One Ring

  She loved the way her two sadists started grinning. “You’re asking to be branded for your collaring?”

  She nodded. “It’s not like a tattoo or a hot brand.”

  “Okay,” Don said. “We can do that.”

  “Really?”

  He rested his forehead against hers. “We’ll do anything you want to do, baby.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Don and Carl arranged it with Loren and Derrick. They had to do some quick online shopping and spend extra bucks for overnight shipping to ensure they got what they wanted, but by Saturday afternoon, they’d found and received the play collar they wanted for her to wear, as well as her formal collar.

  They’d agonized about her day collar…until Don finally hit on the perfect solution, one that would, hopefully, make her happy.

  The men agreed it made them happy.

  The formal collar was easy, because they bought a stainless chainmaille necklace from their friend, Becca, a local kinky artisan who made them.

  For her play collar, they ordered a hand-tooled black leather collar with a matching set of leather cuffs.

  The men kept them a secret from her, to surprise her at the collaring.

  Especially what was to be her day collar.

  She hadn’t wanted a large, formal collaring ceremony other than the branding. They invited all their friends, which was easy since most of them had already planned to attend the liquid nitrogen demo.

  Before the demo began, Loren called for quiet after the men had trussed Mel up in a rope harness and had her lying on a large pillow, on her left side.

  “For those of you who don’t know, tonight there’s an extra festivity to celebrate. Don and Carl are formally collaring Mel as their submissive, in front of everyone. Take it away, boys.”

  Don felt butterflies racing through him. “We won’t take long. Not because we don’t care, but because we’ve waited long enough to claim her as ours, and we’re pretty eager to have even more fun.”

  Everyone laughed.

  Carl took over. “Thank you to Becca, for her formal collar. It’s beautiful, and perfect.” He held up her play collar first. “This is the one you’ll be spending a lot of time in here and at home,” he joked as he buckled it around her neck, and the cuffs around her wrists, which were tied in front of her.

  Then he fastened the formal collar around her neck. “This is for show, and you can wear it even in public.”

  Carl had told Don he wanted him to give her the day collar.

  Don pulled the jeweler’s box from his pocket. “We got sneaky,” he said. “We borrowed a ring of yours and took it with us.” He wouldn’t say it’d been her old wedding band, which sat in her jewelry box on her dresser. “But we picked out matching rings for all three of us, because this isn’t just you agreeing to be our submissive, this is us agreeing to be your Dominants, and to protect and take care of and love you. It works both ways, and we feel we should match.”

  She smiled, crying as he showed her the matching bands with a twisted vine pattern covering them. He slid her ring on her left ring finger, then one onto Carl’s. Carl put Don’s ring on him.

  Then they both knelt next to her. “Someone specifically requested something,” Don said. “Do you still want it?”

  She nodded. “Yes, Sir. I want to wear your marks.”

  Loren motioned for Crawford, who was doing the demo, to come in. He’d already worked with the men ahead of time so they’d know what to do. He prepped the brand in liquid nitrogen and handed it over to them.

  Don, with Carl holding Mel down, touched the brand to her right ass cheek.

  When he pulled it away, the double-M was clearly visible.

  “And that, folks, is how you make sure a subbie can get returned to you,” Gilo called out, making everyone laugh.

  * * * *

  Mel hadn’t expected the rings. It caught her off-guard, but in the good way.

  After they were finished and everyone had congratulated them, they moved to the side, out of the way of the liquid nitrogen demo so her men could untie her.

  She stared at the rings on their hands, the one on hers.

  They all had the same one.

  The missing piece had slipped into place, finally. Even before they’d been having sex—and she’d literally had more sex in the past week than she’d had in the last five years of her marriage to Mike—she felt like she was part of something bigger. Not just friends, but a family.

  Once she had put her sundress on—without panties—Marcia raced over to hug her. “I’m so happy for you three!” She hugged Don, then Carl.

  “Yeah, well, you should be. You worked your ass off getting us together.”

  “No, I worried my ass off for months hoping you would end up together,” she corrected. “I was beginning to think it wouldn’t happen.”

  “All good things in their time,” Mel reminded her. “You would have hurt me in the bad way if I’d jumped into the wrong relationship.”

  “Yes, but these guys had my seal of approval from the start,” she said. “I knew they were perfect for you, and you for them.”

  “You didn’t even know I was kinky a couple of weeks before I met them.”

  “True, but I had a feeling this was the right thing for all three of you.” She grinned. “And I was right. Ha! Tilly and Eliza aren’t the only matchmakers.”

  “This isn’t a competition,” Carl said, half-joking.

  He knew some of the Venture women were every bit as competitive as their men.

  Maybe more.

  “I didn’t say it was. But I’m glad to say I have a one hundred percent success rate.” She smirked.

  “One out of one isn’t a rate,” Mel said. “It’s luck.”

  “Quit pissing on my parade,” Marcia said, then dropped her voice, turning serious. “I’m glad this worked out. You all deserve to be happy.” She hugged them, then hurried off to see why one of the volunteers was waving at her from the office door.

