Triple Treat (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Berengaria Brown

  “My name is Ernest Billson, and I’ll be twelve in July. When a boy turns twelve, he’s sent away to work on the farm for a few years, but none of the boys has ever come back. The girls stay at school until they’re fourteen, then they’re married to one of the men. Women go to the farm when they are in their mid-thirties, as soon as they start looking old, except for Old Mary who supervises all the women, but the men stay in the village until they can no longer work hard all day. So the men need a second wife to look after them.”

  Xonra’s eyebrows raised all by themselves. Without moving her head or neck, she swiveled her eyes to Moss, but he was still watching Ernie, his face expressionless. Ohh-kay. Women are sent away from their husbands, who get given a child bride? This doesn’t sound right at all. Surely this boy is mistaken?

  His gaze fixed straight in front of him, Ernie kept talking. “My dad is Bill—we’re all named for our fathers—and he hasn’t been happy since Mom was sent to the farm, but he hasn’t taken a new wife either. I know Mr. Curlin offered him Trudy because Trudy told Tilly, my sister. Anyway Trudy was married to Jake the blacksmith and she was really happy because she got new clothes and to stay on her wedding night in the big hotel and had wine to drink and everything. But she’s not so happy now and Tilly is almost fourteen, and she thinks Mr. Curlin will marry her and she doesn’t like him. So I ran away to find Mom to beg her to take Tilly away to the farm.”

  Boys sent off to a farm to work at twelve? Girls married at fourteen? Underage bigamous marriages? That wasn’t just medieval, it was also illegal. But Ernie looked so serious. And Chloe obviously believed him. Could he be making this up? Was this some plot for a crazy movie? Or was he telling the truth?

  “One of my jobs is delivering bags of flour and yeast and baking things, so I know Chloe, and she gave me her cell phone number and I stole some of the tips and phoned her and she brought me here,” Ernie finished in a rush, his face flaming red when he confessed to taking the coins. But a stubbornly defiant look was on his face and Xonra guessed he might be embarrassed, but he certainly wasn’t repentant. He’d made a choice and was convinced he’d done the right thing.

  Ellie quietly walked over to the sideboard, poured a glass of ice water and handed it to Ernie. He gulped the drink and handed the glass back to Ellie.

  Xonra flashed a quick glance at Moss. His normally friendly, mobile face had gone harder than stone.

  “Tell them where you live and about the work teams,” prompted Chloe.

  That wasn’t all? There was more?

  “We live in the mine. The married people have their own rooms. The babies live with their moms and the little kids are in the nursery, but the older boys have a dormitory, and so do the older girls. Tilly and I talk to each other every day. She still sees Trudy a lot, too, even though Trudy’s married now and works in the nursery instead of being on a team.”

  Live in the mine? Is that what I saw with the men and the boy? That was strange, them being behind an iron gate and a locked wooden door.

  “You’ve mentioned teams a few times. What do you mean by teams, Ernie?”

  “Kids over six are divided into three teams. Each team does a different job each day. So there’s morning school, afternoon school, other jobs in the village like being a pawn on the chessboard or a kid in the Sound and Light Show, or a delivery boy like me.”

  “And then all the older boys go to work on the farm and all the girls get married?” asked Xonra, forcing her voice to sound neutral, not enraged, as she was fast becoming. She’d thought something weird was going on, but child slavery? Underage marriages? Bigamy? Forced separation of married partners? That was far beyond anything she’d imagined. These were crimes, major crimes, not minor peccadilloes.

  “Yes. Some of the boys who are bad in school are sent away earlier. And there’s more men needing wives than there are girls old enough to marry. Dad said Jake was thrilled to get Trudy because he thought he’d have to wait until Tilly was old enough to marry. Dad also said they’d thought some of the other women like Chloe would marry the men, but that plan hadn’t worked out yet.”

  Xonra phrased her next question very carefully, not wanting to sound judgmental. “Your dad is happy for Tilly to be married at fourteen?”

  “Girls always married young in the old days. Mr. Curlin said waiting until your twenties to get married is the main cause of immorality and promiscuity. It’s a great honor for Tilly to be married to Mr. Curlin. But she doesn’t like him and Anne does cry an awful lot, and he still has his first wife to look after him as well,” answered Ernie.

