by Alie Nolan
“So,” Jake said after swallowing his first mouthful of cupcake. “Shit, these are incredible,” he grinned. “So, I came by to ask if you two wanted to come to Matty and Max’s surprise birthday party next week?”
“You drove all the way over to ask? You could have texted,” Caleb chuckled.
“Yeah, I was hoping there’d be free treats if I came by, and I was right,” he took another huge bite of cupcake.
He was literally a younger version of his brother.
“Great, now I have to deal with two of you eating all of our profits,” I rolled my eyes and laughed.
“Fuck profits,” Jake laughed. “Why would you let anyone else eat these?”
“That’s what I always say!” Caleb agreed.
“You’re both ridiculous.”
They both nodded and I couldn’t help but smile at them.
“What day is it?” I asked.
“What?” Jake looked confused.
“The party,” I chuckled.
“Oh that, sorry, cupcake brain,” he put the half-eaten cupcake down. “Saturday.”
Caleb looked to me and I shrugged—leaving the decision up to him.
“Sure, we’d love to come,” Caleb told Jake.
I wondered briefly if it would be awkward to be around Matty again, after Caleb and I had shared the sexual fantasy of him. Although, I doubted Caleb would have time to act differently around him, because this would be the first time he would be in the company of these people after so long, and I was sure he would be too overwhelmed with all that to worry much about anything else.
I was proud of Caleb for being open to going, because he had to be anxious about seeing everyone. I knew he was doing it for Jake, and maybe Matty, more than anything, but I was proud either way.
After the first time we’d talked about Matty—after the mind-blowing sex we’d had while pretending he was with us—we’d spoken a couple more times about how we were both attracted to him, but we weren’t sure where to go from there… if we were going to go anywhere at all.
We’d talk about polyamory before, and both agreed years earlier, that we might be open to dating a third person at some point in the future—if the opportunity arose with someone we both found ourselves interested in—but neither of us had mentioned anything in the way of dating Matty, so I wasn’t going to bring it up unless he did.
Maybe he was interested in sex with Matty, but not the possibility of a relationship.
Maybe he was simply interested in fantasising about him, but not interested in anything happening in real life.
Jake stayed for a while longer, and chatted with Caleb while I dealt with any customers that came in. It was so nice to see them finally getting comfortable with each other. They were starting to look like brothers, and not awkward strangers, when they interacted.
Once Jake left, and the shop was quiet, I asked Caleb about the party.
“You sure you’re up for meeting the whole family again, all in one go?”
He shrugged. “Yes and no,” he chuckled. “To be honest, I’m bricking it, but it was going to happen eventually, right? Might as well be all of them at once. Plus, I’d really like to see Matty.”
What did he mean by that?
Did he mean in the same way I wanted to see Matty again?
That was probably wishful thinking.
“Well,” I said. “If it ends up being too much, too fast, we can always leave.”
“True,” he nodded.
I wrapped my arms around his waist, pulled him flush against me, and kissed him.
His mouth held the lingering taste of sugar. “Been eating the profits again?” I chuckled.
He smirked. “Only a cookie or two,” he licked his lips, and I couldn’t resist kissing him again.
NINE
Caleb
I had the plastic Tupperware box in a death grip on my lap as I sat in the passenger seat of Elliott’s car. I was holding it with such force I was surprised it hadn’t cracked under the pressure.
We were on our way to Little Hollow for Matty and Max’s surprise birthday party. I’d been nervous all day, and when I was anxious about something… I baked. The result of that day’s nerves was an unnecessary amount of cupcakes. There hadn’t initially been a purpose for the cupcakes—other than my own stress relief—but I’d ended up decorating them with the party in mind. Each cupcake had the letter ‘M’ written in icing and handfuls of M&Ms as sprinkles, because I’d remembered Matty and Max enjoying M&Ms when we’d been teenagers—mostly because of their names.
Elliott placed a comforting hand on my thigh and gently ran his finger against the fabric of my black jeans.
“It’s going to be fine,” he smiled at me quickly, before returning his gaze to the road. “Better than fine, it’s probably going to end up being fun.”
He was right. Despite my worrying, deep down I knew the night would be fine. That didn’t mean that it wouldn’t be overwhelming.
I nodded, my eyes downcast, so I wasn’t sure if Elliott saw it or not.
“This the place?” Elliott asked as he slowed the car to a stop, and my eyes shot up, looking at the wooden sign that read ‘Little Hollow’ which was nailed to the open gate—the gate that I’d stared at the night I’d left. I felt like I’d travelled back in time, except I didn’t feel sad now.
The last time I’d looked at that sign, I was heartbroken, and couldn’t have fathomed the life I’d ended up having. Now when I looked at it, I felt happiness and gratitude, knowing this place had provided Jake with the life he deserved.
He’d grown up loved and accepted. He had a family, he had friends, he got to go to uni, and he was going to have an incredible future because of this place.
“Yeah,” I said, the corners of my mouth curved up into a smile.
We pulled up outside the joined houses I’d once lived in and got out of the car. Elliott came around to my side of the car and pressed a soft kiss to my lips before taking my hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze.
