Dare to Surrender

by Jeanne St. James

  “She doesn’t want to be a burden,” Eli reminded him unnecessarily.

  “Right. She says that, but she doesn’t realize she’s not. She doesn’t realize that family, for the most part, should step in and help each other. That’s not her normal. You might have had a shit upbringing, but you had your maman. She loved you and would do anything for you.”

  “And you had your family... At least growing up.”

  “True. Until I came out as bisexual.” Grant didn’t want to think about being shunned by his own family. It happened after he came out and he’d moved past it. There was no point in trying to repair a relationship with such close-minded people, even if they were his own flesh and blood. “If they can’t accept me for who I am, then that’s their problem, not mine.”

  “I’m glad you look at it like that, mon amour.”

  “No other way to look at it, baby. I love you. I’m with you. And there was no way I was going to hide my relationship with you like I hid all the rest of them. I knew you were here to stay. That wouldn’t be fair to you or to me. So if they can’t accept me loving a man, then...” Grant shrugged.

  “Their loss, mon cher mari.”

  “Their loss,” Grant repeated with a nod.

  He’d never forget that night he came out to his parents and his brother. Even though he had been an adult at the time and living on his own for a few years, it was still an unpleasant task. But after meeting Eli and knowing he was “the one” for him, there was no way he’d come to holiday dinners and family gatherings without his future husband and the love of his life by his side.

  Too bad that his blood didn’t feel the same way. By the time he’d left their house that night, he knew his relationship with his family was irrevocably shattered.

  Eli tried to shoulder some of the blame. But it wasn’t his fault and Grant couldn’t make that clear enough. The problem wasn’t Eli. No, the problem was Grant was bisexual and coming from a conservative family, they insisted that his sexuality was a choice. One he could change. They would never admit that they had produced a child who enjoyed and had no hang-ups about being with both genders.

  Grant had no regrets since his “big man” ended up being his everything.

  He nuzzled his nose into Eli’s neck and inhaled his husband’s familiar scent. One that always tended to calm him. “Do you think it’s safe for her to remain here?”

  “Where else can she go?”

  Grant sighed. “I just worry that Dean’s goons might put two and two together.”

  “Hopefully, they only think our connection with Trey, Rayne and Gryff has to do with work, not Olivia.”

  “They might not leave any stone unturned, baby. We should keep that in mind.”

  “Where could she go to be completely safe?”

  “Grae and Gryff’s parents in Arizona? Maybe Paige’s brother’s farm? Ty and Logan could look after her,” Grant suggested.

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that. Let’s see what we can figure out on Monday, try to get the info to a couple of people by Monday night and then hope something comes to light.”

  “And if it doesn’t? Or doesn’t immediately?”

  “Then we’ll consider sending her out to Logan and Ty’s place for a little while. However, I know their hands are full with the kids and the business.”

  “It wouldn’t hurt for Gryff to talk to Paige, so she can give her brother a head’s up.”

  “Right.”

  Grant released a long sigh. “I know you don’t want her to be apart from us. Not now. And I feel the same way. But it may be for the best. At least until Dean’s in custody.”

  “Not just in custody, mon amour. He needs to be charged and held without bail. Then I might breathe a little easier.”

  “Understood.” Grant brushed a knuckle over Eli’s cheek, then let his hand slide down his chest and to the waistband of his loose shorts. Tucking a finger into the elastic he pulled it away from Eli’s stomach and peered inside. “What do you have for me, big man?”

  Eli grabbed his hand and shoved it down his shorts, wrapping Grant’s fingers around his growing erection. “Find out for yourself.”

  Grant chuckled into Eli’s throat. “Hard to miss that.” He stroked Eli’s hard, hot length slowly.

  “I wonder how much longer Olivia will be video chatting with Trey?”

  “Mmm. Is someone getting impatient? We could start without her.”

  “That we could, but, mon amour, I think we need to set some ground rules.”

  Grant slipped his fingers down to cup Eli’s sac and squeeze gently. “Ground rules? Like what?”

  “Like who and when.”

  Grant frowned. “Explain.”

  Eli pulled away from him, breaking Grant’s hold. He pulled his hand from Eli’s shorts and stepped back. “What are you talking about?”

  “First, we need to decide whether this thing is temporary with Olivia. Is this just a ‘thing’ because it’s new and exciting for us? Or are we serious about adding her to our lives?”

  “Like permanently?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

  Grant studied Eli, but his expression gave him nothing. “Should we be having this conversation without her?”

  “We need to know what we want before we can ask her what she wants. I need to know what you want. Tu es mon cher mari et mon amour. Tu es tout pour moi.”

  Grant’s heart thumped hard in his chest. “You are my everything, too, baby. Do we have to decide this right now?”

  “No. But we should soon. If we can get her issue solved shortly, she’ll want to go back to her apartment and her job, if both are still available. If they’re not, then she’ll want to get her own place and find another job.”

