THE RULE OF THREE_A.C.H.E., MOTO, and TRINITY

by M. Never

  I wince when I hear the excavator’s thunderous movement. Frozen solid and completely powerless, I watch as the steel arm swings around and dangles the clawed shovel over the structure. The rain starts to fall heavier as the hydraulics of the machine hiss air and grind gears at a disturbing sound level. My heart drowns in my chest with the first punch of the claw through the slanted roof. It crumbles like hard candy. Punch after punch after punch, the machine demolishes the dark shingles until they’re gone. And punch after punch after punch, I cry a little harder and die another death.

  I knew coming would kill me, but I couldn’t stop myself. I was obsessed. I had to see it with my own eyes. Witness it fall. And fall it does as the excavator tears apart every last piece, until there’s nothing left of me or the building. Pulling my hood tighter over my head to shield my face from the elements, I hash out all the emotions battling inside as I stand at a crossroad. So much hate, so much rage, and equal amounts sorrow and regret.

  What now?

  What the fuck do I do now?

  A black shadow over my head startles me. No, not a shadow, an enormous umbrella. The rain stops pelting down on me as Shane and Chase encase my body.

  I haven’t spoken to either of them in weeks. And it wasn’t for their lack of trying either. I was just too hurt, too upset. My trust in them deteriorated, even if it was unwarranted. Even if they didn’t know what Ty was conspiring until it was too late. Guilty by association is the category I placed them in.

  “We thought you might come,” Shane hums consolingly.

  “Oh, yeah?” I retort bitterly.

  “Yeah, and we thought you could use a friend,” Chase adds soothingly.

  “Is that what the two of you are? Friends?”

  “At this moment, yes, but you know we’ll always want more.” Shane doesn’t hold back.

  I lift only my eyes to look at them. “Why?”

  “You know why.”

  “Then say it.” I push for no other reason than to add to my emotional turmoil.

  “Because we love you, and you know it. You’ve always known it. And we want you to come home.”

  “I don’t have a home. I don’t have anything.” My lip quivers.

  “That’s not true. You have us. We can help you through it. Don’t turn us away.”

  My pride doesn’t want to give in. They still work for the man who destroyed my life and took everything from me.

  But my loneliness, my despair, is screaming at me to collapse into their arms and fall apart. Allow them to help me to heal.

  “C’mon, Jenn, you know this is right. You know we’re meant to be together.” Shane sidles up next to me. The heat of his body inviting me back to that safe, secure place. “I know it’s hard. You feel lost and betrayed, but we would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. We know you know that. And we know you know our feelings are real.”

  “I do know it,” I reluctantly admit, hiding my face in my hood. “But that doesn’t make the situation any easier.”

  “Maybe not, but it makes it worth fighting for. And you’re a fighter.” Shane lifts my chin. “And strong and loyal and determined. We need a woman like that to love us.”

  God, do they know what to say and how to say it.

  “I don’t feel very strong at the moment.” My voice is small.

  Shane scans over my weathered expression warmly. “The good thing about moments like these? They pass. Come home. Let us love you.”

  Home and love. There are two words I never thought I’d hear in the same sentence.

  “You have so much more than you think. You just have to accept it,” Chase amends.

  “When all you know is strife and struggle, accepting love is a difficult thing . . .” They both frown, believing they’re making no headway. “ . . . But I think maybe when you lose everything,” I concede, “accepting the love that’s offered is the only way to start new.” I curl my lips into a small, surrendering smile. Shane and Chase mirror my expression, magnifying it tenfold.

  I take one last, lingering look at the Corkscrew’s rubble before they lead me away.

  Every end has a new beginning, right?

  It seems so.

  With the two of them directing me, I slip into the backseat of their black BMW, my wet clothes dampening the soft tan leather. Chase slides into the driver’s seat as Shane claims the passenger side. I don’t say a word as we drive off. I’m a barrel of emotions that just took a trip down Niagara Falls.

  It’s quiet in the car until Shane turns to look at me. “Last night was the last time you don’t sleep in our bed.” His hazel eyes are as serious as his tone.

