by Lolita Lopez
“You two are something else,” Tom finally spat. “You sit in here like a couple of snakes waiting to strike the second I enter the room. I’m not going to stand here and be manipulated by the two of you. What’s next? When will it stop?” He clenched his jaw. “No fucking way. Just—no.” He eyed them both. “What the hell did you think was going to happen? Did you really think that pushing me into a corner and forcing me to choose was going to work?”
Lexi wiped at her eyes. Her cheeks were shiny with her tears. She turned and walked back to Frank’s desk where she picked up her purse. Still crying, she hefted her bag’s strap onto her shoulder and headed for the door. She paused at Tom’s side and glance up at him. What he saw reflected in her gaze made his heart break. “I thought we would be enough for you.”
Her parting shot hung heavily in the air, creating a source of tension as she left the office and shut the door behind her. Tom looked to Frank and frowned. “What the hell were you thinking, Frank? Staging an intervention? Really?”
“Well, like Lexi, I thought our love for you would be enough, Tommy. I thought maybe we meant enough to you to convince you not to go through with this death match.”
“Death match? Jesus, Frank! Cut the crap. How many times have you watched me fight?”
“Too fucking many, Tommy!” Frank’s anger burst forth. “I’m sick to death of it. I’m just sick. God, Tommy!” He threw his arms in the air. “I built this damn business for us. I worked my ass off while you were over there serving our country and putting your life on the line so you could come home and be safe with me. I wanted this for us. I wanted this future for us. But no! No. This wasn’t enough for you. No.” Frank shook his head. “You had to go be the big, bad fighting hero. And I stood by and I supported you and I loved you but I can’t anymore, Tommy.” Frank’s eyes were glistening now. “I can’t do it anymore.”
Stunned by his lover’s outburst, Tom fell back against the wall. His legs threatened to buckle. He’d had no idea Frank had all of this bottled up inside him. “Why, Frank? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Would you have listened?” Frank angrily wiped at his face. He cleared his throat and tried to regain control. “You’re the most stubborn fucking man I’ve ever known.”
Tom couldn’t argue with that. Frank was hardly the first person to ever say that to him. “You’re not exactly a saint yourself.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Frank moved closer. “You think I’m a dick for bringing this up? For asking you to bow out of this one for us?”
“You’re being a selfish prick and you know it,” Tom shot back. “Have I ever asked you to give up anything for me?’
Frank took another step closer until they were almost nose to nose. “Fuck you, Tom. I won’t let you make me feel bad for asking you to save yourself.”
Tom bristled at Frank’s nearness and the aggression he showed. “You best get up out of my face, Frank. We’re not doing this. Not here.”
“And if I don’t?” Frank put a foot between Tom’s legs, forcing Tom back against the wall. “Are you going to hit me?”
Tom’s heart skipped a few beats at the meanness of that statement lanced his chest. “I’m not my old man, Frank. I don’t knock around the people I love.”
“Do you?”
Tom frowned. “Do I what?”
“Love me?’
Tom couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “How the hell can you ask me that? After everything we’ve been through together, Frank, I never expected that from you.”
“If you loved me, you—”
“Don’t.” Tom put his hand over Frank’s mouth, halting him. “Please. Don’t.”
Frank ripped away Tom’s hand. Breathing hard, nostrils flaring, they stared at one another. In that moment, Tom realized this was going one of two ways. The very image of option one, of Frank punching Tom and Tom knocking his longtime lover and friend flat on his ass, spurred Tom to choose option two.
He flew at Frank and smashed their mouths together. Frank shoved at his shoulders but couldn’t get free. Tom intensified their kiss. Growling, Frank stopped fighting and slammed Tom into the wall. Their mouths mated with such ferociousness that Tom was certain they’d both be bruised in the morning.
But he didn’t care. He needed Frank. He wanted to taste him, to brand him and remind him of all they’d shared these many years. Tom nipped at Frank’s neck, leaving a mark that would last for days. Frank grunted and clawed at Tom’s stomach. The scratch marks burned but Tom loved the little hurt. It made him feel even hotter and even more alive.
