Chains and Canes (32 page)

Daniel forced himself to focus, finding Naya’s lost, glazed eyes. She blinked. She gasped. “Daniel?
Dios mío.
I’m…”

“That’s right.” Remy positioned his fingertips on the clamps. “Come for us.”

“No! Scared. Sir,” she said with a cry. Daniel kept up his steady rhythm. “It’s gonna hurt so bad. I’m scared. Scared. Sir, please.”

“I got you, girl. You’ve taken so much. So much beautiful pain. This will be amazing. I promise. You hear me, Naya? I promise.”

Daniel pumped his fingers, then caught her clit between his teeth, trapped it, flicked it mercilessly with his tongue.

She began to gasp that one word in an endless chant. “Promise, promise, promise—”

Her body seized. Her cunt clamped around Daniel’s fingers and flooded his mouth with sweet moisture. She seemed to hang there, suspended, before the start of her true, real release.

Remy yanked off the nipple clamps. Her scream filled the close confines of the car.

Daniel was off his knees in an instant, his mouth still wet from her juices. He stretched above her and kissed her, taking those screams into his soul. Remy held her breasts in two tight fists, blunting the worst of the pain with firm pressure. The three of them tangled together, securing her, panting, barely holding on to their minds.

The rest of the ride home was spent in a soft shower of whispered praise and quiet kisses. Naya was a rag doll between them. After a bit of a struggle, they got her dressed. Daniel vaguely neatened his appearance, wondering at the compulsion—then realizing it was some need for order. There was no order in what had just happened. He’d ripped Remy open. The man might heal, but there was no guarantee he’d want to do it with Daniel and Naya.

“You’re going to help me get her up to the condo,” Daniel said firmly.

“I know.”

Together, they guided her out of the car, through the underground garage, and into the residence elevator. Despite the tension humming between them, Daniel and Remy needed few words to get her safely home. Daniel carried her. Remy handled her purse and Daniel’s coat, digging house keys out of the latter. He flipped on the lights and headed straight to the fridge. A moment later, he entered the bedroom carrying two bottles of water. Tylenol from the bathroom. The cashmere throw.

Daniel sat on the edge of the bed, where Naya had curled around him like a feminine crescent moon. She was asleep.

Remy stood against the wall, arms crossed. Neither spoke for a long while, as the shared responsibility of caring for Naya burned away. Only their animosity remained.

“Okay,” Daniel said at last, his chest on fire. “Moment of truth. I’ll be here when she wakes up, and we’ll be fine. We’ll work through this and we’ll be…fine.” He swallowed, suddenly hating that word. “So if you’re going to leave her…leave
us
… Just go. Do it right now. Go.”

Chapter Thirty-One

“And if I stay?”

Remy didn’t think the words through. He was so very tired. Not in a
need sleep
way, but all the way down to his bones. Exhausted and weary. He’d always been bound to the world. Tied down. Only when he danced did he feel his body and mind fly free.

When he danced, and when he shared time with Daniel and Naya.

“Then stay.” Daniel sounded as weary as Remy felt. “But you stay all the way. No more of this halfway bullshit. If you’re our Sir, then
be
our Sir.”

“Would you cut that shit out?” But there was no heat to the words, no anger, just the same quiet exhaustion that made him want to melt into the bed. His head could go next to Naya’s hip where she slept. He’d need to stay off the arm that Daniel had manhandled. Didn’t blame him though. Remy had deserved it for being a prick.

What he didn’t deserve were false fairy tales.

“Stop saying things like that,” he said, crossing to slump onto the bed. Only force of will kept him upright.

“Why should I?”

“Because we know you only mean them for now. Not forever.
Nothing
good lasts forever.”

Daniel pushed across the bed so that his knee brushed Remy’s. They sat face-to-face but at an angle. Daniel lifted his hands so slowly that Remy knew he was going to be touched. Half of him wanted a punch rather than a caress. He wasted his chance for soft, good things with how he’d behaved, but that didn’t lessen his yearning.

“Here’s the deal,” Daniel said as he framed Remy’s face. “Maybe this will all end. Maybe you and me and Naya together and happy is asking for too much. But it
is
what we’re asking for. A relationship. Where we’re all connected.”

“With me.”

“With you.”

“You want me.” He sounded like an idiot. A dumb repetition of Daniel’s words. “Both of you?”

