by R. Cayden
“I’m up for it,” he answered. “Are you sure they are?”
“I’m not,” I said honestly. “They could react any number of ways. But I am sure that I’m ready for it and ready to move things ahead with you.” I took his hand and scooted a little closer to him on the couch. “I think I was acting really selfish, Gunner.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
“You don’t have your mother around any longer or your father,” I said. “I know you loved your mom a lot, and even if your father is an asshole, you must be sad to lose him, too. Those connections are special, and they can never be replaced. My parents may not be the best people in the world, but they’re still a part of my life. I need to stop taking that for granted and start building a real relationship with them.”
Gunner stared at me for a second, his hands fidgeting by his side. I worried I had made a mistake by bringing up his parents, but after only a moment, he smiled.
“Thanks,” he said. “For taking a chance on me.”
And then we kissed, just like two guys who cared about each other.
When our lips parted, Gunner startled, his posture going straight and his muscles tightening. “Fuck,” he said. “What am I going to talk about, though? What did you tell them about me? Do I need to quit smoking or something?”
I laughed and leaned into his arms, snuggling up to him close. “They don’t really know anything about you yet, outside of a few half-truths I told them to cover my tracks. But you don’t need to worry. That’s all for me to figure out.”
He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me a little closer. “Are you going to tell them about Maddox?”
“I’m still not sure what to do about that,” I said. “I want to, but I’m not even sure Maddox is interested in seeing us again. At least, not in the way we have been seeing each other.”
“I wish I could introduce you to my mom,” he said, his voice soft. “And Maddox. She would love you both. I just know it.”
“She must have been a special lady.”
“She was,” he said firmly. “She really was.”
“Maddox said he would reach out to us when the time is right,” I reminded him. “I guess we just have to wait until that happens.” Even as I said it, however, the idea felt wrong.
“You know,” Gunner said, “I asked him for advice on how to date you.”
“You did?”
“Sure, a few times. I was worried I was going to fuck the whole thing up.”
“What did he say?”
“Just to listen to you and give you what you want.”
I laughed. “You definitely followed that advice. I guess that means we do wait to hear from him after all.”
Gunner rose to his feet, clenching his hands into fists. “I’m tired of waiting, though. It made sense to do whatever he told us to when we were at his house or when he was helping us with your apartment problem. But when it comes to the three of us, shouldn’t things be a little different? Shouldn’t we be making some of the decisions and showing him what we want, instead of waiting around for someone to ask?”
I’d always waited around for someone to ask me what I wanted. It was part of my nature. But with a determined expression on his face, Gunner was making a pretty convincing argument that there were other ways to do things.
“What do you suggest? Are we just supposed to drive out there? He’s probably still furious with us for breaking his rules. Climbing the fence again is just going to make things worse.”
Gunner took my hand, pulling me to my feet. “That’s why we’re doing it different this time.”
“How do you mean?”
“You and me, Malcolm. We’re going to take Maddox on a date.”
Chapter Thirty
Maddox
Riding my motorcycle to Seattle, I considered turning around about a dozen times. The more I let myself become a part of Gunner’s and Malcolm’s lives, the more opportunity I was going to have to fail them.
But then I thought of the phone call they made to me and how earnest they sounded when they asked me to come back to the city. They said they needed to see me, and the second I heard that need, I realized I wouldn’t be able to say no.
It was early in the evening, and when I pulled my bike up to the edge of Discovery Park, I saw the guys waiting together. There was a chill in the air, and Malcolm must have felt cold because he had Gunner’s leather jacket on over a light blue sweater. Gunner was only wearing his regular T-shirt, but with his arm around his guy, he looked plenty warm.
I situated my motorcycle in its spot, then ran a hand through my hair, getting it to lie right again. I was the oldest person in this situation, but I still felt nervous as all hell walking up to them.
“Maddox!” Malcolm said, waving at me. “Over here!”
I gave them both a quick embrace, throwing one arm over each of their shoulders.
“Thanks for coming out,” Gunner said. “Malcolm and I weren’t sure you’d make it.”
I nodded, squinting at them. The sun was lowering to the treeline, and for a Saturday, the park seemed quiet. “You called,” I said, “I came.”
Malcolm cleared his throat. “I know there’s a lot we need to talk about and a lot we need to clear up. But before we get to any of that, I just wanted to say thank you for taking care of my apartment. The construction crew has disappeared, and I’ve had better sleep this week than I have in months.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I said. I had assumed the papers that I sent along anonymously did the trick, although I hadn’t figured out a way to confirm. “If you do have any more troubles, don’t be shy about letting me know.”
“And I need to say thank you, too,” Gunner added.
I cocked an eyebrow. “What are you thanking me for? I could have gotten you killed.”
“No,” Gunner corrected, placing his fist on his hip. “I could have gotten myself killed. I could have gotten all of us killed. But even when I fucked up, you didn’t yell at me. You were mad as hell, don’t get me wrong, but you kept your cool, and you never tried to make me feel bad. So—thank you.”
I sucked in a deep breath of air. “Sure,” I said. “There are enough bad feelings in the world as it is.”
