Graham chuckled at the memory, but didn’t interrupt.
“It was small. We wanted to go do it at the courthouse, but we got a flat tire on the way. Graham had to put on the spare in his suit. He got a…” Calvin made a diagonal motion in front of his chest with his hand. “Huge smear of grease on his shirt. Thankfully his jacket covered it.”
“Since we have so many pictures.”
Calvin’s lips teased a smile. “We didn’t think that far ahead.”
“I just knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life loving you,” he reminded Calvin, who finally looked up, his eyes full of tears.
“You have pictures,” Emory said softly.
“We had a disposable camera in the trunk.” Calvin hiccupped. “It had three pictures left on it.”
“They’re in my car,” Calvin laughed. “They were the only thing I had at work. That, and this.”
Calvin pulled a fountain pen out of his pocket and tossed it on the table.
“I didn’t even know you still had this.” Graham rolled the pen between his fingers. He hadn’t seen it in years. Not since he’d given it to Calvin in the first place. He’d always assumed it had been lost in their move.
“Of course I have it,” Calvin whispered. “It’s from you.”
Graham sucked in a breath and dropped his head into his hands.
How had things gotten this bad?
When had he fallen out of love with his own husband?
“I never meant for things to get this awful,” he muttered, scratching his neck. “You deserve more than what I let this become.”
“Hey.” Calvin reached across the table and curled his fingers around Graham’s arm. “There was two of us. It wasn’t only you, okay? We both could have done better.”
“I just…I don’t understand how I lost sight of what was important.”
“Me neither, but I promise you I won’t do it again.” Calvin turned his attention to Emory, who had been watching them quietly. “I promise you, I won’t do it again.”
“Boss…”
“No. You deserve to know that I’m in this. With you. Both of you.”
“That’s good,” Emory whispered. “Because I love you, and also I don’t want to be homeless.”
Calvin laughed and cried at the same time.
“Cal,” Graham cleared his throat. Calvin’s laughter quieted and he and Emory both looked across the table. “Tell me about the first time you saw Emory.”
“Across a conference table at work. He was in a gray suit with a pink tie, and he was so beautiful.”
Emory bit his lower lip between his teeth.
“And he wasn’t you, and he didn’t know Calvin and Graham, he just knew me, and that was refreshing.”
“The irony,” Emory mused.
“What about you?” Calvin volleyed the question back to him.
“At a bar.”
Emory’s neck flushed.
“I asked if I could buy him a drink. I hadn’t used that line in years.”
“You never used that line,” Calvin corrected. “You never bought me a drink.”
“Not on the first date,” he agreed. “But it didn’t matter. I introduced myself and promptly started to talk about you, though obviously not by name.”
“No,” Emory reflected, sliding his fingers across the table to tease at Graham’s arm. “You definitely didn’t tell me you had a hot husband at home.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
“This again?” Emory rolled his eyes and a tear escaped. He wiped at his face quickly, his blush a clear indicator he didn’t want the move to go noticed.
“I knew you were special.” Graham looked Emory in the eyes. “I didn’t know I’d fall in love with you, but I knew.”
“I didn’t.” Emory shrugged. “Not at first. I didn’t do…this kind of thing.”
“I know.”
“I’m glad I did. It’s worth it.”
“I don’t want to let you down,” Graham said. “Either of you. I want to be better.”
“Me too,” Calvin agreed.
“I’m perfect already,” Emory added on, lips angled in a teasing grin.
Graham laughed, and the tension in the room vanished in the blink of an eye.
“Come on,” he said, standing up and holding his arms open. “I need a hug.”
Emory and Calvin stood and crowded around the table, burrowing into the open embrace Graham offered them, and he wrapped his arms around the two men he loved and held them until he felt whole again.
Thirty
Emory
“Has it really been six months?” Emory stretched out on the couch and crossed his legs, resting his bare heels on the coffee table. Calvin smacked him and he pulled them back, tucking them in against his chest. He laughed and rolled his eyes, slipping his feet onto the edge of the table again after Calvin walked out of the room.
