Unwrapped: a MMF Holiday Romance

by Taryn Quinn

  She took the same path she suspected Val had, through the apartment building’s dusty hallways and down a couple narrow flights of stairs. She came to a stop at the side exit that opened in front of the small playground Val had hung out in since childhood.

  She sucked in a deep breath and opened the heavy, creaky door. Hopefully Val had stuck to pattern.

  A stiff breeze almost knocked her over the instant she stepped outside. The brisk December air bit into her cheeks, and her eyes watered. Just from the cold. That was all.

  Seeing Val on one of the rickety swings, twisting around in circles so that the steel links groaned, made the sting in her eyes increase. How had she let them grow so far apart?

  She just hoped she wasn’t too late to fix it. With all of them.

  “Hey,” she said when Val glanced up and immediately looked away. Cait pulled her cardigan sweater in tighter around her, though she knew she couldn’t stave off the chill that had seeped into her bones. “Can we talk? Please?”

  “Shouldn’t you be getting ready to go now?”

  “No. I’m staying all day. Then hopefully we can all go over to Tristan’s parents’ house for a while tonight.” Cait took the swing beside her and tried to steady her voice. Ah, to hell with it. “Val, no matter what you think, I love you. You’re my sister. I wish you’d tell me what’s going on, but I understand why you won’t. I let you down. But I promise I’m going to try to do better. I swear.”

  “I told Mom I’m gay,” she whispered.

  Cait fought not to react. To keep her face perfectly composed. But even with Tris’s forewarning, shock must’ve registered in her expression because Val made a disgusted noise and turned away.

  “Honey, are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “You don’t have to be certain of anything right now. You’re only fourteen—”

  “I’ll be fifteen in two months.”

  God, she was just a baby. Cait rubbed her fist over her stomach. “Well, I’m twenty-five now, and I can tell you I don’t always know for sure how I feel about stuff. So maybe you’re just…” At Val’s heated glance, she trailed off and shook her head. “Okay. I got it. You’re sure.”

  “Yes.”

  For a while, the creak of the swings moving in twisted tandem was the only sound.

  “Do you have a girlfriend?”

  “Yeah.” Val dashed a tear off her cheek with a knuckle. “Or I did. We broke up.”

  “Oh sweetie. How come?”

  “Because she’s embarrassed she’s a lezbo. And she’s embarrassed everybody knows.”

  “Being a lesbian doesn’t make you a lezbo.”

  “Lezbo, lesbian, dyke. It’s all the same.” Val shrugged. “I don’t care what people call me. I know what I am. Other people’s words for it don’t change me.”

  Cait wrapped her arms around her waist, stunned into silence. How could Val be so strong and brave and open about her identity while she flew her wuss flag high? If she’d had any lingering doubts about coming clean tonight, this conversation put them to rest.

  Val had set the gold standard. She needed to be completely honest about her feelings. No matter what.

  “You’re amazing,” Cait said quietly.

  “No, I’m a lezbo.” Val huffed out a breath and stared straight ahead. “I’m going to keep saying it until that word doesn’t have any power over me anymore.”

  “I get the sentiment, but maybe you should—”

  “How the hell could you know what I should do about anything? You and your lily white existence.”

  “Lily white?” Cait laughed, shaking her head. “Kid, you have no clue. And that’s fine, because you’re not really old enough to—”

  She broke off, suddenly realizing the idiocy of what she was saying. Val wasn’t old enough to what? To hear the truth? The truth she intended to yell hither and yon this evening at Tristan’s parents’ house?

  Cait cleared her throat. She couldn’t have bungled this conversation any more if she’d tried. “My life is not lily white. In fact, I have an announcement of my own. That’s why we invited everyone over to Tristan’s house.”

  Val’s eyes widened. “You’re not pregnant too?”

  “No.” Laughing, she grabbed hold of Val’s swing and tugged her closer until the chains clinked. “Tristan, Matt and I are,” she took a deep breath, “together.”

  Instead of hurling questions, Val pursed her lips and nodded. “I could see that.”

  “You could?”

  “Yeah. They’re both wicked hot. How would you choose?”

