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  Relief flowed through her, even as Sean’s arms tightened around her.

  Max sadly watched them, then reached out to stroke Sean’s hair. “Is Eddie still here?”

  “They’re on their way now from Orlando.”

  He nodded. That’s when she realized he was holding both his and Sean’s phones. “Mind watching these for us for a while? Let us know if work calls or texts.”

  She took them. “Yeah.”

  “Let’s go lie down, buddy,” Max gently said to Sean.

  He shook his head and refused to let go of Cali.

  Max’s brown eyes looked full of sadness, and she knew this was hitting Sean hard even though they hadn’t been with the woman in years and pretty much hated her guts.

  “Let’s go snuggle on the couch, sweetie,” she said to Sean. “Eddie’s watching cartoons in the living room anyway.”

  He nodded.

  “You have lunch yet, babe?” Max asked.

  “No.”

  “I’ll make us sandwiches.”

  “That sounds good.”

  “What about Eddie?”

  “I already fed him lunch.” She led Sean out to the living room and set their phones and hers on the coffee table where she could reach them. Then she lay down. Sean tightly snuggled next to her, facing her, his face pressed against her chest. For as chatty and playful as he was, he was also very emotional in many ways, deeply thoughtful.

  She nuzzled the top of his head. “Talk to me, sweetie.”

  A shudder washed through him. “I hated her guts but I didn’t think someone would murder her.”

  “Not your fault.”

  “I know. It’s still…hard to fathom.”

  She heard Max in the kitchen and knew he was also dealing with conflicted feelings, too. If anything, probably more deeply than Sean. Their strong, quiet guy.

  He brought plates of sandwiches for them, then went back and brought them glasses of iced tea. She got Sean to sit up, and then ended up with him sitting between her and Max. He didn’t seem to be in much of a mood to eat, but between the two of them, they finally coaxed him into eating his sandwich. They’d just finished when Cali heard a car in their driveway. She made it to the door in time to meet Essie and Mark hurrying up the walk.

  Essie hugged her. “Are the guys home?”

  “Yeah.” Cail quickly updated them before leading them inside.

  Eddie happily squealed to see his mom and one of his dads. While Mark scooped him up and kissed him, Essie hugged Max and Sean, quietly speaking in their ears.

  Ten minutes later, they were alone again, and Max locked the door behind their friends.

  The men’s phones had blown up with a flurry of texts and calls, but none from work. Hers, too, except without worrying about the work aspect.

  She sorted through them, copying and pasting a reply to everyone, thanking them, letting them know that they were aware of it, and that apparently the perpetrator had been arrested.

  Would it make me a horrible person to remind them to shop our website?

  That she even had to ask meant the answer was likely yes.

  Still, it was tempting.

  They retreated to the hot tub, snuggling, not talking. That was something else nice between them, their rapport, not needing to fill a silence just to talk.

  Her plan had simply been to comfort them and give them a safe ear to bend, if they wanted, but Sean surprised her and pulled her into his lap, straddling him and facing him, kissing her.

  Okay, then.

  * * * *

  Sean didn’t want to think. While he knew the cops needed to talk to him and Max to rule them out as suspects, it’d also been part humiliation, part anger-inducing. The woman was out of their lives and still a pain in their asses. Not to mention Sean didn’t know what she might have still had on them. He couldn’t exactly lie to the cops about the kind of relationship they’d had, just to have the cops come back on him later with proof he’d lied.

  What Sean wanted to do was ground himself, with Max and Cali, his rocks, his loves.

  He didn’t want to feel vaguely guilty that any time he’d thought about Lydia lately, he’d hoped Karma was smacking her around hard and often.

  Karma had the last laugh, unfortunately.

  As he kissed Cali, losing himself in her love and her body, his cock hardened. He shifted her in his lap so his cock could slide inside her sweet pussy.

  Contented, he sighed. “That’s what I need, baby.”

  She and Max both had a way of calming and settling his soul, every time.

  Max reached for a tube of lube and gently pushed her forward, so she was lying against Sean. “Me, too,” Max said.

  Sean kissed her, swallowing her moans as Max’s fingers lubed her ass. This was always perfection between them, how they loved each other, hard and well. He fisted her hair, holding her in place and loving the way she started squirming against him as Max teased her clit with his other hand.

  Their perfect girl.

  Once Max had her prepared, he lubed his cock and stepped between Sean’s legs. He felt it when Max pressed the head of his cock against her rim, easing his way in. Through the thin membrane of flesh between them, Sean felt every inch of their lover’s cock slowly fill her. It created a delicious, tight sensation inside her and drew soft moans from her.

  “Yessss!” Cali gasped.

  Max dropped down into Dom tone. “Like that, baby?”

  Sean was happy to let him run the show solo today. More perfection between them, that the three of them were switches who could change as needed depending on who needed what the most from the others.

  Once Max was seated all the way inside her, he reached around her and played with her clit. “Play with her nipples, Sean.” Max leaned Cali back against him and started slowly fucking her.

  Sean was happy to oblige. He watched her head loll back on Max’s shoulder, and Max’s brown gaze locked with his.

  This. Them.

