by SC Daiko
His grooming box is on the floor. I put on his halter, tie the lead to an iron ring in the partition, and comb him in a circular motion to bring up the dust, dirt and sweat matted inside his hair. Afterwards, I use a hard brush, scrubbing him vigorously from nose to tail and focusing on the area where his saddle pad has been, to get rid of the last remnants of dried sweat. The soft brush is next, and it feels light in my hands as I groom him all over to bring up the shine. “Good boy,” I say, kissing his velvet nose.
He bends his head and wriggles his lips into my jeans pocket, searching for mints. I laugh and extract the packet. He stands patiently while I unwrap the treat and hold it out to him on the flat of my hand. “Just need to check your hooves, baby. Then you can have some proper food.”
I pick out his feet, one at a time, making sure there are no stones lodged in them, and taking care not to damage the sensitive area. “All done, boy,” I stroke his neck, “I’ll rake the sawdust back, then you can have supper.”
Sundancer’s head appears over the bars of the stall next to Odin, and he gives a whinny. I snicker. “I guess you heard the s-word,” I say to him. “Are you hungry?”
“Do you always talk to your horses as if they’re people?” a voice behind me asks.
I gasp and spin on my heel. Clark Smithton is standing there, smirking.
“You nearly made me jump out of my skin,” I say, pushing the hair back from my face. “Our horses are brilliant athletes. Of course I treat them as people.”
His eyes slide over me, and I really don’t like the lustful look in them. “Liam and Aiden sure have a pretty stepsister,” he winks. “Wanna have a drink with me later?”
“Erm, no thanks,” I say quickly. “I’m gonna be busy.”
“Aw, don’t be like that, sugar.”
I fight an eye-roll and fold my arms. “Like what?”
“I’ve seen the way you look at me, as if I’m sex on a stick. Don’t be a prick tease.”
My mouth flaps open. Clark is delusional. Batshit crazy. I glance from left to right, suddenly scared. He’s a lot bigger and stronger than me. And we’re freaking alone.
He reaches out and touches my wrist.
I flinch and pull back.
Oh, God, don’t take me back to that fearful place in my mind. The place I lived in before Aiden and Liam came into my life.
I ball my hands into fists and prepare to run. My breath comes out shallow and fast. “I said no and I mean it. Please leave me alone.”
“You heard her.” Oh, thank God, it’s Aiden. “The lady said no.”
I swivel around. Aiden is there on his crutches, Liam next to him, carrying two buckets of feed. Michael is right behind him.
Liam drops the buckets and holds out his arms. I go into them and bury my fingers in his white sleeveless t-shirt, twisting them.
“Babe? You okay?”
I close my eyes and squeeze them tight. My heart thumps in my ears, and I can’t speak.
“Samantha?” Aiden asks.
I open my eyes, and release a breath.
“It’s okay, babe,” Liam whispers. “We’ve got you.”
“We won’t let anyone hurt you,” Aiden growls.
Liam places his hand on my wrist, and it feels so warm and safe. Aiden shuffles up and drops his sticks. I turn and grab hold of his tee with my other hand, looking deep into his eyes. The fear is gone, just like that, to be replaced by overwhelming love for these two men.
I don’t ever want to leave them.
I don’t ever want them to leave me.
I don’t ever want to teeter on the brink of that dark place I inhabited before I learnt to trust them.
“Well, well, well,” Clark’s voice is creepy… creepy like he is. “Quite the cosy little set-up you’ve got between the three of you.”
“That’s, enough,” Michael barks. “If I catch you pestering my stepdaughter again, Smithton, I’ll inform your wife.”
The guy is married? He’s even more of a creep.
“Hey,” Clark rasps. “I wasn’t being serious. I was just messing with her.”
I lift my chin. “I’m not a ‘her’ to be messed with. I’m Samantha,” I say to him. “And no one messes with me.”
