“You’re squicked out,” Brandon said. “But either go see the doctor, or try to quit freaking out.” He pointed at Stuart. “And no messing with his mind, either.”
“Aww.” Stuart’s devilish smile made the outer edges of his green eyes crinkle.
“Tomorrow is our collaring.” Brandon held his arms open to them for a group hug. He kissed Jeff, then Stuart. “Let’s not forget that.”
Eventually, he wanted to get wedding bands for all three of them to wear. Once they’d been collared to him for a few months, to let things settle in.
“What time does Em leave for Grace’s?” Jeff asked.
“Not until afternoon. But the good news is you can run around naked Sunday morning before she comes home.”
“It’s going to be weird when she goes to college,” Stuart said. “It won’t feel the same around here.”
Brandon nibbled the side of his neck. “Yeah, it’ll be a lot more nakey. Expect to wear very few clothes.”
Stuart smiled. “Maybe I can get used to that.”
* * * *
Stuart didn’t want to rush Emma out of the house Saturday, but he couldn’t wait for her to leave. Once her car was out of sight, he closed the front blinds and started stripping right there.
Brandon, who’d been in the kitchen, started laughing. “Not wasting any time, are you, boy?”
“No, Sir.”
Jeff emerged from the master bedroom. “She’s gone?”
“Yep.”
Jeff pulled off his shirt and started working on his shorts.
“Glad to see my ‘no clothes’ rule will be adhered to so strictly,” Brandon teased.
Stuart couldn’t wait to get to the club that night. “We don’t get enough nakey time, Sir.”
Brandon crooked a finger at them and they both hurried into the kitchen and dropped to their knees in front of him, where he rested his hands on their heads.
“You’re both sure you’re good with doing this tonight?”
Stuart and Jeff both eagerly nodded. “Yes, Sir,” they echoed in unison.
Brandon smiled. “I love stereo.”
Last night, Brandon had gone over his list of new protocols with them. Obviously, not exposing Emma or Grace to their dynamic always took precedent. That didn’t change. But there were some new, subtle things that Brandon would expect out of them…and punish them for if they failed to adhere to them.
He always walked through a door first, which one of them would get and hold for him, unless he specifically told them to go ahead. They would open and hold car doors for him. When the three of them were together, especially at a fetish event, Jeff would walk to his right and just behind him, unless Brandon was holding his hand. Stuart would follow immediately behind. They would always serve him his food and beverage first. When out to eat, Brandon would order for them, and one of them would pull his chair out for him, and he would always sit first.
A few other, low-key things.
Then there were more formal rules. When Emma wasn’t home and they didn’t have guests, they were to be naked and collared at all times. Cuffs optional if Emma was expected home soon. At night, behind their locked bedroom door, they would wear cuffs and collar. At a fetish event, they would wear their leather collars.
They were to address him as “Master” when alone or with kinky friends, and “Sir” at all other times.
While it’d been a sort of “joking” rule before, now it was an iron-clad law that neither man was allowed to come without permission.
Then there were the more vanilla things. Such as Monday afternoon at lunch, they were going to meet at the bank and open their joint household account.
And Brandon was going to add both men to Emma’s school records as emergency contacts.
Next week, they’d be going to Ed’s office to sign paperwork, medical powers of attorney, a trust, and other items he was putting together for them.
This was…this was real.
Brandon wanted them for life, and he was ready to prove it.
Stuart had never been happier. He’d damn sure never felt as content as he did now. This felt like he was where he belonged.
Tonight, they were going out to eat at Sigalo’s with everyone before going to the club for their collaring ceremony. When they were ready to leave the house, Brandon handed Stuart his toybag.
“Take that, please. Stow it in the trunk.”
He nervously shouldered it. “Yes, Sir.”
Then Brandon handed his keys to Jeff. “You drive. My car. Stuart in the back seat.”
Jeff opened the passenger door for Brandon and held it while he got in. As Stuart was coming back from stowing the bag, Jeff kissed him, a wide, happy grin on his face before he climbed behind the wheel.
He couldn’t help it—he felt the same way.
Giddy.
Happy.
Free.
* * * *
Jeff struggled not to feel nervous. He didn’t want to let Brandon down. Not that Brandon was putting pressure on him—he was doing that all on his own.
Brandon, for his part, usually acted very laid-back. He wanted their relationship to work, to thrive and grow between the three of them. While in some ways Jeff would have loved a couple of crazy, really strict rules on the kinky side, he got why Brandon was being conservative.
Because being crazy all the time wasn’t possible.
Maybe once Emma left home for college they could add some crazy kinky stuff to the rulebook. For now, they needed to be sustainable protocols.
Brandon did not like setting them up to fail. Went out of his way to avoid that, especially for Stuart.
Another reason Jeff was madly in love with the man.
Stuart would beat himself up needlessly over any perceived fault on his part, thanks to his stupid family of origin. Jeff and Brandon had engaged in several private talks on this matter, on ways to set Stuart up to succeed, to bolster his self-esteem and confidence.
That was how Jeff knew Brandon was the man he was meant to give his heart and submission to for life.
