The Sweetest Dish [Sweet Serenity 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Mia Ashlinn

Confused, Ella asked, “Why not? She did that to the two of us, and she would do it to anyone else she could.”

  Katie-Anne nodded. “Yes, she did. But first of all, we aren’t trash like her. And secondly, she’d take Lainey down with her. We can’t allow that.”

  “Lainey’s our friend,” Shannon added, her inner mama bear peeking out. “We have to protect her—as much as we can.”

  “If we can’t tell anyone, what does it matter that we even know?” Addy inquired reasonably, earning irritated scowls from everyone at the table. “What? It’s important.”

  Unfortunately, Ella had to agree with Addy. With a frown, she told her friends and family so. “She’s right. What’s the point for us to have this kind of dirt and not be able to do a damn thing about it?” Realizing they might get the wrong idea, she added, “I’m not saying we should go to the press. As much as I want to see The Bitch suffer, I don’t want to hurt a hair on Lainey’s head. She’s suffered enough at the hands of her sister.”

  “No shit,” Shannon said as she put her head in her hands, the strands of her flaming orange-red hair curtaining her face and hiding her expression from view. Sighing, she shook her head. “This sucks ass.”

  Ever the diabolical plotter, Katie-Anne suddenly lit up, a smile spreading and splitting her face. “I know,” she proclaimed excitedly. “We can’t go to the press, but there is nothing stopping us from accidentally mentioning the affair to someone who knows the senator-elect or his wife. Then we haven’t really done anything. We just let something slip that might wind up in the wrong hands. That person can make the decision of what to do with the information they found out.”

  Reagan narrowed her beautiful brown eyes. “Wait a damn minute. Wouldn’t we be risking that person going to the press?”

  Shaking her head, Katie-Anne disagreed, “No, we would have to think about who we wanted to involve.”

  “But that could still backfire,” Addy commented. “Trust me. When it comes to something as big as this, it wouldn’t be the first time that someone got caught in the crossfire.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to protect Lainey,” Shannon said. “She can…”

  “Come live with me,” Reagan offered as she raised her glass and saluted them. “Hadley won’t mind, and Molly-Grace will love having her BFF living with us.”

  Somehow Ella doubted Hadley would be okay with that. She would probably have a kitten, but Reagan would be the one to deal with her wrath. Not her. Ergo, she didn’t have to worry about it. “Why would Lainey agree to live with you guys?”

  Reagan shrugged. “She and Molly-Grace are practically joined at the hip.”

  “And so?” Ella wanted to know.

  “Trust me, she’ll move in if we ask her,” Reagan declared. “She hates her sister. If she’s back in town, Lainey will be scrambling to get the hell out of their parents’ house.”

  Okay, that was true. Lainey was petrified of the sister who’d tormented her for years. She wouldn’t want to deal with her any more than they did. Hell, the poor girl would probably love to join in their Sweet Revenge. If it weren’t for her nurturing personality. If it weren’t for her sister and parents’ ability to manipulate and guilt her.

  “Fine,” Katie-Anne said. “You do that—just in case. Honestly, I don’t think that will be an issue. I have a few ideas of who we could talk to.”

  Considering Katie-Anne’s family heritage, she probably had more than one person’s ear she could whisper into. She just had to choose wisely. If not, Addy would know someone. That part would be the easiest portion of their plan.

  “What about the plastic surgery?” Jaycee asked, reminding them of the other thing they had against their enemy.

  Next to her, Addy’s face darkened, a sinister grin marring her famously gorgeous features. “Leave that to me, girls. I’ll have a little talk with Tari. She’ll be more than happy to help.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Katie-Anne declared. “We can always get together and tweak our scheme.”

  “After Thanksgiving,” Shannon reminded them with a frown. “Until Black Friday, we need to just shelve this whole damn thing. I have too much to do to be worried about this.”

  Me too. I have a lot to deal with. Nodding, Ella agreed, “Yeah, I think we all do. Why don’t we plan to talk while we’re shopping on Friday?”

