Surrounded [Running to Love 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (11 page)

“Jackie?”

“Sleeping. I welted her pretty good.”

“That you did, buddy, that you did. If she learns to curb that insanely impetuous streak, then I’m good with it. Because if that didn’t work, I have no idea what will.”

They sat in silence for awhile as the smell of cooking permeated the room. Alistair wanted to ask Ashley what was going on with her but didn’t know to broach the subject. He could help a sub speak, communicate, but wasn’t so good in this case. Something more to learn.

“You made dinner.”

“We’ll see how it tastes, Ash, but I put some food on.”

“As soon as we eat, I need to talk to you and Jackie, ’Stair. It’s important and is going to throw a wrench in the works of all our careful planning. I need some feedback.”

A cold hand clutched his innards. He fought against the feeling but wondered if his dreams were going to be dashed again. Maybe Ashley found that she couldn’t share Jackie. He forced himself to nod, and she smiled wanly at him.

“It’s like
kismet
that you’re here, ’Stair. I so appreciate it.”

So she wasn’t going to tell him to back off, not that he was going anywhere. He felt nearly faint with relief and mastered his curiosity. “I’ll go and get Jackie up if you want to check the vegetables.”

* * * *

She watched him head toward the bedroom and pushed up from the couch. The little rest had done wonders. She went and turned the vegetables off and drained them. The chicken appeared to be cooked, and she speared the browning potatoes. Done. The place setting on the breakfast bar made her smile, as did the raised female voice from the master bedroom. Jackie was like a little bear after a nap, and her ass would be damn sore, too. The intensity of Alistair’s spanking had taken
her
breath away, and she’d actually felt kind of sick for Jackie. But it was controlled and done for a very good reason, not at all like what her father did to her and her sibs. If it hadn’t taken place so hard on the heels of the dog incident and if she hadn’t been fretting over the letter, she’d have been okay. As it was, she had been triggered a little and was now back to normal, or at least what passed for normal.

“I’m not hungry!” Jackie stormed into the kitchen, barefoot, wearing her short silk robe, her hair a tangled mess, cheeks red, eyes still swollen from her storm of tears.

“You’ll eat.” Alistair’s tone was inflexible.

“I can’t sit down!”

“You can stand.”

“I can’t stand you at this very moment!”

Ashley managed not to laugh out loud. Her girl was back. It would mean that sharing her news wouldn’t be influenced by what had transpired earlier. She didn’t want Jackie to make a decision based upon remorse.

“Alistair made dinner while I had a nap, Jackie.” Her comment had the desired effect. Jackie immediately came to her and kissed her.

“I’m being self-centered again, Ash. Sorry. He just makes me mad when he gets bossy. Are you okay?”

“I need to eat, Jackie. And then I want to talk to you and ’Stair. Can you do that for me?”

“Of course, Ashley! What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, sweetheart. Now, let’s eat.”

The meal was good, even if Jackie grumped a little about how Alistair criticized her use of cream in her coffee. She didn’t complain about having to lean against the counter to eat, although Ash saw her wince a couple of times when the fabric of her robe dragged across her ass. Jackie would have a reminder of her unacceptable behavior for the next few days for sure.

At one point Jackie hurried to check on the puppy. Ashley had almost forgotten about it. Jacks and Alistair then had a spirited argument, first of all over the fact that the puppy was a pit bull and shouldn’t be kept as a pet and secondly because ’Stair had named it Bozo.

“I don’t care! He’s an innocent puppy, and if he’s treated right, there won’t be a problem!”

“I know the breed, Jackie, and I don’t know if you’ll be firm enough for him.”

“You just watch me, Alistair Frayne. Beau will turn out just fine. And you’d better not call him such a stupid name. You’ll give him a complex.”

The consensus was, with absolutely no input from her, that the puppy was staying and that Jackie was calling him Beau. And then of course Jackie remembered that Ashley should have a say and was prepared to find another home for Beau if Ashley didn’t want him. The dynamics of this threesome would make a saint shake his head. She reassured Jackie that Beau could stay but that she wasn’t going to be involved in his care, although she knew that would be a big fat lie when it came to buying stuff for the stupid little troublemaker. A dog had been her best friend growing up, and Ashley wondered why she had waited so long to get another. Except best friends got old and died or left, and it hurt too much. But now she had far more going on in her life that she could count on, she hoped.

