by Smith,T. M.
“You saw us?” Micah asked.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Tristan piped in.
“I tried to tell you a little while ago in the kitchen, but you asked us to shut the hell up and let you talk.” Gabe glared at him, one eyebrow raised. Tristan chuckled, holding his hands up in surrender. “I was angry and confused at first. In some odd way it felt like a betrayal after what you and I had shared already, Micah. But I was pissed at Tristan too, and that confused me. I had no claim on either of you and I know now, looking back, that in that moment of anger and confusion, I wanted to know what it would be like to be with both of you.”
Gabe sucked in a deep breath. “If I’m being honest, I was upset about being left out. Then my mind was racing, wondering why you would want to kiss each other, but not me. That’s probably what brought on the weird-ass dream I had.” Gabe chuckled.
“You were dreaming about Gio. At least, you were calling out to him when I shook you awake,” Tristan said.
“Yeah, but that wasn’t the half of it.” Gabe muttered.
“Tell us about the dream Gabe, please.” Micah spoke softly and Gabe met his eyes, seeing nothing but genuine concern, tenderness and quite possibly… love, in those two pools of amber.
Gabe sucked in a breath, slowly letting it out. “We were here, in the brownstone, me and Gio.”
Tristan’s brow furrowed; he glanced over at Micah who looked just as confused.
“In my dream, I was walking down the sidewalk outside and Gio was waiting on the steps for me. He said he wanted to look at the house and I remember thinking that was odd, dream me that is, that he wanted to see the brownstone. We did though, walked every room and every floor, and Gio told me that — what did he say?” Gabe stared at the ceiling, concentrating. “Oh, yes. He said ‘The office is perfect for him’ and when I asked who, he said you, Tristan.”
Tristan sat up then, brows lifted. “Wait, you had a dream where your dead lover told you that the office upstairs” — Tristan pointed up — “was for me?”
“Would you shut your face and let me finish?” Gabe sounded exasperated, but he wore an amused smile. Tristan held his hands up, relaxing back into his spot on the couch. “In my dream, Gio told me that the three of us were already woven together — that’s what he said, woven. But we all fought it so hard. I didn’t understand or didn’t want to then, but he was right. Since that first day Tris, out by the pool at Victor, Andy and Mattie’s place. You laid your hand on my shoulder and I looked up into those brilliant blue eyes of yours. All I saw was sincerity, kindness and encouragement. And you’ve stuck by me, both of you have, since that day.”
Gabe’s eyes fell to the floor again, a sad sigh falling from his lips. “Until today, I didn’t even realize that I was falling for both of you. I’ve sort of told you how I felt Micah, in a round-about way. But you Tris, when you stood and turned your back to me and reached for that doorknob, when you were fixing to walk out that door… in that fucking split-second I felt like someone had just punched me in the gut.” When Gabe looked up and met Tristan’s eyes they held more than just tears; they held a want and need that Tristan had never seen from Gabe before.
“You snuck up on me Tris, wormed your way in under the wire unnoticed. I think you are the something that is missing, the shadow, the piece that would make us whole.” Gabe spoke softly, reverently.
Micah gasped, knowing exactly what Gabe meant when he said those words: something missing. The morning after he had screwed Gabe into oblivion and a back full of battle scars, Gabe had said that to him. That he loved Micah, but wasn’t in love, that there was something missing.
Gabe grabbed the two wine glasses that sat on the floor in front of him, handing Tristan his, then draining his own glass dry in one gulp. He stood and went for the bottle, replenishing his glass. “Refill?” he asked, both men shaking their heads.
“Okay, I have a question.” Tristan sat on the edge of the couch.
“Just one?” Micah huffed.
“Well, I’m sure once I wrap my brain around all this there will be plenty more. Right now though, what does I’ve sort of told you how I felt, Micah mean? Essplain that to me, Lucy.”
Gabe and Micah both laughed at the Lucille Ball reference; Tristan smiled and shook his head. “Jesus, you two are driving me crazy already and it’s been all of five minutes.” Tristan tried to sound wounded, but his smile gave him away.
Micah cleared his throat and finally took a drink of his now room-temperature wine. “So you already know about me and Gabe being together, I told you that morning at your apartment. In fact, now I’m starting to see that it was after that morning that you started to pull away from us.”
“Stop trying to deflect and answer the question.” Tristan bit his bottom lip to stop from laughing.
Gabe swatted him on the knee. “Oh no you don’t, mister. This is not a session; don’t you be using your psychiatrist lingo on us when we’re at home.” Gabe’s eyes turned to Micah so he missed the look of shock on Tristan’s face when he made that statement.
Micah and Gabe took turns telling Tristan about the night they’d shared. Going through Gio’s things, Gabe breaking down and Micah being there to comfort him, one thing leading to another and Gabe waking up with track marks down his back. The conversation after, capped off with Gabe shearing off his long locks and having to call Colton and Tony over so Colton could fix Gabe’s hair.
