A Dangerous Union

XAVIER

I stood over the grave and felt nothing as the two guys beside me shoveled the dirt over the burned-out, tarp-covered corpse.

Another day and another body to bury—another client dead.

My phone vibrated in my pocket as I turned from the unmarked grave. It was just a simple text message from Matt:

I read the message several times before the words sunk into my head. House number seventeen was a newly built home for households.

Then it hit me. Noel had found us our wife.

“Fuck this shit!” I growled as I stormed to my waiting car.

I drove away fiercely from the derelict area toward the main part of the city. I knew why Noel had found us a girl. It was to stop me fucking Lyra. It wasn’t my fault she liked it my way.

I whizzed past other cars to get to the Village as fast as possible. I didn’t understand why Noel had done this, apart from stopping me and Lyra screwing.

It made no sense. He had wanted Matt, Thomas, and me to work, and now he wanted us to focus on creating a household.

I drove as quickly as I could, eager to find out what Noel had planned for us. And find out what type of woman he had picked for us.

I knew when I joined the Village that my life partner would be picked for me. I also knew she would be shared.

I was fine with that. Noel had said my work for the Village was too important to rush me into a household. That allowed me to have my life—allowed me to be possessive and dominant.

Maybe I wasn’t ready to commit to one woman; maybe she wouldn’t be what I needed her to be. Likely, Noel would have picked the best match for Matt, not me and Thomas.

As I approached the Village, I was reminded of how this place was here when I had nowhere to go. I wasn’t privileged—I was homeless when Noel found me.

Once he took me in, I did what he needed me to do: kill a judge, make a drug run, or even take out anyone who threatened our Village.

I drove to where the new houses were being built to support newly compiled households.

They were detached brick houses—four stories if you included the basement. Each home had a double garage, a double driveway, and a front and back yard; they were idealistic.

Matt’s car was already in the driveway. I pulled mine next to his. There was no sign of Thomas’s Harley bike, so I assumed he would be on his way.

I checked myself before I entered the home, and not a drop of blood was on me, which was good.

The door was unlocked. I was taken aback by how nice these homes were. I had been watching them being built while I lived in the apartments.

The staircase dominated the hallway entrance. The hallway ran along the side and led to what looked like a spacious and bright kitchen.

I noticed a door to the left at the foot of the staircase, which was the exit to the garage. A door to the right halfway down the hallway would be the living area.

“Matt?” I called out as I stood in the hallway, which had hardwood floors and warm terra-cotta paint on the walls.

Matt appeared in the kitchen doorway at the end of the hallway.

“Welcome home.” Matt spoke with a cool and calm voice.

I sighed as I looked at the place that would now be my home, our home. It was strange, but in the Village this was normal.

Matt disappeared into the kitchen, and I followed him. The kitchen was huge with lots of state-of-the-art appliances. Slate-gray cupboards with a marbled countertop. Everything was clean and new.

Matt was leaning against the island. A large six-person table was at the end of the room. But the kitchen island had four high stools, two on either side.

I looked at the guy whom I had bonded with, the guy Noel had put me with to learn the Village ways and who I had grown to become good friends with.

His striking blue eyes were similar to his father’s. His dark hair was always neatly cut, and he was one to keep a neat five o’clock shadow.

“Noel found us a wife” was all he could say when he walked into the family-sized kitchen.

“I thought we were a long way off becoming a household,” I urged.

Matt just shrugged.

“Me too. But no, he’s found us Olivia.”

Olivia. Her name sounded too innocent for me, too pure. I would destroy her in a heartbeat.

“She’s upstairs, unconscious. Safe to say this is a shock to her, and I had to sedate her to get her here,” Matt explained.

I wasn’t surprised. Normally when these women were found, they had little to their names and were promised safer lives, and then they find out they are to be married.

“All she knows is that she is coming to live with me. I haven’t told her much more, and neither had Noel or Lyra.”

“Wow, and she reacted badly to one strange man. How will she feel when she has to settle for three?” I huffed.

“I’m hoping her being in a beautiful house might calm her.” Matt spoke just as we heard our names getting called from the hallway. “In the kitchen, Thomas.”

I turned to watch a sweaty-looking Thomas enter the room. He, like me, was taken aback by the home and its contents.

Thomas towered over both of us. His light hair was cropped short, practically shaved. He had clearly been working out. We all kept in shape, but nothing like Thomas. He had to be.

“I take it Noel has found her, then?” Thomas stated the obvious.

“Olivia. Yes, she’s upstairs.”

Matt filled Thomas in briefly. Thomas looked between Matt and me; we both had hard, cold expressions.

It’s not that we resented being a household. That wasn’t the issue. What we were pissed about was how quickly Noel had changed his mind.

We were all meant to be his inner circle, all work. What would change? And why Olivia?

I knew Matt would know. I knew his father would have told him everything. It was very rare that Matt was ever kept out of the loop.

“Noel wants us to create our household,” Matt began, “with Olivia. However, he still wants us to keep up with our work; nothing will change except we will be household men, which means—”

“Things will be different,” I finished his sentence.

Thomas sighed beside me. We all knew household men were more respected. They could be held to a higher standard. They were picked to start the next generation. It also meant things in the bachelors’ lives had to change.

“Yeah,” Matt replied, looking directly at me. “We all have to respect other wives and our own. Sleeping around is no longer an option.”

“Matt, you know—” I began, but Matt nodded and cut me off.

“I know, I get that, and I’m not sure Olivia is what you need. She may not like that side of things. That’s why, as the household leader, I will allow you to go to your club and do what you do, but you can’t parade it in the Village or with other wives.”

I nodded. I was being reckless, especially with Lyra. I would have to be a dutiful household member and look after my family in this home.

But I couldn’t promise to be loyal or faithful. I liked sex, and I liked it my way.

“I think it will be a shock to Olivia to find out she has three husbands without adding that one of them likes to use chains and whips in the bedroom.” Matt chuckled lightly.

“It’s not just pain, my friend, but even when it isn’t, it’s still intense.” I smirked. Thomas just shook his head.

“Still pretty fucking weird, though,” Thomas spoke up.

“Don’t knock what you haven’t tried,” I reminded him.

Then we all went quiet as we looked between each other. We were now responsible for this home and the woman on the bed.

“Should we check on her?” Thomas asked.

Matt and I nodded; she could have been reacting to Matt’s sedative or awake, for all we knew.

Matt led the way through the home up the first flight of stairs and across the landing, passing a family bathroom.

“This is the main room.” He stopped outside a door that was tightly shut, and my heart was pounding. “This is her room—our room when we’re with her.”

I was still new to how these households lived, but Matt and Thomas were far more clued up.

Slowly Matt pushed open the door to a huge bedroom. It was all soft grays and light lilacs.

I noticed two doors: one for a bathroom and one for a walk-in closet. There was a vintage dressing table with a little backless lilac-colored seat.

The bed was a massive gray Windermere sleigh bed, a style with a headboard like a sleigh, but no footboard. It could easily fit four people. The bedding was soft lilac satin.

At the foot of the bed was a large old vintage-style chaise lounge in gray with two lilac cushions against the back. The footrest had a lilac throw draped decoratively over it.

My eyes went back to the huge, high bed. There she was, lying on the bed, her eyes still closed. Matt had put a fluffy gray throw over her delicate body to keep her warm. Her fiery copper hair framed her pale, beautiful face.

I knew everything would change, and I would have to sacrifice for this peaceful stranger.