  “Anne?” asked Moss.

  “Anne Timothydaughter. She’s a couple of years older than Trudy and was married to Mr. Curlin on her fourteenth birthday. She had her second baby three months ago and cries every time someone tells her to leave the nursery and go back to her room with Mr. Curlin. Of course, he’s not there much. Mostly, he’s with his first wife. That’s why Trudy and Tilly are sure he’s going to make Tilly his next wife. He does look at her real strange.”

  Moss cleared his throat and Xonra quickly asked Chloe some practical questions. Ernie explained more about their living quarters in a different section of the mine, and Xonra remembered again the boy being taken behind a wooden door. A locked door and a locked gate. That was unusually high security inside an old mine underneath an already impenetrably fenced historical compound.

  “This is way beyond anything we can deal with. Way beyond my wildest imaginings. We need to talk to the police, Child Protection, likely a whole bunch of other agencies as well. What will happen when they discover you’re missing, Ernie?”

  “At first, everyone will think someone else has given me a job to do. But tomorrow morning Timothy, Anne’s father—he’s our teacher—will ask where I am. I didn’t say anything to anyone so no one can tell on me.”

  “This needs to be handled very carefully, or Jeremiah J. Curlin will sue our pants off.” Xonra sighed and picked up Moss’s phone. “Hi Jo, I need to speak to the CEO immediately. No, it absolutely can’t wait. Thanks, I’m on my way up.”

  Xonra smiled at Chloe and Ernie then turned to Ellie, who was standing by the wall, looking pale and shocked. Poor woman. Likely she never expected anything like this when she arrived for work today. Fucking hell, I didn’t either, and I’m ten years older than her. “Ellie, how about you take Chloe and Ernie to the lunch room and get them something to eat and drink? I’ll meet you down there as soon as I can. Moss, maybe you’d better come with me. This might get messy.”

  “Messy indeed,” murmured Moss very quietly.

  Chapter Five

  Xonra was supposed to be meeting Glenn and Morgan for dinner at Sally’s Place, a restaurant she particularly liked, but she was too on-edge about everything going on to face people, so she rang Glenn to cancel.

  “I’m sorry, Glenn, but there’s just too much happening at work. I’m not good company right now.”

  “Would you rather do something else? We’re happy to go with the flow,” suggested Glenn.

  “It’s nothing about you or Morgan. It’s just my job. Way too complicated to talk about, but it’s consuming all my emotional resources right now.”

  “Would you like to talk about it? We’re pretty good listeners.”

  “It’s confidential, and not my story to tell.” But she was torn. It would be good to unload some of the worry. Besides, she did trust them. They were both quick thinkers, intelligent men, and instinctively she knew they wouldn’t spread her story around.

  Glenn must have sensed her wavering, because he said, “We’ll come over to your place at seven with food. If you don’t want to let us in, that’s your choice, but you don’t have to decide right now. Pizza or Chinese?”

  “Huh?”

  “Do you want us to bring pizza or Chinese food with us?”

  “How about sushi?”

  “Oh, yum, why didn’t I think of that myself? See you at seven.”

  Xonra sat at her desk, her
mind in turmoil, roiling back and forth over the issues, the child, the situation, Jeremiah J. Curlin…Well, shit! If I had a live-in lover I bet I would tell him, and these men are my partners, so there!

  My partners? Yes, they are. It’s not just sex, it’s a relationship. Well, the beginnings of one, anyway.

  * * * *

  Xonra got involved in a project at work, and it was after six when she looked up from her computer and noticed the time. Hastily, she logged off, raced home, had a quick shower and changed into jeans, hardly having time to draw breath before the doorbell rang and Morgan and Glenn had arrived.

  The sushi smelled wonderful, and they’d also brought sodas, salads and a chocolate-chip cupcake just for her. “To make you feel better,” said Morgan, kissing her nose.

  Xonra was touched. They really were genuinely nice, caring guys, likely nicer than she deserved.

