“I hope you like it.”
Allen looked at the drawing—and gasped. Though the tattoo he’d drawn on himself the night he begged his lovers to take him back had been long since washed off, Tatum had somehow remembered every detail. He’d recreated every line, every swirl, with aching precision. The only change he’d made had been to the very bottom of the design. Underneath the five letters that formed the overall structure, he had drawn an elaborate ohm symbol.
Allen looked up, tears running down his face. “I can’t believe you remembered this. It’s amazing. I like the ohm, too.”
Tatum shrugged a little, blushing furiously. “I have an eye for hand-drawn artwork. What can I say?” He cleared his throat. “I added the ohm because it’s the symbol of all creation, the acknowledgment that all life comes from the same ultimate authority. The symbol of oneness, even though it looks like the number three.”
He glanced at Sidri, who reached over his lap and clasped Allen’s hand, her eyes shining in the dim cabin. “Appropriate, no?” she said with a little laugh. “A symbol that means ‘All is one’, yet looks like the number three. Just like us.”
Allen had dragged both of them into the tattoo parlor with him, cajoled the bewildered artist into teaching Tatum how to use the needle so the big man could create Allen’s tattoo himself. It took hours longer than it should have, but eventually all three of them were satisfied with the results. And afterward, Allen had begged both of his lovers to each get an ohm tattoo. Sidri’s was high on her inner thigh, Tatum’s right in the center of his chest, beneath his collarbone.
It became their symbol, the ultimate expression of their union. Seeing those tattoos on his lovers’ bodies, seeing the ultimate proof that the three of them were meant to be together, always brought tears to his eyes and joy to his heart.
Tatum bumped his shoulder. Allen looked over at his husband—his husband!—and smiled at the affectionate twinkle in his blue eyes.
“Where did you go?” Tatum rumbled softly.
Allen laughed. “Just remembering. So much has happened this year. Takes my breath away, when I think about it.”
Tatum squeezed his shoulder as Sidri, who was standing on his other side, slipped her hand in his. The three of them exchanged loving looks, then returned their attention to the line of well-wishers coming by on their way out the door. The party was winding down, the guests getting ready to depart. In just a few short hours, they would be locked in their bedroom, alone again at last.
Allen couldn’t wait.
Grinning, Allen started to speak to one of his coworkers who had just come up to offer congratulations, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Frowning, he turned to find one of the security guards they’d hired for the night standing behind him.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you, Mr. McAlister,” the man said in a deep, apologetic voice. Allen hid a shiver, hearing his new name spoken by a complete stranger. Officially, his name was now Allen Sorensen McAlister. At the office, he would continue to go by Allen Sorensen, just to prevent confusion. The thought made him giddy every time he thought about it.
Clearing his throat, Allen smiled at the man. “No problem. What’s going on?”
The guard glanced between the three of them, his brows drawn down in a frown. “There’s a young woman at the front door. Her name isn’t on the guest list, but she insists she knows you. I threatened to call police, but she insisted I come and get you. Says it’s important.”
Allen’s heart started to pound, though he had no idea why. All of the demons from his past were male—there was no reason for him to fear an unknown female asking to see him. He glanced to the right, saw Sidri’s frown. Glanced to the left to find Tatum regarding him with a worried look. Allen bit his lip and looked back at the guard.
“Who did she say she was?”
The man reached up, pulled at his collar nervously. “She says her name is Amber Whitman, and she’s your sister.”
Allen stared at the man. Damn, that must be some good booze they’re serving at the bar tonight.
“I’m sorry,” he said slowly, “I don’t believe I heard you correctly. Who did you say was at the door?”
The man sighed, fidgeting uncomfortably. “A young woman who says her name is Amber Whitman. She insists she’s your sister, and she’s begging you to speak with her.”
While Allen just stood there, completely thunderstruck, Tatum slipped a hand in his and addressed the guard, scowling dangerously. “Please inform the lady that we’re in the middle of our wedding reception, and that she’ll need to wait. Or leave and come back another time. Or maybe just leave.” The last was said with an annoyed rumble Allen could feel all the way down to his toes.
Sidri shot the big man a disgusted look. “Seriously?”
Tatum grinned, unrepentant. “This is Allen’s day,” he said quietly. “Whoever this woman is, she has no business interrupting it.”
Allen suppressed a shiver. Fuck, he loved it when his lovers jumped to his defense like that. Clearing his throat, he shot both of them a smile and returned his attention to the unhappy guard. “It’s all right. You can tell her she may stay. But she will have to wait until the guests leave.” He paused, bit his lip. “I don’t want a scene.”
Tatum lifted one big hand, cupped the back of Allen’s neck. He turned the smaller man to meet his concerned gaze. “You don’t have to talk to her if you don’t want to,” he said seriously. “She wasn’t invited. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do today, baby.”
“He’s right,” Sidri echoed. Allen turned, found her regarding him with shrewd green eyes. “She has no business being here. Whoever this woman is, you are under no obligation to indulge her.”
He slipped his hand in Sidri’s, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb as he smiled at her. “I appreciate you both trying to protect me,” he said sincerely, glancing back and forth between them, “but I promise you, I’m fine. If it’s just some random woman, I can just tell her to get the hell off our property. And if it really is Amber…” He trailed off, a sudden lump forming in his throat.
