A Crafty Ever After Read online

  A piece of paper that would allow them to stick Cali on his insurance and hopefully prevent a future preventable incident. They’d maxed out one of their credit cards that had been paid off to pay for Cali’s medical expenses. That pissed him off.

  At himself, not at Cali.

  I should have pushed for this sooner.

  While he and Max had always considered themselves equal partners, yeah, he mostly defaulted to Max’s wishes, will, and opinion on any given subject, unless it was a particularly dear hill he wanted to die upon and get his way. Most of the time, he was in agreement with Max anyway.

  The discussion about health insurance had happened not too long after they’d had their “collaring” of her at the club. “Partnering” would be a better word for it.

  They’d talked about health insurance, she assured them she’d shop around for the best value and get something, and…

  That’d been the end of it.

  Cali was an independent woman perfectly capable of taking care of herself and their business. They’d never had a need to ride her ass—metaphorically—over anything before. In fact, it would have pissed her off if they had. And in many areas—especially regarding their business—they deferred to her to make the decisions, with or without their input.

  They trusted her.

  She more than worked her ass off for them as a family and as a business.

  Never would Sean have dreamed she’d skimp on the one damn thing that, had they known about it, they would have immediately put their feet down over it and forced her into this sooner. At the very least, they would have shopped for a new plan for her and ordered her to pay for it out of their joint funds.

  Max had missed it, too, but Sean wasn’t going to pretend he held the moral high ground and let Max bear the sole responsibility for this. It was too easy for Sean to default to letting Max get his way, and he knew it. Max was the better fit to take charge. The only thing changing, other than Cali legally becoming Sean’s wife, was Sean officially admitting to Max what they’d both known all along.

  All Sean had ever wanted was to belong to someone.

  * * * *

  Max didn’t want to overdo the lovey-dovey stuff. He was trying to strike a balance, like he was pretending to hold back and yet hint at a hair of friskiness to his actions.

  Cali was smart and observant, even when she wasn’t at the top of her game, as she was right now.

  If he played it too hard in either direction, she’d immediately grok what he was doing and likely call him out on it. At the very least she’d figure it out and store that knowledge away.

  Even if all they managed to do was get through the actual wedding on Friday night and filing the marriage certificate on Monday morning without her finding out, it’d be a win.

  Ross and Loren arrived a few minutes later, Ross carrying a folder and wearing a sneaky smile.

  Loren was just plain grinning.

  “So you’ve come to help divert my attention?” Cali teased. She sounded a little…off, though. The pain meds made her sleepy, not to mention some pain still made its way through.

  “Ooooh, yeah,” Loren said. “You honestly think I’m not going to be an accessory to one of the greatest mind-fucks to ever be pulled in the history of our group? This is Landry-worthy territory, right here. I can’t wait to tell Til about this. She’s going to love it.”

  “Are you going to do a bestie a solid and tell me what they have planned for me for the actual wedding?”

  Loren snorted. “Nope. I’ve been sworn to secrecy. Let’s just say I’m pretty damn sure you’re going to enjoy the hell out of it, and you’ll only have me and Ross to watch.”

  They were third in line to file for the license. Ross had already gathered their IDs and other paperwork they needed—for all three of them—and tucked the items into his folder. When it was their turn, Ross stepped forward and Max watched as he had a quick and quiet conversation with the clerk, who nodded and quickly started typing.

  We might actually pull this off.

  * * * *

  Ross turned. “Max, Sean.”

  Max released Cali and the two men headed over to join Ross. Cali didn’t even bother trying to overhear what was going on as she watched Sean drape his arm around Max’s shoulders while they both leaned in close, listening as Ross talked in low tones. She wasn’t going to spoil her guys’ fun. If they wanted to go through this trouble even after she’d so quickly caved, she’d let them do it.

  Loren tipped her head to the side, her gaze narrowing. “I honestly thought you’d be a little more…stubborn about all this.”