  She set plates and glasses on her dining table, and as they sat eating and talking, Xonra sensed the men deliberately keeping the conversation light and positive. Once again, she was struck by how sweet and thoughtful they were. Not once had they asked her about work or her troubles, simply offering her their presence as a gift, laughing and joking, making her feel loved.

  After they’d eaten, they all moved to the sofa and the two men sat together, pulling her across both their laps. “So, do you want to talk about it, do you want us to go home, or can we fuck your brains out?” asked Glenn.

  “Or maybe all three, though not in that order,” added Morgan.

  “It’s about Berisford Village and Jeremiah J. Curlin, but if he gets wind of it, he’s sure to bankrupt me and the company and likely everyone else he thinks is connected to it as well.”

  “Actually, I’d believe that. I’ve heard he’s a mighty tough son of a bitch and not beyond playing unfair,” said Morgan.

  “Really? All I knew about him until today was that he was mean about paying his employees.” Xonra stopped to think. “There was one remark he made about women over forty being useless. What was it he said?” She thought hard. “‘They’re not fertile.’ Which I ignored at the time, but now it’s kind of interesting. Especially if he planned to marry the Chloes off to the Jakes. Hmm. Here, let me start at the beginning.”

  Xonra told them about Chloe and Ernie. As she spoke, she watched Morgan’s face get red with anger and his hands ball into fists. Glenn was breathing heavily and his nose was pinched in anger.

  “Slavery, polygamy, child brides. It sounds like a fucking cult, or something in a third-world country on the late news. When’s the meeting with him and the CEO you were told about before this drama broke?” asked Morgan.

  “Friday. Not really long enough for the police or whoever to do much.”

  “No, but it’ll be mighty interesting to see why Curlin called the meeting. It’s obviously something very important to him.”

  She could sense how hard the men were working to control their disgust at Curlin as they talked for a while, until the discussion started to go round and round in circles.

  “Enough. Bedtime. Let us cuddle you, love you, soothe you and make you feel relaxed and good,” said Glenn.

  “Sounds excellent,” she murmured, leaning over to kiss first him, then Morgan.

  Within the next ten seconds, any plans for slow and gentle were replaced by the need for sex urgently. Fast, hard, and hot.

  The two cocks underneath her butt and thighs had grown into long, hard ridges and deliberately she dragged her ass cheeks across them as she kissed the men again, then again, this time scraping her breasts across their chests.

  “Hold her arms,” gasped Morgan as he slid out from underneath her to kick off his shoes and shuck his jeans, stopping only long enough to grab a condom from the pocket. The condom he placed on the arm of the sofa, while his T-shirt and underwear went sailing through the air.

  Naked, he kneeled and took off her shoes and socks, then reached around her belly to unzip her jeans and slide them down her legs.

  All this time, Glenn was nuzzling her face and neck, pressing light kisses across her eyelids, her brows, and her cheekbones.

  Xonra had been gripping Glenn’s shoulders for balance. Now she let go long enough to unbutton her shirt, guessing that it would be ripped otherwise. She shrugged it off her shoulders, let the sleeves fall off her hands, and then slid her hands under Glenn’s T-shirt and across his hard, warm, muscular chest. “Hmmm,” she murmured, loving the feel of him, loving Morgan’s hand on her back as he unsnapped her bra.

  Xonra gently tweaked Glenn’s nipples before letting her fingers trail down to his jeans, unbuttoning them so she could sink even lower and grasp his cock. Damn, it felt good. Already, a tiny drop of moisture was in the eye and she smoothed it over his cockhead as she held him.

  Morgan sat back on the sofa, his legs wide apart, latex sheathing his cock, and nodded to Glenn. Glenn lifted Xonra, Morgan pulled her panties off, and Glenn lowered her over Morgan so Morgan could guide his cock deep into her pussy as she sank down on him.

  “Mmm,” she murmured as his cock pushed against the walls of her channel, filling her, stretching her, feeling so very good.

  “Mmm, indeed,” agreed Morgan, thrusting high and hard inside her, his hands gripping her hips as he raised and lowered her, using his arms and his legs.

  Glenn stood behind her, his hands on her breasts, playing with her nipples, teasing the globes, his head resting on hers and his hard-muscled body pressing against her back.

