by Mia Ashlinn
Sauntering into the bathroom, she gasped as she laid eyes on the recent updates. With a smile to herself, she flipped on the light and admired every nook and cranny of the shiny new bathroom. She appreciated the beauty of the gleaming faucets, the sparkling mirrors, and the luminescent overhead light. But she absolutely drooled over the giant antique claw-foot tub.
Slapping a hand over her mouth to muffle her delighted squeal, Ella propelled herself toward the tub and climbed in. With a sigh, she leaned against the rigid cast iron, not even daunted by the cold seeping into her back. This was the life.
Feeling immensely better, Ella picked up the phone and dialed Leila’s number. So sad that I have The Bitch’s number memorized.
Yuck.
Ella heard one ring then another come over the phone line, but the third ring never materialized. However, Leila’s voice did.
“Hello, Leila,” Ella greeted. “Miss me?”
“Like the plague,” Leila countered, her voice sounding far off in the distance.
“Aw, now is that the way to treat your friend?” Ella asked, taunting her nemesis gleefully with the words she’d thrown around for the past couple of weeks.
Leila growled. “Shut up.”
Grinning secretively, Ella murmured, “You can dish it out, but you can’t take it. Can you?”
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The line went silent. And for a split second, Ella thought that Leila had hung up. But the sound of a steering wheel horn being blown refuted that notion.
“Going somewhere?” Ella couldn’t help but ask as a kernel of hope began to grow inside her. “You know, my mama always said that if you can’t take the heat then get out of the kitchen. Considering your track record, I think you should just hightail your whoreific ass out of town.”
“You wish,” Leila snarled.
Why yes, I do wish. But my dreams came true with my men, and they’re about to come true with you.
“No, no, no,” Ella disagreed. “I don’t have to wish because you are going to leave town of your own free will, and you’re not going to come back.”
Leila barked a laugh. “You’ve lost your mind.”
“No, I’ve won—everything. I have three rings, two men, and a rose. What do you have?”
“You arrogant little bitch,” Leila snarled. “You might have won the battle, but you did not the win the fucking war.”
“But I did,” Ella said. “You broke the law when you broke into my home to record my bedroom activities.”
“I did no such thing!”
“Sure you did,” Ella declared. “Ted told everyone the truth.” She was bluffing. Ted had confessed to some things, but that wasn’t one of them. However, Leila didn’t know that.
Leila gasped. “That conniving bastard. He paid me to break in.”
“So you did do it?”
Only silence. Leila had obviously figured out that Ella played her.
Maybe she’s not as dumb as she looks. “It doesn’t matter if I did or didn’t break in. I still have tapes—lots of them.” Okay, maybe, she is as stupid as she looks.
“See here’s the thing,” Ella said. “You have those tapes, and you can technically use them against me and my fiancés.” 248
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Leila cursed when she heard Ella’s reference to Micah and Caedon as her fiancés.
Ella chuckled. “However, if you do give them to the press, they will be traced back to you. Then you’ll go to jail. I will make damn sure of it. And so will Caedon and Micah. Fame and fortune has its perks. This is one of them.”
“I have money,” Leila declared, sounding as though she were grasping at straws. “My ex-lover has power. Marvin will take me back in a minute, and he will crush you, Caedon, and Micah.”
“Try it. We’ll see who comes out on top.” Purposefully throwing Leila’s words back in her face was fun, and Ella was enjoying her gloating. But she had won, despite what Leila had said. The men downstairs proved it. Now all she wanted was to finish this and get back to them.
“If I were you, I would destroy those tapes then pack my bags and get the hell out of town. That’s the only way you won’t see the inside of a jail cell.”
“Fine, you win,” Leila snapped then the line went dead.
Ella pumped her fist in the air. “Yeah baby yeah,” she said as she did the happy dance in the great big bathtub. It took her several minutes to calm down her merriment. But when she finally did, she remembered that she had one more call to make. However this time, she didn’t have the number.