He was completely unlike most other Dominants he’d ever been involved with.
At Sigalo’s, Stuart beat Jeff out of the car to open Brandon’s door for him, the friendly competition not going unnoticed by Brandon. He kissed Stuart, then Jeff.
“Five points to Gryffindor for effort,” he teased.
Another reason Jeff knew this would work for life—Brandon didn’t take himself or what they did so seriously that he forgot to have fun in the process.
They walked in, Jeff getting the door this time and well aware that Stuart was carefully staying exactly where Brandon had told him to walk during their discussions about this.
It was absolutely adorable.
When they reached the group table, Brandon caught Jeff’s hand, and reached for Stuart’s, pulling them both next to him as their friends stood and welcomed them.
They ended up seated next to Landry, Cris, and Bob, who were once again without Tilly.
Across the table, Tony smiled and clinked his fork against his water glass to get everyone’s attention. Then he smiled and held his glass up in a toast. “I think pretty much everyone here has heard the story about how these three first met.” He glanced down the table. “Backhanded thanks go to Ken, too, who redeemed himself.”
Ken held up his hands. “Hey, best thing to ever happen to me, too. I traded up after I dumped her ass.” Everyone laughed as he patted the shoulder of the woman with him.
“I wanted to be the first to officially congratulate the three of you,” Tony continued with a smile. “Accidental beginnings notwithstanding, it’s great to see what the three of you have now.”
Everyone joined them in the toast, clinking glasses all the way around.
After their orders had been taken, Brandon ordering for Jeff and Stuart after finding out what they wanted, Loren rose and walked around the table to talk with Brandon for a moment away from the table.
While t
hey were gone, Stuart leaned in to Jeff. “Guess me getting catfished wasn’t such a bad thing after all, huh?”
Jeff kissed him. “Best damn thing to happen to all three of us, in my opinion.”
Chapter Nine
With his back turned to the table, and standing far enough away Jeff and Stuart couldn’t hear, Brandon passed Loren the two small velvet pouches, one red and one blue, holding the men’s necklaces so she could slip them in her purse.
“You okay?” she asked.
He laughed. “Nervous as hell.”
“That’s normal. This is a big step for you guys.”
“Wish I could legally marry both of them.”
“Well, Ed’s really good. He learned from the best, after all.”
“Huh?”
“Kaden, his partner. It was Kaden who originally came up with all the legal gymnastics they use now for poly groups. He did a lot of research into it when a triad came to him looking for protection for them for their baby. He spent hundreds of his own hours working on the research pro bono. Kind of set the gold standard.”
Melancholy clouded her features. “Too bad he didn’t get to use it very long himself with Leah, and Seth. That was another reason he was so interested in it, because he’d planned to use it himself one day. Unfortunately, time ran out for him.”
She forced a smile. “Sorry. I always get a little extra verklempt at a collaring for a poly group. And I have that printed copy of the e-mail you sent me about what you wanted to say, in case you need it.”
“Thanks again for doing this for us.”
“I’m happy to do it. It brings me joy.” Now her smile looked genuine. “Sort of my kink.”
Brandon was actually glad Jeff was driving tonight. Nervous didn’t begin to describe how he felt right now.
He was pledging to these two guys to love them forever, to take care of them—to not fuck up their lives.
Both of them.
This was a big.
Fucking.
Deal.
Maybe vanilla people who didn’t understand the level of commitment this took would discount it as meaningless. Not like they were married, right?
To Brandon, this was every bit as serious—and more—as marriage.
It blew him away that Jeff and Stuart loved and trusted him enough to do this with him.
He desperately didn’t want to let them down.
At the club, once Stuart retrieved the implement bag from the trunk, Brandon took it from him and led the way inside, where he paid for their entry fees tonight, not giving them a chance to argue about it. Usually they paid for their own entry, and they took turns paying when they went out to eat together.
Tonight, he would take care of his boys in the only ways he could.
They weren’t going to waste any time with this. Immediately inside the dungeon, he stopped his boys and personally buckled their leather collars around their necks. After dropping his bag next to the bench he wanted to use following the ceremony and getting set up, he led Stuart and Jeff over to the corner near the social area where they’d hold the ceremony.
Tonight, Cali was manning a camera, taking pics for them without getting anyone else in the shots except Loren, who didn’t care.
Once it was time to get started, and they had a good crowd gathered to watch, Brandon shook his hands to try to ease his nerves before snapping his fingers and pointing at the floor next to him.
As one, Jeff and Stuart knelt.
His boys.
Loren got started, her journal and the two pouches in her hand. “We’re gathered here tonight to celebrate these three men coming together to publicly declare their commitment to each other—”
“And to the loony bin,” Gilo playfully snarked from nearby. Tonight, he wore a suit and tie, while his wife, Abbey, stood by in a beautiful corset and skirt, and with a leash attached to the leather collar around her neck.
The other end held by Gilo.
Loren dropped him a wink and picked up where she left off before her deliberate setup for Gilo’s aside. “They’re more than friends, more than Dominant and submissives—they’re a family. Because our laws don’t exactly keep up with how fast we’ve evolved as a culture, and aren’t flexible enough to allow these three men to legally marry, they’ve chosen to come here tonight, where their journey together literally began, to publicly declare their love.” She nodded to Brandon.