“Apparently.” Graham tapped the envelope against the palm of his hand and dropped down onto an empty cushion to Emory’s right.
Emory made grabby hands for the envelope, testing the weight of it in his hand. “I thought it would be heavier. It seems like it should be more substantial.”
“It’s only ever been a piece of paper.” Calvin kicked his shins and he dropped his feet onto the floor with a petulant sigh. Calvin sat on his other side and propped his feet on the coffee table. Emory grumbled, but leaned into him happily anyway.
“Yeah, well.” Calvin took the envelope and worked the seal open, discarding the paper on Emory’s lap and unfolding the stapled stack of papers in his hand.
Emory settled a hand on Calvin’s thigh, the other on Graham’s, and gave them both a strong squeeze.
“I can go. If you guys want some time to let it settle.”
“No.” Graham and Calvin both said at the same time. Graham pressed in closer, shouldering Emory into Calvin’s side. He reached over and took the other edge of the papers between his fingers so he and Calvin both held them.
“So, it’s final then.”
Emory traced his finger over the blue stamp that read FILED. The date had been written in by hand and initialed by a clerk.
“I thought it would feel more…” Graham let go of the papers.
“Monumental?” Emory asked.
“Final,” Calvin tried. “And I mean, it is, but it’s not an end. It’s a better beginning. A new one for all of us.”
Calvin dropped the divorce papers onto Emory’s lap and rested his head on his shoulder. The time had passed so quickly. It felt like yesterday they’d met, but so much had happened. From Emory’s father’s passing, to selling the mansion, and Calvin quitting his job, and the three of them moving in together. Somehow in the past nine months, Emory had lived an entire life.
“And it’s a fitting day to get these anyway.” Graham stood up and mussed Emory’s hair, disappearing into the kitchen.
“It’s not every day my boyfriend turns twenty-six, although I can say I’ve done this already before,” Calvin laughed and pulled Emory up, dragging him into the kitchen.
Graham pulled a cake out of the oven and set it down on the counter. He waved an empty baking pan back and forth in the air, blowing cold air down onto the hot and fluffy chocolate cake.
“We don’t need to make this a thing,” Emory mumbled, face as hot as the birthday cake in front of him.
“Of course we do.” Calvin wrapped his arms around Emory and kissed the side his face. “Happy birthday, squirt.”
He groaned and elbowed Calvin in the ribs. “That is not an appropriate nickname.”
“I like it,” Graham teased with a wink, “squirt.”
“I will stop having sex with the both of you, I swear to God. Don’t think that waving your fancy divorce papers around makes…” Emory trailed off, his eyelashes fluttering as Calvin sucked on his neck. “Papers makes…”
“Mmmn,” Calvin hummed against his neck. “Tell me more about how you don’t want to sleep with me anymore.”
Calvin’s hands snaked around his stomach and worked open the fly of his pants. He dropped his head onto Calvin’s shoulders, and Graham’s hands joined with Calvin’s, pushing his pants down his legs.
“Maybe the birthday boy should shut his mouth now.” Graham lowered down to his knees and rubbed his cheek against the growing bulge between Emory’s legs.
Emory opened his mouth to teasingly protest, but Calvin was there, pressing their lips together and silencing him before he could make a sound. Graham pulled Emory’s dick out of his underwear and licked him in long and slow strokes until he was fully hard.
“Oh, fuck.”
Graham swallowed Emory’s cock into the back of his throat, and he bucked forward, tearing his lips away from Calvin, who continued to hold him close. Graham made obscene noises, slurping and sucking his way up and down Emory’s cock, the whole time Calvin’s erection pressing insistently against Emory’s ass.
“Want you both,” he panted, reaching back and grabbing Calvin’s cock.
“It is your birthday,” Calvin whispered, releasing Emory only long enough to free his erection. He sucked two fingers into his mouth and dipped his hand into Emory’s crack, the pads of his fingers prodding for entry.