  Addy perked up. “Shopping? You guys are planning on going shopping?”

  Rolling her eyes, Ella said, “Of course, we are. I thought I told you.”

  “No, you didn’t,” Addy replied.

  “Maybe we didn’t want you to come along,” Reagan suggested. “God knows I don’t want you there.”

  Addy sniffed. “Like I want to spend the day with Her Royal Pain-in-my-ass.”

  Scowling, Reagan flipped her off.

  Thankfully, Melissa arrived with their food before things could spiral between Reagan and Addy. She sat down their various plates of food, and they dug in the delicious dishes. They spent the next hour chattering about the thing that they always did—their men. By the time they were done, all was right in their little worlds. They had each other, and that was what mattered.

  Chapter 12

  Shutting off her Volkswagen New Beetle, Ella gently beat her head against the rigid steering wheel. She groaned, the dread of this moment creeping up her spine. Yanking the keys out of the ignition and tossing them in the leather seat beside her, she cursed when she heard the clatter of her keys falling to the floor.

  Rather than searching for the missing metal in the dark, she paused midswing then carefully laid her head on the chilly wheel, letting who knew how many minutes pass. Finally, after what seemed like a millisecond but was probably several minutes in reality, she dredged up enough courage to pick her pounding head up and drag her anxiety-ridden body out of the convertible.

  Moving on autopilot, she ducked into the interior of her bright-yellow car and grabbed her bulky handbag before backing out. She shut the door without much thought then crossed her yard and mounted the stairs.

  Trudging up the steps, she slowly made her way to the front door. As she walked heavily across the porch, she reached into her purse for her giant key chain then growled when she realized she’d forgotten to retrieve them from the front floorboard of her car. Ready to beat on the door in lieu of returning to her car, she paused when her younger brother, Tate, materialized in the doorway. “I was starting to worry that you were never coming in,” he retorted with a smirk. “I figured I might have to send out the search party.”

  Shaking her head, she took the high road and didn’t respond. She breezed past him in silence, but he wasn’t having that. He locked his hand around her elbow, bringing her to a halt before whirling her around to face him.

  Ella frowned in annoyance. How dare he? Snorting, she recalled who this was. Her brother wasn’t the type to take a backseat. “Ella-belle, are you okay?” he asked, his face creasing in concern. “Do I need to get Micah and Caedon? They’re upstairs showering.”

  Not surprised that they were showering after their trip to Luscious, Ella tried to quickly change the subject. She needed to talk to her husbands about this before her brother. “Did you guys have fun with Dean?” she asked pointedly.

  Tate frowned. “We are not discussing your husbands’ visit with the hot historical society guy.”

  Crinkling her nose, she continued to dodge Tate’s inevitable badgering line of questions. “Aw, why not? I’m curious if he was able to help Micah with the research for his book.”

  Tate crossed his arms over his chest, his frown transforming into a glower. “I don’t want to talk about whether or not Dean was of assistance to Micah. I want to talk about what is wrong with you and what’s going on. The men have been climbing the damn walls, waiting for you. And so have I. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

  “My phone?” she asked, hoping she sounded innocent. It wouldn’t do for the three men in her life to know she’d shut the damn thing off and shoved it in the seat
of her car so she could claim she didn’t know where she’d put it. “I think I lost it—again.”

  Tate eyed her, his gaze narrowing as he obviously searched for any sign of dishonesty. When he spoke, she knew she’d failed. “Liar.”

  Shaking off his hand, she stormed into her house. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with this bullshit. And since this was her house, not his, she didn’t have to. Heading for the fridge, she dropped her purse on the kitchen table and kicked off her shoes. She flung open the door before searching and finding the milk. Gripping the handle, she pulled the plastic jug out.

  “You can’t hide forever,” Tate said.

  Spinning on her heel, she nearly dropped the milk in the process. But Tate quickly rushed forward and caught the plummeting plastic container. Frowning, he handed the milk back to her. When she reached for the handle, he jerked the jug back like a petulant child. “What’s going on?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” Micah thundered from the doorway.

