Kings of Hearts (An M/M/M Romance Novel)

by Candice Blake

  It was a bluff. I had nothing.

  The professor won that hand against me.

  “Good game,” I said, nodding to both of them. It was impressive to see them play like that. Though I knew it was dirty, it was part of poker and I had to respect that.

  “You did well, kiddo.” The professor said. “You beat out all the other people at the table, but there’s a lot you still need to work on.”

  “Which is the reason why you should join the club again,” Dominic said.

  “We’ll see about that,” the professor said.

  I walked back towards the double doors.

  “May the best man win,” I said.

  I waited for them in the atrium.

  It was a couple more hours of quietness in the lobby by myself. Even the bartender had ended his shift.

  The sun was starting to come up from over the falls. I laid onto a bench, trying to figure out which brother would come out on top--which brother would ultimately take me home.

  I couldn’t even choose who I wanted to win. They both could teach me a thing or two about myself.

  The double doors opened, and the dealer stepped out, but both brothers were still inside.

  The dealer went down the elevators and it was just me alone again in the atrium.

  I went up to the door to try and open it but it was locked from the inside.

  Chapter Twelve

  Dominic

  It was just me and my former stepbrother left in the game. It was exactly as I predicted before the game even started.

  His focus was stronger than I thought.

  “You’ve been brushing up on your game,” I said, glancing over at him.

  He scoffed. “I haven’t played in over a decade.”

  “No way, you’re far too good for that to be true.”

  “I got out of this dark and twisted world a long time ago, but I see that you’re still the same immature boy who’s consumed by it.”

  I smirked. “I’m not a quitter, like you. I actually follow through on my goals.”

  I knew I had struck a nerve with him from how his face changed. His smirk twisted to a slight frown, only for a brief second before he became stoic again.

  “That boy Adrian…how do you know him?” He asked me.

  The dealer dealt us our first hand since we got Adrian out.

  “I saved him,” I said. “Got him out of a sticky situation.”

  “That’s a lie,” Sawyer said. “I did that. I found him on a park bench.”

  “That was after I kicked him out for misbehaving.”

  “Why would you do that to a kid? It was freezing that night and he had nowhere to go.”

  “It’s called tough love,” I said. “It’s to teach him how to build character.”

  “What if he’d died?” Sawyer asked.

  “I knew he was smart enough to figure something out. I gave him two hundred bucks.”

  “Two hundred bucks? That can barely buy him a hotel room for a night.”

  “Well, he’s still alive and doing well. So how crazy is it really?”

  I glanced at my cards, then back at Sawyer.

  He was aging gracefully. I’d always been jealous of his blonde hair and light blue eyes.

  He got all the opportunities because of his classic good looks. I could smell his musk from where I was sitting, the smell of a true alpha, and a true winner. It was distinguishable, and it made me more competitive to win the game.

  “You’re no longer married,” I said, glancing at his bare hands.

  “She…passed away.”

  “Well, I’m sorry for your loss, though I never liked her.”

  “How could you say such a thing? Don’t you have any respect?”

  We were siblings at one point, and I knew all the right buttons to press.

  “It’s the truth, she was never the loyal type. The one who’d stick with you through thick and thin.”

  “What do you know? You’ve been single your whole life.”

  Just as easily as I could rattle him, he could do the same with me.

  I tried to hide my anger by taking a deep breath. “I’m single because I choose to be. I don’t need other people when I can rely on myself.”

  “Then why do you run that poker club?” He asked.

  “I run it from the goodness of my heart.”

  “What heart? There’s nothing there except a black void.”

  I hated how he always looked down on me, how even after all those years, he could never let go of the past.

  “Raise,” I said, pushing a stack of chips into the pot.

  “Check,” Sawyer said, just as quickly.

  The dealer revealed the flop, flipping over the first three cards.

  He was silent, unreadable. He was the one person in this world that could beat me in a game of poker.

  “You like him,” I said.

  “Who? Adrian?” He asked.

  I nodded, and he stayed silent, which I took it as a yes.

  “You do too,” he said.

  I did, and knowing that my former stepbrother was fighting over him, it made me desire him even more.

  “I’m hoping you haven’t done anything to him,” he said.

  “What would I do?” I asked.

  “Corrupt him.”

  “I haven’t gotten that far yet,” I said, smirking. As if I’d do anything to hurt Adrian. I only wanted to watch him grow and thrive.

  “Do you want to fuck him?” I asked.

  “N…No. Why would you ask that? I’m straight.”

  “Right. Aren’t we all?” I laughed. “I saw the way you were looking at him. You want to fuck him.”

  He moved uncomfortably in his seat and looked at the dealer who kept his eyes down on the table.

  “I don’t, or I didn’t think I did,” he admitted. Finally, some truth in what he was saying.

  “I know what you mean. Something about him—his talent, his brain. I know it’s tempting for you because it’s tempting for me as well.”

