Three Rings and a Rose (16 page)

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the same thing that he was.
Or I could be hearing things that aren’t
fucking there.

Jerking his head to the side, Caedon checked out Micah, trying to find a hint of what he’d heard in his voice. But he came up with nothing. His friend’s face had closed up, the prickly man returning full-force. “We are
not
going to be involved sexually,” he stated clearly with a brutal honesty that wounded Caedon to the core.

From the way his friend spoke, he wasn’t going to go down the sexual route with Caedon. Even if he had feelings for Caedon—which Caedon was not convinced of, one way or the other—he didn’t plan to act on them. No matter what Caedon did or how he felt, he had a feeling Micah wouldn’t let him in. He wouldn’t allow him to utter the loving words he wanted. He’d never grant him the chance to touch Micah, to kiss him or hug him or fuck him. There would be nothing but friendship.

Sadly, Caedon would take it. He needed Ella and Micah too badly to give them up merely because he wasn’t able to have all of Micah.

He couldn’t do it. If that made him a selfish bastard, so be it. He wasn’t going anywhere for anything. They’d have to get a goddamn crane to get him to leave them for good. He might have to travel for work, but he would always be back for them.

Several of the men looked at each other, their faces perplexed and even a bit shocked at Micah’s announcement. What Caedon found interesting was that the men who seemed the most out of sorts were Gray, Cade, Shane, and Landon—the four who were involved emotionally and intimately with both their spouses.

The man who appeared to be the quietest one in the group, Landon, said, “You have to be kidding me. You two are going to share Ella but not each other? That is complete and utter bullshit. You two are obviously involved.”

“No, we’re not,” Micah disagreed. “We’re just friends.”

“Just because you two aren’t fucking doesn’t mean you’re not in love with each other,” Shane stated. He slid his eyes to his blond
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husband. Apparently sensing Shane’s gaze, Landon turned his head and smiled at him. A look of silent communication passed between them before he added, “And it doesn’t mean that you won’t always love each other. Trust me on that. When you find your other pieces of yourself, there’s no going back. You can do what you want, say what you want, and think what you want. But it won’t change a fucking thing. You belong to them, just as they belong to you.” Caedon felt a pang of agonizing pain assault his chest, and a sliver of envy accompanied it. Immediately he felt terrible. These men were good men. They were willing to help him. How could he begrudge them their happiness?
Because I’m human.

Sighing, Shane looked away from his husband then pinned both Caedon and Micah with his eyes—one at a time. “You two will inevitably share Ella. I know you will because you both love her that much and neither of you is going to give her up. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here now. I also know that you’ll find a way to sort through the issues that concern you about living in a permanent ménage. But you need to understand one very important thing. If you love each other the way you love Ella, there will come a day when neither of you can hold back any longer. There’ll be no more hiding, running, or denials. It will be like spontaneous combustion. So you need to prepare yourself now because when it happens—and it will—

there’ll be no stopping either of you.

“He’s right. I give the boneheads two weeks from the day they get Ella between them,” Cade muttered then reached into the back pocket of his faded jeans and retrieved his wallet. Flipping open the leather case, he thumbed through the bills inside it. “Anyone want to make a bet on it? Two weeks, Micah topping, and they won’t even make it to the damn bedroom.”

One of Shannon’s husbands and the youngest of the three triplets, Randy, pulled out his own wallet. “I’ll take that bet. Fifty or a hundred?” he asked as he pulled out several bills then, leaning around Gray, he placed them in Cade’s awaiting hand. “I think I’ll go fifty
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and say two weeks and…one day after they have their first Ella sandwich. Micah is definitely the top, and they will fuck on the floor.” Caedon couldn’t help it. He horse laughed. Despite his hurt feelings and more-than-a-little offended pride, he found a twisted sense of hilarity in the quirky moment. These men were actually standing around, betting on when, where, and how Micah would fuck him. It was crazy. However, it was a good kind of crazy. One Caedon found he liked.

When Caedon managed to suppress his amusement, he muttered,

“Sorry.” But the men only smirked at him—all of them, except Micah.

“No, you’re not,” Cade said then patted him on the back heartily.

“But that’s okay. You’ll get used to us.”

“He’ll have to,” Randy added. “Our women stick together, which means we stick together. Otherwise, we’re all fucked in a way that none of us want to be fucked.” He shivered theatrically before chuckling.

The oldest triplet, Jared, shook his head. “Behave, Randy. We don’t want to scare Caedon off—yet. We have to show him and Micah the ways of the ménage world.”

Randy shrugged silently.

“You won’t scare me off,” Caedon announced with an ease that surprised even him. “I’m here to stay. Serenity is a nice place for me to put down roots.”

They had no clue how serious Caedon was or how true his statement would prove to be. But he would share it all with them soon. Even Micah would see. Caedon just had to wait for the right time to spring it on him then Ella and the rest of the whole damn town.

“Well, welcome to a new place and a new lifestyle. We’re glad to have you,” Cade told him as he extended his hand to Caedon. Shaking hands with his newfound alliance, Caedon found himself smiling
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from the inside out. This was it. This was what he’d been looking for since he was a child—a place to truly belong.

* * * *

Micah took a couple dragging steps back on surprisingly jittery legs. He clumsily scuffled his feet along the asphalt, causing a scraping noise to come from underneath the sole of his shoes. He bumped into the wall with a barely audible, “Ooph,” then leaned as unobtrusively as possible against the rigid bricks. The discomfort of the hardened clay barely registered over the blood whooshing in his ear. He concentrated on tearing his eyes away from Caedon’s hand as it shook Cade’s. But he couldn’t seem to do it. His eyes remained fixated on the big, strong hand when he wanted nothing more than to look away, to look at anything in the cramped alleyway—except Caedon, Cade, or any other man near him.