  Exhaustion had set in, as well as her pain meds were threatening to pull her under. “I’ve already had more than enough excitement of the bad kind to last me a lifetime. They’re right. If I’d been married to one of them already, I would have gone to a walk-in clinic on Sunday, been on weaker antibiotics that likely wouldn’t have caused me any problems, and only been out maybe a hundred dollars, if that.”

  Cali nodded toward where the three men were now huddled at the counter. “This is making them happy. They settled it between them. I love them, and they’re happy with whatever it is they’re doing. I’m not going to fight them.”

  Loren gently hugged her, mindful of her hand. “That’s the spirit, sweetie. Those two boys are happier with you than I ever remember seeing them before. And so are you. You guys have earned this happiness.”

  Ross called Cali over to sign, and had his folder laid over most of the form, only exposing a line for her to sign on. Trying to sign with her left hand would be nearly as impossible as scribbling with her wounded right. So she clamped the pen between her right thumb, ring finger, and pinky, and scrawled a signature.

  She held her hand up so the clerk could see. “Not exactly a John Hancock, but I hope that’s good enough.”

  “It’s fine,” the woman assured her.

  Cali turned and stepped away from the counter, back to Loren.

  “I’m really proud of you.”

  Cali stared at her. “Me? Why? For being a dumbass who nearly died over a damn cat bite?”

  “No, for letting them take care of you and not being stubborn about it.”

  “There are battles to pick and choose from aplenty in life,” Cali said. “This doesn’t need to be one of them.”

  “And think, the three of you get to live crafty ever after.”

  Cali moaned. “Oh, no, you didn’t.”

  “Hey, I love a good pun.”

  “That was not a good pun.”

  Loren stuck her tongue out at Cali before grinning. “Says you.”

  They were out of there twenty minutes later. Ross handed the folder to Max. “I’m assuming you want to hold on to that?”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  Once the three of them were back in the car, Max drove and Sean called Essie to let her know they were inbound. Sean dug Cali’s driver’s license and birth certificate out of the folder, and once they had her back in the house, he left those on the counter for her.

  She noticed he left the folder out in Max’s car.

  Obviously they weren’t going to trust her with it for now.

  Or, more accurately, they knew Cali might talk Essie into taking a peek and Essie would no doubt spill the beans.

  “So do we get to come over for the wedding?” Essie teased the guys.

  Max leaned in and whispered something to her. Her eyes widened, and she started laughing.

  “What?” Cali asked.

  “You don’t need to know,” Sean said. “It’s a surprise. Come on, babe. You agreed to go along with it. Please?”

  Cali rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine.”

  “Don’t make us call her men to order her to keep it a secret,” Max said. “You’ll find out everything Friday evening.”

  Friday evening.

  Then she’d be California Raleigh Charleston Dennison-Trendle.

  Ugh. That was a lot to try to fit on a driver’s license.
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  Hey! She realized she could drop both Raleigh and Charleston. She’d never been fond of her middle name anyway.

  Cali Dennison Trendle, no hyphen.

  Cali Trendle.

  Both men were going to be Dennison-Trendle anyway, and probably use Trendle for everything except Sean’s professional certification stuff, to save him the hassle of having to get all his records and licensing changed.

  The men had told her they’d decided that last name order because it was both alphabetical and they both liked the sound of Dennison-Trendle over Trendle-Dennison anyway.

  It was…tidier.

  Yes, she’d play along.

  Eventually, she’d learn the truth.

  But her men got massive points for creativity.

  And no one had to lose part of an eyebrow this time.

  Chapter Six

  “I can’t believe you aren’t grilling me like a filet mignon,” Essie snarked as she drove Cali to her doctor appointment Friday morning.

  Cali had cut back on her pain meds even sooner than the doctor had recommended, and was beginning to regret that bravado. She hadn’t factored in that the doctor might be poking and prodding her hand this morning, but she’d wanted to try to be as awake and aware for tonight’s festivities as possible.

