by Roe Horvat
Taking a couple of deep breaths, he felt his ribcage expand underneath his linen shirt—the nice one he almost never wore—and he knocked. He could hear the footsteps on the other side just before the door burst open, and Marcus all but flew into his embrace. Luke caught him and wavered.
“You’re early,” Marcus whispered.
“I couldn’t wait,” Luke mumbled apologetically.
Marcus leaned back, his gaze mapping Luke’s face. “That’s good.” He kissed him, all delight and enthusiasm, and Luke caught his cheeks in his palms, the faint stubble scraping under his fingers. He tried to put all his love into the soft kiss, and then he looked into Marcus’s green eyes. For once, he didn’t hold back. He didn’t try to control himself or to keep any of his emotions in check. He let Marcus see everything.
It was heartbreakingly beautiful to watch Marcus’s face glow, his eyes flutter with relief, and an open, hopeful smile stretch his cheeks. He understood.
“Come in! I’m making dinner,” Marcus said, his voice quivering just a little.
Marcus dragged him into the house, barely letting him toe his loafers off. Luke followed through the hall, the impressively large living room with the glass wall facing the sheltered garden, and into the vast kitchen, where two pots steamed on the stove. Marcus quickly grabbed a spoon and stirred the smaller one. The smell of balsamic and caramel filled Luke’s nostrils.
“Where is Liam?” Luke couldn’t help but ask.
Marcus sighed. “He came home at half past five and went running immediately. He does that when he’s nervous.”
“Nervous?” Liam? Luke couldn’t quite picture it.
“You’ll learn to recognize his tells after some time,” Marcus said, smiling.
Luke stepped closer and ran his hands up and down Marcus’s arms.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I pushed and pressured you and threw a tantrum. It’s not your fault. I understand you needed a break. I’m just happy you’re back.”
“But Liam…”
“He’s fine. It suits him to show a weakness sometimes, you know?”
Luke couldn’t help but laugh. “I didn’t think he had any.”
“Oh, but he does. Quite a few.”
A door slammed shut somewhere.
“I’m going to take a shower!” Liam’s voice boomed through the house.
“Come to the kitchen first!” Marcus called.
A few seconds later, Liam emerged in the kitchen door, in a tight running top, plucking his earphones out of his ears, face glistening with sweat. Upon seeing Luke, he paused.
“Luke,” he said. And nothing more. His chest was heaving with harsh breaths. He braced his hands on his hips and hung his head.
“Liam?” Luke murmured, worried.
“Can’t even hug you like this,” Liam said and gestured to his wet running shirt.
Luke grinned. He closed the gap between them and cupped Liam’s jaw in his palm. The kiss tasted of salt and sweat and relief.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Liam whispered.
“I told you I’d be back.”
“Yeah, I know. But I’ve learned not to take things for granted.”
One peck on the corner of Luke’s mouth, a brush of beard against his cheek, and Liam turned away.
“I’ll shower and be back in a minute.”
Luke stared at the empty doorway for a second.
“You would break his heart too, you know,” Marcus said behind him.
Luke winced. “You’re not supposed to say things like that.”
“I’m sorry. I should let him speak for himself.”
“Last night, after I spent the whole day thinking of the two of you, I tried to imagine what I used to think I wanted.” Luke paused, organizing his words. Why was this always so difficult? “Just you and me, alone. I couldn’t. I… might need some time to process things, but Liam… He is…”
“Shh. Tell him when you’re ready.”
“I will.”
Marcus switched off the small burner, took the pot, and placed it on the counter. He turned to Luke. “Thank you for giving us a chance.”
I don’t have a choice. He didn’t say it out loud because Marcus could so easily misunderstand.
“What can I help you with?” he asked instead, rolling up his sleeves.
The dinner was delicious. Portobello mushrooms with onions in balsamic glaze, grilled asparagus, oven-baked potatoes, and, indeed, homemade Béarnaise sauce. Luke was in culinary heaven. Liam opened a bottle of red wine; it tasted smoky and reminded Luke of blueberries and dried plums. He didn’t know shit about wine, just like he knew nothing of cars and boats, but he could appreciate a good one.