  This was all that mattered. Everything else was merely a temporary distraction, and no matter his feelings about it, it didn’t matter.

  The first explosion ripped through her pretty fast. That was typical for her when they double-teamed her like this. Her body milked their cocks, the men able to feel every contraction of her pussy around them as her orgasm swept through her. Sean’s cock throbbed and pulsed, his entire being focused on this, on her—on them. When he finally couldn’t hold back any longer, he started thrusting, needing release, his entire body on edge.

  Pleasure spiraled through him, balls tightening as he finally hit the tipping point. Cum erupted, his groans and Max’s mixing as the other man’s thrusts sped up, seeking his own release.

  Sean felt one last ripple of pleasure ricochet through Cali before she slumped onto Sean, sated, smiling.

  Max edged in close, kissing the back of her neck, then kissing Sean. “I vote we spend the rest of the day in bed, watching TV, and order pizza for dinner.”

  “Sold,” Cali mumbled.

  Chapter Six

  Cali headed toward the club’s front door while Sean and Max grabbed their bags from the trunk of their car. If it was slow enough tonight at Venture, they might get some rope time in. Friday nights were a mixed bag in terms of attendance, and tonight’s rope-centric theme sometimes kept away people who preferred the open play nights. The lights would be up, the music low, and people would be tying and talking to each other, not scening like a regular Saturday night.

  She got the office unlocked and walked through to the back to flip the breakers for the lights and AC. As she was getting everything switched on, Sean and Max walked in.

  “You’re not going to believe this,” Sean said.

  She turned at his tone, which sounded anything but playful. “What?”

  “Three cars just pulled in. They asked when we open and I told them not for an hour yet.”

  “Holy crap. They’ll have to wait. I don’t even have the computer on or the bank counted y
et.”

  “That’s what we told them,” Max said. “We locked the office door behind us. I recognized one of the guys. Apparently, Lydia fucked him over, too. He was asking me if the ‘rumors’ he’d heard about her being dead were true, because he hoped they were.”

  “Oh, son of a bitch!”

  He looked grim. “I have a feeling it’s not going to be a fun night.”

  “Yeah,” Sean echoed.

  She returned to the office to finish getting everything ready there. Meanwhile, she heard a knock on the door, and when she looked, it was Skye and her fiancé, Axel, two of their volunteer helpers for the night.

  “What’s going on?” Skye asked. “Why are there so many people out there this early? There’s like ten cars.”

  “What?” Cali peeked, and sure enough, there were.

  “Guess you should hear this from me.” Cali gave her the quick rundown about Lydia, who she was, what she did…and how she’d died. What they knew of it, anyway. Ross had found out the man had bludgeoned and strangled Lydia with his bare hands after she refused to have sex with him.

  Cali really didn’t want to know any other details besides those. Even those were too much, as far as she was concerned.

  Skye winced. “If you want to hang out inside and let me and Axel run the desk, we’re cool with that.”

  “No, they’ll want to talk to me more in there. At least out here I can shoo them inside.”

  “True.”

  By the time they were ready to open fifteen minutes early, they had over twenty people waiting outside, and the buzzing conversation featured Lydia and the collectively delighted schadenfreude over her fate.

  Well, she’d be loving that they are talking about her.

  Cali hated herself for the uncharitable thought.

  Didn’t mean it wasn’t true.

  Cali was even more surprised when Marcia and Derrick walked in about twenty minutes after they opened. “Hey. Aren’t you supposed to be taking the weekend off?”

  “Run a BDSM club, he said. It’ll be fun, he said.” Marcia glared at her husband. “When does that part kick in, huh?”

  Derrick looked abashed. “I know, I know.”

  Marcia walked around the counter, grabbed their name badges, and tucked her purse into the desk. “I happened to take a look at Fet about an hour ago. Someone finally posted about Lydia being killed, and it became the ‘We Hated That Cunt’ fest. Someone must have reported her profile to the caretakers as being for a deceased person, because it disappeared shortly after. But then I noticed that the Fet event numbers exploded.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah. Take a look.”

  Cali pulled up the club’s FetLife page and clicked on the event. She’d checked it earlier that afternoon. For tonight’s rope event there had been only twenty-five people marked as going, and another ten as maybes.

  Now there were nearly eighty going and forty maybes.

  “Holy fuck!”

  “Yep. Bad news travels fast. People finally checking Fet after their work week ended and getting caught up, I guess. I’ve put out an SOS. Ross, Loren, Seth, Leah, Tony, and Shayla are on their way. I didn’t realize there were still people who thought she was a volunteer. I guess she’s been running her mouth about that, too. She had been,” she corrected herself, then ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t have time to keep track of drama llamas.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Cali said. “I…I mean, I looked earlier today.”

  “No, not your fault.”

  “Does it help if it means we might make on one Friday what we make in two Saturdays?” Derrick snarked to his wife.

  “Don’t even, buster,” Marcia warned.

  * * * *

  It was, by far, the largest rope night they’d had.

  Ever.

  By the time they finally herded the last customer out the door at closing time and were down to just volunteers, they all felt exhausted. Many of the people had come not even to tie rope, just to hang out with their friends and talk.