The kitchen was cleaned with an economy of movement, each of them seeming to work effortlessly around the other, and when it was done, they moved into the living area. Ashley quickly took the chair facing the couch so that she could see them both without playing head tennis. Jackie carefully lowered herself to one hip and arranged herself so that her bottom wasn’t pressing against anything. Ashley noticed that she left Alistair lots of room but didn’t turn her back on him as she could have. Jackie didn’t hold grudges. When she screwed up, she made amends, and if somebody else annoyed her, she told them off and then moved on. It was nice that despite the intensity of her connection to ’Stair, her attitude wasn’t any different. She’d taken her punishment and didn’t harbor any ill will. Ashley didn’t intend to remind her of it again in any event. Bozo/Beau would do that once the sore ass healed. Ashley wasn’t able to let things go quite as easily, although Jacks was teaching her, just by setting the example.

Alistair came to sit with Jackie, Beau tucked under his arm. Jackie took him and cuddled him close, and he relaxed into her. It had been a big day for him, too, and Ashley made a mental note not to let Jackie walk him around here. If his previous owner saw them and caused any trouble, Alistair would kill him. Ashley hadn’t missed his deadly skills and knew that he had pulled his blows or there would have been a corpse in the street. She waited another moment and then told them.

“I’m from a small place in Utah called Elderwood. Population two thousand on a good day. Jackie knows that my father’s kind of a religious nut and that my mother is a spineless wonder. I have two brothers and a sister who moved out as soon as they could, but they stayed and got married to folks in the area. I got to college for some education and then became a cop. But I moved here to be one.”

She paused and wondered how to continue. Alistair and Jackie were silent, waiting for her to say it all. She figured she’d give them some more history, just so ’Stair knew what she would be asking in the end. So he would know what to base his decision on. “I got out because of some good people there. Teachers, neighbors, and the local law enforcement. You would have thought my dad would have run out of energy by the time he worked his way through my sister and brothers, but he seemed to see the devil in me. Probably my red hair. It didn’t help that neither he nor my mother had red hair and no one else in the family did either. I used to fantasize about some other guy being my real dad. Somebody wonderful.

“The neighbors called the cops when they heard him beating me and ranting about the devil, and the sheriff investigated. The doctor made a case, too. Anyhow, they made him send me to school. I don’t know how they did it, but the old man backed off and sent me. My mom had homeschooled the rest of us kids. I was smart, and that helped me connect with the teachers because the other kids at school were okay but already established in their own cliques. I didn’t care. I just wanted to learn and stay out of that house. I got a scholarship because of those teachers, and some other folks put some money together for me to go away to college, giving me a start until I could find work to support myself while I attended.”

“Ashley?” Jackie’s sweet voice made her realize that she’d been lost in the memories again. “Has something happened back home?”

She laughed. “Something’s happened for sure. Not with my family. I don’t think. I don’t have contact with my parents and just a couple of times a year with my sibs. But they, the sheriff and the school people, want me to come home and run for the sheriff’s job. He’s retiring, and they figure I’d be a shoo-in. I guess it’s like my old man said. Cast your seed on fertile ground and all that stuff. I guess the old markers are being called in. I owe them.”

Neither Jackie nor ’Stair said anything for a few minutes. Ashley waited for them to process it. She had been trying to assimilate the information and everything it meant, and was no further ahead. She knew what the right thing was to do, but wondered if it meant the end of her happiness.

Finally, Jackie asked cautiously, “Do you want to go back home and be the police chief like Jace?” Trust Jackie to see that parallel.

She shrugged. “I feel like I have to go. I haven’t had a chance to consider anything more than that. I wanted to tell you first.”

“Well, if you want to go, even if you feel that you are obligated to go, I’ll go with you. But if you go, I’m going, too.”

