Sophie's Surrender [Viper's Dungeon 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (22 page)

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly as she stepped closer to them. “I should have trusted my Doms to explain.”

“Explain what?” Alex asked. He hadn’t moved either, but his demeanor suggested that he was struggling more with her admission of not trusting them than he’d been with the silence she’d given them up till now.

She glanced up at him, but quickly dropped her gaze again.

“To explain that what Gina told me was wrong. That you don’t play with other subs when I’m not around. That infidelity is not part of our lifestyle.”

Malcolm was already wondering how to deal with Gina and her lies when Alex asked Sophie, “You thought we were being unfaithful?” He sounded very much like a wounded bear.

Sophie flinched at the loud question but thankfully held her ground.

“I’m sorry, Sir,” she said very clearly. “I’m ready to accept any punishment my Doms think is appropriate.”

Alex seemed angry enough to beat her ass black and blue, but there was no way Malcolm was going to let that happen. He moved very slightly, silently signaling his intent. Thankfully Alex was an experienced enough Dom to realize his reaction was too emotional and uncontrolled. He took a step back.

“Are you pregnant, Sophie” Malcolm asked, trying to keep his voice low and calm.

She seemed startled by the question, but stared at the floor for a few moments apparently counting the days in her cycle. Eventually she shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“So the vomiting Monday night?” Adrian asked, his voice husky as he, too, tried to pull his emotions back under control.

She looked at him then, obviously sensing his concern. “I’m so sorry.” She swallowed hard as she glanced at both Malcolm and Alex before dropping her gaze back to the floor. “The nausea was from not understanding that what happened to Penny was consensual. Her Dom hit her so hard, and she looked like she was in so much pain, and the men…” Her words trailed away as she shuddered, her skin taking on the same sickly pallor she’d worn that night. “I didn’t realize she knew them. I thought they were just strangers to her. That her Dom was abusing her trust. And then Gina—”

Her hurried words cut off when Adrian stood up suddenly.

“That does it! We’re done trying to help that woman. I’m canceling her membership as of right now!” Adrian exclaimed, heading for the hallway. Sophie’s soft words stopped him.

“Please don’t. She probably needs help now more than ever. She didn’t…” Sophie said worriedly, “I mean she said that you all…” She dragged in a deep ragged breath. “And we’re still using condoms…b–but I shouldn’t have believed her. I should have trusted my Doms.”

“Sophie,” Malcolm said, glancing at Alex and Adrian before moving to gather her in his arms. “This isn’t your fault.” He glared at the other men, daring them to contradict his assessment as he tried to comfort their distraught woman. “You’ve never met Gina before. You had no reason to believe that she’s a pathological liar. Add that to
our
failure to explain the type of scenes Penny and Adam usually play before taking you to watch one you had good reason to wonder.”

“Plus,” Alex said, stepping closer to press a kiss to the back of Sophie’s neck. “We never discussed the future with you. That was our mistake, Sophie. You’re still new to this lifestyle, but you took to it so naturally sometimes we forget how little you truly know. Malcolm, Adrian, and I are very serious about this relationship.”

Finally Adrian moved closer to her, his hand touching her face as he moved into her line of sight. “And we never considered other contraception because condoms are very effective when used correctly.”

“Plus they have the added bonus of not causing a delay when we finally manage to talk you into having our babies,” Alex added.

“You want babies with me?” she asked in a voice filled with wonder.

“Of course, that’s on the proviso that it doesn’t interfere with your bakery. We’re willing to wait for a time in your life that suits you, little sub, but it’s what we’ve been hoping for right from the start.” Sophie nodded at Alex’s quiet declaration but couldn’t quite tamp down her fears.

“Please, Sophie,” Malcolm said. “Please forgive us for letting you down.”

“Does this mean I don’t get the cane?”

