by Trent Evans
Shit.
“Maybe you’d like to tell me. I still don’t fucking know.”
“What’s to know?” Troy inhaled the night air. “Had fun, right?”
“Fun. Christ, I could die a happy man right now.”
Troy chuckled then, shaking his head. “You say that like this is the pinnacle, or something. Like it doesn’t get any better than this.”
“How could it?” Hunter took a drag from his glass, working up the courage. “There was a time — last December, to be specific — when I thought I’d been blessed with a gift. One a man like me never deserved — but one I accepted gratefully.” He lifted a finger from the rim of his glass, pointing it at Troy. “And with the expectation of nothing more.”
“Let me ask you something, Hunt. If there were… something more. Something more than tonight. What would you say to that?”
“I suppose it depends, doesn’t it?”
Jesus, this isn’t happening.
Troy pushed himself away from the rail, the wood of the deck creaking as he walked over to one of the varnished wood Adirondack chairs, pouring himself into it. He looked back up at the sky again, his eyes glittering in the starlight.
“I thought it would be a passing thing, I guess.”
Like a summer storm, intense, but short-lived. Gone as fast as it arrived. Yes, Hunter suspected he knew exactly what Troy meant.
“You hoped it would be, didn’t you?” Hunter knew he didn’t want to hear the answer, but if the magic was going to be dispelled eventually, it might as well be now.
For a long moment, Troy remained silent, his face turned up to the sky. Then he sighed and looked over at Hunter — and that’s when he knew, the sinking feeling so strong in his belly, he thought he might throw up.
Troy hadn’t wanted any of this.
If that’s the case, then why the fuck would they do this? Go to all this trouble?
Something wasn’t adding up here.
“You know how men are, right?” Troy peered back up at the night sky. “They fear change. Especially men like us.”
In the field, in combat, change often brought death. More than that, change brought more chances to fuck something up, even something that should’ve been simple and straightforward. Routine begat safety, which in turn begat less opportunities, less reasons, to change something — and thus introduce chances for something to get FUBAR.
Hunter understood it perfectly, even as it felt like a dagger slowly spearing his heart. He steeled himself against that pain, for he’d known all along the likely truth of it. This had been nothing more than a dream, a mirage.
“I’ll go tell her,” Hunter said, setting down the glass. “I’ll call a cab and let myself out.”
Troy looked at him again, a smile just beginning at the corners of his mouth. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You didn’t want this, Troy. Tell me I’m wrong about that. This was, what? Some sort of… mercy fuck? Another gift to hang-dog Hunt to buck him up at little?”
Hunter felt the anger curling inside him, heat radiating out to his limbs, the taste of it bitter in his mouth.
“Look, I’ll tell her, and make myself gone. It…doesn’t need to get weird. I’ll just tell her—”
“Tell me what?”
Hunter’s head spun around at the sound of Lacey’s voice. She stood just outside the slider door, wrapped in a white comforter, her dark hair a jet spray of silky locks against the soft fabric.
“I… shit.” Hunter scrubbed a hand across his lips. “I need to go, Lacey.”
“Why the hell would you do that?”
Hunter’s jaw dropped open at her tone, an edge in her voice he didn’t think he’d ever heard before.
He tried to stand, but Lacey dropped into his lap, her weight toppling him back into his chair, his arms wrapped around her to keep her from falling. She beamed at him, a mischievous look of triumph in them before her brows knit together again.
“Did I do something wrong, Hunter?”
“Christ — wrong? Are you shitting me?”
Troy laughed, standing and walking over to the railing again. “We’ve got Hunt here ready to beat cheeks right outta town.”
“Why?” Lacey clung to Hunter then, and the sudden trembling of her body made him gently shush her, even though Troy’s description was pretty much dead on the money.
“This isn’t a good idea — fun or not. It’s obvious Troy doesn’t really want… this. You probably don’t either, I’m guessing.” Hunter cursed under his breath. “It was fun. Let’s just leave it at that, okay?”
