Page 14 of Theirs to Keep

“Fuck Katie and fuck everyone in town, honey. I don’t give a shit what people know or think they know about the three of us. What we have going here works for us, no one else matters. Just say yes, Regan.” Jamison’s eyes pled with her to agree towhat he was asking. Honestly, Ash wanted her to agree to the date as well. He knew that sooner or later they would have to make an appearance in town as a threesome. It would be like a coming out of sorts and around town that was a big deal. He and Jamison had a few friends that dabbled in polyamorous relationships, but he never really considered that to be what the two of them were doing. He just thought of him and Jamison sharing women as just something that they liked doing, not a lifestyle choice. Regan being in the mix for the long haul would change that for them. They weren’t just hooking up for a night or two, they were going to be in a relationship. The people in town were sure to have something to say about a polyamorous relationship taking place right under their noses. But Jamison was right—fuck them.

“Baby, we just want to take you out to dinner, that’s all. We don’t care what Katie or anyone else has to say about the three of us being together. If we want this to work we are all going to have to get used to whispers behind our backs and even people like Katie telling us what they think about our relationship.” Ash knew that he was pushing Regan but the sooner they got everything out in the open, the easier this was going to be.

Regan nodded, “I want this to work between the three of us,” she said looking between the two of them. “I need you both to promise me that if we are going to call this a relationship you will both be completely honest with me at all times.” Ash knew that they all had told little white lies to get them to where they were. Regan lied about her age and training and he and Jamison lied about only wanting to hire her as their cook. Hell, they didn’t want to hire her at all—just make her theirs and keep her from ever leaving. Hiring her as their cook was just their way of wiggling themselves into her life. Reluctantly, Ash nodded his head agreeing to be an open book and Jamison did the same.

She sighed, “All right, we can go out to dinner tomorrow night. But nothing too fancy, please. I just got a few things at the store today but I’m not ready for a formal dinner out.” Ash and Jamison both laughed.

“Honey, you’ll learn fast that fancy doesn’t exist in this town.” He pulled her back against his body and turned her to face him, kissing her lips. Ash loved to watch Jamison kiss Regan. He knew that he should be jealous that another man was touching his woman, but it just felt right. As far as he was concerned she was both of theirs and he would do just about anything to keep it that way.

Ash spentmost of the night tossing and turning in Jamison’s bed which they all shared. He was worried about having to tell Regan about why they hired her. Was it something that they should even share? How do you tell a woman that you hired her to not only be your cook but also because you felt drawn to her profile picture and you wanted to share her with your best friend? They weren’t hiding the fact that they both wanted her since she walked through their front door but telling her that they made their decision to hire her because they wanted to have sex with her, felt wrong. Would she be flattered or find the whole thing disgusting? Of course, Katie spreading lies that he and Jamison did this kind of thing all the time, didn’t help. Now, Regan thought the two of them hired women to cook and clean, and oh yeah—fucked them for money. Telling her that she was the first woman that they ever hired based on being attracted to her profile picture wasn’t going to play well now.

He slipped from bed before dawn and headed down to the kitchen. He decided to let Regan sleep since he wasalready awake and make them all breakfast. He pulled out the ingredients to make ham, egg, and cheese biscuits and set to work.

“Hey man, couldn’t sleep?” Ash looked up from frying eggs to find Jamison rubbing sleep from his eyes, standing in the kitchen doorway.

“Yeah, I’ve been up most of the night worrying and I think we should tell Regan that we weren’t completely honest about hiring her to just be our cook. You and I both know that we took one look at her profile picture that was attached to her application and wanted her. How do we tell her that without coming off like total stalkers or worse, like the two men that Katie described to her?” Jamison sighed and walked across the kitchen to help himself to a cup of coffee.

“I get it, Ash, you don’t want any secrets between us.” Ash barked out his laugh, interrupting Jamison.

“It’s not just what I want, you heard her man. Regan’s only request in moving forward with this relationship was total honesty. If we don’t tell her why we hired her now it will look like we were hiding something when it comes out later. I don’t want to lose her, Jamison.” Ash finished cooking the eggs and assembling the sandwiches. He knew that Jamison wasn’t much for talking in the morning but with Regan in the mix, they had less time to talk.

