by Cassie Cole
“None of this feels real,” I admitted. “Hours ago I was sitting in bed, unable to sleep. Now the whole world has been turned upside-down.”
“You’re in shock. It’ll wear off in a few days and hit you like a sucker punch. Be ready for it.” Mary Beth held her coffee with both hands and studied me. “Can I give you some advice?”
I frowned. “Advice about what?”
She looked around to make sure the desk officer wasn’t listening, then lowered her voice. “This thing you have going on with the Haines boys? I’ll admit: it’s weird as heck! Dating three men at the same time…”
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.
She narrowed her eyes. “Rachel. Come on. I’ve been watching everything at the zoo for weeks. And you guys haven’t exactly kept it a secret. Kissing every chance you get, playing grab-ass in the zoo while working…”
“Okay, okay, you caught us,” I said. “What about it?”
“Like I said, I thought it was crazy at first. Especially since they’re brothers. I thought it would blow up in your face and they would fight over you, but…”
She paused as two officers walked by, and waited until they were gone to resume.
“The way they’re sharing you… It looks like it works. If anything, the three of them get along better while they’re with you than they did at first. And I’ve never seen three men so devoted to someone as they are to you. They care deeply about you. Maybe it’s love, even.”
“I don’t know about all that…” I said, though everything she said felt true.
“The advice I wanted to give you: find a way to stay together. What you have with them is special. Don’t let it slip away.”
“I’m going to Kenya,” I said. “When we move the animals, I’m going with them to work in the park for three years. It’s my dream job.” I took a deep breath, because what I was going to say next hurt to say out loud. “I can’t just give up my dream job for them, even if it’s true love.”
Mary Beth winced. “Yeah, good point. The last thing you want to do is sacrifice your whole future for them. Deep down, you’ll always hold it against them. I don’t know, then. That’s tough.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It is.”
The three men came walking down the hallway then. Jake looked furious, Anthony looked stoic, and David appeared disappointed.
I jumped up and hugged them. “How was it? Did you get to speak to your father?”
“Oh, we spoke to him alright,” Jake growled angrily.
“They gave us five minutes,” David said. “We spent the time asking him about everything. Why he abandoned the zoo and faked his death. Why he didn’t tell us about it, even when he returned early this morning.”
“We got some answers,” Anthony added. “But they’re not very satisfying. I think I’m still processing everything that happened.”
Mary Beth joined us. “I was just telling Rachel that you’re probably in shock. It’ll wear off in a couple of hours, or days, or even weeks. Give it some time.”
“He’s not the only one who was lying to us,” Jake said coldly.
Mary Beth responded with a laugh. “Don’t be silly. You guys are lucky I was keeping an eye on everything. If I had not been in my trailer and heard the monster truck drive off, with you guys right behind, who knows what would have happened?”
“I, for one, am grateful,” Anthony said. “Thanks for saving our butts.”
A new officer came through the front door with a big metal box in his arms. He deposited it on the counter and nodded to Mary Beth. “Judge signed off on the warrant. We’ve got Carlos Vaquero’s safety deposit box.”
“What a stupid fake name,” David muttered.
Mary Beth opened the box and frowned. “It’s empty. Just this piece of paper…”
She trailed off as she read it. Then she glanced in my direction.
“What?” I asked.
Mary Beth smiled ruefully. “I think this is the solution to your big problem.”
I took the piece of paper.
LAND REGISTRATION COMMISSION
TRANSFER CERTIFICATE OF TITLE No. 24229
A parcel of land (Lot No. 1464) within Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States, approximating seven thousand and eight-one acres, is hereby granted to CARL JOSEPH HAINES.
“It’s a land title,” Mary Beth said as I kept reading. “For the land surrounding the zoo.”
David shouldered next to me and skimmed the page. “Son of a bitch. Dad owned the land all along!”
Anthony’s jaw dropped. “That land runs all the way around the east side of Blue Lake. Forests, and fields, and hills. Dad used to ride his monster truck on the land. We always assumed he was trespassing…”
“But why would he own this?” I asked.
“Who knows?” Jake said. “Dad’s full of secrets.”
David glanced at Mary Beth. “You said this was the solution to Rachel’s problem. What did you mean?”
Mary Beth looked at me.
My mind raced. There were so many possibilities now. Especially with the funds we had from GoFundMe.
“We can do it,” I said, holding up the piece of paper. “With this land we can create our own legitimate wildlife park!”
“What?” all three of them said at once.
“We have plenty of money to renovate this land. We can prepare it and then let most of the animals free. Seven thousand acres is plenty of space for the animals we have, especially if we introduce a variety of other mammals in the food chain. The four of us can work on this together! First preparing the land, and then maintaining the wildlife preserve!”
“What about Kenya?” David asked. “You have a job waiting for you there. But it’s contingent upon us donating and transporting our animals to the new Kenyan national park…”
“I don’t care about Kenya,” I said without hesitation. “I can do the exact same job here. The other night you all told me you loved taking care of the animals. How it was satisfying and fulfilling without your dad overseeing everything. Jake, you even said it felt like your true purpose. Well, here’s our chance. We can keep the animals the right way. And we would all be together.”
