A Valentine for Two

by Lia Davis

  “What do you mean?” She tied her dress.

  “I said I’d be the buffer between you. That he could give me the ugly and save the gentleness for you. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m unwilling. It’s that I don’t think he has that to give.”

  “Then I guess I’ll just have to take what he gives me, then.” She put her hand on his. “What he gives us.”

  “Do you mean that? Because you know, speaking of being in it for the novelty, it seems like I’m not really part of this. That neither of you want me for me. And I can live with that, but I need to know so I can try to untangle myself. So I’m not invested.”

  Charlotte leaned into him and pressed her lips against his. “This doesn’t work without all three of us. I think it took tonight to really see that. We’re all different together. It’s like our broken pieces only fit with the third puzzle piece. I hope you feel that way, too.”

  “It seems like I’m the steady one. I’ve never been that before.”

  “I’ve never had a triad relationship before. I think it’s new to all of us.” She slipped her shoes on. “This was an amazing night. Shutting down the power grid for the whole city was the best grand gesture.”

  “It seemed to fit.” He pulled her close. “I know you want to run to him, but let him be tonight. Stay with me.” Vance needed her to say yes. Needed her to choose him. Not always. Not even ever again. Just once. He needed to know he mattered.

  “I think we both need that. My heart is a little raw. I didn’t know sex could be... so intense. It was more than the orgasm and I’m wrecked.”

  “Let’s go back to my place and be wrecked together.”

  She smiled and put her hand in his.

  “You know, for all my teasing, I didn’t actually plan on having sex on the first date.”

  “Me either, but I fantasized about it.”

  “Me too.” He put his arm around her and they took the car service back to Ridgemont Hall.

  They rode the elevator up with Conrad, who had none of his usual barbs. When he got off on his floor, Vance said, “Guess things are rough all around.”

  “I told you Pandora got his name at the party. They were arguing about it and she told him not to be a bitch.”

  Vance laughed. “God, that woman is brutal. She and Dane used to date, but then she slept with his half-brother at a party.”

  “Oh. Hmm, that doesn’t seem like the kind of thing Dane would give an actual damn about. Unless he actually loved her? But he doesn’t seem like that type either.”

  “I think Huntington Dane feels things on a level that none of us can and he hides it to protect himself.”

  “Or maybe you’re just Captain Save A Ho.”

  “Maybe, but I like studying people. It’s why I’m going into psychology.”

  “Wouldn’t you be better served with a business degree?”

  “I have one of those.” He grinned. “I started here when I was seventeen.”

  “So, what do you want to be when you grow up?” she asked.

  “I still don’t know.”

  “Me either. I can do literally nothing with my degree, but I’ll have one. That’s all my parents care about.”

  He handed her a t-shirt when they got inside and showed her to the shower. “You can go first.”

  An hour later, she was curled next to him in the bed, her breathing deep and even. Vance couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like with Jace there, too. Would he sleep on the other side of her?

  Would he ever let himself be held like this?

  He’d been lying when he said he needed to know so he could untangle himself. He was afraid there would be no untangling.

  Vance had never believed in love at first sight, and he still didn’t, but he did believe in connection. In something that you know is right, something that even when it’s new, you know that you have to have it forever and nothing else will do.

  This, the three of them, that was it for him.

  If Jace would let it happen.

  He finally slept, and when he woke the next morning, he had to hustle. Charlotte was already gone, she had an early class. But she’d made him pancakes and left them in the oven.

  Pancakes. He was rich, the people he dated never wanted to cook for him. Except for that chef and her sister, but usually, they wanted to be romanced. Treated. Coddled. He’d been prepared to have breakfast delivered, but those four pancakes with a whipped cream smiley face were better than anything he could’ve purchased.

  His team had a match today against Amherst and Vance was pretty sure it would take an Act of God to keep Jace from killing someone.

  Rugby seemed like it would be a great outlet for his aggression, but after last night, his emotions had to be in an uproar and he didn’t know how to process them.