“You ready?” he asked.
I nodded my head. “As I’ll ever be.”
As we walked up to the front door of my once home, I could hear murmurings and the low hum of music coming from inside. I knocked twice on the door and heard Jake yell from inside, “I’ll get it.”
The door opened, and Jake appeared, grinning brightly.
“You came,” he said.
“Of course, we did,” I replied. “I made these.”
“Ooh, yum! Cupcakes!” He took the container from my outstretched hand and looked like he was seconds away from dribbling all over the box. “The ones I had the other day were amazing, I may have to hide these and keep them for myself,” he laughed.
Jake’s birthday wasn’t for several months, but I was already excited to bake him a cake when the time came.
“Come on in,” Jake moved to the side and gestured for us to come through the door. “Everyone’s here, aside from Matty and Max, obviously, and Ethan, he’s gone to go pick them up.”
As we entered the house the thrum of noise grew louder, and I remembered that it had been like that when I’d lived there—rarely a moment of silence with so many people around.
“Jake?” A female voice said before a tall, slender, red-headed woman came out of the kitchen. “Who was at—holy fucking shit…” she trailed off when she saw me. “Damn, Caleb, you grew up,” she chuckled. “Oh, nice ink.” She examined the tattoos on my arms as she approached us where we were still standing in the entryway. “If you weren’t the spitting image of this one,” she pointed her thumb at Jake. “I wouldn’t have recognised you.”
It took me a moment to realise that the beautiful woman in front of me was Jake’s adopted sister, Grace. She’d been fourteen or fifteen the last time I’d seen her, and she looked so different. And I assumed from her reaction that I’d changed a lot too.
“Hi, Grace,” I smiled.
“Come here,” she wrapped her arms around me, her thin a
rms not quite meeting around my back. “Hi,” she said as she squeezed me tightly.
I was startled by the hug—it was a warmer welcome than I’d expected—but something told me I needed to get ready for many more hugs.
She pulled away. “And you,” she said to Elliott. “Must be the husband.”
“Yeah, Elliott,” he introduced himself. “Nice to meet you.”
Grace hugged Elliott as tightly as she’d done me.
“You ready to meet everyone else?” Grace asked Elliott.
“I think so?” Elliott chuckled, not sounding all that certain.
I’d told him a lot about the Logans over the years we’d been together, and even more in the days leading up to this party, so he knew what he was getting himself into by agreeing to come.
“Mums are going to lose their shit,” Grace whispered to Jake as they led us towards the kitchen. They both chuckled quietly, and Grace wrapped her arm around Jake’s shoulders.
The sight warmed my heart. I was so happy that Jake had siblings like Grace.
The kitchen was just as I remembered it—large and full of people. The murmuring came to an abrupt halt as everyone turned to see us enter the room. I felt like I was on display, and if this were a dream, this would have been the moment I’d have looked down to reveal that I was naked… but it wasn’t a dream.
No one spoke for the longest time—seriously you could have heard a pin drop—the only sound filling my ears was the rapid thumping of my own heartbeat.
Shit.
What if they didn’t want me here?
Was this a mistake?
Before I had time to spiral, Steph and Ness—Jake’s mums—walked straight into me, and both wrapped themselves around me, flanking either side of me as the three of us embraced each other.
“Welcome home,” Steph whispered into my left ear.
I wrapped one arm around each of them and tightened my hold on them.
One, or both of them, were sobbing and sniffling as they held onto me for dear life.
Once they finally released me, it was one hug after another, each just as welcoming as the last.
I was fighting the lump that had formed in my throat. Overwhelmed to be met with this much affection… I’d abandoned these people just as much as I had Jake and Matty, and yet here they were, welcoming me into their home like nothing had ever happened.
I looked around the room and saw several faces I didn’t recognise and guessed they must have been friends of either Matty or Max.
Before any of us had a chance to catch up or chat with each other, several phones in the room beeped and vibrated, and everyone reached for their phones.
“Ethan’s got them,” Martin said, looking up from his phone—where, I assumed, he’d read the same message as everyone else in the room. “Lo, turn the music off, someone switch the lights off, and everyone hide.”
“Won’t they know everyone is here when they see the cars outside?” I asked Jake as the room dimmed. People scattered throughout the room, hiding behind curtains, furniture, doors, anything they could find. Elliott, Jake, Lola, and I ducked down behind the central island.
Jake chuckled. “That’s what Ethan thought, so he said he was going to blindfold them both until they were in the room.”
“If they’re blindfolded, why are we hiding, couldn’t we all just stand silently until the blindfold comes off?” Elliott laughed.
“That’s what I said when Dad suggested it earlier,” Lola said, and let out a quiet giggle.
“Shhh,” someone hushed.
I heard the front door open, and then a thud before Matty shouted, “Shit, ow!”
“What was that?” A voice that sounded a lot like Matty’s—but different enough that I could tell them apart, so I assumed that voice belonged to Matty’s twin, Max—said.
“E, you dickhead, a little warning of a step would have been nice.”
