Neither This Nor That Box Set 1

by MariaLisa deMora

  Preparation

  Heat the skillet until a drop of water dances in the oil.

  Veggies get cut up and tossed in with the meat. Don’t overcook, remember the meat is pre-cooked, so you’re just heating that stuff up. Veggies should be softened, but not cooked through.

  Dust contents of skillet with flour and seasoning, and stir to coat evenly. Add broth and bring to a boil for a minute, stirring to keep from sticking. Add rice and corn in small amounts, stirring. Takes a few minutes, but once everything is good and hot, you’re ready to serve your cheatin’ quick jambalaya.

  Enjoy!

  PO’BOY’S PLAYLIST

  Po’Boy’s music is an eclectic mix, much like the character is.

  Po’Boy’s playlist: bit.ly/ntnt-outbad-playlist

  Shelter My

  Heart

  Neither This Nor That

  #3

  MariaLisa deMora

  Photography: Invicta Photography

  Model: James Clippinger

  Edited by Hot Tree Editing

  Cover design: Debera Kuntz

  Copyright © 2018 MariaLisa deMora

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination, or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental.

  First Published 2018

  ISBN 13: 978-1-946738-24-0

  DEDICATION

  For Jacqueline Carey, who taught so many of us the true meaning behind the phrase,

  “Love as thou wilt.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’ve learned that when a character raises their hand in mid-sentence, so to speak, it’s the perfect time to listen.

  In only five days Lewis, Po’Boy of our dreams, fed me this story and I took it and ran with it. Yay for listening to my gut, because this little story feels pretty special.

  I wrapped it up on Oct. 11, 2018, which is Coming Out Day. While these characters have already come out to their close friends, they’re beginning to learn that for folks who don’t follow the hetero path, every day can be coming out day. Dealing with that, and the innate insecurities that often surface during any building relationship, and adding in the needs of three individual partners, and we’ve got the start of a complex story.

  I hope you enjoy this tiny window into their lives.

  Woofully yours,

  ~ML

  Shelter My Heart

  Now Po’Boy has found his happy with the two people he loves more than life itself, he just has to figure out how to keep it. Their triad relationship walks a finely balanced line between the demands of their outside lives and in bed, and Po’Boy is determined to keep things good and sweet for his lovers.

  Change is unavoidable, no matter how much a body might wish otherwise, and outside of the relationship, Po’Boy’s role seems to shift with the wind, leaving him scrambling to keep his equilibrium both within the club he owes fealty to and with his ride-or-die, Twisted.

  Nothing in life is easy, but with Wrench and Crissy around, he knows the love they share is worth fighting for, even if the worst of the demons he has to fight are buried deep inside himself. They’ll give him shelter for his heart.

  Chapter One

  Lewis

  Ralph Lewis sat and stared out the window, one hand holding a beer the chill had long since fled from. He inched his ass towards the edge of the upholstered armchair and leaned back, head cradled against the back cushion. From here, he could understand Crissy’s attachment to their screened-in back porch, the chair positioned where she could watch the sun rising over the delta. It made his belly warm to think about taking care of her, this house being part of his care, his responsibility. She deserved all that and so much more.

  Ankle propped across one knee, he dangled the bottle loosely from his fingers, swinging it gently back and forth like a metronome. Thirty minutes later saw him adjusting positions, two empties placed near the chair creating a quiet clinking as his foot brushed against them. He drained the bottle he held, followed with a soft, “Shit,” grimacing slightly at the bitterness of the now-warm beer.

  Sleep hadn’t found him tonight, stranding him high and dry on the sands of frustration and fear. Things were in motion in his club, the Incoherent MC, and he wasn’t certain how to slide past the snap of a trap he’d set himself. Twisted, his national president, had called yesterday with a demand for a chat, and Lewis knew the man wouldn’t be pleased with what Lewis had to say, or what he intended as the final outcome. I just gotta find a way to survive his wrath. It might be past time for what was coming, but change came hard to an organization so steeped in tradition.