  “But that doesn’t mean we won’t be able to see her, Eli. She’s not going to go a world away. What are you worried about?” A look crossed Eli’s face. One Grant didn’t recognize. “You want this to be permanent,” he said softly. He shouldn’t be surprised, but he was. And he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it.

  “I think I do. Does that bother you?”

  Grant swallowed hard. “I don’t know. I mean, I’m enjoying what we have right now. Do I want this for the rest of our lives? Our married lives? When we got married we vowed that there would just be the two of us. I’m open-minded, you know that. And I’m not against threesome or triads. But is this something I want forever? I do love having you to myself. And then, like you said, there will need to be ground rules.”

  “Which comes back to why I began this line of conversation. The ground rules. We know there can’t be jealousy. We’ve been around enough triads to know that doesn’t work at all. Will it disturb you if I’m with Olivia when you aren’t around? Will it bother me to know you and Olivia are making love without me?” Eli shook his dark head, his eyes worried. “I don’t know. Our relationship’s strong, but is it strong enough?”

  “On the other hand, will it bother her when we’re together without her? I don’t want to give up my alone time with you. Not ever, baby. If I can’t have you to myself at least every once in a while...” Grant shook his head. “It’s something we all need to think about. But I understand that we need to figure out what we want first and then approach her and lay it all out. See if she’s on board.”

  “If she’s not, then we don’t have to worry about it.”

  Grant had a feeling if Liv wasn’t interested in continuing a relationship with them, Eli would be very disappointed. He had a connection with the woman. But then, so did Grant. Just not as strong as one Eli had. Not yet, anyhow.

  The sex was great, yes. But, in the end, becoming a threesome meant he had to share his husband with someone else. And not just every once in a while.

  He had to do some serious thinking about it. But first and foremost, they had to get her safe. Solve the first problem then move on to the next.

  But when Liv walked into the family room and announced, “Well, Trey and I had a great
talk but I... uh... I accidently let it slip. He’s not very... happy.”

  Eli and Grant gave each other an oh-shit look, knowing what it was. Another problem might have just leapt into the number one spot.

  Liv sat at the kitchen table, her Marriage and Family textbook open to the left of her new laptop, her spiral notebook to the right. After scribbling down some notes, she picked up her highlighter to mark a passage in the chapter she was reading.

  After running the highlighter over an important sentence she thought might be on the next test, she threw it onto the table, leaned back in the chair and sighed.

  She didn’t hate schoolwork, but she didn’t enjoy it, either. She saw it as a necessary evil. She wasn’t going to get anywhere without a degree. Her brother not only finished his Bachelor’s before being drafted into the NFL, he went on to get his law degree and pass the bar after winning the freaking Super Bowl.

  And here Liv only had a third of the course credits she needed to finish her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. She had a long way to go, especially only taking one online class a semester.

  When her and Trey had their long, deep, and somewhat emotional conversation Saturday night, he stated he would pay for her education. But once again, someone was trying to step in to take care of her. She told her brother that he didn’t have to do that, but he’d insisted.

  That was even after he blew his lid when he found out she was sleeping with both Eli and Grant. Luckily, Rayne had popped up from who knows where and calmed Trey down by reminding him of their own relationship and how it came to be.

  Even though Rayne didn’t give too many details, it was enough to calm Trey down and stop his rant about beating Eli and Grant’s ass. Not to mention firing them.

  Which made Rayne roll her eyes hard enough that Liv actually had to fight back a giggle.

  It was obvious that the woman had those two men wrapped around her pinky. And she was a magician when it came to calming their tempers.

  After Rayne had wandered off screen again, Trey had given her the details of what happened to him after Liv left. Her heart broke when he told her the story about what he’d done with his high school football coach. Though, Trey blew it off like it was nothing more than someone looking out for him and helping him get ahead.

  She never hated her mother more than after hearing Trey’s story. And when she told Trey that, he’d said, “Family isn’t always blood.”

  Which was true. He’d risen above their upbringing to become not only a successful man, but he had landed in a loving family made up of Gryff and Rayne and their respective families.

  Now, Liv had Trey back in her life. And she’d been thinking long and hard all day about Grant and Eli, too.

  She wasn’t sure what the men wanted from her after Dean was hopefully arrested. They hadn’t said anything concrete yet. She did hope their relationship would continue. She could see moving back to her own place, and then the three of them getting together often.

  She really hoped they wanted that, too. But if not, she’d move on. She always did.

  However, the sex with them was the best she’d ever had, and she wasn’t sure she could give that up so easily—

  A crash came from her left and she jumped. When the security alarm’s high-pitched wail sounded, her heart raced, and she leapt to her feet.

  She heard a male voice grumble and saw movement from the direction of the family room, which was right off the kitchen.

  Holy shit!

  Grabbing her cellphone, she took off through the house, her heart trying to beat right out of her neck, her breath constricted with fear. Her mind spun as she tried to quickly figure out where to go.

  He had to know she was there. She hadn’t been quiet; in fact, her chair had fallen backwards to the floor when she’d quickly rushed to her feet. Her laptop had been left on, too.

  She wasn’t sure if she should run out the front door. Someone might be waiting for her out there.

