Hot Sauce (Suncoast Society #26)(55)

“I was right about you,” Kelly said. “You weren’t smart enough to go to a real college and get a real job, so you stayed in the first place dumb enough to hire you and probably slept your way—”

“Out!” Reed bellowed, rising from the couch. Both he and Lyle started toward her.

“Get out,” Lyle said, “or I swear we will heave you out of here ourselves.”

Vanessa stood. “Kelly, I feel sorry for you. I really do. Because Tony was happier in the last four years of his life, even with the divorce, than he’d ever been before. And you’ll live the rest of your life as a miserable person.

Lyle had already made it to the front door and was holding it open for her while Reed followed Kelly to the door.

Kelly turned and glared at Vanessa. “I wish I’d never met your brother,” she spat.

“That makes two of us!” Vanessa screamed at her.

Lyle closed the door in her face, flipping the deadbolt and putting the security chain on.

“Wow,” Reed said, turning. “What a f*cking bitch.”

“Please let Carlo out,” she said, her legs shaking as she sank back onto the couch. She leaned forward and set the urn on the coffee table.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Lyle said as Carlo rounded the couch from the other direction, a wubbie in his mouth. “We shouldn’t have let her in.”

“No, it’s okay.” A peace had settled over her, as if a bubble had popped, a blister, emotional pus slowly draining from her. Like a dose of virtual hot sauce onto her mental palate, shocking her back to reality with its heat and burn.

“It’s really okay.” She stared at the urn.

Cobalt blue, it was made of metal, she didn’t know what kind, the enameled finish usually shiny but right now smudged with her hand prints.

After a few deep breaths, she felt steady enough to stand and picked it up, carrying it back to the kitchen counter. She got a clean dishtowel and started polishing the urn until no more smudges remained.

The men had offered to install a shelf for her, wherever she wanted, so she could safely put it somewhere and see it.

For now, she couldn’t think that far ahead.

The men gathered behind her.

“I actually think I needed that,” she said.

“Needed what?” Reed asked. “A greedy bitch insulting you?”

She nodded, still staring at the urn. “Yeah. Because Tony was right. Life’s too short to be unhappy.” She finally turned to face them. “And I’d rather choose to be happy. And she’ll never even understand that’s a choice she can make.”





Chapter Twenty


The next eight weeks Vanessa spent with the men were a blur. Every night, either they were at her house, or Vanessa and Carlo were at theirs.

She wasn’t about to give them up, and they were in no hurry to get rid of her. They’d done a lot of talking, about them, about Tony, about where they were heading, the three of them together.

Four, counting Carlo.

Their friends were openly cheering them on from the sidelines, with Tilly especially dropping not-so-subtle hints about when could they plan a wedding or collaring or something?

They weren’t in a hurry for that.

The sex was hot, even hotter as they taught her what they enjoyed and let her explore what she liked to do to them. She found she enjoyed strap-on play, both as an active participant and sometimes as a passive one, being tied up and vibrated while wearing the strap-on and they took turns f*cking themselves on it.

She even discovered she liked giving them some impact play, even though she didn’t want to totally dominate them. Still, the men were thrilled with that, and had expressed no desire to play with anyone but her.

She’d realized that while she liked to submit to them sexually, and for sensual play, even some light impact play, she wasn’t submissive in any other way outside of the bedroom. She had grown to love the term “baby girl,” and one night a few weeks earlier, together, they’d all changed their relationship statuses on FetLife to reflect them being her Sirs and her being their baby girl.

They’d celebrated by tying her up and vibrating her with a Hitachi until she safeworded. And since they’d never violated her safeword, and plenty of times had stopped their fun before she was ready to stop, her trust in them had long ago been sealed.

And even more unbelievable?

It was a Saturday morning, and she was going out on a boat with Reed.

Taking. Time. For. Her.

Yes, they’d have to play it a little cool because of the charter passengers. But they were one of his regular groups that he took out, and since there were only three of them, they didn’t mind if Reed brought one more. Sometimes, Lyle went out with him.

Today, it would be her, because Lyle had to be in Orlando for a day of seminars for one of the companies he wrote policies for. He couldn’t miss it, or he’d have been on the boat, too. He’d actually driven over the night before and stayed there since the first one started at eight that morning.

In a way, it was nice being able to have a little alone time with one of them. Not that she minded spending time with both of them together, obviously. But, last Saturday and Sunday, Lyle had her to himself during the day on both days.

It was only fair Reed got some solo time, too.