by Livia Grant
"Exactly, so a single woman having consensual sex with two non-students is no big deal. You, on the other hand, are a married professor. A person in power, having sex with a young student in exchange for changing grades. I'm not sure, but I think that is a no-no at most universities."
"You have no proof. As you said, there are no cameras in here."
Jaxson laughed, "And how hard do you think it would be for me to find other students who would come forward to out the hard-ass professor who blackmailed them into blowjobs for better grades?"
The man behind the desk looked like he had swallowed something sour. Almost a full minute of silence passed before he countered, "What do you want?"
Jaxson was ready. "I want you to apologize to Emma and I want you to remove any trace of her probation from her record."
"It's too late. I already filed the paperwork."
"Then you have a problem, don't you?"
Professor Kanowski's face turned victorious. "I'll go public with the video. I'm pretty sure the local news station would love to get footage of two celebrity men fucking a young woman and each other."
Jaxson's voice filled with venom. "Get your story straight, asshole. What Emma, Chase and I do is a lot more than fucking."
The professor laughed victoriously, not understanding Jaxson's point. "Well it sure looked like fucking to me. I admit, seeing Emma's tits as you plowed her got me all hot and bothered. I'm sure once it hits the Internet, the world will enjoy jacking off to it almost as much as I did."
Jaxson was around the desk in a flash, pulling the professor to his feet before slamming him against the wall of bookshelves. Several books from the upper shelves fell on the men from the velocity of the crash.
"Listen up, you asshole. I'm not going to let you hurt my Emma."
"Your Emma? Christ, you sound like you actually care about her."
"Damn right I care."
"Oh come on. The door is closed. There is no camera. It's just you and me so you don't have to keep up the lie."
The fact that this man found it impossible that a man like Jaxson could be in love with Emma frankly pissed him off. Would this be everyone's reaction when they went public?
It was then that he understood why Emma wasn't answering her parent's phone calls. Why he was avoiding Roberta and why he dreaded seeing his own father.
Why did the world have to be so fucking judgmental? Well fuck the world. The last few weeks of hiding at Emma's had been wonderful, but vacation was over. It was time to go public. For the first time all day he felt back in control.
His first order of business was to set things right with the jack-off in front of him. "You're a real prick, you know that? I'm gonna make this easy for you. You have exactly twenty-four hours to apologize to Emma and to squash the probation or I go to the press. As you pointed out, I'm a celebrity. When we go public, the papers are going to eat up my relationship with Emma and Chase. And when I have the spotlight, don't think the same reporters won't be interested in listening when I tell them about the Dean of Business who is blackmailing students into sex for grades."
"You wouldn't."
"Try me."
Jaxson was almost out the door when the man's taunt made it to him. "You're some piece of work. You have Emma believing you wanted her to leave school to go on the road with you. If that were true, you should be happy she might get kicked out of school. Then she'd be free to go away with you. This is probably your way of getting rid of her when you're done with your fun."
Jaxson stopped in his tracks, not bothering to turn around to face the jerk who'd hurt Emma. "You don't know shit about me. I want Emma to come away with Chase and me, but she needs to do it because she chooses to. Not because she has no other choice. Twenty-four hours."
Jaxson closed the door behind him, leaving the professor to contemplate his next move.
Chapter 14
The attic was oppressively hot the next morning when Jaxson stirred awake. As always, they had slept curled up together after making love into the night. He was thinking about how nice it would be to get back to their king-sized beds on the road when it struck him that there might be only two of them in that bed after they left. They hadn't talked about Emma leaving with them again the night before after he'd returned from his run. Instead they had each tried to win an academy award for their ability to hide from the eight-hundred pound gorilla hanging around their necks like a noose.
Time was ticking down and they all knew it.
Emma was curled up in front of him with Chase spooning her from behind. He hadn't opened his eyes yet, but he didn't need to to know his lovers were awake too. The heavy blanket of their unknown future weighed on Jaxson. It was Friday morning. Only one day to sort out if the men would be accompanying Emma to visit her family over the weekend. As much as he'd like to, this is one area where he knew he couldn't dominate Emma's decision.
The first sound to fill the room was another cell phone.
"We should all turn our damn phones off." Chase's uncharacteristic grouse surprised Jaxson.
"At least it's not my dad again," Emma sighed, leaning up and over Jaxson to grab her phone from the nightstand. "Oh my God. It's my professor. He's kicking me out. I just know it."
Jaxson hadn't told them about his detour to visit with the slimy professor the day before and he wanted to keep it that way. "Just answer it and see what he has to say."
She answered tentatively, "Hello?"
Emma listened, her breath becoming shorter as time passed. She tried to interrupt the call several times, but wasn't successful until she finally asked, "But what about the video? You're going to keep that private?"
Jaxson could see the worry lines receding from her forehead as tears came to her eyes. It appeared the good professor had taken his threats seriously.
Emma ended the call, a huge grin on her face. "Wow. He called to tell me he had second thoughts and has rescinded my probation. He even apologized for how he treated me. Can you believe that?"
Emma was distracted by the phone call, but Jaxson felt Chase's stare from the other side of the bed. When their eyes met, Chase's grin told him at least one of his lovers had figured out why the asshole had had a change of heart.