Then I saw the look in Gunner’s eyes. He was nervous, vulnerable even.
“Come here,” I said, extending my arms again.
The guys stepped into my embrace, and this time I held them a little longer. “I’m just glad you’re safe,” I said, my voice coming out a little raspy with the sentiment.
“There’s one other thing,” Malcolm said, stepping back. “We figured out what to do with the cash.”
My chest tightened, anxiety that they would have tried to return it gripping me. “You didn’t go back to the building, did you?”
“Naw,” Gunner said, “even I’m not that impulsive.”
“You figured out a way to make my apartment good again,” Malcolm jumped in, “but not all of the tenants were able to last as long as I did. The woman in the apartment next to me left a month ago. She was a single mom with two kids, and the noise was just more than they could handle.”
I felt a smile warming my face. “Go on.”
Gunner shrugged. “Malcolm told me about it, and so we gave them the money. We wrapped it up in an envelope, wrote a nice anonymous note, and delivered it to their new address.”
“I looked it up in the library system,” Malcolm admitted. “It was kind of against the rules, but I figured it was worth it.”
I breathed a big sigh of relief. “I’m really glad to hear that,” I said. “That’s a smart way to make something good come out of a bad situation.”
“Thanks,” they both said at the same time and then laughed.
I glanced behind them. A few different trails wound through the trees in the massive park. “So why’d you bring me here, then?”
Gunner linked his arm with mine, and Malcolm stepped to my other side, grabbing my hand. I smiled to myself as they started wal
king me down the path, guiding me toward the trees.
“Do you remember when I asked you for dating advice?” Gunner said. “You told me I had to figure out something that would be special for me and for Malcolm.”
“I remember.”
“We talked about it all week,” Malcolm said, getting more excited as we walked further down the trail. “We threw around a million ideas—"
I stopped in my tracks, and they came to a halt with me. “You’re taking me on a date?”
“What?” Gunner asked. “You think we’re good enough for a fuck, but you can’t go on a date with us?”
I chuckled. From the looks in their eyes, there was no use in arguing. “Okay, okay,” I said. “Go on.”
“Our first kiss was in a park,” Gunner continued. “Not this one, but a small one across town.”
“There’s a sentimental connection,” Malcolm added.
“Better than that, though, we kept trying to figure out—what’s something that would make you happy? Something that would be actually special for you?”
As we turned a corner in the trail, I stopped in my tracks. Spread out before me was a large, open expanse of green. Behind it, I could see the Puget Sound and its crystal blue water. And filling that open space were giant hunks of metal in every color, twisted into abstract shapes, towering figures, and bright, three-dimensional frames.
“There’s an outdoor sculpture show in town!” Malcolm said brightly, squeezing my hand. “We get a list of all the cultural activities at the library, and when I saw it listed for this week, I knew it was right for you.”
I stood stock-still, staring over the shapes. Some children ran through the sculptures, tumbling on the lawn and laughing as they played beneath the figures. Couples walked around, holding hands and gazing up, and a few birds perched on a gigantic wooden horse.
“It’s amazing,” I said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Fuck yeah,” Gunner said quietly. “I knew it was a good idea.”
The guys released my hand and my arm and took a step back. We gazed over the sculptures together, but even with such great art in front of me, all I could think about was them.
They had found this for me. I had stormed away after discovering the cash Gunner stole, deciding my time with the two guys must come to an end. But they hadn’t given up, and they hadn’t stopped seeing me the same way they had always seen me. They just tried to think of a way to make it better and to show me that they cared.
That was what a man of integrity would do. He wouldn’t give up once he knew what he wanted and what was right.
I placed a hand on Malcolm’s cheek and the other on Gunner’s. I studied their faces for a moment. Neither of them looked away, and neither of them blinked.
I leaned down, and in a moment, our mouths met in a warm, slow kiss. Gunner nibbled on Malcolm’s lip while I ran my thumb across his cheek. All three of our tongues met, swirling and caressing in the space between our lips. I tasted Malcolm, and I tasted Gunner, and I felt the heat of three men, together.
“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
Gunner grabbed my elbow, pulling me forward. “The metal sculptures are in the back. I came to check it out yesterday. There’s a big fucking hunk of steel I think you’ll love.”
I laughed, throwing my arm over Malcolm’s shoulder as we headed forward. “You should tell Lilith about this, too,” I said. “She’d eat it right up.”
“He did,” Malcolm said. “I think Gunner might be obsessed with Lilith, actually.”
“Duh,” Gunner said, “she’s one of the biggest badasses I’ve ever met. Who wouldn’t be obsessed with her?”
“The job is going well, then?” I asked. “You’re settling in and keeping your nose clean?”
“It’s good,” Gunner answered. “I’m not so sure I want to tend bar for the rest of my life anymore, but I’ll be glad to have the work until I figure out something different for myself.”
We stopped under a spiral of metal, shooting straight into the sky from a thick wooden base. Malcolm turned to me, the metal reflecting in his glasses. “Does this mean you’re not mad at us about the money?”
I considered my words carefully, the wind whipping off the Puget Sound and blowing across the park. “I’m not mad,” I said. “I was pretty furious with myself for a while, but I don’t hold anything against you.”
