by Lexi Blake
It rankled. It was charity, and he knew it. What would his sister want? It was a question Leo forced him to ask whenever he thought about something like this. When making a decision that truly affected another person, he had to take her feelings into account. It sucked. Shelley would want him to follow the path he’d planned. That was the whole damn reason she’d never mentioned it. His sister loved him. Making a unilateral decision that could cost him his sobriety wouldn’t help her in the end. He was the only family she had left. Bo was offering him a chance to fix the situation without causing another problem.
Sometimes being a man meant swallowing his damn pride.
“If I’m getting involved in this, I have to know I mean something.” Bo turned away as though he didn’t want to look at him anymore. “I can’t be a third body. I know the way this goes. You’re going to be the big guy, the one with all the authority, and I’m mostly okay with that. But I can’t just be a dick to be used in bed and ignored out of it. If that’s all you want—a third to please Beth—then you should count me out.”
Bo wanted to matter. He got that. “Thank you. I’ll take it. I’ll find out from the hospital how much the bill is. And I’ll pay you back. With interest.”
Bo turned to him.
“Fine, without interest.”
“I’m not a fucking bank.”
“Understood.” He didn’t have to go. He felt a smile sneak across his face. How was it that he’d reached his lowest point and finally found the people who mattered? His sister. Leo. Beth and Bo. Years and years he’d been a football god, and it was only when he had not a dime to his name that he found real friends. “Thank you, Bo.”
A sunny smile lit Bo’s face. “No problem.”
Marty stood at the bars. “Hey, McNamara and I have an early-morning flight to LA. When are we getting out of this piss pot? I swear to god, I’m going to sue the fuck out of this town.”
“You can try. We ain’t got any money, so good luck, mister.” Wanda went back to admiring her nails.
“And Trev’s not going anywhere,” Bo announced. “He has a job. He’s a cowboy.”
Marty’s eyes went wide. “Have you been talking to Dallas? Behind my back?”
He laughed. It was genuinely freeing. “No, Marty. I’m not that kind of cowboy. I’m the ‘spend all day on horseback, get knee-deep in cow shit, and get paid next to nothing’ kind of cowboy.”
And it was the best job in the world. He’d loved football, but he’d loved the game more than anything else. The rest of it—the business part—had nearly killed him. He just wanted to play. He hadn’t picked up a football in two years, but he suddenly wanted to. He wanted to get the ranch hands together on a Sunday and play a game of touch. He never felt freer than when he was looking for a target to throw to.
If he’d been a different man, his talent and his personality would have meshed. He wasn’t that man. He couldn’t handle it. Life was a choice. He chose to live and not burn out. Some people might never understand, but he’d chosen to live the day he’d walked away from the game.
“I’m not going anywhere, Marty. Go find someone else to exploit. And don’t call me. I’ll never step onto the field again. Not a professional field. Now, leave me be. Bo and I have a game to plan.”
It would involve rope and a paddle because he intended to let Beth know what she was in for the next time she hid something from him.
Leo smiled over at him before patting Jimmy on the shoulder and passing him a business card. “Call me tomorrow. We’ll set up a session. It’s going to be all right.”
Trev raised a brow. Leo shook his head. “Patient confidentiality. But god, I could build a whole practice off this town.” He stared down where O’Donnell was snoring in between talking about boots not being right. He shook his head. “And this one must actually work for therapy. Brilliant investigator but totally fucked up.” He turned to Bo. “Are you going to be able to handle this? Beth lied to her Dom. This is going to be an ugly scene.”
Bo’s eyes found his. “Lied?”
“By omission,” he clarified. She hadn’t mentioned the fact that she’d been shot at. It was a hell of an omission.
“Fuck, I told her you would find out. I told her to call you. Hell, I hired an investigator. I don’t know how she thought she could hide it.” Bo talked fast.
“You aren’t in trouble, Bo. Though now that we have a deal, I expect that you would call me in if something like that happens again. So, she fixed the door and painted over the bullet holes?”
