Her folks would cause trouble at some juncture. He hoped they weren’t stupid enough to do it in front of her. No one hurt his Claire. No one.
After the delightful encounter with Liam, she’d been waiting all week for Shane to make his presence known. She loved both men, but she liked having her separate time with them.
Claire lay on her bed, reading a book. She’d heard Liam leave some time ago. After Liam having her all to himself last week, she’d been expecting Shane to want the same. A week had gone by, and he still hadn’t shown signs of wanting her.
She strained to try and hear him at the same time she tried to keep her pounding heart under control. Settling on the bed, she read the same sentence over and over, the words not making sense.
Was that a creak of the stairs?
Shane hadn’t been alone with her when they made love. This would be the first time she got him to herself.
Anticipation roared to life. What would he do?
Closing her eyes, she took a couple of deep breaths and read her book.
A knock sounded at the door seconds before Shane opened it.
“Hey,” he said a few seconds later.
In her mind she envisioned throwing the book onto the floor and running into his arms. Could men be molested on the spot?
Instead, she lowered the book.
“Hey.” Points for sounding normal.
“Liam just left.”
“I heard. Where did he go?” she asked. If Shane wanted to play out their time together by talking, she was more than happy to oblige.
“I think he went to be with some friends. We’re all alone in the house.” He looked nervous, and she didn’t like seeing him like that.
“Do you have a problem being alone in the house with me?”
Shane moved farther into the room and sat on her bed next to her. She got up and crossed her legs. The long shirt she wore covered her down to her knees.
“Of course not. I don’t know . . .”
Searching his face didn’t hold any answers.
“What don’t you know?”
He took a second, and she let him. Being alone with Shane was different. They shared a past, which they viewed in different lights, but it was still there between them.
“I don’t know how to be different with you.”
Claire frowned. “You don’t need to be different with me.”
He shook his head and made to stand. She stopped him with a hand on his arm. “No. You’re not leaving this time. Yes, there’s a past between us. I swear to you, Shane, I never saw that night as you attacking me. Quite the opposite, actually.” She chuckled, thinking back to the night long ago.
“This would be our first time alone in a room since that night.” Claire turned his hand in her grip.
“I know. This all seems strange. I can’t believe how easy it sounded when Liam and I was talking about it,” Shane said.
“Is this what you and Liam decided? To share me?”
“No. We wanted…man, this is harder than it looks. Talking.” He ran a hand over his face. “We’ve loved you since, forever. We’ve told you so many times. Being together feels right to us, but we thought and decided that you deserved to have times where it is just you and one of us. We’ll always be together, and nothing will ever change that.”
“Do you want to have these moments with me?” She knew most of Liam’s thoughts. He always let her in. Shane was cut off. The problems with his dad had been buried deep inside. To escape the pain he’d turned himself into a block of ice. Feeling nothing was better than being hurt all the time.
Shane cupped her cheek, tilting her head back.
“I want to be with you more than anything.”
She nodded. They had problems like other couples, but slowly they were making breakthroughs. After so long of keeping their night together quiet, they’d talked about and understood each other. All they needed to do was remember to stay open and they’d get through the worst.
“You’ve got to let me in,” she whispered.
Instantly he froze, like an iceberg had taken the place where he sat.
“Don’t do this, Claire. Don’t spoil our time together.”
Tears sprung to her eyes. How could he say such things? Getting up from her seat on the bed, she began pacing her room. She wasn’t as tall or as strong as Liam or Shane, but her anger matched both men.
Shane, with his words, had cut her and made her angry.
How dare he treat her like that?
The anger rose, and she stood and watched him as he gazed at her. There was no expression on his face, as if a blank canvas was waiting to be painted. She hated it. She hated seeing his reactions. It felt as if Shane was always waiting to judge a person’s mood before he could make his own move.
She wouldn’t stand for it anymore . As kids they used to lash out at each other, playing.
Claire checked his feet to make sure he wasn’t wearing any shoes and then walked up to him. She stared into his eyes and knew she had to stop him from waiting. The blank canvas was a mask to the world. Inside, a part of him was still a little boy, afraid of his dad. Shane pummeled his dad good that night, but it hadn’t stopped the fear from staying.
“This isn’t spoiling our time. There is nothing you can tell me, Shane, that would make me think any less of you. I love you.”
He sat on the bed beside her and took her hands.
“You want to know the truth? My dad abused me and my mom every chance he got. Not sexually, at least not to me. I don’t know what he did to my mom behind closed doors. He’d come home, drunk, and something would be out of place, or Mom had fallen asleep. Something he didn’t agree with. At first he started with his fists. He’d go from her and then turn to me. When he was tired and his fists bleeding, he would remove his belt.”
Claire gasped. Going to her knees, she knelt behind him and cuddled him close.
“She had nowhere to go. So many times she packed our suitcases, and then she’d remember there was no one out there for her. My dad was the only person she had. Most of the time, she locked me in my room to try and keep him away. The punches got worse if he couldn’t find me. I’d sit in bed and hear her screaming, and I didn’t do anything. The only good thing that bastard did was leave.”
Claire listened as he told her more about being locked away. The tight, confined spaces had never been the same after he’d been locked away inside that small shed repeatedly. He described the sound of scurrying rats while he waited to be released from the prison he’d been placed in. She held him close and let him get it off his chest.
