Page 1 of Roll With The Punches
Chapter One
Brandon sat at the breakfast bar and nursed his mug of coffee early that Monday morning.
Two pairs of eyes, one hazel and one green, stared at him in response to what he’d just announced.
“What?” It wasn’t quite dawn yet. He was still trying to wake up enough to take a shower and leave for work. Emma had already departed for her early swim practice before her summer school session started.
Jeff finally spoke. “Can I ask a question, Sir?”
“Of course.”
“Not that I’m complaining about our collaring being next weekend, but by next weekend do you meanthiscoming weekend, or the weekendafterthat? Because I thought Emma was home this weekend?”
“The weekend after. Sorry.” Brandon couldn’t hold back his yawn. “You two know I don’t morning well.”
Stuart smiled. “Sorry, Sir.”
“And yes, she is home this weekend. Next weekend she’s going to Grace’s. Her parents are taking them to a special presentation up at Mote on Saturday night.”
Emma was Brandon’s sixteen-year-old daughter, who primarily lived with them. When school started up again at the end of summer, she’d be a junior.
He couldn’t believe it, when it seemed like she’d only been born a few months ago. That’s what it felt like, anyway.
The three men had been living together for four months now, following three months of dating. The better part of a year spent together, and Brandon knew the men were who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
Which was why he’d broken the news to them that morning, letting them know when their collaring would be. Up until now, he’d left the date flexible, both to keep the men on their toes and because he hadn’t been sure what Emma’s schedule was.
Brandon was still trying to help Emma repair her relationship with her mother, Tracey, his ex-wife. Tracey wasn’t making it easy, unfortunately. Due in no small part, Brandon suspected, to Tracey’s husband, Pat.
The collaring was something he’d actually wanted to do for weeks, but he hadn’t wanted to schedule a date for their ceremony only to have to change plans at the last minute because of something his ex-wife did to make Emma not want to go visit her.
But Emma never missed a scheduled event with her bestie, Grace. Ever. The girls were practically inseparable.
Brandon had already received the chainmaille necklaces he planned to give Jeff and Stuart to wear as their day collars. Something they could wear to work and around Emma without it raising any awkward questions.
Stuart hadn’t commented on his announcement. “Would you like to add something?” Brandon asked him.
Stuart smiled. “No, Sir. I’m happy we’re doing it.”
“Collaring will require a new level of behavior from you both, though. I’m working on a few rituals we can do, even when Emma’s around, that won’t ping her radar. Hopefully. I consider collaring the two of you to be every bit as serious as marriage.”
Both men’s smiles widened. “Yes, Sir.”
Brandon took another sip of his coffee, his cock trying to wake up. “I do like it when you talk in stereo.”
* * * *
Someone who didn’t know Brandon and Jeff might tell Stuart he was being an idiot. That the first relationship he’d been in with a guy—guys, plural—had resulted in him moving in with them, and now working toward making it a committed, permanent dynamic?
Crazy.
Except Stuart considered himself damned lucky. A series of events had culminated in him standing where he was right then, with these two men, and there was no other place he wanted to be.
Definitely not in Iowa, where he’d moved from, and where all his family still lived.
His oldest brother, Jake, had phoned him a few weeks ago, deriding him for coming out to their mother over the phone and calling him a number of different names before angrily hanging up on him.
Then again, his brother was a bully raising two bully sons, and Jake’s opinion no longer mattered to Stuart.
