by Marla Monroe
“Here.” Heath shoved him where he was trying to go then started unstrapping one of the metal prosthesis for him.
“I’ll help,” Abby said. Kermit reacted without thinking.
“No. I’ll do it.” He pushed her hands away then stopped and thought about it. “Sorry. You can help. I didn’t think. They’re sore so be careful pulling it off. It’s got a sort of suction to it,” he explained.
“No. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m doing. Show me this time,” Abby said, the initial hurt melting away from her face.
Once they had the stick off to the side and he’d braved the sick feeling he had over letting her see his stumps, Kermit let her help him roll the mesh stockings off of the sore stumps. It felt so much better once they were open to the air again, but he knew they’d start to throb if he didn’t get new ones on fairly quickly.
“I’ll get some fresh ones and the cream,” Heath said, trying to get to his feet.
“Um, Abby, maybe you should go with him. He took one of the pills that he said makes him a little loopy so I’m not sure he can walk by himself.” Kermit watched as the other man sighed and stood up by using the bed to pull up with.
“I’m okay. I think the worst of it is out of my system now anyway. Nothing like a burst of adrenaline to shove it on out.” Heath walked toward the door, holding on to the furniture as he did. “I’ll keep a hand on the wall to guide me. I’ll be fine.”
Abby looked at Kermit with a question in her eyes. At his nod, she got up and followed the other man down the hall. What was he going to do to fix this now? He’d always had enough patience for everyone. He’d always been in complete control, but now it was as if he’d lost it when he’d lost his legs.
He heard a noise then a curse followed by Abby’s giggle. He couldn’t help but smile. He’d always loved hearing he giggle like a silly teenager. It was something she’d never really done until they’d started dating. She’d always been so serious and reserved. He knew it was from being reared in a military family of males.
“Okay. Here we are. Heath is still very much under the influence,” Abby informed him. “Now tell me what to do.”
Kermit walked her through the process then let them both help him climb up into his wheelchair, leaving his sticks off in hopes his stumps would be better the next day if he didn’t irritate them.
“You know. I’m pretty hungry,” Heath said out of the blue when they entered the living room. He was pushing Kermit’s chair but it looked like the steering was mostly due to Abby’s efforts.
“It’s the medication,” Abby told him. “It makes him hungrier than a couple of tokes of weed ever did back in high school.”
She winked at him when Heath protested that he’d never smoked that much weed at one time before. But he agreed that he was pretty damn hungry. They changed directions and pushed him into the kitchen up to the table, shoving one of the chairs out of the way.
“I was actually on my way to fix sandwiches when all of this started,” Kermit admitted. “Now I’m kind of sidelined.” He waved at his missing lower appendages.
“Heath isn’t in any shape to try and use a spatula to spread mayo much less stand up to do it,” she said with a smirk. “Looks like I’m going to be doing kitchen duty again.”
“Mustard,” both Kermit and Heath said at the same time.
“What?” she stared at them with a puzzled expression.
“He wants mustard for some strange reason. He’s never eaten mustard on his sandwiches before, but now he wants it. Go figure.” Kermit shrugged when she gave him a strange look.
“O–kay,” she said dragging it out. “Mustard it shall be. Kermit, read that text you sent me. I swear you made it sound like I needed to hurry home.”
He pulled his cell out of his pocket and smiled at her unconscious use of the word home. Then he scrolled to his text and read it.
Mad dash to pharmacy after TX for H’s meds. Having episode. What do I do? K
“Yeah. I don’t see what made you rush home like you did, but I’m glad you did,” he said.
He ducked when she threw the twist tie from the bread at him, not that it would have hurt.
“After we eat, we’ve got to talk about this.” Heath said from his seat across the table. “We should have already talked before you pulled this stunt.”
“I thought you said you weren’t in on it?” Abby said, stopping in the middle of what she was doing to glare at the other man.
“He wasn’t,” Kermit said again.
“I wasn’t,” Heath protested.
“I had already suggested something to him but he refused to talk anymore about it until I’d had more time to think about it. We were going to talk about it tonight after dinner, but then he had an episode and took that damn medicine that made him loopy.” Kermit stopped, deciding that he’d said more than enough.
“What is it you needed to think more about before you and Heath talked about it? And when was I going to be part of the conversation, or was I going to be at all?” she asked in a sugary sweet voice.
“Fuck!” Kermit sighed.
Heath chuckled, only it sounded more like a giggle to Kermit right then. He glared at the other man. “We were going to talk it through between us then approach you with the outcome tomorrow.”
Yeah, he was fudging a bit. They hadn’t actually gotten to the point of making any plans to talk to anyone at all, really.
“After dinner, if Heath is sober enough, we’re all three going to talk about this. No matter what comes out of this little chat we’re going to have, Kermit Anderson, you better remember one thing and never forget it again,” she said through gritted teeth. “I will always be a part of any decision that in any way, shape, or form involves me from now on or there will be no need to make any decisions where I’m concerned. Is that understood?”