  Mel snuggled against Don, pulling Carl against her back. This was something she’d enjoyed, even when they were “just friends.” At least once a day, they’d had a group hug.

  Now, she could sleep like this, with one of them on either side of her.

  Never alone. Not anymore.

  And now, they all matched.

  “Do you like the rings?” Carl asked.

  “I love them. One ring.”

  “The preeeeciousss,” Gilo quietly joked from nearby.

  Tilly swatted at him, making him and all three of them laugh.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Six months into their new arrangement and being collared to them, and Mel wouldn’t change a thing.

  If her men were telling her the truth, they were happy, too.

  The men had given Mel the master bedroom, and most nights, the three of them all slept together in the same bed, when she was home. Usually, if she was traveling and away from home, one of them slept in another room. She didn’t know how they decided that, but it apparently varied from trip to trip. With the third bedroom now being used for storage and a home office, what had been Don’s bedroom was now the “guest” room. Mel’s clothes were in the master bedroom, but the men shared space between the guest room and the master bedroom.

  It didn’t matter. The men were happy, she was happy, and things were going well.

  Except that Mel didn’t feel good when she headed to the airport for a flight to Atlanta on a Tuesday morning. By the time she arrived at Tampa International and got checked in and through security, she barely made it to a bathroom in time to puke her guts up.

  Holy crap.

  She doubted it was food poisoning. The men were apparently feeling all right, but she’d awakened feeling…weird. Off. Then again, maybe the eggs she’d scrambled for herself that morning weren’t good after all.

  She’d nearly made it to the gate when the feeling hit her again, causing her to run, dragging her carry-on behind her, back to the bathroom.
>
  This is ridiculous.

  She bought some antacid, mints, and iced tea at a vendor in the gate area and tried again, taking a seat near a garbage can in case the feeling hit again.

  This time, her stomach obeyed.

  For the first time ever, she double-checked to make sure an air sickness bag was tucked into the seat pocket in front of her. In the past, she’d silently scoffed at them, being an easy flier who never got sick.

  Not this morning.

  Fortunately, by the time they were in the air, her stomach had apparently decided to behave. She ordered plain seltzer water with lime and sipped that, relieved when it seemed to have the desired effect, especially combined with the crackers they served.

  By the time they landed in Atlanta, she felt much better and headed to the rental car outlet.

  That evening, after several hours spent on-site at the client’s location, she checked into her hotel and realized she’d need every last one of the three days they’d slotted for this job. It was far more complicated than she’d first been told, the server room a total disaster, with equipment needing to be taken offline and reconfigured properly before she could even begin to think about doing her job.

  The rack wiring jobs were a mess, and she couldn’t even tell what went where, waterfalls of wires all over the place. She couldn’t clean up the whole place in the time she had—and that wasn’t her job anyway—but her equipment would have to be completely shut down, the wiring pulled, and re-run the right way.

  She suspected the vendor had simply slapped it in without closely looking at the diagrams. Based on how the rest of the server room looked, it didn’t surprise her.

  She relaxed in her bed, the TV on, and called the men. She hadn’t had time to talk to them all day, only sending them texts when she’d landed to let them know she’d arrived safely.

  Using FaceTime, she called Don and smiled as both men crowded in to talk with her.

  “See? You two would look so cute if you’d just turn and kiss,” she teased.

  The men laughed. “Not even for you, babe,” Carl said. “Sorry.”

  “I know. But a girl can hope.”

  “Are you all right?” Don asked. “You look tired.”

  She refused to lie to them. “I had an upset stomach this morning. Strangest damn thing. I puked my guts up twice at the airport before my flight.”

  Now both of them looked worried, “You did?” they asked in stereo.

  “Yeah, probably got a bad egg or something. I doubt it was from dinner last night or you two would have been sick, too.”

  They chatted for a little longer, Mel remembering to give them her hotel info before saying goodnight. “I’ll text you tomorrow, but I’ve got a mess on my hands here,” she said. “I won’t be talking much. I’ll make sure to call you guys again tomorrow night. Love you both.” She blew them kisses.

  “Love you, too, babe,” Don said. “Be safe.”

  “I will.”

  “Miss you and love you,” Carl said.

  “Suck up,” Don teased. “Just had to outdo me.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Stop it. Both of you. Have a good night.”

  She ended the call and stuck her phone on the charger. She suspected that, without her home, they’d likely sleep in separate rooms tonight. Which was fine.

  Although it was funnier for her to think of them maybe snuggling together in the same bed and missing her.

  * * * *

  Don stared at his darkened phone. “This might sound stupid,” he told Carl, “but I wouldn’t object if you wanted to sleep in the same bed tonight.”

  Carl let out a wistful-sounding sigh. “I was going to say the same thing. It’s lonely enough without her here. I wouldn’t mind the company even though we aren’t doing each other.”

  They looked at each other. “How’d we get here?” Don asked.

  “I don’t know,” Carl said. “Figures we find the perfect woman for both of us.”

  “I don’t mind if you don’t mind,” Don said. “She damn sure doesn’t seem to mind.”

  “Thank god for both of us.”

