The Perfect Plan [The Men of Treasure Cove 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (2 page)

The large house was massive.

One of the largest homesteads in Treasure Cove, the house itself boasted five bedrooms, a large den, a family living room, a game room, a full basement, and a chef’s kitchen. With over thirty-two hundred square feet, the house was gonna be a bitch to clean. But remembering last night was a blur. Little things like loud music, couples laughing, and drinking was all he could remember. Figuring everyone had a good time, he allowed himself to think it was a great party!

The McDaniel brothers were known for their powerhouse wild orgies, and from the looks of things, last night’s folly was a remarkable hit. Since they took over The Big D Ranch, the brothers were living it up. Single, good-looking, and in the prime of their lives, they all lived their lives to the extreme. While their neighbors and friends were settling down, they were partying it up, big time!

Last night’s escapade was just the latest in a slew of wild nights.

Somehow word had quickly gotten around that come Friday night, when all the chores were done, the Big D was the place to be seen and to get fucked.

With the ranch bordering the county line of Celestial, the McDaniel brothers catered to both towns, and all were welcome, though lately more and more of Celestial’s residents were attending than those of Treasure Cove. Oh, they still had their friends, like the Kincaid brothers, the Brannon brothers, and the new ranchers, the Mastersons—now, that was a crazy bunch.

Of course, there were the regulars from Celestial like Aura, Leo, Jade, and Apollo Humperdinck, who was currently lying facedown on the living room bear rug butt-ass naked, tied like a pig about to be put on a spit for roasting.

Not including the ranch hands, the parties generally hosted around fifty guests, all eager to try anything for a good time, and a good time they all had.

Quietly making his way toward the kitchen, scratching his naked ass and eyeing the coffeepot, he smiled when he saw the heavenly brew done and waiting for him.

Thank God for coffee.

Orin knew he was going to need it today. With calving season almost over, and most of his herd having already dropped, he could rest and leave the remaining heifers to the ranch hands that he paid handsomely. But first a cup of coffee, and then he’d rid his house of the remaining guest because today was for cleaning.

Grabbing his cup, he slowly poured the brew and took a sip. His body ached in places he never thought could hurt. His back was sore, and for some reason, his knees were killing him.

Slowly wading through the throng of bodies, he moved cautiously back toward the master bedroom and silently closed the door.

Placing the cup on his dresser, Orin donned a pair of jeans he found lying on the floor. Walking barefoot into the bathroom that adjoined his room, he brushed his thick, curly blonde hair, and washed his face, and that was exactly when he noticed his hand.

There on his left ring finger, a platinum band laid.

“What the hell?” he muttered.

Looking at the contraption, at first he thought he was seeing things. The ring on his finger looked familiar. It belonged to his great-grandfather. Handed down to Orin and his brothers, each had the exact same ring, only to be worn when they took the plunge into matrimony.

When Jacks reached the age of twenty-one, their parents sat them down and handed them the rings, along with their great-grandmother’s ring. They were told to cherish the bond of brothers, because taking a wife was serious deal. The three of them looked at each other and then at their parents. Of course, none of the boys were gonna tell their parents that they were never gonna get married. That would break their momma’s heart. So they took the rings, placed them in the top drawer of their dressers, and forgot about them.

Looking at the ring, Orin thought he was hallucinating. Touching it, he knew it was real. Grinning, thinking one of his brothers was playing a joke on him, he walked out of his room.

Heading toward Davis’s room, Orin flung open the door to find him naked, sleeping on the floor. “Real funny, asshole,” Orin said, poking his brother in his side with his foot.

The grumbles of his brother were barely heard, but when Davis stretched and wiped his hands down his face, Orin stopped laughing. Davis was wearing his ring, too.

“Shit, Orin. What the fuck?” Davis grumbled sleepily.

“Your hand!” Orin shouted, pointing at the matching ring.

“What?”

“Look at your fucking ring finger, dickhead!”

Davis slowly opened his eye and saw the platinum ring.

“Huh, so, big brother, who’s the lucky lady?” Davis smiled, rubbing his already-hardening cock.

Orin wanted to punch Davis, but the thought of exerting the energy it would take made his head ache and pain shoot to his back.

What the fuck happened last night?

“Get dressed. I’m gonna wake Jacks,” Orin ordered, moving to the next room down the hall. He found Jacks sleeping peacefully in his bed, dressed in a T-shirt, boxers, and the same damn platinum ring on his ring finger.

“Fuck!” Orin shouted, waking Jacks immediately.

“I didn’t do it!” Jacks yelled, sitting straight up in bed.

“Get dressed, now,” Orin ordered.

“Why?” Jacks asked sleepily.

“’Cause we have a big fucking problem,” Orin said angrily, leaving the room.

“What problem?” Jacks shouted after him.

“Check your fucking ring finger!” he yelled, walking down the hall.

Looking at his finger, Jacks didn’t see anything. “Other hand, idiot!” his brother yelled from the hallway.

That was when Jacks saw the ring.

He was married?

* * * *

It took the brothers close to three hours to wake, find clothes, and kick everyone out of their house. Left alone with the mess, they all stood in what was once their beautiful family home.

“Oh man. This place is trashed,” Jacks said, surveying the damage. Furniture that had been in their family for generations was destroyed. Their mother’s curio cabinet was shattered, and their beautiful white bear rug was stained with what he hoped was red wine.

Hardwood floors were scratched, three windows were broken, and the large leather sofa had what looked like a knife cut down the back, and then there was what was tied up in the corner.

After waking everyone, all remaining partygoers refused to claim the pot-bellied pig with the name Peaches written in lipstick down its back.

“Never again, Orin,” Jacks whispered as anger began to erupt within him. Picking up a photograph of his parents, he noticed the frame was still intact, but the glass was shattered. Placing the picture back on the side window table, Jacks just looked at the loving people smiling back at him.

