Siren in Bloom [Texas Sirens 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (38 page)

“It’s all right, Shell. It’s all right, baby. No matter what happens, we’re fine. I love you. That’s all that matters.” He kissed her forehead. “Go on. Go back to the condo. Chase will escort you up there. I’ll figure this out.”

He was her whole world in that moment. He held her and balanced her and gave her strength. Protocol didn’t matter. The Master-sub relationship didn’t matter. He was her man. He was going to take care of her.

“I love you, Leo,” she whispered.

“I love you, too. It’s going to be all right,” he promised.

Chase was at the edge of the stage, clearly ready to take her in hand. Chase held a hand out and helped her off the stage. She could feel a hundred eyes on her.

“Shelley,” Wolf said.

But she turned because she was done with him. For now. She walked away as fast as her heels would take her.

Wolf watched Shelley walk away, his whole world tilting and moving and shifting.

What the fuck had just happened?

“Are you happy with yourself?” Leo’s voice grated on his every nerve.

Leo was the one with the girl. Leo was the one with a life. “I was trying to help you. Can’t you get that? I was trying to make this easy.”

Why was Leo fighting him? He’d been doing it all fucking night long. He’d fought him about Logan, and now he was pushing back about Shelley and this was all about him. Wolf was giving him what he wanted. Couldn’t Leo see how this was tearing his fucking heart out?

Leo got in his face. “Easy? Do you know how much you’re going to have to grovel? Do you know what Julian’s going to do when he finds out how fucked this scene was?”

Wolf was very aware of how many people were watching. He felt every eye on him. “I was trying to do something good for you.”

“By pissing off our wife?” Leo shook his head. “I know she isn’t, but damn, Wolf, she practically is. She signed a contract with you. She has a verbal agreement with me. What the hell more do you want?”

“I want my brother to not hate me!” Wolf yelled, his frustration flowing.

Leo stopped. “What does that mean? Damn it, Wolf, I don’t hate you. I never could. You’re my little brother. I spent most of my life making sure you were all right. I went into the damn Navy because we couldn’t send you to college.”

“I showed you,” Wolf said bitterly. He hadn’t thought about it at the time. He’d merely wanted to follow in his brother’s footsteps. He’d thought Leo would be happy, proud that he was joining the Navy.

“You did, man.” Leo put a hand on his shoulder. “You were twice the SEAL I was. You were it, Wolf. You were everything they wanted you to be. Still are. I was always too much in my head. I loved the missions, loved protecting my country, but I didn’t live the life the way you did. I was pissed you didn’t take what I offered, but don’t you think for a second I was ever ashamed of your service. Not once.”

Kind words, and they meant something to Wolf, but they didn’t fix the situation at hand. He needed to get out of here with some modicum of dignity. If he had any left. He picked up the really expensive collar and put it back in its box. He wasn’t sure what had gone so brutally wrong with Shelley, but his brother had to see reason. “Take it, please. She doesn’t want it now, but she will later.”

He wanted to know she wore something he’d bought her. Even if she was Leo’s wife.

“Why are you being such a dumb fuck?” Leo asked. “She will never wear this. If you walk out on her tonight, she won’t even hold it in her hand. Why are you doing this to her?”

“I’m doing this for you, asshole.”

Leo threw his hands up. “Why? So I have to comfort her? So I can sit and watch hours of mind-numbing shows about people cooking things I can’t eat and installing tile? You need to talk, now. And do it fast, because the longer she stews, the worse this is going to get. She could lock us both out of the bedroom, and if that happens, it’s your ass on the couch, understand?”

Leo stalked off the stage toward a more private part of the dungeon. His boots rang out over the silent space. The minute he walked away, the chatter began. Gossip. They were talking about how the Dom in residence had just gotten his ass handed to him by a sub, and his brother had not done a thing right all evening.

