Crucify (Triple Threat #4)

by LAURA HARNER

  “That’s better, don’t you think?”

  I coughed and tried not to choke, but then couldn’t contain the laughter. “Okay, lover, you’re up to something.” I elbowed J in the ribs and earned a smile in return. “Come on, J…what do you think he’s trying to pull?”

  “I have no idea. But the food and drink were just what I needed. Thank you, Archer…I didn’t know—” Jer broke off and a flush suffused his cheeks.

  “You didn’t know that a Master could serve? I know Zachary has fed you before.”

  “Yes…I suppose, but that always seemed different.”

  “Different because your relationship with him is different.” It was a statement, not a question, and I began to feel uneasy. Archer had me off-balance again—not a sensation I enjoyed.

  “Maybe…yeah, I guess that’s it. Or it was at first. Then I guess we just got into the habit…”

  “What about now? You’ve been here six months now…what do you think of our contracted arrangement?”

  Oh no! Jesus fucking Christ. I wanted to throw up. Archer took Jer right to the we’re-paying-for-sex conversation. Do not pass go…just put out and collect your money. I pushed farther up against the backboard, one hand instinctively on each of the other men’s arms. Archer and I didn’t fight often, but this was going to be brutal…

  “Archer—” I bit the word off sharply.

  He looked up, lines fanning away from his eyes, the changeable color seemed to settle on the blue side…something that happened when he was especially happy. What the fuck was he up to?

  “Look—I think maybe I should go back to my own room—” Jeremiah said. He started to pull away from me, but Archer managed to block his exit as he reached across Jer’s body to pull a file folder from the tray.

  “Something came in the mail for you today, love.” He bypassed Jer and handed the stiff cardstock to me.

  “Mail?” I took the folder, then opened it to scan the contents.

  Oh.

  Looking up at Archer, I saw the smile move past his eyes and start playing with his lips as he tried to maintain a serious expression. He nodded at me, then focused back on the folder. I followed his gaze then shifted my arm so I could look beneath the top sheet of paper. Jeremiah’s contract. Pertinent clauses highlighted, of course. I stared at the papers for a long moment, as if they were my lifeline… Did we dare?

  My gaze flashed up to the man I loved—to the man who knew me better than I sometimes knew myself. He nodded once, his eyes shining, the lovely lips forming one word. Yes.

  Straightening fully, I moved back from Jeremiah, so that the three of us now sat on the bed, facing each other, but not touching. “Jer…we need to talk.”

  “I just want to go—”

  “I can understand that…it’s been a long night. Before you do, there are a couple of final things we need to take care of. Consider it part of your job.” Jeremiah’s gasp was audible, but I was relieved to see anger flare, and not a return of the helpless despair from earlier.

  “If you think I’m like Nick—”

  “Actually, it was more your friend Ben who comes to mind. He once told me it didn’t matter if I paid for sex by the hour or the year, it was still paying for sex…and that all john’s are assholes.”

  Jeremiah started to push off the bed, but Archer and I each grabbed an arm. Jer’s chest rose and fell rapidly, the flush rising up his neck to color his cheeks. “Jesus…why don’t you just fucking call me your whore? I heard Chance talking about it earlier…I know what you think of me.” He yanked his arms back, met my gaze and said in a quiet voice that carried weight all the way down my spine. “Onion. I’m safewording. I’m done for tonight. I want to go to my room now.”

  “That works in a scene, Jer. Works for the boy Archer hired to be my PA. But we have a small problem with that.” I tapped the folder. “I have all the documentation I need—”

  With a flourish, I removed the top sheet of paper, holding it just out of range. Deliberately keeping my voice stern and hiding any hint of a smile, I said, “It says here that your final HIV test came back negative. It looks as if you’re finally clear to engage in unprotected sex with us.”

  The bright green gaze shifted up to me, then slid over to Archer, before dropping to look at the paper I’d laid on the bed. His fingers trembled as he reached to trace lightly over the form letter in a shaky caress of welcome news.