  I don’t respond as my desire for love and my resentment toward the world clash.

  “Jenn,” Chase says my name strictly, glancing back at me through the rearview mirror.

  “Okay,” I slingshot back. “Okay.” My voice softens.

  They both seem appeased as we make our way to the north side of town.

  Once inside, they make no qualms of stripping me out of my wet clothes and placing me in a steaming shower. I don’t know what my chilly skin responds to more, the hot spray or the hot hands wandering over my naked body. I close my eyes and let them do as they please. Touch me as they please. Pushed up against the shower wall, they re-stake their claim, taking full advantage of my susceptibility, needling their way back into that sacred place of ours. Our trinity.

  Two covetous mouths sweep over my curves, slowly bringing me back to life.

  I run my fingers through their hair as their tongues slither over me like serpents. A gasp escapes my throat as one latches onto my nipple and the other my clit, lavishing both pieces of needy flesh at the same time. The dual stimulation of pleasure causes me to twitch. To feel. To breathe in God knows how long. I fucking missed them. Missed everything we had.

  “Make me come. God, please, please make me come.” I grind my pussy against Shane’s face as I push my straining nipple into Chase’s mouth. They moan in tandem at my plea and my actions, Shane sinking two fingers into my flooding entrance.

  “We’ll make you come all night,” Chase promises, pulling and stretching my swollen breast with a firm grip of his teeth.

  He traps my hands over my head, restraining me as he continues to sweep and pinch and scrape my nipples until they’re aching little points aimed straight at him. Sensing my emotional confinement, Shane spreads my legs, burying his face in my pussy, mimicking the movement of Chase’s mouth; a relentless swirl of his tongue, graze of his teeth, and penetration of his fingers has me struggling against the wall, has me begging.

  “Please God, please.” My voice is a hoarse whisper.

  “Who do you belong to?” Chase plunges his tongue between my parted lips before I can respond, continuously rolling my nipple between his fingertips, driving me mad.

  Between lashes, I mutter, “You. Both of you.” I suck on his bottom lip desperately. I’m so fucking close; it’s insufferable.

  My muscles clench around Shane’s fingers, inducing him to pump harder.

  “Fuck, make me come, make me come!” I just about cry as my legs quiver, ready to give out. With the right amount of pressure, Shane hits my sweetest spot, and I implode, my body jerking violently in Chase’s iron grasp. My release is as damaging as a tidal wave; it’s a large, sudden, destructive crest of physical and emotional exertion. They subdue me as I moan and shake, demanding every last ounce of need within me.

  Once the vibrations pass, my limbs go limp, and my two imperious men release me from my bonds. They cradle my drained body under the running water until I’m responsive again.

  “I missed your sweet taste.” Shane slides his lips up my neck.

  “And I missed your sweet moans.” Chase licks the seam of my mouth.

  Lazily, I crack open my eyes. “Do you know what I miss?”

  They both shake their heads.

  “Watching the two of you. Together.”

  Their eyes sparkle with lust. “Well, it
just so happens making you come makes us horny as fuck.” Shane digs his erection into my thigh.

  “Show me how much.”

  My simple request is all it takes to have them smashing their lips together and attacking each other like the unrestrained animals they are. I step back and enjoy the show as the two powerful men, my men, turn a carnal leaf.

  Steam clouds the spacious stone shower as Shane and Chase exchange motions, jerking each other rhythmically, showing they know how to touch each other as well as they know how to touch me.

  “Fuck him,” I provoke them.

  In a flash, Shane shoves me down onto the shower seat and bends over, trapping my body between his arms as he braces his hands on the wall.

  We lock eyes as Chase grips his hips. A slight head tilt on my part affords me the view I’m after. Chase sinking two slippery fingers directly into Shane’s ass. Shane’s straining moan and ‘oh’ face make me crazed. Their pleasure is so fucking addictive; it sets my blood on fire.

