A Desconian Marriage of Convenience (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (7 page)

Jax watched him for a moment before stepping closer to drag him into a hug at the same time that he pressed a kiss to Jenelle’s forehead. “Okay,” he said quietly as he held them both close. “Tosh and I have become aware of a situation that could affect Jenelle, but we think we might have a solution.”

“Oh,” Jenelle said, trying to hide the fear Jax’s words evoked. He’d seen the same brave reaction from her a week ago, but again she couldn’t quite suppress the shiver running down her spine.

Jax hustled them all into the living area, and sat Baylen and Jenelle on one of the sofas. He and Tosh sat on the snacks table in front of them. Whatever they were going to tell them, they obviously wanted to be close enough to read their reactions.

“Jen,” Tosh said, looking very worried, “we’ve come across some information that will likely affect your immigration status on this planet. If you don’t get married in the next few weeks, there is a really good chance that you’ll be deported.”

“Where would I go?” she asked quietly, apparently accepting that as a human woman unable to have children she wouldn’t be wanted by anyone.

“Nowhere,” Jax said in a deep, low voice. “You’re going to stay here and marry us.”

“Marry?” Jenelle and Baylen both exclaimed at the same time.

* * * *

Jax was honestly surprised by Baylen’s reaction. They hadn’t had time to discuss it with him, but Jenelle had been the only person he’d talked about all week. It had probably been unfair of them to just assume that he would want to share his life with a woman. It was obvious that he cared about Jenelle, but that was probably a long way from inviting her into their lives permanently.

“Damn it,” Baylen said angrily, “how could you just blurt it out like that?”

“I’m sorry,” Jax said, reaching for his husband. Baylen glared at him, refusing to move when Jax tried to lift him onto his lap. Jax could have easily overpowered his passive resistance, but he didn’t think it would help things any. He’d handled this badly. Very badly.

Jax turned to Tosh, hoping for some guidance on how to fix this, but Tosh was watching Jenelle with a strange expression on his face.

“What is it, Jen?” he asked in a quiet voice as he reached for her hand.

“I can’t marry you. You know why I can’t marry you.” She turned to Baylen. “I can’t believe you ganged up on me like this. I explained last week why I can’t marry you guys.”

“What?” Jax shook his head in the hopes of clearing it. None of this was going the way he’d thought it would, but Jenelle’s verbal attack on Baylen was confusing. “We’re not ganging up on you, Jenelle. Baylen didn’t know any more than you did when we walked in the door.”

She gave Jax a disbelieving look and turned to face Baylen.

Baylen blushed.

* * * *

Tosh knew he should have expected Jax to say something, but the man was usually so quiet, only speaking when absolutely necessary, that he was continually blindsided by his husband’s talkative demeanor when they spent time with the woman in front of him.

“Actually,” Baylen said with a nervous laugh, “I asked her to marry us last week.”

“You what?” Jax practically bellowed. “Without speaking to me or Tosh first?”

It was an unfair accusation, especially considering they’d just done the exact same thing to Baylen. Tosh couldn’t help but smile as Baylen crossed his arms and glared at their husband until the man realized the ridiculousness of his outburst. Jax at least had the sense to mumble an apology. Fortunately, this time when he reached for Baylen, the man went willingly.

“I think the important thing here is that we’re all thinking along the same lines.”

“I’m not,” Jenelle said angrily. “In fact”—she stood up and moved to the other side of the room, her spine rigid, her anger very clear—“none of you seem to be listening to a word I say. I cannot…” She shook her head. “Make that I
will
not marry any of you.”

“Technically it would be all of us,” Baylen added in a helpful tone.

“Fine, I’m not marrying all of you, ever. I can’t believe you would think it was a viable solution.” She turned angry eyes on Tosh. “Did you even tell Jax about my medical issues?”

“I know you’re worried you can’t have children,” Jax said in Tosh’s defense. Unfortunately Jenelle caught the implied meaning behind those words.