“Only if you want to try it in a pleasurable scene, baby,” Malcolm said very seriously, “but we’re not going to punish you for not knowing something we’d never told you.” Again Malcolm glanced at both men, assessing their reactions to what he was about to say. Fortunately they both knew him well enough to know what was coming next. Adrian and Alex nodded their agreement. “Sophie, we love you, all three of us. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a wife and a lover and a sub. Alex and Adrian feel the same way. Accept our collar, marry one of us if you need the paperwork, but most importantly please love and forgive us. I promise we’ll never let you down again.”

“You didn’t—” she began, but Adrian pressed a kiss to her lips instead of letting her finish.

“We did, and we’re sorry, and we’ll never let you watch a scene again without explaining exactly what is going on.”

“And we’ll tell you every moment of every day that we love you,” Malcolm added.

“And, one day, when the timing is right,” Alex said quietly, “we’ll start a family together.”

* * * *

Sophie couldn’t stop the damn tears as they started falling. They were telling her everything she needed to hear and she had no doubt that their words were honest. She’d caught a little of the conversation before coming into this room—enough to realize that they’d made the same assumptions. They hadn’t pledged their love or their fidelity simply because they’d taken for granted she understood.

Penny’s scene had been distressing for Sophie to watch, but even then she’d trusted her men enough to want to wait for an explanation. If Gina hadn’t deliberately sown the doubt in her mind Sophie probably wouldn’t have noticed the other stuff like the fact that they were still using condoms.

“As much as I love holding you in my arms,” Malcolm said in that deep reassuring tone she’d always loved, “don’t you have a shop to run?”

“Actually,” she said, realizing that this truly was the perfect time to give them her news, “the shop closes for the last time next Friday.” The concern on their faces was both sweet and a little discouraging so she quickly tried to explain. Of course, it might have been easier if she didn’t look a total wreck from crying. “I’m restructuring the business, not shutting it down. I wanted more time to spend with my Doms, so I’ve arranged with Maya to bake almost exclusively for her restaurants using her ovens. It makes sense. I bake when the restaurant is closed so I won’t be getting in her chef’s way. I also have the option to expand the business later, but for now I just want to keep things small. I might even get the chance to experiment with a few of my other recipes to suit Maya’s clientele.”

“So you’ve given this a lot of thought then?” Adrian asked with what seemed to be a rather impressed smile.

“I have,” she said, nodding as Adrian pulled her from Malcolm’s embrace and into his own. “Financially it’s actually more viable than having a storefront.” She laughed softly. “And Nessie was very happy to retire.” Her sneaky employee had even suggested the only reason she’d stayed on was to make sure Sophie met the right guy. She hadn’t even blinked when Sophie had told her about her relationship with all three of them.

“Are you sure this is what you want, Sophie?” Malcolm asked. Ever since they’d gotten back together he’d been almost obsessive in his avoidance of interfering in her life.

“Absolutely,” she said happily, her heart clenching at the genuine pleasure on her ex-husband’s face. “And the workload is light enough that when we do decide to start a family, I should be able to handle most of it before and with a little bit of help from the baby’s fathers even after the baby arrives.”

“Seriously?” Adrian asked excitedly. “Can we start working on having a baby right now?”

Malcolm laughed softly. “Weren’t you turning green a few minutes ago when we thought she might be pregnant already?”

Adrian shook his head at Malcolm’s teasing but smiled as he turned to her to explain. “I was only worried when we thought you might have become pregnant accidentally. I didn’t want you to feel like we’d robbed you of your choices.”

Those stupid tears filled her eyes again as she hugged him close, loving him so much she felt ready to burst.

“A marriage to all three of us won’t be easy,” Alex said, “but we promise you that we’ll always respect your opinion, that you’ll always have a voice, and a chance to choose your own path.” He grinned wickedly then, perhaps realizing that she truly intended to love all three of them for the rest of her life. “And of course, we also promise to give you many, many,
many
orgasms. Probably more than you ever dreamed possible.”

