by Mardi Ballou
“What a sad and lovely story.” Jade sighed.
Gabe disgustedly pawed the dot of toilet paper from his face. This rash action disturbed the forming scab.
“Oh, Gabe, you’re bleeding again.” Jade held her paper napkin out to him.
“You can give me that bandage now,” Gabe said with a sigh, holding the napkin over the cut.
Jade scrounged in her purse until she came up with one. “Here.” She removed it from the paper and held it out to Gabe, who snatched it from her. “Maybe you should go to the bathroom and clean the cut first.”
“It’ll be all right—”
“Please, Gabe. I’d hate for it to get infected.”
He got to his feet. “I’ll be right back.” He glared at Alex as he passed him.
When he’d walked away, Jade shook her head. “I don’t know what’s with him this morning. Honestly, Alex, Gabe is usually the warmest, friendliest guy. Especially with fans and fellow writers.”
“You look very delicious this morning.” Alex slowly licked his lips and looked deeply into the beautiful lady’s eyes. “I don’t imagine many men would feel particularly thrilled about sharing their lover, especially one as appealing as you are, with another.”
Far from appearing flattered by his words, Jade bristled. “First of all, I am not Gabe’s property that he can decide whether or not to share.” Beneath the velvet of her eyes and voice and the divine form there evidently resided a core of solid steel. Good. He liked that.
“My apologies. Now it seems I’ve offended you both, and we haven’t even gotten to our business discussion.”
Jade considered his words for a moment and then nodded curtly. “Apology accepted. I guess some of Gabe’s orneriness is rubbing off on me this morning. And I do appreciate the compliment. It’s not every day a handsome guy tells me I look good, even if the compliment is buried in macho crap.”
“If you’re not being abundantly complimented, evidently you’re hanging out with the wrong handsome guys. But you said ‘First’. Is there a second?”
Before she could respond, Gabe strode back to the table and reclaimed his seat. His cheek adorned with a chartreuse strip decorated with magenta squiggles, Gabe did not currently project the most masculine of images—despite his stormy expression. Alex admired the smooth skin all around the bizarre bandage. Roman though he was, Gabe could hold his own with any legendary hero. But if Alex admitted that before Gabe was ready to hear it, his mission could implode and fail. No way would he let that happen.
* * * * *
Gabe had easily stanched the bleeding and slapped on Jade’s stupid hippie-looking strip of neon plastic. He’d tear it off the moment he got home. The way his morning was going, this would probably unleash a hemorrhage.
Gabe had glared at his reflection in the men’s room mirror. What the hell did Rapsos mean with his story about Apollo and some queer with a dopey name? Alex had better not be implying anything about him with that story. Gabe chose to ignore the funny feeling that wouldn’t leave his stomach. Must have been the mention of blood. Maybe Gabe was turning into a vampire with bloodlust. He’d get fangs and suck Rapsos’ jugular dry— Despite himself, Gabe’s cock throbbed uncomfortably. He told himself it was his frustration, an overdose of testosterone. Or maybe Alex Raspsos was a vampire and that was why Gabe was getting such weird vibes off him.
A memory hit him like the blade of a new razor. Nights back in high school, when he’d wake up sweating, his cock aching or a pool of cum cooling his sheets. Strange dreams. A guy in his gym class he never even talked to in real life. Sheesh. All he’d have needed was for his brother Vince to know what had Gabe groaning in the night. Right. He almost gave up sleeping until his dreams refocused on more appropriate subjects.
Gabe shook himself out of that memory. Shit. He hadn’t thought about those dreams or that guy in years. Why now? What the fuck was going on? Just because he’d cut himself shaving—shaving, for crying out loud. Something real men did every day. Which obviously left Rapsos out. Although he certainly seemed to enthrall Jade. Her eyes got that funny glaze around Rapsos. Not that she’d ever—
By the time Gabe got back to the table, his coffee was lukewarm but he sensed heat of a different nature arcing between Jade and Rapsos. He could swear he actually saw electricity sparking around them, though this was a hallucination—brought on, no doubt, by stress and maybe blood loss. Coming here this morning had been a mistake. Gabe wanted nothing better than for him and Jade to head back to the apartment, pronto, and spend a normal day, the way they’d planned. But they’d come to talk business, whatever that meant in this context. He’d promised Jade he’d listen to Rapsos, and Jade would hate it if she thought he’d broken a promise. So he’d have to give Rapsos an opportunity to make an ass of himself with some proposition they’d reject. Then Gabe would take Jade back home and fuck her senseless before they sat down to the day’s writing.
