Flame and Ink

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From Vowed in Ink:

Sassy had waited for this day for what felt like months. Years if she were honest with herself. Rafe and Ian had stormed into her tattoo shop and her life over a year ago, and the three of them were engaged to be married soon after. They’d fallen in love as young adults, spent far too long apart, and were now going to spend the rest of their lives together. She had their ink on her skin, the memory of their hands and bodies on hers, and the feeling of their souls connected with her own.

She loved the two men—like she never thought she would be able to. And in turn, they loved her just as deeply. The passion and emotion they held for each other brought her to tears. She knew she was blessed.

They were a true triad.

A relationship between three people in which there were no secrets, no way to hide things. Once one of them started to hide within themselves, the other two would bring them out. Communication and pure openness were the only way the three of them could work. And she would never have it any other way.

Of course, all of that worked well in theory.

In real life? Not so much.

They three of them yelled and growled at one another often, and while most times it led to very sweaty, kinky sex, sometimes, it led to even more discussions.

All of that angst and tension was only with the three of them, though.

Add in the fact that her father was a gigantic asshole who wouldn’t speak to her, and yet, had tried to ruin her relationship with her two men because he wanted money…she wanted to scream, again. Oh, and Ian’s parents weren’t thrilled. That was being vague, and she knew it. His parents were white-collar snobs who not only didn’t like the fact that he was marrying some tattoo receptionist with ink and piercings, but that he was also doing a commitment ceremony with a brown-skinned mechanic.

It didn’t matter that Sassy came from white-collar money of her own—hence why her father was an asshole on a whole other level. Sassy has long since turned her back on that money anyway. It didn’t matter that Rafe owned four—and counting—shops on his own and was a millionaire in his own right.

Ian was a billionaire.

Rafe and Sassy were, therefore, trash.

Put them together in a kinky ménage, and Ian’s family made Sassy want to scream.

So, of course, instead of getting married in New Orleans—their home—they were getting married in New York. Rafe’s family loved Sassy and Ian and had opened their arms to them. There were a few stragglers who thought the idea of two men and a woman being together was a sin, but those close to Rafe loved them all.

But no, they couldn’t get married in New Orleans near them.

Ian’s parents had insisted that the wedding happen in New York. Why, Sassy didn’t know. The actual binding contract would be between Ian and Sassy since it wasn’t legal for a triad to be married, but Rafe would be standing up there as their third, even if he didn’t get to sign the paper and have someone bless him.

He was theirs as they were his.

The Steele family had insisted on a pure New York wedding, where they would try to do damage control on their inner circles from within. And Sassy, not wanting to make waves—very unlike herself—had agreed to it.

Now she was having a giant wedding of epic New York Upper East Side proportions, and with only one man while the other had to smile along and pretend he wasn’t breaking inside. Rafe may not have said as much, but she knew this wasn’t exactly what he wanted.

Hell, it wasn’t exactly what she and Ian wanted either.

And yet, she wore her fucking wedding dress and stared out into the New York City landscape, wondering how in the hell she’d gotten here. She wanted to marry Ian. Wanted to marry Rafe, as well. The only reason they were even going through with a marriage license was because it made things easier legally. If she ended up in the hospital or when they had kids, it made things…easier. And they would have documentation for Rafe, as well.

So, yeah, all of this pain, this strife, was because of damn legalities.

She should have forced Rafe and Ian to be married in the ceremony, and she could have sat back and smiled, knowing she was part of that union, as well—but Ian’s parents had needed consideration. She also could have married Rafe and had Ian be on the side, but since Ian’s parents…

Damn it.

She hated this.

Her chest hurt, her lungs seizing.

Because they were in New York and not in New Orleans, most of her friends hadn’t been able to come. Shep and Shea were there because they’d been able to get off work, but they couldn’t shut down the entire shop for a single wedding. Even Shep’s cousin Austin and his woman, Sierra were there, but it still wasn’t everyone.

Rafe’s family had flown up to see the wedding, even though their son wouldn’t be the one speaking the vows that day. They loved their son that much.

Sassy’s father had not been invited.

And Ian’s parents…well, they were his fucking parents. Not much more she could do about that.

She barely resisted the urge to run a hand over her face. If she did that, she’d have to sit in the makeup chair again and let that woman put more crap on her skin. Sassy hadn’t even been allowed to do her own makeup, nor had someone she trusted been allowed to do it.

No. Instead, Ian’s mother had taken care of everything.

And by everything, Sassy meant everything.

