Siren Beloved

Chapter Nine

Lucas pushed through the double doors of the ranch house with a slightly reinvigorated lease on life. Lexi was sleeping peacefully in the ridiculously oversized bed Aidan had set up in the master bedroom. Lucas had never been to Aidan’s Central Texas ranch, and last night’s 4:00 a.m. arrival hadn’t told him much. However, he seriously doubted that the master bedroom had been in this elegant and oversized condition when Aidan’s father was alive. As far as Lucas knew, the elder O’Malley hadn’t been a ladies’ man, so he doubted he had required a custom-made bed with a delicate white quilt and three dressers. That room had been remodeled to fit a ménage.

Aidan was thinking positively.

Aidan would need a dose of positivity after the way his night had ended. Aidan had been mulishly quiet during the long drive from Dallas to the ranch. He had apparently had some form of conversation with the woman named Karen. When Lucas had asked about her, Aidan had simply said that she wasn’t his fiancée or his girlfriend, and Lucas wasn’t to worry about her.

But Karen had that look, that psycho “I’ll cut you” look under all the sugary sweetness she’d laid on Aidan. Lucas knew the type all too well. One of those had tried to kill Lexi just a year ago. Lucas wasn’t taking any chances. He’d already texted the Dawson brothers with Karen Wilcox’s name. It was a long shot. She hadn’t seemed to know Lexi was involved with Aidan, but Lucas couldn’t leave that stone unturned.

Lucas shook off the thought and started to look around for a coffee mug. His Lexi was a bit of a nightmare before she had her coffee. He often just set the coffee down in front of her, shook her gently awake, and ran before she was in angry badger mode.

The kitchen looked worn, with old appliances and faded curtains. Now that Lucas really looked around, the whole place had a slightly dilapidated air to it as though it had once been prosperous, but those days were now gone. It surprised him because the bedroom he and Lexi had been taken to last night had been polished to perfection.

“If you’re looking for the mugs, they’re in the cupboard on the left.”

Lucas turned and smiled at the slightly younger man who could only be Aidan’s brother, Bo. He was the spitting image of Aidan from four years before. “Thank you. I’m Lucas.”

“Yeah, I know who you are. You’re my brother’s…buddy.”

And he knew about Lucas’s relationship with Aidan. That one word “buddy” held an edge of distaste. Some of Lucas’s friendliness was whisked away. Lucas poured Lexi’s coffee in the mug. “I was at one point. Not so sure about now. Thank you for your help.”

He turned to go back toward the room he and Lexi had stayed in the night before.

“Wait.”

Lucas glanced back at Bo. He looked like he was in his early twenties, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. His hair was still wet, probably from a shower. The sun had come up hours before. Aidan had been out working with the dawn, despite only a few hours of sleep. Lucas knew that because he’d heard him moving around and then glimpsed him on horseback through the window. Lucas waited for Aidan’s brother to further castigate him for his sexual proclivities.

“Is Lexi all right?” Bo asked, staring down at his feet.

Lucas sighed. Well, naturally. Lexi was stunning, with raven black hair and a figure that harkened back to a fifties pin-up. He knew she was always worried about her weight, but she was utterly perfect in his mind. Soft and sweet and so fuckable he was getting hard just thinking about her. It wasn’t a surprise that Aidan’s baby brother had a thing for Lexi. He would have been a teen when they had been engaged. “She’s fine, but we all need to watch out for her. If you notice anyone odd hanging around, let me or Aidan know.”

“Yeah, okay. I was real upset to hear someone tried to hurt her,” Bo said. He paused, a flush heating his face. “So you’re my brother’s boyfriend?”

Lucas answered because the question had been asked with a modicum of civility. “No. I was your brother’s failed experiment. Now we’re involved in a short-term D/s relationship which means that for the time being, as long as it pleases me, I will do as he says.”

Bo’s eyes were back up and there was an unmistakable note of confusion in them. Lucas wondered exactly what Aidan had told him about their relationship. “But you slept with Lexi last night. Aidan slept in the guest bedroom.”

“He did, indeed. Lexi isn’t terribly happy with Aidan right now. We’ll see. I have some plans that might bring her around.” Now that he’d started down the path that led he and Lexi into a permanent sexual relationship, he was impatient. He’d play a very long game with her. Being with Lexi forever was far more important than immediate gratification, but now that the finish line was in sight, he was anxious. The D/s relationship they were exploring gave him exactly what he needed to move this along. And he knew he was fooling himself. Short-term wasn’t what he was interested in with Aidan.

Bo’s head shook. “I don’t understand a lick of this. If some guy was coming after my girl, I would kick his ass, not try to come up with a way to get her into bed with him.”

“Oh, my plan doesn’t involve a bed at all, so don’t worry about it.”

