Three

by Chloe Lynn Ellis

  Knit us together more tightly.

  Proven just how real this relationship really is—and that it’s so much more than just sex.

  A familiar heat rushes through me—because I mean, yes, it’s more than just sex, but it definitely is sex, too. Amazing, mind-blowing sex that I don’t know if I’ll ever get enough of. But making it all the sweeter is that it’s also the kind of true, lasting love that I never let myself dream of having before.

  It’s supporting each other.

  It’s being there for each other.

  It’s taking care of one another and believing in us, no matter what anyone else thinks.

  Some might say it’s still too new to be sure, but I already know. Our triad? It’s unbreakable. And the idea that I get to have more of it… more of them… that it doesn’t have to end… well, I almost don’t know what to do with that.

  It almost feels unfair that one person could be so blessed, be given so much.

  Fair or not, though, I’ll take it. I’m going to be selfish when it comes to this. I’m going to keep them. Hold on as tight as I can and hope like heck that my boys don’t ever let me let go.

  I’ve already got my hand on the doorknob, this impossible-to-stop smile still on my face, when I suddenly pivot, switching directions. I can’t wait to go give myself the birthday present of sharing today with Matt and Johnny, but first, I’m going to do something else. Something that I’ve never allowed myself to do because it would mean I’d need a future to do it in. Something that means I know it’s real. Something just for me.

  I’m going to check #102 off my list right now.

  I fire up my laptop with a giddy sense of euphoria. All that hope that I’ve been trying to deny? Despite my best efforts, it’s been brewing inside me for a while now, fed and watered by the love of my boys, even when I tried to keep it from getting out of hand. And even though I kept trying to tell myself that I wasn’t getting my hopes up, the truth is it’s been spilling out of me in little ways. I’ve been doing my research into nursing programs in fits and starts and started the process of filling out a nursing school application even though I didn’t really trust that there would be any point to it. I just kept plugging away at it anyway, though—dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s—and somehow now I’ve ended up with the whole thing ready to go.

  I just couldn’t bring myself to actually submit it, not when I didn’t really believe I’d be around to see it through.

  I do now, though.

  I hope… I believe… I’m alive.

  A silly, staccato rhythm sounds on my bedroom door and startles me just as I hit the button to send the nursing school application in, and I look up as Johnny and Matt walk in, knowing I must look just as elated as I feel.

  I’ve done it. I’ve really done it!

  And oh, Lord. Look at them. Both wearing the same smile I am; arms overflowing with flowers; awake far, far too early—which means they’ve planned this.

  They’re up for me.

  They believed, even when I didn’t, and that’s… that’s everything.

  They burst into a horribly off-key and distinctly naughty version of “Happy Birthday,” swooping me up in their silliness and tossing me onto the bed with all those flowers. Of course they join me, because they always know what I need, don’t they? And before I know it they’ve got me laughing and breathless, showering me with silly little gifts that warm my heart as they crowd in next to me on the tiny mattress.

  “I don’t think this bed was made for three,” I say, laughing as they sandwich me between them and hand me another awkwardly wrapped little box with a cockeyed ribbon.

  “’Course it wasn’t,” Matt says, a wicked smile on his face. “Here’s how it breaks down. Johnny’s bed’s gonna be for sleeping, because he’s the only one with a king. My bed’s for fucking—” Matt has a queen-sized bed, “—because there’s just enough space for all of us to have a good time, yeah? And this one—”

  “Let’s get rid of it and turn this into a full weight room,” Johnny interrupts, plucking at the ribbon on my last gift. “No more of this sleeping apart bullshit, okay?”

  “Agreed on that, but we’re not getting rid of this bed,” Matt says. “This one is where we get… creative.”

  The way he says it makes everything inside me hum to life with anticipation, but just when I want to suggest setting aside the gifts for later and moving on to some of that creativity, Matt knocks Johnny’s hands away from the gift box with a wink.