“So what is it you wanted to talk about, Rapsos?” Gabe looked pointedly at his watch. Jade kicked him under the table and gave him a warning glare.
“I have read your books and admire what you’ve accomplished in your partnership.”
“Thank you.” Jade’s voice sounded unusually husky, almost sexy.
Gabe stifled a yawn.
“But,” Rapsos continued, “you haven’t achieved huge success with your work up until now. And, I am sure, with the correct guidance, you can make your mark on the world in a big way.”
“We already have an agent,” Gabe muttered. “And Jade and I are pleased with the growth of our careers.”
Alex nodded. “Well, you should be. But perhaps you misunderstood. I’m not an agent. I’m also a writer.”
“Who’s your agent? What have you published?” Gabe spat out the standard questions. Alex had heard of him and Jade, but they hadn’t heard of him.
Alex grinned. “I’m currently in a career transition and so between agents. Previously, I wrote nonfiction of an academic nature, most of it published in Greek. I have located a talented translator who I will start working with later this year. But now my muse is moving me to also write novels—big, important ones that the world will sit up and notice. Novels will be much more effective for bringing my voice and message to the world.”
“Yeah, well. Our agent isn’t taking on any new clients, so we can’t help you there.” Gabe looked at his watch again. He figured even Jade would agree they’d wasted enough time with this bozo and his flower stories, his grandiose schemes about voice and message with nothing to back them up. “Jade, if you’ve finished your coffee and bagel, we really need to get going.”
“But Alex hasn’t told us his idea,” Jade protested. So much for her promise to follow his lead. He’d rag her on that when they were alone, which he intended would be very soon. She turned to the other man. “Alex, you weren’t just asking for an agent referral, were you?”
Rapsos chuckled. “No. In the interests of not wasting anyone’s time, here’s what I propose. You are a successful writing team—a couple in life and in work.”
“Right. We’re a couple. We’ve been together for years, and the arrangement works on every level. In fact, it just keeps getting better and better.” Gabe didn’t know how much plainer Rapsos needed that reality spelled out. “You know, two’s company, three’s a crowd.”
Rapsos shrugged. “Of course, that’s conventional wisdom, for those who are willing to color in the lines only. But I see you two thinking outside the box. That’s what drew me to you.”
Gabe started to respond to that, but Alex held up a hand to cut him off. “I’m not finished. Give me a few more minutes so I can explain what I mean. You see, there are many teams like yours—writing partners, pairs and couples. So there’s nothing unique about your arrangement.”
“Are you saying our writing is ordinary?” Gabe’s voice rose enough that people at neighboring tables turned and looked at the three of them with curiosity. Definitely not the kind of attention Gabe wante
d. Besides, it would be so much more satisfactory to punch Rapsos out. Gabe could just imagine the impact of his fist on the other man’s finely chiseled nose and lips. His cock flared at the thought. For some reason, Gabe seemed to be getting turned on by violence today—not at all his usual style. This guy evidently pushed buttons Gabe hadn’t realized he possessed.
Jade rolled her eyes. “Would you let the man say his piece already?”
Gabe didn’t like that Jade was siding with Rapsos, even in a minor way. Later, after he’d fucked her brains out, he’d talk to her about loyalty and solidarity. He’d remind her she was no freer to break promises than he.
“Of course not, Gabe. If I didn’t find your writing extraordinary, I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you. I’d have looked for other partners for my mission.” He bit his lip, as if stopping himself from saying more. “No, what’s ordinary is your partnership arrangement. What I propose is for you to take in a third partner—me—to transform the mundane to the sublime. Together, we can transform the world.” Rapsos emptied his cup. “We can explore the mystical wonder of the number three and bring our combined wisdom to the world.”