Tristan reached out and ran his hand over the top of Gabe’s extremely short hair. Instead of pulling away though, he let his hand stop at the nape of Gabe’s neck and started pulling him closer. Tristan watched as realization dawned in those pretty blue eyes. Gabe sucked in a breath and his nostrils flared, his eyes falling closed just as Tristan’s lips landed on his. Tristan held Gabe’s face in his hands, kissing him gently and mapping out every inch of the smaller man’s mouth with this maiden voyage.
When Tristan tried to pull back, Gabe followed, climbing into his lap and straddling him. The second kiss was deeper, more raw than the first, Gabe twirling his tongue around Tristan’s before sucking on it then twirling again. Micah cleared his throat, laughing when Tristan and Gabe broke apart and turned toward him with swollen lips and lust-filled eyes. Micah waved his hand between their bodies and his, smiling. “I thought this was supposed to be some sort of perverted threesome thing here, but you two seem to have forgotten how to add.”
Tristan growled, reaching over and fisting Micah’s shirt in his hand, pulling him close and taking his mouth in a kiss that rivaled the sensual one he had just shared with Gabe. They broke apart, foreheads touching as they both caught their breath. “Let’s take this down a notch. There is still a lot to talk about and figure out,” Tristan said, breathless.
“But we will work it out, right?” Gabe climbed off Tristan’s lap, sitting on the couch in between the two of them, on his knees.
“Absolutely.” Micah scooted closer, taking one of Tristan’s hands, then Gabe’s. No matter how long it took, they were all in it for the long haul now, so they would figure it out… together.
Chapter 19 | Friendship is a foundation
As much as Tristan wanted to put the talking on hold, take them both upstairs and get to know them better in the biblical sense, he knew a few things needed to be discussed before they stepped so much as one toe on those stairs. The three of them talked for a while, both Micah and Gabe telling Tristan they didn’t want him to leave, ever. He assured them he didn’t plan on it, but he still had to work, give notice on his apartment and pack.
“Listen, I want this just as badly as the two of you do, but we all need to take a step back for a minute. Talk about this and be absolutely certain we are all three on the same page of our story before we turn any pages.” Tristan and his damn colloquialisms.
“I hear what you’re saying Tris, but I feel like we’ve been building this relationship pretty much from the start. I’ve kept my feelings buried for the most part, tried to not even think about the
m, because I knew moving on would be forever letting go of Gio.” Gabe sat between the two of them on the couch, feeling lighter and freer with every confession he let go of.
Tristan reached for him, lifting Gabe’s head with nimble fingers on his chin. “You don’t have to let go of him Gabe, and I don’t expect you to. That part of your life, that journey even with all the pain you endured after the shooting. It is what made you who you are today. It brought you to me.” He lifted his head and met Micah’s eyes. “Both of you.”
Micah smiled and nodded. “I agree with what Tris is saying Gabe; I don’t expect you to never think about him again. Hell, as much anger as I have toward my parents for setting me aside because I’m gay, I still remember the happier times: playing catch with my father, baking cookies at Christmas with my mother. Every time I have a nightmare or a flashback, I remember the pain of losing Banks even though we were nothing more than a convenience for each other. Everything that I have been through, the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful memories… it brought me to you and Tristan. So trust me when I say I don’t want to bury those memories, or let them go. I want to learn how to stop them from taking over my life. And I think the only way I can do that is with the two of you.”
Gabe leaned into Micah’s embrace, turning his head and kissing him softly. They broke apart, turning to face Tristan when he spoke. “I’ve gotten so used to hovering in the background, content and quiet. So when I put myself out there with you the night I kissed you, Micah, then to hear about you and Gabe already connecting and taking your relationship to a more intimate level, I did what I do best. I reverted into my safe, dark corner. That has always worked for me in the past, kept me from getting hurt. With you two it’s different. Reverting back to that safe place and distancing myself from you two threatened to turn me into a person I would normally counsel.”
He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose, concentrating on exactly what he wanted to convey to the two men sitting with him. The two men that were offering him everything he wanted on a silver platter. “Meeting you, getting to know you, spending so much time with you — both of you, it’s changed me. If I were treating the three of us, hearing our story from an outside perspective, I would counsel us not to move too fast, to take our time and be absolutely certain. But I’m not a therapist right now. I’m a flesh and blood man that is falling in love with both of you. So while I can recognize going from friends to lovers between dinner and drinks might be a recipe for disaster, I can also recognize the fact that we have been circling each other for months. The thought of this blowing up in our faces, of losing one or both of you, is terrifying. But the thought of putting on the brakes when this is all I’ve wanted, all I’ve thought about all these months? That is far worse.”
Gabe scooted closer, wrapping his arms around Tristan’s neck and laying his head on his shoulder. Micah scooted up behind Gabe, he and Tristan holding Gabe between them as they all held onto each other, the bond they would share taking root. Gabe yawning signaled the end of the conversation, for the night at least.
Tristan kept a duffle bag with a couple changes of clothes and toiletries for his traveling back and forth in between classes in his truck. He left Micah and Gabe to load the dishwasher and turn everything off downstairs while he moved his truck to the back driveway and grabbed his bag. Letting himself in the back door, Tristan smiled seeing the first floor was dark and quiet. Footfalls and whispers from the second floor reached his ears, the voices growing louder as he climbed the stairs.
