“Ain’t happening, buddy. Do you have any idea how sore I am?” Lexi grumbled the question. “The only thing getting close to my backside today is a bag of frozen peas. Seriously, after taking both of you there last night, you can’t believe that’s happening again this morning. Do you know how big the two of you are?”
Lucas had to laugh. She probably was pretty sore, but he could dream. He let his hand slide around to run over her pussy.
“Sore there, too,” Lexi said, rubbing her head against the pillow. “No sex for a couple of years and then days of decadent nonstop sex with two men has taken its toll on all my girl parts.”
Well, there was always her mouth.
“And don’t even think I’m giving you a blow job, babe. My jaw is sore, too.”
She knew how his mind worked. Lucas propped himself up on an elbow and looked down at her. “So, this is how marriage is going to be? I should have known all the sex would dry up the minute you agreed to let me make an honest woman of you.”
She was so pretty lying there, her eyes soft and sleepy. “I’m honestly sore. The good thing about a threesome, though, is that you can go and pester Aidan for sex.”
That was a really good idea. Lucas rolled out of bed. The day was definitely looking up. He reached for his jeans.
Lexi rolled over, a bemused smile lighting her face. “That was quick.”
Lucas shrugged and decided to try to be discreet. He wasn’t quite sure how this whole thing worked yet. “I’m just going to go help him out.”
“Of his pants, maybe.” Lexi laughed, a deep, sexy sound. “Tell the Master I love him, too, when you tackle him.”
God, he’d hit the jackpot with her. Lucas slipped a T-shirt over his head and sat back down on the bed, stroking her arm. Her skin was silky soft. So different from Aidan’s, and yet he needed both. He’d managed to find the two people in the world who could handle him. Lucas swore to himself that he wouldn’t let them down. “I love you, Lexi. Do you have any idea how much I love you?”
Her smile softened, and she reached out to him. “I think I do. I think you’re a man who’ll do anything for the people he loves. You’ve put up with my shit for a long time.”
He leaned over, touching his forehead to her. “It was never shit, Lexi. And there’s no such thing as putting up with you. I am honored to be in your life. I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
“I love you, too, Lucas. I wouldn’t be half of who I am today without you.”
He didn’t believe that for an instant, but he would take it. “Are you going to be okay living here? It’s a tiny town, and we’re going to be the outsiders. We’ve lived in cities all our lives.”
Lexi had been raised in Fort Worth. Lucas had been all over the world. Deer Run was going to take some getting used to, but Aidan needed to be here. Lexi could write anywhere. Lucas could pare his workload down and do almost everything via computer. He was a corporate lawyer. There would always be some travel, but his two biggest clients were also his brother and Julian Lodge. They were very understanding. Aidan couldn’t move his cattle ranch.
She lay back with a throaty sigh. “I think I can take it. And we’re not just outsiders. We’re crazy, immoral outsiders. The good news is Austin isn’t that far away. The ranch hands won’t care. Cowboys, I’ve discovered, are surprisingly tolerant. As long as you can ride and shoot and get your share of the work done, they don’t care what your sex life is like. And I think I’m going to try to write that book I’ve always talked about.”
Lucas felt his heart leap. “I am glad to hear that.”
“Don’t be. It might suck.”
He didn’t care if it sucked. It could be the worst book in the world, and he would love it because she’d written it. “It will be awesome, baby.”
“And don’t tell Julian or Jack what I’m doing. Tell them I’m being a pampered princess. One of those two will decide to buy a publishing company and force people to read my book. I’d like to make it on my own.” She pulled the covers up.
Lucas frowned. He’d almost caught a glimpse of her nipples. Later. He’d make sure she wasn’t sore later. He’d talk to Aidan and they would force her to soak in a hot bath. Lucas had plans to renovate the master bath, but for now it was big enough for Lexi to soak. He and Aidan would treat her like a princess all day, and she’d be ready to take them tonight. Yeah, he liked that idea.
“Get some more sleep, baby. Coffee will be ready for you when you get up.” He kissed her forehead and closed the door behind him as he entered the hall.