Searching for Adeline’s number was ridiculously easy. She was on speed dial. Clicking the button with Adeline’s name on it, Ella put the phone to her ear and waited for Caedon’s friend to answer.
“Hello, dearest,” a sultry voice said.
Lowering her lids, Ella swallowed the jealousy rising in her throat. “No,” she croaked. “It’s Ella.”
“Ella,” Adeline cried happily, shocking Ella with her friendliness.
“I’m so glad you called. Are you three okay?”
“Um, yeah,” Ella replied.
Adeline sighed. “Oh, that’s so good. I was worried.” Three Rings and a Rose
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“Nope, no need to worry.”
“You don’t like me much, do you?” Adeline asked bluntly.
Ella couldn’t suppress her smile. “Not really.” Adeline laughed. “I don’t blame you. If I were you, I wouldn’t like me either.”
Even though Ella knew she shouldn’t like Adeline, she found she kind of did. “Glad to know I’m not alone in my anti-Adeline Raines club.”
“Call me Addy,” the other woman said. “Adeline is so boring.” Ella choked on a laugh. “Okay, Addy it is.”
“Well now that we’re on a first name basis, I’ll tell you all about my relationship with Caedon.”
Ella didn’t know about that. She preferred not to hear every detail.
Caedon had sworn there was nothing between him and Addy, and she believed him. But she wasn’t convinced that Addy felt the same way.
If Addy had a thing for Caedon, then she and Ella wouldn’t be able to be friends. And that would be disastrous. For everyone’s sake, especially Caedon’s, they had to find some way to be on good terms.
Allowing her eyes to drift open, Ella stared at the mirror that one of the men had mounted over the tub. “Okay,” she said.
“Yay,” Addy squealed. “I figured you would hunt my ass down and gag me before you’d let me talk about my undying love for your boy toy.”
Ella’s heart leaped in her chest. Addy did have a thing for Caedon.
Well monkey balls.
Addy giggled. “I’m just kidding, Ella. I love Caedon like a brother. There is absolutely nothing going on between us. That would be fucking gross.”
After that, their conversation lightened and devolved into a laughter-filled gossip session amongst girlfriends. By the time Ella hung up, she was grinning from ear-to-ear. I’m going to get along with Addy just fine.
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Humming, she heaved herself out of the tub then headed downstairs to rejoin the men. But of course, when she reached the living room, the men were rolling around on the couch, kissing and groaning the whole time.
“Damn it,” she cursed. “I missed the good stuff.” The men sprang apart then rounded on her. Their predatory smiles caused her to tremble, and she practically ran into their arms.
Prepared, they both caught her and smashed her between them.
“It sounded to me like you were having a good time on your own,” Micah said, a mischief-filled twinkle in his eyes as he lowered his lips to nibble on her jaw. “What about you, Caedon?” Caedon nodded. “Yes, it did. I’m just wondering what she was doing and who she was doing it with.”
Sticking her tongue out at Caedon, she sassed, “I was on the phone with Addy, smart ass.”
Micah’s lips froze on her face while Caedo
n dropped his jaw in apparent shock. Pulling back, they both gawked at her.
“What?” she asked knowingly as she batted her eyelashes with false innocence. “Can’t a girl have fun with her new pal?”
“Your new pal?” Micah echoed her.
“You talked to Addy?” Caedon asked. “About what?” Ella grinned. “I’ll tell you about it…later.” Three Rings and a Rose
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Epilogue
“Are you sure that we’re safe to go in there?” Ella asked quietly as she pointed at Lou’s Café. After spending the last two weeks cooped up in their new house, hiding from the press, Ella was just a touch hesitant. The stories every magazine in the country had printed were heinous. From the insults thrown at them, their relationship, and even the town, they’d been chewed up and spit the fuck out. So, she wasn’t exactly keen on jumping into the boiling water by having a party in the town’s favorite—and only—diner.
Caedon squeezed her hand. “We’re good. Apparently, Benjamin Black went to rehab. We’ve been granted a reprieve.” Ella was relieved to know that they could be normal once again, but she still felt sorry for the musician who had a well-known substance addiction. It sucked to be in the eye of the media storm.
