by Lee Brazil
“I got it, baby. You’re cute when you babble. Can’t you do the brow thing?”
Jesse shook his head. “No. I really would like to. Practiced and tried for years, but I can’t. I can do this, though.” He held one hand in front of them and spread his fingers in the traditional Vulcan salute. “Live long and prosper,” he intoned solemnly.
“I like this one,” Jay interrupted. He held out his hand to his brother with the first two fingers extended and the rest curled under. “Attend me.”
Chuckling, Drake grabbed the extended hand and pulled Jay close for a kiss as well. Jay responded eagerly, and a bit of tension eased inside Drake. He hadn’t been sure how Jay would react when the passion faded. A sudden warm wetness on his abdomen startled Drake. He looked down to see that Jay had brought back a damp cloth and was swiping the residue of their passion off his belly.
“Did you resolve the crises of the world while I was gone or just talk Star Trek?” Jay seemed okay, but Drake could already tell that Jay hid more of his emotions and thoughts than Jesse did. Jesse was an open book, Jay a deep well. Was he really okay with sharing Jesse with Drake? Only time would tell.
“He can do the eyebrow thing!” Jesse laughed, crawling over Drake to make room on the bed for Jay, who immediately climbed into the spot vacated by his brother and looked expectantly at Drake.
“Well?” he demanded.
Feeling foolish, Drake arched his brow. “I cannot believe how much amusement you two are getting out of this. Seriously, I barely made the Star Trek generation through reruns. How did you two come to be such fanatics?”
“Our mother was a big fan. We grew up on reruns and conventions. Stood in line for all the movies.”
“Ah. I see. You want me for my resemblance to a certain green-blooded Vulcan. Well, I can assure you that I am not guided by logic all the time.”
Instantly they covered his face in tiny damp kisses and two hands, one firm and capable, one gentle and soft, braced against his chest. Jesse stopped and leaned back. “We decided, honey. We’re going to take things slow and see where they lead.”
Drake watched bemused as they stared into one another’s eyes, seemingly continuing the conversation in their heads. Finally, Jay broke the contact and turned back to Drake. “So, you no longer believe I’m forcing Jesse to do something he finds distasteful?” His tone was challenging, his expression mocking. Jesse made a brief, aborted gesture as though to intervene, but Drake and Jay simultaneously waved him to silence and he subsided, muttering something about them ganging up on him.
Drake chose his words carefully. Jay gave every appearance of being stalwart and independent, but he could be hurt easily. That much had been seen earlier. “I’m not sure,” he noted Jay stiffen, “how your relationship came to be. I hope that one day you can tell me about that, if we’re together long enough. But I can see that it is consensual and loving.”
“You don’t think it’s perverted and evil?” Jay challenged.
Sighing, Drake crossed his arms over his chest, and then realizing how defensive it looked, he uncrossed them. Fuck. “I don’t think anything as beautiful as what you two just showed me can be evil or perverted. It’s not common, I grant you that. It’s not the easy route to choose in life. But it’s not my place to judge.”
Jay looked unconvinced. He glanced uneasily from Jesse to Drake and back again before standing and muttering, “I have to go to work. My supervisor called.”
Light dawned. Jay feared leaving him here alone with Jesse. He thought Drake would try to influence Jesse into leaving him or something. Funny, he hadn’t thought Jay would be the insecure twin.
Drake followed Jay from the bed. “I’d better go too. I have to work in the morning myself.”
Jay’s relief saddened him, but at the same time it felt good to reassure him. He pulled on his jeans, found by the doorway, and then wandered down the hall looking for the rest of his clothes. Jesse and Jay’s voices mingled quietly behind him in the bedroom.
He’d never been part of a threesome before. The pitfalls became all too clear. Between possessiveness, jealousy, and insecurity, the potential for disaster was obvious. Maybe he should rethink getting involved in such a tricky situation.
He found his shirt by the sofa and tugged it over his head, remembering the picture Jay had made sitting there with his arms wrapped around his knees, tears of pain, tears Drake had caused, trickling down his smooth cheek.
