The barter system, p.36
The Barter System, page 36
Malina loved the ones of them dancing and had to share the details with Micah and Max who whistled. “An LA club DJ pointed you out, love? We’ll get you out on the floor again when you’re ready.”
Much later that night, when Ric and Malina told her they’d call her when they renewed their vows and when the baby came, Riya and her men saw them to the elevator.
As it started down, Max and Micah turned to her in wonder. “Riya, we actually like that guy,” Micah said in surprise.
Max added, “God, I’m so glad we ended up being the last subjects, Micah. He might have won her over.” Riya shook her head. “No, Riya. He could have had your heart if you’d let it go completely like you thankfully did with us.”
A week later, Micah called her from her office and she came, distracted as always with reading glasses on her nose. “Darling,” Max said softly, trying to get her attention.
“Yes, Max, baby? I’m on Lucas’s chapter and I’m very distracted…” She glanced up to see Lucas standing in her living room as if she’d summoned him. Next to him stood Amelia, Shay, and Victor. She reached back to grab the kitchen counter and Micah caught her when she went right past it. “Wh…? How did you all…? I…I can’t believe…Oh my God, hi!” Then she ran forward to hug them.
Shay and Amelia were hugging her so hard she had to whisper, “Ribs…ribs.” Finally Victor got it and yanked the women away. Then he stepped up to hug her gently and kiss her head. He held her at arms’ length and winked.
Lucas was smiling his quiet smile when she approached him and slipped her hands around his waist. After he hugged her, he asked if she’d heard from her father. She shook her head and started crying.
He wiped away her tears and said softly, “Then he’s a fool, Riya and doesn’t deserve your tears.” She nodded and sighed. He wiped her face and gave her a big smile.
She stepped away and went to Micah and Max, putting her arms around their waists. “This is Micah and Max, and yes…this is exactly what you’re thinking it is.”
Shay’s mouth was a big ‘O’ of surprise, Amelia whispered ‘damn’, while Lucas and Victor laughed hard and loud. “Victor, I believe we discussed this?” Victor nodded with a smug look.
Lucas explained, “At first, as you can imagine, we were a little, confrontational with one another. Victor had a little distance by that point and he had Shay. I was still a little, uh, raw. Hadn’t opened up to Amy completely yet, felt like I was kind of cheating at first. Victor and I were riding on the ridge one day and he said he didn’t think one man would ever hold you. I said it would have to be men made of stronger stuff than either of us to be willing to share Riya. You’re happy, honey?” he asked, watching her carefully.
At her nod and smile, he nodded too, “Then that’s all I care about. Who the hell am I to judge? I’m about to marry the sister of my former lover’s lover.” They all laughed as Riya ran to them, hugging and kissing and congratulating each of them with all her heart.
A while later, Riya spent a few minutes in her office with Victor and showed him their pics. “These are so hot. We both look damn good in these, Riya. I’d love this one of when we met and when we’re dancing. I can’t be caught dead with the other ones.” They both laughed in agreement. “You happy, baby?”
She scanned him copies and he held them to his heart as she said, “Thank you for everything, Victor. You’ll know your chapter in the book when you read it. I think you’ll like it a lot.”
He kissed her chastely on the corner of her mouth and they joined the others. Shay grinned at his statement that the pictures he had were the most revealing. She didn’t believe him for a second but knew where she stood in his life.
When she asked Lucas to speak to him for a moment, he came without hesitation. He was awed and pissed about the photos but wanted the one of them riding horses on the range. “That’s my favorite one, too.” She told him with a soft smile.
“Pretty Riya. How relieved I am to see you smiling. When we managed to track Tawny down and found out everything that happened, none of us could think about anything but checking on you. Other than Max and Micah, of course, I’d say you had the biggest impact on Victor and me. Changed our lives from desolate to full of love. I don’t think you’ll ever know what it meant to me. The boys, and the friends you made while you were in Montana, speak of you often.” He pulled her into a big hug and whispered, “I expect you to keep the little piece of my heart as safe as I keep yours.” She nodded into his chest and they went back to the others.
Climbing into Micah’s lap, she happily relished the feel of his strong arms going around her. When Max came from the kitchen, he pulled her feet over so he could massage them. They stayed this way until it was very late and their guests said they hated to leave but they were heading out the next day.
At the elevator, Victor said, “You’d better be at our weddings, Riya. I won’t forgive you if you don’t come and Aunt Cyndi said you have one more week to call her before she makes a trip herself.”
They hugged her goodbye and then they were gone. Max said bluntly, “I always said those two would have been the biggest risk. They would have loved her the hardest of all our competition.”
Micah nodded in agreement and hugged their Riya, “Thank God you matched them all up or we’d have been in trouble, baby.”
“No, neither of you would have had any competition but one another…which makes this ever so convenient.” She hugged and kissed them soundly.
