by KT Morrison
He sat for a moment, still debating, and still squeezing on that spongy steering wheel. It would be easy to put the car back in reverse, three-point turn his way around and down that driveway, get himself back to Vermont.
Inside the house, his friends had decided for him. Another rattle, the mechanical gears groaning above as the garage door lowered behind him, sealing him inside.
With a sigh and another click of the key, he let the Rogue’s motor come to rest. Then he was out, slamming the door, leaning his elbows on the SUV's roof. Ahead, he saw Cole’s Jeep, imagined the two of them coming up here today alone, without him. Maggie and Cole, having fun, laughing and joking, road-tripping. If he wasn’t with them, he was profoundly alone and that was not a place he ever wanted to be.
Out the back door of the garage, he inhaled deeply and let it all out, slowly and completely; his submission, his acceptance. Pulled his collar up around his neck again, burrowed himself inside the jacket that was too light for these elements, hunched forward and made his way up the snowy path that wound its way to the back door of the house.
On the step, his chin rose, looking for the door, blinking his eyes to the flickering snow that attacked them. The door was open, Maggie stood there, Cole behind her. They waved him in.
10
Slate
Saturday, November 4th
When he was in, she closed the door behind him. All three of them were together now at the back door of the house, under a low log-raised stone ceiling. Beyond them, in the adjoining room, under a timber archway, light shone from behind the green shade of lamps suspended over a hulking pool table. They all looked at one another without saying anything.
He said, “We can be honest.”
Maggie stepped into his space, her bare feet coming to touch his boots. He opened his legs wider, and she worked even closer. She put her arms around him, her eyes looking into his. She said, “Max, nobody in my life has ever meant more to me than you do. I couldn’t bear for you not to be with me. I couldn’t bear for you to be hurt …”
He sighed a deep inhale and held it.
She bit her lip and waited.
“But no one … No one makes love to you like Cole …”
She didn’t answer, letting that plump lower lip her teeth pinched plop free. Her eyes darted over his.
He continued, “And that’s something you couldn’t give up either.”
Cole shifted behind her uneasily.
Maggie said, “You like to watch.”
He retracted, a slight grimace on his face. This was what he was reduced to. “I’m your best friend and I get to watch you with another man?”
“I want you, too,” she said. “And I don’t want to give you up.”
Cole said, “How can you have it all?”
Her face fell as though she was hurt. She said, “Don’t you want to give me it all?”
She’d half-turned to say that, and Max wouldn’t let her go. His hand went to her waist, swooping around to feel the small of her back. He pulled her to face him again.
Both her hands came up and parted his collar, pushing the points away from his cheeks. She ran her thumbs along his jaw. He licked his lips, watching her eyes and watching her mouth. Her lips parted as well. He kissed her then, breathing her in as he did and Maggie gripped his face. The flood of warmth rose up within him, a heavenly alluvion. His feet rose from the floor and his head touched the ceiling. Both hands circled her waist, ran over her, felt her. Her tongue pushed into his mouth and his own met it; they danced over one another. Both of them began to moan. Their breaths grew heavy and when he finally parted from her, his eyes locked on hers again, he said, “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Max. I’ve always loved you.”
He ran his hands up her sides touching her elbows, moving to hold her wrists. He lowered them then, wove his fingers through hers. “So what do we do?”
“We do what we were doing. But all of us do it with our eyes open. None of us lie to each other.”
“That’s all I ever wanted.”
“Then why did you make it so difficult?”
“I don’t know. Deep down I hated that I wanted it. And deep down I suppose I hated that you liked it, too.”
“You still twisted it all to make it happen.”
“I don’t want to lose you.”
“I’m sorry I did those things with Jay.”
They stared at each other for a while, and then Maggie stepped away from him, opening their circle, holding out one hand toward Cole.
Cole stepped in, bewildered yet eager. He said, “I’m in. I always cared about you.” Then looking to Max and saying, “Cared about you both.”
“I cared about you,” she said.
