Rose, Tara - Behind Blue Eyes [The Doms of Sybaris Cove 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Tara Rose

  “Bullshit.”

  “It’s not bullshit. I told them I’d be gone no less than thirty minutes. When I don’t check in soon, they’ll come looking for me.”

  The look in his eyes made her blood run cold. Had she fucked up by trying to trick him into believing that the guys were on their way over here? What did he know that she didn’t?

  “Thirty minutes is plenty of time to have some fun. Get on your knees. I’m going to find out if your blow job skills have improved any.”

  No fucking way. He did not just say that. “Not a chance, Alex. Our days of having sex are long, long gone.” She was not going to let this asshole rape her. No fucking way.

  He strode toward them before Alaina could do any more than try to stand. He pushed her back into a sitting position and shoved the gun against Sallyanne’s head. “You will fuck me any way I say you will, or I will shoot her.”

  Sallyanne screamed and began to cry, and Alaina knew they were both in deep-shit trouble here.

  * * * *

  Taj’s cell phone rang no less than two minutes after Alaina left, and at first he thought she was calling them, but then he frowned when he realized it was Santos. “Now what?” he muttered, answering the call.

  “Alex Nesfield is out on bond. He has an ankle bracelet on so he can’t leave the island, but he’s free.”

  Taj nearly dropped the phone. The conversation Alaina had with Sallyanne on the phone suddenly took on an entirely different meaning. He nearly hyperventilated as an image of her being held hostage at Sallyanne’s house by Alex flashed through his mind. “How long ago?”

  “About two hours. I would have let you know sooner, but I just found out. Thought you’d like to know.”

  “Fuck.” He told Santos about the conversation, and Santos told him and Jeff to stay put and not try to be heroes. “What? How can you ask us to do that?”

  “Let us handle this.”

  The hell with that shit. Taj and Jeff ran down the street to Taj’s house and jumped in Taj’s Jeep. They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to. They were both thinking the same thing. If Alex did anything to hurt her, they’d kill him.

  Taj heard the police sirens before he pulled onto Sallyanne’s street, but he pulled up behind Jeff’s Jeep regardless. He and Jeff got out, but before they could approach the house, a police cruiser nearly ran them down on the lawn.

  Santos was an imposing dude even when he was calm. In full police mode, he wasn’t anyone to mess with. He pointed a meaty finger at them. “Get your asses behind my cruiser and don’t move or I’ll toss you both in jail.”

  Taj shot him a look, but Jeff pulled him away. “Come on. Not worth it. They’re here now.” At least three police cruisers had followed Santos onto Sallyanne’s lawn.

  Taj pointed his finger right back at Santos. “If one hair on her head is harmed…one hair…”

  “I get it, okay? Now get the hell out of sight and let us do our damn jobs.”

  Taj squatted behind the cruiser with Jeff, but he could hardly breathe. Why the hell hadn’t they told her before now how much they loved her? She was in there, with that asshole, and he was just crazy enough to kill her and Sallyanne. And if he did, Alaina would never know that they loved her. Taj couldn’t live with that. He simply couldn’t.

  She had to be all right. She had to be. He’d never loved a woman before. He wanted his chance at a life with her and Jeff. He wanted that more than he’d ever wanted anything.

  “I wondered what was behind her eyes. They were the first thing I noticed about her.”

  “I know.”

  “And you know what’s behind them?”

  “What?”

  “Love. It’s always been there. Every time she looked at us, even before we started seeing her. Every word she spoke in that breathy voice. And now, each time she touches us, or glances at us. Even the smallest things. The way she chops onions, for God’s sake. She’s a tough executive, but inside, she’s got all this love.”

  “I know. I see it, too.” Jeff turned to face him. “You know what I first noticed? I mean besides her eyes and that body? The way she talks to customers. Do you remember? We were in Sallyanne’s office, and she was telling us that Alaina had just been promoted. Her office door was open and she was on the phone with a new account that Sallyanne had brought in, but now Alaina had to deal with them.”