  You ready for tonight? He texted Jace.

  We’ll end them ugly. 

  Since when had he started using emoticons? That was a good sign, right?

  Lunch? He offered.

  Can’t. Feel like I’m going to puke. Dinner after the game?

  Sure. Definitely a good sign that he hadn’t disengaged.

  Jace didn’t reply for a while. Then: She stayed with you last night, right?

  Yeah.

  Good.

  You could have too.

  I needed to deal with some shit. Needed some space. It’s a lot, you know?

  Vance understood that it was a lot for him, who didn’t have the trauma that Jace and Charlotte did. So he could empathize. I get it, but you don’t have to deal alone.

  I know, man. I just...

  As long as you know.

  Thanks for last night.

  Unexpected, but good. Let’s do it again soon.

  He didn’t reply and Vance didn’t expect him to. He knew he wouldn’t hear from him until he saw him in the locker room. Even then, it would be all about the game. Things wouldn’t get serious until dinner.

  If he actually came.

  Vance was okay with all of that. He was ready to kick the shit out of Amherst anyway and he needed his head in the game.

  Vance was right. He didn’t actually see Jace until they hit the field.

  Jace had an easy smile for him, even though his hands looked like he’d put them through a shredder.

  At least he’d worked out his aggression.

  They were in position for the kickoff when one of the opposing players said, “We’re gonna kick your ass. You’re too busy sucking your captain’s dick to play.”

  Vance never paid any mind to shit talkers. He motioned to his dick. “You should be so lucky.”

  “We saw you out at the sushi bar. Sucking on each other fingers with your whore.” The guy laughed.

  Vance thought for sure he’d have to hold Jace back, but he said nothing. He did nothing. The easy smile was gone though, and the warmth that had been in his eyes was nonexistent. In fact, Jace was nonexistent. There was nothing in his eyes that indicated he was present. That he was human.

  It was cold.

  It was dark.

  It was empty.

  Sebastian Rathbone, who played for basically every team Hollingsworth had, spoke up. “Who gives a shit what they have to say. Make them eat our fucking balls. Literally.”

  “Surprised you weren’t there slurping along, Wrathboner.” Number Forty-eight said.

  “Maybe I was, but I took a break to give your mom the high hard one.” Bastian gave them a hip thrust to punctuate his meaning. “Or was that your girlfriend? I can never tell how old all those women are after they get meth mouth.”

  “I’m gonna take you down hard.”

  Sebastian laughed. “Bitch, please.”

  Jace had still said nothing. He burst into motion after the kick-off, running hard. He took a particular interest in the guy who’d been shooting off his mouth and Jace knocked him to the ground every chance he got.

  As soon as the ball was in motion, he headed for his target and put him down hard. “Who y
ou putting down hard, huh?”

  Play after play, he put him down again and again, to the sound of ligaments tearing and bones crushing.

  He had to give the other player credit, though. He stayed in the game, but he was going to end up with permanent damage.

  “Man, call off your attack dog. Farley learned his lesson,” Rinevold, the captain of the other team said between plays.

  “I don’t think he has,” Rathbone answered. “If he had, he’d excuse himself from the field of play. Who our players have consenting relationships with shouldn’t have anything to do with how we play as a team. For the Grizzlies, it doesn’t. If he wants Lamont to stop kicking his ass, he knows how to make it stop.”

  Rinevold shook his head. “Poor sportsmanship.”

  “Poor sportsmanship would be finding out where his father is employed and buying the company for the sheer pleasure of firing him. So how about we keep it about the game, yeah?” Vance said.

  Sebastian high-fived him and they went back to the play.

  Forty-eight was finally hauled off the field on a stretcher with a broken ankle and penalty on Rathbone, not Jace.

  They still won, but only barely.

  As he approached Jace in the locker room, the guys cleared out, knowing they had things that were best discussed in private.