Cole said, “I didn’t let myself think about you, but now that I’m in I don’t ever want to stop. Are you okay with that, Max?”
It was the way it would have to be. And though he found himself again in this inevitable situation where he could facilitate Maggie’s lust or risk losing her, somehow he thought if it was just the three of them and they were in it together, he could really do this. He steadied himself, looked cool. “I’m okay with it,” he said boldly yet shakily.
A slow smile worked across Cole’s face and he ran his tongue over his lower lip. He squeezed Maggie’s hand, pulled her to him. Now he held her as Max had just done, her feet together between his, looking up into his eyes. His smile grew wider still.
“What?” she whispered.
“Nobody fucks you like I do?”
She thumped her forehead to his chest and Max knew she was smiling. She pulled her head back, she said, “Nobody could fuck me the way you do.” They kissed.
She’d missed Cole terribly, and as ecstatic as she was to touch his lips again with her own, she was careful of her sweet Max who watched behind her. Lips were pressed to Cole’s tentatively, but it allowed her to savor their soft feel, their plump strength. They went slow; they would build to passion soon, but for now they felt each other out, came to tune into one another’s commitment, their arousal. Her arousal would grow, she could feel it already beginning to strain at her seams.
Nails dragged over his neck, through his hair; his hands circled her now, too, coming around to touch the small of her back. She unwound the bun behind his head, pulled his thick hair out of its tangles and let it touch his shoulders. He was so beautiful, so strong, and she worked her fingers through that hair to scratch at his scalp as her lips parted and she sucked on his tongue.
Their bodies pressed closer together, and she began to squirm in his grip, feeling his hands on her back, pushing her stomach to his hips, seeking proof of his arousal. Now her breath grew quicker, and Cole’s did as well. His hands went up and down her back in alternating strokes, his fingers rubbing into her shoulder blades and down over the crest of her rump. Her stomach rolled against the rising hump between his legs.
“Is this okay?” she asked him, withdrawing from their kiss and looking in his eyes.
He nodded, his eyes narrowed.
“Are you sure?”
“I want this. I do,” he said, looking away from her now and over her shoulder. She turned to see Max watching them. She held her face still for a long moment, then knowing how she wanted things, she smiled. He blinked a few times, reluctantly, then he smiled too. She extended a hand to him and drew him to her with curling finger.
“I missed you both so much. More than I can even explain. I don’t want to be alone. And I don’t want to have only one of you.”
Cole whispered, “You can have us both.”
She looked to Max, and he nodded as well though his face was more solemn.
“Touch me,” she said to Max.
He took her cheek in his hand and she kissed the heel of his thumb while she watched his eyes. He stroked her skin, lowered his hand to hold her neck.
“Please, kiss me,” she said.
With her back to Cole, who now held her by her waist, she tilted her chin a
nd watched the loving boy who won her heart in her first year away from home. That sweet cutie-pie at the Lamda party, with his unicorn T-shirt and charm. The one who did everything for her, supported her, made her feel loved … The one who got down on one knee and proposed to her. The one she cheated on. The one who she’d hurt. She closed her eyes and accepted his kiss. Their lips worked over one another in familiar action, sucking, tasting, darting their tongues. They parted slowly, their eyes on one another and she said, “I want you to watch me. Will you watch me?”
“I will,” he said. “I want to watch you. Show me.” Now his eyes moved from hers up to Cole, his chin resting on the top of her head.
A smile took hold of her mouth, and she wiped at her cheeks with her fingers.
Max said, “What is it?”
“I really do love you,” she said.
“I know. I know you do,” he said and returned a small but warm smile.
She writhed her back against Cole’s chest, eager to show Max. Eager to be with Cole and for her Max to watch.
Now she turned, ready to commit, nails scratching at Cole’s neck to drag his kiss to hers. They locked lips more aggressively, breath chugging through their nostrils. Her stomach pushed, wanting so badly to feel that hard thing. Found it, too, thick and pointed upright at an angle, trapped in his jeans. She slipped her hands down to his waist, ran them underneath his shirt, felt his warm skin soft, yet the hardness of his muscle underneath. It made her knees weak. “Oh fuck, you feel so good. I missed how you feel.”