Fuck it. Too late. He was already involved, and there was no going back.
The twins stepped into the hall behind him as he tugged on one shoe and knelt to tie the lace.
“You can stay,” Jesse offered hopefully.
Drake smiled at him and turned to Jay. “Not tonight, babe. This is new, and we all need to come to terms with it. We don’t know each other all that well, and your brother deserves the peace of mind of knowing he’s left you home safe, not with some stranger he’s barely met.” Of course, he and Jay both knew that wasn’t the real reason he needed to leave, but it would do.
A flicker of emotion, possibly gratitude, crossed Jay’s face. “I’m off Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Can we see you this weekend?”
Accepting the olive branch was easy. “Sure. I’m off this weekend too.” Clearly Jay still needed alone time with Jesse. “Let’s meet tomorrow evening and make some plans. We can talk about how we’re going to do this.” And he knew just where they could go. Visions of a handsome waiter touching Jay danced through his head, and his eyes narrowed in response. He knew exactly where they should go tomorrow.
CHAPTER NINE
After having slept all day on Friday, Jay awakened when Jesse arrived home. Making love and snuggling with Jesse revitalized him, and the two of them set off for Cabana Sue’s anticipating seeing Drake again for the first time since Wednesday’s big reveal.
Though they hadn’t seen Drake, both Jay and Jesse received phone calls from him. Jay wasn’t sure what Drake had said to Jesse. Hopefully it had been the same casual, friendly type of conversation he’d had with Drake on Thursday morning. He couldn’t ask Jesse either. Jesse would be hurt by the insecurity that Jay experienced every time he thought of Drake. The idea of seeing Drake again tonight filled him with anticipation and a touch of fear. Mostly, it flooded his imagination with graphic images of things he wanted to do with Jesse to Drake, things he wanted to do to Jesse for Drake. The idea of having sex with Jesse while Drake watched aroused him unbearably.
Cabana Sue’s on Friday night was a hopping place with a mariachi band and a crowd of eager twentysomethings anxious to down a few dollar margaritas from shot glasses and head on down to the next novelty spot. It was loud, colorful, and damned if Emilio wasn’t working tonight too. He scanned the crowd looking for the tall lanky Drake, who should stand out in the crowd by virtue of sheer magnetism. He spotted Drake at a horseshoe-shaped booth at the back of the restaurant. It was the perfect size for three of them, but it was in Emilio’s section.
Sighing and straightening his shoulders, Jay placed a hand on Jesse’s shoulder and leaned forward to whisper into his ear so as to be heard over the crowd. “Back wall, center.” Leaning back, he watched excitement color Jesse’s face. His broad smile showed gleaming white teeth, and his eyes seemed to sparkle a bit brighter. Damn. How fucking lucky was he to be loved by such a man? His gaze traveled back to Drake. Couldn’t be seen mooning over Jesse in this place. They were too well-known here.
Drake had seen them too. His gaze intently followed their progress across the crowded floor, and the heat there said he’d more than missed them. He didn’t watch just Jesse; his molten glance moved from Jay to Jesse and back again. Perhaps Drake had spent the last few days fantasizing about the three of them as well.
The anxious knot of tension, his constant companion since Jesse first whispered Drake’s name, lessened just the tiniest bit. Maybe, just maybe, things would work out okay after all. If Drake could love Jesse and accept Jay, then maybe the three of them had a cha
nce at something good.
He arrived at the table on Jesse’s heels and stood uncertainly. Drake sat squarely in the center of the horseshoe and Jesse slid in on the right, sidling right up against Drake. Jesse tilted his head up and pouting, demanded a kiss, chastising Drake for his tardiness in offering the sign of affection.
Torn, Jay lingered at the edge of the table. Where did he belong in this setup? Should he slide in alongside Jesse and hope that Drake got the hint and slid along, providing them with more room? Should he give in gracefully and allow Drake to separate him and Jesse? The anxious knot tightened again. Jesse turned to look at him curiously, patting the seat beside himself. Drake ignored conventional politeness and leaned across the narrow table. Before Jay could protest, Drake grabbed his hand in a tight grip and forcibly compelled him onto the seat to his left.