  His left arm hung limply at his side. “I’m having a hell of a time here, Captain. Give me a hand?”

  “You should probably see the team doc.”

  “Nah, just help me get it back in the socket. It does that sometimes. Hurts like a bitch, but it’s nothing we can’t handle.”

  “You went after that guy pretty hard, Jace.”

  “Fuck that guy.”

  “You almost cost the team the game.”

  “No one complained,” Jace growled.

  “Goddamn it, that’s because they expect me to handle it.”

  “Because we’re fucking?”

  “We haven’t fucked yet, if you want to get technical. And no, because it’s my job. I keep the team running smoothly. Efficiently. If it had been anyone else but you, I’d have benched them and they know it. You can’t act that way. Yeah, it’s great for channeling aggression, but only if you can remember it’s a fucking game.”

  “Then why do you care if we almost lost?”

  “Because Rathbone’s scholarship depends on his performance, like a lot of other guys. I care what happens to them. You should, too.”

  He winced as he worked the bone back into the socket and closed his eyes. “I didn’t know.”

  “Yeah, that’s why I’m talking to you about it.”

  “Rathbone defended me. Us.” He sounded surprised.

  “Of course he did. The team will put it all on the line for you. So you have to be willing to do that for them.” Vance suddenly realized he wasn’t just talking about the team. He was talking about their relationship, too.

  “I’ve never been part of a team,” Jace confessed.

  “You are now.”

  “Yeah, I get that. I won’t do it again.”

  “Good.” Vance stood there, unsure of how to proceed.

  “I’m going to take a soak. I found that the heat soothes it as much it can be soothed after I knock it loose.”

  “So it’s an old injury.”

  “Yeah, part of my sob story.” He peeled off the rest of his uniform.

  Vance found himself ever more intrigued as the layers came off of Lamont’s body. He was well-muscled and his body bore the marks of his life. There didn’t seem to be any surface of flesh that wasn’t marred in some way. Burns, nicks and cuts, places where bones had been broken and left to heal as they would. His body was a map of pain—a living tribute to all the horror he’d endured.

  Jace Lamont, for all of his darkness, was a noble animal.

  For some reason, this struck him with such force, it was almost pain and the curiosity erupted into something more.

  A need.

  Vance couldn’t help but remember the night before and the size of the man’s cock. It made him think twice about fucking him.

  But Vance liked a little edge, a little pain.

  He stripped before sliding into the hot water with Jace.

  Vance sighed with contentment. He did love his baths. He saw nothing wrong with enjoying cleanliness. One tended to chafe less if one were clean.

  Lamont dunked his head and when he emerged, Vance was entranced by the way the rivulets streaked down Jace’s ruined skin—like a waterfall over craggy rocks. Harsh, jagged, but no less pleasing to look upon.

  He waded over to Jace, still watching him, his body draped over the stone edge that functioned as a step and his eyes were closed.

  “Fighting or fucking, Tinsley-Yates,” he snarled Vance’s own words back at him, not bothering to open his eyes.

  “If I said fighting, I could have gotten in two good hits already.”

  “If it pleases you to think so.”

  Vance drove his fist forward just to prove a point and Lamont took the hit, but grabbed the back of his neck and held him hard, his fingers digging into pressure points.

  He drew him closer and Vance was tempted to drive his fist into Lamont’s shoulder, to see if he would let go, but he didn’t. This was where he wanted to be.

  “It’s just you and me.”

  “Then fill that pretty mouth of yours with something besides hot air.” He shoved him down toward his cock in a rough motion as he brought them both up another level on the stairs.

  Vance complied, easing Jace’s cock past his lips, taking it deep in his throat, swallowing around the swollen flesh. Jace released his neck and as he licked up the long shaft, Vance met his hungry gaze. He slid back down the length of him, taking his cock fully and bobbing back up again.

  Jace watched him, his dark eyes glittering with some black promise.

  And Vance wasn’t disappointed.