“No, Jax. I’m not worried. I know I can’t have children.” She tapped the side of her head “I know it in here.” She placed a hand over her heart. “And I know it in here.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s not an issue,” Tosh said, trying to salvage a disastrous situation. “We never planned to start a family. If the law hadn’t been changed, it would never have been possible anyway. The three of us made a commitment to each other long before then.”

“Tosh,” she said, rubbing her head tiredly, “the law did change, and you do have the opportunity now. If you’re going to claim a mubella, she should at least be someone you love.”

Jax went to say something, but fortunately Baylen did something to shut him up. Declarations of love would have been premature. It was true that they’d all grown very fond of her in the past weeks, but Jax and Baylen didn’t know her well enough to say it with all honesty. Even in the early days when mubella claiming ceremonies for humans were performed the same day the triad met, they’d been based on a mutual commitment to make things work, not love.

Perhaps that was the better approach in this case.

“Jen, we’ve fucked this up, and I’m sorry for that, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re worried for you.”

“I know,” she said as tears filmed her eyes. She blinked several times before continuing. “And I feel very blessed to have friends like you three.” She gave them a watery smile. “But I can’t ask you to do this for me. One day you’ll find a woman you can really love, one who can provide you with beautiful, healthy babies. I won’t do that to you.”

“So don’t,” Tosh said, desperately seeking the right words in his head. “Marry us now, save yourself from being deported, and if in a few years we meet someone we want to claim as our mubella, we’ll get a divorce. Simple.”

“So you’re proposing a temporary marriage of convenience?” She glanced at Baylen and Jax, who, thankfully, nodded in agreement.

Convenience
? In his head it sounded awful. He couldn’t imagine setting aside such a lovely woman just for someone who could provide them with children, but if it convinced her to stay, the small little lie would be worth it.

“And you’ll divorce me when you find a woman you love who can provide you with babies?”

“Of course,” Baylen said quickly. He leaped off Jax’s lap and grabbed her elbow. “Perfect, now that we have that settled how about you help me get dinner organized?”

“Just one more thing,” she said, eyeing the three of them suspiciously. “We can’t exactly fake a mubella claiming ceremony.”

“Of course we can,” Baylen said with a dismissive wave of his hand. But Jenelle wasn’t fooled. She turned back to Tosh and Jax.

“Surely you like us enough to endure our attentions during the claiming,” Jax said in a tone of voice that Tosh had only heard from the man once before. It had been the day Jax and Jenelle had first met and she’d worried for Tosh’s safety.

She shook her head and opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Tosh leaned over and pressed a hand onto his lover’s knee, hoping to soothe some of the raw emotions Jax seemed to be feeling. Tosh had never seen Jax react quite so defensively to anyone else they’d known. Whatever was going on in Jax’s head, it seemed that Jenelle had the power to hurt him deeply.

“I’m sorry,” Jenelle finally said as she took a step closer to Jax. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” She gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m very grateful for your offer. I just don’t want to upset your marriage. It’s obvious that the three of you love each other very much.”

“It’s okay, Jenelle,” Tosh said, still caressing Jax’s knee. “The claiming ceremony won’t change what Jax, Baylen, and I feel for each other.”

She nodded but still looked worried. “How long do we have before we have to make a decision?”

“A few weeks at the most. At least let us arrange the mubella claiming ceremony so that all of the legal issues are dealt with. If the laws don’t change, we can always cancel the arrangements.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with this, Jax?”

“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise,” Jax said in his growly voice.

Technically the man hadn’t asked. In fact, if memory served him, Jax had ordered her to marry them. With the mistakes the three of them had made, it was a miracle she was even talking to them.

“Okay,” Jenelle said decisively, “but if the law doesn’t change and we don’t need to do this, we cancel everything.”

Tosh, Jax, and Baylen all nodded in agreement.

