Neil, Louisa - One Queen with Two Kings (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (28 page)

“Son of a bitch,” she yelled and threw the phone onto the bed and then retrieved it and re-read the stories. Shortly
,
a very sleepy and rumpled Dexter came rushing in. Russell was just behind him, pushing his hair from his face.

“Thea, what’s wrong?” Dexter’s voice was heavy with sleep.

“We better put the news on,” she said as calmly as possible. She tossed the phone to Dexter and pushed past both of them. When they joined her in the living room, she was scanning channels of news, each with some version of the same headlines.

“I guess we weren’t as cloistered as we thought.” Russell sounded angry at the intrusion into their vacation. They all paused to listen to the announcer, an embarrassed blonde woman
,
pointing out all the dildos and vibrators on the counter before her in the lingerie store. She was referring to them as private toys for adults. With each report they listened to, it got worse, the conjecture more outrageous. They shut off the television and all took coffee out onto the deck.

“Well, what do we do now?”

“Did you pay cash or use your credit card?” Russell asked.

“I paid in cash,” she answered, confused by his question.

“I paid cash
,
too. So there’s no credit card receipt to be found
. We
can deflect it all by saying it’s a woman who looked like you.”

“I suppose I just felt so comfortable here, I let down my guard.”

“We can’t spend the rest of our lives in fear of every purchase we make.” Dexter was trying to tease her into a better mood. They chose to stay at the house but shut the drapes tight and didn’t venture outside.

By afternoon, they were all cranky. Thea snapped on the television and scanned the news programs. They ran the gambit from the men being impotent from their time away to announcers wondering why any three people would need all those adult toys.

Thea called Alex and got the update. It was all over the news and newspapers. He felt someone had tipped off the papers to their location
,
only he had no idea who. They decided it had to be someone who worked in the company, probably someone who held an allegiance to Lloyd.

“How do we find out who
?
” Thea asked.

“We’re working on it,” Alex told her.

She had a brief conversation with Grace
,
who didn’t acknowledge why she was with Alex
,
and Thea didn’t ask. They decided to discuss this all when they returned the next day. Only Thea couldn’t wait any longer. Her idyllic days with her two kings had been overshadowed by the headlines. With a few calls, they had a private plane ready to take them back to the
E
ast
C
oast later in the day. They’d arrive late, very late
,
and she hoped it would make their arrival less newsworthy, especially since they left the original flight plan for tomorrow in place as a false lead.

They packed with great haste, reluctantly leaving the house they’d come to think of as their private retreat.

They headed from the airport directly to Thea’s family home. She knew her dad would be waiting with Michelle,
and
Alex and Grace would be there as well as Dexter’s parents.

Their reunion was light
-
hearted, but Thea didn’t feel very festive. They were given the details of what
had
happened while they were gone and knew, even though they couldn’t prove it, that somehow Lloyd had gotten to the press. Thankfully, not one person asked why she bought the items.

“The judge threatened him with contempt charges if he spoke to the press
,
so this was his next revenge. It certainly takes the spotlight away from his actions.”

“What do we do? How do we deal with him?” Everyone heard the angst in Thea’s tone.

“We don’t.” Alex’s statement was cold. “We ignore all of this, don’t give it any credence. We all have a strict no
-
comment policy when it comes to all of this.”

They all stayed at the house for a few days
,
avoiding the hordes of press.

“I can’t stay here the rest of my life,” Russell said one afternoon after being shut in for another week. “Don’t get me wrong, this is a lovely home, but it’s just a gilded prison. I won’t let Lloyd dictate my future.”

“I’m sick of it too. I want to go home, to our apartment.” Thea looked to Dexter. “What do you think?”

“I think for a while we’ll have to be very careful what we say and to who
m
.”

“Let’s just go home. Dad is finally starting to get close to Michelle. With us here, they won’t get any closer. I want revenge
,
but not this way. Come on,
guys,
let’s all go home
,
and we’ll work it out there.”

There was a general consensus among the family that their going home was the right thing to do, as long as they kept their mouths shut and were very careful what purchases they made.

Dexter commented to Thea how odd he felt walking into this old apartment. “This used to feel like a huge space. Now it just feels cloying and airless.”

“I can relate,” she told him and hugged him tight.

When any of them would venture out of the building, there were photographers waiting. Russell and Dexter went to physical therapy every day but were shadowed by the press. Thea took to going to the office, but had to take the car service instead of driving herself because of the press hounding her at every turn. Worse yet, she didn’t know who to trust outside her immediate family. They took to having family suppers at Alistair’s home a few times a week
,
but they all felt penned in.