Gabe grudgingly had to give Rapsos points for putting an unusual spin on a request for career help. Rather than do the hard work of establishing his own career, this guy wanted to horn in on his and Jade’s successful collaboration. Talk about cojones. Alex must have had big brass ones. Gabe’s own cojones throbbed. Why couldn’t he get his mind off his dick this morning? He felt like a randy teenager—all wrong for a guy in his thirties—especially given the inspiring stimulus.
Before he could deliver the coup de grace and tell the guy off, Jade chimed in. “Gabe and I haven’t been thinking about changing the way we operate. You see, Alex, what we do works for us—magnificently. If you’re determined to join a couple to create a threesome, you need to look for someone else.” Finally, she was coming through. She’d waited too long, but when she started to set things straight, she nailed it.
Gabe sheathed his metaphorical sword and stood. “You heard the lady, Rapsos. All I can say is ‘ditto’. Jade, let’s go.”
Rapsos held up his hands in a “wait” gesture. “But you’re writers. You have to at least be curious about what’s motivating me. Let me explain what I mean.”
“No, I’m not at all curious or interested.” Gabe had wasted enough time.
“Okay.” Jade spoke at the same time as Gabe and motioned for him to sit back down, thus undoing her heroic kiss-off of a few moments before. Gabe couldn’t believe how, well, flighty she was acting. “I’m willing to listen a little longer, but Alex, we really can’t give you too much more time this morning.”
Disgusted, Gabe sat down hard. “Two-minute warning,” he announced, his eyes fixed on his watch.
Rapsos, who still looked like he owned the world, began. “As part of my life’s work, I have made an extensive study of the legends and mythologies which shape us. I’m convinced that infusing your stories with the wisdom and folly of these ageless tales will bring you the success that has thus far proven elusive. Even more, presenting these vital truths to the public is so important, I can liken it only to such grand schemes as saving the world.”
“You go in for hyperbole much?” Gabe growled. “Save the world? Give me a break.”
Rapsos shrugged. “Perhaps I overstate myself to prove my point. I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, ‘The pen is mightier than the sword.’ I will not debate this with you now. Though you may find it difficult to believe, my time is even more constrained than yours and I, to put it in terms common to us all, have a major deadline looming. But to return to my argument. To open yourself to this universal stream, you must allow me to become a full partner in all aspects of life and work.”
Of all the— Gabe felt a roaring in his head and something suspiciously like a rush of adrenaline. “Do you really have the fucking nerve to say what I think you’re saying?”
Rapsos’ mouth quirked up in a smile. “Yes, I believe you understand me correctly, Gabe, though I don’t agree with the terms you’re using to express what I’ve said. It’s not nerve that motivates me, it’s inspiration. Let me enter into the totality of your lives, and I will transform them. All three of us will be transformed, much greater as a unit than we are separately. Together, we will change the world. Then all your fondest dreams will come true.”
An image of Alex in bed with the two of them flashed through Gabe, and the erection he’d been fighting off sprang to full life. Thank the universe he was wedged tightly under the table.
What the heck was going on with Gabe this morning? Jade thought she knew her man, but he’d never before acted this weird. Though she knew Gabe had a tendency toward overprotectiveness that she sometimes appreciated and sometimes railed against, this morning he was acting like a jealous gorilla.
Granted, Alex Rapsos was a hunk, but Gabe had been with her in the presence of other hunks. Usually, Gabe took the presence of other attractive men in stride. Of course, usually she had eyes only for him. Something was different about the way Alex impacted her nerve cells and her senses, and Gabe seemed to be hypersensitive to it. She shivered at the thought that her man had developed the facility to read her mind and sensed just how much Alex turned her on. She crossed her legs and couldn’t help feeling how damp her panties were. It wasn’t a stretch to describe her reaction to Alex Rapsos as case of the “hots”. Not that she would ever actually act on the attraction. But if people could get in trouble for what they were thinking, she would be on her way to face a grand jury.
