by Vanessa Vale
“No one knows outside of the Duke family. Kemp. Now you.”
“Then it won’t affect my job. And if it did, I’d tell them to fuck off.”
“Will you think less of me? I mean, you’re a lawyer. You stand for justice. And you’re a cop.”
I pulled back and looked up at him. “I do stand for justice. And it sounds like you handed it out.”
“That’s it?” he asked, surprised. His pale eyes were wide as if he were stunned it was just that simple.
“I told you, fucker,” Kemp grumbled under his breath.
I felt Poe sigh, then he wrapped his arms around me.
“As for my mom’s job, if it’s because of us Roger laid her off, we’ll deal with it.”
“Yeah, but his brother wants your job,” Gus said, moving to stand at my side. I looked up at him and he placed his hand gently on my shoulder. Now wasn’t the time to tell him I wouldn’t be sheriff after November. The damage to my mom—if it was because of Mark—was already done.
“So Roger fired my mother as what… retribution?”
Poe kissed the top of my head, breathed me in.
“Pettiness. Roger hates the Dukes,” Gus said. “That’s well-known to anyone in town. So if you’re connected to us, then your mother’s just collateral damage.”
“See?” I replied. “It’s not you who’s bad for me. It’s Gus since he’s a Duke.”
Poe loosened his hold, looked down at me. Smiled.
Finally.
“Like Honey,” he reached out and gave her a pat. “I’m protective of what’s mine, Parker. More so than any of the other guys. Can you handle that?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Good girl,” he replied, and the praise felt good. “Have Gus or Kemp seen your bare pussy yet?”
My mouth fell open. That was quite a topic change.
“No.”
“Show us, pixie,” Gus said.
I looked around the room. A cross between an office and a library, a big desk in the center. I’d been to the house a bunch of times that one summer, but never in this room. No doubt it hadn’t changed much since when it belonged to Mr. Duke—Gus’s dad, specifically.
“Here?”
“Here,” Kemp repeated, crossing his arms over his chest. “Now.”
I swallowed, my heart racing. I loved the idea of doing something so illicit with a bunch of people just beyond a closed door. And I was the one getting naked—or at least halfway—in front of the men while they remained clothed.
Instantly, a calm settled over me. Quiet. They knew that exposing myself, showing them my pussy which Poe had thoroughly shaved, got me hot. My pussy belonged to them and they wanted to see it.
I was dripping with eagerness, for what would they do once I was bare? Slip their fingers in me? Fuck me? God, I wanted anything. Everything.
They stood before me, like three Titans, as I undid my jeans, worked them down over my hips, being sure to take my panties with them. Once settled about my thighs, my legs were pinned together and they couldn’t see all that much.
Gus didn’t seem to like that fact. “Turn around and bend over the desk.”
“Good girl,” Kemp added when I did so. “Ass out. Yes, like that. Now we can see your bare pussy.”
“We did this yesterday, and again today,” Gus said. “Maybe every day you should do this so you don’t forget what’s ours.”
“She’s not a good girl, she’s a naughty girl,” Poe added and I looked over my shoulder at him. “She’s dripping wet. What have you been thinking about?”
“You,” I replied.
“Just me?” he countered.
I shook my head. “All three of you.”
“Fuck,” Gus said, palming his dick while his eyes were laser focused on my pussy.
No, he couldn’t.
“On your knees, baby girl. You’ve some cum to swallow.”
Oh shit. It was so filthy, so… degrading, I loved it.
These weren’t just any dicks, these were my dicks. And all three of them were hard and needy.
I knew the feeling.
I popped up and dropped to the floor, not bothering to fix my jeans. My bare butt rested against the heels of my boots.
All three of them opened their pants, but Gus stepped up first.
His hand tangled in my hair as I took him deep as best I could.
“Such a good girl. Take care of your men now… fuck,” he growled as I sucked hard. “And we’ll reward you all night long.”
For now, dinner with the Duke family was forgotten. We were all hungry for something else. Me? I had three big dicks to swallow.
12
PARKER
* * *
Two days off and I spent them naked. With three men, it had been easy for them to assure it. I’d pretty much gone from bed to bed to bed. Or couch to bed to shower to kitchen table. I’d been bent over, laid back, propped up and fucked so many different ways. They were inventive, dominant and wildly virile.
Butt plugs and handcuffs, rope and even chocolate syrup had been brought in to play. They took me together, took me alone one at a time, and once just Poe and Kemp, with Gus having to pick up his parents at the airport. I’d submitted each and every time. To say they took control was an understatement, but I’d loved every minute of it.
I’d been out of my head, forgetting work, chores, everything. Heaven. Orgasmic heaven.
But time didn’t stop for a new relationship. The men had animals to tend to. Vaccinations to give. Dogs to neuter.
I had a town to keep safe. I should have been relaxed with forty-eight hours off shift, but no. I needed coffee. Lots of it. I ached in muscles I didn’t even know existed. I shouldn’t even be walking right. Yet I had a smile on my face and a spring in my step as I walked from the station to the coffee shop a block away. I’d volunteered to do a caffeine run. Honey trotted along beside me, probably knowing she’d get a treat. While she didn’t know where we were going, people knew she was my new sidekick and seemed to always have something for her. She was well-trained, but if it kept up, she’d be spoiled rotten and as fat as a barrel by Christmas.
