CHAPTER 14

Waking from our morning nap, I felt refreshed and invigorated, despite the slight discomfort I felt from my bottom. The three of us still lay completely naked in the bed, laid out side by side by side. Both Evan and Vince had awoken earlier and now were whispering to each other waiting for me to wake up.

"She's gonna be sore man. Be sure to get her some ibuprofen with her coffee."

"Dude. I can't believe that happened." Vince sounded shell shocked almost. "I thought it would be weeks, if not months before she'd be willing to try a threesome."

"She's in this as deep as we are. You gotta admit, she's a lot more intense and passionate than you gave her credit for."

"Yeah. She just... I dunno man, she just drew me in when we were having sex. It was like I had no choice. Don't get me wrong, it was exactly where I wanted to be, but it was like I had no choice. She's exactly what I needed."

"She's everything I've ever looked for."

"Yeah. Me too."

Unable to hold my tongue, I gave my agreement as well. "Yeah. I'm everything I've ever wanted in a woman too."

"Smartass." Vince chortled before hugging me close. Concern laced his following words, "Are you alright? I mean, did we hurt you? Are you regretting what happened?"

"Well..." I tried to choose my words carefully so as to not upset. "I'm a bit tender, but physically I'm fine." A moments pause caused the guys to flinch a bit before I added, "As for regretting anything. No. Well, yeah, kinda. I don't regret what we did or what we have. I only regret we didn't do that sooner."

Not more than five seconds later, a knocking came from the door and both men grabbed for their weapons sitting on either side table. Evan rose to his feet and peeked out the blinds before dropping his head, eyes closed.

"It's the Honey Wagon. Give me a few minutes and I'll be back." He dragged on a pair of pajama pants and an Army t-shirt before heading to answer the door barefoot, sans gun. He closed the sliding door for the bedroom shut before tromping out to greet the dumper pumper.

I donned Vince's shirt from yesterday and headed into the kitchen to make coffee and a quick breakfast for us all. Vince remained sitting up in the bed, but a cell phone in his hands. "I need to check in with my dad and Mario. I'm going to walk down to the visitor's center and call them after we eat. You want to come with?"

"Sure. I'd like to look around at the displays they have and maybe get some tips on where to eat for when we get closer to Eureka."

30 minutes later found the three of us walking up to the visitor's center. I veered toward the educational displays about the park and the guys stayed outside while they made their phone calls. Looking at the taxidermized animals kinda grossed me out, but I had to admit the larger size of the mountain lion and the black bear on display were a bit terrifying. Though the Mama bear we had encountered the other day wasn't much smaller than this one. Once I had my fill, I headed over to talk to the volunteer docent sitting at the register counter giving me a bright smile.

"Well, hi there. Any questions?" Her warm smile and grandmotherly voice had me grinning right back.

"Hi. Yeah. My friends and I are heading south towards Eureka in a couple of days, can you recommend a few places to see and eat? We're not from around here and could use the help."

"Sure thing, Honey." She grabbed a map of Northern Humboldt County from under the counter and laid it onto the counter. She pointed to a few places to see: the local college Cal Poly Humboldt, Arcata Square, the Carson Mansion, the Eureka Old Town as well as Sequoia Park and Zoo. As for food she grabbed a pre-printed list again from under the counter and circled a few that she recommended.

Leaving the visitors center I found the guys both typing furiously on their phones. "Everything okay?"

Evan's frown and accompanying growl made me stop in my tracks. Realizing his error, he looked up apologetically, "Sorry Baby. Just returning a few text messages from some people who are going to get their asses beat when we get home."

"Some more than others." Vince chimed in with a growl of his own.

"Lemme guess? The core team and our Asshole of a leader?"

"Ding ding ding! Vince, tell our lovely player what she's won!"

"Ha ha." He muttered as he handed me his phone. "Check in with your dad and grandma while we think about it. It's been a couple of days."

"Thanks." I spent a few minutes texting my dad and grandma before adding another text to Ella, telling her I was okay, and the boys were taking care of me. With that done, we casually walked back to Bertie.

A shiver ran down my spine and my Spidey sense was telling me something wasn't right just before we got to the campsite. "Uh, guys... my gut's telling me something's up."

We walked around the bend in the road to find a Sheriff's SUV parked in front Bertie and the same deputy I saw yesterday watching us leave, standing waiting for us, arms crossed and a sour look on his face.

"Deputy Bell." Vince approached, shaking his hand. "Is there something we can help you with?"

"We got a report of public disturbance. A woman screaming at the top of her lungs this morning. Sounded like she was being attacked." With that the Deputy glared at me. "Wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" His eyes roved over me, searching for cuts and bruises possibly?