He was a little sore himself, but that wouldn’t stop him from suggesting that he and Aidan play around a little. Lucas entered the kitchen and checked the coffee pot. There was just enough for him. He poured a cup and then made another pot for Lexi. He sniffed a little at the brand. It wasn’t her favorite. He’d make a trip into town later and stock up. This was going to be their home. It was up to him to make it perfect for her. He would have to relearn all of Aidan’s habits.
Lucas felt himself smile. When had he started getting so much pleasure from making other people happy? Maybe because his own childhood had been utterly devoid of anyone caring about what he needed. Meeting his half brother had been a turning point in his life. Jack Barnes had taught him what it meant to be a man. Being a real man meant being able to love and take care of the people he loved. It was a responsibility he took a deep joy in. Lucas had people who depended on him and who he could depend upon. One day, maybe, he would even have children.
That was a scary prospect. He remembered how hard it had been on Lexi to lose Brandon. But he wanted to try. He wanted it all.
He sipped his coffee as he looked out of the kitchen window over the yard. The barn door looked like it was open. It hadn’t swung wide, but he could tell that it wasn’t locked. The lock was sitting on the outside of the hinge. It was a windy day. It wouldn’t do for the door to swing open. And Ike was obviously running around. He could get stuck in there.
Lucas sighed and left his coffee behind. He let the screen door slam behind him. The sound was a loud shot in an otherwise perfectly quiet morning. Ike seemed to have given up his attempt to communicate. It was almost eerily quiet.
And he smelled something odd. Was that gasoline? Had Aidan been gassing up some of the equipment? It smelled like he’d spilled it—a lot of it.
Lucas pulled the lock off and was just about to lock the barn when he heard something shuffle inside. “Aidan?”
He opened the door and felt his stomach drop. Aidan was lying on the rack, tied down, the same way they had tied up Lexi the day before. Without another thought, Lucas rushed in.
“What the hell?”
Aidan’s eyes flew open. They were wide with terror. He pulled at his restraints and seemed to be trying to talk, but there was a rag in his mouth. Lucas raced to him and pulled the rag out.
“Run, Lucas!”
But it was too late. Something moved behind Lucas, and he felt the right side of his head light up before the world went dark.
Aidan felt sick as Lucas fell to the ground. Dwight had perfected the art of slamming the butt of a rifle into a person’s head. He might not be the best foreman in the world, but he was damn good at knocking people out. And he was an accomplished killer. Aidan’s vision was still hazy, and he smelled gasoline. Was that just a hallucination? How much of this was real? He prayed Lucas was an illusion, but he didn’t hold out hope.
“Don’t hurt him. He doesn’t know anything.” Aidan was pretty sure it wouldn’t work, but he was willing to try anything at this point. He couldn’t stand the thought of Dwight shooting Lucas in front of him. Aidan prayed Lexi was somewhere safe. How long had he been out? Obviously long enough to get dragged to the barn and tied down with his own damn rope. “Please don’t shoot him. I’ll do whatever you want.”
Dwight stared down at the body at his feet. “When you first told me about those two, I thought you were insane. Now I’m just disgusted. I might be a killer, but at least I’m not a damn queer.”
Aidan’s head was pounding, but at least that gag was gone. He didn’t scream, because that was a surefire way to get that nasty rag shoved down his throat again. Besides, Bo was too far away to hear him. Only Lexi had a possibility of hearing him, and he couldn’t risk her running in here and getting herself killed.
“I’ve been listening to you talk for over a year, and it always made me sick,” Dwight continued. He reached down and grabbed Lucas’s wrists and pulled him, dragging him across the wood floor of the barn. “Do you have any idea what it took to sit there and listen to you whine about your sex life? But it gives me a couple of outs. You see, you might think that you’re being brave, but what you did last night was just stupid. Everyone saw you kiss Lucas. The police here aren’t really going to care that you got yourself killed. They’ll just say that’s what happens to gays.”
Dwight might have a point about the sheriff. He hadn’t been terribly friendly last night, but he had done his job. It might have been different if Karen hadn’t been gift wrapped and served up on a silver platter. That was obviously Dwight’s doing, but he let that go for now. Dwight needed to understand this wouldn’t be as easy as he thought. “Bo won’t let it go. And I assure you Jack Barnes won’t take kindly to his brother being murdered.”