  He allowed Jace to pull him off his cock and shove him roughly against the side of the bath. He knew what was coming and positioned himself on the warm stone.

  Jace rose up behind him, his large thighs pushed him harder against the stone, Lamont’s thick cock pressing against his ass and he knew a moment of fear. The other men he’d been with had all been men he could overpower and with Lamont, he knew like as not, the guy could do with him as he liked. His cock jerked as the thought fueled his lust.

  Jace drew his hand down Vance’s back and he tensed.

  “After all of your pushing and plotting to get here, are you afraid?”

  “Fuck you,” he hissed, finally understanding the depths of Lamont’s darkness. Finally knowing that he had seen behind the curtain and it was just as ugly as he told everyone it was, but he hadn’t listened.

  “No, Vance. Fuck you.”

  Vance had no time to brace himself and with no preparation, Lamont’s entry wasn’t an easy one.

  Jace grasped his hips and spread his ass, his thick fingers digging into his skin—the head of his cock pushed past his tightly puckered ring of muscles. A low sound was torn from him and it was one of pain. It felt like Lamont had cleaved him in half. But there was pleasure, too. He felt vulnerable, bare... and triumphant. This was what was beneath the mask. Brutality. Power. Strength.

  Lamont pushed home, filling him completely and Vance had to bite back another cry. He was in exquisite pain and his cock had never been harder.

  “Is this what you wanted? To see the rabid dog beneath?” He thrust up into him and Vance tried to pull away, but Jace wouldn’t let go. “Is this what you wanted?” he demanded again.

  “Yes,” Vance growled back. “Stop talking about it and fuck me. You can’t break me. Fuck me. But get some goddamn lube.” Someone had left baby oil out on the bench by lockers. “There, get it.” He pointed.

  Relief flooded him when Jace complied. He wasn’t sure he was going to.

  It only took a moment, and Jace was behind him again. Vance pushed back against his lubed cock, taking control of the ent
ry, but as his crevice accommodated Lamont’s girth the pain had merged with need.

  Lamont obliged him. He drilled into him mercilessly and it was what he wanted. To see this primal rage, a beast—an animal. Jace nipped at his neck as he fucked, hips pistoning in and out with no care for Vance’s pleasure or pain. He used him, a receptacle for all of his rage, his pain, his need.

  Just as Vance had promised him he could.

  He hadn’t known what he was signing up for, the tidal waves of rage.

  Vance surrendered to Jace’s strength, allowing the other man to hold him up so he could reach his own cock, but Jace placed his hands back on the edge of the hot tub and his teeth found hard purchase on his neck.

  Jace dug harder into his hips, slamming him down to meet his thrust. Then he stopped, holding Vance still impaled. Jace’s hand closed around his cock and Vance was so desperate to come, he almost spilled at the touch.

  “Who knew your ass was sweet as any pussy?” Jace rasped in his ear and stroked him slowly, so that with each pull on his cock, his ass clenched and drew Lamont ever deeper. “I’m going to take you like this while you ride her. I’m going to fuck her with your pretty face and your cock. You’ll take the pain and give her only the pleasure.”

  Vance’s cock surged and Lamont tightened his grip at the base of his cock. “Not yet, Tinsley-Yates,” he sneered his name. “You’ll come when I want you to come.”

  Lamont drilled into him with renewed vigor, thrusting and grinding in an angry rhythm. When Vance was sure he couldn’t take any more, Lamont rasped in his ear, “Now.”

  He grasped himself and spilled over his hand and into the water just as Jace spent in a hot jet inside of him.

  But he understood in that moment why Lamont could never be with Charlotte without a buffer between them. Because even as he pulled out, his cock softening and his passions spent in violence, his grey eyes still glittered with the black rage that never left him.

  Chapter Ten

  Charlotte

  “Charlotte, you need to rethink your end game,” Vance said as soon as she opened her door.

  “Well, hello to you, too.” She arched a brow. “Why do you say that?” Charlotte indicated he should come in.