  We were both after the same thing. Not many people could appreciate the true talent of Adrian. Not many people could help him see his own full potential.

  The thought had crossed my mind many times.

  Adrian was flirty, he’d come into my room late into the night, wearing nothing except a pair of boxers. He’d sit at the edge of my bed, tempting me until I wanted to explode.

  I knew the boundaries I had to maintain to keep the club professional.

  But I knew he was testing me, to see how far I’d go. Like a true poker player, he was trying to get me to crack.

  But I never did.

  It was why I’d had to kick him out, because it was too much. There were nights where I’d have to head to the gym and bench press as much weight as I possibly could to let out the frustration.

  I knew he must have done the same to my former stepbrother because I saw the passion he had in this game to win Adrian.

  It was interesting to be having this conversation with Sawyer at the poker table with the dealer in the room. But there was a strict policy at the casino that the staff weren’t to repeat what they heard at the table, which made us talk freely and openly. Plus, it was fun to have a witness in the room who looked a bit embarrassed by the conversation we were having.

  “So, did you fuck him yet?” I asked.

  “Of course not. I already told you,” he said.

  “What are you waiting for?”

  He was quiet, like even he didn’t have that answer. He knew he wanted to. I knew I wanted to.

  “Concentrate on this game, so I can win and take him home.”

  “You wish,” I laughed.

  I won the next couple rounds, then Sawyer won the next three.

  It went back and forth, and I tried to bait him into making stupid decisions, but he knew me too well.

  He tried to do the same, but I was one step ahead of him. A few hours passed with no clear sign of who’d win.

  The drink
s I had early in the night were starting to make me sleepy.

  I wondered if Adrian was still waiting for us outside the room. The dealer didn’t know what he got himself into when he showed up for work that day.

  “You should just let me win so we can both go home,” I said.

  Sawyer, who had maintained his concentration all game, scoffed at me. “If this is going to be a game of patience, you know I’ll win.”

  There was no negotiating with him. He was going to play until the bitter end.

  We went through a few more rounds. Soon, the sun was coming up over the falls, reflecting off the rushing water and letting a beautiful rainbow into the room.

  “Should we strike a deal?” Sawyer finally asked.

  “We should,” I said. “It will be another few days if we keep going at this rate.”

  I glanced over at the dealer. “Can you please leave while we figure something out?” I tossed over some of my chips to him as a tip.

  He nodded and left the room.

  “We split the time with Adrian,” Sawyer said. “You get him for part of the time, and I get the same.”

  “No way, you’ve always gotten everything growing up,” I said.

  “It’s the way things go. I deserve it. I’m the one who can show Adrian his true potential.”

  “You’ll just be showing him the way to not live a fulfilling life. He’ll be bored with you.”

  “He’ll be shown discipline, and he’ll be shown how to use his talent for good.”

  I shook my head. “You don’t know Adrian at all. It’s obvious, that you just want him for personal gain.”

  Both of us glanced over at the door. Through the cracks, I could see that Adrian was standing on the other side of it.

  I closed my eyes to recall how sweet he smelled.

  The sweetness smelled like a flower that was just about to blossom. It was like a peach that had become so ripe, it was seconds from falling off a tree.

  I fought the urge to run to the door and rush him out of the casino, into my car, and back to my house. But even I knew that wouldn’t be fair to my former stepbrother.

  I could feel the tension coming from Sawyer’s body, his desire was my desire.

  I thought I’d never have to fight him for anything in my life again. Since our parents passed, we no longer had to prove to them our worth and fight for their affection.

  But history had a way of repeating itself. Now, what we were fighting for was so much more important than anything in the past.

  I closed my eyes to imagine having him to myself.

  Maybe I’d toss him on the poker table and have my way with him while my brother watched. But I was sure that he wouldn’t let me have any of that.

  He was far too competitive to have me win.

  The hard-on in my pants started to ache and when I looked down, I saw that my pre-come had soaked through.

  “Let’s let Adrian decide what he wants. That’ll determine it.”

  Sawyer thought for a moment, and I could see through his smirk that he thought Adrian would choose him. He didn’t know the history I had with Adrian. We had a connection that no one else shared, despite having to kick him out of my club.

  “Let’s do it,” he said.

  I could tell that he was just as antsy to leave the room.

  We stood up, and I could see that in the same spot where my pants had leaked pre-come, his had as well. Neither of us hid our natural response to the thought of taking Adrian home.

  I glanced down at his cock, wondering if he was as big as me, and he did the same. The heat coming from both our bodies was too much. The air in the poker room was getting thick, and both of us needed to get out of there to see Adrian.

  I went over and shook his hand like a true gentleman would after a decent game of poker. His handshake was firm.

  But both of us knew that this game was far from over.

  The real one was just about to begin, and it was going to start and end with Adrian.

  We both went out to the lobby where Adrian was.

  “Who won?” He asked.

  Sawyer and I both glanced at each other without saying anything with a grin that mirrored each other.