  “Quit it, bro, this is hers.” Matt rolls his eyes. “You’re always so grabby with gifts.”

  “I’m just helping,” Johnny says, going for an innocent look that’s so overdone that it has me laughing. “Just want to hurry up with this part and get on to, you know, other ways of celebrating.”

  I have to agree, especially when Johnny says it in that tone, but Matt holds firm.

  “Not until after she opens her presents,” he says in that bossy sex-voice that always has me wanting to beg him for things I still get shy asking for.

  “I’ve got a present right here,” Johnny says, plucking my hand off the tiny box and putting it on top of his erection. He gives me a dirty smile that I adore. “You want to open this one, princess?”

  “Yes, please,” I tell him honestly, starting to feel a little breathless as I shape my hand around his hard length. It practically singes my skin even through the soft material of the sleep pants he’s wearing, and when he tangles his fingers through the back of my hair and pulls me in for a hot kiss, thrusting up against my palm, I let the little box in my hand tumble to the mattress.

  Matt laughs, pulling my hand off Johnny’s cock and keeping it trapped in his grip. He was squished in on the wall-side of the bed, but now he gets to his knees and rolls me over onto my stomach to swat my bottom.

  “Ohhhhhh,” I gasp, the deliciously hot sting of it spreading through me with the promise of very, very good things to come.

  I squeeze my thighs together as my center starts to throb, and Matt laughs.

  “Naughty girl,” he says. “You’re going to make me start your birthday spankings early if you keep that up.” He sits back on his heels and pulls me up in front of him, whispering into my ear from behind. “First, your present.”

  “Thought that’s what I was giving her,” Johnny says with an unrepentant grin, folding his hands behind his head as he smirks up at us.

  Johnny’s leaning against the little twin bed’s headboard looking absolutely decadent, and the way Matt’s cock is suddenly pushing against me from behind, I’m pretty sure he thinks so, too.

  “We’ll definitely be giving her that one, too,” Matt says, the pure lust in his voice making me shiver. He picks up the little box and hands it to me. “Just want to make sure we’re all on the same page first, yeah?”

  I’m not sure what that means, but I can hear it in Matt’s tone—see it in Johnny’s face—whatever it is inside the box, it’s got their usual cocky assurance colored by a hint of uncertainty.

  Do they really think I won’t like anything they give me?

  “Matty’s right. Open it, princess,” Johnny says, sitting up straight as he reaches for the box again. “We know you already have one, but—”

  “Spoiler,” Matt interrupts, swatting Johnny’s hand away again when Johnny tries to pull the ribbon off. “Let her… let her just see if she wants… you know.”

  “If I want what?” I ask, scooting off Matt’s lap so I can look between the two of them. “I want everything. I want you, both of you. Anything you… you can think of, I’m in.”

  “Even camels?” Johnny asks, grinning.

  I laugh, but Matt takes my chin in his hand and tilts my head to face him, pinning me with a serious look. “We want everything, too, Eden,” he says. “We know what you thought about today. About your birthday, and all. And you know, none of us have ever really talked about much past this point. About what we’re really doing here, yeah?”

  I no
d, swallowing past the sudden lump in my throat. He’s right. It’s all felt so easy in some ways, being with the two of them, but a part of that was the freedom I gave myself when I didn’t believe I had a future.

  Of course I haven’t wanted to think ahead. Couldn’t bring myself to, and every time I tried… well, I just couldn’t see how it could work, as if my vision was no better than Matt’s father’s. But it does work. We work, and I’m not giving that up. Not if Matt’s serious, and he and Johnny really do feel the same.

  I’m not sure how it’s supposed to look, a relationship with all three of us—or if “supposed to” even applies—but I know I want it. I know I’ll fight for it, even when it’s uncomfortable. And I know that with these two beside me, I’ll be brave enough to hold onto it, no matter what anyone else thinks.