After so long of him talking and telling her about what had happened to him as a child he finally broke down and spoke honestly. “I’m a coward, Claire. I’d rather run and hide than face him.”
He held her as he cried for the little boy he’d been. She waited. When the tears subsided, she climbed off the bed and knelt in front of him.
“Look at me,” she said. “You’re not a coward, Shane Cook. You’re a strong man, and no child should have to live through that kind of pain. You weren’t in the wrong. He was, for being a monster.”
“What if I’m like him, Claire? What if I hurt our children or, god forbid, what if I hit you?” He sobbed.
Claire cried for him, for his fears and for everything done to the man she loved.
“Now you look at me. You will never be like that man. Do you hear me? I love you, and Liam loves you. You’re a stronger man than your father will ever be.”
Words weren’t enough. Claire showed him the love she felt.
Life got back to normal. Shane, Liam, and Claire were happy. The ranch hands saw the transformation in all of them. The happier lifestyle made all three of them work harder for each other. Production increased, and everyone was happy. Claire spent all of her time proving to Shane he was a good man. She trusted him with her body and her life, giving him the strength to fight his demons. Slowly he was changing. Shane fought the chains of the past and began to move forward to embrace a new life.
Liam bossed her around, and she loved it. Being with her men was the greatest part of her life. Every day she knew when the sun set and darkness fell they would be in her bed making love to her.
At night, after they made love, cuddling felt like the most natural thing in the world. The arms of two men kept her safe.
Nothing could take her happiness away. At least she thought so.
At the end of summer, she ordered some bread from the diner that served as a bakery. She knew the owner remarkably well and had ordered plenty for the boys.
She bumped into Cassidy as the other woman was leaving. Claire hadn’t spoken to her since that night the boys ended up in jail.
“Hi,” she said.
Cassidy smiled and embraced her. “Hi.”
“How is everything with you?” Claire asked. She noted the other woman hesitated. “What?”
“They’ve forgiven me for leaving them that night, but they want an answer and I can’t give them one. How do you choose between the two?”
“I guess you mean the sheriff and the brothers?” Claire asked.
“I know you should know. You, Liam, and Shane look great together. You all look happy. Maybe one day I’ll have a happily ever after, but at the minute I’d be content to just be friends,” Cassidy said.
Claire understood what the other woman meant. At least she was friends with Liam and Shane before they became lovers. They talked for a few more minutes before Cassidy left. The moment she stood on her own, she heard the talk coming from a person in the diner.
Her sister was taking this opportunity to try and turn the whole town of Long Mead against her.
“She’s living with two men. I mean, how big a slut can she be?”
Claire couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What did you say?” she asked her oldest sister, Alice. Her heart broke as she saw her entire family sitting in the corner. They had never invited her to breakfast. Another reason to be considered an outsider with her own family.
“The
rumor
mill has it you’re fucking Turner and Cook. I mean, come on, Claire. They’re your friends. You don’t go screwing around with two men. The word
slut
comes to mind.”
She’d never insulted a member of her family, or disputed their choices in life. Glancing around, she saw the entire diner staring at her. A mixture of disbelief, shock, and revulsion played on their faces.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she mumbled and turned to pay the woman at the counter.
Her sister grabbed her arm and spun her around. Uneasy on her feet, Claire stumbled. The tight hold on her arm was the only thing keeping her up.
“Don’t play the dumb-looking innocent, slut.”
The doorbell rang, and Claire looked up in time to see Shane and Liam in the doorway. The tension in the room mounted.
“The only slut in this room is you,” Liam said. Shane looked ready to do damage.
Her sister gasped. “Have you been spreading lies about me?” Alice asked. Claire’s grip tightened, and she couldn’t contain the cry of pain.
“Get your hands off her,” Shane yelled. In seconds, he was by her side and forcing her sister to back off. Her best friends and lovers stood in front of her, protecting her.
“Claire hasn’t been spreading lies. The fact you can’t keep your legs closed for longer than twenty minutes is the problem,” Liam said. The anger emanated from him. She placed a hand on his back to try to calm him down. No one in Long Mead had ever made a scene quite like this. She couldn’t believe the way her family was behaving.
“So she is fucking you?” her sister sneered. Claire cringed.
“Jealous? About a week ago you were telling me how available you were.” She gasped and stared at her sister. Liam and Shane had never been intentionally spiteful. This was a lesson. Their secret was out, and if anyone threatened to hurt her again, they’d have them to deal with.
“This goes for everyone else. We love Claire, and we’ll take down anyone who wants to hurt her. You’ve got a problem, you answer to us.” The people in the diner went back to their meals.
Clapping echoed around the room. Claire saw, sitting in the corner, the Walker brothers.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself. Good for you,” Gary said.
Shane tipped his head in acknowledgement. He and Liam both grabbed her hand and escorted her out of the place.
Their unbreakable bond was still in full effect.
Later that night…
“I think we should get married,” Liam said, handing the jar of peanut butter to Claire. All three were naked as they stood in the kitchen. The ranch hands had been given a day off and Liam, Shane, and Claire were taking advantage of the situation.
“Married?” she asked.
“Yeah. We’re all in love, and nothing is going to change. Plus, we’ve been boning Claire without any condoms. I think we should make a respectable woman out of her.”
“Boning. Seriously, Liam, when are you going to grow up?”