“You said when you get stuck and you’re writing, you think of something I’d say.” He studied her, brow cocked. “What do you write?”
“Nothing.”
He frowned. “It doesn’t sound like nothing.”
She peered at the door. “It’s not a big deal.”
“That means it is.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Luke glared at her. “Bullshit. What are you hiding?”
His sudden anger scorched her, and she ducked her head to watch her fingers tangling and untangling underneath the water. “You can’t tell Josh,” she whispered.
“Why can’t I?”
“Because he might make me stop.”
“If it makes you happy, he’d never make you stop.”
She nibbled her lip and bit down hard in irritation. How the hell had this slipped out when she’d been keeping it a secret for half a goddamn decade? “I-I, it was…” She looked at the doorway, back to Lucas, and then down to her fingers again. “You know when I first moved in here?”
“Of course I do. They were some of the best months of my life.”
She smiled at his earnestness. They had been damned good. She’d never had such fun. Now they had fun of a different nature, but all those years ago, they’d been learning about one another and their friendships had been developing.
“Well, sometimes, if…if you were loud, I could hear you through the vents.”
He frowned, then blinked. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. I didn’t want to say anything, because A, it would have embarrassed the hell out of me. And B, it helped me. When I was with you, I had so much fun, but it was kind of torture too. It was damned hard not touching you, not leaning in to kiss you when I wanted. I-I, well, I used to touch myself when I heard you. It used to get me off quicker. I felt like a goddamn pervert, but I thought I’d go crazy. Sometimes, I thought I’d explode from horniness.”
At her admission, he didn’t chuckle or tease, but he shook his head. “Irony is, Josh and I used to fuck the hell out of each other because of something you’d done or worn that particular day. I remember,” he reminisced. “You had this white top you wore a lot, and you didn’t know it, but we could see right through it and your bra when we were in the car. I don’t know why, but every time, we could see straight through. Soon as we got home, Josh and I had to come up here and work the need out of our systems. On top of that, you used to do the cutest stuff, and it made us goddamn hard. The way you eat ice cream,” he remarked with a groan. “It still makes my cock pound, but then? It took a hell of a lot of focus not to come just watching you. And with a snow cone?” He shuddered.
“I’m glad you two were suffering as badly as I was.”
“You’re a bloodthirsty minx,” he teased, making her chuckle.
As her laughter died, she mused, “Sometimes I used to imagine what you were doing when I heard those sounds. I did some research online, and the images were strong in my head. I used to write things down. One day, I figured if I put together all the bits and pieces I’d written, I’d have a decent story. I sent it to a publisher, and they bought it.”
“Do you mean to tell me you’re a published writer and you didn’t tell us?”
She licked her lips. “I-I was afraid you wouldn’t approve. Or, worse, it might put you in a delicate situation with your jobs. I know how tough it was back when we first met. I didn’t want to make it worse.”
Luke shook his head. “You still write?”
Gia fidgeted in the water. “Every day.”
“Do you still submit them to publishers?”
She nodded.
He frowned at her. “How many releases do you have?”
Gia cleared her throat. “About forty. Well, maybe forty-two.”
“Forty-two?”
His bellow made her jolt. “I write under a pen name. No one knows it’s me. I swear. I’d never do anything to put your careers in jeopardy.”
“For five years you’ve been writing, and you didn’t think to tell us? Shit, Josh is right. We need to stop keeping secrets from one another. I can’t believe you kept this from us.”
“I didn’t mean to, and then it got easier to keep it quiet.”
“Why would you want to? We’d have celebrated, Gia. Christ, you’ve achieved something most people wouldn’t imagine possible! Over forty books… I mean, God!”
“I thought because they’re all M/M, it might cause a problem for you.”
He paused at that, and for some reason, it seemed to break his anger. “You write gay romance?”
She shook her head. “Gay erotica.”
He studied her for a second, and then a roar of laughter escaped him. It gurgled from him like a torrent of bubbly escaping a champagne bottle. “We were your inspiration?”
Gia grinned at his jubilant chuckles but covered her mouth to hide it. Instead of replying, she simply nodded.
“All those times you watched, were you taking notes?”
“Well, mental ones.”
“You little monkey,” he chided, but his smile was still ridiculously large.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not,” he remarked. “If you were, you’d have told us. You only told me now because it slipped out.”
She reached for his hands. “Do we have to tell Josh?”
He sighed. “You said you write under a pen name?”
“Yes. No one but my publisher knows my real name.”
“You’re sure?”
“One hundred percent.”
“Then I don’t see why we can’t. The army is our boss, not yours.”
“He’ll disapprove.”
Luke snorted. “You have a weird perception of him, Gia. He’s a dirty bastard. You know that.” He eyed the bruises on her throat. “Look at that… He chokes you. Fucks you hard. We’re all involved in a ménage. No one could be more capable of accepting what you write than we two.”
“I don’t want him to think badly of me.”
“Why should he?” He paused. “I don’t.”
“Do you swear?”
“I promise. I want to read them, though.”
She blushed. “You mean that?”