  “We want you to stay, Eden,” Johnny says, plucking the box out of my hand and unwrapping it quickly, before Matt can stop him this time. He pops the top open and holds it out to me. “Hoping you want that, too?”

  It’s a house key.

  I do already have one. Matt gave me one so I could come and go, back when I first came to stay with them three months ago.

  “I know you’ve moved around a lot,” Matt says, pulling it out and putting it in my hand. “You said you never really had a place you felt like you were from, yeah? A place where you had roots? A place you could see yourself staying and putting some down?”

  It’s true, and I’m just as touched to know that they both paid attention, that they really care, as I am by what this key seems to mean. I swipe at my eyes when they start to get blurry, turning it over in my hand.

  There’s engraving on the key, a heart with the infinity symbol looping through it.

  It’s beautiful.

  “Boston’s nice,” Johnny says, winking at me. “You’ve seen all the options, right? Been to all fifty states? Got your whole life ahead of you to keep exploring, but Matty and me, we were kinda hoping you’d stay here. You know, on a permanent basis.”

  “I want to,” I say, closing my hand around the key. “I want that. I want you. Both of you. You’re… you’re my home. The only one I want.”

  Johnny grins, and Matt laughs, pulling me against him and kissing me hard.

  “Sounds like we’ve got something to celebrate then, right, beautiful? The three of us making this a long-term thing?”

  “How long-term are we talking about?” I tease him, tracing the infinity symbol on my new key. “Because a girl could get ideas with this bit here…”

  “Get them,” Matt says, and the way he smiles at me has my heart singing. “We want this to be forever.”

  “Forever works for me,” I say, meaning it with all my heart.

  “You got that one a little wrong, princess,” Johnny says, taking the key out of my hand. He sets it aside, kissing me, touching me, and somehow managing to get me naked, too, while he melts my heart with his next words. “Forever doesn’t work for you. The right way to say it is that forever only works with you. With you and Matty both. Ain’t no other kind of forever I’m interested in, at least.”

  And then they’re both giving me even more reasons to celebrate. Laying me down among all the soft petals scattered around us and using hands and mouths and lips and tongues all over me.

  It’s bliss.

  It’s heaven.

  They take me there twice before I can even catch my breath… but it’s still not enough. And of course, because these two men are perfect for me, they know it.

  Know I need more.

  “You want us to fuck you, beautiful?” Matt asks, looking up at me with a wicked smile from where he’s positioned between my legs.

  I’m still trembling from the things he did to me with his mouth, and between that and the way Johnny’s huge hands are stroking me… teasing me… keeping me poised on the edge of even more, I’m not sure I can answer.

  “She doesn’t just want us to, Matty,” Johnny says, winking at me. “Pretty sure she needs us to. Can’t disappoint our girl, now can we?”

  “Never will,” Matt says, palming himself as he looks down at me with hungry eyes. “Like we did before, bro? Both in her at the same time?”

  I moan, my whole body flushing with heat at the memory.

  Having them take me that way is amazing. We’ve done it that way a few times, and every time, I’m not sure I can take it… and every time, it’s the most incredible, perfect feeling to find out that I can.

  But this time—

  “No,” I say, coming up on my elbows as I try to catch my breath.

  The word freezes both of them, catching them in the act of shucking off their clothes, and I lick my lips as they stop and look at me.

  “How do you want it then, princess?” Johnny asks as he unfreezes and finishes stripping down. “It’s your day. Happy to give you whatever you want.”

  “Always,” Matt says forcefully, the heat in his eyes doing things to me.

  He’s off the bed now, because it really is too small, and watching him get naked only fires up my determination to get what I want.

  Or at least to ask for it.

  Matt must see that determination in my eyes, because he gives me a dirty, dirty look and starts stroking himself.

  “But you sure you don’t want us together, baby? Don’t want Johnny’s big cock making you scream? Don’t want to let me in the back door, pushing you higher as he does?”