  Lydia, of course, was a major topic of conversation.

  There’d been so many more shitty things she’d said or done to people that they hadn’t heard about, men and women alike.

  Her family was scattered across the country, but the roommate had finally contacted a brother who was still trying to decide what, if anything, to do for her funeral. Ross reported that her body remained unclaimed in a cooler in the Medical Examiner’s office.

  Loren helped Skye and Cali close out the office and reconcile the night’s receipts. “That was…interesting,” Loren drawled.

  “If by interesting you mean batshit crazy,” Cali said, “then sure.”

  “How are the guys doing?” Loren asked.

  “After tonight, I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll find out by the time we get home.” She’d barely had time to even talk to them all night, much less anyone else.

  At least everyone there now was on the invite list for the Thanksgiving party. “Do you need any extra help for the party?” Skye asked. “We’re going, but if you need anything, let us know.”

  “That, at least, will be controlled. I need to ask Tony what our numbers are looking like, though.”

  The man himself walked into the office. “Did I hear my name being taken in vain?” He smiled as he handed over his and Shayla’s name badges.

  “Any ideas on numbers for the Thanksgiving party?”

  “We’re up to nearly ninety percent RSVP, which surprised me since it’s so close to the holidays.”

  “Wow.”

  “Well, your parties usually do get up there,” he said. “And Tilly’s. Are Sean and Max okay?”

  “Why?”

  “Well, the whole Lydia thing. And they both looked a little…stressed tonight.”

  “Go on,” Loren said to Cali. “We’ll finish this.”

  “Thanks.” Cali hung up her volunteer name badge and headed into the dungeon. Sean and Max were in the new side, wiping down equipment. Even though it wasn’t an open play night, people frequently sat on equipment and didn’t bother to wipe it down after.

  “You guys all right?”

  “Bummed.” Sean peeled off his nitrile gloves after he finished the piece he was cleaning. “No play, and every other person wanted to talk about her.”

  Max finished his last piece and walked over. “I don’t think we’ll be good company tonight, sweetheart. Sorry. I just want to go home, shower, and go to bed.” It’d be close to two a.m. by the time they got home, based on their previous experience running rope nights.

  “We’ll be out in a minute,” Sean said. “Marcia and Derrick told us to head home and they’d finish up.”

  “Okay.” She went to say her good-byes, then pulled Ross aside. Cali kept her voice low. “Can I ask a favor?”

  “Sure. What’s up?”

  She dropped her voice even more. “Can you get me Lydia’s roommate’s info?”

  “Why?”

  “I need to talk to her.”

  He frowned. “Not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “Please?”

  He glanced to where Sean and Max were talking to Shayla and Leah. “Okay. I’m guessing you don’t want me to tell your guys?”

  “You’re the best.” She hugged him and headed for the office.

  * * * *

  The next afternoon, Cali left Sean and Max napping at home while she ran errands. It looked like tonight would be another huge night at the club, and Cali wanted this errand off her plate. Ross had e-mailed her the information that morning.

  Cali sat in her car in the shopping center parking lot and left the engine running for the AC while she made the call. The phone rang, and at first Cali thought it might go to voice mail before a harried-sounding woman answered. “Hello?”

  “Um, hi. I’m looking for Kathy Byaers?”

  “That’s me. Who is this?”

  “This…is going to sound weird. I would like to get in touch with Lydia Garcia’s bro
ther.”

  The woman went quiet. “Why?”

  No mistaking the mistrust in her voice.

  “I heard they’re having trouble paying for the funeral, and I’d like to talk to him.”

  She snorted. “That’s part of it. No one wants to deal with Lydia, even dead. They pretty much hated her and she didn’t have any money of her own. You a friend of hers?”

  “Not exactly. Just someone who had a passing acquaintance with her.”

  “Hold on. Let me find it.” She set the phone down, and Cali was ready with a pen and paper when she returned with the info.

  “Thank you.”

  “Good luck. I sure wouldn’t get involved. I don’t even want her stuff here, but I don’t know what the hell else to do with it. I was getting close to kicking her out. She was behind on her rent.”

  “Thanks.” Cali ended the call and stared at her phone.

  What the hell am I doing?

  Still, she called him. David Garcia was Lydia’s older brother, and had little good to say about her.

  “She wasn’t even there for us when our mother was dying. Didn’t offer to help take care of her, didn’t ask if there was anything we needed for her, didn’t even visit her. Showed up ready to hold her hand out for money, though, when Mom died. Wasn’t any money left after she spent three years in an ALF, dying of Alzheimer’s. Tried to tell Lydia that, and she got bitchy with us. But if she needed money, she was right there asking for help with some sob story.”

  Cali felt a headache threatening. “I’m…not a friend of hers. In fact, in all honesty, I didn’t like her. But it’s sort of a karmic thing I want off my plate. I’d like to help out, if I can.”

  “I just talked to my sisters and brother today. She can stay there, for all we care. It’s what she did to our Mom. She burned us out years ago.”

  Shit.

  “Okay. If…” She knew she should be talking to her guys, but she was going to follow her instincts here. “If I arrange to pay to have her cremated—”