“I get it, Ash. But I don’t think it’s a big deal. So, we thought she was hot, and we hired her—who cares?” Ash shoved a plate with two sandwiches on it at Jamison.

“It’s a big deal because we didn’t hire her for her cooking abilities. Hell, it wouldn’t have mattered to either of us if she could even boil water. We hired her because we both wanted to fuck her. Her attraction to us is just a bonus because I wasn’t willing to let her go. But now, Katie went and told her that we do this type of thing all the time. How do you think it will makeRegan feel? We have never hired a woman to share ever—until her. But now, that little seed is planted in Regan’s mind and when she finds out that is exactly why we hired her, she won’t believe that we didn’t fuck any of the other hired help.” Travis let the back door slam, letting himself into the kitchen for his morning cup of coffee.

“Dammit Ash, here I was thinking that was exactly why you hired me.” Travis was unusually chipper this morning, but he picked the wrong day to joke around.

“Fuck you, man. You’re not our type,” Jamison growled.

“Plus, I’m not sure how I feel about the whole sharing thing.” Travis winked at Ash and filled a mug full of coffee and stole a sandwich. “I take it your new cook is up in one of your beds?” Travis suspiciously eyed the sandwich before shrugging and taking a bite.

“She slept between us if it’s any of your business,” Ash said. He and Travis had been friends since high school. Travis knew that Ash and Jamison liked to share women. He didn’t want their relationship with Regan to come off as just a fling. He wanted her to be comfortable around their farm; not feel like she needed to hide who they were together.

Travis held up his hands. “Don’t look at me like that, brother. I don’t judge you two, you know that. I just don’t want to see a pretty little girl like Regan get hurt when you two move on.”

Jamison set his coffee mug down on the butcher block countertop with a thump.

“She’s not going to get hurt because we aren’t moving the fuck on, Travis,” Jamison growled. Ash moved to stand between his two friends. He didn’t like the way this was heading.

“What Jamison means to say is that we want a relationship with her, not a hookup.” Jamison nodded, breathing hard still but losing some of his original fight.

Travis let out a long whistle, “I’m sorry man, I didn’t mean to piss you off.” Jamison seemed to accept Travis’s apology, picking up his coffee mug. “You know how people in town will react when they find out, right? Hell, when I came out and told everyone that I’m bi, no one talked to me for months except you guys.” Ash remembered how torn up Travis was about not being himself. His friend decided to come out and admit that he dated men and women and the people in town treated him like a leper. That’s when Ash hired him on as a foreman at the farm because no one else would hire him. Travis was a mechanic and a damn good one at that. He kept all their equipment in tip-top shape and helped around the farm as needed. Ash knew that he and Jamison wouldn’t be able to run the place without Travis. It just pissed him off that people in town were so close-minded about certain topics. Travis being bi didn’t change who he was or his abilities to do his job.

“I remember man,” Jamison clapped Travis on his back, “but we aren’t willing to let those close-minded fuckers tell us how we should feel about Regan.”

Travis nodded. “So, how does it work? You two together or is it strictly about the girl?” Ash didn’t know what was funnier—Travis’s question or Jamison’s moan of disgust.

“We aren’t together, man. Jamison and I aren’t into each other like that. For us, it’s about sharing a woman and taking care of her needs. Sure, we get off watching each other with her but it’s more about knowing that we can trust each other to take care of her. It just feels right for us, you know?”

Travis smiled and clapped Ash on his back. “Absolutely man and I’m happy that you both found a woman like Regan. She seems special.”

Ash finished off his breakfast and started to clean up from breakfast. “We need to get dressed and head out, we have a date with our girl tonight.”

Travis smiled at the two of them. “Please let me be a fly on the wall at whatever dive you three end up at,” he laughed. “I’ll have your backs should anything go sideways.”

Ash nodded. “Thanks, man, we appreciate that.” Travis grabbed another sandwich and headed out to the barn. Ash turned to Jamison, “We aren’t finished talking about whether or not we tell Regan the truth. I don’t want to keep secrets that could hurt her if they came out.”

Jamison stopped in the doorway on his way out of the kitchen. “I think we need to let this play out and see where we go. Let’s not cause trouble where there isn’t any.” Ash sighed, knowing that Jamison wasn’t going to budge on the subject. He just had a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach that if Regan found out they hired her to be more than just their cook, she’d run, and losing Regan wasn’t an option.

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