We attempted sex in Kane’s bed. Charley ended up falling to the floor, and I laughed my ass off, feeling free as hell, even though the threat of JD lay very real in the back of my head. An hour later, Kane and I followed Charley to his house after stopping by my apartment for my stuff.
Charley explained to Annette, I would be staying with him at his house while Kane helped me pack up my meager belongings. She met me at the bottom of the stairs in her robe and slippers, holding her arms wide. I sank into her soft embrace, the scent of mothballs bringing tears to my eyes.
“Take as long as you need, child, and if that means for good, you just let me know. Don’t worry about me and Roy. We’ll make do and find someone else to help out around here if that’s what you need.”
Tears prickled my eyelids, and I nodded, unable to speak.
“Don’t stop rising from those ashes,” Annette whispered and patted my cheek. “You’ve come this far. Don’t let anything stop you.”
Throat tight, I hopped in my car and followed Charley out of the parking lot, Kane’s truck behind me.
I drove in silence, fighting to focus on the sweet sting between my thighs from having both men at once rather than the upheaval, my life once more experienced. Would JD’s inability to let me go ever end? I couldn’t imagine that being so unless one of us rotted in the ground, and with the two men I’d just found, I didn’t want it to be me.
The ache in my core felt too good—addictive.
They wanted me to stay with them, but I still felt like an intruder, unworthy of their attention and affection. What woman wanted two men instead of the normal one?
Whore.
I swallowed against the rising anxiety over JD’s voice in my head, my skin crawling and feet itching. If not boxed in by trucks, I would have been tempted to take the next turn and never look back.
Annette suggested I let them help protect me. Both men asked for the same.
Could I trust them? The determination to stand on my own, that independent spirit I’d searched for and had begun to recognize inside myself, kept me from doing so fully. My stomach in knots and adrenaline keeping me on edge, I parked alongside Charley’s truck.
Silence filled my car’s interior, my breaths loud in the stillness.
I am beautiful.
I am independent.
I am strong.
My desire to own all three flooded through me at the chanted affirmations in my head and heart, but perhaps being strong meant knowing when to let go and allow others to help.
Charley and Kane both approached my driver’s door when I didn’t get out, and I peered at them through the window. An ache spread through my chest as the floodlights on Charley’s farmer’s porch lit their faces.
My head might hold back from trusting and wanting, but my heart couldn’t. Like magnets, they drew me out of the car and into their waiting arms, and I went willingly, recognizing strength didn’t always mean standing on your own two feet.
Every morning, Charley went into work while Kane and I went back to his place. A borrowed laptop from Charley allowed me to help Kane set up a website while he worked in his shop, creating furniture to sell. I took dozens of pictures of the pieces in his home, deciding which angles and lighting worked to best showcase his work.
Every night, the three of us crawled into Charley’s bed, with me in the middle, but sometimes I ended up on the outskirts, watching the two men together, pleasuring myself to the sight of them losing themselves in one another. Each and every fantasy I’d concocted in my brain became reality, and I’d never felt so cherished and protected.
Falling into complacency came easy, especially once learning from Charley that JD no longer was staying at the motel down near Renovo. Where he’d gone, we didn’t know, and I got so caught up in my new life with Charley and Kane, I almost didn’t care.
Kane and I remained basically quarantined, and I found I didn’t miss my early morning jogs. God knew, the two men gave me a good work out once or twice a day.
On Saturday, Kane headed to Annette and Roy’s to finish up the final cabin, and I decided we needed to stock up Charley’s cabinets. He agreed to go grocery shopping with me, and I sat behind the wheel of my car for the first time in almost a week, a smile on my face, the carefree sense in my spirit addicting enough, Charley smiled along with me, our hands clasped on my thigh.
An overcast sky hung clouds low in the sky but couldn’t diminish my happiness. Two orders had come in through Kane’s website—a couple of end tables for his parents and a bed frame for one of his cousins, but still. A sense of satisfaction at helping him begin his own life over added to the layers of happiness inside me.
Charley tucked me against his side while strolling into BI-LO, and warmth flooded through me. Sandalwood and soap … the man smelled downright deliciously wicked.
