Ink Enduring (Montgomery Ink #5)

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  Jake frowned. “You aren’t the new guy.”

  “I’ve been gone for a long time, Jake. So, yeah, I feel like the new guy. I’m not saying I don’t want you, because, fuck, Jake, I definitely want you, but…”

  “But you don’t want to have sex yet.” Jake grinned. “What about a blowjob?”

  Border threw his head back and laughed. “A blowjob is sex, too, buddy. But…” His cock ached, and he held back a groan. Now he couldn’t get the image of Jake’s lips around his dick out of his mind. It was a damn fine image. “Let’s see where we’re at after we talk some more. I’m honestly just making things up as I go along here, you know.”

  Jake leaned forward and kissed him softly. Border held back another groan. “Let’s talk, then. Because I want to know where you’ve been and who’ve you’ve been since I last saw you. We were best friends once.”

  “And now Maya is your best friend.” He paused. “I’m not jealous about that, you know. I’m glad you had her. In fact, I’m not jealous about anything you have with her. Not even a little. I guess that’s why I’m going along with this, you know? Why I think this could work. Or, at least why I’m hoping.”

  “This is all so weird, and yet not weird at all.”

  Border shrugged, then winced.

  “Hell, turn around for me, big guy,” Jake ordered. “Let me look at that shoulder. And while you’re at it, you can tell me why you have a fucking gunshot wound scarring up your skin like this. Because I might have ignored it for your sake when you first took off your shirt, but I’m not about to now. What the fuck happened, Border?”

  Border turned and let Jake have his back, aware there would be no more secrets between them. There couldn’t be. Though he would have to ease Jake into the life he’d lived because the whole thing was just too much for one person all at once.

  “I got shot.”

  Jake punched him lightly in the side before leaning forward and gently kissing the raised skin. Border sucked in a breath but didn’t move. No one had ever done that before, even in the short relationships he’d had since the wound.

  It was fitting that Jake would be the first.

  Jake would always be the first.

  “Border.”

  “I was on an assignment that went bad. The people I was protecting had enemies with bigger guns than I had. I got my people out, but I wasn’t fast enough to not end up a little scarred from it.”

  Jake’s fingers traced the scar, and Border had to swallow hard so he could find a way to keep breathing.

  “It looks pretty bad, Border.”

  Border licked his lips. “It wasn’t as bad as it looks.”

  “What did we just say about telling the truth? Because what I see looks like an exit wound. And it’s not pretty.”

  “I’ve never been pretty, Jake. You above all others know that.”

  Jake punched him lightly in the side again. “I never liked you pretty, you ass. But stop trying to hide what hurt you. I can handle it. You know that. I’m not some little boy who can’t deal with what’s going on around him.” He paused, and Border desperately wanted to turn around so he could try and decipher what Jake was thinking right then. Jake’s face could be so expressive if you looked just right, and it amazed him how much he’d remembered that over time. “I know I’ve been acting like I can’t handle things lately. And that’s on me. I didn’t want to handle them, but it’s not because I can’t. It’s because I knew once I did, things would change. And I guess I was afraid of the shift.”

  Border leaned back into Jake’s hand and sighed. “The wound honestly isn’t as bad as it looks.” He passed over what Jake had said at the end because that was more for Jake than for him, and he knew it. Sometimes, a guy just needed to voice his thoughts and know someone would be there to listen, not necessarily there to answer. “The bullet didn’t hit bone, and they patched me up quickly. It only scarred the way it did because I didn’t have time to get to a place with a killed surgeon. The medic made sure I didn’t bleed out and that I would have full use of my arm when it healed, but that was it. We weren’t thinking of what I’d look like on the beach or anything.”

  Jake kissed the scar again, and Border let out a breath. Without words, Jake began to massage Border’s neck and shoulders. Jake’s strong hands worked Border’s muscles hard, and he had to hold back the moans and groans that threatened to escape with each movement. It wasn’t lost on him that with each touch, his dick got that much harder. In fact, he was pretty sure he’d have a permanent zipper indent on his cock once this was over, and he was even wearing boxer briefs.

  “We’re not talking,” Jake said softly, and Border opened his eyes.

  “What do you want to talk about?” As long as Jake kept his hands on him, Border would probably answer anything right then.

  “Have you been married?”

  Border coughed, and Jake quit moving. “We’re starting with the hard questions, then? I haven’t been married, Jake.”

  Jake started working on Border’s shoulders again. “I haven’t either.”

  “I figured,” Border said softly. “I mean, we have talked every few months. You’d have mentioned the fact that you had a husband or wife at home.” Border paused. “I’d have mentioned it, too.”

  “Yeah, I’d have told you,” Jake whispered. “I had a few serious relationships in the past, but none of them ever really hinted at marriage.”

  “Except Holly,” Border added, oddly not jealous about the woman.

  “I don’t think I’d have gone through with it,” Jake said after a moment. “I think I wanted to get to the next phase of my life, and Holly seemed like she fit. And that just makes me an ass.”

  “Maybe,” Border agreed. “But you’ll make it up to her.”

  “How are you so sure about that?”