Kermit swallowed hard. She was right, but agreeing went against a lot of his inborn Alpha male traits. He drew in a deep breath and swallowed that part of him down. “You’re right, Abby. I understand. I just didn’t want to approach you with anything unless Heath was okay with it so you wouldn’t get hurt.”
“By not including me from the beginning, you almost made a fatal mistake, Kermit. Assumed consent is the same as rape. Remember that from now on.” She turned away from them and grabbed the mustard and mayo out of the refrigerator.
Kermit felt two inches tall. Shame didn’t even begin to cover his feelings right then.
Chapter Sixteen
It took all of Abby’s self-control not shake apart with nerves as they ate their sandwiches. She knew what Kermit wanted to talk about. By including Heath in on the false start from earlier, and because she knew all about Rex and Clark sharing Ellie, Abby was sure he wanted to talk about trying a ménage. While the idea was both titillating and tempting at the same time, it was also dangerous. Once a couple when down that road, there was no undoing it.
What did she want to do? What would she say? Abby figured it would all depend on how he presented it. If he was suggesting a one-time thing between the three of them, then hell no. She wasn’t about to play with both her and Heath’s feelings that way. She honestly couldn’t see Kermit suggesting something that casual anyway.
What if he wanted an open relationship of sorts? What would that even entail? She wasn’t up on all the different type of swingers and partner sharing that went on in the armed services, but she was sure that lifestyle wasn’t for her.
“Abby?” Kermit’s voice calling her name pulled her out of the “what if” cycle she’d gotten caught up in.
“What? I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you. What did you ask?”
“I was just saying that we’re finished. Are you?” he asked her.
“Yeah. I’m finished.” She dropped the small piece of her sandwich she’d pretty much squeezed into oblivion and stood up to gather the plates.
“Leave them. Let’s go into the living room. Heath wants to shower to be sure he’s good and sober, so we
can wait on him in there.”
“Okay.” Abby walked over and helped Kermit roll the chair into the living room where he transferred over to the couch.
Abby moved the chair a little out of the way, but left it close in case they needed it in a hurry. She’d learned through research that putting someone’s crutches, canes, or wheelchair too far away from them was like isolating them and taking away their security. Without a way to move around, they were essentially prisoners and at someone else’s mercy. That wasn’t a good feeling for anyone but most especially for a veteran who’d served overseas.
“Here, Abby. Sit next to me. We can talk some while Heath’s taking a shower. It’s only fair that I tell you what I told him so we’re all on the same level to start. I screwed up by excluding you and I’m sorry. I honestly thought that Heath and I needed to agree before we ever tried to talk to you. I didn’t want to put any pressure on you by not knowing that we were both solid about it first.” Kermit’s expression told her instantly that he was being completely honest with her. She’d always been able to tell when he was trying to hide something.
“I love you, Abby. I love you to the point that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. It’s why I was trying to push you away. I honestly didn’t see a future for me anymore and if I couldn’t see one for me then you needed to find someone else. It wasn’t so much that I thought you needed taking care of, you can do that all by yourself. I know that. But it was that I had lost my confidence and my sense of control. How could I be what you needed anymore if I didn’t feel like I could rely on myself?”
“Kermit. I didn’t care about what you could do for me. You are still the man I needed with me. I just needed you and nothing else to start with. Once we’d gotten past my nearly losing you forever, we would have moved on to the next part of where we needed to go. Love between people is a journey, Kermit, and there is no right or wrong or more or less in it. The journey is what it is all about. If we can hold each other through it and not let go then we’ve accomplished all that we were supposed to accomplish. It’s not about what either of us can do for the other. It’s about what the two of us can do together.” She kissed him and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, baby. I was so hung up on what I’d lost and how it would affect me and us that I never thought about how it had already affected you and Heath and my parents. I’m a selfish asshole and don’t deserve you or Heath as my friends. I never once asked about Heath while I was recovering. It never occurred to me at the time that he was going through crap, too.”
“We’ve all made mistakes, Kermy. Let’s not make any more big ones like these. We have to be honest with each other. Always honest no matter what,” she told him. “I’m scared that one day something we aren’t being honest about will catch us by surprise and be something we can’t get past.”
“You’re right.” Kermit kissed her back. “I told Heath that I wanted us to all three be a family. That I wanted the two most important people in my life to always be with me. I love you and I love Heath, but in a brotherly sort of way of course.”
Abby smiled and shook her head. It had been exactly what she’d thought he wanted to talk about. “No secret craving for his cute, tight ass?” she teased.
“The only cute, tight ass I’m craving is yours, babe.” He hugged her for a brief second then leaned back to look at her again. “You’ve been attracted to him almost as long as you’ve known him. I know that but it didn’t bother me. I always thought it was because I knew that you were mine and that I could trust you and Heath, but that wasn’t it. I thought it was because it gave me a sort of manly feeling of smugness that my best friend wanted you but you were mine. But that wasn’t it either. It was that I already knew the three of us belonged together and just didn’t know how to make that happen.”
“It doesn’t bother you at all that Heath would touch me? What about when you thought we’d been together? You were livid. You weren’t acting, Kermit.” She shook her head at his denial. “No. I know you and you were so pissed I think that if I’d been closer you might have shoved me away.”