  Cait grinned, tipping her head against her sister’s. “You’re right. How would I?” She bit her lip. “You don’t think it’s scandalous? I mean, we’re not just living together anymore.”

  “You’re having sex,” she said matter-of-factly, making Cait feel even more ridiculous for blushing. Her fourteen-year-old sister could say it, so why couldn’t she?

  “Yes.” She sucked in air. “We’re having sex.”

  “All three of you. At the same time,” Val prompted.

  Don’t blush. “Um, yeah.”

  Val nodded sagely. “A threesome. It’s not that weird.”

  “Well, it is kinda weird. But in a good way. I love them. They make me feel amazing.” She swallowed hard. “But the thing is, they love each other too. All three of us are romantically involved.”

  Val nodded. “I figured. Tris’s totally metro.”

  “Metro?”

  “Metrosexual.” Val smiled and kicked Cait’s leg. “So…the halo’s not so shiny anymore, huh? Hurts to be down here in the sludge with the rest of us.”

  “I’m too in love to worry about my halo, smart-ass.”

  “I’m glad.” Val jumped off the swing and held out her hands to help Cait to her feet.

  “Wait, what about you?” Cait gripped her sister’s hand. “Let’s talk.”

  “Oh, I’m totally happy now. Mom won’t care I’m a lez after she hears your news.”

  Cait laughed and rose. “God, you’re such a jerk.”

  “Oh, and by the way, tell your boyfriend I saw him that night. That’s when Liz freaked.” Val wrinkled her nose. “Well, the first time she freaked, anyway. It happened pretty much daily, at least until she went back to being a happy hetero.”

  “Happy hetero? Ha.” Cait urged Val ahead of her toward the side exit. “Good luck with that one. I tried to deny how I felt too. I broke in a couple of days.”

  “What did it?”

  Heat climbed up Cait’s throat to her face, but she didn’t shy away from the question. “They’re very persuasive men.”

  “Yeah, I bet.” Val grinned and turned to grab the door handle.

  “Hang on. You never told me what Mom said.”

  “A lot of swearing, mostly. She didn’t mind what this means for my reproductive chances though.” Val shrugged, smiling. “It’s really awkward now, but hopefully she’ll get over it. I can’t stand lying, you know? If I want to ask a girl out, I don’t want to have to make everything a big secret. I have to deal with enough crap outside, don’t need it here too.”

  “I get you. Believe me.” Cait sighed. “Hiding is way too hard.”

  “Yeah, guess you would. I’m kinda shocked you’re telling everyone. Like a big announcement or will you tell people separately?”

  “So far you’re the only one who knows. I’m not exactly sure how we’ll do it. Tristan’s taking charge, as he always does.” She frowned. “Except when Matt does. Hmm. How come I never take charge?”

  “Because you’re the little woman?”

  “Funny girl.” Cait punched her on the shoulder. “So what happened with basketball?”

  “Somebody called Liz a dyke, and I jumped them.” She glanced up at Cait as if gauging her reaction. “I’ll be able to play again after Christmas break. Coach Felder wasn’t that mad.”

  Cait moved forward and wrapped her arm around her sister’s shoulders. “Have I ever told yo
u how proud of you I am? As proud of you as I was before, it doesn’t touch how I feel right now. You’re incredible.”

  “Thanks.” Val’s watery smile made Cait’s heart squeeze. “Mostly faking it.”

  “Faking it counts.” Cait kissed Val’s forehead and gave her a little nudge to go inside. “But seriously, though I don’t normally advocate violence…”

  When Val looked over her shoulder, Cait winked. “Totally worth it.”

  Chapter 13

  As the day wore on, Matthew began to question the wisdom of their plan to unveil their sexuality like a kinky painting.

  Cait’s wasn’t in question, of course, though her decision-making skills would be. Only he and Tristan would be on the chopping block there. Doing the supposed unveiling in front of Tristan’s dad, a guy with tons of prime hunting acreage and glass-fronted cases of guns lining his den, seemed particularly imprudent. Even so, he’d committed to staying the course, so he intended to follow through.