  “I remember that. Some pissant store in Idaho of all places. We still do business with them?”

  “We sure do. And it’s because of Alaina. She was smoothing something over with them, something that wasn’t our doing, and I couldn’t believe how professional and sincere she’d sounded. Every time I’d heard my sister on the phone with a customer, she was whiny and condescending. I remember thinking Alaina was going to give Sallyanne a run for her money.”

  “She has to be okay.”

  Jeff clapped him on the back. “She will be.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Alex heard the sirens and the commotion outside at the same time as Alaina and Sallyanne did. When he glanced toward the front windows, Alaina grabbed Sallyanne’s arm and dragged her to her feet. They ran toward the door, but Alex was faster.

  He pushed Sallyanne down, and she landed with a sound that reminded Alaina of a balloon deflating. Alex was on top of her, and jammed the gun into her head again. He glanced over his shoulder at Alaina, who stood about two feet from him.

  “Don’t even try it, bitch. I swear to God I’ll fucking kill her.”

  Sallyanne was screaming louder than all the sirens and shouting outside, but when one of the cops used a bullhorn, that silenced both her and Alex.

  “We know you’re in there, Alex, and we know you have Sallyanne and Alaina. Let them go. There’s no way out.”

  Alaina closed her eyes for a second and sent up a silent prayer as tears began to fall. Taj and Jeff were out there. She knew they were. They’d come to her rescue, like the true heroes she knew they were.

  “Fuck that,” said Alex.

  “Get off her. It’s over.”

  “It’s not over until I say it’s over.”

  “They’ll come busting in here any second now. You have nothing left to leverage. It’s over. Give me the gun and get off her.” She took one step forward, and he pushed the gun harder against Sallyanne’s head.

  “Keep away from me!”

  “Alex, this is ridiculous. You can’t get out of this. Let her go. You’re hurting her.”

  “You think I give a shit whether or not I’m hurting her?”

  “Yes, I do. You cared for her. You cared for both of us. Don’t let it end this way. You have the chance to do something right for once in your life.”

  He stared at her like she’d just told him that she was actually a lobster in disguise. She didn’t know if that was because he’d expected her to cower and cry, like Sallyanne was doing, or if she’d actually gotten through to him, but his concentration was broken long enough for Sallyanne to push him off her.

  She rolled away and he tried to scramble after her. Alaina acted purely on instinct and kicked his right hand hard, knocking the gun loose. He yelled and held his hand, and Sallyanne grabbed the gun. She pointed it at Alex, but her hands were shaking. There was no way she was going to be able to fire it. Alaina didn’t know if she’d ever fired a gun in her life.

  “Just hold on, Sallyanne. I’m going to open the door and let the cops know they can come in. Let them take care of this.”

  Her legs trembled as she sprinted toward the door, but Alex turned around and caught her, pushing her to the floor. Sallyanne was screaming at him, and Alaina had a terrible image of her firing the gun without thinking, killing them both in the process. He tried to climb on top of her, but she punched him in the stomach because she couldn’t reach his crotch, which knocked the breath out of him long enough for her to roll away from him.

  Sallyanne was still pointing the gun around the room, her eyes wild, and now her arms as well as her hands shaking. Alaina
tried to get to the front door again, but this time Alex rushed Sallyanne.

  Alaina watched the scene play out as if they both moved in slow motion. Alex ran toward her, arms outstretched, yelling something about taking her with him.

  Sallyanne pointed the gun at his chest, her eyes wide and full of fear. A blast loud enough to cause Alaina to cover her ears and duck reverberated around the room. When she dared to glance up again, the front door was gone, and at least a dozen cops were in the room, pulling Alex off Sallyanne.

  There was blood everywhere, and at first Alaina’s heart sank as she thought Sallyanne had been shot, but then she realized that Alex had a hole in his chest and Sallyanne wasn’t hit. She was merely covered in his blood.

