Liability [Suncoast Society] (Siren Publishing Sensations) Read online

  “You know me better than that. Besides, you’ll be a better husband for him.” She smiled up at him. “You’ll be able to keep him in line and make him follow the doctor’s orders better than I can. I cave too damn easy. All he has to do is use ‘the voice’ on me, or arch a damned eyebrow at me, and I’m melted butter. Hell, all he has to do is give me ‘the look’ and I cave. You know that.”

  “True.” He palmed her cheek. “Honestly? You’re okay with this?”

  “Honestly. I still have…stuff in my head. My stuff, not your fault or his. Stuff I need to work through. It wouldn’t be fair to him for me to marry him right now. I think in the long run, it’ll be easier on me being the pet of two really hot, loving guys I know will never abandon me. I’ll never feel…trapped. Again, that’s me, not because of you or him. Moving in together is terrifying but I want to do it for him and you and this. Because I love both of you.”

  He stared down into her sweet brown eyes. “We’ll never abandon you, sweetheart. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And him.”

  “And you’re a man of your word. So is he. Which is why I’m okay with this.”

  * * * *

  Before they headed inside, Kim stopped him. “Can I ask him for us?”

  “Ask him what?”

  She poked his arm. “Propose. Ask him to marry you.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. His parents will be leaving soon. We’ll have him alone.”

  There was a lull between Mason’s parents leaving and other visitors arriving around seven thirty.

  Before Kim could get the words out, Mason arched an eyebrow at her. “What’s up, pet?”

  She looked to Cole for help, the words caught in her throat.

  He wasn’t any help, apparently enjoying her discomfort. “You said you wanted to do it, sweetheart.”

  “Do what?” Mason asked.

  Cole pointed at her.

  She gathered her courage. “Master,” she said, keeping her voice soft, “will you please marry Cole.”

  He frowned. “Say what?” He looked at Cole, who once again pointed at her.

  Mason turned back to her. “Marry Cole?”

  “Please?”

  “Okay, what did I miss? Did I pass out again?”

  “Cole’s health insurance is better than mine. Gay marriage is legal now.”

  “But Cole’s not gay.”

  Cole snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think the State of Florida actually cares about that part, Mase.”

  This was going off the rails. “Master, please. Will you please marry Cole?”

  “You’re seriously proposing for him?”

  “I asked him if I could.”

  Mason looked at Cole. “Okay. Let me back up. Why is she proposing for you?”

  “Because she asked to.”

  Mason rubbed at his forehead. “Start over, please.”

  “Cole asked me if I wanted to marry you, or if I wanted him to marry you. I told him I wanted him to marry you, but asked if I could actually ask you.”

  Mason stared from her to Cole and back again. After a long moment, he said, “Technically, pet, as my slave, you need my permission to make a decision like that.”

  Her insides turned gooey. No, since that first morning, she and Cole hadn’t had sex. They’d both been either too tired, upset, or both to be in the mood.

  At the tone of Mason’s voice, and now with him giving her “the look,” she felt the start of a fast, unstoppable slide into subspace.

  She couldn’t speak above a whisper, determined to make this happen for the men she loved. “Master, please. I love you, and I love him. I’m going to move in with you and Cole, too. We can’t all three get married.”

  He held out a hand to her. She took it and let him pull her in for a kiss. Cupping her cheek with his other hand, he gently asked, “Is this what you really want? You don’t want to marry Cole, or marry me?”

  “I want to be with both of you. I don’t need to marry either of you to be with you both and love you both. I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready to marry either of you. But I don’t need to do that to love you both and live with you. Hey, that’s a pretty big hurdle for me.”

  He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I know it is.” His eyes studied her. “Ask me one more time. Like I wasn’t an idiot and messed it up the first time around.”

  She smiled and squeezed the hand holding hers. “Master, will you please marry Cole? I want to spend the rest of my life with both of you. I’m happy being your pet, and his pet. I know I’m loved. And I want you two to get married.”