“Why were you mad at yourself?” Gunner asked, perplexed.
I licked the back of my teeth, trying to think of a way to explain. “At my age, I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons and made a lot of mistakes. If I’m going to spend time with you, that means I’m responsible to pass some of those lessons on and save you from making some of those mistakes. I brought you on that job because I was excited—about you, about sticking it to my uncle, and about running another job. But the second I let my own excitement come before your safety, I was in the wrong.”
“But I’m the one who fucked up,” Gunner said, stepping back. “I take my responsibility for my mistakes. No one else.”
I looked him sternly in the eye. “You made a mistake,” I said. “But I should have known you weren’t ready for that job. You own up to what you did wrong, and I’ll own up to what I did wrong. Deal?”
Gunner swallowed, then nodded quickly. “Sounds fair.”
“Did you learn your lessons?” I asked, drawing my gaze back and forth between them. “Do you understand why that was such a bad idea?”
“Absolutely,” Malcolm answered.
Gunner shrugged. “Well, kind of…” he said teasingly.
Malcolm grabbed his elbow. “Gunner,” he said quietly. “Come on. We’ve been talking about this all week. You definitely learned your lesson.”
Gunner cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe. But maybe it takes us a while, too. Maybe we need a little extra discipline to help make it stick.”
I stared down, and my cock started to swell. “Is that what you want?” I asked, narrowing my gaze until I knew it was smoldering. “Do you need me to drive the lesson home?”
Malcolm leaned forward, whispering something in Gunner’s ear. Gunner nodded, then whispered something back, the tickle of his breath making Malcolm giggle.
“Soon,” Malcolm said, turning back to me. “But not quite yet.”
“Yeah,” Gunner added, crossing his arms. “Even a couple of young guys like us know you have to finish the date before you get to the dirty part.”
I chuckled and threw my arms over their shoulders again. “Sure do,” I said. “Now show me this metal sculpture you were talking about. I need some inspiration for new work. Otherwise I’m going to start trying to weld sculptures of my dog again.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Malcolm
By the time we got back to my apartment, I thought I was going to explode with desire. The sculpture park was one thing, but after Maddox insisted on taking us out to dinner, my cock ached from being hard for so long.
“I can see why you like this place,” Maddox said, admiring the apartment. “It looks comfortable.”
“Thanks,” I said, glancing at the framed art on the walls and the clean, minimal lines of the furniture. “I think I actually like the style of your house better, though. It’s easier to relax when a place feels lived in.”
“We’ll make this place feel lived in,” Gunner said, then pulled me in for a kiss.
I took a shaky breath. I’d only hooked up with the guys together a couple of times, but now that I knew the pleasure of feeling two men touching me at once, I was ravenous for it. I grabbed Gunner’s hand, then Maddox’s, and walked them both to my bedroom.
The room itself was pretty sparse. I had a queen-sized bed, floating in the middle of the room, and a few small bookshelves lining the walls. When we stepped through the door, Gunner released my hand and jumped onto the mattress, landing in a seductive pose.
“Looks like we’re going to break in another bed,” he said, pulling his shirt o
ver his head.
Maddox paused in the doorway, crossing his burly arms over his chest. “Not so fast, kid,” he said, his voice rumbling across the room.
“What?” Gunner asked, trailing his finger down his pecs. “You need a little more seduction after that date?”
“No,” Maddox answered firmly. “You need a little discipline, though. Remember?”
My chest tingled with nervous pleasure. I had no interest in disciplining Gunner myself, or anyone else for that matter. But the idea of Maddox doing it…
Gunner laid his hand on his backside. “I don’t know if I can handle much more yet,” he said softly.
Maddox shook his head. “And you won’t need to. Stand up.”
The command was so strong, Gunner jumped to his feet almost immediately. His nipples were hard as buttons, and even with a nervous glint in his eyes, I could tell how turned on he was.
I leaned back against Maddox, and he wrapped his arms around my chest, pulling me close. “Now undress,” he ordered Gunner. “And be quick about it.”
Gunner didn’t hesitate, kicking off the rest of his clothes with trembling hands. I thought about all the things Maddox might do to discipline him. Would he spank his butt until it was pink? Or tie him up and leave him dangling? My imagination was firing with ideas that I wanted to happen to Gunner, or to me, or to both of us at once.
Maddox released me from his embrace, then stepped closer to Gunner, who was standing fully naked and fully erect. He rested his hand on Gunner’s chest, then slowly lowered it toward his cock while he talked. “If I’m going to discipline you, Gunner, I need to know that you’re game.” He stopped his hand at Gunner’s abs, feeling the hard muscles. “Do you understand that you can tell me to stop at any moment?”
Gunner nodded quickly, sweat forming on his forehead. “Yes, I understand. I know that if I stopped enjoying it, you would stop, too, and take care of me.”
“There are a lot of things I could do to you,” Maddox continued. “And there are many, many games we could explore together. For now, though, I think we need to take it slow.” He leaned closer, placing his lips next to Gunner’s ear and dropping his voice to a growl. “If you really want my punishment, you’ll have to prove that you can handle it.”