“I love all three of you,” she said happily. “I know now that being your sub is not a threat to my independence.” She giggled as she thought of all the orgasms Alex had just promised. “A big ‘yes, please’ to all the kinky sex.” She smiled then and thought of the one thing they all seemed to want right now. “And yes, I would love to try for a baby.”

“Now?” Adrian asked hopefully.

She glanced at her watch, cursing inwardly when she saw the time. Poor Nessie was stuck at the shop alone. Asking her to take on more work wasn’t very fair, especially now that the woman was looking forward to her retirement. “As soon as I take the fruitcakes out of the oven.”

“I’ll drive,” Malcolm said, reaching for his keys at the same time that Alex lifted her into his arms. She giggled happily as they rushed her out the door and into Malcolm’s car.

She wasn’t silly enough to think life would be smooth sailing from now on. None of them were perfect so they were bound to make mistakes along the way. But one thing was very solid in her mind—they loved and trusted her and she loved and trusted them.

It was a solid foundation to build on and she had no doubt that their future together would be a happy one.

Alex held Sophie close, his hand monitoring the pulse at the base of her throat, as he carefully observed her reactions to the scene they were watching. It was probably overkill but Adrian and Malcolm stood either side of him making certain that between the three of them they didn’t miss or underestimate any of the warning signs that she was distressed by what they were watching.

Of course, this time they’d been certain to pick a scene far less confronting than the wife-swapping S&M scene they’d taken her to the first time. The last thing they all wanted was a repeat of that experience.

He smiled as Viper and Brick secured Bianca to a spanking bench, her soft moans reaching his ears thanks to the lack of music. He was grateful the trio hadn’t minded when he’d requested this special dispensation for his sub. After Sophie’s horrendous first experience, Viper, Brick, and Bianca had been more than willing to help.

Sophie’s pulse fluttered, beating a little harder as Bianca’s moans increased, her skin pinkening as her Doms peppered her with floggers. Alex dropped his hand lower, skimming over the hard points of Sophie’s nipples as he reached for her pussy. She was wet, her thighs coated with her arousal.

She moaned, wriggling closer to him, giggling softly when he slapped her mons gently and told her to behave.

Bianca screamed as her orgasm hit, her moans of ecstasy filling the club.

Sophie swayed, and shuffled on her feet, her heartbeat fluttering faster. It should have been a reaction to the scene, but something warned him that it wasn’t. Somehow Adrian and Malcolm sensed it, too.

“Sophie?” Malcolm asked as he moved to stand in front of her, blocking her view of the scene.

She shook her head, her agitation now very clear. He let her go as she pulled from his arms and nearly ran to the exit. All three of them were right behind her. Hard limit or not they followed her into their bathroom, determined that she wouldn’t be alone as she dealt with her distress.

Already heaving, Sophie fell to her knees, vomiting into the toilet for a few moments before struggling to her feet and accepting their help. She rinsed her mouth several times, and then shaking and pale turned to face them.

Alex had no idea where to start. Bianca’s scene had been very similar to what Sophie had experienced herself, so he didn’t know why it could have affected her so badly. They’d done everything they could to change her experience of that night, but if she couldn’t watch something like that without being distressed enough to vomit, then she obviously didn’t belong inside the club.

Perhaps it really was time for him to reconsider his career choices. Sophie had restructured her business commitments to find more time for him and Adrian and Malcolm. Perhaps now it was time for them to do the same.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he said, handing her a cool washcloth to wet down her face. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t need you to watch things that you find distressing. We love you exactly as you are. We don’t need to visit the club.”

“Sorry,” she said, attempting to give him a reassuring smile, “but all tonight proves is that I have very bad timing.”

“Timing?” Malcolm asked, looking as confused as Alex felt.

“Yes, timing,” she said, seeming a little better already. “I was going to tell you tonight, but after that I think I need to do some quick explaining.” They all seemed to hold their breath as they waited for her to explain how vomiting halfway through watching a scene was a matter of bad timing. “Remember a few weeks back when we decided to…um…not use condoms anymore?”