Three Rings and a Rose (32 page)

“This is not your job. It’s mine. Get your ass back up the fucking stairs so I can fix this before you destroy everything.”

“Like you did a few years ago?” Caedon asked with a calmness he didn’t feel. “Why don’t you tell everyone about the things you have done to
help
me?” He air-quoted with a glower to the man he’d called a friend up until recently, a man he’d thought he owed for his help.

Boy, was I wrong
. “I’m sure they’re all ears.” Ted frowned, a psychotic light flaring in his eyes. This man was certifiable. How he hadn’t noticed before now, he would never know.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“
Really?
”
Micah inquired, apparently helping Caedon tag-team Ted. “I overheard you telling our girlfriend that you had broken her and Caedon up. How did you do that?” A hum of gossiping voices spread over the area around them, but Micah didn’t appear to notice.

He was too busy putting the screws to Ted. “Did you lie about her?

Did you sabotage her? What exactly did you do?” Ted’s face colored, making the sleazebag’s normally impeccable appearance falter and fail. His companion—and coconspirator—Leila stepped back. With a glare to Ella, she mouthed what appeared to be,

“I’ll get you for this.” Then obviously recognizing that it was time to tuck tail and run, she did just that. She slowly and quietly eased away from the growing crowd.

Three Rings and a Rose

235

Caedon considered outing her, but he decided it wasn’t worth it.

He’d much prefer seeing Ted suffer to some conceited gopher he’d probably paid off.

“I did nothing,” Ted refuted again. “The fat slut did it all to herself. She went to the damn party. All I had to do was give the tape to the fucking press.” He pointed a stabbing finger at Ella. His pinched expression concerned Caedon, and he took a few steps closer to Ella, standing over her protectively. And Micah did the same, keeping her tucked into his side. “
She’s
the one who pitted two friends against each other until they had to decide to share her or kill each other.
She’s
the person responsible for herself. Don’t lay this bullshit at my feet.”

Caedon found it rather amusing that his former manager seemed to have forgotten their venue and their audience. If he didn’t feel compelled to skin the man alive, he probably would be laughing his ass off at Ted’s idiocy. The high-profile manager’s self-destructive actions were being aired out publicly. When he was done chomping on his small feet, Ted would have nothing left. No celebrity in their right mind would stay aboard a sinking ship, and that was exactly what he was.

A petty, evil thrill of glee ran all through Caedon. After the shenanigans Ted had apparently been pulling, Caedon didn’t feel badly for despising the bastard, and he didn’t feel wrong for his next action.

Hauling his arm back, Caedon threw a punch. He decked the douche in the face, messing up Mr. Perfect’s complexion. That was all he did. He didn’t hit him again, even though he wanted to. Kicking his ass publicly was out of line. One punch was justifiable.

“Get the fuck out of town,” Caedon ordered Ted. The snarl in his tone was music to his ears. The nutty bully needed to know that there would be no going back, no repeats of his scheming. This was over.

Once he walked out of Serenity, he was gone. “You’re fired. Now go.

We don’t want you here.”

236

Mia Ashlinn

Ted opened his mouth to say something then thought better of it.

Lowering his voice until only Caedon could hear him, Ted made one last threat. “I’m done here. I’m done with you, but you need to know there’s more videos where that came from. Keep that in mind. I’m not the only person who has them. I’m smarter than that.” He tapped the side of his temple. “You need to watch your back and everyone else’s.

Piss off the wrong people, and the whole damn world will know how you fuck
both
your partners.”

Caedon shrugged. “I’m proud of who I am and who I love. So power to them. Let them tell the world. I can’t stop them either way.”

“You’re damn straight. There’ll be no stopping them when they’re ready, and they will be one day,” Ted said. Then with one last scowl, he faded into the background.

Micah sighed. “That’s all for now. We would appreciate our privacy. If you choose to overstep the bounds of our legal rights, we will have you arrested. We’ve made friends with the three great police officers as well as the hard-ass judge. So back off, and leave us alone.” With that, Micah tugged Ella toward the side of the building where her sisters had left them a getaway car.

As expected, the crowd stampeded forward, but the petite sheriff and her two hulking deputies stepped in between them. Not a second later, the rest of the townspeople who had joined them formed a barricade to keep them off Caedon, Ella, and Micah. One call to Ella’s eldest sister Hadley had obviously done the job. She’d handled everything for them.
I’ll have to thank her later.

Rounding the corner with his partners, Caedon grinned. The car was sitting exactly where they’d said it would be, and it was running.

Micah rushed Ella forward then helped her into the front seat of the car quickly and efficiently. In the blink of an eye, Micah had herself and him locked away in the car.

In a hurry to get going, Caedon leapt into the backseat of the car.

Hitting Micah’s seat, he murmured, “Let’s get a move on. We have somewhere we need to be.”

Three Rings and a Rose

237

“We do?” Ella inquired as she turned back to him, checking him out curiously. “Where?”

Micah grasped her hand in his. “Patience, snowflake. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

238

Mia Ashlinn

Ella sat back in her seat, ready for a long car ride. She figured they were getting her out of town. However, they weren’t. Fifteen minutes had barely passed before they pulled the car up in front of the same house they’d been at yesterday. And she realized something crucial—this was going to be their house.

Tears welled in her eyes, and she gasped. Bringing a trembling hand to cover her mouth, she fought the need to completely break down and cry. She’d known what the rose meant when Caedon had handed it to her, and she knew what this house stood for. This house was the root to their relationship, their anchor to the ground.

Driving into the garage, Micah pulled to a stop and cut the engine before the door slid closed. Each of her men hustled out of the car then helped her out. With one man on each side of her, they walked into the house they would call their own.