  “Because you’re not an ass, even if you pretend you are sometimes.”

  Jake ran his hands down Border’s back. “Thanks for that.” The other man cleared his throat. “Since we’re talking about who we’ve been with, I should probably mention that those relationships were with men and women, and at one time, a triad.”

  Border turned then so he could face Jake. “You’re bisexual, Jake, like me. I’ve been with men and women in the years we’ve been apart, as well. I haven’t been in a triad, though.” He smiled softly. “Did you like how that worked?”

  Jake nodded. “Yeah, I mean, it worked for a little while with the three of us, but we all knew going in we weren’t made for the long-term when it came to our relationship. I know of a few others that have been in triads for years, though.” Jake met Border’s gaze. “So, uh, if we want to have someone to talk to about things, there are people with experience. Like Maya’s cousin’s coworker down in New Orleans.”

  Border studied Jake’s face for a bit before nodding slowly. “I think the three of us need to have a talk before we do anything. Because this is too important to fuck up.”

  Jake reached out and gripped Border’s hand. “Yeah. Yeah, I think we should.” He paused. “You want another shot.”

  Border snorted. “Yeah, I think another shot will do us good.”

  As Jake poured the drinks, Border rolled his neck, the tension from before gone due to Jake’s talented hands. He’d do this one shot and call it quits for the night. Because there was no way he’d fuck this up because of too much alcohol. They’d talk to Maya, and the three of them would figure out what they were doing because there was no way they’d move on without communication.

  It was too important for that.

  They were too important for that.

  Chapter Ten

  Jake rubbed the back of his neck and waited for his coffee to finish brewing. He hadn’t tied one on the night before, but his brain was still fuzzy enough to make him think that maybe he should have stopped at the one shot, instead of two. Or it could be the fact that he’d been up half the night trying to think of what to say to Maya and Border once the three of them finally sat
down and discussed what was going on.

  Because while it was easy to tell each other that they’d figure it out between the three of them, Jake knew from experience that it was never that simple. Maya and Border might think they have a connection from just seeing each other and knowing about one another from Jake’s stories, but that didn’t mean much in the long run.

  Would this be a fling between the three of them? A fling between him and Border, and then between him and Maya while the other two were never fully together? Would they all walk away once they got it out of their systems?

  This wasn’t as easy as a best friend falling for a best friend even for a night, and Jake knew that it damn sure as hell wasn’t something to go blindly into. This was a shit storm waiting to happen, and yet he knew they’d all go through it if they found that’s what they wanted. What they needed.

  The coffee finally finished brewing, and Jake took the cup and sipped greedily. He didn’t care that he burned his tongue; all he wanted was the pick-me-up. The gods of caffeine and straight thinking were forever entwined with the mug of goodness.

  He snorted after he took another drink. Apparently, he was a little loopy before his daily fix.

  “What’s making you laugh?” Border grunted as he shuffled his way to the coffee maker. Jake licked his lips as he watched the way the shirt clung to the other man’s broad muscles. There was nothing sexier than Border in the morning after a shower. Okay, maybe seeing Maya after her shower was just as sexy, but Jake would need them side-by-side to compare.

  He grinned into his cup at the image, and Border turned to raise a brow at him.

  “What is it?” Border asked, folding his arms over his chest.

  “Just thinking about you and Maya after a shower,” he said honestly.

  Border’s eyes darkened. “Were we in the shower together?”

  Jake shrugged. “If you’d like.”

  Border licked his own lips before turning to get his coffee cup. “You’re going to kill me this morning, Jake. I need my damn coffee before you get me hard like that.”

  Jake groaned, thinking about Border’s dick. Apparently, he couldn’t get that man’s cock out of his thoughts. And, of course, that visual led to more fantasies of just exactly where that cock could go later.

  And that was enough of that.

  He downed the rest of his coffee and went to make another cup. It was going to be a long fucking day.

  “Please tell me there’s coffee,” Maya said as she walked into his house without knocking. The two of them had been doing that for years. At both her home and his. Though she’d stopped recently when Holly had been over more often than not.

  He hadn’t noticed because he’d been so focused on making Holly part of his life. He’d almost lost Maya in the process. He refused to let that happen again, meaning he had to actually talk to her. And damn it, that wouldn’t be easy.

  “I thought you had coffee at your place,” Jake said as he took a sip from his second cup.

  Maya flipped him off before sliding between him and Border, using her hips to knock them each away so she could get closer to the coffee maker.

  Jake met Border’s eyes over the top of Maya’s head and grinned. Yeah, having her between them wasn’t bad at all. Fuck, he loved it.

  “Stop giving each other googly eyes over my head,” Maya snapped. “I need caffeine, and my damn brother broke my coffee maker this week.”

  Jake raised a brow at Border before looking down at Maya. “Which damn brother?”

  “Storm,” Maya said, and she turned to lean against the counter as her coffee brewed.

  If there were going to be three of them at his house like this, he might need to invest in one of those newer models that had the carafes because having to wait for another cup was damn annoying. It had always been just him before, and having one cup at a time was perfect. Now, though? Now there might be three of them, and that meant more coffee.