“We do.”

“You’re a moron.”

Daniel’s mouth quirked into a smile. “Maybe. Come be a moron with us.”

Remy shook his head. Not a no—more a denial that these things were possible. “Things end.”

“They do.” He spoke slowly, steadily. “In fact, there’s no guarantee that if you walk out that door, Naya and I will continue.”

Remy wanted to bury his fist in the man’s face for even suggesting such a thing. “Fuck that. You and Naya are right together.”

“We’re good. We were damn near excellent.” Daniel’s expression was solemn. The low light cast shadows over his cheekbones and the heavy line of his brow. “But now we’ve had you. Now we know that there’s a level above excellent. And it requires you.”

“Is that blackmail?”

Daniel seemed to consider before shaking his head. “No. I know it might be easier for you to understand if it were. But it’s just the truth.”

He kissed Remy. Sweetly. The kind of kiss he’d have expected from Naya. Their lips slipped with a sheen of moisture. When had they ever kissed? Truly, lovingly kissed? They’d been so rough with each other—two dumb cavemen. Only Remy had kept his chin tucked low, his eyes on the slimy mud, while Daniel looked up to a sunny sky. This meeting of lip to lip was an invitation for Remy to look skyward too. Warmth that had nothing to do with sex filled his chest, and he could nearly feel the sun’s cleansing rays on his face.

Their tongues met with tentative sweeps. No aggression. They were saying hello as if they’d never pressed skin to skin. Daniel tasted of Naya. Remy increased the pressure, chasing that taste, until Daniel winced—the blow from Remy’s elbow. That didn’t stop the fool man. He slid his grip down to Remy’s shoulders and nudged him down. This was no pressure, seeking dominance. It was a quiet form of begging.

So Remy went. He let himself melt backward into the soft bed. His head came to rest by Naya’s hips, exactly where he’d imagined. Daniel was a reassuring weight on him, not the sort of weight that filled him with dread. The expectation of panic never came, despite how firmly Daniel’s big body held him against the bed.

“I’ve screwed up so many times. Tonight… Tonight was the worst.” He pushed Daniel back far enough that they could look into each other’s eyes. “How can you trust me when I don’t trust myself?”

“You don’t believe you’re worth trusting,” Daniel replied, tracing Remy’s lower lip. “That’s bullshit.”

“I’ve done so much. And…been done also.”

“None of that counts. Only what you do with us.”

Remy let his eyes close. Daniel’s faith was too much. How had Naya withstood that power for so long? Remy would’ve been crushed under that faith, mistaking it for pressure and expectation. She’d known better, drawing strength from how firmly Daniel believed in her potential. Yet she’d needed Remy to find that courage.

Him.

Just as he needed them both. “I want…”

“Say the word, Sir.” Daniel pressed close and took another sweet kiss. They explored one another in a way that was so much more intimate than their sessions. This was Remy being seduced by a man who only used his mouth. He was surprised to feel tears gather behind his lids, but Daniel’s firm, assuring tone of voice was no surprise. That was simply Daniel.

“Say any word, Remy. Between Naya and me, we’ll make sure it happens.”

“Yes.”

He sighed. Overwhelmed by the fight against himself, he gave up—and gave over. These two bright, shiny people could have anyone in the world. They’d chosen him. Who was he to say they were wrong?

And despite the fire of dread beneath his sternum, he knew Daniel hadn’t been exaggerating. If Remy walked away, there was no guarantee his leaving would right their world. This experience had changed them fundamentally. Whatever had been Naya Ortiz and Daniel Baker, fiancés, might not remain. He’d done that. For better or worse.

“Yes what, Sir?”

Remy laced his fingertips across the back of Daniel’s skull. So much strength. He’d been given permission to command this indomitable man. He wanted that permission back, as well as every other beautiful, mundane moment.

“Just…yes. All of it. I’ll try being brave for a while.”

“You’ve been brave your entire life, but you’ve suffered enough.” Daniel wrapped Remy in his arms and held him fully. They lay body to body, drawn together by Daniel’s strength. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted this? I’ve wanted to hold you.”

Remy swallowed.

“Just to hold you.” He kissed Remy’s temple, brow, each eyelid. “I knew you would be my first male partner. What I’d hoped, but what I didn’t know… I wanted to be the first man who adored you.”

