Safeword: Arabesque (Safewords Book 9) (55 page)

“But he’ll go back, after surgery?”

“They don’t let you out of your sentence for being beat up. Tyler’s trying to get details and will let us know what happened.”

Cassie nodded and he could hear the venom in her voice as she said, “I hope he gets stitches in his ass.” She looked sideways at Isaac, her face losing the rancor and taking on a happy smile. “And, can I just say, watching you fuck Frisco was one of the hottest things,
ever
?”

Cam moaned from his side of the bed, “Fuck yeah. Pure torture to watch while locked in a jailbird, but still worth every bit of frustration. The two of you are
hot
together.”

Frisco’s heart skipped a few times as Isaac maneuvered to the bottom of the bed and kissed him, and then his heart sped as the kiss grew into more than he thought either intended.

Neither tried to top the other, but neither submitted either. It was two Doms kissing, spreading each other’s lips and jaws, their tongues touching and intertwining as their hands pulled their bodies closer.

When they separated, both gasped for air a few seconds before smiling and ending it with a chaste peck on the lips.

Cassie moaned and said, “Now you’re just being mean.”

“I’m making peaches and cream pancakes this morning. Who wants some?” Frisco asked with a laugh. Cassie had changed the subject and he wouldn’t take it back unless there was news.

They were almost finished with breakfast when Tyler called Cassie. She put him on speakerphone so everyone could hear.

“The guards at Lewisburg are notorious for turning their backs to let the prison population deal with troublemakers. Somehow, seven men ended up locked in a holding room instead of their jail cells for an undetermined amount of time overnight, and six of them raped and beat him for however long they were in there.”

“Six on one?” Cam asked, and Cassie wasn’t sure if he was horrified or turned on.

“Yes, and he was likely alone and injured for a few hours before he was discovered this morning in the holding cell. Whoever found him called for an ambulance without getting authorization, which is rare, and means he was in bad shape.”

“Is he still in surgery?” Frisco asked.

“No, and I have a list of his injuries. Do you want to hear them?”

“Yes,” answered Cassie.

“One of his testicles was ruptured enough they had to remove it. He has extensive anal tearing, broken ribs, he lost a few teeth, and his jaw was dislocated and broken. One of his kidneys has some damage, but they aren’t sure the extent yet. A couple of broken fingers, and there may be enough damage to one of his eyes to permanently affect his vision. Both eyes are swollen shut, but the MRI shows damage to the retina. They won’t know more until he awakens after surgery.”

“He didn’t deserve that,” Cassie said.

Isaac and Cam were on either side of her, and they both scooted close, Isaac to put his arm around her, and Cam to rest his hand on her leg.

“You aren’t responsible,” Tyler said through the speakerphone. “The justice system put him in the prison system, where he
needed
to be. His actions while in the local Vegas jail sent him to Lewisburg — he beat up several prisoners and attacked two guards while awaiting trial. He put himself in that hell-hole, and there’s no telling what he did to piss off the prisoners and guards enough for them to risk setting this up.”

“Thanks for getting us the details,” Frisco told Tyler. “If you find out anything else, you’ll let us know?”

“I will. You okay, Cassie? I hate giving this kind of news over the phone, but Sam tells me your guys will take care of you.”

“I’m okay. A little shaken up, mainly because I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’m mostly horrified, but a small part of me feels happy, and…”

She trailed off and Isaac said, “We’re here for her, and if we think we aren’t enough we have someone else we can call.”

“Good to know,” Tyler said. “I don’t expect to hear anything else until tomorrow, when it’s easier for me to catch people in their offices, but I’ll let you know as soon as I get more news.”

Frisco set up the ping-pong table in the garage, and the four played several games of singles and doubles before Isaac suggested a game of strip ping-pong between Cam and Cassie.

Cassie soon realized there was no loser here, because by the time she and Cam were naked, the two Doms had figured out how to string them up from the rafters, and produced two floggers without needing to run to the house.

Somehow, they all ended up in the floor of Cam’s old apartment over the garage, with everyone naked and sweaty and spent — even Cam, who was let out of his jailbird during strip ping-pong so he’d be as naked as Cassie.

Jake went outside into a small fenced in area if anyone needed to be flogged or whipped, as the large dog still didn’t approve of such things. He’d been outside with the group for the ping-pong game, but they’d had to put him in the house before the floggings commenced.

When the finally returned to the house, Jake was pissed, and sat and glared at them. Cassie called him to her, but he didn’t move.

“I’ll go get his treats,” Frisco said, heading to the kitchen.

“No,” Cassie answered. “He needs to get over it without bribes. He’s the dog, and we decide where he goes and what’s best.”

Frisco stopped and looked at her a few seconds. “You sure you don’t have some Dom impulses in there?”

She laughed. “Positive, but Jake’s a big dog with a dominant personality. He loves me, but if I’m not clear on who’s top dog, he gets pushy. Like now.”

She looked at him a few seconds before being obvious she was ignoring him as she turned the television on.

Unfortunately, the TV was on one of the twenty-four hour news channels, and came on to a spirited debate about whether Clemente should be allowed to go free once he recovered from his injuries.

Isaac reached for the remote but she held it away from him. “No, I want to hear what they say.”

She sat in a chair and Jake picked up on her distress. He walked to her and put his head in her lap, and she glanced at Frisco. “Yeah, okay, now he gets a dog treat.”

Frisco went to get them as Cassie watched the debate. It only went on a few minutes, and she turned it to the weather when they moved to something else.

“Both sides made valid points,” she said as she closed the treat container and set it on the table beside her. “If he’s in there as punishment, he’s paid the price and should probably go free. If he’s in there to keep society safe, he should stay.”

“You don’t have to make any kind of decision,” Cam told her. “The judge isn’t going to ask your opinion. You can just turn your back on it without deciding how you feel.”