The weather was holding for this time of year—there was just a hint of color to the leaves—and I had talked to Porter Duke to confirm the ADA job was mine after election day. I was excited about the prospect of getting back to litigating, but doing it in Raines instead of back east gave me a sense of… coming home.
I could be with Gus, Kemp and Poe, be close to my mom and have a dream job all at once.
“You!” someone shouted.
I turned to see the wife beater stomping toward me. He was cutting across Main Street and a car had to stop because of the jay walking. I hadn’t seen him since we’d gone to his house for the domestic call a few days earlier. Then, he’d had a smug look on his face because his wife wouldn’t press charges. She’d called 9-1-1 in the heat of the moment, but he’d somehow gotten her to change her mind.
But now, now he looked pissed. His dark hair looked greasy, his beard a few days past well-kempt, his jeans stained with what looked like grease and ketchup.
“You sent her away. Where the fuck is my wife?”
I stopped, set my hands on my utility belt. I’d been involved in altercations with belligerent people before, trained for them, but adrenaline still kicked in, my heart rate skyrocketing. At least I was right downtown and not out at his rundown house with no one around for at least a half mile.
“Sir, you need to calm down,” I told him.
“Calm down?” He came up onto the sidewalk, got close. Too close. “My wife left me all because you showed up, told her that she didn’t have to be slapped around. That bitch. I give her everything and then she leaves me.”
His eyes were bloodshot and he smelled like a bar floor at last call on a busy Friday night.
“Sir, you need to step back, then walk away.”
“Don’t tell me what to do, you dyke bitch. How they made you a sheriff, a fuckin
g woman, I have no idea. Tell me where my wife is or I’ll—”
“You don’t want to finish that sentence. I’ll ask you one last time. Step back, walk away and cool off.”
His eyes flared wide and he raised his arm as if to punch me. Before I could react, Honey attacked, her teeth clamping down on the man’s ankle. Deep growls came from her throat. I’d never seen her so aggressive, so vicious.
The man howled, kicked his leg as if to loosen Honey’s clamped teeth. “Shit!” he shouted, reached down and punched Honey in the head.
I took his moment of distraction and the way he was bent toward the dog to push him further even more. With a sweep of his ankle—the one Honey had bitten—I took him face first to the ground.
People were out on the sidewalk now. I had one knee in the middle of his back as he swore and thrashed. I had his hands cuffed behind his back in seconds. I pulled my radio from my hip, but when I looked up, I saw two deputies running down the sidewalk. We were only a block from the station and someone must have called it in.
As he continued to cuss and belittle all women, I had a clear head to notice Honey. She was on her side, whimpering. Tongue hanging out. I couldn’t move off of the fucker’s back, but passersby knelt down and petted her.
I moved to let the deputies lift the guy to his feet.
“Take care of Honey. We’ve got him,” one of them said as they gripped his upper arms and shoved him toward the station.
I dropped to my knees on the sidewalk right beside Honey. “Do you think she’s okay?” I asked. I hadn’t realized how much I cared for the dog until right then. She’d just been following me around, literally hanging out with me, until now. Now I realized she’d been watching out for me. I’d rescued her from the side of the road and she’d taken me on. And now, saved me in return.
A lump of tears lodged in my throat. I was more afraid something had happened to her than what that wife beater could have done to me.
The owners of the fishing and outdoor store we were in front of were checking her out. “We saw what he did,” one said, his tone angry, but his hands gentle as he stroked and soothed Honey. “The fucker. Let’s get her to the vet.”
Right then, a woman went over to the car that was parked at the curb and hastily opened the back door. “My car’s right here. Put her in the back seat,” a woman said, waiting for the men to carefully lift Honey and put her in. “We’ll get her to the vet.”
POE
* * *
I come out of exam room two with Mrs. Mitchell and her cat to discover the small lobby in chaos. Well, not quite chaos, but there were at least six people and only one pet, a tiny dachshund sitting on a woman’s lap. I was used to dogs barking, hissing from cats and even the constant squawking of a bird, but not so many people talking all at once. And at the center of it was Parker.
I said goodbye to Mrs. Mitchell and went over to her, got her attention by placing my hand on her shoulder.
She looked up at me and smiled. In her usual uniform shirt and jeans, her radio was turned low but it was noisy with communication. It had been only a few hours since she’d walked out of the house to go to work, not before she bent over the kitchen counter, pulled down her jeans and showed her men her pussy. Gus had been keeping that sweet treat shaved smooth.
She wasn’t here to play, to continue where we left off that first day back in the kitchen. Something was up.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Honey was protecting me from someone and the guy hit her.”
Jesus. “Is she all right?” I didn’t see her anywhere.
Parker pointed down the hallway. “She’s in one of the rooms with Gus and Kemp, but they said she seemed fine after a quick look. They’re taking x-rays to make sure.”
I sighed, relieved. Honey was a great dog.
“What do you mean she was protecting you?”