The silent air kiss Chase playfully sent his way made Jaxson's heart contract with emotion. Chase knew him so well. He was so much more than his lover. He was his best friend. Whatever happened over the next few weeks as they sorted their relationship out, one thing was for sure—Jaxson needed to protect his friendship with Chase first and foremost.
Emma hadn't even settled back into bed when the next phone rang. This time it was Roberta's ring. And just like that, the heavy blanket was dousing them. Worry filled Chase's gaze again. Jaxson needed to deal with this. Delaying the inevitable wasn't helping any of them any more.
He reached for the phone and hit ANSWER just in the nick of time. "Hey, Roberta."
"God dammit, Jaxson. What the fuck is going on? I jumped through hoops to get you a few weeks off and how do you repay me? You drop off the fucking face of the earth, refusing to take my calls. You'd better have some damn good excuse, buddy. I've been lying my ass off to keep you two from losing the most lucrative contract I've ever gotten for you, so don't you fucking dare hang up on me."
Jaxson sighed, "We've missed you too, Roberta."
"Don't try to charm your way out of this, buddy. I'm pissed. I don't deserve this shit. You're giving me grey hair. I hate grey hair!"
Jaxson chuckled at her melodramatic rant. It was so Roberta. She was an awesome agent and she was right about one thing. She didn't deserve to be lied to any more.
"Okay, well I'll start by saying I'm sorry. How about that?"
There was a pause at the other end of the phone. "Who the hell is this and how did you get Jaxson's phone?"
"Ha, ha. Very funny. What exactly is it you need from us? We still have two more weeks off."
"Well that's just it. You only have ten more days, not two weeks."
"No. I distinctly remember us committing to being back on the first."
"Yes, well that was before I nabbed you the Abercrombie fall promotion. They had already started shooting and hated the first review enough they are changing directions completely. They are willing to sign a full years contract just to get you two specifically. When I couldn't reach you, I was able to buy you another week, but you absolutely must be in London by next weekend."
He felt Emma and Chase staring at his back as he stared out the only window to look down on the driveway. His heart was racing as he thought through their options. He expected to feel trapped, but a welcome calmness settled instead. He knew his way forward.
He spun to face his lovers before answering his agent and manager. "Alright, we'll meet you in London, but not before that Monday. That will be four days earlier than I promised. That has to be good enough."
He could hear her cussing under her breath before answering. He could see the tears welling in Emma's eyes as Roberta answered in his ear. "You can be a real pain in my ass, you know that Jax? It's a damn good thing you and Chase make me a lot of money. I'm going to need it to recover later. I assume Chase is still with you, right? You'll tell him?"
"Yep. We'll see you in London on Tuesday, the twenty-eighth."
"No. On Monday, the twenty-seventh."
"Bye Roberta." He ended the call before she could pressure him more.
Not a word had been spoken when his phone rang again. "Dammit Roberta, We're coming back four days early. That has to be good enough."
"Hello Jaxson."
Fuck. He should have looked at his phone to see who it was.
"Father. I guess it's too late to hang up and pretend I missed your call."
"I've missed you too, son."
He was annoyed by his father's smug banter. "So what do you need today, Senator?"
"Can't I just call my son to see how he's doing? You haven't been home in over a year. Surely they let you have a vacation at some point."
He shouldn't get joy out of hurting his father, but he did. "As a matter a fact, I've been on vacation for several weeks now."
The silence on the line assured Jaxson his barb had hit home.
"Like I said, what do you need?"
Before his father answered, Jaxson heard a muffled argument at the other end of the line. The sound of his father cussing out the poor man in the process of shining his shoes for missing a spot reminded Jaxson of what a pretentious asshole his old man was.
His father returned to the call, unaware of Jaxson's growing anger. "I thought you'd like to know that I will be announcing my candidacy for President at a gala in DC next Saturday."
So the reports on the news had been right. Jaxson wasn't surprised. The only thing his father had ever cared about was power and money. He had proven that when the senator had sold his own mother's ancestral homestead for several million to a development group against her wishes. The cherry on the top had been his shoving the brokenhearted woman into a retirement home, never visiting her and leaving her to die an early death alone. Jaxson had sworn as he had stood at his grandmother's grave at the age of fifteen that he would be sure to treat his father with the exact same disregard he had shown his own mother.
"President, you say. I didn't know you wanted to be president of the PTA. I thought you had to still have a kid in school to be elected to the board of parents."
"I see you still haven't outgrown your angry phase, son."
"Sorry Dad, but I'm afraid this isn't just a phase. Thanks for the info. Tell Mom I say hi. Oh yeah, I forgot. You don't speak to her either unless it's in front of the cameras."
"How would you know? You're never here."
"Touché. Well..."
"Wait. Jaxson?" Here it comes. He always wanted something. "My campaign manager says it's critical that you be there on stage with your mother and me when we make the announcement."
Jaxson sighed, "Of course it is. Have to keep up the image of the All-American family and all, right? Maybe we can bake cookies afterwards and play a board game."
"You don't have to be such an ass about this, you know."