  “Around you two, I never seem to be able to go slow,” groaned Morgan ruefully, thrusting up harder and higher, his muscles working, sweat sheening his body.

  He looked like some kind of blond god, his pale-blue gaze focused on her face, his big arms moving her hips, his chest rising and falling with his every breath.

  Xonra teased his nipples, tugged lightly on his chest hair, all the time grasping his shoulders with one hand, rising and falling with him.

  From the look on his face, he was very close to coming, likely holding off, waiting for her to peak first. So very considerate, always putting her pleasure ahead of his. This time, she would pleasure him. With a wicked twist of her hips, she dragged his cock along her walls, squeezing her internal muscles as hard as she could.

  Morgan yelled her name, his cock exploding inside her, his cum so hot she felt it heat her despite the condom. He thrust once, twice more, then leaned down and pinched her clit, his tongue sliding into her mouth at the same time. Glenn tweaked her nipples, too, and she came, milking Morgan’s cock, her body shaking between the two big male bodies pressing against her.

  Her cunt was still rippling with aftershocks when she was lifted and turned as Morgan and Glenn moved smoothly beneath her and Morgan’s cock was replaced with Glenn’s. He was hard and engorged, stretching her even wider than Morgan had as he powered into her sensitive cunt, one arm wrapped right around her body, the other hand pressed against her clit, a finger flicking it in time to every stroke of his cock.

  Morgan turned her head to him and continued to fuck her mouth in time with Glenn’s strokes, the multiple stimulation causing another orgasm to rise inside her very quickly.

  Glenn’s hard, muscular thighs were lifting both of them up and down at a fast and furious pace, Morgan’s tongue keeping the beat in her mouth. Xonra felt her body tensing, rising, ready to explode again.

  Glenn’s body was so much broader than Morgan’s and he was even harder and more muscled, the liquid chocolate of his eyes melting her body as she watched him power into her with her peripheral vision.

  “Now!” demanded Glenn, pinching her clit.

  Morgan swallowed her cry as her body exploded with the force of a second orgasm following so quickly after the first. Xonra sagged in Glenn’s arms as he pumped inside her, filling his condom with hot seed. Her pussy continued to clench him and milk him, but she was way beyond doing anything to help, simply hanging on for the ride. She felt like a limp noodle after two such fast, furious climaxes.
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br />   She leaned against Glenn’s chest, gasping for air, aware that he was coated in sweat, too, including at the sexy edges of his hair where it was white instead of dark.

  Moments later, Morgan lifted her off Glenn’s lap. “Time for a shower, sweetie. The water’s nice and hot.”

  “I don’t think I can stand. I may never be able to stand again.”

  “Not a problem. I’ve got you.”

  Morgan propped her against the tiled wall while he washed her front. By then Glenn had joined them and held her, while together they washed the rest of her, even shampooing her hair with her favorite peach-scented foam.

  “Remind me to bring our own shampoo next time we come,” joked Glenn.

  “Hell yeah. The guys at work will never let us live this down!”

  They wrapped her in a fluffy towel and pulled her back into their joined arms.

  “I have no idea what will happen at your work about Curlin. But know this. We will support you in everything you decide to do,” said Glenn firmly.

  “Absolutely,” agreed Morgan.

  * * * *

  The days until Friday seemed alternately to speed by and to drag. Xonra spent several hours staring at her brochures of Berisford Village and the Berisford Grande Hotel, and noting the things that had struck her as odd. But really, they were minor and innocuous, and no court of law would consider her anything more than a troublemaker for mentioning them.

  She consoled herself by wearing her most professional suit, and sifting through her large collection of nail polish bottles before deciding on deep blue to match her suit, covered with silver glitter to give her courage.

  Xonra, Moss, and the other two vice presidents summoned to the meeting were in the conference room five minutes early, standing in a corner quietly wondering what the meeting would be about. It seemed no one had any more of an idea about what the “big announcement” would be than Xonra did.

  They heard Mr. Curlin’s voice as he and the CEO approached the conference room. The CEO was mouthing platitudes as Mr. Curlin spoke over the top of him, “You’ll want to join with me on this project, Paul. If we can’t push the price up to close to a billion dollars, your people won’t have done their job properly.”