Bo groaned. “Nope. She painted over the words on the wall. ‘Get out.’”
He closed his eyes. Those words had been meant for him. A huge part of him wanted to slink away. It would be better for everyone if he left. Beth and Bo were going to be tainted by his presence. He opened his eyes to find Leo and Bo both looking at him expectantly.
If he left, this town would eat up Bo and Beth again. Fuck it. He was better for them. The town could go to hell. Bo and Beth had made their choices. The town could hate him all they liked, but Beth was his. Fuck. Bo was his. Not in any sexual way, but Bo had recently become his responsibility in a way that meant something to Trev.
Trev raised his voice to make sure Wanda heard him. As long as Wanda heard, everyone in town would know what he’d said. “I will beat the living shit out of the next person who tries something like this. I’m not going anywhere, and this town better get used to it. I’m here for a year, and then we’ll see what happens, but I’m not going to let some asshole make me run out on my friends.”
Leo stood, a brilliant smile on his face. “The man learns. I am the greatest therapist in the world.” He pointed to the five men in the opposite cell. “Group rate, gentlemen. Give me a call. I can fix you. Well, maybe not you. You offend me. But the rest of you are more than welcome.”
“Did you hear that, Patty? Yeah, I think the ponytailed man is some sort of cult leader. Right here in Deer Run. Yep.” Wanda was back on the phone.
“I can handle whatever this town tries to throw at me,” Bo said, sitting back. “This is what she wants, right?”
Trev turned to him. “I have a question for you. Were you with her when she walked into that house? Or did she call out for you to help her?”
Bo’s face tightened. “I only knew she was in trouble because I heard the gun go off.”
“Is that the way she should have reacted? Or should she have called out for you?” He asked the question because Bo needed to understand his place. “I don’t care what had gone on with the two of you. She should have called for you. If she belongs to us, then she has to learn to take care of herself, and that damn straight includes asking for help when some asshole is shooting at her.”
A hard look came into Bo’s eyes. “I can handle it.”
Trev was suddenly pretty sure he could. And that meant he’d gained a partner.
The door to the sheriff’s office opened, and Beth ran in. She was dressed in jeans and a bulky shirt Trev intended to burn. Her wardrobe was getting an update. He stood, Bo beside him as though they had practiced the move.
“I’m here to pick up Trev and Bo.” She was breathless as she spoke to Wanda. She finally turned, and a little stubbornness firmed her chin. “I hear the two of you have been fighting. You should both know that I won’t put up with it.”
Trev narrowed his eyes. The only thing that kept him off her were the bars between them. “You won’t put up with it?”
She swallowed but seemed to find her courage. “No. I will not. You two should make up.”
Bo chuckled beside him. “Oh, I think Trev and I are fine now. You could say we talked it out.”
She stared for a moment. “Well, I’m glad.” She turned back toward Wanda. “Can I take them home now? I mean, I’m going to take them to their homes, of course.”
Wanda’s eyes widened. “Of course.”
Trev wasn’t going to let her get away with that. “Are you really in?”
Bo nodded.
“What?” It came out of Beth’s mouth with a little squeak. “Bo?”
“That’s right, Beth. I ain’t calling you Mouse anymore. Trev won’t allow it. And I am definitely spending the night,” Bo insisted.
Wanda continued her play-by-play. “That’s right, Patty. Both of them. Just like Aidan and Lucas.”
“No!” Trev and Bo both managed to shout it at the same time.
And then Bo laughed. He laughed long and hard, shaking his head.
The sheriff sighed as he opened the cell door. He looked back at Beth. “Can you take the long-haired fellow with you? He’s made two of the men in the next cell cry like babies. If you leave him here, they’ll all be throwing fits.”
“They aren’t throwing fits. They’re having breakthroughs,” Leo assured the sheriff as he walked out.
“I’m going to actualize my own perfect being,” Jimmy Nixon proclaimed through his tears.
Leo gave him a thumbs-up.
Trev walked out after him. He walked straight to Beth and pulled the ponytail out of her hair. “I told you to wear your hair down.”