Cole’s hands moved down and cupped the cheeks of her ass, lifted her, parted her, squeezed. She went on the tips of her toes, desperate to feel those fingers of his probe her creases, find her hot core.
“I want you so bad,” she whispered.
“I missed you. I told you how bad I missed you,” he whispered, hoarse urgency in his voice.
“It was torture,” she said.
Toes pushing off the floor, Cole received her in the same instant, the two of them working as a team. She leapt to his waist, thrust her knees up and wrapped her ankles behind him. He supported her, his hands cupping her bottom, a gasp escaping her, feeling the tips of his fingers stroke her middle. Fingernails raking through his hair again, she consumed his kiss with her own. Breathing heavy, chest heaving in and out, she sucked his tongue.
Cole stumbled backward, turning, pulling from her kiss with a smack so he could watch where he walked. He carried her into the next room, ducking so she wouldn’t hit her head on the low timber archway. With her hands caressing Cole’s face, she watched Max following behind. She said, “Come with us. Watch us,” her heart swelling seeing his sweet smile.
Then she was being set down, her rump coming down on a hard edge, looking to the side and seeing the green felt, thirteen colorful balls held in a polished beech triangle. Cole was eager, grabbing at her tank top and pulling it up over her head. She lifted her arms and helped him get the shirt off, tossing it toward Max.
Their mouths came together again as Cole’s hands were in the center of her back, tugging at her bra to undo it. Snapped free, he traced the straps of her pink bra down her arms, and the heat of his body so close had her nipples clenched tight in seconds. Then she was laying back, Cole’s kisses pushing her, pinning her until she felt the felt-covered slate behind her. He kissed her chest, kissed her ribs, coming up and suckling on a nipple. She stroked his hair. His hardness pressed between her thighs; could feel his hips working his bulge to push it against her sex. She swiveled and bucked, hungry for his hardness.
As he kissed her neck, she rolled her eyes up, tracking, looking for her Max. Saw him, upside down to her on the opposite side of the table now, watching, smiling, leaning forward then and resting his elbows on the slate, his two hands clasped together in the attitude of prayer. She reached for them, hooked her fingers around his two hands together, and squeezed. He rubbed her fingers with his thumbs.
Chin darting down, she said to Cole, “I want you. I want you so bad. I need you inside me.”
Max clasped his two hands around hers now and held her tight. He said to Cole, “Let’s take her upstairs.”
Max watched Maggie’s pale slender arms crossed over the dark gray cotton of Cole’s shirt. She was topless, wearing only black leggings, bare feet hooked around behind Cole’s rump. They kissed as Cole mounted the steps, his arms around her, supporting her, hers around his back, Max walking three paces behind.
They ascended the steps from the lower level, coming from the billiards room, passing the humidor Cole told him about, up to the foyer, then the wide grand steps lined with metal moose antlers, curling around in a looping corkscrew to arrive at the bedrooms on the second floor. Max got ahead, pushing open heavy pine doors, looking for the master suite, finding it at the end of a wide hall; double doors set in a tall timber frame, and he pushed them open finding the peaked roof of the master bedroom with windows that looked out toward the mountains, somewhere beyond the white cataclysm that churned past the windows in the fading perse light. The bed lay at the base of the towering triangle of framework glass, an ornate monolith with four tall posts at the corners, neatly made with a crisp wool blanket in fur-trader stripes folded over the foot.
Cole and Maggie still kissed, their mouths making smacking noises against one another, soft moans and groans from each of their throats. Cole walked Maggie to the high king-size bed and dropped her rump down, leaning over top of her and putting his hands on the bedding. The zipper of Cole’s jeans drew down with a faint metallic tearing sound. Maggie’s two hands working together between his legs, unbuttoned his pants then, searching and pulling out Cole’s hardness. Cole grunted, inhaled sharply at her touch on him, arching his back and rearing up over top of her. Max saw how hard his friend was for Maggie, saw her slight hand stroking and touching, running her thumb over his exposed glans.