Lacey recoiled, laying a hand on Hunter’s chest and twisting around to look at her husband. “What do you mean you don’t want this?”
Troy leaned a hip against the rail, shrugging. “Nothing I ever said.” Then he winked at Hunter. “He’s just got a little spooked, I think.”
What the hell?
“So… I’m confused as fuck now.” Hunter shook his head, looking away. “I’m an idiot for even coming out here.”
With a sigh, Troy returned to his chair, nodding at his wife. “I think it’s time you made a little confession, don’t you?”
Lacey swallowed hard, locking her eyes with Hunter.
Hunter grabbed one of her wrists, holding her firmly. “Confession to what?”
“What… we did. At Christmas?” She blushed deeply, the color obvious even in the low light of the night. “It was a test, I guess. A trial run.”
“What?”
“I always hated… what she did to you, how she made you feel.”
Oh, Lacey.
“It was my idea, and I… I floated it, um, early.”
“Try, ‘before you even got divorced,’” Troy muttered, mild reproach in his voice.
Lacey swallowed again. “I knew it was over — maybe even before you did, Hunter.” She squeezed his shirt, scrunching it in her fist. “She wasn’t right for you.”
“And how the hell did you know that?” Hunter didn’t know whether he wanted to hug her tight, or push her off his lap and get the fuck out of there.
“Well, for one thing, the woman was as vanilla as they come.”
He’d known that, of course, but he’d hoped, hoped, that love — and commitment — might allow her to keep an open mind. Maybe experiment. What a fucking delusional asshole he’d been to even consider it.
“How did you know that vanilla wasn’t a match for me?”
How did Lacey know? It wasn’t as if they casually discussed the ins and outs of kink over the dinner table.
“That was as obvious as the sunrise, my friend.” Troy came over and sat in the chair nearest them, reaching out for Lacey. She took his hand, letting herself be drawn off Hunter’s lap and into Troy’s arms.
Hunter tried to ignore the flash of possessive jealousy he felt as her pleasing weight lifted from his thighs.
That’s his fucking wife, you idiot.
“It was… just the things you said,” Lacey murmured. “The way you looked at me.”
“Fuck, I didn’t—”
“Yes, you did,” they both told him in unison. “And there’s not a thing wrong with that,” Troy continued. “I know you — we’ve been in the shit together. More than once. You’re Hunter. I know you’d never pull anything.”
“And that was what made it safe,” Lacey said, laying a hand on Troy’s leg, stroking it slowly. “That was why I proposed it.”
“Proposed what?”
“It was her idea all along.” Troy said.
Hunter fell back in his chair, stunned. He’d… wondered. How often had there been what he’d thought of as harmless flirting? How often had he found himself sitting in rapt — and turned-on — silence as, over beers, Troy related his latest corporal punishment escapades with his gorgeous wife? How hard had it been not to discuss the fact that Troy talked about their Maintenance Nights? Had she known Troy had told him? Had she encouraged Troy to tell him — to gauge his reaction?
Should he be angry about this? It was either a gigantic relief, and an exciting possibility… or this was the cruelest of cruel mind fucks.
“I proposed… seeing if you’d be interested”—Lacey pushed the blanket off one shoulder, a round, heavy breast revealed in the ghostly starlight—“in me.”
Though he’d never thought it possible after the amount of times he’d come already today, Hunter’s cock began to harden at the sight of her, the way the dim light rendered her red nipple almost black. “Jesus, I think that was obvious from the start, wasn’t it?”
He remembered worrying about the way his erection had jutted against her hip as he’d spanked her at Christmas. It seemed his worry was badly misplaced.
“Watching you go through this… it’s been so hard.” Lacey looked to her husband, who gave her a slow nod. “I… wanted to go to you. Right away. Even if it was only one night, you’d have at least that, you’d at least know.”
“I didn’t know anything anymore, not after that.” Hunter laughed, the sound of it harsh, almost crazed to his ears. “After tonight? I know even less.”