  He pulled her in for a kiss. “Yes, I’ll marry Cole. On one condition.”

  “Yes, Master?”

  “You have to wear a wedding band, too. Okay, two conditions. You pick out the wedding bands.”

  Relief filled her. “Yes, Master. Thank you.”

  “Oh, don’t be so quick to thank me.” He let go of her and turned for Cole to lean in and kiss him. “You just wait until our first night back home where I can hold our honeymoon proper.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  “Remind her she said that,” he told Cole, who grinned.

  “I sure will.”

  * * * *

  Mason pretty much had to order Cole and Kim to go home and get a decent night’s sleep that night. Fortunately, Ed was stopping by, and Mason was able to talk to him about the latest personal update.

  “I can talk to Pat Donnelly about pushing through a marriage license for you guys,” Ed told him. “Unless you want to wait until you’re out of here?”

  “No, Cole got a little toppy with me and said he wants to do this as soon as possible. I don’t have the energy to fight him. Not that I want to fight him. He’s right about the insurance.”

  “We could try a legal challenge to the termination. Claim discrimination.”

  “No. If I don’t have the energy to fight Cole, I damn sure don’t have the energy to fight what I’m sure is probably a very legally valid employment contract. I’ll take the severance pay and bank it against medical bills.”

  “I’ll get the paperwork started for you two, then.” He hesitated. “I’m guessing you want paperwork for Kim, too? Like what I did for Landry and the others?”

  “Yes. Whatever we need to legally make her our partner.”

  “I’ll set you guys up a trust. That’s easiest.”

  “Thanks.”

  He smiled. “You thank me now. Those two are going to be like drill sergeants when you get home. They’re going to make Tilly look like a pussy by comparison to get you up and on your feet again.”

  Mason laughed. “Yeah, but you know what? I’m looking forward to that. I came so close to losing happiness. Not about to risk losing it again.”

  * * * *

  Friday evening, the small hospital chapel, which was only meant to hold about twenty people, was overfilled and at standing-room-only capacity with the vanilla-est kinky wedding of the Suncoast Society’s history. Judge Pat Donnelly, whom Mason had known before the move to Nebraska, performed the ceremony personally as Cole and Mason exchanged vows and rings, Kim actually doing the honors of slipping them onto the men’s fingers.

  Then they slipped hers onto her finger before Pat announced the men legally hitched. Mason made Cole kiss Kim before he kissed her, then the men exchanged a kiss. Mason sat through the whole thing in his wheelchair, but had managed to put on a pair of slacks and a nice shirt.

  Tilly had even flown in to make sure she got to witness it first-hand, and because of the locale, anyone with small kids was still able to attend, since it was vanilla- and child-friendly.

  The wedding reception was on hold until Mason was released and they could do it at the club.

  That would definitely not be child-friendly.

  Later that night, when it was just the three of them alone in the hospital room and Mason had changed back into a hospital gown, Mason patted the bed and motioned to Kim to climb in next to him. He drape
d an arm around her shoulders, snuggling her close even as he reached over and laced fingers with Cole.

  “Thank you for loving me,” he said, kissing the top of her head and looking over to Cole to receive a kiss from him. “I hope you don’t regret saddling yourselves with me.”

  “Hey,” Cole said. “Husband says don’t talk like that.”

  “So does the pet,” Kim mumbled against his chest.

  Mason chuckled and rubbed his chin in her hair. “Pushy pet.”

  “Yes, Master.”

  “I’m keeping track of how many you owe me, you know.”

  “I’m sure you are.” She finally looked up at him, but she wore a smile. “And I’ll be happy to take every last one of them, after you’re home.” It’d been a running game he’d stumbled across, seeing how she brightened when he’d first joked about giving her strokes if she got too mouthy.

  Now he made a point of calling out an infraction, real or made up, at least once a day. Just to see her smile like that.

