Chains
Page 4
“You’ve got gorgeous stuff,” Logan said. “It’s beautiful.”
She blushed a little, although not sure why. “Thank you.”
“Hey,” Eliza said. “You guys eat yet? We’re going to grab pizza when we finish here. Want to join us?”
The men shared a glance, nodding at each other. “Sure,” Toby said. “We’d love to.”
* * * *
“Why,” Rebecca muttered to Eliza as they started around the back of the house and headed toward the barn, “do I get the idea you’re trying to set me up with those guys?”
Eliza grinned. “Because I am.”
“They’re gay.”
“Correction, love. They’re bi. I know that for a fact. And they’re sweet guys, from what I’ve heard from Tilly. Hell, play around a little.” Eliza grabbed her arm and made her turn to look at her. “Fess up. How long’s it been since you got laid?”
Rebecca’s face turned red. “Too damn long,” she muttered. There were a couple of guys she knew from the Ren fair circuits that she’d dabbled with here and there, but nothing long-term, and no one she wanted to sacrifice her freedom for.
“There you go,” Eliza said. “A couple of guys to play with, they’re not currently involved with anyone, and everybody’s happy.”
“I’m already happy.”
“Yeah. That’s why your dog has more of a social life than you do. At least he’s getting laid more often.”
Rusty stepped around them, taking the keys from Rebecca. “You two argue. I’m going to go look in the barn.”
“At least keep an open mind,” Eliza said. “You know I’m right. Quit arguing with me.” She turned to follow Rusty.
With an aggravated sigh, Rebecca tagged along behind them.
I should have known she’d try to pair me up with someone.
* * * *
Rebecca didn’t step any farther inside the house than the front porch. The stench, along with some flies, wafted out through the front door.
Rusty reached in and yanked the front door shut.
“Thanks,” she said, feeling ill.
“That,” Rusty firmly told her, locking the deadbolt with the key, “can wait until the pro gets here tomorrow. You are not going in there without gear on.”
“I’m not even sure I’m hungry now.”
They stopped by Toby and Logan’s to let them know they were ready to head to the restaurant. The men followed them, and twenty minutes later, they were seated at a round corner table.
“How are you holding up?” Toby asked her.
It didn’t help that he and Logan were both drop-dead gorgeous, in her book.
“I’ve had better days. I feel bad that I didn’t get to talk to him one last time. Or that he…” She shuddered. “That’s a horrible way to go.”
“Any word on the cause of death yet?” Logan asked.
“No. They suspect either a stroke or a heart attack. The autopsy results will tell us that. I just hope it was quick and he didn’t lay there for a couple of days first.” Another shudder escaped her.
Then again, she was pretty much alone, too, wasn’t she? They might find her one day, on the floor of the RV, with Chewi having chewed on her to survive.
“I’m sorry we weren’t closer to him,” Toby said. “I feel bad he was over there for so long. We didn’t know him all that well.”
“Don’t blame yourselves. I guess he didn’t have much of a social life. He kept to himself.”
“Any ideas on what you’re going to do with the place?” Logan asked.
“Not yet. I’ll have to get the tractor running and mow, for starters.”
“If you show us how to use it, we’ll do it for you,” Logan said.
“Thanks. I appreciate that. It’s not that hard. I’ll pay you.”
“No,” Toby said. “It’s the least we can do.”
“Maybe I should just buy a goat and put a front gate up and let it wander around.” She was only half-joking.
“Anything we can do,” Toby offered, “just let us know. We’ll be happy to help.”
Logan nodded.
“You might be sorry you made that offer,” she said.
Again, only half-joking. She was starting to feel overwhelmed by the scope of the job ahead of her.
The good thing was she could easily park the RV on the property and hook into electric there, if it was still working. When she’d first started her RV journey, her uncle had installed a hook-up for her by the barn. Not that she got there very often to visit him after that, another thing she felt guilty about.
And she couldn’t exactly use the bathroom in the house now, either. Not until it was cleaned out.
By the time they parted ways at the end of the meal, Rebecca felt like maybe the two men could become friends.
It would be nice to have more good friends than just Eliza and Rusty.
That they were two hot, hunky, bi men who she might be able to eventually have a play relationship with, only sweetened the pot. No, they hadn’t discussed BDSM over dinner, but Eliza’s words still hung, ringing, in her brain.
She wasn’t getting any younger.
Maybe it was time to take a risk or two here or there.
Chapter Five
Rebecca spent a restless night tossing and turning. Yes, it was a comfortable guest bed, but it wasn’t her bed.
She was used to the feel and sounds of her RV, as small as it was. Like her little, snuggly den that she could curl up in and hide from the world.
Literally.
Ed Payne stopped by to pick her up at eight thirty the next morning. By the time they drove to her uncle’s house at one, she felt exhausted. More mentally than physically, but drained.
There was a man sitting in a truck parked in front of the house when they pulled in.