They talked of nothing heavy, just the summer and vacations, the last few dance shows, their friends, and the project Liam had been working on together with Christoffer. The first few cabins were built already, and Liam described the innovative insulation system, the way the water was being heated and recycled, how the light was distributed to save energy, and Luke felt proud. It was silly because he didn’t contribute to Liam’s accomplishments in any way, not like Marcus had through years of unconditional support. But Luke would be proud anyway because if he was being dragged into their lives, into their world, he couldn’t help but feel invested; he couldn’t keep his distance.
Sitting on the floor in their bathroom one hour later and searching the cabinet for the prep kit Marcus had given him last time, he didn’t dwell on doubts and questions. He showered, smiling all the time. Maybe it was the heavy wine—he could still taste it on the roof of his mouth, even though he’d brushed his teeth—but for a while, he felt like he could belong. The thought made him giddy.
Liam and Marcus waited for him in the bedroom. With only a towel around his waist, Luke looked at himself in the mirror. He hesitated. Is this really me? Maybe he was drunker than he thought. From two glasses of wine? Hardly. But his eyes were glassy, his cheeks pink, and the angle of his mouth made it hard for him to recognize his own image. He was excited. Happy, even. This is how I look when I’m happy. He almost laughed at the strange turn of his thoughts. Unselfconscious, grinning to himself, he hung the towel on the rack and left the bathroom, naked.
Marcus must have stood just behind the door because the moment Luke stepped into the room, Marcus pulled him in his arms, kissing his neck and shoulder. Luke spotted Liam on the bed, with a sheet over his lower body. Luke grabbed Marcus as he stumbled toward the bed and sank down, rolling with Marcus in his embrace until he reached his destination. Liam’s tongue slid against his, and he sighed.
He didn’t know how long they just lay there, kissing, stroking, teasing, and biting, grabbing handfuls of hair and skin… He lost his grip on time. They tangled in the sheet, three pairs of legs kicking, and they laughed, trying to get rid of it. Luke lay between them, kissing Marcus over his shoulder while Liam sucked on his nipples. He could still hear the laughter echoing in his mind when his chest tightened, and heat bloomed in his underbelly. A shock of pain shot from his nipple to his groin. He only wanted it to hurt more. Again. The atmosphere in the room changed with their passion, and the small sounds they made, all those grunts, breaths, and low gasps, lost their earlier lightness. Liam grabbed Luke’s wrists, pinned them above his head, and claimed his mouth again while Marcus’s teeth nipped down his belly. Marcus’s hand tightened around his cock, and Luke bucked.
“Fuck me,” he cried out into Liam’s mouth. “Fuck me, now.”
Backing off, Liam frowned with surprise, searching Luke’s face.
“Want you,” Luke insisted. He could finally have what he’d imagined, fulfill the guilty desire he’d plagued himself for. And it would be guiltless.
While Liam hesitated, Marcus didn’t wait for more. He sucked Luke’s cock into his mouth and pushed inside him with a spit-slick finger. The rush of adrenaline made Luke lose eye contact with Liam. Marcus’s hot mouth slid up and down Luke’s erection a couple of times be
fore he let go with a loud pop.
Damn, Luke ached all over. He needed to be held and taken. Needed. Thankfully, Marcus could read him.
“Liam, the lube,” he prompted.
Luke peeled his eyes open again with some effort and found Liam’s face still inches from his, analyzing.
Did he really have to beg? Fuck it. He’d beg. Whatever it would take. “Fuck me, please, Liam. Come inside me,” he said, just a murmur, so only Liam could hear.
Finally, Liam blinked, and his forehead smoothed out. He rose and headed for the nightstand. Luke rolled onto his stomach, Marcus’s hands on his ass and thighs. He grabbed the nearest pillow and stuffed it underneath his hips. He might have felt self-conscious or even worse, let himself think again, but Marcus kissed his hole, and desire spread a pink haze through his mind. Then Marcus’s touch disappeared, and Luke squirmed as he waited, his groin pulsing. Finally, one firm hand grabbed his ass cheek, and two slick fingers circled his opening. He relaxed his muscles—for Liam, he could be ready instantly. When the fingers breached him, he only hummed with gratitude. This was what he’d needed. He felt Marcus’s hand on his face, fingers tracing his lips. He caught one and sucked, and Marcus gave it to him, all the way to the knuckle.