Emory moaned and took it, fucking his hips backward to get more traction on Calvin’s hand. Graham grunted and bracketed his fingers around Emory’s waist and pulled him back forward until his lips were sealed around the base of Emory’s dick. He fisted Graham’s hair in his hands and groaned, doubling over and letting Graham take him apart with his mouth while Calvin worked his ass open.
Emory pulled open the silverware drawer and fumbled around in the back until his fingers connected with the small bottle of lube he’d insisted on keeping there. He handed it back to Calvin with a smug grin.
“I told you it was a good idea to keep lube in every room.”
Calvin chuckled and slicked his dick, sliding his fist down his length and around the tip until every inch of skin glistened in the light.
“You were right, squirt,” Calvin agreed.
Emory turned to protest, but Calvin’s hand landed on his back and pushed him forward. Calvin lined himself up and thrust inside. In front of him, Graham choked and sputtered, then resumed trying to milk Emory dry with his mouth.
“Oh, God,” Emory braced himself on the counter and gave over to the sensations that threatened to overwhelm him. Calvin pumped against his ass with smooth and measured jerks of his hips that propelled his cock right over Emory’s prostate, and every time Emory moaned or sighed, Graham hummed in approval and the vibrations made him even harder.
“You gonna come for me?” Calvin grunted, pulling Emory against his chest. He slipped his arm across Emory’s front and fisted his shirt. He grabbed Calvin’s hand and nodded, his eyes fluttering.
Calvin fucked him harder, and Graham’s hands held him tighter and then it was all over. His balls tingled and emptied, his cock spurting streams of cum into Graham’s waiting mouth. His body trembled and seized, the muscles of his ass constricting around Calvin’s cock and pulling his own orgasm free.
“Happy birthday.” Graham tucked Emory’s softening dick back into his pants and stood up, his body flush against Emory’s. He leaned close, the rough scratch of his beard abrading Emory’s cheek, and he kissed Calvin while their chins rested on his shoulder.
“Mmmn,” Calvin moaned into Graham’s mouth, his thick tongue pushing deeper between Graham’s parted lips. He pulled back with a smile, pressing a soft kiss against the spot beneath Emory’s eye. “You taste good.”
Calvin slid his hand between their bodies and dragged his finger over Emory’s still pulsing hole. Cum leaked out and Calvin pushed it back inside before pulling Emory’s underwear and pants up.
“Now that Emory is frosted, maybe we can frost the cake.”
“Oh, that was a terrible joke.” Emory threw the lube back into the silverware drawer and rested his ass on the edge of the counter with a wince.
“I thought it was a pretty good one,” Graham said sagely.
Calvin plopped a container of strawberry frosting on the counter and a spatula. “It should be cool enough to frost now.”
“Are you sure you didn’t want me to…?” Emory gestured like he was going to take off his pants.
“Definitely not.” Graham shoved him out of the way. “I love to eat his cum out of your ass, but I don’t need it on a chocolate cake.”
Emory pretended to pout, but let his boyfriends both manhandle him out of the kitchen so they could get his cake ready. He truly didn’t understand all the hubbub. It wasn’t like they were having a party or going anywhere. All Emory had asked for was a quiet night at home, and that was what Calvin and Graham had agreed to give him.
He slid into his seat at the dining room table and poured himself a glass of wine, listening to the hushed sounds and laughter that filtered out of the kitchen. His life was a mystery to him, and Emory wasn’t sure he’d ever understand what he had done to deserve two men who were as caring, devoted, and kind as Calvin and Graham.
Sometimes, when he couldn’t sleep, he remembered the heartbroken way Graham had tried to use him to forget Calvin, and when he felt Calvin’s hot breaths against the back of his neck, he was unendingly thankful that Graham hadn’t gone through with it. Things between the three of them were exactly as they were meant to be. Emory had found himself two men who loved him as much as they loved each other, but in such beautifully different ways he never felt jealous or insecure about it.
“Happy birthday to you…” Graham’s voice rumbled from the kitchen and Emory groaned.