For the first time, Dwight looked like he was sweating a bit. He dropped Lucas and stepped away. “I can’t worry about that now. I can’t let you live. I should have smothered your ass while I had the chance, but you didn’t remember. The doctors said they thought you would never remember, so I let it go. I didn’t want to kill Tanner and Link.”
A sudden flash of Link going down spun across Aidan’s brain. He’d been so fucking young. Tanner had been an accident. Aidan could almost forgive what happened to him. A firefight was scary and chaotic, but Link died in the quiet aftermath. Link had been murdered in cold blood. “But you did it anyway.”
“I had to. I wouldn’t survive in prison. Do you have any idea what I’ve done to survive? I had to stab myself to make it look like I’d been in a fight. That takes guts.”
Dwight was one delusional son of a bitch. “I bet Tanner’s wife and kid and Link’s parents would disagree with you.”
Dwight picked up the rifle he’d put down when he moved Lucas. He held it casually against his body. “I had to take care of myself. No one else would do it. And now I have to take care of you.”
“There’s no war here to slow down an investigation. Someone will figure out that you did this.”
He shrugged. “I don’t see why. I’ve been careful. I’ve never once said a bad word about you. I’m the loyal friend who sat by your bedside and followed you home to make sure you were okay. Now, Bo, he’s talked his mouth off about how pissed he is. That boy can’t handle his liquor. He was a might miffed you got the ranch. And I’ll make sure the sheriff knows how much you embarrassed him last night at the fair. No one in these parts wants a queer in their family.”
Dwight was severely underestimating this town in Aidan’s opinion. There would be some people who wouldn’t accept him, but not all. Even the ones who wouldn’t condone his lifestyle wouldn’t want him dead. Dwight was in for a mighty big wake-up call if he managed this.
“How exactly are you going to frame my brother? That’s not his gun. Everyone knows he loves his Remington Model 7. He would never use yours.” Sometimes Aidan thought Bo loved his rifle and the hunting that went with it far more than he would ever love any woman. He was pretty sure Bo slept with that rifle from time to time.
“I have no intention of shooting you. I’m—well, Bo—is going to lock you in the barn and set it on fire. By the time the ranch hands see the smoke and make it back from the east pasture, it will be too late. I’ve already hidden the gas can in Bo’s car. Dumbass doesn’t even lock his car.”
God, Aidan prayed Lexi was still asleep. He couldn’t bear the thought of Dwight tossing her inside with him and Lucas. Aidan pulled uselessly against the ropes he’d lovingly fastened to this table for his subs. This barn was supposed to be a playroom, a place where they could be themselves and love each other however they wanted. Now it would be his tomb. The ropes bit into his flesh, tearing at his skin. He felt blood start to leak from his wrists. Was that a little bit of give?
“Hurting yourself isn’t going to help,” Dwight said, standing over him. He had the rag in his hand. He shoved it into Aidan’s mouth. Aidan fought, but he gagged as the rag nearly found the back of his throat. He had to concentrate to breathe. “Can’t have you screaming, can we? I wonder if they’ll think you and that boy down there were playing your kinky games and Bo couldn’t take finding you like that. Or, hey, maybe they’ll blame Lexi. No real woman wants to lose her man to another man.”
Dwight pulled out a match when he got to the door of the barn. “Don’t worry too much. I poured the gas around the inside perimeter. The only window is up in the loft, and I made sure it’s closed. The smoke will kill you before the flames get to you. I’m not a monster after all.”
The monster Aidan had been friends with for years lit a match and dropped it to the ground. Fire lit and raced like the little Matchbox cars he and Bo used to play with. It raced up the track that led all the way around the barn. Within seconds, he and Lucas were surrounded by flames. Dwight slipped out of the door, and it snapped into place. Aidan had no doubt Dwight had locked it behind him.
Aidan couldn’t see Lucas. He had to pray that he wasn’t close to the fire. Aidan struggled with the ropes. He wouldn’t give up. He was too close to everything he wanted. Lucas’s life was on the line. He pulled, trying to get the screws to give. He would try everything he could because he was not going to let that son of a bitch kill his loves.
Aidan pulled and pulled as the smoke began to fill the barn.