  “I…uh…what? Does this mean?” A smile flitted over his sculpted lips before his eyes narrowed and his gaze shot back up to meet mine. I knew he was trying to put together this news with what I’d said about Ben. I couldn’t leave him in suspense any longer.

  Still maintaining my management façade, I opened the folder once more. “Although on the surface, your negative status is excellent news, it highlights a major discrepancy. Namely, you were to maintain your guaranteed negative status for the duration of our one-year contract and engage in regular, consensual unprotected sex acts as listed and agreed to by all parties. We are fully six months into your contract term and thus far, you have failed to meet your obligation, therefore we are exercising our no fault clause and your contract is officially terminated…”

  “You want me gone? You’re kicking me out?”

  “No, lover…we want you to stay. Not for a night or a month or a year. Not because there’s a contract or money involved. The second half of your payment has already been made and the contract is voided. We want you to stay because you want to be with us—with both of us.”

  I bounced off the bed and went down on my knees, pulling Archer down onto the floor with me. Archer wrapped one big hand around the back of my neck and squeezed gently—a sure sign he wanted me to shut up. I didn’t babble often, but I was doing a fine job right now. I clamped my lips together and waited.

  “Jeremiah, from the very first, I knew you would be a perfect complement for the man I love…for my Zachary. I was so sure he’d select you. But despite my good intentions, I never expected we would share more than the terms of the contract. I was so very wrong. I watched as Zachary grew to care for and then love you. Rather than an aching deadly jealousy…I realized that I also loved you. And I believe you love us in return.” He rested his hand lightly on J’s shoulder and I mirrored his gesture, completing our circle.

  “Jer, I’m sorry for teasing you a little, but your contract with us is over. We release you. And more importantly…like Archer said, we love you and want you here…if you’ll have us both. So, no need to safeword, babe. If you still want to go to your own room—”

  Jeremiah looked at Archer, then covered the big hand on his shoulder with one of his own before turning to look at me. I nodded with what I hoped was an affirming expression on my face, but uncertainty roiled in my gut. At least until he put his hand on mine.

  “Please…” With his hands covering ours, Jer leaned back, guiding us all back onto the bed, putting him right in the middle. It was where I wanted him to stay.

  With a smile to meet Archer’s, I leaned forward to claim Jeremiah’s mouth, as Archer licked a line from his collarbone to his jaw, waiting his turn to get to those luscious lips. As we alternated positions, Jer began to moan softly with each shift in kiss, each gentle swipe of tongue, the scrape of teeth over sensitive skin. As if of one mind, Archer and I moved lower, each claiming a pebbled nip, watching each other as we tongued and sucked. Jeremiah writhed beneath the double assault, his whispered words of pleasure and sharp inhalations guiding the pace.

  With our gazes still locked on each other, Archer and I continued to work our way lower, tasting…memorizing…loving. Jeremiah was so much more to me that just our boy for play. He was our man, our partner, a permanent part of our future. He was family.

  Moving still lower, I took the head of his leaking cock into my mouth, the salty, slightly bitter taste an explosion across my taste buds. I swallowed him down, his shaft a hot, heavy weight on my tongue, and I closed my eyes, savoring the flavor. Jeremiah’s hand went to
the back of my head, holding me in place, even as Archer’s big hand gripped my shoulder and Jer was rolled onto his side to face me. I smiled around his long prick and hitched his leg over my shoulder, helping to spread him open for Archer.

  Opening my throat, Jer took my mouth as I imagined Archer tongue-fucking our lover’s ass, all three of us making hungry, needy sounds.

  “Please.” Jeremiah’s voice was raw and so fucking hot. “So close. Please,” he begged again. “Somebody…Archer…want you inside when I come.”

  A surge of desire shuddered through me. I wanted, too. Needed too. Not in the way we’d planned earlier, but I needed to give Jeremiah something to mark our true first time together. I wanted to give him something I’d only given to one other man.

  I pulled off his cock with a pop, then licked and bit my way along his lean, sleek muscles. The man was a work of art and he was mine. Ours. As if he knew what I was thinking, Archer’s hand slid to my wrist, then tightened. Our lover arched and rolled between us, his fingers tracing the stubble of my beard. I kissed my way over his tight abs, climbing up his body, until we were face-to-face. “Want you, Jer. Want you inside me while Archer is in you.”