  “That’s a brown study, Po’Boy. You comin’ back inside anytime soon?”

  That rough, deep voice carried a broad river of affection and the tiniest hint of frustration. Lewis, otherwise known as Po’Boy, twisted his neck to look towards the sliding doors that led from the porch back into the house proper. He smiled at the man standing there, one bare foot still inside the threshold as if he were uncertain of his welcome. Low-slung jeans completed his wardrobe, probably plucked from the bedroom floor when Ty decided to come looking for him.

  “Hey, baby.” Ty’s eyes warmed, and Lewis liked to see it, evidence of how much Ty liked it whenever Lewis used a sweet name for his lover. The stress-etched lines in his face softened, corners of his lips curling up just the slightest amount. Lewis told him, “Ain’t studyin’ nothin’ in particular. I’m just sittin’.”

  “You’ve been ‘just sitting’ all night.” Tyler Sawyer narrowed his eyes, clearly finding Lewis’ words suspicious. He was the other part of the equation that had sent Lewis to the porch. Not an intentional banishment from their bed, and if Ty even imagined Lewis felt that way at all, he’d be falling over himself to apologize for whatever slight Lewis had dreamed up.

  Tonight, it hadn’t been Ty or Crissy that caused the ripples through Lewis’ head. No, that was all himself.

  The two of them were in a relationship, equal partners, with Crissy Emmerson forming the third leg of their triad. Something they all had to work at, because not only were they still fairly new together, their road had not been bump free. On the surface, everything looked good, mostly because it was good. So fucking good. But the things that had broken them before still were in play, and until Lewis knew without a doubt that Ty could have what he needed in his own club, the Caddo Hobos, he’d be on edge and fighting to keep both Ty and Crissy in his life.

  “Liar.” Ty—also called Wrench for his sharply honed ability to become whatever tool his motorcycle club needed to wield—had some experience reading people, a skill Lewis found irritating when turned against him as it was now. Ty challenged him further by stalking the final strides to where he sat. Lewis didn’t rise, didn’t change position in response, so when the man finally pulled to a stop inches away, he was left facing one of his favorite parts of Ty’s anatomy.

  Lewis reached up, dragging his blunt nails crossways along the fabric of Ty’s jeans, chuckling deep in his chest when the cock hiding under that fabric gave a visible twitch to accompany the raking touch. This is mine. “What if I said I was thinking about this?” As he spoke, he continued his firm caress along the tightening crotch of Ty’s pants. He leaned forwards, putting his foot flat on the floor to brace himself. Mouth beside his hand, he traced the outline of a clearly visible erection with his lips, blowing hot air across every inch.

  It didn’t take long to pull a response from Ty. Voice hoarse, he gasped out, “Ah, God. You fucking asshole.”

  Ty’s reaction prompted him to take it further. “I am all of that,” he allowed. But I’m not lying. He placed the empty bottle next to the others on the floor. With both hands now free, he
molded the fabric to Ty’s member, outlining the length of his cock, touch lingering longest where he could tease the head. As soon as he unbuttoned, unzipped, and tugged the jeans down, he mouthed the rigid erection, flicking his tongue along the underside for a moment before slipping the fat crown between his lips, each step of the way bringing curses to Ty’s lips, protestations all tangled up in demands for more, until Lewis was confident he was twisting Ty inside out.

  He wasn’t lying. He had been thinking of Ty’s cock, but where he’d been thinking about putting it was a completely different hole. His mind had been a movie screen, images looped and playing all the ways he could make Ty lose his mind with his touch, his mouth. And my cock. But, he’d also been worrying over the one time he’d had Ty on his knees, turning it around and round in his head, studying every action, every word he could remember, trying to dissect it. That had been a dark day, a moment their connection seemed on the brink of disaster. He could still visualize the moment when Ty had fully realized what their bond could cost him. The man hadn’t just backed away, he’d fled as if his life depended on it.