  Motherfucking assmonkey. Two to one. Peering around the fridge door, Ella realized that she’d been wrong. Three to one. An irate Caedon towered above Micah, showing the drastic three-inch difference in their heights. “Where the hell were you?” he demanded. “We’ve been calling you since we got home—two hours ago.”

  Worrywarts. “I left you a note,” she said, pointing at the paper she’d stuck on the fridge with her Good Girls Are Bad Girls That Never Get Caught magnet. With a grunt, she stuffed the unopened milk jug back into the fridge. “What else do you need? A road map?”

  Before she had time to close the refrigerator, Micah marched across the room, advancing to where she stood in several strides. He hauled her from behind the door and wrenched her into his arms. Snagging her hair in a firm fist, he yanked her head back. “We were worried,” her ground out as his lips descended then claimed hers in a stormy kiss. The intensity of his mouth moving over hers had her breath catching in her throat. Her knees wobbled, but he latched onto her waist, holding her up.

  Not a second passed before Caedon strode toward her, too. He came around behind her, stepping so close the rise and fall of his chest butted against her back. He captured her body between his and Micah’s. Their heat warmed her from head to toe, sending her own temperature skyrocketing.

  She groaned as Micah deepened the kiss, his tongue thrusting inside her mouth, fucking her in the same way he fucked her pussy. The recklessness of his kiss, the desperation of his mouth, the aggression of his tongue drove her mad, and she moaned.

  Ella brought her hands up to cup his strong face, but Caedon stopped her. He seized her hands, pulling them both behind her back in an unyielding clutch. The strength of his brawny fingers clamping around her wrists was hot—sexy beyond words. He restrained her, keeping her exactly as he wanted. God, she loved it.

  Ella shamelessly writhed between them, silently beseeching them for more. But they never gave it. They didn’t have a chance because Tate cleared his throat and broke the sensual trance she’d been hypnotized by. Holy monkey’s butt.

  Mortified, she tore herself away from her husbands, pushing at their questing hands. She faced her younger brother but forced herself not to react to his antics.

  At some point, her lanky brother had turned away, giving them his back. He’d started softly humming some inane tune while poking his fingers into his ears like a bratty kid who needed a swift kick in the ass. “Are you done yet?” he asked.

  Unable to control her own childish need to torment Tate, she took two steps forward and kicked her brother square in the ass. He jumped with a squeal then whirled around. “Ella Dawson,” he scolded. “Mom would ground you for a week.”

  “Go on and tell her,” Ella suggested. “I have nothing to hide.” Ooh, wrong thing to say. Cringing, she cleared her throat and amended her statement. “I have nothing to hide from Mom.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Tate replied. Still humming, he strolled for the door, taking way too much time. If he didn’t get to the door soon, she was going to really kick him in the ass. This time, she might shove her whole damn shoe up there. Finally he reached the exit. Pausing, he winked at her over his shoulder. “The way I see it, one of two things is going to happen here. Either you’re going to talk about something my tender ears shouldn’t hear or you’re going to do something my virgin eyes should never see.” He scrunched his face. “You’re my sister. Yuck.”

  Ella rolled her eyes. “You’re a pain in my ass.”

  “But you love me,” he said as he disappeared out the doorway.

  “Unfortunately I do,” she muttered. Sighing, she followed her brother. Not because she was worried he wouldn’t find his way to the door. Goodness knew he’d been to their house many times since they’d moved in. No, she trailed behind him so she could avoid her husbands.

  But of course, that didn’t help nor did it last long. She hadn’t even crossed the threshold from the kitchen to the den before they were on her. She ran, but they followed. Darting up the stairs to their bedroom, she took two steps at a time. Panting by the time she reached the top, she called out, “If you want me, you’re going to have to come and get me.”

  She knew they were worried about her, just like she knew they wanted to find out what was going on. From the way they’d acted, she had a sinking feeling that someone had already talked to them. Probably one of the other damn men around here. They stick together like glue. Remembering a conversation she’d had with Jaycee, Katie-Anne, and Shannon about the girls doing the same thing, she giggled. But she didn’t allow her amusement to slow her down.

