Rich and Nick must have still had Chelbie tied up somewhere, because she hadn’t made it out to the living room yet, where Kel had gently maneuvered Mal to sit on the couch so he could take up sentry position next to her, perched on the armrest.
Sean walked over to Cali and draped an arm around her shoulders.
Wordlessly, she slipped her arm around his waist and tipped her head over onto his shoulder.
* * * *
Max was simultaneously glad Kel and Mal made it out, yet felt heartbroken for his friends. It looked like Mal had a long way to go in her healing. Chelbie had warned them she was having trouble, and that she’d lost some weight, but seeing it slammed home one thought he knew was selfish, yet he couldn’t help it.
I’m so glad we don’t have to go through that.
They stayed for less than an hour before saying good-bye and heading home. Chelbie walked over to him. “See what I mean?”
He slowly shook his head. “Is she going to be okay?”
Chelbie looked around before taking his hand and leading him down the hallway to slip into their home office where Baxter was currently enjoying a catnip feast.
“I’d be telling Cali this anyway, but Doyle referred Kel to a psychiatrist who specializes in eating disorders. They’re probably going to have to get her into an in-patient facility for a little while. Something about this triggered in a really bad way with how she’d lost her parents and just dumped on her all at once. I’m really worried about her.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
“Well, I know Kel won’t ask this, because I told him to and he’s a stubborn Dom and doesn’t want to impose on people. But since you guys aren’t beholden with children, could you maybe talk to Marcia about getting added to the volunteer schedule at the club? Not even all three of you every weekend. Maybe take turns one of you one night a week or something. That would be a huge help. Kel and Derrick are partners, and both Derrick and Marcia have told Kel not to stress over the club, but… Yeah.”
“Of course we will. We’d be happy to. It’s the least we can do.”
She hugged him. “Thank you. Then I can legit tell Kel to stop stressing and focus on her.”
“That’s what he should be doing, focused on her. Is he okay?”
“Stressed about her. Too stressed to focus on himself, which isn’t healthy.” She ducked out the door, closing it behind her so Baxter couldn’t escape.
Baxter, who was lying in the pile of catnip-dunked toys Cali had left for him, rolled over and lazily swiped a paw at him.
“Meow.”
“You are the luckiest fucking pussy in this house, and you don’t even know it, buddy.”
“Meow.”
* * * *
Rich and Nick were standing in the kitchen minus Chelbie, but Cali had a thought.
“Oh! Rich, I’ve been meaning to tell you I love that new album you put out. It’s amazing!”
She wasn’t sure but thought maybe his face turned a little pink. “Thanks. I appreciate you buying it.”
Nick lightly smacked his fraternal twin on the shoulder. “See? If you’d let us brag about you, we could easily sell more of them.”
“Stop,” Rich muttered.
She knew from what Chelbie had told her that Rich hated to promote himself. Which was why it was one of Chelbie’s jobs on the side, running his social media accounts for him.
“It’s amazing. I’ve been listening to it for the past several weeks on my work playlist.”
“What album?”
Cali turned and let out a meep of shock. Yes, she knew Mal—better known as Mevi Maynard, the rock star. Yes, she’d been at parties with him before.
Yes, he’d been to their house before.
Still, she found it hard not to have that initial reaction whenever she saw him.
The Mevi Maynard, in her house.
“Um, nothing,” Rich mumbled.
If seeing Lydia was a sign from Karma, maybe this was a chance for Cali to make sure she was paying things forward in a good way. “Nothing, hell. Rich’s new album is great!”
Mal had ice blue eyes a different shade than Sean’s, and they lit up with recognition. “You’re Rich Hurst! I’ve been wanting to talk to you!” He walked over and grabbed Rich’s arm and led him toward the foyer, where it was quieter. Cali and Nick watched as Mal pulled his phone out.
“Listen, this is great stuff. I wanted to talk to you first of all about whether or not you’d be interested in opening for us. Also, I want to talk to you about producing a couple of these for us, if we can license them to cover them.”