“Yes. In that instance I was angry, but I’d worked myself up into it, using how I was feeling about losing my legs in order to fool you into thinking I was disgusted so you would leave. It wasn’t easy to do and after you did leave, I was sick from it. Abby. Baby. I had always prayed that if anything happened to me Heath would take care of you and make sure you were happy. It never bothered me because I was already secure in your love for me. Even when I realized that you had feelings for him, it didn’t threaten me. If anything, it strengthened how I felt about you because you stayed with me. You didn’t leave me for him and you didn’t play us off each other. I fell a little deeper in love with you almost every time I saw you.”
“I do love you, Kermy. I—I know that I have feelings for Heath, but I don’t know what exactly they are. I’ve never allowed myself to look at them or let them out so that I could find out. I was afraid they would overpower me and I’d do something that would kill me and you and Heath.”
“Heath loves you, Abby, but he needs to tell you himself. I know we can have a wonderful life together, the three of us, if you will give it a chance. It never bothered you when people would talk about the three of us always being together. You always rolled your eyes and said, ‘let them be jealous that I’ve got two men and they only have one. I don’t mind.’ Is it going to bother you now for people to talk?” he asked.
“If we decide to become a family, then no. It won’t bother me at all, but I haven’t agreed to anything, Kermit. I need to hear Heath’s views. I need to look into his eyes when he talks about it to see if I think he’s really okay with it or not,” she told him.
“You’re right. I didn’t mean to jump the gun, but I was worried that it had all been an act before and I wanted to be sure you’d thought of that. Rex mentioned a few times that Ellie went through some rough patches with people talking about her as if she weren’t there. Once she called them on it, they stopped it. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still go on behind her back though.” Kermit rubbed a circle over her knee and Abby realized he’d pushed her skirt up over it without her realizing what he’d done.
She smiled. He’d always been good at things like that. What did she need to do if Heath really did want the same thing Kermit did? Could she ask them to let her think about it for a few days? She needed to put some things into perspective before she gave them an answer to something this important.
“I love you no matter what, Abby. You know that, right?” Kermit asked.
“I know, Kermy. I love you, too.” She sighed when he pulled her closer and took her mouth with a single-mindedness she hadn’t felt in a long time.
The feel of his lips as they parted hers so that his tongue could take possession of her mouth and conquer hers, thrilled her all the way to her toes. Her pussy grew moist as her nipples hardened into taunt beads. She couldn’t help but rub them against his chest, wishing there was nothing between them to interfere with the friction she would find against his tight chest and slightly hairy body.
Kermit swallowed her moan even as he pressed her tighter to his mouth with one hand to the back of her head. His other covered one breast and this time he moaned. Abby shivered with need and expectation of what might happen later. She wanted him so badly her cunt ached with it.
“If we’d already talked, I might be joining you right about now, but since we haven’t, I’m interrupting instead,” Heath’s voice crashed through Abby’s roaring ears.
“Well shit,” Kermit hissed out.
“Sorry, but we need to finish this. I for one can’t handle carrying this around inside of me any longer without putting it to rest once and for all. I’m going to have a damn ulcer.” Heath shuffled into the room wearing shorts and a T-shirt along with the dolphin house shoes she and Kermit had given him years before.
Despite the arousal riding her hard, Abby giggled at the sight he made. His arms were
folded across his chest like a petulant child and the comical house shoes were the icing on the cake.
She patted the couch on the other side of her. “Here. Sit down. We do need to figure this out. I can’t believe I’m being so nonchalant about this when I should be pissed and scared and insulted all at the same time.”
“But you’re not?” Heath asked.
“No. I’m not. I think Kermit’s right. I think we’ve all three slowly been circling this issue for a while and would have eventually gotten where we are before much longer anyway,” she said. “Let me start. You and Kermit have already had a partial conversation so I think I need to add my partial one to it.”
She drew in a deep breath and slowly released it but couldn’t say anything. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d first thought. Even with everything pretty much out on the table, actually putting it into words in front of the two men was harder than it should have been with her best friends. They should have been able to talk about anything, and pretty much had at one time or another. Almost.
“Heath. I’ve had feelings for you for a very long time. I cared pretty much equally about both you all during school and then something happened, I’m not even sure what it was, but I fell in love with Kermit and when he returned those feelings, everything else sort of faded for a long time.” She swallowed and continued. “But those feelings for you came back, Heath, and I didn’t know what to do about them because before we’d all been on equal ground so I wasn’t conflicted by them, but once Kermit and I had become lovers, the ones I had for you felt too close to the ones I felt for him and that was wrong. Or that is what I’d always thought.”
Heath smiled and slowly reached out to touch he nose with his finger. “Abby, girl. I think I fell in love with you the day you defended me against those girls when they snubbed their noses at me and said they wouldn’t be my friend if I was the last boy on earth. You laughed at them and said good and kissed me on the cheek right in front of them. You said, ‘he wouldn’t be your boyfriend anyway, because he’s mine just like Kermit’s mine. I’ve got two and you don’t even have one.’ I would have eaten earthworms for you right then, Abby girl. You were my hero.”