Roll With the Punches

  Suncoast Society

  Roll With the Punches

  Stuart has no regrets about his new life with Brandon and Jeff. For the first time, he feels he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be, with a family who loves him for who he is. Even despite the craziness with Brandon’s ex, it’s all worth it.

  Jeff knows this is for life with the two men and has never felt happier. When a mission to help his sister’s friend leads to an unexpected health crisis with an uncertain outcome, he is forced to admit he’s also vulnerable in ways he never imagined, both physically and emotionally.

  Brandon gets that his ex has issues, but he won’t let those stand in the way of him and his husbands parenting Emma, his teenaged daughter. Jeff and Stuart have proven they’re there for life.

  Now their sanity is stretched to the max in ways they never imagined by a horrific truth—they’re raising a teenaged daughter who’s starting to date.

  Genre: Alternative (M/M/M, Gay), BDSM, Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 58,591 words

  ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES

  Suncoast Society

  Tymber Dalton

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES

  Copyright © 2017 by Tymber Dalton

  ISBN: 978-1-64010-502-7

  First Publication: July 2017

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2017 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

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  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  DEDICATION

  To Hubby and Sir. Always.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Tymber Dalton is the wild-child alter-ego of author Lesli Richardson. She lives in the Tampa Bay region of Florida with her husband (aka “The World’s Best Husband™”) and too many pets. Active in the BDSM lifestyle, the two-time EPIC award winner is also the bestselling author of over one hundred books, including The Reluctant Dom, The Denim Dom, Cardinal’s Rule, the Suncoast Society series, the Love Slave for Two series, the Triple Trouble series, the Coffeeshop Coven series, the Good Will Ghost Hunting series, the Drunk Monkeys series, and many more.

  She loves to hear from readers! Please feel free to drop by her website and sign up for updates to keep abreast of the latest news, views, snarkage, and releases. You can also find all of her Siren-BookStrand releases under all four of her pen names on her author page on the BookStrand site.

  www.tymberdalton.com

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  For all titles by Tymber Dalton, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/tymber-dalton

  AUTHOR'S NOTE

  This is a direct sequel to Heartache Spoken Here (Suncoast Society 54) and picks up where that book leaves off.

  While all the books in the Suncoast Society series are standalone works which may be read independently of each other, the recommended reading order to avoid spoilers and to not miss any backstory information is as follows:

  1. Safe Harbor

  2. Cardinal’s Rule

  3. Domme by Default

  4. The Reluctant Dom

  5. The Denim Dom

  6. Pinch Me

  7. Broken Toy

  8. A Clean Sweep

  9. A Roll of the Dice

  10. His Canvas

  11. A Lovely Shade of Ouch

  12. Crafty Bastards

  13. A Merry Little Kinkmas

  14. Sapiosexual

  15. A Very Kinky Valentine’s Day

  16. Things Made Right

  17. Click

  18. Spank or Treat

  19. A Turn of the Screwed

  20. Chains

  21. Kinko de Mayo

  22. Broken Arrow

  23. Out of the Spotlight

  24. Friends Like These

  25. Vicious Carousel

  26. Hot Sauce

  27. Open Doors

  28. One Ring

  29. Vulnerable

  30. The Strength of the Pack

  31. Initiative

  32. Impact

  33. Liability

  34. Switchy

  35. Rhymes With Orange

  36. Beware Falling Ice

  37. Beware Falling Rocks

  38. Dangerous Curves Ahead

  39. Two Against Nature

  40. Home at Last

  41. A Kinkmas Carol

  42. Ask DNA

  43. Time Out of Mind

  44. Happy Valenkink’s Day

  45. Splendid Isolation

  46. Similar to Rain

  47. Happy Spank Patrick’s Day

  48. Fire in the Hole

  49. Pretzel Logic

  50. This Moody Bastard

  51. Walk Between the Raindrops

  52. Rub Me Raw

  53. Any World That I’m Welcome To

  54. Heartache Spoken Here

  55. Roll With the Punches

  Some of the characters in this book appear in or are featured in previous books in the Suncoast Society series. All titles available from Siren-BookStrand.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  About the Author

  Author's Note

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Landmarks

  Cover

  ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES

  Suncoast Society

  TYMBER DALTON

  Copyright © 2017

  Chapter One

  Brandon sat at the breakfast bar and nursed his mug of coffee early that Monday morning.