Opening his mouth to give Drake a piece of his mind was pointless because he found himself thoroughly kissed. The angry words he wanted to say fled, and he could only produce a muffled whimper. Drake was damn good at this. His warm, firm lips slid possessively along Jay’s mouth; his tongue slipped inside and laid claim to the moist heat.
When Drake finally freed him, it was all Jay could do to gulp in air and try to control his bodily reactions.
“Tequila. Bring the bottle, three shot glasses.” Drake’s hard, commanding voice caused Jay to shiver. Sexy as it might be, he was damn glad that tone wasn’t directed at him.
“Sir.” Emilio, who had come over to the table some time during that kiss, addressed Drake.
The tension he’d been conscious of earlier faded away. Drake had just let Emilio know, in no uncertain terms, that Jay was off-limits. For the first time, Jay felt that Drake’s interest might genuinely extend to him. Maybe Jesse wasn’t the only one that Drake cared about. Maybe he could learn to love Jay as well?
The fear of being on the fringe of the relationship they were embarking on began to fade. Oh, he’d known that Drake enjoyed seeing him and Jesse together Wednesday. He was damned sure that Drake enjoyed their mouths on him, but now...he felt the tiniest hope that Drake just might like him, Jay, not just him, Jesse’s reflection.
SETTING THE TRAP
Preview: Chapter One
Drake Fallon had spent a lot of time in the last three months sitting in the emergency room waiting for Jay Cahill. Usually though, he sat in the lobby anticipating a pleasant evening. This time he was perched on an uncomfortable gurney, freezing his ass off waiting for a surgeon to stitch the knife wound in his upper arm.
He was angry, disappointed, and he hurt. He wanted to be held and taken care of. He wanted Jesse.
The curtain rings rattled and he looked up. Jay entered the little cubicle, his ash blond hair secured in a neat pony tail at the nape of his neck, his sky blue scrubs impeccably neat. Damn. It looked like he wasn’t going to get the coddling he wanted this evening after being attacked by a crackhead.
“The doctor will be with you shortly.” Jay was reading over the chart, then his head jerked up sharply. “Drake? What the hell happened? It says here knife wound?”
Sighing, Drake nodded shortly. He didn’t feel like being polite. His scowl was instant. The paper crinkled under his butt as he shifted on the uncomfortable surface. “We were doing a door to door thing, canvassing for witnesses to an accident. Some crackhead got the wrong idea and came at me with a knife. I didn’t move fast enough.”
He stared resentfully as Jay put down the chart and approached him. He shouldn’t be so angry, so bitter, but it was clear from the pristine state of his scrubs that Jay had just started his shift, and since Jay was working there was no way he’d get to see Jesse tonight.
He’d thought he understood the intricate web of emotions he’d be maneuvering through when he began this relationship with the brothers three months earlier. He hadn’t expected that those three months would pass with only a handful of dates, mostly because their schedules didn’t align well.
Jay’s shifts rotated between a month of nights and a month of days, twelve hour shifts, and an incredible amount of overtime. Jesse’s school schedule was more manageable, but neither brother would see him without the other. Last week, when Jay was off, Jesse had been out of town chaperoning his student government group at a leadership seminar, so once again he’d been alone. And now, damn it, when he needed someone to look after him and soothe him, he’d be alone again.
“Does Jesse know about this?” Jay demanded. He poked and prodded at the slash, and Drake growled. “He’s going to be pissed. Shit, Drake, you could have been killed!”
“No, I couldn’t have. Have you ever dealt with these crackheads? Anyone who can rub two brain cells together can outwit them. I wouldn’t have been hurt at all, except I wasn’t expecting the guy. And no, I didn’t call Jesse. I don’t guess he’s going to know either.” Because by the fucking time they all had time off at the same time, he’d be healed.