“What’s going on in here?” Aidan’s big, beautiful form suddenly filled the doorway. He walked in from the back porch into the kitchen. He wore a pair of faded Levi’s, cowboy boots, and a T-shirt that was already drenched in sweat and clinging to his chest. A cowboy hat sat on top of his head. His brown eyes shifted suspiciously from his brother to Lucas and back.

“Not a thing,” Lucas said, watching the way Bo suddenly puffed up the minute his brother walked in the room. His demeanor went from slightly unsure to arrogant in a heartbeat. Bo’s face tightened, and his lips became slightly cruel.

“I was just talking to your little butt buddy here. I think I’ll go into town, be around some real men.” Bo turned on his boot heels and started toward the front door.

Aidan’s face hardened, and he started to go after Bo.

“I would prefer you didn’t, Sir.” Lucas kept his voice even and quiet, not argumentative. He really was making a request.

Aidan stopped, his hand on the door. “He’s being an ass, and I won’t allow it. He won’t insult you or Lexi in my home.”

There really was something about another person protecting him that just got Lucas’s juices flowing. Perhaps it was his crappy childhood, but Lucas was well aware he was a sucker for a protective man or woman. Lexi had made him her slave the day she defended him to some of the nastier people of her mother’s hometown. Of course, his crappy childhood had taught him other things, too. “First, it’s his home, too. And second, I seriously doubt Bo would ever hurt Lexi. He cares about her. Now, I’m another story.”

“He’s being a small-minded, homophobic little prick, and I won’t stand for it.”

Sometimes siblings couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Lucas’s own siblings saw him as a waste of flesh. Of course, his father had done nothing to help. But Lucas knew what it was like to want an older sibling’s attention. “No, Sir, he’s being your little brother. Tell me something, Aidan. Were the two of you close when you were younger?”

Aidan’s head came up, turning to Lucas. “Yes. We were really close. That’s what makes me crazy. We had to survive our father. He was remote and unapproachable and exacting. We were never quite good enough for him. He was really hard on Bo. I had to take care of him, especially when Dad got to drinking.”

“Yes, and then you left him to go to college, and then the Army, and now you’re back and in control of the ranch with not one, but two potential lovers. He doesn’t understand where his brother went,” Lucas explained. “He misses his brother. You might consider not being so hard on him.”

“Lucas, you can’t expect me to just let that go.”

“It was merely an observation.” Lucas started back out the door.

“Wait. I’ll think about what you said.” Aidan stood close. Lucas could feel the heat from his body, but he couldn’t give in to it. “Can you come out and help me in the barn? My foreman hasn’t come in to work, and obviously Bo isn’t going to be helpful. I need an extra set of hands.”

Ranch work. Yeah, he knew a little bit about that. Some hard physical labor might calm his cock down. Between cuddling with Lexi and being so close to Aidan, he was pretty damn frustrated. He held up the coffee mug. “I can do that. Let me feed the beast, and then I’ll go with you.”

Aidan’s lips quirked up as he looked at the mug in Lucas’s hands. “Be quick. She’s deadly before she has her coffee.”

Lucas’s heart seized a little. This was what he wanted. He wanted the camaraderie of a threesome. He was self-aware enough to know that he wanted to have his cake and eat it, too. There was a component of getting everything he wanted sexually in there, but it went beyond that. He wanted to not be alone. Even in a traditional relationship, there was a certain amount of loneliness. If he married Lexi, no one else would know what it meant to be her husband. Oh, but if they had Aidan, he would always be there, backing Lucas up and laughing over all of Lexi’s adorable quirks. When she confused him, he could lean on Aidan. When she was hurting, they could surround her.

“Lucas?” Aidan’s hand came out as though he realized Lucas was getting emotional.

Lucas stepped back. He couldn’t. Not yet. Sex was fine, but he wasn’t ready for that true, pure intimacy that came with comforting another human being. “I’ll be ready in a minute.”

He didn’t miss the way Aidan’s face fell.

Aidan wanted to scream. Every time he thought he was getting close to making a breakthrough, Lucas pulled away. As for Lexi, well, she’d made herself plain the night before when he’d shown them to the room he’d renovated with every bit of savings he had. He’d taken the master bedroom and turned it into something comfortable for them.

And Lexi had slammed the door in his face.

“You can make me come out here, but you can’t make me sleep with you,” she had said.

He hadn’t expected to, but it rankled that Lucas was on the other side of that door and he wasn’t. Would they have sex now that he’d gotten them together? Aidan was well aware that they hadn’t had intercourse. Would they use the big bed he’d had made for the three of them to remedy that little problem?