“Thanks for seeing us at short notice,” Tosh said as he and Jenelle stepped into his friend’s medical room.

“Anytime,” Kallum said as he offered them a seat and then sat at his desk. “How can I help you today?”

“Jenelle is concerned that she’s unable to have children,” Tosh said. Kallum quirked an eyebrow in his direction, obviously wondering why Tosh hadn’t done the tests himself—treating human women was his own specialty after all. He settled on a version of the truth to explain their actions. “Jenelle has agreed to be my, Jax’s, and Baylen’s mubella. If we are facing fertility issues, we just wanted to keep it to ourselves for the time being. You know how it is in a large workplace.”

“True,” Kallum said with a sympathetic smile. “It’s partially why I went into private practice. I got tired of everyone at the hospital knowing my tredella’s medical issues.”

“How is Drew doing these days?”

“Much better. Once we were able to get a correct diagnosis, the treatment was rather simple. He complains that I still hover over him, but it’s going to take a while for me to relax after getting so close to losing him.”

“We’ll always worry,” Tosh said as he wrapped an arm around Jenelle’s waist and pulled her just a little closer.

“That we will,” Kallum agreed. “Okay, Jenelle, would you like your future husband in or out of the room?”

She looked surprised to be given a choice, but it wasn’t unusual for married partners to want to keep some things private. “Um…in, I suppose. I don’t mind if Tosh stays.”

“Excellent.” Kallum seemed to hesitate before continuing. “Most of my patients are Desconian, so they’re happy to be naked, but I understand humans have different attitudes.” He turned and rummaged in a cupboard for a moment. He came back with a clean sheet, the type large enough to fit over most Desconian beds. “Will this help?” he asked Jenelle.

“Yes, thank you,” she said, taking the material from him.

“Right then, I’ll just give you some privacy. Just strip off and lie on the examination table and I’ll be back in a moment.”

He left Tosh with her, obviously assuming that she wouldn’t mind being naked in front of her soon-to-be husband. Jenelle raised an eyebrow and waited for him to turn his back.

“I’m going to see it all at the claiming ceremony anyway,” he teased.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” He could hear her climbing onto the bed and really wanted to take a peek. He’d been attracted to her for quite a long while, but it wasn’t until they’d discussed their “convenient” marriage that he’d truly hungered to see her naked. He hadn’t even thought about sex with a woman since meeting Jax and Baylen, but suddenly it was all he could think about. Would she scream as she came? Would her pussy caress his cock as he thrust into her heat again and again? Or would it clamp down, holding him trapped inside her as orgasm rolled through her?

Hell, it was all he could do not to come in his pants like an inexperienced teenager.

“You can turn around now,” she said quietly. He wasn’t quite sure what he’d been expecting, but even though she was covered from neck to knee in the sheet he couldn’t quite curb his imagination.

“Ready?” Kallum asked a few moments later through the partially opened door.

“Yes, Doctor,” Jenelle said nervously.

Thankfully, Kallum spent several minutes explaining to Jenelle what he planned to do so she wasn’t upset when he touched her. But in the middle of the pelvic exam—an old-fashioned, but still valid, test where the doctor placed a hand inside the vaginal cavity and palpated the pelvic region with the other hand—Kallum gave Tosh a look of surprise and then tilted his head toward the door.

“I just need to track down the portable ultrasound,” Kallum said to Jenelle even though Tosh could see the equipment he was talking about sitting near the man’s elbow. “Tosh, could you give me a hand for a moment?”

“Sure,” Tosh said, trying to sound natural. It was obvious Kallum had something to say that he didn’t want Jenelle to overhear, so he tried to follow his friend out of the room as if it were a completely natural part of any examination. “Back in a few minutes, Jen.”

The moment the door was closed, Kallum gave him a concerned look. “Explain to me what’s really going on.”

“I did,” Tosh said defensively, but Kallum seemed less than convinced.