“Fuck!” Frank shouted in shock as Tom shoved his hands into Frank’s shorts and grasped the other man’s cock. He wasn’t gentle or slow as he grasped Frank’s balls and squeezed. He tugged on the plump sac he’d loved tonguing so much and made Frank mewl. He bit down on Frank’s neck again before moving his hand to Frank’s shaft. His lover’s cock was already leaking pre-cum. The alpha in Frank was loving every second of this wild, rough display.
Frank gave as good as he got. Tom groaned when Frank fisted his cock between both hands and began to jerk him relentlessly. It was wicked and verged on painful but Tom lifted his hips to meet each downward stroke of Frank’s hands. His balls ached and his toes curled in his shoes. Their mouths met in another needy kiss that left Tom breathless and dizzy. Hands thrusting and hips pumping, they worked themselves into a frenzied state. It was Frank who erupted first, his lips breaking away from Tom’s as he uttered a string of expletives. Tom’s cum shot between their bodies, splashing Frank’s shirt and bared stomach.
Spent and yet still so angry, they clung to one another. Tom didn’t want to be the one who spoke first. For once, he let fear rule him. Eventually, Frank pulled free and fixed his shorts. He strode into the attached bathroom and returned with a wad of paper towels that he thrust into Tom’s hand. They said nothing as they cleaned up and tossed the soiled towels in a nearby wastebasket.
Resigned, Tom sagged against the door. “What do you want from me, Frank?”
“I want you to call Billy and pull out from this fight. Let some younger kid take your place. Put an end to this shit, Tommy.”
“And if I don’t?” he dared to ask.
Frank picked up his messenger bag and keys. “If you go to Atlantic City, don’t bother coming back, Tommy. I can’t be with a man who is too stupid and pigheaded to see what’s right in front of him. Lexi and I are worth it, Tommy. We deserve a whole you, not some battered, brain-damaged man who can’t even remember our names or wipe his own ass.”
Tom’s stomach knotted at the ultimatum. He gritted his teeth as the awfulness of it washed over him. “You can’t force me to choose like this, Frank.”
Frank snorted derisively. “The fact that you even think there’s a choice tells me all I need to know, Tommy.” He stopped a few inches from Tom and shook his head. “You could have had it all, you know? Me, Lexi, kids, a real family.” Frank visibly gulped down the pain clogging his throat. “Good luck in A.C., Tommy.”
The door slammed behind Frank. Utterly destroyed, Tom slid to the floor of the office and stared at the opposite wall. Had that really just happened? Had he just allowed the two people he loved more than anything in this world to leave without fighting for them? What the fuck was wrong with him?
It occurred to Tom that maybe this was his screwed up way of saving himself from the pain he’d feared since they first embarked on their threesome. From the beginning, he’d been sure that Lexi would ultimately choose Frank. He could offer her so much more than Tom ever could.
His extreme sadness and hurt were replaced by anger. How could they ask him to give up his livelihood over a maybe? Someday, far in the future, he might develop CTE. It was such a far-fetched possibly that it didn’t seem worth all the angst Lexi and Frank had created.
The more he replayed the scene, the more pissed off he became. Where the hell did they get off coming at him like that? The way they’d squared off against him had
given Tom a glimpse of how things would be in the future if they all stayed together. It would always be Lexi and Frank against him. He couldn’t stomach it.
Maybe this was the silver lining. He’d been jettisoned from what promised to grow into a dysfunctional relationship. It was better this way. Better to end it all now than to drag it out and make it even more painful, he reasoned.
But, as he left Frank’s office and trudged out of the gym to an empty parking lot and no way home, he realized that wasn’t true at all. There wasn’t a silver lining. It was all just a delusion to make him feel better.
And it had failed miserably.
Chapter Four
Frank finally worked up the courage to enter Lexi’s house. It had been two awful weeks since that horrible night in his office. Tom hadn’t returned to the gym or the house they’d shared. Lexi had made herself scarce. Frank had felt so lost and hurt, he’d let the two of them push him away to seek their solitude.