“Well said,” Michael’s throws me a look of admiration. “Let’s leave Aiden and Liam to tend to the horses and go have a little chat, shall we?” He glares at Clark. “I suggest you get out of our section of the stables and see to your own.”
“Okay, okay,” Clark holds out his hands. “As I said, I didn’t mean anything bad.” He gives me a false smile. “I hope you won’t hold it against me, Samantha.”
“Fuck off,” I say. I’m shaking so much my voice comes out all wobbly.
“Your mother’s waiting for me, Samantha,” Michael grunts. “We can include her in our chat.”
“We’ll see you in the lorry, sweetheart,” Aiden says as his twin hands him his crutches. “Good luck!”
They wave me off with worried eyes, and I swallow hard.
MAM stares at me open-mouthed in a quiet corner of the hospitality tent, after I tell her what went down with Clark and how Liam and Aiden came to my ‘rescue.’ Maybe rescue is a tad exaggerated. I mean, I doubt Smithton would have done anything serious, especially as I would have fought tooth and nail and screamed the place down. Except Aiden and Liam did rescue me from that dark place of fear, and I need to get that fact across to our parents.
“Your sons are so like you, Michael,” I say to him.
He creases his brow. “How so?”
“You know about the domestic violence Mam suffered?” I keep my voice to barely above a whisper.
Michael nods.
“You know I suffered mentally?”
He glances at Mam, and she gives him an encouraging smile. “Your mother told me.”
“Did she tell you they helped me?”
Another nod. “She did.”
“I’ve never been able to trust a man before. And I do believe you’ve helped Mam like your boys have helped me.”
Michael blows out a long slow breath. He steeples his fingertips and his eyes flare.
My blood turns to ice. We don’t have a hope in hell.
“I’m trying to make sense of all this in my head, believe me, Samantha.” He smiles, a smile of resignation. “What I just saw between the three of you just now took my breath.”
“Wh… wh… what do you mean?” I stutter.
“I saw genuine love.”
“It’s true. We love each other so much.”
He stares into my eyes, like he’s searching for something. “I love my boys,” he says. “Don’t want to risk a wedge coming between us.”
I reach across and lace my fingers through his. “They think the world of you and would hate for that to happen.”
“You were a stranger to me until I fell in love with your mother. I’m incredibly proud to have you as my stepdaughter. If I’ve been harsh, it’s only because I wanted to look after you.”
Warmth spreads through me at his words. “We’re a family, however you look at this situation.”
“I’m still not one hundred percent on board,” he says. “How this will pan out in the future is anyone’s guess.”
I decide to come right out with plan B. “There’s a cottage up for rent in the village,” I say. “We’re thinking of moving in there.”
“Hmm,” Michael furrows his brows. “Let’s not be hasty.” He pauses and smiles again. “There’s a piece of land behind the outdoor school at home with planning permission for a house.”
My heart rate speeds up. “You don’t mean…”
“I was thinking of signing it over to the boys anyway. Especially as Rhiannon and I are turning the farmhouse into a B and B.” He gives Mam a look of such love it melts me.
“Thank you,” I breathe. “Thank you so much.” I launch myself at him, and wrap my arms around his broad chest to give him a hug.
He pats my shoulder. “Go and break it to Li
am and Aiden,” he says gruffly, easing himself out of my hold. “And keep down the noise at night when you get back home,” he laughs. “Your mother and I couldn’t sleep the other night for the racket.”
My cheek burn; I don’t know where to look I’m so freaking embarrassed.
I kiss Mam, and she wraps her arms around me. “I’m proud of you, love,” she says. “You’ve come a long way from the scared little girl I used to know.”
And I have. All thanks to the men I love. I say goodbye to my mother and stepfather, then make my way around the edge to the arena towards the lorry park. I can’t wait to see Aiden’s and Liam’s faces when I tell them the news.
“WILL you marry us?” Liam asks, pulling me into his arms after he and Aiden have fucked me practically senseless on the sofa bed.
My eyes widen. “Wouldn’t that be bigamy?”