  Oh, Lord. I do. A selfish, selfish part of me really does, and Matt can always tell, can’t he? He always knows what I really want… except that this time, I want something else, too.

  Something that’s like that infinity loop, connecting all three of us together.

  “Johnny, let her ride you,” Matt says, words that make me moan.

  Johnny reaches for me, ready to flip us both around the way Matt wants, but I put a hand on his chest to stop him.

  Yes, that would feel incredible, but—

  “Um, if you two are into it… I’d kind of like to do something else?” I tell them. “If you’re willing, I mean. For… for my birthday?”

  “Told you, princess. I’m always into making you happy,” Johnny says, covering my hand with his and rubbing it against the hard contours of his chest. “Anything that does that, I’m game.”

  “Absolutely,” Matt agrees, his eyes heating up as he watches the two of us.

  I get it, too, because watching is amazing. It was so unbelievably hot, the first time I realized Johnny wanted Matt this way. And actually seeing the two of them together?

  Watching them suck…

  Touch…

  Kiss…

  These two big, hard men with such sweet, soft hearts getting each other off?

  Loving each other?

  Making each other moan?

  It’s by far the most erotic thing ever… especially when I get to do both—watch and be a part of it. Which is exactly what I want right now.

  “I want all three of us to… to be connected,” I say, having trouble catching my breath. I scrape my nails across Johnny’s chest, making him hiss out his breath as I clench my thighs together, and I tell them again when they don’t both immediately jump on the idea. “All three of us to fuck at the same time.”

  “How, baby?”

  I pull Johnny down on top of me, arching up to rub myself against his deliciously hard body. “Fuck me like this, Johnny, will you?” I ask, wrapping my legs around his hips.

  The heavy length of his cock is trapped between us, making me crazy, and he groans, dipping his head down to bite at the side of my neck as he instantly starts moving on top of me. Rubbing himself against me. Almost making me forget the rest as he rocks that big body against mine.

  I gasp. This. Yes. Always.

  “I’ll fuck you, princess,” he says, the vibration of his voice against my skin making me whimper as he trails his hot mouth down my throat. “Anytime. Any way. Don’t gotta ask me twice.”

  “And… and I want… want Matt to fu
ck you,” I manage to get out just as Johnny rolls his hips, lining up the head of his cock with my entrance.

  Johnny goes still.

  “You want me… inside Johnny?” Matt asks, his voice sounding strained.

  Strained and hungry.

  I slide my hands down the impossibly wide length of Johnny’s back and grip his hard ass, pulling as I rock my hips up to bring him inside me.

  “Jesus, Eden,” he groans, and I’m so wet that he slides all the way in, right up to the hilt.

  Oh, Lord. Oh, yes. Johnny’s so thick that it’s always a stretch with him, even when I’m relaxed, but I love the way he fills me up. Love the way there’s no room for anything but this when either one of them take me. Love it from behind, too, even though I’d never considered doing it that way before Matt showed me how much I’d like it.

  But the way Matt likes to fuck me sometimes? Taking charge of my back entrance; filling me up there, too; showing me just how good it is when I give up control and let him push me that way?

  It’s incredible.

  Liberating.

  So, so erotic… like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

  Almost as erotic as wondering whether Johnny will like it, too.

  Have the two of them ever done it that way?

  Not when I’m with them, at least, but suddenly I’m almost desperate to have it happen.

  To see it.

  To know that the two men I love are connecting that way, too.

  And oh God, oh please, I’m also desperate to find out what it feels like to have Johnny inside me while Matt pounds into him from behind. To have the three of us joined in our bodies the way we are in our hearts. To watch Johnny’s face and hear Matt’s delicious excitement and feel all of it, get all of it, have everything I want because—with these two, with my whole life ahead of me—I can.

  “You… you really want that, princess?” Johnny asks, holding himself still inside me. “You want that to happen here?”