“Of course I do. I can’t believe I haven’t been your guinea pig all these years.”
“I was concerned for you.”
“That’s sweet of you, honey, but it’s supposed to be the other way around. That’s why…” He hesitated again. “I think you should marry Josh.”
The subject, out of left field, had her freezing. “No.”
“Yes.”
“No. I won’t do it, Luke. I won’t. Especially not where your head’s at.”
“I want you to be safe. If you marry him, all his benefits go to you.”
“No. That’s bullshit. And unnecessary. My insurance is covered; so is Lexi’s. I know your wills are ridiculously generous. I’m secure enough as it is. I want you to have this, Lucas. I want you to know that you’re the foundation of what we all have together.”
He sighed. “It’s dumb. I don’t need a wedding ring.”
“Bullshit. You do. I don’t. Seriously. I’ve never needed it. If I could marry you both, then I won’t lie—I would. But I could never marry only one of you.”
“We could have a ceremony, celebrating what we have.”
“That’s fine, and I’m sure it would be beautiful. But I want the law at your back. I want you legally protected.”
He frowned. “Why?”
She jerked a shoulder. Water dripped down her arm from the long, drenched curls wrapped around the limb. “It’s important to me.”
“What’s important to you?”
The words had her gawking at the doorway. Josh stood there looking incredibly sexy, even if he was dressed in his uniform. “Why are you in your BDUs?”
“I have to go to the base.”
“You can’t be serious. You’re cutting out on us tonight? After what we all went through this afternoon?”
“It isn’t a matter of my cutting out of here, Gia,” he chided. “I want to pull some favors.”
“What kind of favors?” she demanded.
“Six free days for Luke and me before he deploys. Plenty of time to fly to Las Vegas and get this sorted.”
“I haven’t agreed to marry you. I don’t need you to pull any favors on my behalf.”
“We’re getting married, Luke. If I have to prod a goddamn shotgun in your back. We’d have married years ago if we could have, so I don’t know what’s holding you back now.”
“Because I want to marry the pair of you.”
“Well, you can’t.”
“Thanks for clarifying that for me, Josh,” Luke snapped. “What would we do without you?”
“Boys, stop it. In a perfect world, of course, we’d all get married. But this is far from being perfect. As it is, what’s finally happening in the US is epic. Let’s celebrate. You two have been together for a lifetime, and I want to watch you get married. I want to see it happen. It will make me happy.”
“How can it? I don’t want you to feel left out.”
She couldn’t help but snort at that. “Baby, I’m in the bath because I’ve been anything but left out. You think I look like a prune now? Wait until I’m finished in here.”
Charmed when his cheeks pinkened a little, she smiled at him encouragingly.
“If we do this, then we make legal provisions for Gia, Josh. More than we already have done.”
Josh popped his cap off his head and crumpled it in his hand. “Of course. That was always a given.”
Luke’s jaw rose. The stubborn move had Gia waiting for the bubble to burst. “I won’t get married in a cheap, shitty chapel. I want a proper church.”
“I’m sure there’s something that will suit you in Las Vegas. We can go and recon the place, find something that will make you happy. You think I want Elvis to marry us?”
“Well, as long as that’s understood.”
“It is,” Josh bit out, sarcasm loading his tone. “Now, I’m going to lick some ass. And I’ll have you know that general ass is the worst kind. Don’t say thank you too soon.”
Luke pursed his lips, staying silent until Gia splashed some water at him. “Thank you,” he relented enough to say.
“Well, I finally know what it feels like to be engaged,” Josh remarked to the room at large. He stepped over to the bath, then leaned over and waited for Gia to reach him and kiss his lips. With a sniff, he pointedly ignored Luke and made to turn away.
Quick as a flash, Luke grabbed the back of his jacket. “Give me a kiss, jackass.”
“And you say I’m not romantic,” Josh complained, but he bent down and let their mouths connect. He sighed, then pressed his forehead to Luke’s. “Look, I love you, you dick. I want the world to know it. I want that fucking school to know it. You understand me?”
“No, I don’t, but I’ll do it.”
“You don’t want to rock the boat; well, screw it. We’re both reaching the ends of our contracts. I have to retire when I’ve served for thirty years because they’re not going to promote me any higher. And I doubt you’ll stay on. I say screw them. I’m sick of hiding this. I’m sick of having to lie about you. It’s all okay because Gia’s here and we have a child together. The generals can forgive it because we look like a normal family if viewed a certain way. Well, fuck that.”
“Since when were you a rebel?”
“Since the man I love wanted to leave this family because society sucks balls.” He paused. “And not as well as you do.”
Luke ducked his head, a sheepish grin on his face. Gia couldn’t hide her own smile. She’d written countless scenes thanks to the inspiration of watching Luke rim Josh’s ass before dropping down to lick his balls. Her exhausted and aching cunt twinged a little at the memory of the howls Luke jerked out of Josh during those moments.
Josh squeezed Luke’s shoulder. “I’ll be at the school tomorrow. When’s the appointment?” he directed at Gia.
“Nine forty.”