Tatum gripped Allen’s biceps, shot the security guard a scowl, and said, “Excuse us.” Then he dragged Allen out of the room, Sidri in tow. They went to the downstairs bedroom, Tatum ushering both of them inside before closing the door and wrapping his arms around Allen’s waist.
“Amber is the sister who first called you ‘Allen’, isn’t she?” the big man queried.
He nodded as Sidri came up behind him, wrapping her forearms over his stomach and resting her chin on his shoulder. “The guard said she’s young,” Sidri murmured. “I thought all your siblings were older than you.”
Allen relaxed in their arms, basking in their protectiveness. He shook his head. “Amber was the baby. She came along after I arrived. She must be, oh, twenty-three or twenty-four by now. Not so little anymore.” His eyes went blank as memory assaulted him.
“She was the only one who treated me like a real brother. At least, until she got old enough to realize I wasn’t actually part of the family. Then she kind of…disappeared. The others overshadowed her, to the point where I have almost no memories of her after I became a teenager. I always assumed she thought like the others, that once she realized I wasn’t really her brother, she just went along with how they treated me. But I don’t have any memories of her being mean or anything like that. She was just sort of…there.”
“Hmmm,” Sidri said, her voice vibrating through Allen’s chest deliciously. “Why do you think she’s here? If it really is her?”
Allen shook his head. “I have no idea. I didn’t think she cared, one way or another, about my leaving them. Seems kind of, I don’t know, fishy.”
“I can go tell the security guards to run her off,” Tatum said, absolute sincerity in his deep baritone voice. “You really don’t have any reason to talk to her.”
Allen sighed. “Yes, I do. If it is Amber, then she went to a lot of trouble to come here tonight. I’l
l hear what she has to say.” He paused, looked both of his lovers in the eye. “Alone.”
Immediate protests. Allen shook his head, adamant. “I appreciate the gesture, really. But I need to do this alone. Please. If I need the both of you, don’t worry, I will come and get you.”
Tatum was still frowning, his mouth drawn down in harsh, disapproving lines, but eventually he nodded. “All right. But if she hurts you, I swear to God I will kick her ass down the street. Understand?”
Allen went all gooey inside, hearing the He-Man protectiveness in his husband’s voice. Sidri echoed Tatum’s sentiment, her aggressive purr doing all sorts of very bad things to his libido. Their road to matrimonial bliss had been long and filled with potholes, but Allen knew down to the last atom of his being that both of them loved him. They would go to hell and back for him, no questions asked. And because he knew they would always be there, ready to swoop in and protect him from even the smallest threat, he knew he could face this piece of his past without fear or anger.
With the two of them by his side, he could do anything, be anything, accomplish anything. They were his foundation, the bedrock on which his whole life was built. He had nothing to fear from anything or anyone so long as the two of them loved him.
Throat thick, he cupped Tatum’s cheek and brought his lips down for a soul-searing kiss. The big man rumbled approvingly, reaching both long arms around Allen and cinching them around Sidri’s waist, sandwiching Allen between the two of them. Allen whimpered, suddenly hard as rock. Panting, he ran his fingers through Sidri’s hair, holding her close as she nipped and sucked the skin behind his ear. His other hand was wrapped in Tatum’s collar, hanging on for dear life as the man plundered his mouth with deep, sure strokes of his tongue.
Allen was just starting to think about the enticingly empty bed in the room when a knock broke the rising sexual tension.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” a quavering voice said on the other side of the door, “but there are a few guests who are ready to leave. They would like to say good-bye and give their congratulations, if you would be so kind.”
Tatum groaned, stealing one last kiss before pulling back. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes dilated, and Allen wanted to do nothing more than grab him and kiss him some more. Clearing his throat, he tried smoothing his suit jacket. Sidri chuckled behind him, reaching up to fix his mussed hair. She took hold of Allen’s chin and sealed their lips together for a long, hot kiss then pulled back with a wicked little grin.
“You better hope the rest of our guests leave quickly, and that your little conversation with your so-called sister is short and to the point,” she said in the sexy-as-sin purr she did so well. “Because Tatum and I are anxious to get you out of that suit and fuck you senseless.”
Allen groaned, licking kiss-bruised lips. “Jesus, Sid. How am I supposed to say farewell to the rest of our guests if I’ve got a raging hard-on?”
Her green eyes glimmered as Tatum rumbled out a laugh. “You’ll just have to tell it to behave, won’t you? Now, come on, let’s get this over with. The sooner these people are out of our house, the sooner we can get you naked.”
Cursing like a sailor while his lovers just laughed, Allen allowed himself to be led from the room. It would be all right. Even if the woman who wanted to see him really was his baby sister, Amber, she wasn’t a part of his life. He could hear her out and show her the door with no regrets.
He already had a family who loved him.
THE END
WWW.RHIANNONAYERS.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rhiannon Ayers has lived in many cities over the years, having grown up the daughter of parents who suffered from wanderlust. Currently, she and her husband reside near the Gulf of Mexico with their children, both the two- and four-legged variety. An artist to the bone, Rhiannon spends her days dreaming up snappy headlines and creating eye-catching artwork for clients all over the world, though telling stories has always been her first love. After writing her first epic adventure series at the tender age of eight, she went on to garner several creative writing awards, including the prestigious Vanderbilt Award for Excellence in Creative Writing. Becoming a published author is her single greatest achievement to date. Rhiannon loves getting feedback from readers. Please e-mail her at [email protected].
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Demons Within [For Love of Authority] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 32