He heard his own moan when Liam entered him. It was joy and pain and hunger and life itself. I am alive. Fucking hell, I am alive! What honest want could do. He didn’t feel any discomfort whatsoever. He didn’t need to focus on loosening his muscles. He could just lie there and take it as Liam’s cock glided into him, pressing down on his gland and sending sparks of joy through his body. Like a reboot to his nervous system, all-powerful and invigorating.
Liam fell forward, covering Luke’s body. He kissed his neck and shoulders and rocked his hips, sinking deeper into Luke’s hole on every thrust. He didn’t say anything, but his harsh breaths and faint moans were enough for Luke to know Liam was just as overwhelmed as he was. Then he thrust harder, staggering and slowing again as if he’d tried being careful but forgot himself for a second. Luke gasped with the feeling.
“More,” he rasped.
A quiet curse and Liam bucked his hips, groaning with relief. The next thrust was like a blow into Luke’s spine, sending his body forward. He took it with his eyes closed, whimpering around Marcus’s finger. He sought purchase on the bed so he could impale himself more. Liam sank inside him to the hilt on each harsh thrust, and Luke loved it.
He heard Marcus moan and opened his eyes. Marcus was kneeling next to him, stroking himself. He pulled his spit-slick pointer finger out of Luke’s mouth, reached back, and pushed it into his own ass. He gasped and squeezed his erection, just as Liam pushed into Luke all the way, as deep as he would go, and circled his hips. Luke moaned with bliss. He reached for Marcus, his arm flailing until his hand met Marcus’s thigh, and he gripped it tightly.
Hand around his cock, finger-fucking himself, Marcus looked glorious.
“Come on my face.” Luke heard himself say, words broken and garbled.
And then Liam sped up. Tightening his grip on Luke’s hips, he began moving with single-minded focus, his long cock pumping into Luke’s ass like a piston.
“This is what you needed, baby?” Liam asked, voice warped with strain.
“Yes,” Luke breathed. “Dreamed of it…” It was the truth. Yet the reality felt nothing like the dreams he’d been having. No humiliation, no fear, only lust. The blows into his body, the slide of the hard flesh inside him, the second when Liam sank in as deep as he would go and stayed there for a few heartbeats, growling like an animal… Luke felt his cock throb against the pillows, and he knew he couldn’t come without stroking it, but he didn’t want to. He wanted Liam to fuck him into the mattress and break the fucking bed with the power of his thrusts. He whimpered and mewled and sobbed, and Liam, thank heaven, didn’t stop.
The image of Marcus grew blurry, but Luke still saw as Marcus squeezed the base of his erection and rocked his hips on his hand. His mouth fell open, and he cried out. Luke squinted as the come landed on his cheek, over the bridge of his nose, and his upper lip. He licked it, and his eyes fell shut again. He couldn’t open them anymore. His lips tingled, and so did his toes. Liam sank into him to the hilt again, and Luke swallowed the taste of the come, hungry for more.
“Turn him around,” Marcus ordered, husky.
Luke was too far gone to care what they did with his body. He was only annoyed because of the loss of Liam’s cock inside him, but when they rolled him onto his back and folded him in half, Liam was back, driving into his body in one long stroke, and Luke could only whimper with gratitude. Liam’s cock stroked his insides from a new angle, and Luke felt his mouth open with a broad, insane smile as he moaned, loud and hoarse.
Marcus’s lips closed around the tip of his cock, and he might have lost all feeling in his limbs because all he could feel was how the hardness in his ass moved with punishing speed and precision, pounded into him, and the loving mouth slid up and down his cock.
In a moment of clarity, he realized he had never in his life experienced something so profoundly good. He felt the pleasure in the marrow of his bones, for fuck’s sake! Gritting his teeth, he held on to the feeling, the elusive moment before his inevitable orgasm, when the ecstasy was powerful enough to mute all his senses but touch and taste, and sharp enough to cut off all the parts of his brain that were of no use when he was being split in half by a fat cock and sucked into oblivion.