  And follow through he did. He spent long hours unwrapping presents and drinking eggnog and singing carols while his own band of merrymaking men clanged up a storm behind his right eye. But his smile never faltered, not even when Cait and her noisy, excitable family arrived to much fanfare. He and his mom were usual guests at the Baldwin Christmas get-togethers, but Cait’s brood rarely came over en masse. Hard to contain that many wriggling children in one vehicle, probably.

  They ate a gorgeous dinner in the huge dining room. Fine china, crystal glasses, pricey silverware. All the while, Matt wondered if throwing up his perfectly roasted duck and herbed rice would ruin the others’ digestion.

  After dinner, the children were put to bed upstairs. The adults retired to the spacious den—aka room o’guns—for a sing-along and more happy times around the third Christmas tree he’d seen in the Baldwin home so far. Presents were opened and passed around. Jokes and stories were told and retold. Everyone seemed full of good cheer. Hell, some of them, especially Tris’s dad, almost bordered on giddy.

  Then Tris lowered the boom.

  He turned off the carols and faced the room coolly, his business smile in place. If Matt hadn’t seen him flip his shit more than once, he never would’ve believed the guy ever dropped his veneer of calm.

  After the briefest of lead-ins, he announced, “Matt, Caity, and I are involved. We’re in love. We wanted to tell you all as a group.”

  Silence reigned. Finally a few people seemed to get the bright idea that only Tris and Cait were involved, as if Matt’s name had never been invoked. Matt didn’t entirely mind that idea and was in no rush to correct the assumption.

  His mother turned to him. “Did he say he was involved with you too?”

  She didn’t look aghast. Only mildly dismayed. Still the subtle disapproval made his throat lock. “Yeah. He did.”

  “But I thought you and Cait were together.”

  “We are,” Cait said, abandoning Tris to the circling wolves also known as his family to jump to Matt’s defense. Obviously she’d noticed his inability to speak. “But Tristan’s part of us too.”

  His mom frowned. “I don’t think I’m understanding.”

  So much for delicacy.

  Cait sat down beside her to try to explain—good luck there—while Matt worked on thawing his vocal cords. In the meantime, he listened to the various comments tossed out around him.

  “Together?All of you?”

  “Have you gone gay?”

  And his favorite, from Cait’s mother: “Did I go to bed and wake up in hell?”

  Tristan, he decided, was a fucking lunatic. Why else would he have thought this style of reveal made sense? Sure, they'd knocked off everyone at once, but mass conversational pandemonium didn’t lend itself to clear heads.

  The wild chatter began to die off soon enough. Once the dust settled, a lot of people didn’t seem all that surprised by the news. But the ones who were made up for all the rest.

  “You would ruin Christmas with this rubbish?” Dale Baldwin roared, scattering the other streams of conversation like fallen leaves during a windstorm.

  “It’s not rubbish,” Tristan said, his voice positively icy. It matched the glacial chill in his eyes. “I know it’s Christmas, and I also knew some of you would have a problem with this. That’s your decision. Ours is to be happy together with the support of those who are happy for us.”

  Matt swallowed. Lunatic or not, the guy had a way with words. And balls of damn steel, both in and out of the bedroom.

  “We’re not hurting anyone,” Matt added, surprised to hear his own voice rise above the din. “Some of you might be disappointed, and we understand that. We had to make a choice between our happiness or staying safe. We went with being happy.”

  Tristan threw him a grateful glance. Tristan’s father, on the other hand, glared.

  “I lost my daughter already. I sure as hell didn’t expect to lose my son to being—”

  “Don’t say it.” Cait shot to her feet so fast that even Dale did a doubletake. Cait’s younger sister Val came to stand beside her in silent solidarity. “You’re shocked, and you’re hurting over what isn’t. But don’t ruin what can be with words he’ll never be able to unhear.”

  “What about marriage and children?”

  When Cait frowned, Matt rose and wrapped an arm around her waist. She sagged against him, leaning in enough to tell him she appreciated the support. “We’ll figure all that out when the time comes. Whatever we decide, it’ll be our choice, regardless of what anyone else doesn’t agree with.”

  Tristan nodded. “We’ll make that decision just like we make every other decision. Together.”

  Dale opened his mouth to say more, then grunted and shook his head. A moment later, he stormed out of the room, his wife hot on his heels.