Micah needed a moment to get a grip. He had to have a second to breathe. His life had just had the rug pulled out from under it for the second time in twenty-four hours, and he’d better get his ass off up and moving—pretty damn quick.

It was rather funny in a fucked up sort of way that Shane’s words had the power to rock the foundation of the only world Micah had ever known. And they did because everything he said was correct. He and Caedon would share Ella. They would work out every detail and every kink. Those things would happen, and they were enough to shake Micah. But the fact that he wouldn’t be able to stay away from Caedon sent shockwaves through his system. Not because he didn’t want to have Caedon as a husband, but because he didn’t know whether or not Caedon wanted to have him.

Before this moment, Micah had naturally assumed that if they shared her, they would do it without any change between them. He’d truly believed they could maintain the status quo. Or, at least, he could pretend they were just friends who shared their lives with the
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same woman while Caedon lived in ignorant bliss. But now, he wasn’t so sure.

Shane believed they couldn’t stay apart if they loved each other.

Knowing Shane’s history with Landon, he was probably right. But what happened when the love was one-sided, when he loved Caedon and Caedon didn’t love him? What happened then? What would he do? Would he have to give them both up?

Micah didn’t know, and he didn’t care anymore. All he wanted was Ella and Caedon—in any way he could have them. He would worry about everything else tomorrow or the next day or whenever he had to. He refused to waste another minute of his life without the two people he loved.

Fuck the problems that would come up. Fuck the chance that he would get hurt. And fuck anything else that could keep them apart.

They were his, goddamn it. And he was theirs.

“Let’s go,” Micah blurted out. “We have a woman to win over.” All eyes snapped to Micah, but he turned a blind eye to them. He stalked over to Caedon and said, “I’m ready if you are.” Caedon’s eyes widened but then a wicked smile spread across his face. “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”

“I’ll remind you of that later when Ella’s fighting us like a she-devil,” Micah teased, a sudden surge of unity and intimacy swamping him. The old camaraderie he’d always felt when Caedon was near fell into place, and, for the first time in a long time, he felt hopeful for what was to come.

Even though Micah knew that Ella wouldn’t cave easily, he looked forward to taking her down with this man by his side. They would have a hell of a lot of fun together as they captured their woman and convinced her that love was
always
enough.

Whether it took days, weeks, months, or even years, he and Caedon would win Ella over. They would slip their ring on her finger, and they would spend their lives together. He and Caedon would make damn sure of it.

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And if luck was on Micah’s side, Ella wouldn’t be the only one who ended up with a ring on. If he had his way, he’d have a wife
and
a husband—like so many other people in this wonderful town.

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When Ella had agreed to play Truth or Dare with her three closest girlfriends, she hadn’t signed up for this. She hadn’t expected for them to deliver their dare immediately nor had she expected for it to be easy. It was almost too easy.

“You want me to go in Pretty Petals and retrieve a flowerpot for Penelope?
That
is my dare?” Ella inquired, completely shocked by the recent turn of events. She eyeballed the brightly lit storefront of the flower shop the Portman sisters—Penelope and Piper—owned.

“Don’t you think that is a little too…
simple
? We’re supposed to be playing a life-altering game. I was expecting something more…I don’t know, crazy, challenging, kooky, or something.” Beside her, Shannon shook her head. “Nope. We decided to go easy on you.

Ella snorted. “I don’t like easy. I like everything like fucking—

hard and fast. Besides, I think you’re full of shit. You three would
never
go easy on me. You’re up to something.” Shannon gasped dramatically then threw her head back. Touching her chest, she feigned far too-transparent indignation. “How could you accuse me of something like that? I’m a good girl.”

“Yeah right, and I own a toy store filled with G-rated movies, educational books about playing, malleable mini-bats, childproof outlet plugs, and blowable bubbles.” She rolled her eyes. “Who needs porn, sex manuals, dildos, butt plugs, or lube in Serenity?” Sticking her tongue out, Shannon otherwise ignored her acerbic response. “Just remember that all you have to do is get the purple ceramic pot with the white forget-me-not flower hand-painted on it
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and bring it to me.
But
you have to find it and hand it directly to me.

If you walk out that door without it, you lose.”

“I know. I know. I know,” Ella groused. “You’ve told me at least ten times. I think I have it.”

Shannon grinned. “Fine then, go on in. Nothing in the store will bite you.”

“That’s not what I’m afraid of,” Ella muttered under her breath.

She really wasn’t worried about that. But something didn’t feel right about this situation. On one hand, Ella figured they had stashed something or someone inside the store, yet that couldn’t be it. She could see inside the store, and it was empty. However, she didn’t trust the girls when it came to this game and matchmaking.

Shannon opened the door for her and then shoved her inside. “I’ll wait out here,” she announced through the glass. “You take your time and find what you…
need.
”

Ella frowned. She didn’t like the way that Shannon had said

“need.” The drawn-out pronunciation made her squirm, and she wanted to curse. Either she was being silly and suspicious or she was right on target. But she didn’t know. And there was only one way she could find out.

Spinning around, Ella searched for the
magical
flowerpot that she was supposed to locate and retrieve. However, she didn’t see it.

Stalking forward, she ground to an abrupt halt in front of the table covered with pots in every shape, size, and color. She picked each one up then put it back down. She shuffled them around, hoping that the pot was hiding somewhere in front of her nose. Predictably, she found nothing.