Everything came out in a rush, like I was admitting to something that I had wanted for a very long time. David, Jake, and Anthony were silent as my words sank in. They didn’t look as certain as I was.
“This is all assuming you want to be with me,” I said nervously.
“Is that a joke?” Jake said.
“No!” I said, horrified. “I’m being serious about us being together. I thought…”
Jake laughed and held me by the shoulders. “I meant the part about us wanting to be with you. Is that a joke? Because I’ve never wanted anything more in the world. I thought it was obvious.”
“I love you,” Anthony blurted out. He glanced around as if surprised that he had said it out loud. “That is to say, I love you, Rachel. I know it’s been less than two months but you’re everything I have ever wanted in a woman.”
I turned to David. I was most afraid of what he would say, since he had a life and businesses up in Richmond he would be giving up. If he didn’t feel the same way…
“Rachel, I can’t imagine living without you,” he said softly. “I’ve been falling in love with you since you walked into the zoo for the job interview, and since I visited your hotel and convinced you to work for us. This past week has been wonderful, but it’s been terrible, too. Terrible because I knew it was going to end and I have been wracking my brain to find a way to make it last longer. I even started researching the Kenya visa process.” He tapped the land title. “But this is much better. Of course my answer is yes.”
He kissed me there in the police station, a kiss of relief and promise and love. Then I embraced Anthony, then finally Jake. Everyone was all smiles.
One of the other US Fish and Wildlife agents was staring at us. “What the fuck?” he muttered.
M
ary Beth shot him a look. “Fuck off William. Nobody asked you.”
“Well?” Anthony said as he looked at each of us. “Are we really doing this?”
“It sounds like it,” Jake said with a grin.
“We have a lot of work to do,” I said. “It’s going to take months. Maybe longer. And that’s just to prepare the land and animals. Who knows how long the paperwork will take.”
David took my hand and squeezed it. “Then we’d better get started, shouldn’t we?”
Epilogue
Rachel
One Year Later
We drove the Mule along the outer perimeter fence of the wildlife park, the wind blowing my hair around chaotically. I didn’t mind. It made me feel wild and free, like an animal.
Like our animals, soon enough.
“What are you looking for?” Jake asked while driving.
I shrugged. “Just making one final pass.”
“Everything is good,” he said in a patient voice. “We’ve checked and double-checked. The park is ready, honey.”
“I’m triple-checking, then,” I said curtly. “We can’t be too careful.”
Jake laughed, but instead of arguing further he just said, “Whatever you say.”
Deep down, I knew he was right. The animals were chipped and ready to go. After a year of renovations and construction the Haines Wildlife Park was ready. We had demolished the old sheds and fences on the property and built a larger, sturdier perimeter fence. We had secured the water sources for the animals to drink from. We had installed RFID sensors throughout the park so we could track all the animals wherever they went.
Today was the day we opened the park to the animals. But still, I hesitated.
“Remember Jurassic Park?” I said. “A lot of things can go wrong.”
“Something tells me Dennis Nedry isn’t going to sabotage our park in the middle of a tropical storm. Also—and this is a minor detail—we don’t have dinosaurs here. We have tigers, and lions, and a couple of wolves.”
“A tiger can rip someone’s belly open as easily as a velociraptor,” I said simply.
Jake laughed again. He was used to humoring me when it came to the details of the park. But then he slowed the Mule to a stop and twisted to face me.
“You need to relax.”
“I’m relaxed,” I said.
“No, you’re not. You’re doing that thing where you worry too much. We’ve made all the preparations. There’s nothing left to do but open everything up. So, you need to relax.”
I took a deep breath. “I’ll relax after one final check of the perimeter.”
Jake smiled lustily and scooched closer to me. His hand slid along my thigh. “You’re going to relax right now.”
“Make me,” I said stubbornly.
His hand found its way between my legs, and I opened my knees for him. Jake rubbed me through my khaki shorts and kissed me with tongue. It felt so good, and I wanted to surrender to his sensual touch, but then I put a hand on his chest and pushed him away.
“We have cameras on the perimeter with motion-sensing alerts. We’re probably being watched as we speak.”
Jake grinned wider and showed me his phone. “Anthony is patching the software to the newest version before we launch. The entire camera system is down for the next ten minutes.” His dark eyes sparkled.
“You’ve given this a lot of thought.”
He kissed me again, and this time I surrendered completely. One button and a zipper was all that stood between his skilled fingers and my sex, and then he was rubbing my pussy with calloused fingertips. I moaned as he rubbed up and down, the heel of his palm stimulating my clitoris in a way that he had mastered over the last year. He knew all of my buttons. I reached for his crotch, but his free hand snatched my wrist and pushed it away.
This is your time, his kiss said. Soon I was squirming and moaning and coming there in the Mule, at the edge of the wildlife park.
As we drove back after, I couldn’t stop smiling. I was indeed relaxed, now.
