7. Chapter 7
Chapter seven
Anelya
What were they thinking?
“Your boyfriends seemed pretty worried about you,” Harlan said.
Of course it was him again.
“I told them I was fine,” I said.
“Most of us can’t even get one hot boyfriend, let alone too, proby. Way to go!” Edgar, the next newest firefighter, said to me.
He’d already told me there were no good single gay men on this side of the mountain.
“Tell them not to come to another scene.” The Chief said.
I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
I didn’t tell them to come to this one, I thought.
Happily, this one was just a smoke bomb. It could have just been a prank, but I wondered about the timing with Burris going to the library that day.
Then our radios went off again, and we finished our first aid before heading to the next call. Who set the smoke bomb wasn’t our problem.
***
“You’re sure I can rent this?” I’d followed Summer, one of the dispatchers, to her AirBNB, after our shift.
“Yes. I’m tired of dealing with constant renters.”
She named a price I knew I could handle. “Thank you!”
“Are you sure you won’t be staying at a mansion soon?”
I smiled but said nothing. At the moment, I was ignoring texts from the guys. We haven’t had much free time in this shift, just as it had been the night before.
“When can I start staying here?”
“I had a cancellation this weekend, and no one else was lined up. Two months ok until you find something else?”
“That sounds perfect. I’m sure I can find a place by then.”
She grinned.
I held up my hand. “My own place.”
“If you say so.” She smiled, and handed me keys.
The small cabin was in a remote street about five miles out of town, past my sister’s place. It was near a lake, and seemed peaceful. I imagined getting a good night’s sleep.
The hot scene in the guys’ kitchen flashed through my mind. Sleep would be better for me right now, I thought. I tried to believe that.
***
“This place is adorable!” Carolina said, bringing in a bag of food for me. She came to see if after her shift, and brought dinner.
I looked in the bag. Salad, chicken tenders, fries, a chocolate pie, and a strawberry rhubarb pie. I went to give her a hug. “You staying for dinner?”“Yes,” she said, moving to sit on the small couch. “But I could have had a date.”
“Really?” I opened cabinets, looking for plates. I pulled two pretty turquoise Fiesta style plates.
“Jared texted me. He has work nearby and asked if I could meet him for dinner.”I nearly dropped the plates.
“You said no, I take it?”
“I did say no. What’s sad is I was curious for a minute. But then I remembered how intense he got at the end, showing up at culinary school and calling me so much I started looking at businesses out of town.”
I turned to face her. “You never said it was that bad.”
“How could I not realize it in two years? I was close with his sister Evie, and took her to her chemo appointments. I think her illness affected him. I couldn’t believe I didn’t see it. I mean, it seems like he’s changed now, with a better job selling sports equipment to Hansen’s.”
“Wait.” Hansen’s was the chain Bryan worked for. “Do you think that’s true?”
She looked up. “Let me see if I can find proof online. Do you know something about Jared?”
***
Thirty minutes later, Rhonda arrived.
To our surprise, Bryan was with her. Both were dressed nicely, in linen shorts and a sleeveless blouse for her that showed off her dark skin and toned arms. He was wearing nice pants and a polo.
I glanced at Carolina. They must have been on a date.
“Thanks for coming,” I said. “I think we may have some news for you.”
She stepped inside, then looked around. “Where are the guys?”
“I didn’t call them.”
She looked at me. “My cousin said word around the station is that they did the overprotective alpha male thing at the scene today. Are you angry with them?”
“I’m not really comfortable talking about this. Can I get you both something to drink?”
She pulled out her phone. “I know they can be, well, themselves. But I also see something with the three of you. This really does affect them too. Can I please call them?”
“I did bring two pies,” Carolina said.
I knew I wanted to see them. “It was embarrassing.”
“Let me ask you something. When you got the call about the bomb at the library, didn’t you worry about the guys?”
I remembered the second of shock and paralysis before I moved to get on the ambulance. I had thought about Burris being there and I wanted to get there quickly to make sure he was okay. I didn’t want to say that in front of her.