“Sorry,” someone chuckled—most likely Ethan.
“Can we take these off yet?” Max asked as the voices got closer.
“Almost, we’re nearly there,” Ethan answered him. “Okay, you can take them off now.”
Just as Matty and Max removed their blindfolds, everyone jumped out from their hiding spots, and the lights were turned on and everyone shouted, “Surprise!”
Matty had the worst fake surprised face I’d ever seen in my life, and I suppressed the laugh that was trying to escape as I watched him act as though he’d had absolutely no idea what his family had planned. No one else seemed to notice though, and they looked proud of themselves for pulling off a perfect surprise.
Did I still know Matty so well that I was the only one who could see he was lying through his teeth?
Matty and Max greeted everyone, going through an almost identical series of hugs that Elliott and I had received when we’d arrived—minus the sobbing.
Elliott and I each gave him a quick hug, and I did that same with Max, before they were pulled away by someone else.
“Caleb,” I turned at the sound of my name to see Ness behind me.
“Yeah?”
“I just want to say how happy we all are that you’re back in Jake’s life,” she smiled, affection clear as day in her eyes. “And ours too. Please don’t be a stranger, okay? You’re a part of this family, and we expect to see you and your lovely husband at more family gatherings in the future.”
My heart felt like it was trying to jump up through my throat and make a run for it, but I swallowed it down and barely managed a nod before she walked away. I felt Elliott’s hand come to rest at the base of my spine, running slow circles into the fabric of my t-shirt.
I was pulled from conversation to conversation by various members of the family, each asking similar questions about my life.
I was standing to the side of the kitchen with several other people, sipping the beer Jake had brought me, as I half-listened to a conversation Ethan and Max were having.
Thankfully, I was no longer the topic of the conversation.
My eyes scanned the room, taking in all the smiling faces as people mingled, until my eyes landed on Elliott and Matty talking to each other on the other side of the large room.
My heart gave a little flutter as I saw them laugh at something Elliott said.
As I watched them talk, I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering… specifically to the thoughts that Elliott had inadvertently placed there.
Thoughts of the three of us. Together.
I loved Elliott more than life itself, and nothing would ever change that, but as I gazed at them, I realised Matty also still held a large part of my heart too.
I’d always wondered if there was another version of me out there, in some alternative universe, that had stayed with Matty. I was happy I’d left when I did, because if I hadn’t, then I wouldn’t have Elliott as my husband… but it was nice to think that another version of me hadn’t left.
Now though, I hoped there was an alternate version of me somewhere that got to love them both equally… got to be with both of them.
Until that night a few weeks before, I had never thought about the option of having them both, but then Elliott had gone and made me want something I couldn’t have.
They would be beautiful together. I thought to myself as I imagined the two of them, arms wrapped around each other in a passionate kiss, and my cock twitched in excitement.
I don’t think I’d ever thought of something so perfect in my life.
Elliott’s bigger frame crowding Matty’s smaller one, Elliott’s strong arms holding him protectively as he took his lips in a kiss that was equal parts strong and tender.
I needed to think of something else… anything else.
I turned my attention back to the people standing near me, but that only lasted a few seconds before my eyes travelled back to the two men who had at different times, each owned my whole heart.
I watched as Elliott brushed a few errant strands of Matty’s hair that had fallen onto his forehead, and
my heart rate sped up.
For a brief second, I thought I saw something that looked a lot like lust cross both of their faces, before Matty tensed and his posture straightened.
You’re seeing what you want to see. I told myself, because there was no way I just saw Elliott look at Matty in the way I thought I had.
TEN
Matty
I didn’t know whether I was flattered or fucking furious.
While I knew I could very well have been reading into things, I was pretty sure that Elliott was flirting with me.
The man who was married to my ex-boyfriend… was fucking flirting with me.
I hadn’t even realised I’d been flirting back until he tenderly brushed a few strands of my hair away from my forehead, and I now felt an odd combination of guilt for my flirting, and anger on Caleb’s behalf.
Maybe he’s just a naturally flirty person, and he doesn’t realise he’s doing it.
Was he even doing it? Or was I projecting it onto him?
Either way, I squared my shoulders. I could somehow feel Caleb’s gaze on me, so I took a step away from Elliott and I risked a glance in the direction I knew Caleb had been standing.
Dreading that he’d seen the hair thing happen, I was expecting to find him scowling angrily at us. What I found, however, was Caleb gazing longingly in our direction.
There was a brief second where I could pretend he was looking at me that way, before I reminded myself he was obviously looking at Elliott.
I mentally rolled my eyes at myself.
Of course, he’s looking at Elliott, you twat. Elliott is his husband.
Caleb’s gaze met mine and his lips tipped up into a smile. I tried to match his smile with one of my own.
“Would you like to come to dinner at ours sometime next week?” Elliott asked and his question had my head snapping around to him so fast I nearly broke my neck.
“W-what?” I stammered, sure I’d heard him incorrectly.
“Dinner,” he smiled.
“Just me? Not Jake or anyone else?”
“Just you.”
“Would Caleb be there?” I asked nervously.