  He’d do whatever he had to do to keep her smiling.

  Just like she was smiling up at him now.

  “Master says pet’s stuck with me, too.”

  Her smile widened. “I hope so, Master.”

  He couldn’t believe tomorrow was three weeks since Freddie had tried to kill him. “I guess we need to plan a move, huh? Two moves, actually.”

  “Already working on it,” Cole said. “We’re moving her next weekend. Already have the help lined up. What we need to decide is moving you.”

  “I guess I’m not really needed for that process, am I?” Mason admitted.

  Cole smiled. “I might or might not have already started packing up your kitchen stuff.”

  “Ooh. Hubby’s taking charge. Me likey.”

  “Don’t get too used to it. Once you’re back on your feet, I’ll be happy to be partners in playing with the pet, but I’m no Dom.”

  “I don’t mind,” Mason assured him.

  “I think one Master is enough,” Kim said. “Master, Hubby, and pet.”

  Cole reached over and stroked her hair. “Are you happy, sweetheart?”

  “Yes. Once we’re all together again, everything’ll be perfect.”

  “No, perfect is when Freddie gets convicted,” Cole said, his dark tone surprising Mason.

  When he studied Cole’s face, he saw traces of murderous intent there. “Hey, prison orange isn’t your color, either,” Mason reminded him.

  “I think Tilly would hurt me if I was able to do bodily damage to Freddie before she could.”

  “I’d hurt both of you,” Kim said. “Either that, or your dad would totally be pissed off if we beat him to it.”

  “I have a feeling Freddie better never see the outside of a jail for a long, long time,” Mason said. “I don’t want my loved ones and friends in prison over the jerk.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “This fucking sucks,” Mason said as he stared into the bathroom mirror. It was three months after the attack and he still had balance problems. He was supposed to use his walker, even in the house, but he hated it.

  Cole knew it made Mason feel old and feeble, even though the physical therapists Mason saw two times a week insisted he was making progress and improving.

  Cole and Kim didn’t want him worrying about work yet. With Mason’s condo now being rented out, and with their combined incomes, they were doing okay financially.

  Still, Cole knew it grated at Mason’s core that he wasn’t able to help support them.

  Even though it was three weeks before Christmas, and Kim and Cole had decorated the house to the nines, Mason was having trouble transitioning out of humbug mode.

  Cole stood behind him and slipped his arms around Mason’s waist. He rested his chin on Mason’s right shoulder and met his gaze in the mirror. “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

  “Not as sorry as I am that I didn’t tell that fucker off and cut all ties with him before I left Nebraska.”

  Kim walked in, dressed in a robe. “We okay?”

  Cole tipped his head at her, calling her over.

  She walked over and stood on Mason’s left side, her arms around him. “We’ll be there with you, Master,” she said.

  “I know. And I love you for it.” He kissed her. “Sorry you’ve been dragged into this. I’m just glad it was me he went after and not either of you. It creeps me out that he was hanging around the night before.”

  That had come out as part of the investigation. Freddie had been spying on them, heard the three of them inside together as he lurked outside Mason’s condo.

  The shadow Cole had seen Friday night.

  Thankfully, Freddie hadn’t hurt either of the people Mason loved.

  Cole knew Mason would have been the one wearing prison orange if Freddie had.

  “We’ll get through this,” Cole said. “Then life will get back to normal.”

  “I can’t believe the jerk is fighting it,” Kim said, her tone dark. “There’s video footage of what he did. There’s evidence. People saw it happen. What more does anyone need?”

  Cole kissed Mason’s shoulder. “The state attorney said the trial should take less than two days. Depends on how fast it takes to seat the jury.”

  “And then what?” Mason said. “I’m still a burden to you guys.”

  “Not even,” Cole said. “We love you, you’re my husband, and stop talking like that.”

  “Who’s going to hire me after this. After it’s all over the news?”

