“Yes, Master.”
Near dawn they heard her moving around. They were still three miles from the head marker. Sully worked in the galley, cooking breakfast. He walked to her cabin and knocked. “Do you want some scrambled eggs and sausage? We’ve got plenty. I made extra.”
After a moment came her tentative reply. “Yes, please. Thanks.
I’ll be out in a minute.”
He hated that when she emerged she warily eyed him, like a child watching a dog that’s bit them before but still has to be around it.
He kept his voice soft, steady. “How do you take your coffee?”
“Milk and sugar, if you have it. If not, I’ll drink it black.”
He poured her a cup and set it on the table, not so close that she had to approach him to reach it. He left the milk and sugar on the edge of the table after she sat back.
Mac stuck his head through the doorway. “Good morning! Did you sleep okay?”
“Fine, thank you.”
Clarisse watched both men. Last night, when she’d collapsed, they’d both been shirtless. Mac stood a little taller and beefier than Sully, both men obviously in great shape, and Mac had nipple rings.
But this morning, Sully’s neck no longer had a collar locked around it.
She suspected the collar most likely meant Mac ran their weird little relationship. That made her feel safe somehow, even if it was stupid to feel like that about someone she just met. Maybe it was how his sweet brown eyes seemed to pull her in.
She didn’t trust Sully, though. Not a cop. She couldn’t trust a cop.
Mac, however…something about him settled her.
“You come home with us,” Mac said. “Grab a shower and change, and we’ll take you to see Tad.”
She started to tell them no, to resist their help, then realized what an asinine idea that was. She had no place to go and no idea where her uncle lived. If they’d wanted to hurt her, they could have done it in the middle of the Gulf and then disposed of her body, not haul her back to shore just to molest her at their home. Besides that, they were obviously gay from what she witnessed.
“Okay, thanks.” She tried not to flinch when Sully set a plate of food in front of her. “Thank you.”
Mac returned to the wheelhouse. Sully took a plate to Mac, then returned and sat across from her with his breakfast. She stole glances at him. Brown hair, a little grey around the temples. Piercing grey eyes. He didn’t try to coax her to talk, something she felt extremely grateful for.
After fifteen minutes, he spoke. “So how much did you see last night? Of us on deck?”
She looked up, startled. He wore a smile she could describe as playful.
She blushed and glanced away. “Enough. I’m sorry.”
When he gently touched the back of her hand, she forced herself not to pull away.
“I hope we didn’t scare you. Seeing us like that.”
She shook her head. No, she hadn’t been scared. She tried to fight the sudden throbbing in her nether regions. What a totally inappropriate response to her memory of the sight of the two hunks…
Yowza.
“You didn’t scare me,” she managed. “I mean…” She had to swallow to form spit. “I’m scared, but not of you guys.” She closed her eyes. “I just feel so freaking stupid for not leaving him the first time.”
His fingers slipped around her hand. He gently squeezed before letting go and withdrawing his hand. “We meant it when we said we’ll protect you.” He paused. “We have a very large house, plenty of room. If you don’t mind our relationship, if that doesn’t bother you, we can work something out.”
Before she could reply, he stood and took his empty plate to the sink.
Tempting. So tempting. Why did he have to be a damn cop?
“Mac’s sister was murdered,” Sully said from where he stood at the sink. He turned and leaned against the counter. “He might come off as overbearing in some ways. I just wanted to tell you why he’s latched onto you. Her husband murdered her. Mac found her, she hadn’t died yet. The guy beat her to death. They pulled life support after several days.”
He left her chewing that over as he climbed the stairs to the wheelhouse.
She finished her breakfast and washed her dishes. Then she hunted down her toothbrush and toothpaste and went to the head. In daylight, she realized how horrible and pitiful she appeared. Her eye wasn’t as swollen, but the awful purple and green bruises looked almost worse. The split lip hurt. Thank God she still had all her teeth.
She peeled down her jeans so she could use the toilet and noticed those bruises also starting to fade although they still looked ugly.
She changed clothes, felt marginally better, and applied copious amounts of deodorant to take care of the worst of her stench. When she returned to the main cabin, the men were still in the wheelhouse.
She remembered to replace the envelope of paperwork, then climbed up to join them.
Both men offered friendly smiles. She noticed they’d passed Anclote Island. At idle speed, it’d take another half-hour to reach the marina.
She edged around the men so she stood on Mac’s far side, with him separating her from Sully. She watched their eyes, how they studied her injuries.
Their pity.
“We want to offer you a deal,” Sully said. Mac stayed silent.
“Please, hear us out. You can stay with us. There’s only a couple of things I’ll require.”
She tensed again. “No, I’ll go somewhere. I’ll—”
“Can I finish?”
She nodded.
He ticked them off on his fingers. “As you’ve seen, Mac and I have an unusual relationship. We only demand respect, not endorsement or participation from you. You will see things that might disturb you, but they are consensual. We don’t expect you to do any of it, just let us live our life. We expect you to respect our privacy and not talk about our private life with others. We’ll protect you, but you can’t have contact with your ex. You’ll have to listen to us and do what we say in regard to handling that situation. You must give us total honesty, because that’s a firm, unbreakable rule in our home.
Absolutely no lying allowed.”
She waited for him to continue. When he didn’t, she asked, “That’s it?”
“That’s the important and nonnegotiable stuff. You can pay rent, or you can work for us. You don’t bring people over without letting us know first so we’re not…” He arched an eyebrow at her.
“Obviously so we’re not outed, so to speak. You’re free to come and go as you please, but if you’re going out, you keep in touch so we know you’re okay. It only makes sense for you to stay with us. You should be close to Tad, and we have the room.”
“Work for you?”
“Help Mac on the boat. You already know the ropes.” He smiled.
“No pun intended. Help me at home, too. I could use an assistant.
We’ll pay cash and trade room and board for chores.”
“Chores?” she nervously asked.
Sully smiled. “Yeah, chores. You know, washing dishes, doing errands, vacuuming. Not like blow jobs.”
She finally let out a tired laugh before returning his smile.
“Okay.”
Sully stuck out his hand. “Deal?”
She nodded and hesitantly shook hands with him. “Deal. Thank you.”
Chapter Three
They returned to dock. Clarisse seemed to fall into her old patterns. She climbed onto the port gunwale as Mac eased the Dilly backward into her slip. She kept watch to make sure they didn’t hit, grabbed lines, jumped onto the dock, and deftly wrapped the line around the cleat. Sully grabbed the starboard side.
Sully offered her his hand as she moved to jump down to the deck. He didn’t miss her hesitation before she finally reached out and took it. As soon as she’d regained her footing, she pulled her hand from his.