Gabe heard Tristan coming and called out to him. “We’re in my room, Tris.” Micah had the king-sized bed where Gabe only had a queen, but Gabe had a bathroom in his bedroom, probably the best choice. If everything worked out like Tristan hoped it would, they could move the king-sized bed into the bigger room soon enough.
Tristan stopped just inside the bedroom, dropping his bag on the floor. There were a few candles lit in the room with the only other light coming from the bathroom where Gabe stood in front of the sink, brushing his teeth. Micah sat at the foot of the bed in a pair of sleep pants and a tank top, smiling up at Tristan. He slipped his shoes off, kicking them toward his bag before joining Micah on the bed.
Micah wasted no time; he reached for Tristan, pulling him close and kissing him. The kiss was chaste, a promise of more to come. He kept his hands on Tristan when he pulled back, running his thumbs over Tristan’s cheeks, then his strong jawline. “God, you’re gorgeous.” Micah spoke quietly. One corner of Tristan’s mouth lifted, his blue eyes sparkling. He grabbed Micah by the waist, jerking his body close and holding him so tight that Micah gasped. Tristan took it as an open invitation and slanted his mouth over Micah’s, thrusting his tongue in and stealing his breath.
A noise somewhere between a growl and a moan drew their attention away from each other. Gabe stood close enough to them to reach. Eyes wide and glassy, he opened his mouth to speak, yelping when Tristan grabbed him by the arm and dragged him down onto the bed between him and Micah. It took them about six seconds to slide into a three-way kiss that was far from perfect, but got the job done regardless.
Tristan pulled back, staring into Gabe’s eyes then Micah’s. “I want you both to be absolutely certain that this is what you want. We are dangerously close to past the point of no return here and as much as I want what you are offering, I care about both of you way too much to fuck up the friendship we have for something you might regret with a clearer head.”
Gabe laughed. “Didn’t we just go over all this downstairs?” he asked, a playful tone to his voice.
“Yeah, we did. I just wanted to be certain that we were all still on the same page after spending a few minutes outside of the gravity that seems to be pulling us all together.” Tristan ran his hand over Gabe’s head, letting it rest at the nape of his neck.
No one spoke for a few moments; then Micah said, “That is our foundation.”
“What is?” Tristan asked.
“Our friendship, it’s our foundation. Tragedy brought the three of us together, but the friendship is what kept us together. I want this — want both of you. I have for a while but I was too fucking scared to say anything. Now that I have the two of you and I know you both feel the same way, there is no way I am letting either of you go.” Micah reiterated everything they’d just said downstairs, praying that they could be done with talking and move on to more pleasurable activities.
Tristan smiled at them both. “Just one more thing; condoms?”
“Well, Gabe has only been with me since…” Micah paused, not wanting to say the name out loud.
“Okay, how about you?” Tristan asked, knowing what Micah was saying, without actually saying the name.
“I… I had a shoot not long ago, but we get tested before and after and I’m clean. It’s up to you Tris, but I think we’re okay without them.” Micah explained.
That was enough talking for one night. More in depth conversations could be had the next day; now was the time to touch, kiss, get to know each other’s bodies inside and out. Tristan stood, holding his hand out to Micah. He pulled Micah up as soon as their hands touched, turning his body so his back was pressed to Tristan’s chest. Gabe sat up on his knees on the foot of the bed, eyes roaming, watching as Tristan began the slow, torturous dance of stripping Micah.
He ran his hands down Micah’s arms, raising them up over his head. Micah’s body reacted to his touch instantly, trembling. Tristan lifted the hem of Micah’s shirt, pulling it up and off, tossing it on the floor. With his legs, Tristan stepped for both of them, right up to the edge of the bed. He moved Micah’s hair off his shoulder and bent, kissing him on the collarbone, running his lips up to Micah’s ear. “God, Tris,” he moaned.
While Tristan ran his hands gently over Micah’s arms, stomach and ass, Gabe leaned forward and licked one of his nipples. “Uhhh,” Micah groaned, grabbing Gabe by the head and holding him there. Gabe bit down on the pert bud pulling a shout from Micah. Tristan’s hands de
lved beneath the material of Micah’s pants, pushing them down to his hips, exposing Micah’s cock, hard and wet at the tip.
Tristan leaned down, whispering into Micah’s ear as he ran his finger over the slit of Micah’s cock, his eyes trained on Gabe so that he would know Tristan’s words were meant for both of them. “I want to bury my head between your legs and suck your pretty cock until you’re a sweaty mess, writhing and calling out my name. Then I want to lie on my back and watch you as you ride me until you can’t hold yourself up. I want to fuck you on every flat surface in this house. Then I want to fuck you standing up, against the wall, until you scream and beg me not to stop.”
The noise Micah made started deep down inside his body. Tristan could feel the vibration as it traveled up his spine, making him weak with need. He never took his eyes off Gabe, needing to make sure Gabe saw the sincerity of what Tristan was saying, that the words weren’t meant for only Micah just because Tristan’s hands and mouth were on him as he spoke.