Lora Leigh - Wicked Intent

Tally refused to fidget or to chicken out. This was the rest of her life. It wasn’t a scheme, it wasn’t a game, it wasn’t a titillating little adventure. It was the final break with a past that should have never affected her the way it had.

“I’m sure.” She nodded firmly. She was. Certain.

Until Terrie pulled the clothes from the closet.

Clear plastic protected the garments and hid nothing from the eyes. They were innocent. A simple red plaid skirt that would have ended at Tally’s knees when she was much younger but would rise to mid thigh now. A short sleeved white cotton shirt. A very proper Catholic girl’s school uniform. It struck a chord of fear in her chest so strong that she nearly trembled in the face of it.

It was just clothes, she told herself realistically, but she knew her subconscious saw it as so much more.

Terrie laid the outfit out on the bed. It was over ten years old and should fit in the manner that Tally required. She needed to exorcize the ghosts the good sisters of the academy had placed within her, and what better way to do it than to take this first step into a new life, dressed as the person she had been so long ago?

“It will be shorter,” Terrie warned. “And snugger. But it should fit you okay.” Tally swallowed tightly. “It will work perfectly.” She stared at the clothing laid out as though it were a snake, coiled and ready to strike. In many ways it was.

“Tally, you don’t have to do this,” Terrie said. “You know Lucian and Dev love you…”

“This isn’t about Lucian and Dev.” She shook her head slowly, still staring at the innocent articles of clothing. “This is about me. I need white stockings. The ones that go just over the knee,” she told her friend faintly. “Do you have shoes that will work? I don’t dare return to the apartment yet.”

“I have everything you need.” Terrie nodded as she smoothed her hand over the plastic. “I wish we had schooled together, Tally. Perhaps I could have made things easier.”

Tally shook her head shortly. Nothing could have made it easier; nothing could change the parents who never knew how to love the wild little girl they had given birth to.

“It’s really shouldn’t be that big a deal,” Tally said softly. “I’m a grown woman, Terrie. Not a child. I should have faced this a long time ago. I don’t know why I’ve fought as I have.”

“Perhaps because nothing was worth the risk until now,” Terrie suggested gently.

“You’ve changed since going to Lucian’s office, Tally. You’re like this bright flame; where before you once glowed, now you sparkle. Love changes you. I told you that before. Perhaps, Lucian and Dev merely gave you the strength you needed to face it.” Tally smiled rather mockingly. Was that true? At this moment, she had no idea. All she knew was that suddenly nothing mattered more than changing the course her life had taken.

The empty, cold apartment. The loveless life. The chill she felt when darkness fell and she realized how empty her bed was. When she realized she could only envision two men within that bed with her. Lucian and Dev.

“They’ll be there tonight?” she asked Terrie quickly rather than replying to her previous statement.

Terrie nodded, a smile of conspiracy crossing her lips.

“I just talked to Jesse a few minutes ago. He’s meeting them for drinks this evening after work. He’s been doing that a lot lately.” She frowned. “What the hell do they do there anyway?”

“Fuck each other’s wives?” Tally asked her with an amused grin. “As I understand it, the married Trojans can only fuck their own women there, never anyone else’s.

House rules.” She rolled her eyes at the thought.

Not that she wanted Lucian and Dev to ever touch another woman. She would have to commit murder if that ever occurred, but the rule seemed designed to keep the married members in a constant state of lust while within the hallowed halls of their cherished Club.

Terrie snorted at that thought. “Jesse better never suggest such a thing. I don’t think he could stand it himself.”

“He doesn’t share you any longer?” Tally knew she was desperately delaying the moment she would have to uncover that damned uniform.

Terrie frowned. “Not in a while. He threatens to.” She shrugged. “He seems to enjoy it. But he’s been busy I guess…” Her voice trailed off.

“Men get complacent, I told you,” Tally warned her distantly.

“Hmm. We’ll see about that,” Terrie said thoughtfully, though her eyes were glittering with the light of battle.

Score another for Tally against Jesse, she snickered silently. So far, she was still ahead and Jesse was far, far behind her.

“Tally?” Terrie’s quiet voice drew her gaze from the uniform and back to her friend.

Terrie watched her with an edge of compassion, of concern. Tally could see the worry in her eyes now, the knowledge that Tally had to gather her courage to even touch the clothes, let alone put them on.