She wasn’t really surprised when Max and Micah arranged for Joshua and Jessica to enjoy a little trip to Manhattan. They didn’t tell her until they were on their way up in the elevator.
As much as they’d known Joshua was the youngest of her subjects, seeing him step into their foyer certainly put them on their toes.
He kissed her thoroughly with a hand behind her neck then Jessica French-kissed her and groped her ass. Riya moved away from them laughing. “Both of you behave or you’ll upset my Max and Micah.”
At Joshua’s questioning look she added, “You would have happily maintained a long-term with relationship with Jessica and me so don’t be a chauvinist.” He laughed and agreed she was right, it was hypocritical.
Jessica gave her a resounding, “You go girl.”
They took them to dinner and Riya danced carefully with Joshua while Jessica asked very intimate and embarrassing questions of Micah and Max, keeping them totally off-balance. Joshua asked her about what happened to her, and she told him, feeling him tighten around her as they danced.
“It really is alright now. I promise. They take very good care of me. How are you doing, Joshua?” He told her about school and his team. She told him about the pictures and he wanted copies of all of them. She laughed and said she’d made them already.
When they got back to the table, Jessica begged to see them and said she was framing the one of all three of them.
Micah and Max didn’t remember ever being as young as these two. When the restaurant closed, they saw them into a cab after several hugs and some seriously inappropriate touching, then they took their Riya home.
Two weeks later, they had a visit from Sean and Alyssa. Of all her subjects, he was the most nervous with their ménage, and Riya had expected it since he was also most like her father. All things considered, he adapted well, and soon settled into talk of business with her men.
Sean was furious about the pictures, but wanted the unrevealing one of them on the boat, as she’d known he would. They enjoyed dinner together and by the time they saw them to the door, Sean kissed her forehead and told her be happy because she’d earned it by changing so many lives for the better.
It was January when she asked her men to take her to Boston to see Bobby in jail and they flipped out completely on her. They even called Tawny who totally backed them up. She stuck to her guns finally throwing a hissy until she got her way.
They insisted on going with her, which she was grateful for. Rodney drove them to Boston to the jail where her attacker was being held. After searching her belongings, and patting down Micah and Max, she was told she could visit for five minutes only. The men would have to wait outside the visiting area but would be able to see her through the glass.
Bobby was brought into the visiting area, looking much better than the last time she’d seen him. His hair was cut, he was bathed, and his flesh had filled out a bit.
When he saw her sitting at a table, his eyes took on a look of panic. She smiled gently and asked him to sit. He did, stiffly, unable to meet her eyes.
“Bobby, I want to show you something I hope you will carry with you, and remember, for the rest of your life. She slid the picture of her going into the warehouse side by side with the picture of her being taken out on a gurney. He looked at them for a long time and then burst into tears. She didn’t say a word, but she reached across the table and took his hand. “Bobby? Can you look at me now?”
He raised his head and she saw the terror and shame in his eyes.
“You have the choice to change your life. To make sure you never do anything like this again. Do you know that?” He nodded miserably. “You’re going to be in prison for a couple of years, but you need to stop living like this, Bobby. You hurt me and I think you may have hurt others.”
He gripped her hand, “I’m so sorry for what I did to you. I…never used to be like this. Like the person I am now. I think I’d almost feel better if I’d lost the, you know, my whole package.” He swallowed hard.
Riya felt a huge weight lift from her shoulders and was glad she’d come. “Bobby, I came here to tell you to please get whatever help you need to make sure you never do anything like this again. I also wanted to tell you…I forgive you.”
He started sobbing, snot and tears rolling down his face. “I have to go now, but I hope you’ll write me and tell me how you’re doing. I hope the rest of your life is filled with good things, Bobby.”
Then she patted his hand and got up to leave, the pictures still on the table. “I brought those for you, if they will let you keep them. Goodbye, Bobby.”
“Goodbye, Riya, and…thank you.”
When she got to her men, she let them hold her. But she didn’t cry.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Second week of March
Riya’s six month anniversary with Max and Micah was in two weeks. Her birthday as well. Last year at this time she’d been going through applications, deciding which men to select as her subjects. Now she was turning twenty-six and felt a lifetime older.
Her dissertation was almost finished, a work of pride that held so much of herself within it she referred to it as ‘her child’ often. She had more than two thousand pages of data which was being trimmed and compiled for presentation.
She’d been cleared almost a month ago by her doctors to resume life as she knew it. The three of them ran every morning, and she was back up to three miles, impatient at her slow progress.
Still fearful of hurting her, both men had avoided any sort of sexual relationship, content to hold her, they said. Riya was tired of being held. She wanted their heat back.
Riya had lunch with each of them separately once a week, getting all dolled up and meeting at one office or another. They’d started this to force her out of the house so she wouldn’t work so much.