“Fine,” Ella said as she emerged from the car then shut the door.
Walking hand-in-hand, they meandered through the parking lot.
They took their time, moving slowly. However, Ella didn’t mind a bit.
She enjoyed the fresh air. She listened to the birds chirping, and she admired the scenery. But of course, they reached the restaurant swiftly.
Caedon swung open the front door, holding it for her, while Micah touched his hand to her back and helped her inside. As soon as she stepped inside Lou’s, she grinned. A good-size group of townspeople were inside, waiting on them.
“Congrats,” the crowd yelled all at once then descended upon them. There were hugs and friendly kisses amongst everyone. People whispered kind words, and her friends muttered dirty ones. By the 252
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time she’d been handled by everyone in the room, her cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
Whirling around on her men, she asked, “Where’s Addy?” Since the day they’d outed themselves, Adeline Raines had been her rock. She’d had numerous talks with her newfound ally, and they’d learned a lot about each other. Hell, she found that they had an amazing amount of things in common. It was rather odd to have made amends with a woman she’d considered an enemy. But she had. Now she considered her a close friend, a confidante she couldn’t imagine not having around.
“I’m right here,” the petite redhead announced as she appeared from nowhere then hugged her close. “I got stuck with Nathan, Noah, and Reagan.” A distinct irritation could be heard in her voice as she referred to Ella’s sister and Micah’s two older brothers. Nathan and Reagan fought like cats and dogs, just like Noah and Addy did. No one enjoyed being around the two passionate duos, especially not when all four of them got together.
“Sorry,” Ella muttered.
“No,” Addy countered. “It’s fine. Nothing a good foot up the ass won’t cure.”
Ella had a feeling something else up the ass would be more likely to fix it for all of them, but she kept her thought to herself.
“Is everyone here?” Micah asked pointedly.
Addy nodded. “There’s someone who wants to see you in the bathroom.”
Huh? What? “The bathroom?” Ella asked.
“Yes, the bathroom,” Caedon answered for Addy, propelling her toward the hallway leading to the restrooms. Neither he nor Micah followed her. “We’ll be here when you come back, sunshine,” he called out. “We just need to see Randy and Cade about their bet. It looks like it’s a draw.”
Next to him, Addy muttered a frivolous excuse then vanished again.
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Too intrigued to wait, she strode straight for the restroom without speaking to anyone. Then she opened the door when she was in reaching distance. As soon as Ella spotted the women in the restroom, she gasped. Jaycee, Katie-Anne, Shannon, and…Sarah?
Staring across the bathroom at the woman they’d dubbed “Sweet Sarah,” Ella breathed, “Oh, my God.” She couldn’t seem to rip her eyes away from her young friend cowering against the toilet stall door. The petite, caramel-haired woman averted her gray eyes, the gorgeous depths shimmering with unshed tears.
Next to Sarah, Katie-Anne cleared her throat. “She came to surprise you, but she prefers to stay away from the crowds.”
“That’s fabulous,” Ella murmured nervously, fighting a war with herself to not hug her friend or, even worse, burst into tears. Seeing her friend like this was excruciating. All Ella could think about was helping her. Well, that and castrating the motherfucker that had turned a sweet, innocent woman into a cold shell.
Katie-Anne nodded, slipping her dainty arm around Sarah who jumped before settling back down. “I thought so. Deke, Adam, and their team of security monkeys are gods in my book. They brought her here.” Tears welled in her turquoise eyes, and her voice thickened before she continued on. “We can’t repay them for that.”
“They won’t want you guys to,” Sarah finally said in the gentle voice that soothed everyone around her. If only it could soothe Sarah, too. “They brought me here for all of us.”
“That was nice of them,” Jaycee said with a serene smile. “I cannot believe I’m saying that those delicious devils and their sidekicks are nice. It must be the end of the world.” Shannon giggled. “Nope, they’re just smitten with Sarah. If she weren’t nearby, they would be raising hell as always.” Sarah stiffened but didn’t speak.