Aiden curls his divine body around my back. “We discussed it between us while you were talking with the parents.” He kisses my nape. “It can’t be a civil ceremony, so it wouldn’t be bigamous, but we could write our vows and make them in front of friends and family. What do you say?”
I turn between them, rubbing myself against them, loving them. We talked after I returned from my chat with Mam and Michael, but they didn’t breathe a word about marriage. I guess it was something they were saving for the right moment. And it is the right moment, I realise. What could be a better moment than this, lying safe and secure in their arms?
“I’d love to marry you,” I say. “I love you both and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Have your children, eventually.” I caress their faces, one after the other. “I want to share in your triumphs and disappointments, grow old with you by my side.”
Liam captures my mouth, his tongue chasing mine. He pulls away, and his gaze is heated. “I want all that too.” He trails a finger down my cheek. “And I want for you to beat us in the showjumping arena one day. Do you think you can manage that?”
I smile, and my heart goes into meltdown. “I’ll try.”
Aiden turns me so he can kiss me. He makes a perfect job of it, and I feel wetness pooling in my pussy. I reach for his stiffening cock.
“Naughty little brat,” he chuckles. “You can ride my dick like you ride your horse in a minute. You’re a talented rider both of Jason and us.” He unleashes his beautiful smile. “We’ve been thinking it’s time for you to take on one of the youngsters. You’ll be moving up the rankings and jumping in open events before you know it. You’ll need a team.”
“Oh, wow. That’s awesome.” I reach my arms as wide as I can to hug them both. “I love you. I never get tired of saying that and I hope I never will.”
My heart thuds as, one after the other, they cup my face and kiss me.
“We love you, Samantha,” Aiden’s voice vibrates against my tits. “We’ll weather the storms of life together, and it will always be the three of us.”
“Yeah,” Liam adds. “From this moment, we’re coming out to the world. We want everyone to know we belong to each other. Cunts like Clark Smithton won’t dare mess with our girl.”
“Keep being our brat, mind, that’s what drew us to you,” Aiden says. “We love you just the way you are. No pretending, hiding or shame.”
I nestle against them and breathe them in. “That suits me fine. Now I have everything I didn’t even know I dreamed about.”
Epilogue
Two Years Later
Liam
I’m standing with Aiden in front of the rose trellis in the farmhouse garden. Our friends and family are with us to witness the most important day of our lives, the day we make our vows to Sam, and she to us.
Two years have gone by since Aiden and I proposed, two years filled with activity and so much love it still takes my breath. I steal a glance at my twin, and he catches my eye. He knows what I’m thinking, as ever. I’m filled with admiration for him; he was back in the saddle barely five months after his accident, through sheer determination, and it didn’t take him long to join me near the top of the leader board in the overall showjumping rankings again. Successful in our careers and happy at home, life couldn’t be sweeter.
We decided to wait until our cottage had been built before our unofficial wedding; we moved in last week. It’s small, but cosy, and there’s planning permission for an extension when we’re ready to start a family. I smirk to myself, thinking about holding our baby. We don’t care who the father will be, we’ll leave that to fate. Dad and Rhiannon can’t wait to be grandparents, but wait they’ll have to; Sam has her own career to focus on first.
Fuck, I’m so proud of her. She’s only twenty-one, won’t be twenty-two until November, but she’s already competing in five-star competitions. One of the youngest riders ever to represent Great Britain at senior international level in a Nations Cup event, she’ll be riding Jason in The European Showjumping Championships at the end of this month. She’s yet to beat us, but I’m sure it will happen soon.
My thoughts are interrupted by the sound system launching into The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. Our friends get to their feet, and Aiden and I turn to drink in the sight of the most beautiful girl in the world, walking towards us on our father’s arm.
She takes up position between us, and, fuck, she’s stunning in an off-shoulder long white dress, her hair pinned up in curls around her sweet face.
Dad is our unofficial officiant. He stands before us, takes our hands and joins them. “Aiden and Liam, please make your vows.”