  Understanding what had driven him to run, Lewis had let him go, because the same demons had also chased him forever. At the time, the break seemed a natural devolving, where the club won because it had to. The club was everything, and they were just members, cogs in the wheel. But God, it had cost all of them. So much.

  Don’t wanna think about that anymore. Thinking about it too long would have him pulling back again, making the wrong decisions, and drive a bigger rift between him and Ty than before.

  In an effort to quiet his mind, Lewis took Ty to the back of his throat and held there, controlling his breath and swallowing twice, three times, until Ty finally gave way to instinct and the demands of his body, with a groan and a pump of his hips. Another slow glide, then he pulled out as Lewis gasped for breath. He offered his mouth again and, in a heartbeat, Ty was thrusting forwards, strong fingers reaching down to encircle Lewis’ throat. Not constricting, not choking him, just connecting in a way that let him feel how hard Lewis was working to bring his lover pleasure.

  “Still—” Ty panted between the words, “a liar.”

  Lewis pulled off slowly, breathing through his nose as he paused in his retreat to reclaim an inch or two before easing away farther, only to repeat the cycle. If he can still string words together, I’m doin’ it wrong. He redoubled his efforts, hoping the difference between the heat of his mouth and the cool night air would help keep Ty on edge, give him more time with Ty’s dick in his mouth, and more chances to pleasure the man, showing without words how much he meant to Lewis. Plus, the side benefit is that I do love suckin’ cock. Lapping at the end of the stiff dick with the flat of his tongue, he swirled the tip gently, lashing across the salty slit with a chest-rattling hum of enjoyment. Might say I’m partial to it, even more so to this cock in particular. He found air in his lungs to rasp out, “Not lying.”

  “Fuck, Lewis.” Ty’s words were rough, voice jagged with his fight for control. “God.”

  Lewis sucked in a series of light pulses, lips firm around Ty’s cock before he pulled off again, smirked up at Ty and asked, “What’d you come out here for again?” Without waiting on a response, he engulfed Ty’s cock and took it deep, his lover’s groan tearing through the air as he forgot his question. His fingers tightened around Lewis’ throat possessively again, just how Lewis liked it, taking both of them out of their minds and into the calm place where passion ruled, loving and being loved was paramount, and life would always be good.

  Chapter Two

  Ty

  Lewis’ pulse thudded under Ty’s touch, and he struggled for control of every breath, beating back the shouts that wanted to pour from him.

  From the first time he’d seen that sly smile on Lewis’ face, it had worked its way under Ty’s skin, amping him up and then tearing the ground out from under him with an attraction that had been terrifying. That same smirk had driven Ty to follow this man into a strange bar, back when they weren’t even a possibility. And the damned knowing grin had stopped him in his tracks during an intense breakup scene stupidly instigated by him. That grin meant Ty having his first taste of cock while working to drive the expression from Lewis’ features…had ended in disaster.

  He still shied away from the memory. Even now, two months later, the wedge he had forced between the three of them burned. The wreckage he’d left behind meant the three of them had suffered in solitude, going through so much upheaval alone.

  And it was all my fault.

  Crissy and Lewis both said they forgave him for the breakup, but even now, he didn’t know if he could forgive himself. And as much as Lewis liked to talk through things, verbally dissecting all the current, and far more pleasant aspects of their relationship at length—at times until Ty and Crissy had been driven to derail his monologue by tackling him into bed—Lewis had never mentioned it again.

  He’d talk about anything else, but not that night. His avoidance alone told Ty it was important.

  Ty had learned from Crissy that Lewis had gone to her in the aftermath. He knew Lewis had spent the rest of that night in her bed, and together they’d made love, laying down memories she had used to get through the weeks they’d all been apart. Because while it might have been Ty who ran, Lewis hadn’t stuck with Crissy, leaving them to go their separate ways. Crissy had lost the connection with them, Lewis had lost the solace he’d found away from the club, and Ty had lost—everything.