  I grip Shane’s damp golden locks as Chase stretches him wide, preparing him for what’s to come. I spy in a lust-filled haze as Chase penetrates him, sliding the head of his swollen cock in painstakingly slow. Shane and I share a lingering moment of escalating arousal, eye to eye, mouth to mouth, sigh to sigh right before Chase begins beating away at him. I watch with wonder as their bodies connect, listen with reverence as they groan and growl, relishing in the fact that neither of them, ever once, peel their wild eyes away from me.

  “Stroke yourself,” I urge Shane with a husky voice. “Come all over me while Chase comes in you.”

  “Ah, baby.” My request sparks an immediate action on his part. Shane grabs his cock and strokes hard while Chase’s erratic thrusts jerk his body forward.

  They’re both so close. So dangerously, deliciously close, it turns me into a hypnotized predator. I swear I feel my pupils dilate from the upshot of arousal.

  “Come for me.” I scoot closer to Shane, giving him a direct shot at my chest. “All right here.” I taunt them both, cupping my naked breasts.

  “Fuck, Shane, come all over her.” Chase clenches his jaw and shudders, the two of us overpowering his control.

  “With fucking pleasure.” A guttural sound unleashes from Shane right before I’m doused repeatedly with warm, white liquid.

  The two of them together are a force of nature. So raw and powerful, my ovaries throb.

  Once their tornadic climaxes peak, Shane drops to his knees in front of me. Without a word, he encircles me in his arms and rests his head on my lap. I’m arrested by his vulnerable gesture. My heart pinches in my chest.

  I ruffle his hair lovingly before Chase cups my face, and we share a winded kiss. A prolonged, deep, passionate, pulse-pounding kiss.

  I finally admit to myself just how much I love these men. From the heavens above to the core of the earth below.

  “Take me to bed,” I implore them.

  “Tell us you’re home.”

  I smile sincerely for the first time in weeks. “I’m home.”

  Epilogue

  I pound the cold stick of butter with a French rolling pin. If you’re in search of some anger management in a pinch, this works wonders. I scrape the butter up with a pastry scraper and fold it over onto itself, then repeat the process until the butter bends without breaking.

  Making puff pastry from scratch may seem time-consuming and intimidating to some, but I was looking for a challenge. And I definitely found one.

  Tonight marks six months that Shane, Chase, and I have been together. Six months since I lost one home and gained another. I won’t lie; it hasn’t been easy. I harbor a lot of resentment toward Ty Winters. The fact that he’s Shane and Chase’s employer doesn’t sit well with me, but I try to remember they aren’t him. That what Ty did wasn’t personal, even if it feels that way. I focus on the positive. On what Pops would want me to do. Move on. Live. Laugh. Love. I keep his memory alive by doing just that. And it gets me through each and every day.

  Life is hard. It’s a struggle, but the slivers of happiness beaming like sunshine through the dark clouds make it all worthwhile.

  Shane and Chase, Janine and Jack, and cooking are my happiness. I smile as the dough forms beautifully. Tonight’s celebratory menu consists of salmon atop puff pastry with pesto sauce. Grilled asparagus and homemade whipped potatoes. Almost sounds gourmet, huh?

  Maybe on a smaller scale.

  I prepare the salmon and puff pastry on a foil-lined baking sheet, ready to pop it in the oven. Right before I do, I hear Chase call my name.

  I glance at the kitchen clock. They’re early. I wasn’t expecting them home till seven.

  “Pixie, put your shoes on. We have to go out,” he announces as he walks briskly into the airy kitchen.

  “I can’t go out,” I protest. “I’m just about to put dinner in the oven.” I lift the baking sheet to show him my masterpiece in progress.

  “Baby, I know how touchy you are about your food,”—he places his hands on my face—“but I’m not taking no for an answer. Put the baking sheet down and back away slowly.”

  “But—”

  “No buts.” He shuts the oven off, ignoring my complaints. “Put your shoes on willingly, or I’m throwing you over my shoulder barefoot.”

  “Caveman in a suit,” I bluster. My dinner is ruined.

  He smiles shamelessly. “Primitive and refined all rolled up in one handsome package. Aren’t you lucky?”