Married for almost thirty years, Katie, Noah, and John McDaniels loved this house, the ranch, and the town they called home. They raised their children to be upstanding citizens, kind and eager to help out the town. They were devoted members of the community and currently on a trip around the world. If they were here right now, they would be ashamed, and that didn’t sit well with Jacks.

After handing the reins of the ranch to them, their fathers surprised their mother with a yearlong trip around the world. The dads figured, with them out of the way, Jacks and his brothers would have to work together and hopefully settle down. Looking at the mess before him, Jacks thought, “Guess you were wrong, dad.”

“Don’t worry, Jacks. I’ll get the glass replaced. Now, we need a plan to get this place cleaned up,” Orin said, picking up a discarded pizza box.

“No! No more plans! You suck at them, and only chaos ensues. We are just gonna clean it up and fix what we can. That’s it!” Jacks said angrily.

“Dude, I said I’d fix the frame. It’s no biggie,” Orin said, picking up another pizza box.

That was just it. It was more than the broken glass. Jacks had had enough. He didn’t want this anymore. He was tired. Tired of the parties, the drunken orgies, and the countless women, and he was sick and tired of Orin’s plans. He had had enough.

“No, Orin. I mean, this was it. The last party. No more! Mom and Dads would kill us if they saw this shit. And frankly, I’m tired of all the cleanup. This place is trashed. It’s gonna cost a shitload of money to fix this place up. Some of the stuff can’t be fixed. Did you see what happened to mom’s curio? She is gonna go ballistic! Granny gave her that on her wedding day,” Jacks informed his brother, who ignored him and kept picking up trash.

“Besides, what are we gonna do about this?” Jacks said, holding up his ring finger.

“Yeah, Orin,” Davis said, speaking for the first time. “I may not be the brightest blub in the family, but I do know that a ring on your ring finger means marriage.”

“It’s gotta be a joke,” Orin, said, looking at his own hand.

“Some joke! I don’t even remember it being placed on my hand! Do you?” Jacks asked.

“I don’t,” Davis admitted.

“Me, either,” Orin said, scratching his head, “What do you guys remember from last night? Cause my mind is still fuzzy.”

The silence was deafening.

Looking from brother to brother, Jacks realized that none of them had the vaguest memory of who they married, how they married her, or where it happened. The only evidence was the rings on their fingers.

This was not good.

That was when clarity struck. “Granny’s ring!” Jacks shouted, running into the master bedroom with his brothers fast on his trail.

Davis and Orin watched as Jacks opened the top drawer and proceeded to search for the ring. They sighed when he produced the box and felt all was well in their world. That was until Jacks opened the box.

Instead of the double-platinum, three-carat princess-cut diamond, he pulled out a scanty, lacy thong with a white flower embroidered on it.

“Shit!” they all muttered.

* * * *

Lilly Campbell woke with the worst hangover on the planet. Her head was beating to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” as she slowly opened her eyes. The high-pitched strings on the guitar were grating her nerves, but when the drums began pounding, she wanted to die.

Slowly turning her head, she eyed the clock on her nightstand and sighed. Reaching her arm out, she hit the silence button, thus ending her misery. That was until she saw the time. She had one hour to shower, dress, and get to Heaven’s Pleasures.

Gently rolling out of bed, she grabbed her head and moaned, “I’m dying.”

She knew last night’s wild party was a big mistake. First, she didn’t even want to go, but with the coaxing of her boss, Heaven, she relented. Now she felt like begging death to take her away. Her whole body ached, and if she couldn’t get a handle on this hangover, she was going to be useless all day.

Rising from the bed, she moved cautiously toward the bathroom. Turning on the hot water, she walked into her kitchen and hit the power button on her coffeemaker. She was gonna need a gallon of the hot brew today.

Seeing steam filter from the bathroom, Lilly quietly walked back toward the bathroom and stepped under the steamy spray. Closing her eyes, she let the warm water envelope her in a nice cocoon, washing away last night’s excursions.

Growing up in rural Silver Springs, Montana, Lilly had never been to an orgy before in her life. Oh, she had heard stories of such parties from working at the Rainbow Room, but never attended. Before leaving home at the age eighteen, she lived the life of the daughter of a wealthy rancher and behaved accordingly. After graduation, she headed off to the University of Montana and acquired a degree in agriculture with a minor in horticulture. Against the opinions of her family, she chose to leave her home and experience the world, following her college sweetheart into perdition. Well, she got as far as Celestial, a mere four hours from her home.

Thank God her family never ventured into Celestial. From birth, she had been told the town was a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah, a place of ill repute, fornicators, and the lowest degenerates on the planet. Boy, her family wasn’t far off!

Of course, her family also believed she was somewhere in California, living it up on warm, sandy beaches and surfing her life away, but she didn’t have the heart to tell them she had been duped by her so-called boyfriend and abandoned and penniless, just because she refused to sleep with him. If it wasn’t for Heaven Meyer, she would also be homeless.

She couldn’t call her father and tell him he was right about Derrick Wadsworth. She would never hear the end of it, and God help her if her brothers ever found out. Poor Derrick would have more to worry about than the aching balls and black eye he received from her.

Growing up the only daughter of James and Iris Campbell was hard enough, but add in her six older brothers, and, well, Lilly was stifled, secluded, and watched over like a hawk twenty-four-seven. It was humiliating, oppressive, and downright aggravating.

Turning off the shower, Lilly dried herself off, wrapping the towel around her. Quickly clipping up her wet blonde hair, she brushed her teeth and then got dressed for the day. It was going to be a long day, with shifts at Heaven’s Pleasures and a double shift at the Rainbow Room.