Brandon took a deep breath and stared down at Jeff and Stuart.
“I knew from the first night we met that there was something special when the three of us were together. I’d never felt anything like that before. I’d never felt like my soul had come home before. I swore to myself I’d be careful, and I’d make sure I didn’t repeat any mistakes from previous relationships.
“At any time, you two could have looked at me and my life and my personal situation and decided it was too much trouble. That I brought drama into your lives that you didn’t need. Not only did you love me, you opened your hearts to accepting my daughter as your daughter. She wasn’t an inconvenience to you—she was family.”
He blinked his tears back, aware that Loren was ready with the crib sheet and hoping he wouldn’t have to resort to using it.
“I can’t promise you days full of hard kink. I can’t even promise you that life won’t get in the way of this part of our lives. But I can promise you that I love you, and everything I do with and for you starts with that love. I’m not saying life will be perfect. What I’m saying is that I will give you and our relationship everything I can, and I will never give up on either of you when life gets hard.
“Until now, we’ve called ourselves Dominant and submissives. What I wish we legally could call ourselves is husbands. In my heart, you are my husbands. Today, I want to make a lifetime commitment to you both, as a Master, to you as my slaves, that everything I do for us will be for us.”
He focused on Jeff. “My toppy Alpha boy. You like to take multiple roles, including taking care of our entire family. You’re a calm, steady rock. When you come home and we’re together, I feel like I can relax and let go of the rest of the world for a while, because I know you’re ready to catch me.”
Then he smiled down at Stuart. “And my sweet subby beta boy. Eager and willing and full of so much energy. I’m not too proud to admit I need Jeff around to help keep you worn out.” A ripple of soft laughter flowed through the group. “Always making me smile, and always teaching me, even as you show me the joy in learning.
“The two of you, together, have become my world, a world I don’t want to be a part of if you two aren’t by my side. My sweet slaves. Before everyone here, I promise to love, cherish, protect, and always honor you as your Master. I will never punish in anger, and I will always remember to praise. I want you to succeed, because if you fail, it means I’ve failed you.”
He reached for the first bag from Loren, the blue one, and removed the necklace. “Jeff, this is the collar I bought specifically for you. I will never force you to be with me, because I only want you if you’re willing to be with me. I want you to be my Alpha slave, belong to me, for the rest of our lives together. But you have to ask for that, before everyone here. You have to tell me what you want.”
* * * *
Jeff gave up trying to hide his tears. Brandon had warned them he would give them each a chance to speak, and they were free to say what they wanted when that time came, but that they’d also know there would be one thing expected of them.
Now he struggled to remember everything he’d wanted to make sure he said.
Jeff nodded. “Yes, Master. I want to be your slave, for life. I want to be owned by you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and with Stuart. I promise to serve you with honor, I promise to give you my love and my trust. I promise that I will give you my service and my obedience. I want your word to be my law, and I have faith in you and our family. I love you, and I love Stuart, and want this to be our forever.”
Brandon leaned i
n and fastened the necklace around Jeff’s neck, cupping his hand around the back of Jeff’s neck and kissing him, slowly, sweetly, deeply. It stiffened his cock in his jeans and he knew whatever Brandon had in store for them later would likely be well worth waiting through the horniness he felt now.
“I love you so much,” Brandon whispered to him.
“I love you, too, Master.”
Brandon straightened again and took the other bag, removing an identical necklace and staring down at Stuart.
“Stuart, this is a collar I bought for you and you alone. I will never force you to be with me. I need to know you’re willing to be with me. I want you to be my beta slave, belong to me, cared for by me, and by Jeff, for the rest of our lives together. But you have to ask for it, before everyone here. If you want that, you have to tell me.”
* * * *
Stuart was about two breaths from a full-on emotional meltdown. He hoped they were almost done, because he was about to transform into a silly, sobbing snot monster.
Of the happy kind.
“I love you, Master. I want to belong to you, and to him. I want to be with you both. I’ve never been happier than I am with the two of you. I love you and I’ll do anything to make this work. I want to serve you, and for the three of us spend our lives together. Please make me your slave. It’s all I want to be.”
Stuart realized he was holding his breath when Brandon leaned in and fastened the necklace around his neck. Then, as he had with Jeff, he cupped his hand around the back of Stuart’s neck and kissed him.
“I love you, boy. Love you so much.”
“I love you, too, Master.”
Brandon held his hands out to both of them to help them stand, pulling them in for a group hug. As they stood there, their arms wrapped around each other, the crowd applauded.
“And that’s how you do it,” Loren said. “Congratulations, guys.”
People stepped forward to give their congratulations once the guys ended their embrace.
With that part over, Brandon led them over to the bench he’d prepped, a smile on his face. “We’ll do the rest at home, but you both need to take cane strokes from me now. A reminder of what can happen, and who owns you.” He circled a finger at them. “Jeff first, pants down. You don’t have to count them if you don’t want to. Stuart, you get to be at the head of the bench while I do it.”