Changing the Rules [Club Libertine 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (13 page)

“You think I wasn’t hurt by your attitudes. One minute you are warm and loving and the next you have a complete stranger strap me and fuck my ass while a bunch of strangers watch? Oh, it was hot and I enjoyed it, but you weren’t doing it for my pleasure were you? You wanted to punish me for what you perceived as my infractions. And you do this because the first time you have any occasion to doubt me, you flip out and don’t give me a chance to explain? How is that any better than what I did to you. At least I had the excuse of being young and stupid. What’s yours? If you had snooped further, you’d see that I was also looking at apartments in Seattle and even sent a few letters of inquiry. I just clicked on the New York link to compare rents. The cost of living in New York is really unbelievable, isn’t it?”

She waited, but neither answered. They just sat there, staring, waiting, horror washing over their faces, and they realized just how wrong they were.

“I also arranged for this job. I like seeing you two during the day, but I need my independence, too. I thought with some distance between us, we could start over once my thirty days’ servitude was over. We couldn’t start over when I was with you because of an obligation. We needed to start over as equals. I planned to stick out the thirty days, but all of your hot and cold made it impossible. So I left and got a job and an apartment here in Seattle. By working for my old firm but on your file, I get the best of both, don’t you think?” She paused.

“We were going to come after you, you know. Even though we thought you left us, we were going to come after you.” Mac’s voice was tentative. He looked up at Michelle and saw the skepticism in her face. “It’s true. We were giving you some time to cool down, but check the company jet reservations. On what would have been day thirty of the contract, we have the jet scheduled to go to New York. We were going to beg you to come back to us.”

“Really? And what makes you think I would take you back?"

“We don’t deserve you. We know that, Michelle,” pleaded Sean. “That’s why we planned on begging and even offering to submit to you for thirty days.”

“Thirty day? What if I want you to submit to me for longer than that? Maybe I want six months or maybe six years of servitude to make up for the shitty way you acted.”

She looked at them as they exchanged glances.

“Nothing to say? Well then, have a look at this.” She pulled some papers out of her briefcase.

“I’m probably an idiot for saying this, but after everything, I still love you and I think that you love me, but I finally understand how badly I hurt you both. So I’m going to take a chance. You’ve been incredible juvenile. It’s like everything is a goddamned test. You have decided that I’m probably going to run off again the first time you push me out of my comfort zone, so you’ve decided to run me off.

“And it’s not that I didn’t deserve some payback. I hurt you. I know, so I’ve decided to forgive you for hurting me.” She looked at their hopeful faces and saw they wanted to interrupt be were afraid to.
Good
.

“But that’s it. That’s your free pass. No more tests. And I’ve decided that I don’t like the original contract I signed. It was long, but it left out the important stuff, so I drafted a new one. I’d like you both to look it over. You don’t have to sign right away. But you know where I’ll be. I’m not leaving town, and I’m not giving up on us. I’m just changing the rules.”

She slid the two contracts across the table and waited while they scanned the wording. When they didn’t respond, she stood.

“You have one week to make a counter offer. Then it’s all off the table. Good day, gentlemen.” She got up and walked toward the door, hoping they didn’t realize how much she was shaking inside. She thought that they would say something. Maybe she’d lost her chance, but at least she had tried.

She’d only taken a few steps when Mac’s voice stopped her.

“Do you mean what you’ve written here?” He sounded hoarse and unsure. In other words, very un-Mac-like.

“I wouldn’t have written it if I didn’t mean it. I, Michelle Edwards, agree to love you both, and I agree to be your sub in the playroom and the club, but outside of it, I want to be your girlfriend and your lover but without rules and without reservations, only with love and trust. Forever.

“In return, you, Mac Whelan and Sean O’Mally, promise be caring Doms inside the playroom and club and loving boyfriends and lovers outside. You promise to love and trust and care for me without rules or reservations. Forever.

“No more blowing hot and cold. No more getting close physically but being distant emotionally. No more stupid revenge. If I hurt you or you hurt me, we talk about it. We work it out. We don’t take revenge, do you understand? Answering hurt with hurt just wounds all of us.

“To summarize, if you want me back, I have to have all of you. You have to open yourselves up to me. And not just you, Mac. Sean, you have been hiding behind our veneer of affability, but I could feel your hurt and anger. It’s just as hard to get through your veneer as it is Mac’s. If you both can’t agree to those terms, then I don’t know where we go from here.”

“Can we still spank you?” asked Sean tentatively. Mac turned on him, trying to shush him.

“No, Mac. That’s a valid question and an honest one. Sean, do you promise to follow that spanking with a mind-blowing orgasm?”

“I do.”

“Fine. You can add that amendment, if you like. Of course, I reserve the right to spank one or both of you if you misbehave in the future.”

She pulled two pens out of her briefcase and placed them in from of her men. They scribbled their names at the bottom on the contract and thrust it at her. She added her name to the bottom, and then she looked from Mac to Sean and held open her arms. They came to her, and the three of them hugged each other tight. And in their arms, she knew it was going to work out. She was just where she was meant to be.

THE END

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Diane Leyne grew up in Ontario. Two of her great passions are photography and reading. Diane devours all types of books from thrillers to erotica. After years of saying, “I think I could do that,” she did thanks to Siren-BookStrand. And now she's hooked on writing and is working feverishly on her next book.

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