“Y-you want to cover my songs?”
“Yeah!”
Cali leaned against the kitchen counter, able to hear from where she was, and watched as Mal pulled something up on his phone. Apparently, it was some sort of music app.
“And I love how you wrote this turnaround here. Ba-da-bad-DA. It mirrors perfectly what you did in the bridge here…”
Nick had stepped in close to watch, standing next to Cali. He wore a wide grin.
“How hard have you had to sit on Chelbie to keep her from mugging Mevi at a party before now?” Cali softly asked.
“Trying to launch the first manned moon mission hard. Not from not agreeing with her, though. You saw how Rich acted back there. He doesn’t think he deserves it, that he’s faking it or something. Rich begged me to help order her not to intervene. Chelbie even wanted to go talk to Tilly to maybe pass the album to Mevi to listen to. This is exactly what he needed.”
“Don’t most musicians kill for an opportunity like this though?”
“Yeah, but my brother isn’t most musicians. He was convinced Mevi would think his music sucks and he didn’t want to be humiliated.”
“But it doesn’t suck. He doesn’t suck. None of his music sucks.”
Nick grinned. “I know that, and you know that. And, finally, Rich is about to realize it, too.”
* * * *
Late in the night, Sean cracked up watching June ordering Scrye to stay seated in a folding chair next to the suspension frame on the lanai while he gave Glen and Wade a basic suspension lesson with Justin. No fucking the third man in suspension tonight—not in that position, anyway—just straight-up rope tying.
Watching June and Scrye together was like watching a Chihuahua trying to wrangle a grizzly bear.
Sean walked over to see if they needed any help. “How’s the back?”
“I could do rigging tonight but she won’t let me,” Scrye griped.
June stuck her tongue out at him. “You pull your back out again, I’m pulling the wife card. You’re not doing the exercises the PT said to do to help strengthen it.”
He let out a snort.
“He really should have surgery on it and lose about thirty pounds, or so the doctor told him.”
“Hey, I lost five already.”
In his years involved with the Suncoast Society, Sean had seen June in many moods, from feisty to melted into a gooey puddle by her husband.
He’d never seen her quite like this before.
Standing back, he watched the two men replicating Scrye’s instructions. The tie wasn’t as neat as anything he’d seen Scrye do, or Leah, for that matter.
“You feel like a turn in the ropes tonight, Sean?” Scrye asked.
“No, thanks. We’re not quite a month out from our his-and-his matching vasectomies. The pain and swelling are gone, but I’d rather wait a little while longer before squeezing the hell out of them.”
“Can’t blame you there. Probably a lot faster healing time than when I had mine years ago when the girls were little.”
That was something he didn’t know. “You had one?”
June’s turn to snort. “I love my girls, but I gave him two choices after Maren was born. Either the doctor did the vasectomy, or I’d do it myself.”
“I picked the doctor,” Scrye said. “I figured I’d get better drugs that way.”
“Smart man,” Sean said.
r /> “I can be every so often.”
Once Glen and Wade had Justin secured, they unsnapped his jock and while Glen slowly jacked Justin’s cock, Wade spanked Justin’s ass with the new paddle they’d won.
Scrye watched. “What’d you guys use for that?”
“New acrylic vendor. Like the color?”
“Yeah, that’s neat. Never seen blue metallic.”
“Color won’t wear off since it’s part of the paddle.”
“That’s awesome.”
“We have blue, red, and silver we’re going to try in our most popular styles.”
“You got any more?”
“Sure.” He waved Cali over. “Hey, babe? Scrye wants to look at paddles.”
“Oh, cool. Let me get my tablet for you.”
Scrye watched her go. “How the hell did we get our kink on before the Internet?”
“Those of us who were crafty enough to make shit made it ourselves, pretty much.”
Chapter Ten
“So there’s another successful party in the books,” Max said as he dumped another load of paper plates into the garbage. “I think we’re really getting the hang of this.”