"Uh. That would have been me." Red-faced and feeling like a kid in the principal's office, I scrambled to think of something to explain away my screams.

"She found a mouse in the cereal box this morning and screamed to holy heaven." Evan tried to explain. "She's deathly afraid of them and scared the bejeezus out of the two of us. We managed to trap it and get it outside before too long. Guess we need to mouse proof the bus." He shrugged as if it was the most innocent explanation.

"Uh huh." He clearly was not convinced. "Well, another reason I came by was my supervisor, Lt. Walker, wanted to know if you had any openings at the firm you work for? Apparently, his brother is getting out of the Marines next month and is kinda directionless."

"Sure. We always have openings. There's several different locations hiring right now. Atlanta, Miami and Boston right now. We're full up in Trenton, but that may change so tell him to apply for all locations." Vince dug into his wallet and handed over a Rangeman card. "He can list either Vince or Ram as his initial contact."

"Thanks." He seemed a bit more relaxed before shaking hands with the guys. He then just turned to stare at me with a blank look before looking down his nose at me and left, refusing to acknowledge me further.

"That was weird." I muttered before heading for Bertie. "Nothing like getting dissed by a LEO to make you feel wanted around here."

Putting the encounter with Deputy Bell into the back of my mind, we loaded up into the truck and headed north for the day.

~0~0~0~

Shopping cart full of food, we were almost ready to head for the cashier. I spent an extraordinarily long time selecting just the right desserts for the next few days, putting us behind schedule.

"Mama. A pie is a pie is a pie. Just pick one." Vince grew a tad bit testy when he found me still debating between the blackberry and the strawberry rhubarb pies. Biting my lip, I glanced at him with a frown. "I want the blackberry because I never get that back home, but the strawberry rhubarb looks so good!" He reached out, took both pies, set them both into the cart and kissed the tip of my nose.

"There. Decision made." He pushed the cart away, leaving me standing there looking at him in amusement.

"Well, if I had known you'd let me have both, it would have been a lot quicker." I smarted, following the guys as they moved to the front of the store.

"Princess, all you have to do is ask. Unless you ask for something that would put us in danger, I doubt we'd say no."

"Good to know."

We strolled around Crescent City, Evan and I hand in hand, while Vince studied the map on his phone, leading us to a cute diner for a late lunch. Chowing down on our sandwiches, we debated where we wanted to go next. I wanted to see the lighthouse, but the guys were looking to head to Jedediah Smith State Park to hike a couple of different trails they had found. In what I would call a rigged game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, the guys won the debate, and we headed East of town.

After parking the truck in a spot near a trailhead, we grabbed our water bottles, backpack with snacks and hit the trail. Even after staying here for a few days, I still could not get over the fact that the landscape was as beautiful as it was. Towering trees, dappled sunlight, huckleberries, ferns and moss covered every available spot of the forest floor, except the trail that wound through the trees. Here and there giant rhododendron bushes popped up and at this time of year, were in full bloom with their bright pinks, reds and whites. Songbirds serenaded us as we trekked through the stately trees. Stopping for a quick water break, I watched as a long bright yellow banana slug glided along the lower bark of a nearby redwood. A few photos of the little guy were added to my trip collection.

Finding a goose pen tree, a bit further down the trail, Vince talked Evan and I into climbing in so Vince could capture a photo of us. "You don't have photo of just the two of you and it'd be nice to have a few."

After climbing into the open area within the tree, Evan wrapped his arms around me and kissed me senseless. I could hear the phone snapping pics, but I was too busy to care. We pulled apart and turned to look toward Vince, he snapped one last photo and grinned wide. "This is my favorite." He turned the phone around and I had to agree, it was an exceptional photo.

Sitting side by side on the tailgate of the truck, the three of us split a bag of granola with extra chocolate candies and sipped on our waters, enjoying the sounds of the forest surrounding us. I laid my head back, eyes closed, smile on my face.

Intrusive thoughts began to worm their way into the quiet space in my head. How would I even begin to explain what I had with Evan and Vince to my family?

My upbringing in the Burg dictated that I marry a Burg man, stay at home tending to my little domestic haven, have a whole mess of grubby kids, have a perfectly acceptable slow cooked dinner on the table no later than 6 pm sharp and certainly ignore any and all dalliances my husband would have outside the marriage.

Up until this trip, I had obeyed my mother, against my better judgment. Despite my hesitation and lack of feelings, I married the man she had personally selected when I was still in college. Richard Orr, a Burg offspring, lawyer and the son-in-law my mother loved to brag about to her little harpy friends. It was a god-awful wedding full of vomit inducing masses of pink roses, a giant poofy Cinderella style dress and at the reception, hundreds of guests I barely knew, if I knew them at all. I was expected to be pregnant within the first year and with a little luck, Dickie would make partner at his firm in as few as ten years. According to my mother, it was the perfect plan.