  She was also hysterical, and Alaina knew she knew had to do something. She had to tell the cops what had happened.

  But then Taj and Jeff were at her sides, pulling her to her feet and asking if she was all right, and every emotion rose to the surface at once. The cool demeanor she’d kept while talking to Alex cracked, and everything came tumbling out.

  “Oh my God…” She couldn’t stop crying. “She shot him. He was going to kill us. He was going to rape me. It was self defense. He rushed her. It was his gun. He hit her in the face. He hit me in the face. He threatened her. Is she okay? Is Sallyanne okay?”

  “She’s fine,” said Jeff. “She wasn’t hit. They’re taking her to the hospital anyway, just as a precaution.

  Taj and Jeff said something else to her, but she didn’t hear the words. She simply kept repeating her litany, over and over. Then she told them again what Alex had said to her and Sallyanne, and she told them that Sallyanne hadn’t betrayed them. That was suddenly so important to her. That Jeff know his sister had not betrayed them.

  Jeff reassured her over and over that he knew that, but she barely heard him. Her thoughts were all jumbled, and she kept seeing the gun first in Alex’s hand, and then in Sallyanne’s. So many things could have gone wrong. The bravado she’d felt was gone, and she clung to them again, trying to relax in their arms but wondering if she’d ever feel calm again.

  She started to shake, and then she was crying too hard to speak again, so she held on to them, letting their touch and their voices soothe her, until her tears were spent and her breath came in gasping sobs.

  When she was finally able to breathe normally again, she noticed Santos for the first time, standing next to Taj, his brows raised. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  She nodded then described everything she, Alex, and Sallyanne had said and done. When she got to the part where Alex had tried to get her to give him a blow job, Taj punched the wall and Jeff swore like a drunken sailor. She loved them both so much. And it was time to tell them that. But first she had to make Santos understand that Sallyanne had shot Alex because he was going to kill her.

  She started to tell the story again, and Jeff and Taj both shushed her.

  “We know, baby,” said Taj. “We know. It’s okay.”

  “Sallyanne did nothing wrong tonight. He tricked her into asking me to come over.”

  “We know that,” said Jeff.

  She glanced at Santos. “Do you believe me? Alex was behind all this. My boss didn’t so anything wrong.”

  Santos nodded. “It was self-defense. Definitely. That’s how it’s going in the report. You relax now and go home with these two. I know where to find you if we have any more questions.”

  Thank you,” she whispered. “Is Alex dead?”

  Santos nodded, and Alaina began to tremble. “It shouldn’t have ended this way. He didn’t have to die.”

  Taj and Jeff held her close again. She didn’t know what to feel. She hadn’t wanted anyone to die. No matter what Alex had done to her and Sallyanne, he shouldn’t have lost his life for it.

  Alaina glanced at the overturned lamp and the blood. “Her house…It’s trashed.”

  “Don’t worry about that right now,” said Jeff.

  She looked up into his face, and suddenly everything was all right. It was really over. And now she could shout her feelings for these two from the rooftops. She’d waited so long to be able to do this, and she’d whispered her love for them so often in the dark, that now she wasn’t even sure where to begin.

  But she knew what was in her heart, and she knew that she loved them both more than she’d ever loved anyone or anything in her life. “I have something to tell you both. I should have said it a long time ago.”

  Jeff smiled at her. “What is it, baby? What do you want to tell us?”

  “Not in here.” The smell of death was in this house. It wasn’t right to say it in here. No matter what he’d done, he had still been a human being.

  They went out onto the front lawn and found a spot away from the neighbors who were now gathered around. “I love you.” She glanced at Taj, who was grinning like he’d just been told the curse was lifted and he could go anywhere in the world that he wanted to go. “I love you, too. I’ve loved you both for so long now. Probably since like an hour after I met you. I should have told you, but I was afraid to. I was afraid to trust again, and I was afraid that this would never be over, and I might have to leave the island. And since you can’t do that, I didn’t think it was fair to tell you.”