“Ah, that’s Josh Collins.” The side of his truck bore logos for their company, and he shut off the engine and got out to meet them when they pulled in and parked.
“Hey, Ed.”
“Thanks for coming back out. Josh is the one who helped me get the paperwork we retrieved from the house,” the attorney explained.
“Ah. Thank you. We came over yesterday evening and I didn’t get any farther than opening the front door, so you’re a better man than I am.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t go in there without a respirator, at the very least. Not until we make some progress.” He held an iPad. “Let’s go sit in the shade on the front porch and we can talk.”
He went over everything with her, including asking if she wanted their help with the outbuildings.
All she wanted to do was get the junk cleared out so she could figure out what to do with the house and property.
“Paperwork, family pictures, any antique furniture that’s salvageable and looks like it holds value, those things I’d like kept aside. Anything else can go in those storage units you talked about. I want to keep the tractor and a couple other things with the house, but if the house itself is cleaned out, then I can have an estate sale company come in and do that part.”
“Any idea what you’re going to do with the house yet? I ask because if you want it stripped down to bare walls and all the carpet ripped out, we can do that while we’re here. We’ll open up all the windows and pull out all the screens to try to air it out and let any remaining flies escape, and we can have a cleaning crew come in and disinfect it as well as clean out the AC system and ductwork. That’ll make a contractor’s job easier later, rather than waiting and letting it sit as-is.”
She thought about her shock at the bank manager confirming her newfound wealth. “How much?”
“Another thousand, but that means, literally, a contractor can come in and start doing whatever you have them do, without them needing to hire a cleaning crew first.”
“Sure.” Hell, it was only money.
She stifled a nervous giggle. This felt so wrong.
“Did you want to talk about having a crew come in and film the operation?”
<
br /> She thought about it. “Honestly? My schedule is so crazy, I’d rather not. I’m going to be coming back and forth for the next couple of weeks. I’d rather just get it done. My friend Eliza, her and her husband, Rusty, have volunteered to be here in my place the next couple of weeks. I trust her judgment on what to keep and what to toss or put aside for the estate sale.”
“Wait,” Josh said. “Rusty and Eliza McElroy?”
“Yes,” Ed confirmed. “Those friends.”
Now it clicked in Rebecca’s head exactly how Eliza and Rusty knew the attorney. She looked from Ed to Josh and back again before she finally said it.
“Is everyone in Sarasota kinky now and no one thought to tell me?”
* * * *
They were just finishing up late in the afternoon when Toby and Logan returned home from work. Rebecca had signed all the contracts on Josh’s iPad and he’d e-mailed her copies to her. They’d have an initial crew come out tomorrow, Dumpsters would be delivered, as would a couple of storage units.
It was a lot to absorb.
Toby and Logan walked over to say hello, and yes, Josh knew them, too. The men shook hands in greeting.
“This is like old home week or something,” Ed joked.
“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about how we act around you,” Josh said. “My two brothers and I, we’re poly with our wife, Essie. We bought her one of your bracelets. You do gorgeous work.”
“Thank you.” She again fought the urge to blush. It was one thing to be showing her wares at an event and another for people to heap praise upon her when she wasn’t trying to make a sale.
“You know,” Logan said, “you should sell project patterns on your website. Or maybe even the patterns and kits to make them.”
“I really don’t have time to make patterns,” she said. “I’m too busy keeping up my inventory.”
Then again, her financial luck had just changed. Maybe it was something she could do now.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, Eliza calling.
“Where are you?” Eliza asked by way of greeting.
“We’re still at the house. We—”
“Good, stay put. We’ll be there to pick you up. The Barbarian got off work early. We’ll come to you.”
“But Ed’s my ride and—”
“Don’t worry about it. And I’ve already walked and fed the Chewster. He’s all happy and curled up with Booger. See you shortly.”
Eliza hung up on her before Rebecca could respond.
“What?” Ed asked.
“Well, I guess I’m waiting here for Eliza and Rusty,” she said. “I’ve been given marching orders that they’re coming to get me.”
“I should have mentioned,” Toby said, “that you three are coming over to our house for dinner.” His playful smile looked sexy, inviting.
“What?”
“Eliza texted me at lunchtime about getting together again tonight for dinner, and we invited you all over.”
“Ah.” She didn’t know whether to hug or pound her meddling friend. “Okay, then.” She turned to Ed. “Thank you for everything you’ve done so far.” No, he wasn’t working for free, nor did she expect him to, but the two-hundred-dollar fee he quoted her for handling everything so far, in addition to court costs, she suspected was a kinky friends and family discount his average client didn’t get.
“You’re welcome. I’ll keep you posted on the probate issues, and if you need anything, you’ve got my personal cell and my office number.”
She gathered her things from his car before he and Josh Collins both left.
She followed the men down the driveway and around the fence and up their driveway. “I’m sorry Eliza’s getting pushy,” she said. “Fair warning, I think she’s trying to play matchmaker.”
Both men stopped and turned. “Really?” they asked.
