Page 99 of Boneyard HEA

Before we go to the restaurant, we take a walk along a levelled gravel path that threads above the shoreline to the north. My white chiffon dress brushes my calves, and the late sunlight dapples us and the surroundings. It’s warm enough that Aaron and Tomás have removed their shirts. Beyond the clifflike drop-off to our right the sea keeps pace with us.

We find a quiet alcove of trees just off the track where someone has built a low stone seat. A breeze rustles through the foliage and scatters dry leaves along the path.

They’ve been seeking somewhere to gift me the collar, and I’m nervous, weirdly, perhaps because this seems a bit like a marriage.

“Here is good. We should look less naked.” Aaron raises an eyebrow and gets a nod from Tomás. They pull on their shirts.

I step up and fasten the last few buttons. “There.” The feel of the fabric says expensive fashion, despite being simple and short-sleeved.

Stepping back, I look down my dress, smoothing the skirt in my hand, unsure it is right for the occasion. “Am I⁠—”

“You are beautiful, poquito,” Tomás says. “We will collar you now. You should kneel.” He points at where Aaron has laid a white cloth on the ground.

After I kneel and settle in place, from his small black backpack, Aaron takes a wrapped box. When he opens it, I gasp and my mouth falls open.

It’s gold and lusciously so. The collar gleams in the low sunlight, with rounded links that are a thick buttery gold. “I could eat that,” I whisper. “It’s gorgeous.”

He smiles. “Shhh. Tomás and I will both do this, hold it and fasten it on you.”

“This is your daytime collar. For outsiders. Your other one is red and spiky.” Tomás grins. “A bit like you.”

“Juniper Skye,” Aaron begins. “Do you wish to be ours, forever, to be owned and played with⁠—”

“Fucked and toyed with.”

Aaron sighs. “Not what we rehearsed.” He gets elbowed and continues. “Loved forever and protected. Ours, until death do us part.”

I nibble my lip for a second—hard not to when your heart is beating like a herd of elephants is rampaging through. “I do.” It comes out low but also squeaky at the end. “Can I add something too?”

“Yes,” they both say.

“And I will love you forever, also, and protect you…” They don’t protest that part, and that’s a first. “And trust each other and ummm, until death do us part.”

We should probably have fine print, but this will do.

“That’s good,” Aaron approves. Phew.

“Trust and love.” Tomás nods and places a hand on the collar where it hangs from Aaron’s hand. “Lower your head.”

I do so and wait. The gold necklace feels cool and weighty as they place it around my neck. It’s small enough that it won’t fall off if I trip or something. The clasp closes with a click, then they arrange it so what seemed the clasp is to the front. Something else sits there. They tilt up my chin and bestow me with a kiss each.

When they allow me to look, I stay on my knees and examine the clasp. “Is this…” I squint. It’s a small figure but not the one they showed me at the gravesite. It is smaller but the same, an inch high, created in gold like the collar. “A gremlin?”

“Yes.” Tomás kneels beside me and turns it over. “It’s also a lock, so you can’t remove this without the key, which we have. And…” He taps an inscription on the back.

I cannot read it upside down and slanted like it is. “Fucktoy? I bet it’s that.”

“It says poquito.” He turns it around to sit properly.

“You can swim with this one, just don’t tell anyone it is gold and vintage Cartier.”

“It is?” I have no idea what this is worth in money, and I really don’t care. “But you wrote poquito. That’s sweet. Thank you both.” I tug on Aaron’s hand until he, too, kneels and we end up in a group hug, with me snuggled in between their heavy arms. “It’s perfect.” I lean into them both. “So very perfect. I might be crying.” I sniff.

“I wanted psycho,” Aaron says. “but he insisted.”

“It’s okay, poquito. I’m crying a little too.” Tomás squeezes us both. “At his bad taste.”

I quieten him by rising on my knees and kissing him on the mouth. Then I do the same to Aaron. “It seems one of my duties will be refereeing your fights.”