I, for sure, screwed the pooch on that plan as soon as I saw Dickie banging Joyce Barnhardt on my brand-new dining room table. Brandishing a fireplace poker, I chased the two of them out of my house, sans clothing, locking the door behind them. I then piled up any and all of his belongings I could find and set fire to them on the lawn in the front yard. In a near manic state, I ended up taking an axe to that beautiful solid cherry dining room table. Watching it burn was fairly cathartic. I then searched all of New Jersey for a law firm in which the partners hated my husband with a fiery passion and hired them for my divorce. Needless to say, it became the most talked about divorce in Burg history.

Since the divorce, my mother decided that if she couldn't get me married off by the time, I'm 35, I'd end up as a spinster and she'd be a total failure as a mother. As it was, she was somewhat of a pariah in the Burg due to my *gasp* public divorce. According to her, in conjunction with my job as a BEA, this made me enemy number one at my parent's house. I was chided, derided, mocked, yelled at, lectured and frowned upon for every little thing that I did that was not in the 'comeback plan' my mother had chosen for me. She also relentlessly attempted to set me up with every possible single man she could get her grubby little mitts onto, as long as they had a heartbeat, she didn't care. She had even tried to set me up with a serial killer!

Maybe, just maybe, I could let go of the guilt, the shame and the fear that my mother drilled into me for my choices. It's not like she was living my life, right? She's not the one experiencing my feelings. She will never understand how or why I feel the way I do. She will never understand how or why I have feelings for both Evan and Vince. It's not like she would approve of anyone I dated anyway.

So why should I care if she doesn't like the lifestyle, I've chosen for myself? Why should I care if she's scandalized over who I care for? As a mother I would have hoped she would support me in whomever I choose to share my life with, man or woman. But I know deep down, she cares more about what people think about her and what they say, than truly care about how that makes her daughter feel. I mean, I love my mom, but I don't have to live by her rules. And I certainly don't have to subject myself to her brand of crazy.

I'm saddened at this revelation. And hurt. But it doesn't make me want to fall back into my mother's trap. I am my own person and I need to stand up for myself and make my own path. No longer will my mother's choices define my life. I will no longer feel guilty because so-and-so talked about me in a salacious manner at the deli counter behind my mother's back. It didn't matter anymore. I was free. Free from all the expectations and conformity she drilled into my head from birth. I was free to live my life as I saw fit. Suddenly, I feel happy. I feel elated. For the first time in my life, I truly feel free.

"You okay, Angel?" Evan asked, his warm palm rubbing up and down my thigh as my eyes slowly open to find both my men staring at me with concern.

"Yeah." I nod deciding that those thoughts deserved no more space in my mind, and I just smile. "I'm good. Just worked through some thought I had and came to a revelation."

"Which is...?" Vince prodded after I failed to explain.

"I'm going to live my life on my own terms, and nobody can make me change my mind. Especially my mother. Also, you both better get to baking me treats because I'm pretty sure I'm going to be cutting my mother out of my life as soon as we get back home. I don't need that kind of negativity in my life."

"Princess, we'll make you all the treats you could ever want." With his hand wound through the hair at the nape of my neck, Vince's lips worked over mine feverishly, telling me all I needed to know about exactly how much he cared for me. I had no doubt, Evan felt the same way. Pulling away dazed, eyes hazy, I just grinned at the both of them with complete trust and a little bit of love for these men flanking me. I was truly and honestly falling in love with the both of them. And... I wasn't scared.

(A/N) So if you wanted to see exactly what I'm talking about in this section of Stephanie's trip, in regard to the description of the foliage, the forest, etc. there is a wonderful video on YouTube. The Tallest Trees on Earth - 4K Nature Documentary Film l Redwood National and State Parks by 4K Relaxation Channel. It helps to capture the grandeur and beauty of the redwood forests and to be honest, it's one of the best examples without actually being there in person.

If you ever get a chance to go visit Northern California, I highly recommend it. Besides the different visitor centers, there are trails to walk/bike/hike. I tried to walk the 70 mile long Coastal Trail, I made it about halfway over a couple of days. It is beyond compare in its absolute beauty. The state parks have over 75 miles of established trails and there are plenty that are easy to traverse with some that are paved.

I lived in Eureka, Loleta and Fortuna over the course of 3 years during college many, many years ago, and still consider it the best place on Earth. I miss this area dearly and hope to move back in the future.