Troy slipped the comforter off Lacey’s other shoulder, then helped her stand, the blanket falling away entirely, revealing her naked body to the stars above. Hunter’s tired cock jerked fully to life at the glorious sight, the faint light outlining the sweep of her wide hips, the gentle curve of her belly, the prominent mons between her sweet, lush thighs.
And those eyes, the key to it all, those eyes held such warmth, such affection, such… he couldn’t say it, fearing he was fooling himself, fearing he was allowing himself to feel something that wasn’t really there. For either of them.
She walked to him then, Troy guiding her by the hand. Hunter tried to rise but she placed a gentle palm at the center of his chest.
“Don’t go. Please, Hunter, don’t leave us.” She knelt over him, straddling his lap, her eyes like deep pools of light as she gazed upon him. “Don’t leave me.”
“We want you here, Hunter,” Troy said from behind Lacey, his smile reflecting the same acceptance, the same warmth Hunter had seen in Lacey’s gaze. “For as long as you want — in whatever way you want — we want you here.”
It was as if an immense weight lifted from his shoulders at Troy’s words. It was okay. This was okay. These feelings… they were okay too.
Lacey’s clever fingers drew Hunter’s fly open, freeing his cock from the confines of his boxers, the length of him springing up into the cool night air. He sighed as Lacey’s soft warm hand grasped his shaft, her hips rising up. She guided him home, until her tight warmth engulfed him, her thighs shuddering as she sank down upon his length.
“Whatever you want, whenever you want,” she said breathlessly, her hips rolling, swiveling upon him, the feel of her making him draw a sharp breath. “I’m yours, Master.”
She stiffened then, Troy drawing close behind her, his hand closing tight over her shoulder. Troy bit down on the tender join of neck and shoulder, and she hissed, throwing her head back. Her sex grew much tighter then, as Troy pushed into her, his cock invading her ass, while Hunter was still ensconced within her pussy.
“Oh my God,” Lacey whispered, her voice high pitched, cracking.
There were no words then as they rocked slowly, this wonderful, special woman the center, the nexus of all of it, the reason life had suddenly become so wonderful again, the reason Hunter had hope again.
She stared into his eyes as they took her slowly, gently, enjoying the feel of her, her soft catches of breath as they both drove deep, the way she sighed and shuddered as Hunter took her nipples in his mouth, sucking and biting them in turn.
Then they went over, first Lacey, then Hunter and Troy both, rocking her between them, the vessel of their lust, their possession, their plaything.
Their woman.
She pushed herself up, gazing down upon him once more, her eyes brimming.
“No matter what happens, I’ll be here, Hunter. I’ve always been here. And I always will be. All that I am is yours — both of you. And there’s one more thing that’s yours, something you’ve always had, even in your darkest days, now more than ever.”
She kissed Hunter’s cheek then as he held her, tears upon her cheeks once more.
“My love.”
Chapter 12
“She really doesn’t know?” Hunter leaned an arm against the doorjamb watching Lacey cleaning up the dishes after breakfast in the kitchen.
Troy stood next to him, watching the lovely woman at work, whispering to Hunter.
“If she knew the full details, I don’t think she’d have eaten her breakfast. It’s tradition not to give too much information to the first timers on The Walk. Their surprise, their reaction makes it all the sweeter. Plus, some of them might just back out.”
“That’s… allowed?” It hadn’t occurred to Hunter until that morning that there was ever an option to refuse. That should have bothered him, but for some reason it didn’t. It seemed just… the way of things here in White Valley.
There might be a small problem with that, Hunt. Like, oh let’s see, legality.
“Nobody is forced to be here,” Troy said, watching Hunter now. “But once they choose this place, this life, then… it gets a little more complicated than simply ‘yes or no.’”
“Do you think she’d have backed out if you’d told her everything that’s going to happen?”
“I think the clothes part… that might have been the deal breaker,” Troy said with a quirk of his lips.