Jealousy had burned through his gut. He wanted to be with them. He had to be patient. Lucas was the smartest man he knew, and Lucas had been patient. It was time to take a cue from him.

Aidan watched Lucas walk away and promised himself he wouldn’t fuck up again. He’d lost them once because he’d been an idiot who couldn’t handle his own emotions. He’d been a slave to convention and terrified of what his father would have thought. His father, who had never once said he loved him. His father, who had told Aidan that playing the guitar was for wimps and real men ranched or went into the Army.

Patience. He had to believe he could win them back. Bringing them out here was the first step. He just wished he had a nicer place to bring them to. Lucas had grown up rich, and Lexi’s stepfather was one of the wealthiest men in Texas. The ranch was falling apart around him. The land itself was worth a fortune, and he had a fine herd, but Aidan was putting almost everything he had into changing his practices so he could go organic. He had gone into business with Barnes-Fleetwood, but it wouldn’t pay for a couple of years. What could he really offer them?

The back door banged open, and Dwight came in. “Hey, nice to have you back, buddy. I thought you were staying in Dallas for a while.”

“My plans changed. I brought Lucas and Lexi back here.”

Dwight’s eyes widened, and he whistled through his teeth. “I hope Deer Run is ready for that.”

“I don’t care if they are or not.” The town could go to hell for all Aidan cared. This town was one of the reasons he’d walked out on the best thing he’d ever had. It was important to fit in. Small towns thrived on community, and flaunting one’s individuality didn’t work. He’d been horrified at the thought of bringing Lucas home with him, horrified that someone might find out he wasn’t “normal.” Normality could rot. Aidan wanted love.

Dwight put a hand on his back. “Well, I’ll stand behind you. You know I got your back.”

Aidan smiled. Dwight had proven a dependable friend. It was strange. They hadn’t really been close until that terrible day when Aidan had almost died in the sand, the sound of gunfire and barking dog filling his senses, the thought of Lexi and Lucas the only thing he could cling to. Since that day, Dwight had been by his side. Sometimes Aidan worried it was all survivor guilt that made Dwight follow him back to Deer Run. They were the only two of their squad to survive that terrible day.

“Where did you get off to last night?” Aidan asked, remembering Bo’s complaint from the night before. Dwight lived in the foreman’s house behind the barn. He was a loner. He didn’t have many friends aside from Aidan.

“Oh, I just went out for a beer and then, well, you know.”

Aidan grinned. “Which lovely young lady caught your eye?”

“One of the new waitresses at the Two Horse Saloon.”

“Ah,” Aidan said, happy Dwight was getting out a bit. The Two Horse Saloon was a bar on the edge of town. Deer Run was dry, but cowboys always found a way around little things like the law when it came to getting a beer after a hard day’s work.

“And I am really sorry about Karen. Did she find you?” Dwight said, his mouth turning down. “She caught me in a weak moment. I was talking about you to Darla, the waitress I hooked up with. I was talking about The Club and how nice you said it was. I didn’t realize she was sitting next to me. That girl is psycho.”

Well, at least he understood how Karen had shown up. He’d tried to explain to her that he wasn’t interested. He wasn’t sure she’d gotten the message. But that wasn’t Dwight’s fault. “Don’t worry about it.”

Once Karen saw him around town with Lexi and Lucas, she would get the picture.

There was a scratching at the back door and a little whine. Aidan walked across the kitchen and let in the only good thing he’d found in Iraq.

“Hey, Ike, how you doing, boy?” He got down on one knee, wincing at the pain, but he was used to it. The dog was a mutt, some odd mix of retriever and Great Dane. He was a huge monster, but sweet as the day was long after he’d settled in. He’d been adopted by Aidan’s squad. Though the Army banned pets on base, the truth was most officers looked the other way. Aidan had nearly cried the day his former platoon CO showed up on the ranch leading Ike by a leash.

Ike’s nub of a tail wagged, and he licked Aidan’s face frantically. It was like this every time he left. Though Ike didn’t mind Bo, he preferred Aidan to everyone else. Ike looked up and started to growl.

“Don’t,” Aidan commanded.

Ike growled at a lot of men. He’d done it in Iraq, growling and barking at everyone. It had taken Aidan awhile to get the dog to come to him. Aidan wasn’t sure why he’d tried. Maybe he’d just seen something in the dog that called to him. Ike had obviously needed affection, but he’d been too scared to take it. Yeah, he and the dog had a lot in common. Eventually Ike had calmed down, but despite the fact that he’d been around Dwight during their time in Iraq, the dog still growled when he got too near. Aidan really hoped Ike and Lucas got along. The last thing he needed was for Ike to hate Lucas.

“Dumb dog,” Dwight said as he started out the back door. “I’ll be out in the south field. We’re going to have to replace that whole section of fence. I’ll take Clint with me.” Dwight slammed out the back door, and Ike calmed.