While the two men wrangled in their version of macho turf warfare, she struggled to get her mind around Alex’s proposal. He surely wasn’t out-and-out proposing a threesome—with all that term applied—was he? No matter how she parsed his words, that seemed to be exactly what he proposed. “Are you talking about moving in with us so we can write together?”
He shrugged. “Put in those terms, I agree that it might feel as if I’m moving too fast.”
Gabe mumbled something that sounded dark and nasty.
Alex didn’t miss a beat. “For the immediate present, I intend to hold on to my apartment. This will give us the luxury of access to space, especially prized here in the city. The three of us can rotate through the various rooms as best suits us at various times. As to what happens later—”
She liked the implication of having additional space, even though the apartments were on separate floors. The three of them could be together or go off separately in whatever combinations suited them at the time. And that kind of cohabitation didn’t necessarily imply people getting into bed together…
Desire speared through her at the prospect, though she’d never before considered a ménage. That seemed far too exotic for people like her and Gabe. But her clit vibrated at the erotic potential of being in bed with the two men seated across from her, and she had to cross her legs to maintain some semblance of control.
And then reality and logic struck. What was she thinking? How could she even imagine being with anyone other than Gabe—even if he was in a ménage with her and some other man? Sheesh, “true blue” was practically her middle name. She willed her overactive libido to settle down and stared at the bottom of her coffee cup as if the answers to her questions lay there.
“Let me demonstrate how I will bring you to the prosperity you’ve dreamed of,” Alex continued seductively.
She thought again of the Three of Pentacles card she’d drawn at Maura’s party. How bizarre and fascinating that she and Gabe met Alex the same night she heard the card read. And now Alex proposed a threesome—in life and art.
“Bad idea. We don’t want to change anything. Jade and I are a team—a team of two. It’s going to stay that way. And we’re going to achieve prosperity our way, not with the interference of some interloper who came out of nowhere.” Though Gabe’s eyes glittered with anger, his voice somehow lacked the force and strength of total conviction, which surprised and dis
turbed her.
Despite all the red flags and the voice of wisdom demanding her attention, her gut told her Alex had something real and valid to offer them. Her gut and her cunt. She couldn’t ignore the intuition that there was something more going on than met the eye and appealed to her on a visceral level.
Also, something about Alex mystified her and made her feel she was in the presence of the uncanny. He attracted her and scared her at the same time. Okay, the attraction trumped the fear factor. But even though her senses tingled at the possibility of an erotic threesome, she wasn’t ready to take that leap. Cripes, she couldn’t let her mind wander in that direction when she knew even the breath of her desire for a ménage could destroy what she had with Gabe. Still, giving Alex Rapsos a chance to write with them—to demonstrate how his writing would enhance theirs—seemed like a no-brainer. Maybe she could sublimate the other, weirder desires into the act of creation.
“Gabe,” she said softly, “can I talk to you alone for a moment?”
Alex appeared amused and almost languid, the complete opposite of how Gabe looked. “What is it, Jade? Why don’t you say whatever you want to so we can finish here.”
She didn’t like disagreeing with him in front of another person, especially when the disagreement was about the other person. She’d tried to alert Gabe to her desire to keep their conversation private, but he wasn’t going along. So, though he wouldn’t be happy when he heard her thoughts, she couldn’t ignore her instincts. “I think we should give Alex a chance to write with us. At the least, we should really listen to his ideas.”
Gabe’s eyes opened wide in disbelief. “You’re buying into his bullshit?”
Jade exhaled hard. “If it’s bullshit, we’ll find out pretty quickly. All we’ll have lost is a bit of writing time. But what if he really can add something special to our writing? What if he can point us in the right direction to tap into we’ve been missing? Are you willing to lose out on the opportunity to find out?”
“Taking him into our partnership is a really bad idea.” Gabe’s eyes went to their darkest, most impenetrable glare, and his handsome square chin jutted out in defiance.