Jackie’s answer might have made no sense to anyone else, but Ashley felt like she’d been punched in the solar plexus and a huge weight lifted off her shoulders at the same time. It must have reflected in her face because Jackie was up from the couch and hugging her in the next breath, the dog crushed between them. Ashley managed to hold back her tears.

“I couldn’t stand thinking about it, that you wouldn’t want to leave here.”

“For God’s sake, Ashley! I love you! Did you think you could leave me behind?” Jackie’s face fell, and she clutched the little dog harder. “Or did you think I wouldn’t go with you?”

“Jackie, sweetheart. I won’t say I wondered if you’d balk, but only because of what life will probably be like there for us. It’s full of people like my parents.”

“Well it can’t be so full if people rescued you from them!”

Well, there was that.
Ashley somehow made room for Jackie to cuddle with her on the chair even if sitting was clearly uncomfortable for her. She looked at Alistair, who looked impassive. “’Stair?”

“I’m blown away, Ashley. Ever think that
kismet
is having a joke at our expense? I’m not letting Jackie go again, so I guess I’m coming, too.”

Ashley stared at him. “But the Club. You can’t just walk away from it. It’s been your livelihood!”

“I’ll find someone to run it. You know the members do most of the grunt work in order to keep it anonymous, so that part’s easy. You’ll just have to hire me as a deputy. I haven’t used weapons in awhile, but that’ll come back to me.”

“Holy shit, Alistair! You’d be more suited to the sheriff’s position! You can’t be just a deputy.”

“I’d be fine with deputy status. It’ll give me more time with Jackie. And with two of us working and running one household, she’ll be able to stay home with Bozo and the kids.”

Jackie sputtered and gaped at him. “Kids?” she asked faintly.

Ashley wrapped an arm around her. “We both want kids, Jackie. And you most of all. It sounds workable to me. But we need to think about this in a careful way. You’ll have to marry Alistair, and I’ll live with you as the spinster aunt.”

“No! That’s bullshit! We’re in a ménage, and I’m not ashamed of it. Those people in that stupid town will just have to suck it up.”

“Then I’ll be put in the unfortunate position of arresting us all, sweetheart. Definitely against the law in Utah. At least having two wives is, and I’m not real sure how that would play out—having one wife and two husbands? Nope, that’s not right.”

Jackie giggled and then sobered. “Well, it’s silly. You’ll never be able to hide it from that kind of community, though, Ashley. I won’t be able to hide it.”

Ashley thought for awhile and then eased Jackie off her lap. “Go sit with Alistair for a bit. I need to make a phone call.”

It took about five minutes. The first three were catch-up comments, the fourth an explanation of her present relationship dynamics, and the fifth a sad withdrawal of the job opportunity. She should have known that some things never change, even when good people are involved. Bucking the system took too much effort in such a narrow-minded community. She felt a curious sense of mingled relief and disappointment. She would have made a great sheriff, but moving back home really wasn’t what she wanted. And if she ever had any doubts about Jackie and Alistair in this relationship, and where that might leave her, they were erased.

When she returned to the living room, Jackie had her head on Alistair’s lap, and he was stroking her hair. Beau was sleeping on his back beside his rescuer. All three heads lifted when she walked in, and three sets of eyes settled on her.

“I told the sheriff about us, and he withdrew the offer.” She held up her hand against Jackie’s immediate protest. “I’m good with it, Jacks. If I hadn’t been so tired from our sexual escapades the past couple of nights, I would have been clearer in my thinking.”

“But you talked it over with us first, Ashley.” Alistair’s deep voice got her immediate attention, and he reached out a hand. “Because we’re in this together. It was a big decision, and one that required all of our input. I’m honored, partner.”

Ashley let the tears come this time and hurried to sit beside him, letting him draw her head onto his shoulder, Jackie hitching over to lay her head on her lap and pat her arm. Beau watched them curiously before sighing and dropping back into doggy dreamland. They sat together for a long time before Alistair made Jackie get up and go sit in a cool tub while he and Beau checked the perimeter. Ashley turned the bed down and changed into her favorite T-shirt and panties, setting out Jackie’s nightgown. She had no idea what Alistair slept in but took the liberty of hanging up his dearth of belongings. Jackie was so going to take him shopping.