  He might never really forgive me. Ty stared down at Lewis’ upturned face, gliding his fingertips across eyelids fluttering underneath the light touch. I gotta find a way to fix it. Needed to rebuild the trust. Sure, he knew Lewis trusted both him and Crissy without question when it came to being faithful. But the way Ty had broken them left a scar of fear deep inside this man he loved. Lewis made that clear every time he shifted away from Ty’s touch in bed. Trust was key.

  Ty groaned when Lewis wrapped his tongue around the head of his cock. His cheeks hollowed as he drew the full length into his mouth and Ty’s brain stuttered, overwhelmed by the heat and pressure. “Jesus fuck.” This right here is why Lewis is so good at keeping the topic at bay. “You drive me insane.” Fingers tugged at his sac, handling him exactly rough enough, the sensual rolling motion riding the welcome edge of pain.

  Ty scraped his nails through Lewis’ hair, twisting and gripping to hold him in place, dick deep in his throat. His hips jerked forwards, and he gave in to the movement, sliding in and out for a series of shallow, fast strokes, fucking Lewis’ mouth. “Love this, Lewis.”

  Lewis hummed far back in his throat, the vibration upping the peaks of pleasure Ty had beating through his body. He knew Lewis would be happy to do this all day long, would give as much as Ty would take and be happy. But the moment Ty tried to counter with even a touch, he’d bet money Lewis would shut it down fast, redirecting so he was always the one giving, never taking what he needed.

  At first, Ty hadn’t been certain what was happening. It seemed coincidental that just as he reached for Lewis, the man would slide along Crissy’s side and out of reach. A spontaneous movement resulting in a shared, intense focus on their lover. That was how it went down when it would be the three of them in bed, on the couch, or even in the truck riding to town, seated three across the bench seat. Once he could understand, twice he could chalk up to being a fluke, but when it happened again and again, he couldn’t ignore the deep-seated problem.

  When Ty was alone with the man like this, Lewis managed to always dominate the encounters, deftly steering actions along a pathway that made it easy for Ty to follow. He was the novice, after all, it made sense for him to shadow the lead of the more experienced man. And why not, when it brought them both pleasure?

  Last night, Ty received final confirmation of his fears. In bed with Lewis, Crissy working late on a project for an ad client, Ty had found an unwelcome affirmation when he attempted to divert his role into a more active one.
He’d kissed Lewis hard, sucked and played with his nipples, and then made his intentions clear as he’d moved farther down the mattress in their bed. Unfortunately for Lewis, Ty hadn’t missed the look of near panic that had flashed across his features.

  The expression was there and gone in a moment. There was the briefest of pauses, and then Lewis wasted no time in getting things back on track, his hold on Ty’s jaw drawing him up for a deep kiss. Tongue stroking along Ty’s, Lewis kissed him stupid and then rutted against Ty’s bare cock with his own, fingers pulling them into position and stroking fast. Ty lasted through long minutes of that delicious glide of friction, but when it was heightened by the heat of Lewis’ ejaculate coating his cock, it had pulled Ty over the edge before he realized he was so close.

  “Dammit.” He’d wanted to get Lewis off, and then take things farther. Ty huffed out a laugh, cheek pressed to Lewis’ shoulder. “I had all these playtime plans. I wanted to do more for ya.”

  Lewis’ hand coasted up and down his spine, fingertips alternating between a firm stroke and a glancing caress, the effect dragging Ty closer to sleep with every breath. “You do a lot, lover. Let me take care of you.”

  “You always do.” Ty rolled his head, dropping a hard kiss against Lewis’ chest.

  “Then there’s no problem.” Lewis’ breathing deepened, as if he were on the edge of sleep, but the tension in his muscles put that to a lie.

  “I wanna do more. I wanna watch you fall apart.” Ty complained, his own voice sleep-roughened. “Wanna do to you what you want. I’m not afraid. Not of you. I trust you. No matter what.” Ty realized Lewis had gone completely still. With some effort, he lifted his head slightly to see that edge of panic back on Lewis’ face. “What’s wrong?”