Narrowing her eyes on Shannon, Katie-Anne scowled, apparently pissed that Sarah had been upset by her flippant comment. “Anyway, 254
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it doesn’t matter who brought her or why. All that matters is she’s here.”
Sarah smiled, but it didn’t go to her eyes. “I w–wouldn’t have missed this for anything. I had to see Ella with her men.” Hoping to divert the attention from a patently agitated Sarah, Ella asked, “You want to see me with my men? That could be arranged.” Ella’s irreverence broke the ice, and the tension seemed to deflate.
All of the girls giggled—even Sarah made a soft noise of amusement.
“You just want an audience, you little pervert,” Shannon teased.
Jaycee snorted. “Pot, meet the fucking kettle, Shan.”
“Bite me, J,” Shannon quipped.
Katie-Anne bumped Shannon with her hip. “Jaycee’s mine, you homewrecker.”
Jaycee giggled. “Bitch fight.”
“You wish,” Ella said.
Jaycee grinned. “What’s a party without a little action?”
“That’s not the kind of action I want,” Ella murmured quietly.
Only she wasn’t soft enough, and Shannon latched right on.
“Don’t think about sneaking off with your men, Miss Missy,” Shannon informed her with a sharp elbow to the ribs. “I want to know what the fuck happened with Leila. I heard she left town.” She had. Ella’s mortal enemy had disappeared after she and Ella talked on the phone, just as she’d promised. But she’d also left a lovely warning behind saying that, “Revenge is a sweet dish best served cold.” Micah had immediately hired Deke’s personal private investigator to find Leila, but so far, they’d come up empty handed.
“She did,” Ella said without elaborating. It was her engagement party, and she refused to think about or discuss The Bitch.
Apparently catching the frigid drift blowing off her, Sarah changed the subject. “When’s the wedding?” she inquired with a hesitant smile. “I have to make sure to be back by then.” Three Rings and a Rose
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“We haven’t decided yet,” Ella replied with a grin, “but it will be soon. I lean toward September, but Micah and Caedon are impatient. I think they’re going to win this stubborn war.”
“Umm…” Shit, I’ve lost count.
Sarah chuckled daintily. “You don’t know?”
“No,” Ella said truthfully. “They leave me a rose in various places. I’m always finding them. It’s like a game.” All of the women looked at Ella with amused eyes, even Sarah.
“What?” Ella asked in confusion.
Behind her, a man cleared his throat, and she jumped. Spinning around, she saw Caedon and Micah standing in the doorway.
Predictably, Caedon held a single orange rose in his hand. “We forgot to give this to you when we got here,” he said.
Her four friends silently slipped out of the restroom, leaving her alone with her fiancés. As soon as they were gone, Ella sauntered over to her men, swaying her hips seductively with a Cheshire-cat grin. “I love the rose, but I don’t need it. I have three rings, and I have you.”
For Ella, that said it all.
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mia Ashlinn lives in East Tennessee in a charming house by a creek, only miles from the Smoky Mountain National Park. When not writing, Mia splits her time between reading and culinary pursuits.
Prolific from a young age, Mia has read an exorbitant number of books. Mia’s reading interests cover a wide range, from romance to mystery and once, even to a phone book, though she found it a little wordy for her tastes.
Mia fantasized about writing when she read her first romance novel at age ten. Unfortunately, life continually got in the way. Her daughter’s entry into school presented the perfect opportunity to follow her dreams. With the support of her husband, Mia began the adventure of writing which culminated in the acceptance of her first manuscript with Siren Publishing.
Mia believes that grownups deserve their own fairy-tale romances with the happily ever after of their dreams. Her recipe for a fairy tale includes handsome heroes willing to share the heart of a captivating heroine, all set in an unorthodox Kansas town. Mia sprinkles in a smidgeon of humor, a dash of romance, and a whole mess of naughtiness. What she serves up is a decadent treat she hopes her readers will devour.