He nodded. “I’ll be there. Don’t say anything to that bitch without me being there. Do you understand?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” she called out, slopping more water over the side of the tub as she rolled onto her knees, the enamel rocking against her joints as she saluted him.
“At ease, Corporal,” he mocked, eying her slick tits.
“Corporal?” she grumbled.
“Okay, Lieutenant. That better?”
“A little.” She slithered under the water again. “I already told Lexi she could leave the school.”
Luke groaned. “Honey, you can’t let a five-year-old in on a decision like that.”
“She doesn’t like it there. And neither do I. All the parents are snobs, and the kids aren’t much better. Neither are the teachers.”
“I agree. I don’t like the way they’re handling our situation, Luke. I was going to threaten the principal with pulling Lexi out, but if she isn’t happy there…”
Luke pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s a great school.”
“Maybe academically, but there’s more to life than academics. I want her to be happy, healthy, and rounded. What kind of impression are we giving her if we let her stay at a place where they actively slight our situation? Where they do nothing to protect her from the other children’s opinions?”
“We can’t wrap her up in cotton wool.”
“Since when?” she snapped. “Speak for yourself. She’s five, and she’s not too young to be swaddled. And we didn’t have to enroll her this year. She didn’t have to start until she was six.”
He waved a hand. “Where are we going to send her?”
“I’m going to get Dana on it.”
“You’re going to let your PA decide which school fits our daughter best?”
“No, I’m going to have her classify the available kindergartens and their programs, and then I’m going to make the decision because yours sucked. I don’t want her to speak French. What use is that nowadays? We need her to speak Russian or Arabic or Mandarin, for God’s sake.”
“Let’s concentrate on English first,” Gia retorted. “Now, before you completely wreck my afterglow, piss off to the office and work some magic. It will be wonderful to have a few days’ break without you having to run to the base.”
Josh smirked. “Pack those panties I bought you last month.”
“Getting ahead of yourself, aren’t you, Brigadier General? We’re not going yet.” She grinned.
“No, but we will be.” A glint sparked in those silver eyes. He winked. “See you in the morning, baby.” He squeezed Luke’s shoulder again, turned on his heel, and left the bathroom.
“Why is he going tomorrow?”
“Because I told him Mrs. Jacobie terrifies me.”
Luke shook his head. “It’s a wonder we’re all still together.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve stopped sharing everything. We used to be very open about the things that mattered, but now we’re hiding things from one another. Hell, it’s petrifying to realize the most open one of us is Josh.”
She bit her lip. “Yeah, no wonder things have been strained. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry about keeping this tidbit about the principal from me but you're not really sorry about the writing, are you?”
Sheepishly, she answered, “No, I was protecting you, and I’ll keep on doing that.”
Her stout words made him grin. “Well, either way, I’m proud of you.”
She flushed. “I might write terrible books.”
“I doubt it. Nothing you do could be terrible.”
“Charmer.”
“It’s the way I roll.”
The bitch of it was he was right.
Chapter Six
“Goddamn hypocrite bitch.” Josh growled as he strode out of the principal’s office, Gia dogging his heels.
Mrs. Jacobie’s assistant glared at them as they str
ode past, and Gia grabbed Josh’s elbow, dragging him to a halt.
“Slow down. There’s no rush.”
“There is. I need to get out of this place. It makes the fucking army seem lax.”
While she understood his anger, shared it, she sniggered. “Aren’t you glad Lexi isn’t a part of this place anymore? I don’t care if the word academy is a part of the title.”
“We’ll find her someplace where bigotry isn’t on the curriculum.” He hollered out the word bigotry, earning himself another glare from the secretary.
The oak-lined walls, the somber mulberry carpet, and the high shelves loaded with the various accomplishments earned by the many students unfortunate enough to have attended this place in the past added a refinement to the air that was as stifling as it was impressive.
Maybe it was her past, and maybe Mrs. Jacobie picked up on that and had always treated her like she was less because of it, but either way, she was relieved as hell to get away from here. As it was, they had to wait for Lexi’s teacher to escort her to the principal’s office. Then they were out of Gold’s Academy for High Achievers. For the final time.
Gia nearly popped her hips and jerked her arms into a happy dance. “I hate this place.” Instead of dancing, she cupped her elbows, and he spotted the gesture, curling his arm around her shoulder to tuck her close.
“I can see why. It seemed decent that open day we looked around, but I’m not having it said that that brat can terrorize my daughter because it would infringe his right to free expression and stunt his verbal growth to be told otherwise.”
Those words were quoted from the “old bitch’s” mouth.
“We should sue.” He growled. “Goddamn, I’d love to do that. Drag this place through the gutter press.”
She patted his arm. “Brigadier generals in the US Army don’t do things like that.”
“No, but pissed-off fathers do.”
“Yeah, but you’re both.”
“It sucks.”
“I know it does. But our hands are tied.”
His mouth pursed. “If I asked for another post, somewhere not in the Bible Belt and somewhere Lexi might be allowed to have some freedom of expression of her own, would you be okay with that?”
“Texas is my home.”
“No, we’re your home.”
The Luck of Love Page 6