  Jeff held her close. “I love you, too, sweetheart. We both do.” He released the embrace and gazed into her eyes. His own were wet, and filled with so much love that Alaina was sure her heart would burst. “We were afraid to tell you as well until all this was over.”

  She put a hand to her mouth as fresh tears ran down her face. How did she have any left? “Oh God…all this time. I should have said something. I’m sorry. I should have said something.”

  Taj moved next to her and kissed her face on the spot where Alex had hit her. “You have nothing to apologize for. We should have said something as well. No reason to feel sorry now. It’s all over and we can tell each other everything now.”

  His eyes were full of love, and she could hardly believe this was finally happening. She’d never been this happy in her life.

  “I love you, too. We should have told you. We’ve all been so silly, but our reasons were sound. And it doesn’t matter now. It’s out there. And by the way, I heard you whisper it in the dark, you know.” He winked. “More than once.”

  “Did you really? I’m so embarrassed.”

  “Don’t be. Please don’t be. All that matters is now you know how we feel.”

  “We both heard you,” said Jeff. “And now it’s all past us. We can move forward and have a life with you, if you’ll have us.”

  “Oh, yes. Yes, Sir. Of course I will.” She glanced around at the cops moving in and out of the house. She assumed they’d need to take pictures and dust for prints. “I think we’re in their way.”

  “Then let’s get out of here,” said Taj. “We owe you more ice cream. Jeff ate it all after you left.”

  As the emotions coursed through her body, she couldn’t seem to stop trembling, but that was all right. They loved her and she loved them. They’d all finally said it. And now this nightmare was truly over. She had the rest of her life to spend with them, and she no longer had to look over her shoulder or wonder what the next e-mail would say. She was so relieved that she didn’t know what to do first.

  As they made their way toward the Jeeps, she glanced toward the two ambulances. One would take Sallyanne to the hospital to get checked out, and the other would take Alex to the morgue. What a fucking waste. “Why?” she whispered. “Why did he do this?”

  Taj kissed her left cheek again. “We’ll never know, baby. But it’s over for you now. Let’s get you home.”

  “Don’t the police need a statement from me or something?”

  “You told them everything, remember?”

  “Oh. Right. I did.”

  “If he needs anything else, Santos knows where to find you.” His gaze was full of tenderness. “With us. Forever.”

  * * * *

  Once they were
back inside Jeff’s house, Alaina changed her clothes, and then she joined them in the living room, where this all began. They asked her to kneel, and she did, confused by the request. When Jeff produced a small bag and pulled out the necklace she’d admired weeks ago downtown, she started to cry all over again.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. We didn’t want to wait any longer.” He placed it around her neck, and cupped her face. “I love you, Alaina. I’ve loved you for so long now. I want you with me forever. As my lover and my sub. I promise to protect you, and cherish you, and never, ever make you forgot how much I love you. You mean the world to me. Please accept this collar as a symbol of that love, and of your submission to me.”

  “Oh, yes. Yes, Sir. I love you, too. I have for so long. I accept this necklace, and I promise to love you, obey you, and cherish you. Thank you.”

  He leaned down and kissed her, and then Taj stood in front of her. He brushed his fingers along her hair, and then cupped her face as well. “I love you so much, baby. I always wondered what was behind those stunning blue eyes of yours, and now I know. The most perfect woman in the world. The one I’ve waited for. I promise always to love you. I will cherish and protect you. I want you with me forever as my lover and my sub.”

  “I love you, too, Sir. I accept this collar as a symbol of your love as well, and of my submission to you.”

  He kissed her, and then he lifted her to her feet. Taj picked her up and twirled her around, and then he kissed her again. Jeff did the same, and Alaina thought her heart would burst with happiness.

  She had everything she’d ever dreamed and fantasized about, right here, with her two Doms. She’d always had it. She simply hadn’t realized it for a while. And now she’d spend the rest of her life loving them, and giving herself to them, body, heart, and soul.

  THE END

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