Rhonda studied my face, then made the call.
“I’d hate to be a criminal interrogated by you,” I grumbled.
Bryan laughed, and put his hand on Rhonda’s back while she talked to Greg.
***
We’d all eaten dinner by the time the guys arrived an hour later. I opened the door while the others were on the back patio, wanting a minute along with them.
Burris was holding a small gift bag. I wanted to roll my eyes and tell them they couldn’t keep giving me gifts, but then I saw it was a stethoscope.
“We’d meant to give this to you before your first day, but you were hired so fast,” Greg said, kissing me on the cheek as I stood there holding the perfect gift.
“It’s engraved,” Burris said. “I did it so we could get it to you faster but I’m a bit out of practice.”
There was a rough and medical heartbeat symbol, with B&G below it. I felt tears.
“I’m sorry we were overprotective today,” Greg’s voice was low.
“Have you ever said that to anyone before?” I teased, blinking back tears. One spilled down my cheek anyway.
Greg wiped it off with the pad of his thumb. “No, I haven’t. You are representing a lot of firsts for us.”
Burris kissed my mouth. “I could only think about you when we heard the bomb go off.”
I hiccupped. “I panicked when the call for the library came in, knowing you were there.”
I pulled them both close, and we stood there a moment.
“Good. Can we have pie now?” Rhoda said from the back porch, where I hadn’t realized everyone could see clear to the front hallway, where we were standing.
“Is that strawberry rhubarb?” Greg asked as we all crowded into the kitchen to get our pie. “That’s my favorite.”
I looked up at Carolina, who was avoiding my gaze.
“And you know I’ll never say no to your chocolate pie, Carolina,” Burris added.
It might be annoying the way everyone was pushing the three of us to be together, if I didn’t want it so badly myself. I took a small slice of each. “I like both flavors.”
Everyone chuckled.
“Evie is lovely. I still communicate with her on social media,” Carolina said. “She’s had a few rounds of cancer, in different places in her body. I know it was hard on Jared. Their mom died when Jared and Evie were just out of high school. I met him a couple years after that.”
Carolina described how Jared tried to keep up with medical bills for his sister.
“There’s definitely motive there,” Rhonda said. “And now Carolina tells us he is in town.”
“I was thinking I’d hang out in the diner more,” Bryan said. “I could meet with your sales team there, too, and hopefully he will come in to try to talk to Carolina.”
“Two of my interns have questions about someone in your accounting department. A Shawn Callum?” Rhonda was looking at her phone notes.
Greg and Burris both groaned.
“Of course,” Burris said. “Our EAP program has helped him with gambling more than once. He really seemed to be doing better.”
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow, see if he’s getting income elsewhere for company information,” Rhonda said.
“Anyone else?” Greg said.
“No. The interns said the staff seems very loyal, down to the warehouse workers and drivers. Several said staff seemed suspicious of them and asked many questions.”
“I got a friendlier response, as I’m supposed to be placing a big order,” Bryan said. “But I did notice that the staff was heading me off from meeting with anyone outside of the sales team.”
“They are probably worried about what is happening and didn’t want to jeopardize the big sale.” Burris said.
“I wish there was a big sale,” I said, imagining the staff looking forward to better days at the company.
“Oh, there is,” Bryan grinned. “My cousin is really a buyer for the chain. He’s looking at a few companies, but I’ve sent him samples of the new home office furniture, and he wants to place an order when this is all settled.”
Burris shook Bryan’s hand. “We appreciate that, man. There will of course be a discount.”
“That’s what I told my cousin,” he said. “I plan to stay in town and oversee the whole deal for him.” He glanced at Rhonda.
I wasn’t thrilled about Carolina being a bait to help catch Jared, but I caught myself before saying something. I’d learned how annoying overprotective behavior was first hand that day.
As Rhonda, Bryan, and Carolina got ready to leave, Rhonda turned to Greg and Burris. “You know, you may want to stay at a hotel or change up your routine for the next few days until we get to the bottom of this. Someone knew where you were today.”
