by Sam JD Hunt
“Penelope,” the voice said, the tone higher than I’d expected, the timber of his voice soothing but off-putting at the same time. I righted the flower, and turned to him.
“You’re-you’re awake,” I said, nervous that Rex wasn’t there. I didn’t know what to do. “You know my name?” I asked stupidly—I couldn’t think of what else to say.
“Indeed,” he said with none of the urgency that raced through me.
“Let me get Rex,” I stammered, turning to leave the room. I may have played one the night Luther arrived, but I was no nurse.
“Wait, please,” he answered, gesturing toward a chair by the bed. “Dr. Renton will poke at my feeble flesh soon enough, and enjoy it I suspect, but let me have a pleasant moment with an effervescent blonde before I am tortured and drugged to oblivion once more.”
I stood there, unsure of what to do next. Luther was nice enough, he smiled at me as he pointed toward the chair, but the hair on the back of my neck stood up as he spoke.
“Sit, Fair Penelope,” he said a little more forcefully. With an uneasy glance at the door, I perched on the edge of the chair next to his bed.
We sat in silence for what seemed like forever. Luther didn’t speak again, but instead his pale green eyes, the color of peas, although they were prettier than that sounds, surveyed the room before landing on me. His eyes walked up and down me, as if I were a part of the furnishings that he was committing to memory. I started to speak to the man as Rex walked in, his eyes falling to the wide-awake Luther. An unguarded smile graced Rex’s lips before he willed it away like an unwelcome twitch. Rex forced his lips into a hard line and glared at Luther.
“You’re awake,” Rex said, walking toward the bed. He glanced at the IV line hanging from the patient’s hand, checked the contents of the bag, and stood sneering at Luther.
“I have always been a quick healer, Doc,” Luther said, his tone smooth and syrupy like molasses on a warm day. Rex softened, inhaling deeply at the nickname “Doc.” Rex looked into Luther’s mesmerizing green eyes, the dark lashes fluttering as he waited for a reaction from Rex.
“It is you,” Rex said in a reverent whisper. From anyone else, Rex would have snapped at being called “Doc” and yet coming from Luther, it seemed like something private and warm between the two of them.
Luther nodded, but didn’t answer.
“Yeah, well,” Rex said with a shrug, “you did come back from the dead, after all.”
Luther looked over to me—he was calm, relaxed even, despite the hitch in his breath when he inhaled.
“Hurts?” Rex asked.
“Of course,” Luther answered flatly, as if pain were merely an insignificant nuisance.
“Good,” Rex snapped back. “Penny,” Rex looked to me and said gently, “would you mind going over to the medical room and bringing back a box of sterile gloves? Make sure everything is in order there, too, please.” I got the clear hint that Rex was trying to get rid of me. I turned to go as Luther spoke again.
“If I could bother you both to ask,” Luther said, “did I arrive with any lip balm?”
Rex snickered, as if somehow lip balm were funny. “Um, I’m not sure, I can check your clothes,” I answered, “but if not I have a new Chapstick in my room I can get you.”
Rex shook his head in disbelief, but I wasn’t sure why. Luther had been unconscious, getting his liquids through an IV, it didn’t seem odd to me that his angelic pink lips were dry.
“He won’t use Chapstick, Penny. The man is absolutely addicted to freaking Carmex,” Rex chuckled. “He goes through like a tube every few days. It’s bizarre.”
“Bizarre is a relative term. Is that the antiseptic odor of fresh Listerine I smell seeping from your lips, Doc?” Luther clearly knew Rex well.
“I’ll look for some Carmex,” I said, trying to escape the room.
“Get some more of these cath tubes, too,” Rex said to my back as I turned to leave.
As I closed the door on my way out, I heard Luther say, “Cath? As in catheter?” It was silent as I put my ear to the door. “Well,” Luther continued, “at least I hope the pretty blonde put it in.”
Rex answered, “I put it in.”
There was a rustling in the room as Luther said, “I meant you, you sexy beast.”