Sean still wore his bunny ears. “Yeah. Almost like we know what we’re doing or something.” He smiled. “Hey, babe? How many sales did we make tonight?”
Cali was going through her tablet. “I’m still not believing this, but over five hundred dollars profit. For one night. You were right—will-call was a smart temporary option to add.” She’d already deactivated it by using her tablet to log in.
“I have a good idea that’s non-sexual in nature every so often.” Sean opened the dishwasher to start loading it. “I’m not just a fuckable ass and suckable cock, you know.”
Max rinsed his hands in the sink. “Marcia said if we wanted to use the club as a local drop-off point, they’d be willing to give it a shot. Long as we do it within business hours and the orders are already paid for. Might not be a bad idea. Get more people in the door there. We can make a line of exclusive toys that they can only buy at Venture. Get them in the door, let them see more stuff for sale.”
“I’ll discuss it with her this week,” Cali said. “I don’t want to take advantage of their good graces.”
“Marcia suggested it,” Max said.
“And I’ll look into it. I know it’s weird, but I don’t want people to think I’m trying to leverage our business into making money off our friends. Like we’re a kinky multi-level marketing company or something.”
Sean straightened, his eyes growing as wide as his smile.
“No,” Max and Cali said. “We are not starting a kinky MLM,” Max added.
“Boo.” He grabbed another serving dish. “It was just an idea.”
“I do have an idea to float past you two,” Cali said.
The men turned, waiting.
“Last week, Tony told me he read about a whip-making workshop being held out in Arizona in a few months. It’s a week-long training session. I wouldn’t mind attending it.”
The men exchanged a glance. “You want to start making whips?” Max asked.
“I mean, not huge production scale or anything. But we’ve had people ask about whips before. We have floggers down pat. I think it’d be neat to do it. Even if we don’t make any for sale, it’s still a business expense. Education. I can deduct it.”
“How much?” Sean asked.
“It’s kind of pricey. Eight hundred, plus hotel room, food, air fare, and supply expenses depending on what you make there.”
“Ouch,” Max said. “Guess that means we can’t all go.”
“We can,” she said. “The money’s there.”
“I don’t want to hit our savings that hard, honey.”
“It’s in the business account. Hell, we made most of the workshop fee for one person from this weekend. And it’s deductible. Plus, if we can start making custom whips to match our floggers? That’d be pretty dang cool.”
Sean leaned back against the counter. “Max is right. I know what’s in the bank account. Figuring air fare for the three of us, that would take the business savings account down to almost zero, and I don’t want to dip into the business checking account. That’s operating expenses. And I won’t take money for something like this out of our personal savings. I’m okay with you going alone, if you don’t mind going without us. Is this an annual thing?”
“Yeah.”
“Then maybe next year one of us can go, too. Or you can go again and learn more. You can teach us what you learn when you get back.”
“They also have training DVDs for sale, too.”
“See? Buy some of those and bring them home with you.” Sean smiled. “This moody bastard is pretty crafty on occasion, you know.”
She went in for a hug. “You’re not a moody bastard.”
“Yeah, he is,” Max teased, also hugging them. “Just sometimes.”
“Says you,” Sean shot back. “Mr. Closed-Mouth.”
“Sign up for it,” Max said. “Take business cards and stuff with you. Maybe you can make some contacts while you’re out there.”
“That’s what I was thinking. You guys really don’t mind me going without you?”
Sean let out a melodramatic sigh. “No, I suppose not. Just means I’ll have to tie Max up and fuck him.”
Max grabbed him by the hair and tipped his head back. “Who’s tying who up and fucking their ass?”
Sean grinned. “Hey, we’ve had some pretty wicked wrassling matches in the past.”
Max leaned in and kissed him before releasing the grip on his hair. “That we have.”
“Even beat you a bunch of times.”
Max grinned. “Sure you did.”
“I did!”
“I didn’t say you didn’t.”