  Tristan’s younger brother, Steve, came over to speak with him. Though Matt couldn’t hear what was said, that Steve squeezed Tris’s arm before he also left the room was encouraging.

  Tristan came to sit on the arm of the couch as Matt and Cait again took their seats beside Matt’s mom. “That went well,” he said in an undertone.

  “You were very brave,” Mrs. Collins murmured, drawing all their gazes.

  Matt said nothing. At the moment he wasn’t sure of anything, except that he loved Cait and Tris. Everything else seemed muddy.

  “Honey, I’m not mad at you.”

  Matt looked at his mom, who’d looped her arm around Cait. Yet again he didn’t know how to respond. He was pretty sure no one wanted him to make some sarcastic comment to break the tension.

  “I would never cut you out of my life for being who you are. I love you. Just like I love Cait and Tristan. If you think this is what you want…”

  “It is,” he said, relieved that she didn’t seem to expect more.

  She wrapped her free arm around him, kissing his forehead just as she had when he was little. “Make each other happy, and I’ll be happy too,” she added shakily, taking Tristan’s hand over Matt’s shoulder.

  Cait’s family encircled them next, and to his utter relief, Cait’s mom didn’t seem too pissed. Most of her irritation seemed directed at her youngest daughter. He would’ve wondered why, but he had his own problems.

  When the Sachs mentioned collecting the kids and heading out, Matt rose, deciding they’d all had enough fun for one Christmas. “You guys ready too?”

  Cait linked hands with Val and whispered something to her little sister. Then she glanced at Matt and Tris. “Sure. Let’s go.”

  Tristan nodded, taking one last look in the direction that his parents had gone before grabbing his keys. “Disaster?” he asked Matt, his voice low.

  Matt shrugged and eyed the undisturbed gun case. “Could’ve been worse.”

  Cait expected things to change, radically. She figured she’d move into Tristan’s room or maybe they’d redesign the loft so they could have one big bedroom. They’d have sex all the time—okay, maybe not constantly, as they still had jobs to
do and Mrs. Collins was still visiting—but a lot.

  She’d be completely sated in every way now that she’d faced her fears and seized her future with the men she loved.

  Instead they didn’t have sex at all. Even kisses were rare.

  Work had been a convenient distraction. They were all busy wrapping up the end of the year stuff and preparing for the new one to come. Abe had loved Cait and Tristan’s ideas for his spring campaign, but he’d had tweaks. There were always tweaks. That still didn’t explain the guys acting so distant.

  At first she chalked it up to Mrs. Collins’s presence. But even after she went home, they seemed almost…disinterested in acknowledging their new relationship. Tristan, in particular, had turned into a shadow of the guy she knew. His parents’ reaction had hit him hard.

  Had he decided they’d made a mistake? Maybe his urgency for the three of them to hook up had diminished once everything was out in the open.

  So much for the holiday season. They’d just taken down the tree, but Christmas felt like a lifetime ago. With everything they were dealing with, it wasn’t that much of a surprise that there hadn’t been a lot of ho-ho-hoing. But now that it was a new year, she didn’t want to spend more time in limbo. Not when she’d finally gone for what she wanted, scary as it was.

  A couple of days after Mrs. Collins left, Cait cornered Matt when Tris went out to get their dinner. Divide and conquer was a time-honored offense for a reason.

  “So,” she said, slowly crossing her legs. She’d deliberately worn her shortest skirt, and from Matt’s heated glance, he’d noticed. “Have you two resumed your previous relationship without telling me?”

  “What?” A loud clacking of keys commenced. “Of course not.”

  “Sure about that?” She walked over to his desk and ran her fingers around his collar. “If you aren’t getting any from me, you must be getting it somewhere.”

  “No. Jesus, Cait. We’re not like that anymore.”

  “Oh, okay. I get it. The three of us hooked up so that I can get less sex now than I did when I was a damn virgin. At least back then I could use my vibrator.” She rolled her eyes and gripped the desk behind her. “Maybe I’ll do that tonight. Just get into bed with you guys and go to town. You snore so loud you probably wouldn’t even notice.”