“We had the mechanic team go over the car for a tracker,” Greg said. “There was one under Burris’s car. It was removed, and we rented a different one to come here.”
I hadn’t even noticed they’d come in a different car. I’d just wanted to see them.
***
When the others left, I rejoined the guys on the back patio, where the soft strung bulbs gave the enclosed patio a romantic feel. took a deep breath. “Why don’t you both stay here tonight at least?”
Both men stepped in close to me.
“We don’t want to bring the danger to your door,” Burris said.
“And I want to help keep you safe.”
“I’m not used to someone else doing that for me,” Greg said, kissing my neck. “I’m kind of used to being in charge.”
“I noticed,” I said, rolling my eyes. “But you know, it is kind of remote out here, and maybe I don’t want to be on my own.”
“In that case,” Burris said, pulling me close. “We’ll stay as long as you like.”
“Or longer,” Greg teased, pulling off his shirt.
Burris was kissing me passionately, then pulled me down on top of him on the chaise.
“Think this is strong enough for all of us?” I asked, laughing, as Greg knelt behind me and pulled off my shirt.
“We did this furniture,” Burris said.
“Of course you did.” I leaned back into Greg as Burris sat up to take his own shirt off. “But is it really made for three people having sex on it?”
“Only one way to find out,” Greg said.
The teasing tone in his voice was not one I’d often heard from him, but wanted to hear it more. I turned my head, so my mouth met his.
We all had to stand up to get rid of the rest of our clothes, but I was kissing each of them in between our hurried movements.
I was nervous, but their awkward haste was actually making me feel better. If they’d done this in a smooth, practiced manner, it would not have seemed as special as it did.
“I can’t stop thinking about the other morning,” Burris said, his mouth moving down to capture one of my breasts.
I sucked in air as his mouth felt as good as it did the day before. Greg was holding me up from behind, and I let myself get swept up in the rising passion.
My feelings for them were so strong already. I’d never slept with anyone before anything less than several dates. But I wanted to be with them right now.
I gently pushed Burris back onto the chase and moved between his knees before kissing my way down his chest and down the trail of hair on his abdomen.
“You both are so fit,” I said, my nails scoring his muscular abs.His hand was stroking my hair.
His skin was hot beneath my tongue, and he sucked in a breath as I reached my goal. My hand covered his long cock. I scooted down further on the chaise, then felt Greg behind me.
His hands reached around me, pulling gently on my nipples, while his mouth started traveling over my shoulders and back.
I leaned down to take Burris’s cock into my mouth, sliding it slowly in, wondering how much of it would fit.
He started whispering endearments, and the hand in my hair tightened.
I heard the rustle of a condom behind me, and lifted off of Burris for a moment, to look at Greg behind me as he rolled a condom over his own cock.
I reached back, laying my hand along his cheek, and he kissed my hand. It felt like a current connected all three of us in that moment, and I knew I wanted to be even closer to them.
As I took Burris in my mouth again, I felt Greg’s long fingers stroking over the folds between my legs. I knew I was wet and ready for them. I’d known I wanted this from the moment I saw them on my doorstep that night.
I’d really wanted this since first meeting them, I realized, though I hadn’t developed such strong feelings for them before now.
“Sweet, you’re so lovely,” Greg said. “Let us love you.”
Then I felt the top of his cock at my entrance as he slid into me from behind. He moved slowly, but I felt need rise up in me, and I wanted it hard and fast.
I pushed back against him, and he laughed, to my surprise. The sound was rough and sexy.
“There’s no hurry here, gorgeous. We have all night.”
Burris groaned beneath me as I used one hand to stroke his balls while I scored my teeth on the side of his hard cock.
I had only given oral sex to a few men, but I couldn’t get enough of Burris. It felt so right to be loving him this way.
Greg moved smoothly into me, matching my movements on Burris.
Then I felt Burris fingers coast over my clit and it was as if electricity ran through my nerves, from head to toe.
Our soft groans and sighs melted into the mountain air as we all reached our peak together.