“Why shouldn’t he know?” Jay produced a cell phone from somewhere and leaned on the gurney. “He’ll come get you. You aren’t going to be able to drive home after the stitches, and you’ll need looking after. Jesse is great at nurturing people.”
“I can drive myself home. It’s not a big deal. Just a scratch.”
“It’s more than a scratch, you big lug. It’s pretty deep and it’s going to need a lot of stitches. But mostly you need someone to drive you because of the codeine in the pain killers they gave you.”
The pain killers were finally taking effect. His arm felt pleasantly numb, and a warm haze of codeine fogged his brain. He wasn’t thinking clearly, obviously. Oh wow. “So, you’re off work? I thought you were just starting your shift?”
“I am. Seven to seven. But Jesse’s home. He has to study for an exam and he has papers to grade, but he’ll still come get you.”
“I can’t see Jesse without you.”
“Who says?”
He grimaced. “You did. Well, not in so many words, but I knew you didn’t want me around Jesse when you weren’t there.”
Jay’s hand clenched on his arm, and there wasn’t enough codeine on the planet to keep that from hurting. “Uh...” He flinched. Jay’s eyes widened and his face paled a little.
“Sorry!” Jay drew his hand away swiftly. “For both. I didn’t trust you then.”
“And now you do?” He shook his head slightly to clear the fog.
“Just a second, Drake. He’s picking up. Jesse? Honey, it’s Jay. I’m fine. It’s Drake. He’s here at the ER getting some stitches. We need you to come pick him up and take him home.”
The doctor, a tall angular man in his early thirties, entered the cubicle at that moment, and frowned sternly at Jay on the phone. “Well, Mr. Fallon. Feeling numb, now are we?”
Drake rolled his eyes and kicked his feet impatiently aginst the metal frame of the gurney. “My arm is. I don’t know about you. I’m hoping you aren’t too numb to sew me up.” The doctor wasn’t amused. Jay was though. He could tell by the twitching of his lips.
“Nurse, if you’re done with the phone, I could use some help here.”
Drake stiffened at the asshole’s impatient tone. He might resent the fuck out of Jay right now for standing between him and Jesse, but damned if the doc had any right to talk to his lover like that!
“Bite me, Clive.” Jay threw at the doctor. “I’m talking to his boyfriend about coming to pick him up. Stupid cop thought he could drive himself home after getting sewn up.”
Indistinguishable squawking came through the receiver, but it didn’t sound like Jesse approved of that at all.
“You’re lucky we have such a hard time finding competent staff,” The doctor taunted. He took over poking and prodding at Drake’s arm. Clattering instruments on a metal tray tried to distract Drake, but he pinned his gaze on Jay. He wasn’t sure, but it sounded like he might be going to get his pampering after all.
“Half an hour, Jesse. I’ll walk him out to you.” Jay tucked the phone away and gave his whole at
tention to the smirking physician. “Don’t give me that bullshit about the top of the top. Your 4.0 doesn’t mean anything more than mine, except about sixty thousand dollars more debt. Your bedside manner sucks and you’re hurting him!”
The codeine’s melty warm fog made Jay sound loving. Drake closed his eyes and pretended it was true. He could do that under the influence of drugs. Sober, he had to stay safe, to protect himself. Three months of hot sex and random dates had shown him that. These two loved each other, and he was a novelty whose charm could wear off any time. A little emotional distance kept things right for all of them.
And when he was past the weakness of seeing his empty life flash before his eyes, he’d remember that. For now, he wanted his boyfriends with him. “Hey, can you come too?”
BIOGRAPHY
I’m an avid reader and former teacher of grammar and composition who believes that falling in love is the grandest adventure anyone can have. In a nutshell, that’s every story I have to tell.
Relocating from the crazy pace of life in Southern California’s Orange County to the beautiful and leisurely atmosphere of the Illinois countryside has given me the time to indulge the desire to write that I set aside when I started teaching fourteen years ago. Readers can find out more about me and my writing by visiting me at my blog, Lee’s Musings or finding me on Facebook. Feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]