“I must really love them,” Tally mused with a self-deprecating little smile. “Because only love could get me in those clothes.” She looked up at Terrie, arching her brow mockingly. “What do we do if the clothes get ripped off me?” Terrie shrugged in unconcern. “I would consider it a worthy sacrifice then,” she laughed. “The uniform has no meaning to me, Tally. Burn it when you’re done if you need to. Consider it a wedding present.”

Wedding present. Tally swallowed tightly. “One step at a time here,” she breathed in deep and hard. “One slow step at a time here.”

“You’re so fucked!” Jesse took a seat at the small table on the far end of The Club’s main room and stared at Lucian and Dev in sublime amusement. “You know, I would feel sorry for you if I didn’t think you had brought it all on yourselves. Didn’t I warn you about her?”

Lucian finished the drink he had ordered earlier and shot his friend a brooding look. Beside him, Dev grunted in obvious ill temper. Tally hadn’t shown up at work and hadn’t answered the message they left on her machine or the one they left with the cell phone’s messaging service later that day. Neither man was in the mood for Jesse’s mocking laughter.

“Don’t you have better things to do than harass us?” Dev asked him. “I thought you had a wife to keep fucked. Go home and do your job.” Jesse laughed softly at that. “I’ve had mine today, have you had yours?” Lucian gave him a look filled with the promise of retribution.

“What the hell are you doing here anyway?” Dev growled. “Marriage suddenly staling on you?”

Jesse laughed again as he shook his head. “You two are like bears with a sore paw. I have it on the highest authority she’s going to be home later tonight. You should go back and teach her a lesson. The right lesson this time. She won’t be so eager to make trouble then.”

He was clearly delighting in tormenting them, Lucian thought. Jesse was no more a hard ass than any of them were. Though, sexually, they were all well aware of his hold on Terrie, and hers on him.

Lucian stared morosely around the room. Was it their sexuality that had caused Tally to run? It wouldn’t be an occasional ménage; it was a lifetime commitment to two dominant males. Two men who were, defined by society, sexually depraved. Their every sexual desire hinged on their woman’s ultimate fulfillment, whatever that may be. They encouraged their women to relax all their inhibitions, to give in to even the most exacting pleasures.

“Jesse, you’re getting on my nerves tonight,” Lucian finally said with the barest hint of a smile. “Your marital bliss offends me.”

“Well, having your woman threaten my life this morning didn’t do a whole hell of a lot for me,” Jesse informed him with a disgruntled frown. “And I was trying to be nice to her, too.”

“That will teach you,” Lucian grunted, still uncertain exactly where they had gone wrong with Tally.

Jesse was clearly enjoying his smug amusement at the brothers’ expense. Lucian made a mental note to return the favor at the first available opportunity.

“Have you two thought that maybe you pushed her too far?” Jesse asked, his voice sobering.

Lucian sighed as he shook his head and leaned back in his chair. It was a question he and Dev had been asking themselves all evening.

“Hell, Jess,” Lucian finally sighed wearily. “The woman takes control to a whole new level. I’ll be damned if I haven’t given up on understanding how the hell her minds works.”

“I could have warned you of that,” Jesse grunted. “Why do you two think I let her believe she has me under control?” he asked them seriously now. “Tally functions at peak efficiency when she’s in control. You can’t conquer that woman. You have to gentle her. That’s a whole ‘nother ballgame from the one you’ve been playing.”

“Jesse, go away.” Lucian sighed. “I distinctly remember you forgoing advice with Terrie; now we’ll do the same thing.”

Jesse smiled at that. “Well, she surprised me too. Having her bring Tally in the bedroom scared the hell out of me. You don’t want to be restrained with Tally in the room.”

A frown snapped over Lucian’s brow as Devril seemed to growl beside him.

“Forget that night ever occurred, Wyman,” Dev snapped. “Amnesia could be a good thing.”

Jesse chuckled at the ire in Dev’s voice as he leaned back in his chair and regarded the two men with a striking absence of compassion.

“Have you two ever considered that breaking all that control at once could unleash a monster?” he asked them curiously. “In all honesty, I think I’d be scared if I were the two of you. Hell, I didn’t have anything to do with it and now I’m scared of her.” Lucian narrowed his eyes on his friend. Jesse was offering little in the way of solutions and much in aggravation. He glanced over at Dev and shook his head as wry amusement tilted his brother’s lips. They weren’t frightened of her. They were more frightened of losing her.