“Just get to your point.”

“I think we should share Ren,” he said in a low, grim voice.

Cole stared wordlessly at Lucas. The man was out of his goddamn mind. “Share her? Like a piece of meat or something?” He couldn’t help but remember Damon’s angry assertion earlier that evening. Hell, but Lucas’s suggestion made it sound like it was exactly what they were treating her like.

Lucas made an angry, frustrated sound. “Look, what I’m suggesting isn’t easy for me. No, I don’t think we should pass her back and forth like some tasty treat. I think we should give serious consideration to entering a relationship wherein she belongs to both of us. Full time. All the time. Which means that you and I would have to come to an understanding. And we’d have to make a hell of a lot of decisions about living arrangements.”

Cole’s eyes widened as realization dawned. What Lucas was suggesting was a permanent, full-time arrangement. Hell, they’d live together and be in constant contact. They would truly share Ren. There were so many potential pitfalls that Cole couldn’t even wrap his head around it.

But the one thing that stuck out in his mind the most was that he’d have Ren. She’d be happy. She wouldn’t have to choose. Was he insane for even considering it for the barest of seconds? And for not tossing Lucas out on his ass? What kind of a freak did it make him?

And then he remembered that Micah had lived just such an arrangement. Before Angelina. He and his best friend had shared the same woman. A woman who Micah had married but had shared with his best friend. She’d belonged equally to both of them.

But they’d been best friends. There had been a level of trust already established. There was nothing between Lucas and Cole except animosity.

“Jesus,” Cole muttered. “Is this what Ren wants?”

Lucas’s lips tightened. “I don’t know if it is or not. I haven’t talked to her about it. I wouldn’t do anything to get her hopes up or potentially upset her. I wanted to talk to you first so that if it isn’t an option, it’s never mentioned to her as one.”

Yeah, he understood that and grudgingly gave the other man respect for protecting Ren.

“You’d really consider this?” Cole asked incredulously. “I don’t share well. It’s not something I’ve ever considered.”

Lucas made another rude sound. “I’ve shared her with men at the club. You shared her with Captain Mike and some guy named C.J. Yeah, she told me all about it. It’s the same principle only now we’d be sharing her with each other. And preferably no one else.”

“That was different,” Cole bit out. “She didn’t love Captain Mike or C.J. They gave her pleasure but she didn’t feel anything for them.”

Lucas’s lips thinned. “Ah, so now we get to it. She loves me and you’d feel threatened by that.”

“Are you telling me you wouldn’t feel threatened by the fact she loves me?” Cole demanded. “Because I don’t buy it. I don’t buy it for a minute. You’re way too intense of a guy. You’re way too possessive. You’re way too bloody like me for it not to bother you.”

“Sit down, Madison. You and I have a lot to discuss and I’m not going to stand here like two circling wolves all damn night. I don’t like leaving Ren alone for this length of time and in particular when I know she’s not herself.”

Cole froze and some of the irritation fled. He lowered himself onto the couch as Lucas did the same in a chair across from him.

“How is she?” Cole asked hoarsely.

“Not good,” Lucas returned. “But that’s to be expected. She’s in love with two assholes who’ve done everything wrong. Which is why I’m here so that maybe, maybe we can do something right for a change.”

Cole couldn’t even take offense. Holt was dead right. They were two of the biggest assholes on earth. They’d manipulated, played with and hurt Ren. And yeah, maybe it was time to step up, work together and fix the situation.

“How is this supposed to work?” Cole asked wearily. “You’re dominant. I’m dominant. Ren’s only one person.”

“I’m not asking you to submit to me,” Lucas said in amusement.

Cole’s lip curled up at the corner and he glared at the other man. “Ha-ha, very funny.”

“Look, I don’t have all the answers. It’s something we’d have to work at, and more than that, be committed to working at. Every damn day. I don’t expect it to be easy. What is? What I do know is this. I love Ren. I’m not letting her go. You love Ren. You let her go because you thought it was the right thing to do. Ren loves us both and is hurt by the idea that you walked away from her and that I gave her to a man who’d already hurt her once. That makes us both dumb as shit assholes who have a hell of a lot to make up to her.”

Cole sighed. Damn but the man was making way too much sense. He wanted to hate him. He didn’t want to respect him. But the fact that Ren was at the forefront of his every thought had already earned him Cole’s regard.

“Ren would be submitting to two men. Not just one. And I don’t expect it would always be easy with us pulling her in two different directions, which is why we’d have to set aside our differences and work together to make sure she’s taken care of and not overwhelmed. In the end, it has to be her decision because her life changes the most.”

“It should be her decision anyway,” Cole said quietly. “You and I have already made too many decisions for her. I’ve walked away from her twice because I thought it was best for her. But I never asked her what she thought was best.”

Lucas nodded. “And I brought her to you because I thought it was best for her to face her past. I think it’s time we stop thinking for Ren and let her make her own decisions.”

“Yeah, agreed.”

Lucas rose from the couch. “I’ve been away from Ren for too long. She’s not been herself. She goes through the motions. She needs the routine and the discipline of submission but her heart’s not in it.” He stared hard at Cole. “Think about what I said, Madison. Think hard about it. Then whatever objection you have or however you think it’s going to affect your life or whatever sacrifices you think you’ll be making, consider Ren, and ask yourself if your objections are worth more than a life with her. When you make up your mind, give me a call. We’ll approach her together. Until then I won’t say a word to her.”

Cole watched Lucas go, unsure of whether he was supposed to thank him, curse him or dismiss him all together.

What a goddamn mess.

Or was it?

Was it a mess or was it the solution to an impossible situation?

In a perfect world, Cole would have Ren to himself and he’d never have to share her with anyone. In the shitty world where he currently existed he didn’t have Ren at all. Lucas did.

That there was enough to make compromise not look so damn bad after all.

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and punched the contact button for Micah. Micah would at least understand the situation and he could likely offer Cole some been there done that if nothing else.

He had a feeling this was going to involve a lot of alcohol.

“Marry me.”

Ren stiffened in Lucas’s arms and pushed away from his chest to stare at him. “What?” She couldn’t have heard him right. Ren didn’t even equate marriage with Lucas. It was traditional. Lucas was anything but. He was a free spirit. Liked things his own way. He wasn’t one to uphold tradition. He was much too likely to forge his own, separate from the ideals of the majority.

She didn’t doubt that he loved her. His confession had been painful and almost angry. But it had been raw and honest and she knew without a doubt he spoke the truth.

But marriage? She couldn’t even wrap her head around it. For that matter, she wasn’t sure she was a traditionalist in that sense.