“Christ, Daniel.” Remy shook his head, even as he burrowed closer. This was the peace he’d ached to find. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Nothing for now. But this will be the trick, Remy. Finding the courage to expect better than survival.”

“Like…being held by an incredibly sexy beast of a man who wears tailored suits like a second skin.”

Daniel’s mouth quirked until he couldn’t hold back a smile. “That’s a start.”

“Like…a dance company?”

“That’s a given, right? In the bag.”

Heat flushed his face. “Like…dancing with the sexiest woman who ever breathed?”

“Oh, yeah. Damn, she is just that, isn’t she? But there’s more to be had for us. Three times the ambition and support and companionship. This could be heaven, Remy.”

Daniel kissed him again. This wasn’t as sweet. Wasn’t as polite. It was male celebration and triumph. Daniel tasted like joy. Remy needed more joy in his life. He chuckled as he rolled Daniel over and straddled the bigger man. They must have been making too much noise because Naya shifted and opened her eyes.

She smiled sleepily. “That’s
so
much better. Can I play?”

“Of course.”

Remy slid onto her lithe body. Hot damn he felt amazing, lighter than he had in years. He hadn’t been this content since just before losing his first chance at hope. Yes, Tracey had left him for her new family, but how could he still begrudge her happiness when she’d given him so much? It hadn’t been her responsibility to take the place of a whole family. She’d made his life better. He’d need time to let go of so much pain and anger, but he would. He didn’t deserve living under those cold, cloying shadows.

Naya shifted beneath him, kissing and giggling at the same time. “
¿Estás loco también?
”

“Maybe. But I’m staying.”

Her dark eyes widened. She switched on the bedside light, eyes intent, as if she needed to see his face in order to believe his words. “For the night?”

“Yeah, that too.”

Daniel knelt behind Remy, hands on his shoulders. “Tonight. Tomorrow. Forever.”

“You mean it? Remy, really?”

“You might have to lock me in the first few nights,” Remy said, half-teasing. “Bolting is kind of a habit.” He kissed her mouth in tender apology, hoping she felt the depth of his remorse and the depth of his love. “But yes, I mean it,
chère
.”

He didn’t seem to have much choice because she wasn’t letting him go. She bestowed soft, blessing kisses—the kind that were promises and pleas and a future wrapped in one.

Maybe they always had been, and Remy had been too blind to see it.

“I’ll screw up again. I know I will.”

“It doesn’t matter.” As seductive as her lips were, however, she had other means of holding him close. She lifted her foot and hooked her toes behind Remy’s thigh. “Just shut up and love us like we love you.”

He froze. She’d said it earlier, when she was in her sweet, hazed-out place, but he’d chalked that up to the craziness of the situation. Now she was rational. “Love?”

Daniel chuckled. “You didn’t think we were doing this for shits and giggles, did you? We’re in it to win. Win
you
.”

Remy took Naya’s mouth fiercely. His tongue plunged behind her teeth and stroked along hers. Then he craned his head back toward Daniel, who obeyed the silent order and kissed him too. “One at a time,” Remy said, nearly gasping. “Tell me one at a time.”

“So demanding.” Naya laughed. She looked past him to Daniel. “Even in this, he’s our Sir.”

“You’d be disappointed if he were anything else.” Daniel’s amusement was audible.

Remy was on the edge of emotional breakdown and these two were teasing him.

As it should be.

“Say it.”

He was surprised when Daniel nestled his chin alongside Remy’s temple. His heavy chest rubbed Remy’s back, and evening stubble was a brute, masculine reminder of the man’s power. “I love you. Sir.”

Remy shuddered and dropped his head toward the valley between Naya’s breasts. Daniel caressed his tense shoulders as contentment became a low moan in Remy’s throat.

“And me.” Naya toyed with his hair, petting down his scalp. “I love you.”

He closed his eyes to hold back the flood of emotion, but there was no holding it back. Maybe there was no need to. Daniel’s strong hands and Naya’s nimble fingers urged him to sink into a place of contentment he’d never known. Doors unlocked. Dams burst open. He lifted his heavy head and gazed at Naya as if seeing her for the first time. His eyes prickled with tears. She brushed her thumbs across his lashes, with a touch so soft that he might’ve imagined it.

Except every minute was real.

“I love you too,” he rasped. “
Bon Dieu,
I love you both. Forever.”