  Two pairs of eyes, one hazel and one green, stared at him in response to what he’d just announced.

  “What?” It wasn’t quite dawn yet. He was still trying to wake up enough to take a shower and leave for work. Emma had already departed for her early swim practice before her summer school session started.

  Jeff finally spoke. “Can I ask a question, Sir?”

  “Of course.”

  “Not that I’m
complaining about our collaring being next weekend, but by next weekend do you mean this coming weekend, or the weekend after that? Because I thought Emma was home this weekend?”

  “The weekend after. Sorry.” Brandon couldn’t hold back his yawn. “You two know I don’t morning well.”

  Stuart smiled. “Sorry, Sir.”

  “And yes, she is home this weekend. Next weekend she’s going to Grace’s. Her parents are taking them to a special presentation up at Mote on Saturday night.”

  Emma was Brandon’s sixteen-year-old daughter, who primarily lived with them. When school started up again at the end of summer, she’d be a junior.

  He couldn’t believe it, when it seemed like she’d only been born a few months ago. That’s what it felt like, anyway.

  The three men had been living together for four months now, following three months of dating. The better part of a year spent together, and Brandon knew the men were who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

  Which was why he’d broken the news to them that morning, letting them know when their collaring would be. Up until now, he’d left the date flexible, both to keep the men on their toes and because he hadn’t been sure what Emma’s schedule was.

  Brandon was still trying to help Emma repair her relationship with her mother, Tracey, his ex-wife. Tracey wasn’t making it easy, unfortunately. Due in no small part, Brandon suspected, to Tracey’s husband, Pat.

  The collaring was something he’d actually wanted to do for weeks, but he hadn’t wanted to schedule a date for their ceremony only to have to change plans at the last minute because of something his ex-wife did to make Emma not want to go visit her.

  But Emma never missed a scheduled event with her bestie, Grace. Ever. The girls were practically inseparable.

  Brandon had already received the chainmaille necklaces he planned to give Jeff and Stuart to wear as their day collars. Something they could wear to work and around Emma without it raising any awkward questions.

  Stuart hadn’t commented on his announcement. “Would you like to add something?” Brandon asked him.

  Stuart smiled. “No, Sir. I’m happy we’re doing it.”

  “Collaring will require a new level of behavior from you both, though. I’m working on a few rituals we can do, even when Emma’s around, that won’t ping her radar. Hopefully. I consider collaring the two of you to be every bit as serious as marriage.”

  Both men’s smiles widened. “Yes, Sir.”

  Brandon took another sip of his coffee, his cock trying to wake up. “I do like it when you talk in stereo.”

  * * * *

  Someone who didn’t know Brandon and Jeff might tell Stuart he was being an idiot. That the first relationship he’d been in with a guy—guys, plural—had resulted in him moving in with them, and now working toward making it a committed, permanent dynamic?

  Crazy.

  Except Stuart considered himself damned lucky. A series of events had culminated in him standing where he was right then, with these two men, and there was no other place he wanted to be.

  Definitely not in Iowa, where he’d moved from, and where all his family still lived.

  His oldest brother, Jake, had phoned him a few weeks ago, deriding him for coming out to their mother over the phone and calling him a number of different names before angrily hanging up on him.

  Then again, his brother was a bully raising two bully sons, and Jake’s opinion no longer mattered to Stuart.

  Especially not when Stuart lived over a thousand miles away from the guy, and the rest of his family.

  He had a new family. He had Brandon, Jeff, Emma, and their growing band of friends from Venture and the Suncoast Society. A few times already they’d attended family-friendly Suncoast Society cookouts with Emma.

  Being with this group of people felt more like a “family” than Stuart had ever felt growing up surrounded by people related through birth and blood.

  Damn sure more pleasant to be around.

  “You want breakfast, Sir?” Jeff asked.

  “That’d be nice, thank you.”

  Stuart set to helping him fix it when Brandon spoke again. “Another thing we need to handle is setting up a joint bank account for the three of us.”

  That made both him and Jeff turn, stereo again.

  “Sir?”

  Brandon’s handsome, sleepy smile curved his lips. “You keep up the stereo act, I’m going to want to fuck you both this morning, and I don’t have time for that.” He took another sip of coffee “Bank account. Joint account. The three of us. I don’t understand what’s so complicated about that?”

  “Um, why?” Stuart asked.