  “Pissed off is what I am,” I grumble.

  Chase steals an entertained kiss, then sends me on my way with a swat on the butt.

  “Hey!” I snap as I walk to the front door and slip on my jacket and flats.

  “Where’s Shane?” I interrogate him when I see he’s not in the car.

  “Ahhh . . . stuck at the office.”

  “Is that where we’re going?” I ask, aghast. You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to walk into that building, and Shane and Chase know it.

  “No.”

  Phew.

  “Then where are we going?” I slide into the front seat of Chase’s sleek black BMW.

  “Surprise.” He shrugs a shoulder nonchalantly.

  “Surprise? No hint, just surprise.”

  “Yes. Buckle up, pixie.”

  Chase punches the ignition on and takes off.

  I pepper him with whiny pleas for just a hint as to where we’re headed, but the man doesn’t give me an inch.

  At a stoplight, he pulls a piece of cloth from his pocket. “Cover your eyes.” He hands me . . . a black satin tie?

  “You’re kidding me, right?” I’m not amused. “You pulled me away from my homemade puff pastry and salmon pesto for a kinky sex game? We could have done this at home.”

  “No, we couldn’t have. Now do it.” He leaves me no choice.

  “God, you are so bossy tonight,” I gripe as I tie the material around my head.

  “I like being the boss.” I hear the arrogance in his voice.

  “We know.” I purse my lips.

  Chase chuckles, a low sexy rumble in his chest. The sounds give me chills.

  A few minutes later, we stop.

  “Hang on.” I hear Chase’s door open and shut. A moment later, he’s helping me out of the car.

  “Watch your step.”

  I pause, craning my head. “Are you being serious right now?”

  He laughs some more, no doubt at my expense.

  The smell of the ocean is potent as he leads me to wherever the fuck we’re going.

  I become insatiably curious as I hear cars and people all around me, while still following him blindly. Like, literally. We walk through what I think is a doorway before Chase voices, “Okay,” gripping both my biceps to stop me.

  “Ready?” Shane startles me from behind.

  “For what?” I can’t fathom what the two of them are up to.

  “This.” Shane pulls off the blindfold. It takes a second for my eyes to focus in the bright, natural lig
ht. I look around the spacious room, confused. The decor is beachy with a contemporary flair. All whites and creams, with bleached wood floors, a thatched ceiling, and a huge chandelier made out of a school of stark-white paper fish. I spin slowly as I drink it all in. It’s understated, clean, breezy, and beautiful. Rustic but classy, with small accents of distressed wood signs hanging here and there, and a large vintage surfboard in one corner of the room.

  “It was my vision.” Shane leans on the sleek, oak bar in one of his ridiculously expensive suits.

  “Vision?”

  “Yes, remember? When we had dinner at the Corkscrew that night, and we talked about remodeling it.”

  I remember he wouldn’t divulge any details. “This is what you saw?”

  “Mmm hmm.”

  “Whose is it? I mean, why are we here?”

  “It’s yours. Ours. If you want it,” Shane reveals.

  “What?”

  “We leased the building, I designed the restaurant, and now, here we are.” Just as simple as that.

  “You bought me a restaurant?” My stunned gaze jumps between them.

  “Guilty,” Chase affirms.

  Tears immediately pool in my eyes. I’m dumbfounded. Just completely mystified. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say you love it. Say it makes you happy.” Shane crosses the room with purpose. “We know it’s not the Corkscrew, but maybe with time, you can love it just as much.”

  I scan the beautiful room with blurry vision. The huge wall of windows showcasing the sparkling Atlantic is the perfect backdrop for the understated decor.

  “I already love it.”

  “You do?” Shane raises his eyebrows with a surprised look of elation.

  “How could I not? It’s incredible.” I lose myself in the paper fish swimming over my head. Shane’s talent is immense. No wonder Ty traveled across the country and recruited him like a pit bull.

  “There’s more.” Shane snatches my hand and drags me across the restaurant to a swinging door with a hole cut out. We enter the kitchen, and I’m blinded by the abundant amount of gleaming stainless steel.