  “Oh God…yes.” J’s answer ended on a long hiss and A’s answering moan was pure sex. Sliding up the sheets, Archer reached over Jeremiah to cup the back of my head, pulling all of us into a sloppy three-way kiss.

  Archer reached to the bedside table to retrieve the slick, then pulled my leg over Jeremiah’s waist to slick the two of us. With two fingers inside me, he tapped against my gland, send lightning surging through me at his touch.

  “Oh God, don’t. Too close.”

  “Not until I give you permission, Z.” Barely more than a growl, Archer’s voice was dead sexy. “Scoot your hips, J. Want to watch you fill Zachary before I fuck you.” He looked over Jer’s shoulder at me. “There’s never been anyone else for you, Z. No one but me. This changes everything…are you ready, lover?”

  Closing my eyes for a moment against the intensity of his gaze, I nodded. “Yes.”

  Jeremiah’s cock pressed, the fat head beginning to spread me. Opening my eyes once again, I could see Archer, poised behind Jer, his gaze focused where we were joined, seeing my body stretch, our hips rolling. I groaned at the perfect burn, so familiar yet somehow completely new. Jer pushed deeper, making me lose my focus for a moment as the pressure built.

  “Look at me, Zack—see me. I need you to know—” When I shifted my gaze, Jeremiah’s lovely face was only inches from my own. I raised my hands to cup his cheeks and pulled him into a kiss. With a heart-pounding intensity, I thrust my tongue into his mouth, pouring everything I was feeling into this single kiss. Our tongues tangled until I pulled back with a nip at his lower lip.

  “Jer.” Our breath mingled as I whispered against his lips. “You don’t have to worry. I might be looking at Archer, but only when I know right where you are. The two of you together—my world.”

  “Yes…mine too,” he whispered. The loving was slow and easy, the mind-drugging kisses adding a deeper intimacy. Archer’s hands reached between us, touching where we joined, then one finger slid into me along side Jeremiah’s cock, making the stretch even bigger.

  “Please, love. So big. Need you to join us.”

  “Now, Archer,” Jeremiah agreed. Then his breath whooshed on a sudden exhale, and I knew Archer was completing our perfect union.

  When Archer was fully seated inside Jer, he began to move. His hips driving, rocking us into each other, a slow intense press then withdraw, as our hands stroked, nails scraped, and mouths sucked. We would wear this loving long after tonight was finished.

  I arched into the loving, thrusting back, rocking Jeremiah between us. His cock drove deep, claiming me from the front while he was claimed from behind.

  “Close,” Jeremiah gasped, and wrapped his fist around my cock.

  “Mine. You both are mine.” With those words, Archer covered Jer’s hand and pistoned his hips, a sudden and intense race to the finish. Pressing down, Archer settled against Jer’s back, all the weight transferred to me on the bottom, making me feel bound, captured, possessed.

  “Now, babe,” Archer whispered.

  The orgasm shot through me in jarring shudders that bucked my hips and tightened my ass into uncontrollable spasms that had Jeremiah pumping his hot cum inside me for the first time. Archer’s gaze was intense as he stared into my eyes and filled our lover.

  For a long minute, the sounds of moans and harsh breathing filled the air. Each time one of us would shudder, the other two moaned as mini-orgasms continued to jerk and ripple through us.

  We had fucked many times before, but tonight? This was different. We were sharing something new, something that signified a beginning, something that would leave us all exposed. In looking to meet my needs, Archer had found a way to bring our rich and loving relationship to new heights and given us both someone to love. He’d brought me the most special gift of all.

  Something about that thought tickled me and I started to laugh. The movement caused Jeremiah to slip from my ass, and just as he started to list to the left, Archer wrapped him up, and fell with him, so that our lover landed, nestled between us.

  “What the hell’s so funny?” Jer asked, but the laughter was already infecting him. Soon he and Archer were laughing just as hard as I was, and neither of them knew why.