Sean’s gaze narrowed. “Hey…are you saying you sometimes let me win?”
Max shrugged. “Let’s just say that, sometimes, I didn’t feel like winning.”
“I call bullshit,” Sean said. He stared at him. “I can take your ass anytime.”
“Uh oh,” Cali said. “I hear a challenge.”
Max snorted. “It’s almost two a.m. Do you really want to do this right now?”
“Why not? I—”
Almost faster than Cali could follow the movement, Max had grabbed Sean by the arm, spun him around, and had Sean’s arm wrenched high up along his back and had bent him forward over the counter.
“You mean like that?” Max kicked Sean’s feet apart, forcing his weight down on Sean and pinning him in place against the counter.
Cali stood there, stunned and…
Well, more than a little turned on, quite honestly. Sure, she’d seen her guys roll around before, but never anything like this.
“You wanna safeword?” Max gleefully asked.
“Fuck you!” Sean struggled, trying to get free. “I can take you!”
“Cali, go get me the lube, please.”
She ran to do it, highly amused by this turn of events. By the time she’d returned, Max had Sean’s shorts and briefs pulled halfway down his thighs, and had taken most of the fight out of him by reaching around and stroking his cock for him.
“You wanna safeword?” Max asked again.
“Fuck you!” Sean tried struggling again, but Max simply wrenched his arm up again and stroked Sean’s cock harder for him.
Sean’s head dropped to the counter, forehead touching it as he started rocking his hips back and forth in time with Max’s hand.
“Babe,” Max said, “I kinda got my hands full here. Would you please give me an assist?”
“Sure.” She reached around him and got his shorts and briefs pulled down, then generously lubed his stiff cock for him, as well as used two fingers to make sure Sean’s ass was well prepared.
“Not fair ganging up on me,” Sean moaned.
“You know the rules, buddy,” Max reminded him as she lined his cock up for him. “Just safeword and I stop. That easy.”
Sean thrust his hips back, impaling himself on Max’s cock. Now reasonably sure he’d taken all the fight out of Sean, Max let go of his arm and grabbed his hip. “Babe, can you take over for me down there?”
She giggled. “Sure.” After washing her hands, she crawled between Sean and the cabinets, sucking his cock into her mouth so Max could have both hands free.
“Fuuuuck,” Sean muttered, now fucking himself back and forth between Max’s cock and her mouth.
“Feel free to let him come, baby. He earned it. He tried to fight.”
She braced one hand behind her head to keep them from slamming her into the cabinets as Max really started plowing Sean’s ass. From the nonstop moans rolling out of Sean, she knew he was loving every second of his “loss.”
She also sensed Max was holding back from the way he slowed, his smooth thrusts allowing him to give her time to get Sean over first while keeping himself primed and close to coming. With her free hand, she reached up and fondled Sean’s balls, the sexy, deeper moans from him making her pussy even wetter than she already was. She loved this, tag-teaming one of them with the other, just like the two of them enjoyed the heck out of tag-teaming her. Time to explore their bodies, play, focus only on them for a little while, bringing them pleasure.
Usually, it was her and Max topping Sean. He naturally fell into a more bottomy role with Max, which was why it’d surprised her when he’d challenged Max like that. He should have known better.
Max had mystical ways of disengaging both of their brains. Usually, to get that kind of reaction out of Max, the man either had to be feeling subby at that moment, or it took the combined effort of her and Sean working in tandem to shut his brain down so he could drop that hard into a submissive headspace.
She heard a hand slapping bare skin. “Come on, buddy,” Max teased. “Quit holding out. You know you want to nut. Now you’re just being stubborn.” More slaps, which would drive Sean closer to the edge. From the way his cock twitched in her mouth, she knew she was correct.
Sean started humping both of them faster, harder, his breath coming in gasps now. She was ready when she felt the first pumps erupt from his cock, swallowing his cum and taking him to the balls, getting every drop out of him and making him come as hard as she could.