“It’s been a while?” she whispered with a breathy chuckle, seeing the effect of her grip on him.
“Your hand feels so good.”
“I love your cock,” she said.
Then Cole was over top of her again, kissing at her neck while she stroked him, one hand going up and down the shaft, the other shoved inside his open pants and squeezing his balls.
Max came around to the other side of the bed, stood opposite them, putting a knee up. Maggie twisted underneath Cole until she lay flat on her bare belly, raised up on her elbows, her perky breasts pressed together between her arms while she smiled at Max. Cole kissed her bare skin, over her shoulder blades, down to the small of her back, his hands rubbing up her thighs and over her rump, fingers hooking under the waistband of her tight black yoga pants. Maggie wiggled her butt from side to side, teasing him, but showing her eagerness.
Maggie alternated smiling at him, then looking over her shoulder to see what Cole would do. They watched together as he stepped back, pulling her pants down, the tight fabric scrolling over the softness of her thighs, bringing them to her knees and pulling them inside out, tugging their tightness off her pointed feet. She turned and giggled for Max, narrowing her eyes sheepishly and showing a big smile of white teeth. Max got up on the bed with both knees, reached out and stroked her hair.
Then she was glancing over her shoulder again, down over her naked body, her knees bent, her pretty feet crossed over one another, and beyond her at her handsome stud, Cole pulling that dark T-shirt over his head and shaking his long hair out, his muscles showing starkly in the glare of the snowy light coming through the windows at the head of the bed. The end of his thick cock pointed up toward his bellybutton. He pushed his jeans down his hips, stepped out of them smiling grimly.
Maggie smiled with anticipation as Cole gripped her hips and brought her so she was on all fours. She swung her hair out of the way so Max could see her face, making eye contact with him. Now she sucked her lips in her mouth swaying her butt back and forth as Cole gave his cock a few quick strokes. The delay had her frowning with frustration, looking over her shoulder and g
roaning.
She got down on her elbows, seeing him line that thick thing up. Cole ran the tip up and down her opening and Max could hear the eager wet sounds of his Maggie ready to receive him. With the tips of his fingers, Cole angled his hardness downward, nestling the huge foreskin-covered glans in her folds, then holding her waist he pushed himself slowly inside her. Maggie’s toes curled, and she kicked her legs lightly.
Max stroked her hair again, and she raised her face to him, wincing with discomfort. She thrust a knuckle in her mouth and clamped her teeth on it while she snarled. Soft grunts came from her throat as Cole entered her completely, his pubic hair nestled in the concave swell of her bent rump. He asked her, “You good?” She let her knuckle go and bit her lower lip, nodding. Max nodded for Cole to continue.
She looked to Max and said, “It’s been a while for me, too.”
When she lowered her head, smiling, Max cupped her ears and kissed the crown of her sweet smelling hair. Cole withdrew and entered her again, did that over and over. Doing it slow, doing it steady, getting his girth coated with her excitement. Max continued to kiss at her hair, his hands rubbing over her back, on his knees over top of her.
As she grew more comfortable, Maggie began to groan; Max watched her begin to bounce against Cole’s thrusts, eager to meet him. Then she was up, planting her hands on the mattress, head hanging down still, hair swaying. Max touched her shoulders, down her collar, two hands cupping her jiggling breasts. He caressed her like that for a good long while as Cole stood at the side of the bed, hands gripping her waist then smoothing over her rump, giving it to her from behind.
Maggie moaned and groaned, her head coming up, hair hanging down, her back beginning to heave with more excited breaths. Cupping her breasts like this brought a badness to mind. A further confession. Something that weighed on him, something light and weightless yet of enormous burden just the same. It was nothing to him, but it could be hard for Maggie to bear.