  Shit! Shit! Shit!

  She had to think and do it quickly.

  She had no idea where to go. Her hands shook as she hit the power button on the burner phone. She tried to type a text as she rushed through the first floor of the house, but she couldn’t do it. It was nothing but a jumble of letters and numbers.

  Frustrated, she quietly opened the door to the basement. Stepping through the door, she shut it just as quietly and wished there was a lock on the knob. She carefully moved down the steps, trying to make the least noise as possible. But she couldn’t hear anything but her own pounding heartbeat in her ears.

  “Fuck,” she whispered, her voice shaking. When she got to the bottom of the steps she glanced around. It was hard to see anything in the dark, of course, so she held up her lit cellphone and spotted a pile of boxes in a corner. Maybe she could hide behind them. As she used her phone as a flashlight, she moved closer and found one big enough to hide in. She pulled it out of the pile and opened it to find it full of linens and towels. She tossed the stuff, hiding it behind another box and climbed in, trying to control her breathing, but it was impossible. Pulling the flaps down, she waited.

  She lifted her phone, hit the power button again to light it up once more and finally was able to text a semi-logical message to both Eli and Grant at the same time.

  Intruder. Male. Hiding in basement.

  She held the volume button down on her phone until it went into silent mode and did it just in time since she received two texts almost simultaneously.

  Stay put from Eli.

  On our way from Grant.

  Then Stay quiet. Keep calm from Eli.

  Right!

  She tried to slow her breathing by sucking air in through the nose and out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth. But it wasn’t working. She tilted her head to listen and heard heavy footsteps above her, which didn’t help her breathing at all.

  Squeezing her eyes shut, she told herself to stay calm. Stay put. Stay quiet. Keep calm.

  The footsteps moved on and she didn’t hear anything for the longest time. She was tempted to dial 911 but knew that could be dangerous. Maybe she should text her brother to say goodbye and tell him she loved him, just in case something happened to her.

  She started to do just that when she heard the footsteps again making the floor joists squeak above her. Then the knob turned at the top of the steps.

  Oh fuck!

  She froze, her muscles tight and held her breath as the wooden stairs creaked with each heavy footstep.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  She wished she could peer out and see where the man was, what he looked like, so she could text that information to someone. Eli, Grant, whoever just in case she was gone by the time they got to the house. It might give them a clue who to look for.

  But no, the flaps were at the top of the box and for her to poke her head out would be stupid.

  She curled herself into a tight ball and closed her eyes again as the footsteps came closer to her and the boxes. Then she jerked when he kicked one across the room with a loud curse.

  “Where are you, bitch?” came the low, soft question. “You have to be in this house somewhere.” Then he yelled, “I’m not leaving until I find you!”

  Holy fucking shit!

  She couldn’t hold her breath anymore and let it out as slowly as possible. She gripped the phone so hard in her fingers they locked up, but she wasn’t moving. Not until he did.

  She tried not to touch the sides of the cardboard box more than she had to since she was trembling, and she didn’t want him to notice the box moving.

  This was freaking crazy! Why couldn’t her life be simple and easy and quiet and...

  A tear slipped down her cheek. She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, so she wouldn’t start blubbering.

  “Make this easy on yourself and come out from wherever you’re hiding. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Oh, right. Like she believed that.

  “We just want to talk t
o you.”

  Another lie. Liv pressed her lips together and closed her eyes again.

  “Fuck,” he muttered and then she heard what sounded like him tossing a box across the room.

  Shit, if he kept kicking or moving boxes, he would find her.

  Oh, please, please, please... move on.

  Then she almost whimpered in relief when she heard him climb back up the stairs. She carefully lifted one of the flaps and peeked out, catching a glimpse of his handgun as he moved out of view.

  With trembling fingers, she typed in GUN! and hit Send.

  Jesus Christ, Eli and Grant were going to walk into a situation where they could be killed.

  She jumped as she heard a few male voices shouting and then a gunshot. Then another one. A scuffle, then another gunshot, one that went through the floor and the stray bullet hit something nearby.

  She wrapped a hand around her mouth to make sure her screaming stayed in her head and didn’t escape.

  She had no idea who was shooting. If it was the intruder or if it was the police because of the alarm activation.

  Or maybe even Grant or Eli.

  Fuck. They could be hurt or dead.

  She wanted to move, to check, but she remained frozen in place.

  Then her cell lit up and she looked at it quickly.

  Remain in place. U OK?

  Yes, she quickly typed back to Eli with shaky fingers.

  Cops here. Shot intruder. Where r u?

  Oh, God. What if it wasn’t Eli? What if someone got his phone and was trying to figure out where she was?

  Tell me what u call Grant in French, she typed rapidly.

  There was a long hesitation then, Mon amour.

  Liv sighed in relief and another tear streaked down her cheek.

  A box in basement.

  Stay there. We’ll get u when it’s clear.

  OK.

  She remained where she was for what seemed like hours. Her muscles cramping, her bladder in pain, her mind in a constant spin.