  “I’m a good sport. If they want to play this mind-fuck to its natural conclusion, I’m willing to go along with it.”

  “Is it technically a mind-fuck if you know about it?” Essie asked.

  “Yeah, I’m calling it one. Besides, I don’t need a fire extinguisher for them to do it, and the final result is a logical one.”

  “Sean’s eyebrow’s starting to look normal again,” Essie noted.

  “Thank god. Never thought I’d have to make open flames a hard limit with those two.”

  Sean had made sure to check the joint household bank account before they’d left for work that morning and transferred money over from savings so there’d be plenty in there for her to make her co-pay with her debit card.

  A co-pay that was increasingly sticking in her craw since Max and Sean sat down with her Wednesday night and showed her what her new plan expenses, co-pays, and premiums would be.

  Sure, she’d pay more money a month than now, but not that much more, and with far better benefits.

  Including free annual exams.

  Yesterday’s Essie-supervised task had been making sure Cali called her OB-gyn and scheduled an appointment for an annual, called the men’s GP to get her in for a check-up, and all that good stuff. Her first appointment wouldn’t be for eight weeks, to make sure she had her new insurance plan in place.

  After that she’d be getting a mammogram, too.

  At least they knew from all the blood she’d had siphoned from her in the hospital that stats like her cholesterol were fine, and her blood pressure was perfect. Other than the infection, she’d been pronounced healthy, as far as they could tell.

  That was the only reason the men weren’t insisting on her getting appointments made sooner.

  At the appointment, the doctor unwrapped Cali’s hand and shot her finger full of local anesthetic. Then Cali kept her eyes closed from that point on as he did whatever it was he had to do while Essie took video of it to show the guys later.

  “You are enjoying this way too much, bestie,” Cali grumbled.

  “Hey, former vet tech, lest ye forget. This is nothing. Oooh, that’s neat.”

  Cali wasn’t falling for that. She wasn’t about to look. Yeah, she had a pretty damn strong stomach, normally, but not when it came to stuff happening to her.

  She’d made the mistake of looking last Monday and had nearly fainted.

  But the doctor was happy with how it was healing, so that’s all that mattered. The drain came out and he re-dressed her hand.

  “I still want you to keep it dry,” he said. “I’ll see you back here next Wednesday to look at it. Keep taking the antibiotics. If I need to write you a new prescription next week, I will, but we might be able to discontinue those.”

  “Good.” She’d also been taking probiotics to help counter the effects of the antibiotics on her stomach and elsewhere.

  Once he was finished, Cali opened her eyes. Frankenhand was now more like Bride of Frankenhand—not quite as horrible to look at, but still not something you wanted to make love to.

  Essie made careful notes of the doctor’s instructions on how to check it and re-dress it, and he gave them some extra supplies. Then Essie, who had charge of Cali’s purse, took care of handing over the debit card for the co-pay and making the next appointment for Cali.

  Back in the car, Cali broke down and took a dose of pain meds before they returned to Cali’s. “The painting party still on for tomorrow?” Cali asked. Sean and Max were supposed to help.

  “Yeah. The guys already painted the bathrooms, so those are done. They’re painting the kitchen tonight and hoping we can move the first load of stuff over on Sunday.”

  “I still can’t believe you found a way to move even closer to us.” Cali smiled, loving it.

  “I can’t believe it either, but I’m not complaining. I was not looking forward to house shopping or trying to build a new house.”

  Once they were back at Cali’s, she lay down to take a nap and slept until late afternoon to awake to a throbbing hand. She opted to take a half-dose of pain meds as a compromise. By the time her men arrived home early from work, received their updates from Essie, and the three of them were alone, the throbbing in her hand had returned to manageable levels.

  And now her nerves jangled with tense anticipation.

  “Loren and Ross will be here at six,” Max told her. “Plenty of time to get you ready.”