  He turned Mason and made him look him in the eyes. “Stop. So far, the media’s been very kind. Nothing salacious.”

  “Then why did they fire me?”

  “Because they were assholes,” Kim said.

  “You’ll find another job,” Cole assured him.

  “If I’m lucky.”

  “Please don’t talk like that,” Kim softly said.

  Both men looked at her, and Cole recognized her expression. He’d seen it enough times in their talks early on, about her experiences with Craige.

  Mason let out a weighty breath. “Sorry, pet,” he said, pulling her in for a hug. “Dark thoughts, and all of that.”

  “You should go see a counselor, Mase,” Cole said. “I know I didn’t put my foot down about it earlier, but—”

  “Okay.” His quiet tone broke Cole’s heart.

  “You have been through a lot,” Cole said. “And it’s not your fault.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “No,” Kim said. “It’s that little asshole’s fault. You were being a nice guy.”

  “Sweetest sadist there ever was, and look where it got me.”

  “And I could have stood up to Craige a lot sooner than I did. I didn’t have to marry him. I could have chosen my parents over what I thought was my happiness. You could have cut things off with him and felt like a jerk over it and it could have changed you in worse ways from the inside out.”

  Wow. Cole stared at her, her brown eyes full of pain.

  “At any time,” she said, “Cole could have put the brakes on this whole thing with us. Could have reined me in. Said we were done with this, and I would have let him do that. It would mean the three of us weren’t together. Do you honestly think I would trade that for this? For you?”

  She reached up and cupped Mason’s freshly shaven cheeks. “I’m still working on my fear. I’m getting stronger. Time for you to nut up, Master.”

  Mason finally smiled down at her. “That’s five, pet,” he quietly said.

  “If I tell you to go fuck yourself, will it earn me ten?” She grinned.

  He let out a chuckle and pulled her in for a hug, burying his face in her hair. “How about we call it fifteen and done?”

  “Sure.”

  He reached out for Cole, who sandwiched Mason between them.

  “Thank you both for being so patient with me,” Mason said.

  “That’s because we love you,” Cole said. “Nothing’s changing that. Ever.”
r />   * * * *

  Mason was surprised to see his dad and his mom and stepdad all sitting together on a bench when he and Cole and Kim arrived at the courthouse.

  And they didn’t look like they were about to rip each other’s throats out, either.

  Mason had opted for the walker after all. He’d wanted to use his cane, but Cole had put his foot down, listing a litany of reasons why it made sense to use the walker. Including the fact that the jury would be even more sympathetic to him as a victim if he was hobbling around with the walker.

  The main reason for using it, though, had been that Cole insisted if Mason wouldn’t use the walker, he’d make Mason wear Kim’s pink bike helmet to protect his head in case he lost his balance and fell.

  No way in hell was Mason doing that.

  At least he didn’t have a headache today. Kim had come armed with peppermint oil and his medications, and snacks, in case he started to get a migraine from the stress and the excitement.

  But he was bound and determined to see this through.

  He had to.

  He was actually more worried about Cole and Kim today, that they might want to take a swing at Freddie and get themselves into trouble.

  His mom pointed at the walker. “Why didn’t you bring the wheelchair?”

  “It’s in the car, Mom,” Cole said with an adorable smirk. “Mr. Indestructible here wanted to use his cane and nothing more. I had to threaten him with the helmet.”

  She glared at Mason. “You don’t have to rush stuff. You need to do this smart. You hurt yourself and set yourself back, especially if you hit your head—”

  “I know, I know.” Mason sat at the end of the bench, next to his father. “I’m listening to them.”

  “Good.”

  The state attorney handling the case walked up. “Let’s go talk in private,” he said without hesitation.

  Cole and Kim exchanged a confused look before helping Mason get to his feet so he could lead the way, the two of them hovering close behind him.

  Good, it wasn’t just him, then, who thought maybe something was going on.