Cam was right, and while she’d need to figure it out eventually for her own sanity, she didn’t have to right now.

“Our friends at the dojo have missed Frisco and I hanging out with them after class,” she told Cam and Isaac, changing the subject again.

Frisco scowled at her a few seconds, but then rolled his eyes and stretched his legs out on the coffee table as he looked towards Isaac. “It’s past time we introduce the two of you to our friends. Can you meet us after class for dinner?”

Cassie watched as Isaac gave Frisco a speculative look before asking, “You want to tell your friends you’re in a relationship with the three of us?”

“Yes. They know Cassie and I are together, and Tom met Cam a couple of times, and I think a few other people saw him around, but it’s time we let them know what’s up. Sam and Ethan already know, they’ll help us explain.”

“I can’t speak for Isaac, but if you want me there, I’m there,” said Cam.

“Oh, I’m there, too,” Isaac said. “This should be interesting.”

* * * *

Cassie was on the phone with Cam at noon the next day as he continually hit refresh on his browser.

When the list finally came up, he only said, “Wow, it’s a long list.”

Cassie laughed. “Albrecht should be near the top. That’s the only one you need to read.”

When he didn’t say anything, she worried he hadn’t got it, but he finally said, “Ohmygosh! It has my name beside Albrecht! I’m going to dance Albrecht! In Atlanta!”

Frisco cooked a huge celebration meal that evening, and then the four watched a performance of Giselle by the Bolshoi Ballet. It turned out Isaac had ordered the Blu-ray of it weeks before.

Cassie wasn’t at all nervous about introducing Cam and Isaac to her friends after class the next evening, but she could tell Frisco was.

Sam saw Cameron as they arrived at the restaurant, and ran to him and hugged him. Cassie laughed as she saw everyone looking to Ethan to see how he’d react, but he only smiled affectionately as he watched his wife hug the other man.

“Cassie told me you got the part,” Sam said, “I’m so happy for you! Congratulations!”

Everyone was introduced, and Cassie saw Tom looking at them strange as she walked in holding both Frisco and Isaac’s hand, while Cam walked in with Sam as Ethan followed.

Cassie probably didn’t do a good job of explaining, but everything she’d rehearsed sounded too involved, so she only said, “We’re all together. I love all three of them, and Cam loves all three of us.” She shrugged. “We’re all together.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Tom said, looking at Cassie. “You have three boyfriends.” He looked to Frisco, “You have two boyfriends and a girlfriend?”

Frisco nodded, and someone else asked, “All the guys do each other? You’re all bisexual?”

Sam used her lawyer voice to say, “Wait, everyone back up a minute. Would you ever ask a hetero couple who is on top the most? Or if they do it doggie style as well as missionary?”

Most of the table shook their head and Sam said, “Well, as intriguing as it is to imagine all the possibilities with four people, it’s just as rude to ask them for the details of their sex life.”

Everyone was quiet a few minutes and Ethan said, “If Cassie and Frisco need to find another dojo, Sam and I will be going with them.”

“Wait!” Tom exclaimed. “No one said anything about anyone leaving. We’re just digesting the information.”

One of their other classmate’s girlfriend added, “Yeah, and maybe some of us are a little envious of Cassie with three very hot boyfriends. I mean,
damn
. Just look at all that hotness.”

Everyone laughed, and the conversation moved to Cam’s role in Giselle, and then Ethan’s next fight, still six months away.

This, of course, brought the conversation to Clemente, but Sam fielded questions. “He’s in intensive care with armed guards, and will be moved to the prison’s hospital as soon as he’s stable enough. There’s talk of sending him to the supermax prison in Colorado, where prisoners are kept in solitary confinement twenty-four hours a day. Food comes in through a tube, and a door opens automatically onto a private kennel type exercise yard so they can get their one hour a day outside. Some of them never even see a guard, much less another prisoner.”

“Monsters need to be kept in cages,” Tom said, “and not the fun kind in the middle of an audience.”

“Fun for you, maybe,” Cam said, “I’d die if someone wanted me to get in a cage and fight the way Sam and Ethan do.”

“Did,” Sam said. “I don’t do it anymore.”

Chapter Fifty-Two

The excavators arrived Monday morning as Cassie was leaving for work, and when she next came on Wednesday evening, the foundations were poured.

Cam was at Isaac’s house cramming for a test, so she walked the grounds with Isaac and Frisco.

“Wait,” she said, as she noted the foundation for Isaac’s room was much larger than it had appeared on the drawing. “What’s up with this?”

Isaac chuckled as he looked at Frisco, “Told you she’d notice.”

“Yes, you did.”

No one answered her, so she asked again.

Isaac just smiled and answered, “It’s a surprise, Sweet Thing.”

She shook her head. “I’m paying for a portion of it; I get to know what it is.”

He shook his head right back. “No, I’m paying for this room. It’s my gift to the group and I’m not ready to spoil the surprise just yet.”

* * * *

Cam picked up several freelance graphic arts jobs, and was busy enough, and making enough money, he turned in his notice to Frisco a few weeks before he was scheduled to go to Atlanta.

He aced his last final exam on a Wednesday, and everyone took off work the next day to give him a long goodbye, as he left Friday morning for his first rehearsals.

Waking up was bittersweet, as he knew he’d be sleeping alone for a while, but he was so excited about getting started with rehearsals he couldn’t be too sad.

Cam had arranged to stay in one of those rent-by-the-week hotels meant for executives, and Isaac followed him down to help him get his bags in and make sure he was settled.

“With the hidden gun safe I had installed in your fancy new car,” Isaac told him, “your weapon needs to either be on you, on the nightstand beside you as you sleep, or locked in your car while you’re at practice. Promise me you won’t wander the city without it?”