The flowers, Sassy’s dress, the venue, her makeup, every-fucking-thing.

And Sassy had gone along with it with a damn smile on her face because that bitch would one day be her child’s grandmother. Her kids needed family.

Only Sassy had a feeling she was horribly wrong about that. Her kids might need family, but there was no way Sassy would be able to let her children near that vile woman or her friends.

She hadn’t even told her men that she’d hated every moment of their wedding preparations. It had taken so much of her time, she hadn’t even seen them every day. She’d hidden her feelings from her loves, and now she was paying the price.

She knew they thought something was wrong, but perhaps they just thought it was bridal jitters. Except they hadn’t had sex in over a month.

A month.

She didn’t know if the two of them had been with each other in that month, but she hadn’t slept with either of them—together or separately. The fact that she hadn’t had sex with them, and didn’t even know if they’d been with each other, just told her what a giant mistake she was making.

She wanted to marry her men.

Just not like this.

“Looks like you’ve moved up in the world.”

Sassy gripped the curtains on either side of her. That voice. That fucking voice. What the hell was he doing here?

Of course, he’d be here to try and ruin today.

“Get. Out.” She bit out each word, forcing herself not to turn and throw something at him. The only thing near her was a vase that probably cost more than her car, but she’d throw it if she had to.

“Is that any way to talk to your old man?”

She turned then, staring at the man who’d helped to give her life…then stepped back and did nothing to raise her. He’d put her down, tried to mold her into the perfect society daughter with no sense of self, no sense of anything—just someone for another rich man to have on his arm.

She hated this man. She’d left the fold of his society, and now with marrying Ian, she was strolling right back in.

But it would be on her terms…

Was it?

She pushed that errant thought away. She’d deal with this wedding and Ian’s parents in a moment. First, though, she needed to deal with the asshole in front of her. When her father had let the news outlets know his whore of a daughter was shacking up with Ian of the New York Steeles, as well as a mechanic in some form of wicked, demon-loving orgy, she hadn’t been able to confront him.

Her men had done that.

Of course, she’d been fucking pissed that she hadn’t been able to do anything at the time. But now her father was back.

There would be no stopping Sassy this time.

She ran a hand down the dress she hated, the overflowing tulle and handcrafted lace far too big for her, far too ostentatious. “You were specifically not invited.”

“My daughter is getting married. Of course, I’m here,” her father said simply. He smiled, and she wanted to smack the smile right off his face. “Of course, I wanted to know which one you picked. Glad you picked the one with the most money. But since you’re a detail-orientated whore anyway, I figured that’s the one you’d choose. Now you have your little cabana boy on the side.”

She hadn’t known she’d moved closer to him until she felt the pain in her fist. Her father cried out as he fell, clutching his eye. Since he was down, she kicked him in the nuts with her very pointy, very expensive shoes. She might hate the dress, but she loved the shoes.

Her father screamed again, and she snarled. “Get the fuck out of my life, you piece of trash. If you ever say my name or talk about my men again, I’ll gut you where you stand. You hear me? You think I didn’t learn a thing from living on the streets when I left the hell you called home? Think again, little man. I’ll fuck you up. Now get out of my sight before I get really mad.”

“Holy shit,” Rafe said from the doorway, looking far too sexy in his tux. “Holy fucking shit.”

She raised her chin, her chest heaving. She loved Rafe with all of her heart, and if he helped her just then, she’d love him even more. Maybe even give him a nice wedding night blowjob. “Think you can help me take out the trash?”

One of the loves of her life winked—though she saw the rage beneath the surface. He wanted a piece of her father, she could tell. While she’d told her father she’d gut him, she didn’t want Rafe to end up in jail for murder. “Hell, yeah, I can help. Have I told you lately that I love it when you’re feisty?”

She stepped over her father’s prone form and pulled at her dress so it wouldn’t touch the piece of filth on the floor before reaching up to cup Rafe’s cheek. “I love you, Rafe,” she whispered. “So fucking much.”

His eyes filled with understanding, and he lowered his head to brush his lips over hers. “I love you, too, darling. Now, let’s take care of this asshole.”

“Just don’t get blood on my dress,” she said simply. “It cost a mint.”

He rolled his eyes and grinned, even though the anger and hurt warring in his eyes broke her. “Anything for you, babe.”

He said that, but did he mean it? Because now that she’d broken her father’s nose and probably his nuts, she had a feeling she was finally strong enough to make a change.

A change that would be the best for her men and herself.

She just had to make sure Rafe and Ian would be up for it.