He’d fucked Leo, and he hadn’t meant to. His stomach turned. Everything had gone wrong. He could still see the betrayal in Shelley’s eyes. He’d been so sure she would pick Leo. He’d been sure there would be a part of her that would welcome not being forced to make a decision between them.

She hadn’t looked happy at having the decision taken away from her. She’d seemed downright pissed that there was a decision to be made at all.

He’d wanted to find a way to live with them in some form of harmony, and now they were both so angry at him that neither one wanted to look him in the face.

But Leo had said it. Damn it. He’d heard it.

He stalked off after his brother, determined to figure this thing out. He hadn’t done everything he’d done only to lose his relationship with both of them.

“You said you couldn’t share her long term,” Wolf accused.

Leo turned, his brows up in that fashion that always let Wolf know what a dumbass he was being. “I said that when?”

He felt himself flush, but this wasn’t the time to turn back. “I heard you say it to Shelley. You told her you couldn’t share her, and you asked what the two of you were going to do with me. I made it easy on you.”

Leo’s eyes narrowed. “Well, baby brother, the next time you decide to eavesdrop, maybe you should hang around and hear the whole conversation. Shelley told me flat out she wouldn’t take me without you. Apparently, she’s got it in her head that she can have us both. I wonder who gave her that idea?”

Wolf felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. Had he missed something? He’d heard Leo’s words, and he’d wanted to find a corner and lick his wounds. Should he have stormed into the room and demanded that they all talk?

Leo pointed an accusatory finger his way. “The answer is you did it, Wolf. You walked into this club with a plan, and don’t you dare try to tell me that the plan was to walk in and hand Shelley off to me. What the hell? That is the single dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve had therapeutic sessions with Kitten. You didn’t make love to her because you were trying to push her off on me. You’ve done everything you could since the minute you walked into here to throw the three of us together.”

“I didn’t know she was the girl you were crazy about until after I fell for her.”

Leo scrubbed a hand through his hair. “And then you decided to be a self-sacrificial idiot?”

God, no one on earth could make him feel as dumb as his brother could. “I couldn’t take her away from you.”

A slow smirk crossed his brother’s face. “As if you could.”

Asshole
. But his arrogance was starting to spark Wolf’s own. “You didn’t get into bed with her until I came along. If I hadn’t come to town, you would still be yanking your own dick.”

“Would I? I don’t know about that. I do know that we’re both going to be out in the fucking cold if you don’t find a way to suitably grovel. You hurt her.”

Shame coursed through his system. He hadn’t had faith. “Why did you say it? I heard you, Leo. I get that I misunderstood and I’m a dumb shit, but I don’t understand why you would say it if you didn’t mean it.”

Leo sobered, his shoulders slumping slightly. “The relationships I’ve had before were disastrous. I can counsel people all day long, and I can make sense. I haven’t been good at following my own advice. I made Janine miserable.”

According to Janine, he simply hadn’t loved her the way she’d loved him. His brother had been faithful. Wolf would have bet that if Janine hadn’t left, Leo would still be married to her, still clinging to his vow though he felt more friendly toward her than passionate. “Janine still loves you.”

“But I didn’t love her very well.” Leo’s eyes found the ground. “I think I have a lot of our dad in me.”

Wolf’s jaw nearly dropped open. “Are you fucking kidding me? We’re back to this again?”

Leo shrugged. “I probably should have stayed and taken care of Ma. I couldn’t wait to leave.”

“Leo, you wanted your own life. Kids are supposed to leave their homes. Ma is proud of you. You should hear the way she talks about you. You would think you walk on water. She wanted us to find our places. She never wanted us to stay and take care of her. God, Leo, she’s really happy with Mel. They would get married, but they’re worried about aliens tracking the paper trail. You’re under some mistaken impressions, and there’s nothing of our dad in you.”

Leo sighed, the sound a heavy weight. “I don’t know if I can do the kid thing. It scares me. I want them. I really do. I’m brutally jealous of Jack and Julian and Aidan. But I have no idea how to be a father. I didn’t have a dad.”

