The Thing About Us: A MMF Bisexual Romance

by Jennifer Domenico

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means, Ben, I love you, and I want to spend my life with you. It’s time to stop hiding behind a friendship façade or using Georgie as some sort of moderator or excuse. You and I need to learn how to love each other the proper way.”

  My breath catches as I try to fight the emotion. “I love you, but I don’t want to live as a gay man. I don’t want that for you either.”

  He strokes my face. “I’m not asking you to, but I am asking you to consider how you feel about Georgie.”

  My brow creases. “Are we back to the beginning where I’m the side dick in this equation?”

  “No, Ben.” He cups my face. “Do you think, somewhere inside, you love Georgie?”

  “Love?”

  “Yes, Ben, love. The way you love a girlfriend. The way you love someone you want in your life. The way you love someone you want to make love to. The way you love me.”

  As soon as the question registers, the answer is so clear. “Yes.” It’s a whisper.

  Luc smiles. “Good.” He picks up his phone from the nightstand and shows me a selfie of me lying asleep on his chest and him with a huge grin on his face. “I sent this to Georgie whilst you were kipping. She’s on her way over.”

  “Why?”

  He leans down and kisses me softly. “My darling Benny, we have so much more to discuss. The night is just beginning.”

  We both sit up and Luc leans in to kiss me again. I’m slightly confused as to what’s happening next, but admittedly I’m happy to clear the air with Georgie. I’ve been a dick to her. After a quick freshening up, I throw on a pair of shorts and give a pair to Luc to wear. We walk out to the living room, and I grab a bottle of wine from my collection.

  “I’ll get some glasses.”

  Luc nods, settling back on my couch in a sexy pose with his arm over the back and one leg bent. He’s fucking perfection. In the kitchen, I find the wine opener and get three glasses down from the cabinet. It’s already nearly eleven, so I imagine it’ll be an all-nighter.

  Back in the living room, I take a moment to just study Luc before he catches me. It brings me back to all those nights of partying, crawling clubs looking for women, and drinking sessions where I tried to pretend I wasn’t attracted to him. It was his last birthday…

  He looks up and grins. “What’s on your mind, mate?”

  Smiling, I join him on the couch. “Remember your birthday celebration last year?”

  He nods. “Vaguely.”

  I laugh. “Yeah, we drank a lot.” I open the wine bottle, meeting his gaze. “We were sitting on your couch drinking straight from the bottle. You closed your eyes and leaned your head back.” Luc nods. “I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. I wanted to touch you. I wanted to kiss you. I considered it for a minute, deciding we could blame it on alcohol. I could pretend I didn’t remember or I could say I thought you were a girl.”

  Luc’s eyes soften as he takes my hand in his. “All the way back then?”

  I nod. “You opened your eyes and when you looked at me, I swear you knew. There was this moment where I moved just slightly in your direction, and you didn’t flinch. Do you remember?”

  He shakes his head. “Barely. What happened next?”

  “You put your hand on my shoulder and leaned into me, but a second later, you were out. I laid you down on the couch and moved to the chair.”

  “Did you kiss me?”

  I close my eyes for a second, before returning his curious gaze. “I did. Just barely brushed my lips on yours.”

  He smiles. “I thought I dreamt it.”

  My eyes widen. “What?”

  “I remember feeling a kiss and cracking my eyes open and seeing you above me, but I was so pissed I just drifted back to sleep. In the morning, I convinced myself it was a dream. Nothing more.”

  “I thought I got away with it.”

  “You did.”

  “Do you feel violated?”

  Luc laughs. “No. In fact, I never brought it up because I thought he’ll think what the bloody hell is this bloke doing dreaming about me kissing him.”

  I fill the wine glasses. “And now look at us.”

  “I like kissing you.”

  “Back at ya, English.” I search his eyes for a minute. “How do you feel now? Embracing male sex the way we have?”

  “I love it. It’s an entirely different level of pleasure than one gets with a woman.” He smiles. “But I believe it’s because it’s you. It’s the connection we’ve always had that made it possible to go this far. If another man had kissed me I would’ve punched him.”

  We both laugh. “Definitely. Fun fact, I did just that when a guy kissed me in a club one night. Years ago when I just got out of college. Me and some friends were partying and this guy started talking to me. I didn’t think much until he leaned in and kissed me. I lost my shit.”

  “Not hot?”

  “He was good looking but that’s not how I am. My ventures with men have been calculated and planned for the most part. I don’t think I would’ve dated another man after you except when Ryan asked, I was feeling so vulnerable. I needed a distraction.”

  Luc nods. “I understand. I would say I wished we had talked earlier, but you pulling away from me like you did brought us to this moment. I had to do all the stupid things I did so that I could see what I was losing.”

  I lean in to kiss him, interrupted by the buzzer. “She’s here.”

  “Get ready, mate. She has a lot to say.”

  “Doesn’t she always?”

  I press the release and open the door. When she steps off the elevator, wearing a flimsy t-shirt, sandals, and leggings, she smiles. “Hi.”