“You don’t need to sing.”
“Happy birthday to you,” Calvin continued.
Both of his boyfriends appeared in the doorway, and Calvin flipped the light switch off, illuminating the candles they’d shoved into the pink frosted cake. They continued to sing until they reached the table and set the cake down right in front of him. One of them had scrawled Happy Birthday Squirt across the cake in blue icing and he glared at them both as they finished the song.
“Make a wish,” Calvin told him, and he looked down again at the cake.
He didn’t know what to wish for because he already had everything he wanted.
His wish came to him, and he closed his eyes, puffing out the candles with a quick blow. He opened his eyes and smiled up at Calvin and Graham.
“What did you wish for?” Graham asked.
“He can’t tell you. It won’t come true.”
“It’s a secret,” Emory confirmed.
“Did you wish for a disposable camera with three pictures left on it?” Graham asked with a grin, whipping a green and white box out of his back pocket.
Emory scoffed. “Do they even still make those?”
“Obviously.”
“That’s actually…” Emory paused, feeling unexpectedly overwhelmed. “That’s really sweet.”
“Told you.” Graham elbowed Calvin in the ribs.
“I agreed with you!” Calvin protested, taking the camera from Graham’s hand and turning on the lights. “Alright, get together then.”
Graham sat down and Emory slid over onto his lap, looping his arms around Graham’s shoulders and kissing him.
“Look at the camera.” Graham turned to face Calvin and Emory closed his eyes, resting his forehead against Graham’s temple, his lips angled into a smile.
The recognizable sound of a camera flash echoed through the room, then the plastic on plastic clicks as Calvin wound the wheel. Emory felt the rise and fall of Graham’s body as he breathed, and he kissed him, soft and tender with a closed mouth.
“I love you.”
Graham smiled. “I know.”
“My turn.” Calvin passed the camera to Graham, who stood and passed Emory to Calvin. Instead of sitting down, Calvin tugged him close, and Emory rested his cheek against his chest.
“One, two, three.” Graham snapped the second picture and wound the wheel. “Wha
t do you want for number three? It’s the last one.”
“Do you even have to ask?” Emory rolled his eyes and held his hand out for Graham, who joined them in front of the table. He turned and situated himself, holding the camera out in front of them.
“This is a lot easier with a phone,” he lamented.
“It’s the principle of it,” Emory reminded him. “This means…so much more.”
He curled his fingers into Graham’s shirt and lifted up on his toes to squish their faces together.
Calvin twisted their fingers together and dragged his lips across Emory’s ear.
“Smile,” he whispered.
And they did.
The end.
Epilogue
The bedroom was dimly lit, a single, golden ray of sunshine filtering in through the fluttering of the sheer, white, hotel curtains. That fabric wasn’t designed to keep any light out, so Calvin figured it still had to be before sunrise. He could feel heat behind him, a large and firm body pressed against his back. Judging by the size and the coarse hair that tickled his shoulder blades, it was Graham behind him, not Emory.
He heard the unmistakable sound of a light switch, then soft footfalls on the other side of the room. That, he assumed, must be Emory, up early and ready for his meeting with his newest business partner, the owner of a restaurant conglomerate who had flown them to Vegas for a contract signing.
When Calvin and Graham both met Emory, he didn’t have an interest in restaurants or business. He didn’t have an interest in much of anything besides being the complete opposite of his father. But Graham loved the restaurant business, and Emory loved Graham, and Emory also had more money than he’d ever know what to do with, so he’d done what seemed logical at the time.
He bought Graham a restaurant.
Graham protested, but Emory had promised him it was a good business decision, then confessed to Calvin later in secret that the last thing Edgewood needed was a white tablecloth kind of restaurant, but if Graham wanted it…
Well.
They were all suckers for each other, and their relationship had rolled on like that for years. They'd exchanged rings, simple bands that stood for their bond, and gone on with their lives. Now here they were. In Vegas. And Emory was about to close a deal on construction for a restaurant for Graham.
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