Hunter covered his mouth with a hand to hide his own smile. He had no business laughing about such a harrowing ordeal as that about to be faced by Lacey.
“But the sexual stuff, she’d be okay with that?”
“When it comes to sex — and discipline — there’s very little Lacey’s not okay with. You’ll see.”
Now, that did make sense. Like a tree bending in a gale, Lacey just seemed to roll with everything thrown at her, bowing to her husband’s will — and obeying him in all things. It didn’t mean it was easy for her — even Hunter, a comparative outsider could sense that much — but she endured it nonetheless, simply because she was asked to, because she needed to endure it for him — for both of them.
Troy had told him she liked it all. And the last twenty-four hours had done nothing but confirm his best friend’s conviction.
Lacey padded down the hallway toward the two men, the light blue button down she’d stolen from Troy’s drawer so big she was practically swimming in it. Despite that, she still managed to make it sexy as hell, the tails of the shirt whispering against her bare thighs, the top few buttons undone, revealing the enticing curves of her cleavage, tendrils of her dark hair draped across her pale skin. Even a mess, the woman was incredible.
“Ready?” A tiny note of tension could be heard in her clear voice, but her smile was pure and winning as usual as she looked at each man, her hands on her hips.
“We have one thing to take care of before we go,” Troy said, taking her by the hand and leading her up the stairs. Lacey looked over her shoulder back at Hunter as she went, giving him an amused raise of an eyebrow as she walked up.
Troy stopped on the bottom riser, looking back. “Care to join us? You might enjoy this part too.”
“Lead the way,” Hunter said, having no clue what might happen next.
He decided he quite liked it that way.
* * *
“What about this one?” Lacey held up the purple dress to her neck, draping it down the swell of her breasts, a hand playing with the hem.
“No.” Troy stood behind her, arms crossed, watching her intently as she perused her closet, returning with outfit after outfit for him to see.
She gave him a little pout of her lips then disappeared back into the walk-in closet.
“I never realized how, uh, fun this could be,” Hunter said softly.
His cock had stirred as she’d paraded before them in a seemingly endless variety of clothing
. Some Troy would make her put on — always in front of both of them, her face blushing deeply as she revealed her nakedness to their gaze — while other articles of clothing he would dismiss out of hand, ordering her back into the closet to retrieve something else for him to review.
“Men don’t understand the finer points of control — and what really turns women on. Telling a woman what she can and can’t wear? Picking out her clothing for her? They love it. Her clit’s probably been humming like a tuning fork from the moment we got in here. Trust me, her cunt is a fucking boiling lake right now. If you ran a finger up her thigh, it would be soaked.”
“Wouldn’t we be able to tell?” Hunter had doubts some of the briefer dresses would have hidden such a thing from their view.
“I’m guessing she’s got a towel tucked in there while she’s rifling through those clothes.”
Hunter shook his head, looking down. “Jesus.”
“I know, right?” Troy chuckled. “I don’t know why that’s hot to me — but it is.”
“What exactly are you looking for then? Or are you just doing this as an excuse to watch her undress? Because if it’s that…” Hunter shrugged. “Can’t argue with ya on that.”
Lacey returned with a light gray sash type dress, a low back and a black cinch around the waist. Classy, and elegant, yet showing so much skin, Hunter thought it just this side of slutty. The good side.
“Put that one on,” Hunter said, taking a small step toward her that Troy matched. He liked the feeling of crowding her a little, emphasizing the differences in their sizes, the immense difference in strength between Lacey and her men.
She gave them a quick nervous smile, quickly unbuttoning the dress shirt, color flashing in her cheeks as she let it fall, her buoyant breasts moving as she bent to slip the dress on.
“Turn your ass to us when you bend. That rule is always in effect, Lacey girl.”
“Sorry,” she murmured, her bottom turned to them. The marks on her thighs from the whipping she’d received on the deck had faded, the welts gone, but the ghostly hints of bruising were still visible in places. They’d be like neon signs during her Walk, out there in the broad daylight.