  “Georgie.” I extend my arms and she walks into them, wrapping her arms around my waist and lying her head on my chest. I stroke her hair and kiss the top of her head.

  After a minute, she looks up at me. “I missed you, Benny.”

  I pinch her chin. “I missed you too, gorgeous. Come in. Luc is waiting for us.”

  We enter and Luc is now standing, waiting for us. Georgie walks over to him and they just gaze at each other for a moment.

  Luc brushes his fingers over her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

  “I know.”

  “You were right. About everything.”

  She laughs softly. “I know.”

  “Do you forgive me?”

  “Nothing to forgive, Luc. This was just part of your process.” She glances over her shoulder at me. “For all of us. Now we can talk like adults and stop all this nonsense and avoidance and misunderstandings. Do we all agree?”

  Luc nods, shifting his eyes to me. “We’re ready.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “I should hope so after the picture I received.” She grins. “Did you guys fuck like monkeys?”

  I laugh, but Luc pinches her chin. “No, Georgie. We made love and it was bloody fantastic.”

  “Aww. Did you at least record it for me?”

  “Not this time, love. This one was just for me and Ben.”

  She smiles. “That’s beautiful.”

  “I opened the wine. Why don’t we sit and talk about…everything I guess?”

  Georgie sits in the chair near the couch, while Luc and I sit across from her. I hand her a glass of wine and except for her attire, she looks like she’s ready to conduct a business meeting.

  “I’ll just get things started,” she says.

  Luc and I exchange glances like kids in the principal’s office.

  “The bullshit that’s been going on the last month was caused by three intelligent adults who never got out of their own heads long enough to see what was happening around them. Mostly you two, but a little bit me.”

  I smile while Luc chuckles.

  “Luc had the pleasure of hearing from me firsthand how things are going to be from now on. It’s your turn, Ben.”

  I nod, ready for whatever she has to say.

  “First of all, this has neve
r been a Georgie and Luc thing. From the beginning, it’s been the three of us. It’s always going to be the three of us. Somewhere along the way both of you decided it had to be a couple plus one. We see where that got us. Jealousy, hurt feelings, confusion. Neither of you talked to me before making up your minds how it was going to go.”

  I nod. “True.”

  Luc agrees. “Yes.”

  She points to me. “So you run off to San Francisco and fall into something with another guy. You broke my heart with that, Ben.”

  I cast my eyes away from hers. “I never thought about that.”

  “No, you didn’t. And then you, Luc, you come in with a diamond fucking ring proposing to me when we’ve been together for a damn minute knowing how I feel about marriage and monogamy. And, you left an important part of the equation out.”

  “Ben.”

  “Right. So the two of you have finally accepted you’re in love and belong together and that’s fantastic, but you’re not done.” Luc glances at me with a smirk on his face. “It’s not conventional, but nothing about us is. I’m not in a relationship with Luc. I’m in a relationship with both of you. Luc is in a relationship with both of us, and you’re in a relationship with me and Luc.” She sets her wine glass down and kneels in front of me. “Ben, when I told you I loved you on your voicemail, I meant it. All the times I’ve told you, I meant it. Those are not words I give out freely. Hell, I told you before I told Luc because we relate on a different level. I didn’t mean it as friends or, I don’t know, some kind of token saying. I meant I give you my heart.” She grips my hands. “You’ve been so fucked up over all of this you couldn’t see what I needed you to see. You didn’t only hurt Luc when you went out with Ryan. You hurt me too.”

  “I just assumed you would say yes to his proposal.”

  “Why? What did I ever do that gave you the impression I chose him more than you?”

  “The conversation we had before I went to San Francisco. You both sat down and talked it out and decided I was the side dick.”

  She shakes her head. “No, uh huh, that is how Luc portrayed it to you.”

  “Not fair, love. You agreed when we discussed it.”

  She exhales slowly. “Okay, you’re right, but honestly I was just buying us all some time for you boys to see my vision. It was too early for Luc to understand his feelings for you. In some ways it was too early for me too.” She squeezes my hand. “Believe me, I never thought you would take it that far. Either of you.”

  We sit silently for a moment. “I felt left out.”

  “I know. That’s why you shut down and wouldn’t talk to either of us, and it’s okay now. We all understand what went wrong. It doesn’t even matter. What matters now is that we figure out what happens next.”

  “Tell him your vision, love.”

  “And you won’t go tearing off into this night this time?”

  He fights back a smirk. “No.”

  “Good.” Her eyes shift to mine, softening the way they do when she looks at me. “Ben, all of this happened very fast. None of us really had time to process it. I struggled with realizing that I had feelings for you both. It wasn’t just fun and games. My heart got involved. So while the two of you were not speaking and I wasn’t speaking to Luc, I spent time deciding what I wanted for the three of us. Together.”

  Luc studies me with a serious expression. I nod. “Let’s hear it.”

  “I want the three of us to have a committed and monogamous relationship.”

  My brow crinkles. “Monogamous?”