We had spent the last year refurbishing the zoo into the headquarters for the wildlife park. The medical facility had been gutted and replaced with state-of-the-art equipment. The visitor’s center had been transformed into a command post where we could monitor all of the animals on dozens of computer screens, with sensors that showed us their thermal scans, behavior, and migrations around the park.
Transferring tigers into larger habitats was a complex business. Some made the transition easily, while others required more time to adjust. Large cats had territorial tendencies, so we needed to make sure they didn’t get into fights with one-another.
Hopefully, over time, the animals wouldn’t need to be tracked. But for now we had to be prepared.
Donations had continued pouring into the park, especially when we received publicity for expanding into a seven-thousand-acre park. The total fund was now worth about twelve million. Enough to keep it running for decades at an annual return rate of seven percent, according to David.
Some of the big donors were here today to witness the park opening. After working with a small team for the last year, I had to mentally prepare myself for a larger crowd of spectators. But when Jake and I pulled up by the headquarters, nothing could prepare me for who was waiting.
“Mom? Dad?” I exclaimed.
They rushed forward and hugged me as I exited the Mule. “We wanted to be here for the opening! Jake invited us.”
“Hi Rebecca, Tom,” Jake said. “Glad you could make it.”
I blinked. “Rebecca?”
“We’re on a first-name basis,” Jake said with a grin, then walked over to chat with David by another cluster of visitors.
“I like him,” mom said in a whisper. “He’s yummy.”
Dad frowned. “Rebecca!”
“I’m just saying. You should go out with him.”
“David’s more responsible,” dad argued. “He’s the one you should date.”
I smiled. I hadn’t told my parents that I was madly in love with not only Jake, but the other two Haines brothers as well. I wasn’t sure how to tell them. We were still getting used to the locals around Blue Lake whispering about us behind our backs.
But that was fine. Our strange polyamorous relationship didn’t need to make sense to anyone but the four of us.
Another familiar face came running up. “Ashley!”
She squealed with excitement and hugged me tightly. “I wasn’t going to miss this for the world. You magically turned Crazy Carl’s Zoo into the most talked-about new wildlife preserve in the country!”
“You should have seen it when I got here a year ago.”
Ashley shook her head and glanced at my parents. “She has me to thank for all of this, by the way. I’m the one who made her apply here.”
“As a joke!” I argued. “You didn’t want me to actually work here…”
“I don’t remember it that way!” she said cheerfully. “You have your dream job thanks to me, and that’s that.”
Mary Beth and a handful of other people from the US Fish and Wildlife Service were there too. I chatted with them for a few minutes. Mary Beth had gotten a promotion out of everything that happened last year, and now she ran a team of six.
“No, the KWS didn’t mind us backing out of the deal,” I said in response to one of her questions.
“Really? Kenya didn’t mind at all?”
“Fortunately, we backed out of the animal transfer before their plans were set in stone. Also, we made a huge donation to the KWS.”
“There it is. Money always helps!” Mary Beth said happily.
David waved at me from the edge of the building. I groaned. “Oh no. They’ve set up a red ribbon and some scissors.”
“Come cut it!” David called.
“We don’t need to do anything ceremonial…”
The crowd disagreed. They all turned to face me and started clapping. Jake and Anthony joined their brother by the ribbon. There was no use figh
ting it so I took the scissors from David and prepared to cut the ribbon.
“Speech!” Ashley shouted. “Give us a speech first!”
I glared at her, but the chant went up in the crowd. “Speech! Speech!” I patted the air to calm everyone down until they were silent.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do today, so I’m going to keep this short and sweet,” I began. “I first came here a year ago because my stupid roommate insisted I get an inside look at Crazy Carl’s Zoo.”
I glared at Ashley, and she blew me a kiss.
“The zoo was famously bad. I took photos of the poor conditions, told off David and Anthony, and then drove away like the police were chasing me. But David tracked me down and convinced me that they wanted to do the right thing here. To move the animals to proper homes in a real wildlife preserve. I never imagined that place would be here. And I certainly never expected to make a career out of it. I—”
I cut off as David gasped. “Dad?”
Carl Haines came walking up like he still owned the place. His head wasn’t shaved into a mohawk anymore, revealing an auburn head of hair that looked a lot like Jake’s. Prison had made his skin paler and his face more gaunt, but he looked healthy in jeans and a t-shirt.
Anthony and Jake stepped forward like guards protecting me. I felt a pang of fear. The last time I had seen him, he had tried to kill me.
“What are you doing here?” David demanded. “How did you get out…”
Carl raised the leg of his jeans, revealing a black ankle bracelet. “They let me out on temporary release for the day. Earned enough credits for good behavior to make this little pit stop on the way to cleaning trash off the highway.”
I noticed a policeman standing a short distance away, arms crossed and watching Carl. That must have been his escort.
“I came back here,” Carl said hotly, “to see what y’all have done to my zoo.”
He took a slow look around. The other visitors backed away slowly, like he was a bomb that might go off at any moment. Carl’s three sons tensed as they waited to see what he would say—or do.