He would have quietly reminded her another several times to get her into the habit of obeying him when it came to her hair, but she’d pushed him. She didn’t get a reminder.
“It looks beautiful down. You need to leave it that way.” Bo stood close to her but not touching.
“It feels so soft. Try it.” He was going to have to ease Bo into this.
After a moment of hesitation, Bo let his hand drift up and stroke her hair. There was something sweetly innocent about the way Bo’s fingers drifted into Beth’s hair. His eyes took in the soft brown stuff. Beth’s hair was threaded with sable and wisps of dark blonde. Bo touched her, petting her hair as if it satisfied something inside him. And then he did something Trev hadn’t expected. His hands wound through that silky hair and tightened.
“You didn’t call out today.” Bo’s voice was harder than he could remember. “When you were in trouble, you didn’t let me know.”
He could see the way her breath hitched the minute Bo’s voice had deepened. If her pussy hadn’t gone soft and wet when Bo had clenched his hand in her hair, he would give up his throwing arm.
“You were mad at me,” Beth reminded Bo, her voice soft.
Bo forced her head up. Maybe Trev wouldn’t have to ease him in. He seemed more comfortable with it now. “I would never be mad enough at you that I would let some fucker shoot you. Don’t you forget that. Now, give me the keys because I’m not sitting in that Pinto for the hour it would take you to drive us home.”
He plucked the keys from her hands and strode out without a backward glance.
Beth stared at him, her mouth half-opened. It was good that she was aware of Bo, but Trev wanted her aware of him, too. “And we’re going to have a talk tomorrow about lying to me. I should explain that omitting pertinent facts is the same as lying. You better pick a safe word, darlin’, because tomorrow, you’re going to need it.”
“Not tonight?”
He forced himself not to smile. She sounded disappointed. “Tonight is for something different, but you better enjoy it. I’m not going easy on you tomorrow. And you can tell Patty that, Wanda. Beth Hobbes’s butt is going to be red tomorrow because she defied her Dom.”
Wanda shook her head. “What is you people’s obsession with that man?”
Leo laughed. “You three go on ahead. I’ll call Lucas. He and Aidan can take me and Li back to the scene of the crime. We’ll get your trucks back to Beth’s place for you. I was out the minute someone mentioned a Pinto. Seriously, they explode. And I prefer to travel in a vehicle that doesn’t require me to fold my body in two.”
“You’re getting a new car,” Trev said as he took her hand and walked out into the night.
Chapter Thirteen
Bo put the car in park and prayed his dick still worked. The freaking tin can Mouse drove had him bent in half. Beth. Fuck, that was hard. He was hard. Damn it, he was so hard.
Was he really about to do this? Was he going to fuck Beth while Trev watched? Or would he be the one watching? Could he watch her writhe under Trev?
Beth took Trev’s hand as he helped her out of the car. Trev had forced her to go over every instant of her afternoon, from getting turned down at the bank, to cleaning up after the man who had shot at her. He’d been ruthless in his questioning. He’d forced her to tell him everything, right down to how it had made her feel.
Scared. Bo could have told him that. He’d been pretty fucking scared when he’d realized someone with a gun was trying to kill her.
“Beth.” Trev’s voice was as dark as the night. “Do you understand why I’m angry? This relationship won’t work if you don’t even trust me enough to tell me when someone’s tried to hurt you. I want you to think about this. I require trust from you. I’m willing to give it, too. And now you have to think about whether you can handle the both of us.”
Bo stilled. He hadn’t even thought about the fact that she might say no. Shouldn’t this whole Dom thing preclude her from saying no? Shouldn’t Trev simply tell her what he wanted, and she would do it? Even as he thought it, he knew this was one of those things his brother had tried to talk to him about. D/s wasn’t some crime perpetrated against the weaker player. It was a power exchange. In an exchange, something had to be given. First and foremost—permission. Beth had to say yes.