Micah and Max’s separate staffs had no idea about their ménage relationship and the three of them preferred it that way.
For all intents and purposes, if she was with Max on Monday, she was his girlfriend. If she was with Micah on Wednesday, she was his girlfriend.
Once a week, on Friday, they met in between their businesses and the three of them had lunch. She had a standing lunch date with Blythe and Melody every Tuesday.
Thursday was her shopping day. She’d been using it to purchase things she felt she needed, and would use, to get her men back in her body. Riya had also been searching for the perfect anniversary gifts for the precious men in her life.
After receiving a photo album from Tawny, and sharing pictures with them of her childhood she’d realized they had not had typical childhoods. She felt horrible for them.
A private investigator in England was searching for photos, school grades and awards, and any mention of them before they left as men to make their fortunes. When the first photos had started arriving in her email, she’d cried at their incredible beauty, even as children. She was accumulating the most amazing artifacts from their pasts. She really hoped she wouldn’t be stirring up a painful memories.
One Monday, it was raining so hard Micah thought nothing of Riya showing up in her knee length raincoat. He came around the desk with a big smile as his secretary closed the door behind herself.
When he was five feet away, Riya opened the coat and he froze in place. Riya loved his stockbroker powerhouse attire with the utter shock on his face. Beneath the coat, she wore nothing but heels. She dropped the coat to the floor and put her hands on her hips. “Darling? We’re eating in today.”
After he locked the door, she pushed him back on his desk and fucked him until he couldn’t trust his legs to hold him up.
Afterward, she said, “You breathe a word of this to Max and I will be very, very angry, Micah. You ruin his surprise and I will not be happy with you at all.” She swore him to secrecy and left with a little wave and a smile.
Only when she’d been gone for twenty minutes and his breathing returned to normal did he realize he’d just had Riya for the first time without a condom. He walked around in a daze for the rest of the day.
Wednesday they had a cool spell, donning temporary tattoos and a smile, she pulled on a knee length sweater that belted around her waist and 4” high sandals. Max was finishing a call when she was escorted into his office and grinned at her with a little wave. Reaching behind her, she locked the door and dropped the sweater.
He hung up the phone without saying goodbye and she said, “You should probably hold all your calls.” He was forced into his executive chair and she worked him over until they were both worried about someone calling security.
Afterward, she said, “You breathe a word of this to Micah and I will be very, very angry, Max. You ruin his surprise and I will not be happy with you at all.”
She swore him to secrecy and left with a little kiss from the doorway. It hit him moments later that he hadn’t been wearing a condom, likely why he’d come so hard his eyes crossed. His staff asked about his huge smile that afternoon but he barely heard them and never responded.
On Friday, each man received a call around noon that she couldn’t meet them for lunch. A huge shelf had fallen in the apartment and Riya was afraid she might have damaged something. They told her not to worry, as long as she was alright.
She said she was just going to pick it all up and see if she couldn’t fix it. Maybe the guys in the lobby had a twelve foot ladder she could use. As expected, they both demanded she not be climbing a ladder…what if she fell from it in the apartment by herself?
Half an hour later, Micah got out of a cab at the same time Max was getting out of another in front of their building. They looked at one another with concern. Rushing inside, they took the elevator to the top floor, calling her name before the doors fully opened.
“I’m up here…can you, um, help me?” They were running, taking the stairs two at a time, down the hallway when both came to a skidding halt at the bedroom door.
Riya was in a sex swing set up in the middle of their bedroom, quite enjoying herself by the looks of things. There was a thick velvet choker around her neck with the crystal heart pendant they’d given her. Her hair was loose, with several tiny braids scattered among the loose length. A black lace corset, matching thong panties, and black stilettos were almost as erotic as the lollipop she was sucking on.
She gave them a smile as they came for her, “Men are so easy.”
Many hours later, they sat in the Jacuzzi with her between them, all thrilled to have the hot jets pounding into sore muscles they hadn’t used in months.
Jason Mraz was playing over the house system. Micah had gone downstairs long enough to grab drinks from the fridge.
Riya was smug when she said, “Thank you for helping me test the swing, you were very enthusiastic. I just added the final scene to the new erotica novel and I had to make sure I had the…logistics right.”
“I feel so used. Don’t you, Max?” Micah said with a smile.
“Horribly. Well, thoroughly, anyway.” Max cleared his throat, and said slowly, “Riya, I can’t help but notice you’ve hidden the condoms. Are you sure about that?”
“Oh yeah, you both feel even better without the barrier. Plus, I’m on birth control that would prevent an entire soccer team from impregnating me, so no worries.”
She moved to the opposite side so she could see their faces at the same time. She was rubbing one foot of each man while she leaned her head back on the padded seat.