  “Get me ready?”

  Both men smiled, in the most sinister and Domly of ways.

  “Just what he said, pet,” Sean said.

  Oh, boy.

  * * * *

  Sean fought the urge to giggle. They’d agreed they’d both go hard and heavy to drop Cali as deeply as possible into subspace. If their original plan didn’t logistically work out as they hoped it would, they had a plan B already in place that they knew would work.

  It all depended on how much they could prepare ahead of time.

  They started with a shower, the three of them, Cali’s arm well-protected so it wouldn’t get wet.

  They just wanted other parts of her wet.

  They took their time, taking turns kissing her and running their hands all over her body, sucking and biting her nipples, teasing, working her up until she was begging to come.

  It wasn’t any easier on the men, either. Sean’s stiff cock deliciously ached at the thought of what lay ahead of them.

  Then they started playing with her pussy, taking turns working their fingers into her, one first, Max doing that while Sean held her pressed against his body and playing with her nipples.

  Max quickly worked up to three fingers, then broke out the lube and started testing the waters with a couple of large toys.

  Cali was so horny at that point Sean wasn’t even sure if she was picking up on what they were doing.

  Max worked an inflatable dildo into her and pumped it as large as possible, leaving it in place while he started fingering her ass.

  By the time the water started going cold, they’d nearly driven her to tears she was so horny, and Max had worked a decent-sized butt-plug into her.

  Then they took her to bed, blindfolded her, and took turns edging her with their mouths. When the doorbell rang at five ’til six, Max and Sean exchanged a grin.

  “Here we go,” Max said. He grabbed a pair of shorts and went to let them in.

  That left Sean with Cali squirming on the bed in front of him. He kept her on a medium simmer by licking her clit, which drew a needy whine from her every time he stopped.

  Max returned with Loren and Ross. Max had already handed Ross a pen and the folder with the marriage certificate in it. Max signed as the first witness, and Ross signed as the sec
ond one.

  Then Max’s gaze met Sean’s. He leaned in and kissed him, then whispered in his ear. “I love you, buddy. Thank you for doing this.”

  “Love you, too, Sir,” he whispered back before signing the form.

  Max shucked his shorts and climbed onto the bed. He helped Cali hold the pen but didn’t remove her blindfold before he guided her hand for her signature.

  Then it was time for the fun to begin.

  * * * *

  At that point, Cali didn’t fucking care what the hell they did to her or who was there to watch them do it. All she wanted was a damned orgasm.

  Her men had a natural talent when it came to tease and denial, and they’d driven her nearly mad with horny desire.

  Yeah, the blindfold made it hotter.

  Way hotter.

  One of them removed the butt plug and inflatable dildo. Then they got her sat up and repositioned her, on top of Max, she realized.

  She could easily tell her men apart like that, even blindfolded.

  With a happy moan, Sean held Max’s cock as she impaled her pussy on it. Max pulled her down on top of him and kissed her.

  “If you can’t take it, baby,” Max softly said, “just say plan B. Okay?”

  “Okay.” She had no idea what he meant but had a suspicion she was about to find out.

  When Sean knelt behind her, their plan snapped into clear focus, especially when the preparations they’d taken were added to the mix. They hadn’t done this permutation in a while, but it was always hotter than hell when they did.

  She felt the head of Sean’s cock press against her cunt, where Max’s cock was already embedded. Plenty of lube, of course, and she breathed through the sensation of being filled, stretched, almost too much except Max held a vibrator pressed against her clit, turned to the lowest setting but still enough to distract her.

  Cali couldn’t really rock against them with only one arm to brace herself on, so she lay there and squirmed, knowing if she waited it out their cocks would find their best arrangement on their own and then things would feel fucking fantastic.

  Inch by slow inch, Sean’s breathing came in ragged gasps as he forced himself to hold back and take his time. Finally, when he was seated all the way in, he let out a grunt.