  “For us to deposit our monthly share of expenses, and the grocery expenses. Instead of you both handing money to me. That just creates more work for me. We can each have an ATM card for it. I’ll set up our household bills to auto-pay from that account for simplicity. Which brings me to another point—I need to get both of you added to the utilities.”

  Stuart didn’t understand why his pulse started racing. “Utilities?”

  “Yeah. If something happens to me, you both need to be able to access all of that. I’m going to talk to Ed about what we need to set up in terms of a trust for all of us for powers of attorney, things along those lines. He’s an expert in all of that.”

  Jeff patted Stuart on the back. “Why do you look terrified, buddy? This is a good thing.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m terrified.” Stuart stared up into Jeff’s hazel eyes. Both men were taller than Stuart’s five nine. Jeff was six feet, and Brandon six two. “This is…real. This is happening. It’s the good kind of terror. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

  Brandon set his coffee mug on the counter, stood, and rounded the end of it to engulf both men in a hug. “It’s okay, buddy. We’re not going anywhere. We love you. I know Emma loves you guys. I’m kind of scared, too.”

  “Me, too,” Jeff said.

  “I don’t think we’d be human if we weren’t at least a little scared,” Brandon added. “This is a big step for all of us, but I feel it’s the right one. If you need us to slow down—”

  Stuart vigorously shook his head. “No, Sir. I don’t want to slow down. I want to be with you both.”

  “Okay, then.” He smiled. “Somebody better get breakfast started, before they earn a bad kind of spanking.”

  Stuart grinned. “Yes, Sir!”

  * * * *

  Jeff understood. Stuart was younger than him and Brandon. He’d just turned twenty-six a couple of months earlier. This was a huge step for him. His family were assholes, and he hadn’t even come out to them before he’d left Iowa and moved to Florida.

  Hell, the first time he’d truly lived on his “own” had been the short stint he’d spent in the extended-stay hotel after his arrival in Florida, before moving in as Jeff’s roommate.

  It was his and Brandon’s good luck that all three of them met at the same time.

  After breakfast and showers, they kissed good-bye and headed out to their respective jobs. Stuart was an electrician, working for a guy who, ironically, was the former father-in-law of one of their friends from the Suncoast Society group. Even more ironically, that wasn’t how Stuart ended up meeting Jeff and Brandon. The poor guy had been catfished by a woman, using a picture of Brandon they’d e-mailed Stuart.

  A bad-luck incident that immediately turned into good luck for all three of them.

  Jeff was halfway to work when his cell phone rang from where he’d left it on the passenger seat.

  His sister’s custom ring tone.

  Iris rarely called him, even though they texted nearly every day, usually several times during the day.

  With his heart in his chest, he grabbed it and answered. “Hey. What’s up?”

  “I’m sorry to call you so early, but I need help.”

  “What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. Do you remember my friend Sylvie, the girl I
roomed with in college?”

  Okay, so this wasn’t about her or their parents. He tried to will his pulse into a slower, more normal rhythm. “Vaguely. Why?”

  “She’s leaving her husband and asked if I can help her move. Calvin’s going, too, but we need help.”

  He knew he’d have to run it past Brandon, but could tentatively offer assistance. “I might be able to help. When is she moving?”

  “This weekend. He’s going to be at a business seminar out of town. She wants to get out while he’s gone. She doesn’t have anyone up there she can ask for help. He’s abusive. She’s afraid if she says anything to anyone up there that it’ll get back to him, and then she’s doubly fucked.”

  “Up there, where?”

  “New Hampshire.”

  Oy. “New Hampshire?”

  “Yeah. I’ll pay for your ticket to fly up with us on Thursday. I need to book them this morning. She’ll pick us up when we get there, we’ll pack the house, get the rental truck, load it, and be out of there no later than early Sunday morning, driving back here to Sarasota. Depending on when we leave up there, we’ll probably get back some time late Monday, and we’ll put nearly everything into a storage unit she’s already reserved. I know this is a lot to ask, but she’s really scared.”

  His sister was one of the most stable people he knew. She had a great job with an engineering firm, had a long-term live-in boyfriend, but hadn’t married him or had kids yet. “And Calvin is definitely going with us?”

  “Yes. Sylvie’s husband owns the house, but a lot of the furniture was stuff she had when they got married. She knows if she walks away from it she’ll never get any of it back. Most of it was stuff from her grandparents’ house, lots of sentimental value to her. Morse’ll burn it on the front lawn rather than give it to her.”