  “You, me, and Luc. I’m not talking about how we have sex. I’m talking about how we live. Who we eat dinner and talk about our days with. Who we vacation with.” Her eyes tear up, surprising the hell out of me. “Who we spend our lives with. And yes, the one thing that scares the hell out of me- domestic shit.” I’m speechless, processing her words. “I love you and I love Luc. Luc loves me and he loves you. You love Luc, but do you love me?”

  I nod, as a tear streaks down my face. “Yeah, Georgie, I do.”

  She smiles. “You’re not the side dick, Ben. You’re an equal and desired part of us.”

  “You’re saying…” I blink rapidly, overcome with emotion. When my eyes meet Luc’s, his eyes are welling with tears too.

  Georgie scoots closer, pressing her hands on my cheeks. “Ben, what I’m saying is will you, can you, be in a permanent threesome? Inside and outside the bedroom.”

  My tears fall freely as every dream I’ve been wanting suddenly comes true. I gaze at Luc, who brushes away his tears, then back at Georgie who lets hers fall too. “Yes. Absolutely yes.”

  Georgie smiles. “So that’s it then. The three of us are back together.”

  Luc nods. “That’s it then. What should we do now?”

  Georgie wiggles her eyebrows. “I have a few ideas.”

  ∞∞∞

  The next morning, I open my eyes to find Luc behind me and Georgie in front of me. I’m exhausted, but it was so worth it. So fucking worth it. I don’t think my dick works anymore though. It might be out of commission. Carefully, I crawl out of bed, so as not to wake them up, and walk into the living room. Damn, it’s nearly eleven. I grab my phone and text Ryan.

  You were right. He loves me. She does too.

  It only takes a moment for him to respond.

  Holy shit. Can I call?

  I’ll call you.

  I dial his number.

  “Hey, Ben.”

  “Hi.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well, they’re both in my bed sleeping right now. They came over last night and we all talked it out. First Luc came and he told me he was in love with me.”

  “That’s fucking awesome. Georgie is too?”

  “Yeah. She came over later. We talked it out. They don’t want me to be the third wheel. They want it to be an equal situation.”

  “And how do you feel now?”

  “Happy.” The word catches in my throat. “Beyond happy.”

  “I’m so excited for you, Ben. It was meant to be this way.”

  “Thanks, Ryan. I don’t think I could’ve gotten to this place without you.”

  “I think you’re right.” We both laugh. “Seriously, everything happens the way it should. I came into your life when you needed it. You entered mine for a reason too.”

  “What reason is that? To disrupt your life for two weeks?”

  “No, Ben. You’ve become a friend, and I know we’ll stay that way. I felt really good with you. More myself than I have in a while. Sometimes helping someone else helps us too.”

  “What did you need help with, Ry?”

  “I didn’t tell you, but I ended my last relationship by telling her I wasn’t ready to settle down with one person.”

  “Her?”

  “Yes, her. I believed it when I told her that, but after listening to what you were going through with Luc and Georgie and helping you navigate your feelings, I had some clarity.”

  “On?”

  “The night you told me you didn’t want to live as gay man and that Luc wouldn’t either, it hit a nerve. I realized…”

  “What?”

  “I don’t think I’m bi, Ben. I think I’m gay. I ended things with her because I wasn’t attracted to her. I had sex with three women after her, but it was always the same. It was going through the motions. I met you and it was so comfortable and natural. I didn’t have to pretend to be interested. I didn’t have to amp myself up for sex. I wanted you.”

  “Maybe it’s like Luc and it was just a connection we had.”

  “No, Ben. You came into my life when I needed you too. I needed the clarity you provided. I wanted you to be with Luc and Georgie because that’s your truth. That’s where your heart lives. I’m gonna find where my heart lives now.”

  “God, Ryan, you’re such an amazing person. I wished it could’ve been us. Maybe in another life, it would’ve been.”

  “Yeah, I like that thought. I hope you
understand now how incredible you are. Even Luc couldn’t stop himself from falling. Had we hung out longer, I’d be right there with him. All dick whipped and sad.”

  We both laugh softly. “I know you’ll find your person because now you’re open to them. To him. I’m proud of you, Ryan. It takes a lot to accept these things sometimes.”

  “No, I’m good. I’m not sad or freaked out. If I’m honest, I’m perfectly comfortable with it. I just couldn’t see it until now.”

  I smile, gazing up when Luc comes shuffling out of the bedroom. “Keep me posted.”

  “I will. Thanks for the update. Super happy for you.”

  “I’m happy for you too.”

  I hang up and lean back, patting the spot next to me. Luc sits next to me, laying against my arm. “Who was that?”

  “Ryan. I wanted to tell him about us. He knew all along.”

  “He did. He came to see me one day before he left. He told me you were a friend and said a lot of shit that sounded like he knew but I didn’t know if he knew. I guess he did.”

  “He did.”

  “I should call him and apologize for being kind of a dick. He looks up to me.”

  “Everyone does.”

  “Are you cool with that? If I call him?”

  “Of course. I hope you can find a way to like him. He’s a great person, and I think we’ll always be friends.”