Green Broke Woman (32 page)

“I'm not saying to
go and fuck him. I'll pummel your ass if you do. I'm giving you permission to
do one last scene with him. He can spank you, flog you, or cover you in whipped
cream for all I care, but no penetrative sex.” He stepped forward and cradled
her chin, massaging her jawline with his rough thumb. “The only reason you came
back to us is because you had nowhere else to go.”

“That's not—”

“I'm talking,” he
growled, continuing when she fell silent. “The only reason you're not with him
is because he sent you away to protect you. If he hadn't, you'd still be with
him. Even your desires seem to lean more toward a power exchange than bedroom
domination only. How do I know you don't just want me as a Master to replace
him when he's gone?”

Kayla burst into
tears. “No. It's not like that. I love you for you and him for him. I can't
help what I want or who. Please don't send me away for it.”

“I'm not going to
send you away, little bird.” His finger caught the tear drizzling down her
cheek. “Whether you stay with us or leave for him, it'll be your choice. Go to
the Black Dragon with Hugh. Spend some time with him again and see if you don't
want him more. If you do, then leave with him. If not, then come back to us.”

“What about...”

“I know you love
Virgil, too. If you want vanilla, then leave with him.”

The trickle of
tears evolved into a steady stream of salty warmth. “I'm sorry. I don't think I
can choose.”

“You have to.”

She brushed away
the fallen moisture, sniffling through the onset of congestion. “Why? You're
already sharing me with Travis and Jake. What does it matter if there are two
more men involved?”

She winced at how
greedy she sounded and the coolness in his manner.

“So is that how it
is? Anytime you soak your panties over a stud, you expect us to let you go to
bed with him?”

“No. I didn't mean
it like that. I'm sorry. If it was just an attraction, I wouldn't even...” She
hid her face in her palms, heart aching over the impasse. There was just no way
she could choose from the five of them.

“I know. You care
about them, too.” His palm glided over her hair, sympathetic yet slightly
condescending, though she didn't resent him for it. “It's not that hard, baby.
Just choose the man or men you love the most.”

“I can't.”

“Yes, you can. You
wouldn't want to share us with four other women would you, even if we claimed
to love them, too?”

She sobbed into
her hands. “No.”

“Then you agree
it's only fair that we want you to make a choice, especially when we're already
being generous enough sharing you with our brothers?”

“Yes,” she
whispered.

“Here. Dry your
eyes and go spend some time with Hugh. Tonight you can tell us your decision.”

She felt a bit
like Moses in
The Ten Commandments
urged
to choose a wife from a group of dancers. His dilemma had been that he didn't
know those girls as well and the apple of his eye was out tending the sheep.

Her reality was
that she knew all five men. How on earth could she choose from them any more than
she could choose between breathing and her heartbeat?

Chapter Thirteen: Completion

Jake wanted to
shake Travis and punch Keith.
Two scheming clowns.
He'd gone along with Keith's harebrained little plan, but deep down he feared
the odds were stacked against them.

“We're
gonna
lose her thanks to you.”

Travis stood near
Jake as he paced, shaking his head. “No, Jake. I think Keith is right. I don't
think she'll be able to choose between us and him and that other fella.”

A little half
smirk curved Keith's lips from where he sat at the dining room table. “You mean
Virgil?”

Travis pointed at
his brother in agreement.
“Yeah, him.”

“Okay, let's say
for argument's sake she doesn't run off with Uncle Daddy. What then?” Jake asked.

“Well, then I
guess it's just a matter of who backs down,” Travis mused, scratching his head
in concern. “I sure won't.”

“None of us will,
and the other two fuckers probably won't either.” Jake stewed, tossing a dirty
look at Keith, who wisely relocated his attention elsewhere.
Stupid
bastard, losing their little sister.
His heart clenched with ripping
pain. If Keith wasn't flesh and blood, he'd have to kill him.

“You know there is
one alternative nobody's mentioned yet,” Keith began. “We could just share her
with them.”

Jake glared at the
clown, too infuriated to notice Travis's reaction much. “Are you out of your
damned mind?”

“Probably,” Keith
said.

The smartass.

Travis rubbed the
back of his neck under his long hair with a heavy exhale. “No, he's right. We
share with each other. It's even less weird sharing with a non-relation.”

“Except
for our uncle.”
Jake
folded his arms, eyes narrowing when they fell on Keith.

Travis shrugged.
“It's not really any different than what we do now.”

“It's a whole lot
different,” Jake said. “I don't want to see our uncle without his clothes or
playing suck-face with Kayla. If you get me drunk, I might agree to share with
that Southern clown, but only if his dick is smaller.”

Travis rolled his
eyes and shook his head with a “There he goes again” smile. “It's always about
dicks with you, isn't it, Jake? What does it matter what size his cock is?”

“Mine has to be
the biggest.”

Keith smirked,
avoiding Jake's warning glance.

“Okay, Jake, however
you want to fantasize,” Travis teased. “I'd rather not share Kayla, but I'm
more afraid of losing her. Remember what happened last time before we ever
agreed to this arrangement?
She up and left.
She was
gone seven years, and we almost lost her. Do you really want to run that risk
again? 'Cause I'll tell you something, little brother, I've got a real bad
feeling that if we lose her again, this time it would be forever.”

Jake's eyelids
descended as he took a deep breath and then let it out. “Fine, happy dick can
stay, but I'm not having a ménage with our uncle in the same room.”

