Initiative (Suncoast Society #31)(51)

John hadn’t anticipated she’d meet not one man, but two. He hoped the thought behind the letter would still apply.

They both loved and cherished Susie. And heaven help anyone who tried to hurt her. They’d have not one, but two very protective men to deal with.

It was a lot of luck—good and bad—and more than a little sadness that brought them to where they were. Now that they were here, no way in hell would he f*ck it up.

He’d thought he’d lucked out by ending up with Darryl. That life couldn’t get any more perfect, barring hitting the lottery or something like that.

With Susie, they were…

Perfection.

Life could settle into whatever routine they ended up in, however it happened. He didn’t need to marry her to love her and Darryl both. They wore his collars.

That was forever, as far as he was concerned, unless they ever asked to be set free.

It was time to head to their weekly D and D game when he got home. Darryl gave him an inquisitive look, but Grant shook his head, indicating they’d talk later. This wasn’t something he wanted to rush into right before they had to meet with friends. They’d pick Susie up from work, and she’d be spending the night with them after gaming. Grant would drop her off in the morning on his way in to work.

Even after picking her up and the three of them arrived at Rusty and Eliza’s, Grant couldn’t shake himself out of his funk.

Susie noticed.

“Are you feeling all right?” she asked him.

“Just tired and a little distracted.” He kissed her hand. “I think someone should be concentrating on their spell list and not on me.”

She playfully stuck her tongue out at him, but that was the last she’d mentioned it that evening.

Grant waited until they were home and Darryl and Susie had both stripped and donned their cuffs and collars to reveal what happened. With them sitting on the floor in front of him, while he sat on the couch, he told them about the visit to Ed’s office, and the letter.

The copy of which he held in his hand.

“I want Darryl to read it first,” he told her. “Then if you want to read it, you can. But since in terms of our relationship, he has responsibility for your care, too, he needs to read it.”

She nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

Grant handed it to Darryl and sat back, motioning Susie closer. She edged forward and rested her head in his lap so he could stroke her hair.

Her eyes dropped closed, her arms slipping around his legs.

At peace.

He twirled her hair around his fingers, remaining silent but watching Darryl’s face as he read the letter.

By the time Darryl finished, he was blinking back tears. “Wow,” he quietly said as he handed it back to Grant.

“Yeah.” He rested his hand on her head. “Do you want to read it?”

“Is it going to make me cry, Sir?”

“Probably, but in the good ways. He loved you very, very much. And he wanted us to know that.”

He felt her sniffle. “Yes, Sir,” she softly said. “I’d like to read it.”

He handed it to her and watched as her hands trembled while she read it. At the end, her eyes fell closed, tears slipping from beneath her lids and silently sliding down her cheeks.

Grant took it back from her and folded it. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, Sir,” she whispered.

Darryl crowded in, wrapping his arms around her. “You’re our most precious possession, too,” Darryl told her. “We love you so damn much, you have no idea.”

Grant leaned in and wrapped his arms around both of them, kissing her, then Darryl. “What he said. Keep talking to us. Tell us if something is wrong. Tell us if there’s something you need that we’re not doing for you. Anything.”

Her eyes remained closed but she nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“Would you like to go to bed and just snuggle and watch TV tonight?”

A ragged breath escaped her. “Yes, Sir,” she said. “I think that’s all I can handle for tonight.”

“You can always talk about him with us,” Grant said as he stroked her hair. “It doesn’t bother us. If you ever need to talk. That’s why we’re here, because we love you. I could never be jealous of him for how much he loved you. I won’t deny I’m glad we finally get to be with you, but I hate like hell how much pain you had to endure to find your way back to us.”

She finally opened her eyes. “Thank you, Sir. I never thought it was possible to be happy again. I thought that part of my life was over forever, and I knew I wouldn’t be happy with a vanilla guy. Now I wish I had let him introduce me around. Maybe we would have found each other sooner. I hate that I was so scared, and for so long he basically denied himself people he’d called friends because of me.”

“Don’t think of it like that,” Grant told her. “He loved you and wanted you to be happy. He had you. You were who he needed. The rest was a bonus, but not necessary for happiness. I’m glad you’re feeling more secure now, because I really don’t want to give up our friends. I feel you need friends who can understand what we do, friends you don’t have to pretend around. But at the time, he gave you what you needed and loved every bit of you for it.”

He stood and held his hands out to them. Helping them up, he led them to the bedroom. “That’s it. Time for us to hit the hay and sleep. I feel a good snuggle session coming on.”