Her sex life had dramatically changed. With all eyes on them constantly, Thea and Dexter had tried to settle back into a normal life. Russell was back living in his apartment alone. Thea was relieved that when she and Dexter were alone, they’d fallen back into their old relationship of man and wife. They had sex often but were both a bit more restrained, like the early days before the crash.

Back at home, Thea found it hard to let go of general daily responsibilities and found herself falling back into old patterns. The good side was that she and Dexter were bonding as they had in their early years of marriage. Some days were idyllic, others were fraught with media intruding on their private time. They often shared meals with Russell
,
but their sex life as a threesome had been put aside. None of them wanted that side of their personal lives to become public.

There were many long conversations about the inequities of Lloyd’s freedoms. That was when it struck Alex. While he didn’t give them any details, he asked them to just hang
o
n a few more days.

The following Monday, Alex called Thea early and told her to turn on the news. She in turn called Russell and told him to come to their apartment to watch with them. It was the first time they’d been alone together as a threesome since returning from the mountains
,
but there was
no
sexual activity between them.

The headlines were different this morning. It seem
ed
Lloyd’s skeletons were being let out of the closet. There was an interview with a wom
a
n, who remained nameless and in shadows, giving interviews about what Lloyd had told her when they were lovers. She spelled out how he planned to marry Thea and slowly take over Wainwright Industrial. According to the woman, he’d promised her a lot of money if she’d wait until his plan unfolded. By midday, Thea’s telephone was ringing. It was Lloyd.

Thea chose not to take the call. She chose not to take a call from his lawyer
,
either. That night, with the family gathered in her apartment, she finally took the call from Lloyd’s lawyer. He wanted to meet with all parties and work out a deal. Arrangements were made for the next day. There was a lot of speculation about what kind of deal he’d want
,
but none of them were ready to concede anything to Lloyd. Nobody asked and nobody offered information about the woman in the interview. Frankly, Thea didn’t want to know. Russell made a point of leaving with the rest of the company but snuck back later using the stairs instead of the elevator.

The three of them sat on the living room sofa, Dexter, Thea
,
and Russell all lined up, waiting for what? Thea finally pointed out to the men that they were letting Lloyd win by continuing to let him intimidate them. She offered to sleep in bed
with
both men. Not for sex, just sleep. She left the men to decide and within minutes was joined by them both. As they had done on vacation, she scooted naked to the center
,
and the men each took a side after dropping their clothing on the floor. She pulled Russell to spoon against her front and dropped her arm over him. He grasped her hand and held tight. Dexter spooned up behind her, dropping his arm over her waist. At first, she thought they might find a sexual moment, but she faded into a deep sleep quickly, holding tight to her kings. The next morning, Russell was gone when she woke but appeared at their door when it was time to head to the meeting.

The next afternoon, Thea left for the office with her two kings beside her. It was the first time she smiled since they left the mountains. With the family and a full squad of lawyers, they would work out a deal to get their lives back.

Lloyd acknowledged in front of the district attorney that he’d sabotaged the plane. He admitted that he’d given out the wrong search coordinates in order to keep Dexter and Russell from being rescued. He begrudgingly admitted to his plan about marrying Thea to take over the company. That part didn’t matter
. They
had that on tape from the morning of her almost wedding. He also admitted to the inconsistencies in the accounts and the missing company funds.

Thea had sat quietly between Dexter and Russell, listening to Lloyd make his admissions. But something wasn’t right
. There
had to be something much worse for him to admit to all of this. He was looking for an out.

He’d wanted to make a deal with no jail time
,
but that was overruled immediately. Eventually, they’d agreed that he’d return the funds he’d stolen and admit to the sabotage. He’d spend five years in a federal prison, a country
-
club prison rather than a state facility where he’d be expected to do hard labor. Again, Thea realized Lloyd’s worst fear was a public trial. What was he holding back
,
and who was he afraid would find out?

When they took a break, Thea couldn’t let go of the suspicion she felt. Her father and brother felt it was a good deal, considering the years it might take to get him to trial, leaving him to live his normal life. Russell and Dexter were just relieved he admitted to his part in their crash. Lloyd had even admitted he started the rumors about her drug addiction.

“It all wraps up into a nice little package,” Michelle said offhandedly during their break.