“The guy from the domestic dispute the other day approached me on Main Street.”
Holy fuck. That fucker went after her? I went instantly angry. My heartbeat was pounding in my ears and my fists clenched. If I had a little barometer, it would be close to exploding right now.
“Approached?” I asked.
“He was drunk and furious,” Tom, from the sports store said.
Even worse. A drunk wife beater going after my girl.
His partner, Lucas, nodded in agreement. “As if the sheriff here would know where his wife went.”
“Where’s the guy now?” If he was out there, I was tracking him down. I’d killed one man; another wouldn’t be a problem. Especially if he’d intended to hurt Parker.
“In custody. He’ll be charged with assaulting an officer of the law and cruelty to animals.”
“That’s it?” I asked, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.
Parker’s eyes widened slightly, as if noticing I was about to turn into the Incredible Hulk.
“For now. That will hold him. If we can find his wife and get her to press charges for the injuries from the other day, we can pin more on him.”
“For what he did today, he’ll only get a fine. A warning,” I assumed.
She shrugged. “Probably. Or serve thirty days if he has priors.”
Thirty days.
“He’ll come after you again.” I sighed, looked at the ceiling trying to calm myself. “That’s it, sweetheart. You’re quitting. I won’t have you put in danger like that.”
Her mouth fell open as she blushed hotly. “I did my job, Poe. I did it by the book.”
“She did. Got that guy to the ground and he’s huge. And drunk by the smell of him,” a woman who’d been quiet until now said. Besides her, there was Marge, the florist and two other women I didn’t know watching us. I had to guess they’d all seen what happened and had come with Parker to take care of Honey.
The woman’s words didn’t help at all. “Exactly. Big and drunk,” I said. “You’ll give notice to the city council and have Beirstad or Hogan cover until the election.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “And what will I do for a job?”
“I talked to Porter Duke at the DA’s office and you can work there. No weapons, no assholes coming after you. Safe.” After the barbecue at the ranch, I’d gotten in touch with Porter, told him about Parker. Her qualifications. He’d been interested, but hadn’t said much more as he’d had to go to court. It had eased my mind though, knowing my woman wouldn’t be in danger every day.
“You got me a job because you think my decision to be sheriff is a bad one?”
“A dangerous one,” I clarified. “Why put yourself at risk when you can be safe?”
She was all but vibrating with frustration. “Because it’s what I want to do, Poe! You don’t get to decide something like this.”
I put my hands on my hips, stared her down. I could see out of the corner of my eye everyone else was watching us like a tennis match. Back and forth their heads turned.
I didn’t give a shit about any of them. Only Parker. “Watch that sass, sweetheart, or you’ll be over my knee getting your ass spanked faster than you took that fucker down.”
Her mouth fell open and she stared at me. Wide-eyed. Blushing furiously.
The ladies laughed.
“I can’t believe you just said that.” As I watched, all fight left Parker. It was as if she… wilted before my eyes. For the first time since I met her, she looked weak. Were those tears in her eyes? She turned away, looked to Tom and Lucas. “Tell Gus to keep Honey.”
She turned and left, not looking back. The waiting room was silent and everyone was staring at me. Why did I feel like she wasn’t just walking out of the vet clinic, but out of my life?
13
GUS
* * *
“What the fuck did you do?” I asked Poe.
Mr. Monroe’s corgi was the last patient of the day and the door was locked behind him. It was finally quiet. Honey was staring up at me, her head cocked to the side.
The x-ra
ys hadn’t shown any issues, which was what we’d assumed, but it was possible if the guy hit her just right, she could’ve cracked a tooth. We’d have to watch for an abscess, but she seemed fine. A little lonely without Parker. But who wasn’t?
This was the first time we’d been able to corner Poe since earlier, the afternoon had been booked solid.
But now he spilled what he’d done—what he’d said—and I was ready to kill him.
Poe ran a hand over his dark hair, and winced when he finished. It was as if saying it aloud made him realize how much of a dumbass he was. “I fucked up.”
“Really?” Kemp asked. He was a pretty even-keeled guy. Not much got to him, but this? Kemp was pissed. “You blew it with Parker. Jesus, Poe. She isn’t your mom. She isn’t that woman who got beat up by her husband. The one who thankfully got smart and left him.”
He paced the lobby. “I know, but that guy went after her!”
“And she took him down,” I added. Yeah, I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of a drunk asshole coming after our woman either.
“Fine, you were overprotective,” Kemp offered. “She could understand that. Hell, she already forgave you for that, understood why when you told her about your dad. On top of that, no doubt Kaitlyn and Ava have shared how possessive their men are. I get that. She gets that. But you told her you’d spank her ass?”
“In front of Tom and Lucas?”
He swore under his breath. “And Mrs. Mitchell, Corrinne Borden and Marge.”
“From the florist shop?” I asked. This was worse than I thought. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “She’s the biggest busybody in the entire town! You used Parker’s kink against her. Turned her submission into something shameful in front of others.”
“I know, I know.” Poe groaned. “I didn’t mean it. I was just so angry that it just came out.”
“And what’s this about Porter? Didn’t we tell you at the barbecue to lay off?”