  And a whole lot more than just that.

  “What did Storm do?” Border asked. “Was he trying to clean it out by taking it apart or something?”

  Maya and Jake looked at one another, their brows raised before turning to Border at the same time. “Exactly. How on earth did you guess that?”

  Border shrugged. “I know Storm from way back.”

  That was news to Jake, and from the look on Maya’s face, it was news to her, too.

  Border’s phone buzzed, and he sighed before looking down at the screen. “I need to go, but once I get back, the three of us need to talk. About a lot of things, including the fact that I happen to know Wes and Storm from when I was here before. It’s nothing bad,” he said to the two of them. “But the whole ‘no secrets’ thing means I should tell you everyone I know.”

  Maya licked her lips, her tongue ring coming out slightly. “Okay. Yeah, we should all talk. Tonight even. I have a late evening appointment for a client that I can’t move around. I’m staying open late to accommodate his work schedule and I can’t cancel on him. Frankly, I don’t want to since he’s a paying client and all that. But when I get done, I’ll come over here and we can…talk.”

  Jake nodded. “I have a family thing tonight,” he added. He looked up at Border. “I forgot to mention it. I told Graham I’d come over for pizza and the Avs game at his place. All my brothers are going. I’d uh…invite you, but I think they want to talk about you.” He snorted, and Maya and Border laughed.

  “True enough,” Border said. “I need to go and deal with something, and I probably won’t be done until ten or so anyway. So let’s meet after that? I know it’s fucking late, but hell, we can’t keep putting this off. It’s getting ridiculous at this point.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Maya said as she doctored her coffee.

  “Me, too,” Jake answered. It was past time.

  “Good.” Border leaned forward and kissed Jake softly on the lips before going to Maya and kissing her on the cheek, close to her lips. And with that, the man left the two of them standing in the kitchen looking like idiots.

  “That man,” Maya said with a shake of her head.

  Jake laughed. “Yeah, I know.”

  This time, Maya joined him in the laughter, and he leaned against her. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said softly. “I’m happy you didn’t stay away for too long.”

  Maya turned so she could kiss his jaw. “I can’t stay away from you, Jake, and I think that’s the point.”

  Jake lowered his head and kissed her softly. She moaned into him, and Jake had to pull back before he did something stupid like strip down her pants and eat her out in the kitchen. While that would have been a damn good breakfast, he didn’t want to do anything without talking with Border first. The three of them needed to work out what the hell they were doing before they let sex cloud their minds more than it already had.

  Maya pulled back and licked her lips. “You sure can kiss, Jake Gallagher.”

  He grinned. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

  Maya moved to the other side of the kitchen, putting distance between them, and Jake was glad for it. From the way her chest moved as she breathed deeply, he wasn’t the only one affected by whatever was going on between the three of them.

  “So, yeah, sorry for blurting out all of that over the phone last night,” Maya said after a moment. “I didn’t mean to make things difficult for the two of you.”

  Jake shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. If anything, it made things…easier for Border and me once you hung up.”

  Maya’s brows rose, and she grinned at him. “Oh, really? What happened last night?”

  Jake shook his head. “Nothing.”

  Maya just stared at him.

  “I mean nothing in terms of sex. We didn’t even touch each other’s dicks. I promise.”

  Maya chuckled. “Poor Border, because your dick is sure nice to touch.”

  Jake winked and ran a hand over his now very hard cock. “Why thank you kindly.” He shook his head. “We kissed
, but you just saw him kiss me like two minutes ago, so that wasn’t new.”

  “Not new, but sure as hell hot.” Maya shrugged. “I’d probably be jealous of you with another person, but this is Border, you know?” She shook her head. “We’ll talk about that tonight after I try to formulate my thoughts.”

  “Sounds like a plan. So, yeah, Border and I only kissed. Oh, and I gave him a massage since his neck and shoulder were hurting him, but other than his shirt being off for that, we didn’t do anything. And we only had two shots of tequila so we didn’t do anything stupid.”

  Maya smiled at him. “You always think so much, Jake.”

  “Well, you think just as much as I do, so I don’t know why you’re saying that.”

  “True.” She paused. “Remember the time we used cotton candy as our chaser with the tequila?”

  Jake laughed. “You used cotton candy. Not me.”

  Maya snorted. “Uh, no honey. You let that candy melt on your tongue after the shot just like I did. And, if I recall correctly, you said it was damn good. You liked it. A lot. And then we watched Youtube videos of Adele singing Spice Girls and ended with One Direction videos.”

  Jake pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. “Liar,” he lied.

  Maya moved to him and pressed her finger into his chest. “You liked it, Jake Gallagher. And you totally sang with me and Adele. You told me what you want, what you really, really want.”

  Jake just shook his head before leaning down to kiss her softly. “That’s just between us, Montgomery.”

  She leaned back and grinned. “I think Border would like to hear that story.”

  Jake swatted her ass, and as she gasped, they both froze. “This is going to get confusing.”

  Maya just smiled softly. “It’s always been confusing. We’ve merely been ignoring it.”