  “Yeah.”

  They lapsed into silence for a moment.

  Carl finally spoke again. “I don’t know how we got here,” he said, “but I’m glad we did. You’re my friend, and yeah, I love you. I don’t care what anyone thinks about what we have. I’m not jealous of you, not even when you guys have alone time together.”

  “Ditto. I’m not jealous of you, either.”

  Carl stood and stretched. “All I care about is that she’s happy. I love watching her face when you’re doing stuff to her. That turns me on. I never thought I’d ever say that.”

  “Well, like you said, ditto.” Don stood. “Figures that the woman I finally feel right about to risk half my shit on, I’m sharing her with my best friend.”

  Carl smiled. “We could mess with her mind and marry each other.”

  Don burst out laughing. “That would be a mindfuck, wouldn’t it?”

  * * * *

  The next morning, Mel awoke and let the familiar disorientation settle for a moment after she opened her eyes.

  Then she jumped from bed and bolted to the bathroom to puke her guts up again.

  As she knelt there, feeling shaky and weak and suspecting another wave was about to hit her, she thought back to the sushi she’d eaten the night before at a place two doors down from the hotel. It’d seemed nice enough, but it would be just her damn luck to get some bad fish.

  Fuck.

  Once she was steady, she skipped making her usual cup of coffee and instead opted for the hot tea the hotel provided with the coffeemaker. While that was brewing, she brushed her teeth and got her shower, her stomach feeling settled by the time she stepped out and wiped the steam from the bathroom mirror.

  Never. Eat. There. Again.

  She texted the guys before she headed downstairs to get her free breakfast and drive to the job site.

  Morning. Ugh, bad sushi last night, more yakking this morning. Hope ur both well. Love U both.

  * * * *

  They didn’t have to be at work until ten. Carl was still lying in bed and staring at the text from her while Don had headed to the bathroom to get his shower.

  “Hey, stupid question,” he called out to Don.

  “What?”

  “When’s the last time Mel put tampons on the shopping list?”

  Don’s head poked out of the bathroom. “What?”

  “We do the shopping, do we not?”

  “Uh, yeah, usually. Why?”

  “Look under the counter in there.”

  He disappeared and came back with a box, tipping it so Carl could see.

  It was almost full.

  In fact, it had been almost full for at least two months, the best that Carl could remember. He kept his spare razor blades and shaving cream under that counter and saw that box every time he opened the cabinet door.

  He threw the sheet back. “Call us in sick to work.”

  “Why?”

  “Just do it.” He headed toward the bedroom door to go get his shower in the other bathroom. “Right now. In fact, tell them we’re going to be out for two days.”

  “Why?”

  “Tell them it’s a family emergency.”

  “Because she ate some bad sushi?”

  But Carl didn’t stop to answer him.

  * * * *

  Don glanced at the drugstore shopping bag on the backseat. “You realize that you’re crazy, right?”

  They were less than an hour south of Atlanta, and stuck in afternoon rush hour traffic. They couldn’t take the bypass loop because of where Mel’s hotel was located, and they didn’t want to get lost on local streets.

  “Hey, I see you sitting in the passenger seat with the same look of hope on your face that I’m wearing.”

  “She’s going to kill us if we’re wrong.” Don said. “Correction, if you’re wrong. This was your crazy idea and I won’t hesitate
to throw you under the bus.”

  “You won’t think I’m so crazy if I’m right.”

  It was nearly seven by the time they finally made it to her hotel. After a text to her to find out where she was and not telling her they were now seated in the hotel’s lobby, they waited.

  It was a little after eight when she finally arrived and pulled up short, a look of shock on her face when she saw them sitting there. “Um, what the hell? What are you guys doing here?”

  Carl grinned, hooked a finger inside the front neckline of her shirt, and gently tugged for her to step close. “Settle, girl,” he whispered.

  Her eyes widened and the tip of her tongue nervously flicked out, licking her lips.

  Don wanted to put her in her knees in front of them right there and knew that wasn’t a good idea.

  Carl reached up with his other hand and gently laid a finger over her lips. “You’re going to take us upstairs to your room, right now,” he quietly said. “No talking.”

  She nodded. Don suspected she wanted to say, “Yes, Sir,” but she was a good girl.

  She was their good girl.

  Don shouldered the overnight bag, which held a change of clothes for both of them, and their purchase, as well as a couple of other things they thought they’d need. Once they were up in the hotel room, Carl didn’t let her come up. With the door shut and locked behind them, Carl cupped the nape of her neck and kissed her, working his magic on her as Don took her laptop bag from her and put it on the desk with their stuff. He dug the small box out of their bag and took it into the bathroom while Carl fisted her ponytail and put her on her knees in front of him.

  “Greeting, girl,” Carl ordered, letting go of her hair.

  She pressed her face against the front of his jeans, nuzzling, her entire body relaxing as she did.

  Don stepped in behind her and grabbed her ponytail, pulling her head back so he could stare down into her eyes. “No talking,” he ordered. “Not until we say so. Understand?”

  She nodded as best she could while looking up at him with his fist in her hair.