We say in unison. “We, Aiden and Liam, do pledge to you, Samantha, our love, for as long as we both shall live. What we possess in this world, we give to you. We will keep you and hold you, comfort and care for you, protect you and shelter you, for all the days of our lives.”
The audience cheers and claps.
“Samantha,” Dad says, “please make your vows.”
“Aiden and Liam, I take you as you are, loving who you are now and who you are yet to become. I promise to listen to you and learn from you, to support you and accept your support. I will celebrate your triumphs and mourn your losses as though they were my own. I will love you and have faith in your love for me, through all our years and all that life may bring us.”
More cheering and clapping.
“Aiden and Liam,” Dad says. “You may kiss the bride.”
And we do.
Later, we dance, the three of us together, Aiden and I taking it in turns to hold Sam close. We pass Emma, and she smiles at us; she’s dancing with Nate, the newest member of the American team. From all accounts, they’re an item. On the other side of the marquee, set up specially for the occasion, Zac and Joe are waltzing together… all loved-up; we celebrated their marriage in the spring with a party for them here in the farmhouse. Rachel has since moved in with Jeff; she’s sitting with him at the side of the dance floor, their three-month-old baby son, Jacob, asleep in her arms. They live in the village, and she’ll return to part-time work for us after Christmas. In the meantime, we’ve taken on two new members of staff. Now that Sam is competing on the international circuit, and our father is more involved with the bed and breakfast business, we need the extra pairs of hands.
Dad and Rhiannon come up to us, smiling, tears of happiness in their eyes. “Now you are, for all intents and purposes, my daughter-in-law,” Dad says to Sam, “I’m just as proud of you as when you were my stepdaughter.” He puts his arm around her, and kisses her on the cheek. “I know my future granddaughter will be beautiful like her grandma.”
We watch him lead Rhiannon in a sedate waltz, the Roberts touch as evident in their relationship as it is in ours. Aiden and I have much for which to be grateful. If we ever have a son, I hope he’ll feel the same way about us as we feel about our own father.
Sam takes my hand and Aiden’s, twirling around us in the dance. We bend and kiss her, breathing in her divine scent, loving her to the depths of our souls.
The following year
Samantha
&nbs
p; I’m sitting in the cottage, my feet propped up on the sofa, timing my contractions. Our daughter is on her way. I smile to myself, remembering the day we decided we were ready to have her. It was at Miami Beach, the second leg of the Global Champions Tour. The competition had been held in searing heat, with the iconic shore in front, white crested surf rolling, and skyscraper hotels in the background.
Jason excelled himself that afternoon; he’d become so freaking fast, like he had one gear, but he’d learnt to be careful at the same time. He jumped a super first round, followed by an even more super second one in the jump off.
There was only one hairy moment, when he clipped the back rail of the wide oxer. Thank God it didn’t fall, and his score of 64.65 blew away our opponents, including my two husbands. For the first time, ever, I’d beaten them in an event. But they didn’t mind; they predicted it would happen, and the best thing was they were sharing the podium with me and we had news to tell our parents as soon as the prize-giving ceremony was over.
We shook the champagne bottles and sprayed each other with fizz. I couldn’t help scanning the crowd for Mam and Michael. There they were, puffed up with pride in us. We met them at the edge of the arena. “We have news for you,” I said, smiling.
“You’re not… pregnant,” Mam gasped.
“Not yet. I wouldn’t be so stupid as to put my baby at risk by taking part in a five-star class,” I smirked. “But now I’ve achieved my ambition, we’ve decided to give it a go.”
To say Mam and Michael were stoked would be an understatement. Mam warned me it might take a while to conceive, but I became pregnant the second month of trying, and stopped riding immediately.
Aiden and Liam have jumped Jason and Monique, my Grade B mare, at events instead. It’s been hard watching them succeed in my place, but the joy of feeling our baby growing inside me and the excitement of impending motherhood, have kept jealousy at bay.