More tears spilled from Ella’s eyes. She didn’t know what it was.

She couldn’t describe it. But something happened to her when she walked into the place where she would live with Caedon and Micah, the place they would raise their kids and grow old in.

“I love it,” she blurted out excitedly. Then realizing she hadn’t confirmed her suspicions, she added, “It is ours. Right?” Neither man answered her. They merely moved forward, taking her along with them. When they finally reached the living room, she gasped again
.
The men had been planning this before the whole debacle. They had to have been. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have had time to fill the room with the furniture from their old apartment. The
Three Rings and a Rose

239

neutral-colored décor and furnishings had been arranged inside the living area, soaking up most of the space easily.

Ella smiled, remembering how they’d picked out every piece together. It had taken them all day, but they’d done it. They’d decorated their entire home together. When Ella had put them in storage, she’d figured that she would sell them one day. But maybe that wasn’t the case. Maybe she’d always hoped this would happen, and everything would get back on track.

“Ta-da,” Caedon joked. “What do you think?”

“I–I–I love you guys.” Without wasting another moment, she threw herself into Caedon’s arms. She held onto him, allowing her tears to fall and dampen his clothes. He didn’t seem to mind and neither did she.

Caedon tipped her head back until she had to meet his cobalt eyes.

When she did, she cried all the harder. Her lover had moisture swimming there, not much but a little. “There’s one more thing, sunshine.”

Coming to stand at her side, Micah hoisted her up and into his stocky, muscled arms. He carried her in the direction of the front door. But Caedon’s hands covered her eyes, blocking out her vision.

She quietly jostled up and down in Micah’s arms as he strode forward. Eventually he stopped and lowered her to the ground. “Keep your eyes closed,” he commanded.

And she listened. Even though she wanted to be ornery and disobey his order. She didn’t. They obviously had something up their sleeve, and she didn’t want to fuck it up for them. From their expressions in the house, they were truly excited about whatever it was.

She heard rustling, but she still refused to open her eyes until Micah whispered, “Open them.” And yet again, she listened. She pried open her damp eyes, focusing them on the sight in front of her.

“Oh, my God,” she breathed.

240

Mia Ashlinn

Both men were on their knees in front of her, each of them holding onto the rose they’d given her earlier. Only this time, the overhead sunlight cast a glimmer on the metal they’d tied to the stem.

Three rings had been attached to a thin string that had been wound around the green, thorny stalk then tied in a bow at the top.

“Ella Embry Dawson,” Micah murmured. “We love you more than life itself. You’ve been our world since the day we both met you.

I know it’s been a long, hard road, but we’ve finally reached the sunlight. So will you do us the honor of wearing our ring? Will you marry both of us?”

Ella’s words caught in her throat, and she couldn’t speak. She stood there in their yard next to what appeared to be a newly planted rose bush on a trellis, staring at her men. She slid her eyes back and forth between Caedon and Micah. But nothing happened. No movement. No answer. Just calm, quietude, and stillness.

“Ella?” Caedon asked, a nervous hitch in his husky voice.

“Y–y–yes.” She wasn’t sure if she sounded like she was giving an answer or asking a question. So, she tried again. “I’ll marry you both.”

Caedon lurched to his feet and grabbed her, swinging her around in circles. In no time, she was squealing for him to stop. And he didn’t. He kept going—and going—until she felt nauseous.

Still kneeling, Micah cleared his throat, and they both froze.

Oopsie.
Caught up in the moment, they’d left their lover out. Darting her eyes to him, she felt guilt seeping into her soul. But what she found had it instantaneously draining away.

Micah was on the ground. He hadn’t moved, not even an inch, but he didn’t seem perturbed by their excitement. He appeared amused.

With his laughing eyes, he told her more than words could say.

“Caedon Matthew Asher,” Micah said. “I know we haven’t really talked about this, but I want these three rings to unite all of us.” He touched the silver bands, rubbing the metal tenderly with his index finger. “When we get married, I want you to be my husband in every
Three Rings and a Rose

241

way. I hope you’ll have me as your husband in the same manner.

Marry me?”

Ella saw the naked fear in Micah’s eyes. He didn’t conceal it, and her heart throbbed for him. Even with their newly cemented relationship, he apparently wasn’t sure of where he stood with their other lover.

It didn’t take long for him to find out. “I assumed we would all be married,” Caedon said honestly, his face coloring rapidly. “That was a given for me.”

Micah released a giant gust of air. “Thank God,” he replied.

Ella laughed. “You should have known better, Micah Blaylock.

We’re in this together. That means three rings and a rose. Until the last flower on Earth blooms, we’re a part of each other. We’re one—

now and forever.”

Joining in her joy, Micah chuckled, too. “Well, when you put it like that,” he said as he stood up and hugged them both close. Pecking one kiss on her lips then another on Caedon, Micah sighed. “Let’s go inside. We have a house to christen.”

Oh, yes we do.
In a sentence, Micah elicited her lust. The happiness she felt took a backseat to the powerful passion that propelled her into the house. Without waiting for them, she sprinted toward the living room. As she moved at full speed, she ripped at her clothes, taking them off and throwing them aside.

In the short distance she ran, she had all of her clothes off and was waiting for the men when they came inside. Like her, they’d disposed of their clothing as they’d hustled inside, and both of the men’s aroused cocks were aimed at her, straining toward her.

Dropping to her knees, Ella smiled naughtily at them. “I think we need to bless every room in the house with our bodies, but this is where we should start.”

Neither man spoke. They didn’t have to. She didn’t need them to.

They stalked across the room, stepping around the furniture easily.