Keith leaned back
in his chair with one arm resting on the table and the other draped across his
arched knee with both feet propped on another chair. “I didn't mean we'd have
him in the same room. The three of us can have four-ways with her, and maybe
Virgil can join in eventually when we get to know him better. I just meant we
could have a polyandrous relationship as far as our uncle and Kayla
are
concerned. She could be with each of us on a different
night of the week, and sometimes the three of us would have her at once. Four
if Virgil wants to join in.”

“That's fine by
me,” Travis said, “but I think we ought to give her one night of the week as a
break from all that sex.”

“What?” Jake
raised his octave. “Why the hell does she need a break? I need her more than
once a week, clown.”

Keith grinned.

Travis rolled his
eyes. “What is it with you and clowns? We can figure on a different arrangement
if that doesn't please your frigging majesty. We'll talk it over with Kayla, of
course. All I'm saying is we should give the little lady some space and a day
to rest her lady bits. Everybody needs a break from sex once in a while.”

“No, they don't,”
Jake snapped. “What language are you speaking? I'd be fucking her non-stop of
it weren't for the fucking refractory period and her special time of the month.
That can be her break.”

“I think we should
let Kayla decide,” Travis told him.

Jake rolled his
eyes. “She wants
Doms
, not gingerbread men.”

Keith and Travis
grinned and shook their heads. Travis turned to look over at Keith. “I
understand you wanted to know whether or not she loved one of us more than the
other, but I hate to see her suffer.”

“All I did was
give
her a few hours to reflect and be honest with herself
and us,” Keith said.

Jake scowled
before an epiphany demanded he throw an outright hostile expression in Keith's
direction. “Hold on a minute. There's more to the story, you sly bastard. You
didn't just want Kayla to be honest with us and
herself
.
You were hoping to get our grouchy uncle to stay.”

Keith stared back
at him, tapping his fingernails on the table. His face wasn't expressive at the
moment, but Jake knew him well enough to detect a lack of denial.

“Well, he
is
family, Jake,” Travis pointed out.
“And he's the closest thing to a decent father we ever had. If it hadn't been
for him, all we'd have are the lousy memories of our real dad.”

“I know it, but
Hugh was gone for years, and I'm just supposed to relax now that I know he's
not our dad and he decides to show back up in our lives and take our woman away
from us?” Jake asked, trying to figure out why the other two weren't as annoyed
over the situation as he was. “And Keith's so forgiving he'd probably have
hugged our real dad and welcomed him back into our house and offered him
Kayla.”

Keith stiffened,
and his face grew frigid with hostility. “Trust me, I would never.”

“Uncle Hugh is a
decent guy,” Travis said, “and Virgil seems all right.”

“And just think,
Jake. With a non-blood related man in the mix, that allows certain
possibilities we can treat our little sub to that we wouldn't otherwise be able
to,” Keith informed him.

Jake got excited.
Oh, the delicious ecstasies they could show her. There wasn't a gay bone in his
body, but he wasn't a homophobe either. He'd be fine squeezing into her pussy
with another dick he wasn't related to, provided the cock was smaller, of
course.

He scowled. “Don't
tempt me. She loved us first, and that's just too bad for the other fuckers.”

Virgil rushed into
the room, white with worry.

“Well,
look
who it is,” Jake said in a saucy tone.

“Kayla's gone.”
Virgil held up a letter.

“What?” they all
shrieked.

“She left us for
that crotchety old geezer?” Jake shouted, wanting to slug the old man in the
face for taking away the only woman who had ever meant anything to him.

Virgil shook his
head, extending the note to them. “No. She left all of us, including him.”

****

Kayla's heart felt
like deadweight in her chest as she made her way down the rural road in the
cool air of early morning. Not too long ago she'd walked up this same road
toward the
Langleys
’ ranch on a balmy afternoon.
She'd been troubled then but had known that walking back home into their arms
would bring her comfort. She belonged with them.

Now she walked
away from them in the opposite direction. Her chest felt just as weighed down
this morning as it had that day, but this time the pressure wasn't accompanied
by numbness. A deep ache hovered over her heart, cutting like a knife, twisting
until the pain worsened and her heart bled little red tears like the crystalline
drops falling from her eyes.

She couldn't
choose from the five men she adored beyond reason. She'd rather lose them all
than make an impossible choice that would rip her heart out as badly as it
would hurt the men she abandoned.

A truck came up
behind her. “Kayla!”

Her heart skipped
a beat like a stone skipping over the surface of water.
Master's
voice.
She wanted to keep walking, but her feet resembled lead,
anchoring her in place.

“You're not
leaving. Come here.”

Can't do that, Master.

She started to
take a step.

“Cinnamon, you
take a step away from me and I'll give you a sore ass. Now get in the truck.”

Kayla stood in
place, weighed down like an anvil, unable to defy him or obey him. She couldn't
make that heart-wrenching decision they required of her.

His tone
sharpened. “Now, slave.”

She drew in a deep
breath and turned her back on the long stretch of road and green rolling hills
that felt like a dead end road to nowhere. Her shoes fell light and almost
soundlessly on the blacktop as she made her way back to the stern Master who
threatened discipline over her continued belligerence.

She climbed up
into the truck with him, the sound of the door shutting and locking resonating
with her. Sitting locked in a confined space with him felt more like freedom
than strolling independently down the road to wherever she wanted. Master made
the choice for her, removed the burden of a tough decision. He freed her.

“What do you think
you're doing?” His hard, reprimanding stare made her feel small.