"See, that's where I think you're wrong. I'm assuming you'd look for my endorsement of your campaign?"
"Is that a rhetorical question?"
"Still voting against anything that might help minorities? How about your stance on immigration? Let me guess, still preaching that the LGBT community deserves to burn in hell?"
"Enough. You only support those causes to piss me off."
"I hate to burst your bubble, Dad, but I actually believe you and your cronies are wrong on almost every topic. It's life-long politicians like you that are driving our country into the ground."
"What do you know about it, Jaxson? You spend your time gallivanting around the world on yachts getting your picture taken for the tabloids and drinking champagne. Save me the lecture." His father took a deep breath, apparently remembering he had called to ask for a favor and realizing screaming at Jax may not be the best way to manipulate him into compliance. He finished with a quiet, "You owe me."
The plan came to him in a flash. "For the record, I don't owe you shit, Dad, but I don't want to fight with you anymore. I'll come and smile for the cameras. The world can have their photos of the perfect First Family, but then I'm out of there. Don't ask me to go on the road for you or any shit like that."
He heard the surprise in the elder man's voice. "Really? You'll come? I can have them advertise it?"
"Yeah, I'll give you one night."
"Thank you, Jaxson."
"Just have Bonnie send me the details." He hung up without saying good-bye.
Chase was in his face within seconds. "What the fuck was that, Jaxson? You didn't even ask me and now you have us going back early? And you swore you'd never help your father get elected to dog catcher, let alone lend him your support for the presidency."
Emma had tears falling down her cheeks, yesterday's mascara smeared adorably under her eyes like a raccoon. She had no idea how refreshing that was for Jaxson. The models he was used to dating would never let him see them without their full face on. Emma was real. He wouldn't... no couldn't... lose her.
"Relax, Chase. I'm not going." He made sure they were listening carefully before continuing. "We're going. We can't stay holed up in the attic forever and we'll make a stop in DC on the way to London."
He closed the distance to Emma, holding her close and looking down into her glistening eyes. Chase stepped up to hold her from behind, sandwiching her between them.
"Come with us, Emma. Please." He hated the vulnerability he heard in his voice.
The tears were overflowing down her cheeks. He reached out to swish them away with the pad of his thumb, caressing her cheek softly as if he were afraid to frighten her away.
"But what will happen when you guys get tired of me? When you realize I’m the third wheel you don’t need anymore? I mean, surely you're going to meet some gorgeous, famous A-listers and want to settle down. Threesome’s like ours don’t make it in the light of day.
Chase was chuckling, rubbing against her suggestively. "Honey, we are consenting adults and we can have any kind of relationship we damn-well want. And for the record, Jaxson was raised with A-listers. He's been surrounded by the rich and famous his whole life. Why do you think he's with us?"
Chase's gaze locked on Jaxson before he continued seriously. "It's what I love about him the most. He will always be loyal to those who love him, not to those with the biggest bank accounts, fame or power."
The word love hung in the air between them. He had known Chase loved him as his best friend, but today the word felt different. More important. Real.
"Chase... I..."
The blond man's grin defused the heaviness of the moment. "It's okay, baby. I know you aren't ready to say it yet, but I am. I love you Jaxson Davidson just like I love Emma. You two may still be dicking around trying to fight it, but I'm on record for saying it first. I do
n't want this to end. Ever. I want to spend the rest of my life with you both. Just like this. Having freaking hot sex. Traveling the world. Growing old together. Raising kids together. The works. And I'd really appreciate it if you would both get your heads out of your asses and get with the program here."
Jaxson couldn't tear his eyes away from Chase, even when he heard Emma sobbing between them. She wiggled herself around in his arms to turn and tackle Chase, pelting him with kisses on his bare chest and neck as the men held their visual connection.
Jaxson's heart was racing. They were in uncharted territory and yet it felt good. "That was a pretty important speech you gave there. You thinking of running for office one day, like my dad?"
The smile that lit up Chase's handsome face gutted him. "Just for the PTA."
Jaxson couldn't wait another second. He rushed forward, crushing Emma between them as he crashed his mouth to Chase's in a searing kiss. The men's tongues dueled, igniting the fire that was always just below the surface when the three of them were together. The intensity of their passion was like a drug for them all, taking them flying high.
Only the sound of yet another cell phone ringing could distract them. The men caught their breath as they leaned in, their foreheads touching intimately as Emma wiggled from between them. They snapped together like magnets, pressing close so their aroused cocks rubbed against each other. Jaxson felt the wetness of Chase's pre-cum smearing against his groin, flaming his own desire.
The sound of Emma talking to her parents doused the fire just a bit. "Yes, Daddy. Actually, I'm glad. I need to talk to you and Mom too. Okay. Bye."
Emma turned back towards them and he could see she was fighting the return of her panic. "They're almost here. They want to take me to lunch. They're worried about me."
She crossed to her dresser and began taking out a bra and panties before reaching into her armoire for a summer dress. "I'm gonna take a quick shower."
Chase reassured her. "Yeah, you go first. It takes you longer to dry your hair. Jax and I can be ready to go in just a few minutes after our shower."