My heart raced when the lock clicked on the door where I stood eavesdropping. Rex’s deep voice was only inches away when he growled back, “And, I’m not very good at it, so you’ll probably never get a boner again. Or, well, maybe even take a piss. But that’s okay, my best buddy, because you aren’t going to live long enough for it to matter.”
“Come on Doc, I know I have some explaining to do, but it is so nice to see you again—” Luther suddenly stopped talking and began to scream.
“Oh does that hurt? You do feel pain inside that frozen shell, do you Luther?”
“Fuck! Stop! Rex, shit!” Then there was more incoherent screaming. I tried the door but it was locked. I needed to get Nate—I knew damn well what Rex was capable of.
I froze when I heard Rex speak. “Tell me the fucking truth, Luth, or I swear to God I’ll rip open these damn stitches and let you bleed out. I thought I left you dying—for years I’ve lived with the fact that I couldn’t save you! And the whole fucking time you were alive?”
“Doc, please, I can explain.”
“I’m listening.”
“They wanted me in Africa, but they knew the Colombians would never stand for that, not with everything I knew. So they staged it. They threatened to bring the Senator down if I did not go along with it,” Luther explained, his voice apologetic, almost pleading.
“You hate the Senator.” Rex was listening, but skeptical. He’d been hurt so many times that he was always on guard.
“Yes, but he is my father. If anyone is going to take him down, it is going to be me.” Both men chuckled, a clear mutual hate for Luther’s father apparent.
“You could have found a way to tell me, send me a sign. You have no idea how badly it hurt…”
It pained me to hear Rex so distraught, all because of that selfish bastard.
“I-I wanted to, believe me, Doc. But I wanted to protect you from it too, you and the lovely Evelyn did not need to be wrapped up in that mess, especially not with a baby on the way,” Luther said quietly.
“Yeah, there was no baby, and Evelyn, she’s…” My heart broke at the memory of Rex’s stillborn son, and his wife leaving him after, only to be shot by me.
“I heard, I am exceedingly sorry.” Luther’s voice filled with regret, with years past, with words left unsaid.
I startled as someone grabbed me from behind, falling into the locked door.
“It’s not nice to eavesdrop,” Nate teased.
“I-I wasn’t…” I tried to argue as Rex opened the door.
“Penny do you have the gloves? I need to change the dressing on this wound,” Rex asked.
“Uh, oops, I forgot them,” I answered as I left, scurrying down the long hall toward the medical room. I knew I was busted, but Rex seemed far too preoccupied with Luther to care.
Chapter Eight
Luther was out of bed the next afternoon. He was a quick healer, like Rex. On the surface they had so much in common, but I sensed the two men couldn’t be more different. The three of us were having lunch by the pool when he approached, his steps slow and measured. The grimace on his face with each step belied the pain he was in, and yet he was determined to continue. Rex jumped up, his linen napkin falling to the paving stones as he took several quick strides toward our guest.
Luther held a hand up to Rex, saying through gritted teeth, “Let me do it, Doc.”
I didn’t like Luther, or the disruption he caused our lives, but even I could see that he possessed an unbreakable will. He was the type of man that never gave up.
Luther made it to our table after a long, agonizing walk, Rex close behind him, shadowing as if Luther would collapse at any second.
“You’re s
tubborn, bro,” Rex said with a shake of his head as Luther sat down next to Nate at the round iron table.
“Hungry? Amber can bring you a plate,” Nate said with a grin to our guest. I sneered at Nate—I hated the way his face lit up around the handsome visitor.
Luther shook his head, a dark shadow dancing across his eyes, “Thank you, no. If I could bother you for water?”
Nate poured him a glass of water from the carafe on the table. Rex took his seat next to Luther, nervously fidgeting with the napkin he’d retrieved from the ground.
“So, Doc,” Luther began in a calm, measured tone, “are you going to formally introduce me to your friends?”
I looked over at Rex and noticed the sheen of perspiration on his forehead. I’d never seen him nervous around anyone the way he was with Luther, and I was pissed off that he felt he needed to impress this guy.