Keeping my eyes off him as we went through the motions of getting groceries proved impossible. Every wink my way when caught staring rushed arousal to the apex of my thighs. It was as though I had found an addiction. I got my fill of their bodies, morning and night, but I couldn’t get enough of them. Charley and Kane created an insatiable hunger deep inside me, an all-consuming thirst for their laughter, their touch, their attention.
The scent of incoming rain hung heavy in the air, so we scurried to the car with our loaded cart, quiet thunder rolling in along with a gust of wind.
“Hurry!” I squealed, laughing as the first raindrop hit my face.
Every brush of his fingers against mine while loading the bags into the trunk caught my breath—and didn’t go unnoticed.
“You’re looking at me like I’m a juicy steak, little lady,” Charley murmured against my ear as I handed over the last bag for him to stow in my trunk. “I like it.”
The smile in his rumbled voice shivered goosebumps over my body, and the squeeze of his palm on my hip spread fire through my insides. I might have gulped. My heart fluttered as I tightened my hold on my keys in my hand.
Another gust of wind whipped my hair across my face.
“Whore.”
My head jerked toward my right as my fluttering heart seized over the low tone I recognized from my nightmares.
JD.
“Fucking whore! I knew it, you faithless piece of shit!” JD spat, stalking toward us, his shoulders hunched as though enraged and ready to tackle me, his glacial blue eyes taking in Charley’s tightening grasp on my hip.
My feet froze, and I stumbled as Charley tried to maneuver me behind his hulking body.
“Get your hands off my wife,” JD growled, his last two strides bringing him in with swinging fists.
Charley released his hold on my arm and squared up to meet the rushing asshole, and I fell onto my ass, my keys skittering a few feet away.
JD’s fist landed first, but Charley’s hit him low, doubling over my ex, the sound of flesh meeting flesh heaving my stomach.
Run. Run. Run.
“D-don’t,” I gasped out, getting onto my hands and knees, too shaky to stand, reaching for my keys. “Don’t hurt Charley...”
Fists and grunts from the two men drew attention, and a woman grasped my arm, helping me to stand. “Are you okay?”
“Stop!” I shrieked at the men, pulling from the woman, and stumbling toward Charley, my chest ice cold. He landed a fist to JD’s jaw, knocking him to the ground.
The sky cracked open, spitting cold rain on us.
I grasped Charley’s arm, tugging him back, the keys in my other hand digging into my palm as I quickly scanned his face to make sure he was okay.
“Let’s just go. Please.” My skin crawled, and my stomach roiled. I needed to get out of there—away from JD, away from the stares the fight had drawn.
“Should I call the cops?” the woman asked from behind me.
“No.” Charley sniped the word and pulled away from me to stand over JD, who blinked up at the sky. My arms slammed back around my midsection, and I hunkered over, ready to vomit. “She’s not your wife. She’s your ex, and if you ever come near her again, I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your days regretting it.”
JD wisely kept his mouth shut at Charley’s hissed threat. I shot out an arm to tug on Charley again, my itching feet and racing heart needing us to get away.
“Please, Charley,” I whispered, my throat tight and tears stinging my eyes.
He turned and nodded, his dark eyes furious, his face deadpan.
Shaking like the leaves on the trees, I hurried to the driver door as lightning split the sky in half.
Charley grasped my arm, pulling me up short. “Give me the keys.” A shadow passed over his face, the glint in his eyes lessening as though pain swept through him.
Heart pounding, I glanced at JD, who had pushed up to his knees, his glare cutting me through the rain.
Run. Run. Run.
I grasped my door handle and jerked it open, but Charley’s hand on my arm tightened.
“Give. Me. The. Keys.”
Did I trust him to get me away? Run! My body decided for me, instinct climbing me through the door and across the console toward the passenger seat, smashing my shin on the steering wheel in the process.
“Hurry, Charley, oh God, please hurry,” I whispered, my voice shaking and my pulse throbbing throughout my entire body.
Charley climbed in behind me, and I handed over the keys as I righted myself on my seat. He jerked the driver seat back to make room for his legs and grabbed the keys from my shaking hand.
Rain swept over the car as he backed out, and I turned to find JD standing in the rain, fists at his sides.
“Go,” I gasped out, wanting nothing more than to curl into a ball and sink into oblivion, where JD couldn’t reach me.