the kitchen. He walked into the living room and sat on an oversized chair. Kicking up his feet, he rested his legs on the ottoman. “You can tell me whatever you want. You can say what you think Trixie needs to hear. The truth still lives within you. You were a Dom through and through. And role play?” He snickered. “Hear me laugh.”
Rory entered the room then wearing an open plaid robe. “What’s going on?”
“We have company,” Brock announced.
“As if I couldn’t see that for myself.”
Mitch snorted. “I have company. You’re my guests and let me just add, I’m thrilled to find you here.”
“How’d you know where we were?”
“I left Asheville like you asked, Brock. Just arrived here about three hours ago and was all ready to settle in for the night over at the house when a buddy of mine informed me of an explicit show he saw earlier, down by the water.”
“What buddy?” Rory took a seat across from him.
“An inmate from the prison. We were cellmates for a while. He’s a good guy, but I doubt you’ll think so.” His gaze held Trixie’s. “He’s pretty impressed with our girl after watching a nice afternoon romp.”
“Fuck you, Mitch,” Brock said, pulling Trixie tighter against him. His palm cupped her ass and she flinched as if she were trying to break his grip.
Mitch waved his hand at the furniture around him. “Come on over here and have a seat, friend.” He paused. “We are still friends. Aren’t we, Brock?”
“That depends,” Brock said, dragging Trixie alongside him as he entered the living room.
“On?”
“Your intentions.” Brock shot him a sarcastic grin before he sat on another leather sofa. Pulling Trixie to his lap, he quickly added, “Are your intentions honorable, Mitch?”
“Fuck no,” Mitch growled, his response so guttural it all but summoned the thick sexual tension in the air.
“So you’re expecting us to play house with you again? Because you see, while you were married to Jordie, while you were paying for your sins and trying to stand by your responsibilities, we were standing by ours.
“We’ve built a life with Trixie. We’ve loved her. We’ve been with her through the good times and bad. She mothered our children. She sleeps in our bed. She is our wife. And I can’t for the life of me figure out why you would think after all these years we would want anything more than what we have.”
“Which is what, Brock?”
“We have a good life, Mitch. And I would kill before I would let an outsider step in and destroy what Rory and I have built with Trixie and our children.”
“I have killed for her,” Mitch reminded him, rising from his seat.
“You killed because you made a choice. It wasn’t the only one you had!” Brock yelled, dumping Trixie on the cushion beside him and standing nose-to-nose with Mitch.
Trixie released a grunt and scrambled to an upright position. She was clearly agitated.
“I killed because Pratchert said he would keep coming back and I believed him. I didn’t take him out because I wanted to. I took care of him because Trixie deserved the opportunity to lead a good life without looking over her shoulder. I wanted her happy, damn you!”
“I am happy,” Trixie said quietly.
Mitch’s gaze pierced through hers.
“Most of the time,” she quickly added the sidebar.
“You may have killed for her, but I would die a hundred deaths for her,” Brock told him, shooting Rory a sideways glance. “And he would, too.”
“I don’t doubt what you’re saying,” Mitch said, studying Trixie. “I know exactly what you mean, boys. I’ve practically died those deaths for her myself. Now, I want to live. I want to share one life, one rich and fulfilling life with the one woman I love. Is that too much to ask?”
“You need to reconsider your idea of love,” Brock said. “It’s a simple process. You know how it’s done. You’ve been here before. It’s kind of like playing ‘she loves me, she loves me
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