He worried the most about Lexi. She had a tendency to internalize conflict, even when she wasn’t the source. He’d seen the way she believed everything that went wrong with her parents was somehow her fault. He feared she was turning around this mess with Tom and putting it all on her shoulders. That wasn’t right. He couldn’t let her shoulder that burden.
Frank let himself into Lexi’s house and paused in the foyer of the spacious home. “Lexi?”
When there was no answer, he locked the door and set the alarm. He traipsed through her house. This time of night, he’d expected to find her inside getting ready for one of those housewife shows she loved so much. When his search of the house turned up empty, he headed out to the patio and then to the workshop tucked in back. The lights were on and he could hear the sounds of power tools.
Entering the workshop, he spotted Lexi at one of the worktables set in the center of the room. She sat facing the door so she could see anyone who entered. No doubt that pistol of hers was close by. She rarely took risks when it came to her personal safety. A young woman like Lexi was a prime target, especially with her family’s money and that safe filled with expensive gemstones sitting in the corner of her workshop.
She glanced at him and smiled but then dropped her gaze back to the metal piece she was polishing. The machine whirred to a stop finally. She eyed the small piece critically and then huffed in irritation. She tossed aside the silver charm. Frank watched as it rolled to a stop and joined a small pile of others. “Rough night?”
“More like rough two weeks,” she remarked. Her gaze moved over him slowly. “I’m surprised to see you.”
Guilt gnawed at him. It had been almost a week since he’d last seen her. Even then, it had been a strained lunch at what had once been their favorite spot. “I should have called.”
“Yeah, you should have.” She rose from her stool and gathered up her tools. She started placing them back in their pockets of an organizer hung on a nearby wall. “At least Tom called to let me know where he was staying and how to reach him.”
Frank ached at the mere mention of Tom’s name. “So he’s going through with it?”
She nodded as she unplugged her Dremel tools and began to wind the cords. “He left for Atlantic City this morning.”
Frank traced a notch in the wooden surface of the work table. “I wish he hadn’t.”
“You and me both,” Lexi said softly. “He told me that you were putting the house up for sale.”
Frank nodded and tried to keep his emotions in check. “It doesn’t make sense to keep it. Tom will need his half of the cash to get set up some place new.”
Lexi blinked rapidly and swallowed hard. “And just like that it’s over, huh?”
Frank shrugged. “I don’t know what else to do, Lexi. I’ve tried talking to him but he doesn’t answer my calls or texts. He basically told me to go fuck myself in that last email.”
“After the way things went down, do you blame him?” Lexi shook her head and chewed her lower lip. “That was fucked up beyond belief, Frank. I can’t get over the feeling that we ganged up on him and forced him to take this stance. He didn’t see any way out that would let him save face.”
Lexi wasn’t saying anything he hadn’t already considered. “It could have gone better.”
“Gone better? Seriously? Frank, it was a disaster. We lost the man we love.”
“I’m not going to grovel to get him back, Lexi. Nothing we said was untrue. Tom is choosing to fight knowing full well he could injure himself beyond repair. He made the—”
Lexi held up a hand and cut him off. “No more, Frank. I just can’t.”
He slammed his lips shut. She continued to clean up her workspace. He watched her slow, deliberate movements. There was so much sadness about her. “This wasn’t your fault.”
“Wasn’t it?” She eyed him questioningly. “You and Tom have managed to work out your issues. I come into your lives, and suddenly, you’re breaking up.” She shrugged. “Call me crazy, Frank, but I’m pretty damn sure that the only thing that changed was me. I’m the problem.”
“Lexi…”
She pursed her lips. “Maybe Mom was right. It’s like opening Pandora’s Box when you add a third person into an established relationship. It’s easy for two people to work out their differences, Frank, but apparently, adding a third makes it impossible to compromise.”
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it? Before me, would this thing have gotten this far?”