  I gasped a breath and swallowed. Reaching my hand out, I stroked Jeremiah’s sweaty chest and met Archer’s gaze. In a voice so quavery I wasn’t sure they would even understand me, I explained, “Better than a puppy.”

  The laughter was so explosive, I wasn’t sure any of us would breathe again.

  Chapter Eight

  After comparing notes over our breakfast and coffee, we’d been ready to welcome our company. Once the preparations were complete, Jer went to wait in another room, along with the video on his laptop. Modern technology at its finest…we could have shown the video on the priest’s cell phones if we’d wanted.

  Archer’s study was his favorite place to hold the great reveal, and in the grand fashion of Hercule Poirot and Nero Wolfe, he enjoyed gathering all the parties for the final curtain. Of course, today was more of a come to Jesus meeting, but the principle was the same.

  Monsignor Edwards, Deacon Gregg, and Father Tim were our guests of honor from St. Joes, but only one of them was aware that there was not actually a sizeable donation to be claimed at the end of our meeting.

  One of the reasons I’d agreed to Deacon Ken attending the meeting was because he’d given us the necessary detail to entice the priests to meet with Archer, despite his former occupation as a leather club owner. If there was a problem with his lifestyle—no one was mentioning it. Besides, Archer thought another witness within the Catholic faith might be a good idea.

  “Thank you for coming here to meet, Monsignor. I don’t often leave the sanctuary of my home. This is my partner Zachary.” He didn’t offer to explain what type of partner.

  The two priests nodded in unison, then the Monsignor took the lead. “So Deacon Gregg tells me. Believe me, coming here is no hardship. You have a lovely home. I understand you wanted to meet because you are aware of our need through another of our parishioners?”

  “Yes, through Carmine DiSalvo. He’s Zachary’s cousin.” He nodded in my direction. “A long-time friend of mine as well. He told me you were having some real problems with members who had pledged a certain amount of financial support at the beginning of your project, but in this economy they are no longer able to fulfill their pledge.

  “I’ll be honest, Monsignor. When I was looking for a few charitable foundations, I never expected to consider a Catholic Church, but this feels more as if I might be helping individual families.”

  “Carmine worked with me on the finance committee,” Ken said. He looked to the two priests and smiled brightly. “I hope you don’t mind that we shared.”

  “Not at all, Ken,” Monsignor Edwards said. “I
appreciate you giving us your consideration, Archer. I assume you’re looking at other organizations as well?”

  “I am.” Archer let some tension build as he sipped his coffee. “I’m also willing to spread the wealth, as it were. This may not necessarily be an all or nothing proposition.”

  “All right, then what questions can I answer for you?”

  “Well, Deacon Ken was kind enough to provide us with details about the tithing program and the capital fundraising effort to date…”

  Ken took over the explanation. “We started with the update on the website, then, since Archer is a former businessman of some experience, we also looked into the building plans and the effects of the funding delays on the construction costs and building progress.”

  After setting his cup on the table, Archer crossed his legs at the knee and folded his hands. “As we discussed on the phone, I’m not Catholic, and I disagree vehemently with certain stances the Church has taken; however, I believe we can agree to disagree. As long as I can be assured my donation will only go toward the building project—specifically toward meeting the defaulted tithe amounts—and nothing else.”

  Again, moving in tandem, the two priests relaxed, leaning back onto the couch. Father Tim smiled and glanced over to the elder priest before responding. “Of course, if that’s what you wish. Your gift would relieve a tremendous spiritual weight on families that have had to make tough decisions.”

  “Yes, I can only imagine the guilt associated with choosing between a church obligation and a belief about what’s morally right for oneself or one’s family.”

  The pause in conversation was electric and went on longer than good manners dictated, yet no one seemed to want to break the silence. Putting faith and religious dogma aside, it was good for me to remember that all churches held some element of politics, and the Roman Catholic Church was the granddaddy of them all. These men would be well-versed in holding conversations of faith or Church policies without anger. Yet, I detected a wariness in Father Tim’s posture that wasn’t evident in the Monsignor’s. Perhaps he had a premonition of what was coming?