“Uh, yeah,” Rex said, wiping his forehead with the napkin, “this is Penelope Sedgewick, and my friend, Nathaniel Slater. Guys, Luther and I go way back.”
The table was silent as we all waited for Rex to continue, to offer further clues into the connection we shared. He didn’t. Luther’s knowing eyes looked into Nate’s, and then into mine, before his fierce gaze settled directly into Rex’s midnight blue eyes.
“And, my old friend, how are you connected to these fine housemates of yours?”
Luther wanted answers, and to be fair, so did we. Nate and I stared at Rex, willing him to speak the truth. He didn’t.
“Uh,” Rex began, his hand raking through his hair, “well, Penny is my girlfriend, and Nate is…” There was the world’s longest pause, the color draining from Rex’s face as if his skin was becoming translucent.
Come on, baby, you can do it, please, I silently begged him.
Without looking at Nate, Rex choked out the evil lie, “Nate and I are friends.”
I couldn’t look at Nate, but I sneered at Rex. I wanted to kick him, but was afraid I’d miss and touch Luther by accident.
“How long have you known our own arrogant Dr. Renton, Nathaniel?” Luther asked.
I didn’t look away from Rex—I dared him to make eye contact with me. I heard Nate’s voice answer, shaky at first, then firm, “Um, we met a couple of years ago when I took his survival course. I never wanted to leave Colombia, and he’s been kind enough to let me stay here.”
I wanted to reach over and take Nate’s hand, but I was frozen in the hard seat.
“Indeed,” Luther answered with a sigh, “it is good to have friends.”
I could tell by the way he intonated the word that Luther wasn’t fooled by Rex’s deflection for a second.
“Penny, we need to go,” Rex snapped, his dark eyes finally connecting with my glare.
“What?” I hissed.
With a deep breath, he explained, “You have a dental appointment in the city, did you forget?”
His tone was assertive, final, pissed off as if I were the one who had just been ashamed of us, of the three-way love we shared with Nate. I tossed my own napkin on top of my plate and walked toward the house without a second glance.
I could hear Rex apologizing, and Nate making some inane remark as he tried to pretend for Rex, but Luther only said, “She is lovely, Doc, go make up with her.” It made me hate him even more.
“Penny, wait.” Rex was breathless as he caught up with me at the door to my bedroom.
“Go fuck yourself!” I screamed, my palms pushing against his chest.
“I’m sorry, baby, I-I froze, I choked, I…I’m not proud of what I just did, but Penny, try to understand…”
He reached for me again, but I pushed him away. I turned to grab my purse and headed toward the door. “Don’t come with me, I don’t want to be near you,” I spat as I walked past him.
“Baby girl, you don’t speak Spanish, the dentist needs to—”
“Don’t baby girl me. And fine, come talk to the dentist, but just know that I hate you right now.” My words cut into him as he followed me toward the waiting car.
“I’ll tell him when we get back, all of it, I swear!” His tone was desperate, almost begging.
I wanted to comfort him, I could tell he was in torment, but I was too furious. Instead I climbed into the car and stared out the window as the driver took us to into the city.
I hadn’t been to a dentist since I’d left Las Vegas, and for the past few weeks I had a back tooth that was causing me pain. Rex numbed it, but insisted that I go see a dentist. The village near us had sketchy services at best, so we were making the long drive to the city that afternoon for my dental appointment. My phone buzzed, and I looked down at it to see a text from Nate that read:
Go easy on King Rex, babe. This is hard for him. I love you both.
Nate’s understanding and forgiveness of Rex made me even madder. I boiled over in fury.
“How the fuck could you do that?” I knew Rex hated it when I swore, but I didn’t care. I wanted to piss him off.
“I don’t know, I didn’t mean to. I-I fully intended to tell Luther the truth, and then I just crumbled.”
“So you are ashamed to love Nate then?”
“No, I… I know you don’t believe it, and I can imagine what Nate must think, but it’s not like that. I’ll make this right, baby, I swear.”
Rex reached for my hand, and this time I didn’t resist.
“I’m still mad as hell,” I reminded him, my eyes looking back to the window.