Frank didn’t have the answer. “I don’t know,” he admitted reluctantly. He hated himself for even saying it. “This one’s all on me, Lexi. I was the one who brought up the CTE. I’m the one who forced a promise out of him last year. I’m the one who persuaded you to join my side.”
She cringed. “God, I hate it when you put it like that. Sides? We’re not in kindergarten, Frank. We’re supposed to be adults.”
“I think Tom feels like you picked my side.” Frank remembered the look on Tom’s face. It brought back so many ugly memories from their childhood. Frank had lived an idyllic life compared to Tom. He didn’t think he’d ever forget the way Tom had suffered or the way he’d so desperately wanted to protect Tom even when they were just seven or eight years old.
“Did you come by to get your stuff?”
Lexi’s question threw him. “Are you putting me out?”
She seemed uncertain. “I just thought it would be better if you don’t stay here. I came into this relationship with the full intent of being completely committed and faithful to you and Tom. We’re a threesome, right? Now that Tom has left, how does it work?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well I know I’m going to feel guilty if I sleep with you. It was different when I’d have a private moment with you or a one-on-one tryst with Tom and then have both of you in bed at night. Even when I was the odd one out, and I knew the two of you had had sex without me, it didn’t bother me. That’s how this thing worked. Together, as a trio, we shared our love.”
Anguish welled inside Frank. “And what? Now that we’re not together you can’t love me anymore?” He tried to make sense of what she was saying. “Does that mean you can’t love me if Tom isn’t part of the equation?”
“It means I’m confused, Frank. It means I never imagined I’d be ripped apart like this.” She studied him. “I can’t even begin to understand what you must be feeling. You had Tom for so long. Now all you have is me.”
“Don’t,” he pleaded. “Don’t make yourself seem less than Tom. Yes, our time together has been much shorter but that doesn’t mean I love you any less. I love you and I want you in my life, Lexi. Tom leaving us hasn’t changed that.”
“He didn’t leave us, Frank. We pushed him out the door.” Lexi shook her head. “From the beginning, I told you I wouldn’t choose Frank. Remember the promise you and Tom made to me? When we started this relationship, you both promised I’d never have to pick one of you over the other.” She wrung her hands. “Now you’re making me choose. Y
ou’ve both put me in a position where I have to decide—and I can’t. Even after everything that went down, I still love you both.”
Frank’s heart threatened to shatter in his chest. He gripped the edge of the work table. “I love you, Lexi. I’ll never stop loving Tom. Some part of me still believes this can be fixed.”
“So why are you here and not in Atlantic City?” Lexi posed the question he’d been asking himself all day.
He turned it around on her. “If you love Tom so much, why are you still here?”
Lexi put down the box of gemstones she’d been clutching and walked away from the worktable. She headed for the door but stopped when she neared the small desk where she kept paperwork, her purse and cell phone. She slipped her hand inside the couture bag and returned with an envelope. She slid it in front of him. Curious, he opened the envelope and pulled out the papers inside. His heart thudded against his sternum. “A plane ticket?”
She nodded. “I’m leaving tomorrow afternoon. I have to get a few things squared away at the boutique renovation first.”
Frank didn’t know why but he felt betrayed by the realization that Lexi had made up her mind to go see Tom without ever talking to him. “Were you going to tell me?”
She frowned at him. “I didn’t realize I had to run every decision I make by you first.”
“When it’s something like this, you should.” He dropped the envelope to the work table surface. “So what’s the plan? You fly up there and make up with Tom and suddenly I’m the asshole?”
Lexi recoiled at his ugliness. He didn’t blame her. She’d touched a raw nerve and now he was reacting badly. “You really need to get your priorities straight, Frank. I love Tom and I’m not going to let him go through this tournament alone. He needs at least one of us there to support him. Even if he chooses to let us go, I have to be there for him. He deserves that.”
“And me? I don’t deserve your support? You read that research, Lexi. You know what he’s risking. If you go there, if you sit next to that god-awful cage and watch him fight, you’re basically putting your stamp of approval on him risking permanent brain damage.”