  Instead, she flew into their bedroom and slammed the door, knowing full well that the men would be right behind her and that they would be pissed off. Stripping down to her birthday suit, she scrambled onto the bed then flipped onto her back. She stared at the ceiling, waiting for them to arrive.

  It didn’t take long before the door flew open, crashing into the wall with a bang. The men burst in with identical curses. But she didn’t look at them. She left her gaze resting on the ceiling. “They know.”

  The two words she uttered were quite possibly the hardest she’d ever had to push past her lips. Despite the fact that she was proud of their relationship and in spite of their inevitable plan to share their love with the world, she hadn’t wanted the announcement to be done this way. She’d wanted it to be beautiful. She’d wanted to make a statement about how love came in many packages and how you can’t help who you fall in love with. She’d wanted to show the world, to make a difference somehow. But The Bitch had fucked that the hell up.

  “We know everything.”

  Micah’s soft statement had her shooting up from her spot on the bed. “What?”

  “We know all about it,” Caedon repeated with a half smile. “The phone calls started about an hour ago.”

  “What?” she asked again. She realized that she quite possibly sounded like an idiot. But she couldn’t seem to stop the words from coming out of her mouth.

  “About an hour ago, Caedon’s phones went crazy with one reporter after another asking for a comment about our relationship,” Micah explained. He strolled over to the bedside table, unlatching his watch as he went, and dropped the time-keeping tool on top of the wooden stand. “But we pretty much expected it because while we were still in Luscious, Gray called me. He said something was up with all of you girls. He didn’t know what, but they were looking into it. When he mentioned Leila, I knew.”

  Ella nodded. “That makes sense.”

  Slowly removing his clothing piece by piece, Micah said, “Our tape was the only thing she could use against you. It was rather uninspired if you ask me.”

  Seriously? “You would have preferred that she do something worse?” she inquired incredulously. “If so, I’m sure you can give The Bitch a call. She’d be more than happy to ruin your life further.”

  “Further?” Caedon latched onto the last word she’d spoken, the one word she hadn’t meant. He frowned. “You
think that this is going to ruin our lives?”

  “No. Yes.” She sighed. “I don’t know. I’m worried about the damage to your careers.”

  Micah stopped undressing, his hands halting on his hips as he prepared to push the material over them. “You think we give a damn about our careers?”

  “No,” she snapped. “God, no. I just worry about your being unhappy when people shun you.”

  Caedon lifted one strong shoulder in a shrug. “They didn’t shun us before.”

  “Really?” she asked. “Don’t you remember the hate letters we got? What about the people who tried to strut into town to exorcise the lusty demons besmirching our souls? If it weren’t for a few of our friends, they would have probably gotten to us. That would have been a fun experience. I can almost see the torture now.”

  “Ella—”

  She cut off Micah. “No, I don’t care what people think about me. I care what they think about you. I don’t want to read the trash the press will print about the men I love. There is nothing wrong with what you two feel for each other. There’s nothing wrong with what you two feel for me and vice versa.” Sliding to the edge of the bed, she dangled her legs off the side. “I just don’t like the thought of people tearing you down because of it.”

  Caedon came to the bed. Picking her up easily, he sat down and pulled her onto his lap. He wrapped his long arms around her waist. “We don’t care what they think. We don’t care what anyone thinks. All that matters is what we all feel in here.” He tapped her heart with his index finger. “We love each other. We’re committed to each other. That’s a lot more than many people can say.”

  Squatting down in front of her, Micah captured her hands in his. “Fuck the world.”

  Ella chortled. That was her husband all right. He didn’t care about what people thought. He was who he was. If they didn’t like it, he would give them the finger.

  “Yeah,” Caedon said. “Fuck the world and all the small-minded people. We don’t need their approval.”

  “That’s easier said than done,” she muttered under her breath. Or she thought she had. Obviously not.