“Hey, boy,” Lucas said in that honey chocolate voice of his. Aidan looked back and he was on one knee with a hand held out.

“He doesn’t like a lot of people,” Aidan warned him.

“That’s okay,” Lucas replied. “He doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to.”

But Ike was already moving toward the stranger. He sniffed Lucas’s hand warily, his nose poking and retreating as though he expected a slap at any moment. Lucas was patient, allowing the dog to become accustomed, to make his own judgment.

“That’s right, boy. We can be friends.” Lucas patted the dog’s head, and Ike’s stub started to wag again.

Just like that, Lucas made friends with a dog who took forever to get used to anyone. Aidan watched them with a great deal of pleasure.

“This coffee needs sugar,” Lexi groused as she walked into the room. There was a dour look on her pretty face, and her hair was tousled from sleep. She wasn’t a morning person, but Aidan had always thought she looked so damn cute when she was grumpy. She frowned at him, but her face lit up when she saw the dog. “Oh, hi, puppy!”

Lexi set the mug down and was on her knees in an instant. Aidan’s first thought was to warn her about the dog’s bad temper, but apparently they were soul mates. Ike abandoned Lucas and started sniffing Lexi. Lexi ran her hands all over the dog’s massive, somewhat stinky body.

“He needs a bath,” Aidan said, worrying she would find his dog unattractive.

Lexi grinned as the dog licked her face. “He’s perfect. You’re a pretty boy, aren’t you?”

Lucas stood and lent Aidan a hand. “Come on. She’s lost to us now. Let’s get some work done. Actually, there’s a little side project I’d like to talk to you about.”

He took Lucas’s hand and allowed Lucas to help him up. Even with the help, his back seized, and Aidan stumbled. Lucas steadied him, but the weakness had shown itself. Aidan flushed and inwardly cursed the muscles that always let him down now. He pulled away, not wanting to lean on Lucas.

Lucas’s arm tightened on his. “Stop it, Sir. Let me help.”

Aidan made it to his feet, but he couldn’t help the sense of shame that flushed through his system.

“Doms.” Lexi was shaking her head as she petted the dog. Aidan looked at her, ready for the rush of pity he got from a lot of people. “Such dumbasses.”

No pity from his girl.

“I believe what our lovely and infinitely sympathetic female is trying to say is, lean on us. The mistake most Doms make is to think that we’re burdens or something soft to play with in bed. We’re a part of this. If you don’t want our help and support, then we’re worth nothing to you. I don’t intend to submit to a man who needs nothing from me but sexual pleasure.”

“What he said,” Lexi shot back, but her lips were quirking up.

Aidan leaned into Lucas and allowed himself to steady before he pulled away. He took a long, deep breath to control the deep emotion he felt. What Lucas was talking about wasn’t a D/s relationship. He was talking about a family.

“Thank you, Lucas. I promise the next time my back gives out and I’m going to fall to the floor, I’ll let you catch me.”

“I would appreciate it, Sir. Now, can I go play cowboy?”

Aidan nodded. Lucas was a lawyer, but he’d spent enough time on a cattle ranch that he knew what he was doing. Lucas on a horse was a sight to be seen.

“Great, what am I supposed to do?” Lexi asked, standing up. Ike sat down beside her, his loyalty already obvious. “Since I don’t have a job anymore.”

Aidan had an answer for that. He pulled the notebook he’d stashed hours earlier from its drawer along with a pen. This was the good part about being the Dom. He was obligated to order her around. “Write. I don’t care what it is. You can write Aidan is an asshole four hundred times, as long you write.”

Lexi stared at the notebook like it was a snake that might bite her. “It won’t do any good. It’s not like I haven’t wanted to write. I just don’t do it anymore.”

Aidan shrugged. “Bullshit. It’s like anything else. You just do it. I don’t care if it’s any good. You will drink your coffee, and you will write whatever comes into that perverse, gorgeous brain of yours. You’ll meet me and Lucas for lunch at noon. If you don’t write something down, there will be punishment.”

Lexi took the pen and paper. “Fine. But it’s going to be crap.”

She turned and flounced out, Ike padding after her.

Lucas picked up her forgotten coffee and added a spoon of sugar. “I like this. I get to be the good cop.”

Lucas followed her back down the hall. Aidan could hear Lexi’s soft voice thanking him. She went up on her toes to kiss Lucas’s lips before she disappeared into the bedroom Aidan had designed with her in mind.

Lucas walked back down the hall with a smile on his face. Yep, the good cop looked ready to work. Aidan watched as Lucas practically jogged out the door. Aidan was comfortable with his role, but he really had to make sure the bad cop got a little love, too.