While his prostate was sensitive, and he liked fingering himself when he jerked off, Luke had never preferred bottoming. He’d always associated it with a rather unpleasant loss of control over his own body. The orgasms had been interesting, but he’d usually felt uncomfortably exposed. In the end, he’d begun avoiding it. But Liam… Liam fucked like a demon. Brutally perfect. With Liam’s cock inside him, Luke felt renewed. Pure joy. He could see himself begging for it on a random Tuesday in the future. He could barely move, barely feel anything else but the spiraling inevitability in his gut. He wanted to be exposed. He loved being helpless, tied by his men, stuck between them.
He heard Liam roar. It was this particular sound that broke him—Liam’s thunderous voice. Because he knew Liam was coming inside him, marking him, so deep Luke felt his whole body pulse with Liam’s orgasm. Finally. Liam owned him now. Luke’s skin burst into flames as if he’d offered himself to pagan gods to be consumed. And Liam did consume him, godlike and glorious.
Marcus licked him clean, tender and thorough, while Liam’s still hard cock moved slowly in and out of him. His ass pulsed with mild aftershocks, and he couldn’t believe it was over.
“Stay inside me,” he begged.
He was gathered in Liam’s arms, held close as the man hid his face in the crook of his shoulder, his breath hot on Luke’s sweaty skin. Still blind, Luke tasted Marcus and his own release in Marcus’s mouth, and he could feel Marcus’s lips were smiling as they kissed. Marcus’s tongue in his mouth, Liam’s cock in his ass, his whole being awash with their come and sweat, Luke had never been happier. Marcus lay down next to them, flush to their joined bodies, and murmured senseless praise, meaningless, small, giddy words, like hot, fuck, and good… Luke only wanted to say he loved them.
When Liam slid out of his body, Luke could have fallen asleep on the spot. But they touched him all over, and his skin tingled, overstimulated yet needy. He guessed he might never be satisfied now; he knew how sex could be when he cared this much.
They made love to Luke’s mouth, his throat, and collarbones, and he just took it, his hands trembling when he tried to pet Marcus’s hair. Liam brushed soft kisses around Luke’s nipple, and then Marcus bent closer to do the same on the other side. They kissed and caressed and worshipped Luke’s body, showing their gratitude, and Luke bathed in it, half-drunk, half-asleep. His cock grew hard again, and Liam sucked Luke off, slowly and lazily, while Marcus swallowed Luke’s drawn-out guttural moans, kissing him through his second orgasm. Luke was claimed. That was what the sex wa
s all about. Both his men claimed him, each in their own way. Marcus accepted him, wrapping him in his arms and swallowing his cries, and Liam branded him. It all began and ended with Liam. Without Liam, his love for Marcus made no sense. By giving himself to Liam, he was redeemed.
Luke didn’t finish the thought. He fell asleep while Marcus hugged his torso and Liam nuzzled his shoulder.
Fourteen
Liam
Liam stirred around three. He would have stayed and just looked at the men sleeping in his bed, but he was thirsty and restless. He didn’t want to wake Luke. Marcus never woke, but Luke was a light sleeper, and he’d been through a lot lately. Instead of lingering and feasting on the beauty, Liam lifted himself carefully from the bed, took his robe where it hung on the wall next to the door, and left the room noiselessly. The spring had been extremely warm again. July would be too, and while the changing climate made Liam sick with worry, he couldn’t help but enjoy the unusually mild nights. With a tall glass of water in his hand and a light blanket over his shoulders, he stepped outside on the patio.
Sinking onto the round outdoor bed, he sighed. There were next to no stars here—the city lights drowned them out. But the horizon would soon start to brighten. Maybe he could watch the sunrise and then try going back to sleep. To Marcus…and Luke. The other dancer. The one with icy blue, sad eyes and a cautious smile. Liam was in deep already. Yesterday, despite his self-assured words to Marcus, he couldn’t stay at home and wait for Luke to come. He just couldn’t. Thank god it had been Monday, and his schedule didn’t allow him to ponder, but then he drove home, checking the time every other minute and obsessively going through all the possible scenarios as if he were doing a risk analysis. As soon as he had come home, he’d slid into his running gear. He’d run intervals. Uphill.
