “We don’t want you to quit them, either,” Logan said. “We know you enjoy them. And we know it’s your livelihood.”

  She stared at him. “I could cut back and not do so many.”

  “If we have enough advance warning, we could go with you to some of them. Take the time off from work and help with the driving. Watch the booth with you. Give you time to work on making patterns to sell on the website, and help you film the tutorials.”

  The first tutorial she’d posted, filmed with their help during one of her return visits to their home, had already received several thousand hits on YouTube. And the first two patterns she’d posted for sale usually sold a few copies every day.

  If she had more posted…
r />   “But only if you want us with you,” Toby said. “And only if you want to be with us.”

  She nodded. “I do,” quietly slipped out before she realized it. Then she added, “I’d like that. I’d like it to be permanent. I want us to be permanent.”

  “Are you asking us to collar you?” Logan said. They had talked about it before, that they wouldn’t beg her to take a collar from them. That if she wanted a collar, she would have to be the one to ask them, and that whenever she was ready to take that step, she had to let them know.

  Leap and the net will appear, right?

  “Yeah. I want you guys to collar me.”

  The gorgeous smile filled his face. “Baby, you don’t realize it, but you’ve just made us the happiest two men on the face of this planet.”

  * * * *

  They had sworn to each other that they wouldn’t push her, wouldn’t press. Especially not after what she went through in the past. But Toby seriously wanted to pull over and hump her silly in the backseat on the side of the road right at that moment.

  That was how happy he felt, that he was willing to risk a public nudity charge.

  Of course, he controlled himself until they got home and she walked Chewi. Then Toby picked her up, slung her over his shoulder, and carried her to their bedroom where he playfully dumped her onto the bed.

  “You appear to be a man with a plan,” she joked.

  “Hey, you’ve just made us two happy men. I plan on celebrating with orgasms and then curling up next to your sweet body and having a damn good night’s sleep.”