Wolf felt his heart squeeze in his chest. “But I did. I had a great one.”

Leo’s eyes came up. “Wolf, I was a dumb kid who was just trying to help our mom out.”

“And yet you raised me. Why the hell do you think I was willing to give her up? I love her, Leo. I can’t tell you how much I love Shelley. I fell for her before I even laid eyes on her. Choosing to honor you by giving her up was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I did it because I owe you.”

“Stop owing me anything. Be my brother. Damn it, Wolf, that’s part of the problem between us. I don’t want to be this man you look up to. I just want to be your brother.”

Being with Shelley had pointed a few things out to Wolf. Part of his problems with Leo were just that—his problems. If he wanted this ménage to work long term, he had to move forward and find himself. “I want that, too. I love her. I want to marry her. I want a family with her. I can’t think of anyone I would rather have for a partner, man. But you should know that I won’t be bringing a ton of cash into this relationship. Not for a while. I want to go back to school. I don’t know what I want to do, but I can go to college and figure it out.”

He might be one of the oldest freshmen around, but it was past time to make a choice about his future, and he wasn’t going to just be a guy who stood in the way of bullets. He was going to push himself, be better, for his wife, his brother, his future family.

“I think I can handle you sponging off me for a while,” Leo said, his smile wide. “Besides, you’ll find that Julian blows up from time to time and then he cools down and passes out the bonuses. I’ve saved a lot of money over the years. And Shelley is serious about her business. Julian is going to give her a sterling recommendation. She might be the primary breadwinner. You could get that degree and find yourself playing Mr. Mom.”

He would do it with joy in his heart. And then he remembered what he’d just done. “I think it could be a while before she talks to me again.”

“I doubt it. I think she’s waiting somewhere to yell at you right now.”

Julian Lodge stalked through the crowd, his face a mask of frustration. He walked right up to Wolf and Leo and pointed a single finger. “Do you understand the wretched evening I’ve had? First that fucking senator shows up with four—count them—four body guards. I had to vet four extra men because Senator Cross is a paranoid idiot, and if I didn’t owe his father a favor, I would have told him to go to hell.”

Wolf wasn’t sure what this had to do with him. He sent his brother a questioning look.

“Julian hates politicians for the most part, and he really hates surprises.” Leo stood watching his boss like this was just a normal part of the day.

Julian’s eyes narrowed. “And then someone decides to explode a ticking time bomb in our midst. I don’t know if I like this new therapy via scene, Leo. But worst of all, I just heard a ridiculous tale of a sub gone wild. Tell me what I just heard is a ridiculously overblown rumor.”

Leo looked over at Wolf. “This would be one of those times I told you about.”

Julian turned on Wolf. He could feel a definite chill coming off his boss. “You are an idiot and you’re fired.”

Wolf opened his mouth to protest. He needed the job, at least part time. Leo held out a hand.

“Let him throw his fit.”

Julian’s face turned a nice shade of red. “Fit? Fit, Leo? You were supposed to publically punish your submissive who created complete chaos with her disobedience. You were not supposed to allow her to turn into the BDSM version of Spartacus. And you.” Those silver eyes turned back to Wolf. “You signed a contract with her. I set this up. I paired you off. Do you think you know better than me? Have you been doing this longer than me? You’re a fucking embryo, Wolf. Did you think you could pass around your submissive? Do you think you can make a gift of her?”

“No, sir.” Wolf simply was going to agree with everything Julian said. Julian Lodge in a rage was really something to see. And Leo didn’t seem to think anyone was going to actually die. Wolf knew he’d fucked up. He could take his medicine, and if that meant he got fired, he’d find another job.

“She’s a human being. You understand that, right? We use the term ‘slave’ in a nonliteral fashion. Should I give you a history lesson?”

“No, sir. I understand. No passing off my sub. If it helps at all, my brother’s already kicked my ass, and I get the feeling Shelley is going to want a piece of me, too.”