It was late by the time we arrived home. I’d needed a root canal, and Rex convinced the dentist to do the procedure that afternoon. We rode back in the dark in silence, not in anger any longer but in hurt, in disappointment.
“I’ll tell him, all of it, as soon as I see him, I promise,” Rex said as the gate to the compound swung open.
“And what will you tell Nate?” I asked, my tone acidic.
“Nate seemed to understand. It’s you that got all up in my shit about it, Princess.”
One of the staff members opened my door and I shot out, spitting back, “You hurt him! You hurt us!”
I stormed away from Rex to find Nate. I wanted to wrap him in my arms, shield him from what Rex had done. I found him in my bedroom, face down on my bed. We never slept in my room, always in Nate’s. He was fully dressed—even his shoes were on.
“I wanted to be near you,” he said softly as I cuddled up next to him.
“He fucked up, he’s going to tell Luther ASAP.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Nate answered, his voice husky, raw. “This will never be natural for him, babe, never.” He rolled over and pulled me into him. “I love him so much, I’ll just have to be happy with what he gives me and not keep wishing for more.”
My heart broke for him, for all of us. We held each other until we drifted into a fitful sleep, missing a third of us. Deep in the night, the drugs given to me for my tooth started to wear off and I awoke to a dull, throbbing pain. Nate was at the edge of the bed and the shadowy figure of Rex knelt next to him on the floor.
“Don’t say that, please,” Rex begged, “I love you—it’ll never happen again.”
Nate sat up on the side of the bed. “I’m not mad—hurt, but I understand. I understand you, and it’s fine. I just mean if it were you two, it would be easier. I’m a constant monkey wrench in—”
I jolted up, the throb in my mouth hitting me as I steadied myself. “No!” I hissed, crawling forward to wrap my arms around Nate’s back, holding him tight so that he’d never go. My tears coated his cotton shirt as I sobbed onto his back, begging him to never leave us, howling about how much I loved him. Every time he questioned our love, questioned our future, I died a little.
Rex buried his head in Nate’s lap, Rex’s long arms wrapping around us both. “Please, Nate, don’t ever leave us. We need you; we love you,” Rex said, swallowing the tears.
“Say it,” I commanded Nate as I wiped my own tears away with the back of my hand.
Rex looked up at Nate, waiting�
��he was as desperate as I was for a sign that we’d be okay; that our love would survive the night. Slowly Nate’s right hand rose, three precious fingers splayed out in the symbol of our union.
“Three,” he said, his voice cracking, “we are three. I love you both.”
Our fingers wrapped around Nate’s, the oath repeated by Rex and me as we fell together in a tangle on my bed, crushing Nate with the force of our love.
My lips skated across Nate’s neck, inhaling the spicy scent of his cologne. His body relaxed, and with a deep exhale, I felt him soften to us. Rex leaned over him, both hands on Nate’s chiseled cheekbones.
“I’m sorry,” Rex whispered, their lips hovering against one another’s.
I pulled at the buttons of Nate’s shirt, needing to feel his skin against my lips. My tongue flicked at his nipple, ignoring the nagging ache in my recently repaired tooth. I wanted him to feel my love, to know that I needed him with every cell inside me. Rex was as desperate, the gentle kiss they shared turning passionate, frantic.
I clawed at the fly of Nate’s pants, stripping him naked as the men’s kiss deepened. I glanced up at them as I freed Nate’s erection—Nate’s fingers were entwined in Rex’s thick hair, pulling him closer until Rex’s hulking body rested against Nate’s. I sucked Nate’s hard cock into my mouth—I needed to be as close to him as I could. The men’s mouths were still connected, Nate’s fingers fumbling with Rex’s fly. I was in heaven; the three of us locked in the perfect expression of our love was magical. Magical until the instinctive jolt of Nate’s hips caused the head of his cock to knock against my tooth—sending a sharp needle of pain directly into the nerves surrounding it.
“Ow!” I howled, causing the men to break their kiss and look at me in alarm. “Tooth,” I explained, “I’m fine.”