She couldn’t tell if their tone was a good one or a bad one. “Really. Again, apologies. I can’t control her. She’s got it into her head that I need a play-partner just because I’m single.”
The men studied each other for a moment before they continued their trek up the yard.
* * * *
Yes, Toby was attracted to Rebecca. Who wouldn’t be, with that gorgeous long, curly brown hair and those beautiful green eyes?
And yes, Toby wouldn’t deny he’d fantasized about her the night before when he and Logan were making love.
He honestly hadn’t given much thought to her being single, though. Although it made sense now, in retrospect, looking back on their dinner conversation the evening before.
Hmm.
He and Logan had been together eight years. In that time, yes, they’d played with women, and slept with some of them. They both loved women. They’d actually met over a woman, ironically. She’d been dating both of them, and they found out about it, and when each figured out the other was bi, they ended up dating each other instead of her.
Then Hurricane Julie took the wind out of their sails.
Hmm.
He’d seen the look on Logan’s face. He knew that look.
Intrigued.
Hmm.
* * * *
The men’s house was nice. Homey, not stuffy or perfect, but the right mix of lived in and comfortable along with casual style to put her at ease as they showed her around.
“We spent a lot of time on remodeling,” Logan said. “Did a lot of the work ourselves.”
“It’s very nice. I might be asking you two for advice when I get to that stage.”
“Thinking about keeping the house?”
“I don’t know yet. Part of me wants to, and part of me says no, sell it and bank the cash. I don’t know what I’d do with a house if I keep it.”
“Maybe live in it?” Toby playfully suggested.
“I spend my life on the road,” she said. “I mean, yeah, I could drive back here between events. If I have over a week of downtime, depending on where I’m at and where I’m going, I’ll either stay over, or move on to the next town and stay there ahead of the event. It’s a regular route, now. I know the good parks, the ones to stay away from, and I don’t like to boondock at the events if I don’t have to.”
“Must be cramped living in an RV,” Logan said.
“Not really. Me and Chewi get along just fine.”
“Chewi?” Logan asked.
“My dog. I named him after the website. He’s got delusions of grandeur.” She blushed. “Sorry. I forget everyone else thinks I’m crazy that my dog has stories.”
“No, I think it’s adorable,” Logan said. “We did that growing up with our pets, too. We had a cat who thought aliens were going to come take him away to his real people.”
Behind him, Toby was smiling, circling his index finger around his temple. Crazy.
“Don’t give Chewi that idea,” she said. “He might run with it.”
Toby brought her a glass of iced tea. “So how did you end up living in an RV? Was it planned, or did you just quit going home?”
She’d managed to go all day without thinking about Sam Edsel. “I didn’t really have a home to go to,” she said. “I divorced my ex, who was also my Dom, unfortunately, and boogied.”
Toby frowned. “Is he local?”
“I don’t know. As of a couple of years ago, yes. He’s…” She thought about it. She didn’t know if they knew Sam or not. Best not to run her mouth about him. “Not inclined to find out where he’s at now, actually. I think it’s best for everyone if we don’t ever see each other again.”
“Sounds like it wasn’t a good divorce,” Logan noted.
“The divorce was better than the marriage.” She winced. “Sorry. I shouldn’t talk about that.”
“Was he abusive?” Toby asked.
“Let’s just say the man who coaxed me into marriage isn’t the man I ended up marrying.”
“Yowch,” Toby said. “That bad, huh?”
“Yep.”
“What’s his name?” Logan asked.
“Seriously,” Toby said. “We’d like to know.”
Thinking this was probably a bad idea, she said it. “Sam Edsel.”
Logan frowned and turned to Toby. “Isn’t that the name of that douchenozzle who Tilly said—”
“Yes,” Toby said, looking angry. “And the one who Loren told us—”
“Right,” Logan said, also now looking angry.
“What?”
“Your ex has a quiet but negative rep,” Toby said. “I know of at least two instances where the women didn’t want a big deal made over it, but he violated consent after he collared them, and they left him. Then he’d harass them until they disappeared from the local community.”
Her blood chilled. “Disappeared?”
“Well, left,” Toby clarified. “Not as in I think he killed them or anything. As in they dropped out of the lifestyle and quit coming around to local events so they wouldn’t cross paths with him.”
“Oh.”
“We don’t run into him very often,” Logan said. “Well, especially not lately. We had our own run-in with a predator. Ours was a woman, though.”
They told her the short version of their story about Julie, who stole their hearts, their trust, and their money.
When they finished, she felt as angry as both men had looked moments earlier. “Well, then, since we’re sharing, here’s my version of events. He sweet-talked me, consent this, boundaries that…until the night of our honeymoon when he tied me down, gagged me, and used a cane on my ass. This was after we’d gotten married at the courthouse because he said we couldn’t afford a wedding. I didn’t even get a decent damn wedding out of it. Then he told me that since I signed a slave contract, I was his property to do with as he pleased.”
The men looked horrified. “You didn’t leave then?” Logan asked.