He couldn’t stand the thought of being left out. It had been surprisingly easy to make the decision to share her. The minute Trev had made the offer, his cock had jumped up, started singing, and bounced around with joy.
The truth was he actually thought it might be for the best. He already felt different. He felt stronger. He might wilt if she said no.
“I can handle it.” Beth smiled at Trev and put a hand out to Bo. “I want this. I want it so much.”
“Remember that tomorrow, darlin’.” Trev pulled her close. Bo envied the easy way he dominated her. “Tonight is going to be easy. You’ve had a hard day. You’ll take a simple spanking, and you’ll serve your Masters, but tomorrow is going to be rough.”
Masters?
“Bo tops me, too? I don’t know about that.” Beth looked at him, her lips frowning. “I can still remember a time when he cried because he broke his crayons.”
Trev looked over at him, too, though there was challenge in his eyes. Bo felt his pulse hitch. He could choose. He could top Beth, or he could be another sub. Trev would always be the alpha, but it was up to Bo where his place would be. His choice and his responsibility. If he chose to be a sub, Trev would take care of him. At least, that was the way it was supposed to work. If he chose to top Beth, he would have to not only take care of her, but change the way he viewed himself.
He reached out and gripped the back of her neck, loving the silky-smooth feel of her skin and the way her lips softened. “I’m not a kid anymore.” Hell, he wasn’t even the same man he’d been a couple of days ago. Realizing he loved Beth and losing her, seeing her almost die, discovering that Trev might be different than he’d thought—it all combined to form a changed version of himself. And he liked the man he was becoming. “And I will top you. Don’t you think I can’t do it.”
“Are you going to kiss me?” Beth asked.
Fuck, yeah, he was going to kiss her. He tightened his fingers in her hair, but he asked Trev first. It seemed right. Trev was sharing her. “Can I kiss her?”
Trev chuckled. “You don’t have to ask. We’re not doing a scene tonight. This is how this works. I’m in charge during discipline and scenes. I expect both of you to come to me with your problems, not because I don’t think you can’t handle them, but because we’re in a relationship. I’ll talk to the two of you about all the things going on in my life. Trust me, you’ll hear more than you want about ho
w I need a fucking drink. We’re in this together. But she’s yours, too, Bo. Kiss her.”
Bo looked down at her, tears suddenly threatening. For years and years she’d been the center of his world, and just like the fucking sun in the sky, he’d taken her for granted because she was always there.
“I love you, Beth.” The words didn’t come from his mouth. They were pushed out of his heart.
Her hands came up, cupping his cheeks. “I love you, too.”
She always had. All of his life, he’d looked for the one person who could anchor him. She’d been that anchor, not holding him down like a lodestone, but keeping him grounded in love and affection when the rest of the world seemed dark. She’d been his everything, even when he’d ignored her. She’d been the quiet presence he could count on. He owed her everything.
“This is it. You understand? This isn’t sex. This is the rest of my life. I won’t ever leave you. I won’t ever touch another woman.” Nothing felt as freeing as making that pledge. He was twenty-five, and now he had his purpose in life, to make sure she was safe and happy.
Tears had formed in her eyes. “Do you mean that? Because I don’t think I could stand it if you changed your mind.”
He was going to have to show her. “Never.”
He lowered his head to hers, and his mouth brushed the softest lips he’d ever kissed. She sighed into his mouth, and he couldn’t mistake that single sound for anything but submission. His whole body tightened. His hands found that silky hair again as his tongue touched her lips, licking and seeking entry. Her mouth flowered open under his, and he truly tasted her sweetness for the first time. Their tongues played, hers shyly at first, and then with a soft, insistent demand. He pulled her close, feeling her breasts against his chest, her hips seeking his. His cock practically thumped against his zipper, begging to be let out. He wanted to shove her to the ground and get his cock inside. He needed to know she was his.
And he needed to make it good for her.
“Come on, you two.” Trev’s voice sounded slightly strangled. “We should move this inside. We can’t be sure when the next idiot is going to paint something we own in an attempt to run me out of town.”