  “We had to stop playing because we couldn’t determine a winner or loser,” I said. “So we decided to split the pot and draw.”

  “So am I going to go home with you or Sawyer?” Adrian asked.

  “Good question,” the professor said. “We figured that we’d share you for the time being.”

  “You’ll spend some days with me learning poker,” Dominic said. “And some days with the professor, doing research.”

  He nodded, satisfied that it was the solution that we came up with.

  “Who do I go with first?” He asked.

  They once again both looked at each other with silent grins as if they were reading each other’s mind.

  “It’s late,” I said. “So we’ll get a hotel room here at the falls and we’ll decide after…some sleep.”

  Suddenly, the thought of sharing a room with Adrian made me feel the same rush as I did during the game. I was nervous, not knowing what would happen. But at the same time, I was curious about what Sawyer would do to Adrian in that hotel room.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Adrian

  I waited in Dominic’s car, while both of them were outside of the Hilton hotel next to the casino.

  My adrenaline was still rushing after the game. When I found out that they decided to declare a draw and share me, I was curious to know what was going to happen.

  At the table, when they were rubbing my legs, they must have known I was into guys.

  For my whole life, I’d been questioning my sexuality. Yet, both of them were cunning enough to figure it out before I did.

  I was burning for both of them. Two hot and sexy older alphas who dominated the poker table.

  I kept my eyes glued out the window to the lobby of the hotel.

  They were talking to the man behind the front desk. I could see that Dominic had a scowl on his face, while Sawyer was trying to calm him down.

  After a few more minutes, they walked out across the street and back into the car. Dominic took the driver’s side, and Sawyer took the passenger seat.

  “Do they have a room?” I asked.

  “No, they’re all full apparently, which I call bullshit on,” Dominic said.

  “Relax, you hothead,” Sawyer said. “We’ll find a room, no need to get so worked up over it.”

  Dominic merged back onto the road, and in his rage, he cut somebody off who honked at him.

  “Fucking asshole,” Dominic yelled.

  Sawyer smirked at how angry he was.

  “Still can’t control your anger after all these years,” Sawyer said.

  “I don’t need your lip right now,” Dominic said.

  The energy in the car was unbearable.

  Since before the game even ended, I couldn’t stop looking at their handsome faces. I couldn’t stop thinking about running my hands over their rugged bodies. Then, the whole time I was waiting, my cock dripped pre-come.

  We were all feeling the aftershock of adrenaline after an intense game of poker, and I knew we all needed a release.

  But I didn’t expect that I’d get both men at the same time afterward.

  My heart raced with the anticipation of what was going to happen once we found a place to rest for the night. I knew that the chance of all of us holding off on our urges would be non-existent.

  I was the professor’s teaching and research assistant. And I was once a member of the coach’s poker club.

  There was a forbidden aspect with both men that made me that much more eager to explore my sexuality with them.

  I was scared, they were both six-foot-five of ripped muscle. Neither of them wanted anything to do with each other and the only reason why we were in that car together was because of me.

  “Are we going to go home?” I asked.

  “No, I�
��m not going to head back into the city until I claim my prize,” Dominic said.

  “I hope you mean our prize,” Sawyer said.

  We drove down the strip and right before the on-ramp back to the highway, there was a Super 8 motel with a flickering neon sign.

  The sky was starting to brighten up and the only lights on the streets were the ones coming from the rooms in the one-story motel.

  Dominic drove up, knowing that it’d be our last chance to find something before we had to go back to the city.

  Dominic and Sawyer walked in and talked to the receptionist. I was once again waiting in the car. I was delirious from staying up all night and shaking from my excitement.

  The two guys came back out after a while and got back in the car.

  “So?” I said.

  “No luck, we’re going to have to take you home,” Sawyer said.

  I sighed, knowing that my fantasy was too good to be true.

  “Just kidding, there was one room left,” Dominic smiled pulling out the keys to our motel room.

  My heart started to race again. “You guys tricked me.”

  “Gotta work on not being so gullible if you’re ever going to be a great poker player,” Dominic said.

  We drove up to the room.

  Room six, right at the end of the wing. The three of us got out of the car and Dominic unlocked the door of the dark motel room.

  Sawyer tried to turn the lights on but the bulbs were burned out. When Dominic closed the door behind him, it was pitch-black.

  The air in the room was stale and humid.

  In the dark room, I could hear the rumble and deep breaths from both of the brothers.

  Then I felt two large hands on my hips.

  I quivered from the possessive touch.

  The hands moved up my body onto my neck. I opened my eyes wide to adjust to the darkness to see who it was, but I couldn’t tell.

  Then, I felt the lips of whoever was holding me against mine.

  I felt the passion in the kiss, and I closed my eyes to take in the kiss from another man for the first time. His stubble grazed my face, and I softened my body in his grip.

  I felt another set of hands on my ribs.

  “You sneaky bastard, stealing the first kiss. It’s my fucking turn,” Dominic said.