Limitless Love: A Polyamorous Charity Anthology

2. Eric

Iwait in my car until all my new employees leave. Except there are only three cars in the lot—mine and two others. It wouldn’t be unusual for people to carpool together, but as I watch the figure move from underneath the awning and out into the rain, I realize that’s not the case.

Putting the car into gear, I pull out of my spot and carefully navigate through the parking lot—getting it repaved is on my list of things to fix. Pulling up close to the sidewalk, I roll down the window as the person turns to me.

Even though its dark, Graham’s sad green eyes are burned into my memory, as is his pretty, and clearly way too young for me, face. The shadows cast by the streetlight make him seem older, harder, but no less gorgeous. Get a grip, Eric, you’re not a damn teenager anymore.

“Can I offer you a ride?”

“You could,” Graham sasses. “Doesn’t mean I’m gonna take it.”

I smile, because damn, I like this kid. “Please, Graham, can I give you a ride?”

It’s hard to read his facial expression, but something tells me he’s about to say no. Then, there’s a clap of thunder overhead and lightning flashes. Graham jumps and his whole body sags.

“Fine,” he says, before rounding the car. I unlock the door and try to ignore the zing of pleasure I get as he slides into the front seat.

I turn on the seat warmer and notch the heat up a bit. “Where to?” I ask, bringing up the GPS on the dash.

Graham enters his address, and I wince when it pulls up the route. That has to be at least an hour’s walk.

“We gonna leave any time soon?” he asks.

“You’re so impatient,” I reply, as I pull into traffic.

“Sorry. Figured you’d have something better to do than drive me home.”

“I live a rather boring life,” I confess. “Buying and running businesses is about as exciting as things get for me.”

“I doubt that.”

“It’s true.” I hesitate for a second before taking the risk and continuing. “The only thing exciting about me is that I’ve been with my boyfriends for over twelve years now.”

“You just have it all, don’t you? Money, charm, and multiple boyfriends. I hope they know about each other.”

I laugh. “You say charm like it’s a bad thing. And yes, they know about one another. We all lived together our last two years of school. It’s…maybe unconventional, but it works for us. Sawyer’s married, and Vincent has a live-in partner.”

“Huh.” He’s silent for a moment, and then, “Why are you telling me this?”

That’s a good question. “Why not? I don’t hide that I’m with them. I’m not ashamed of my relationships.”

“You probably shouldn’t be telling random strangers though.”

I chance a glance at him. “Are you a random stranger? I might own the coffee shop now, Graham, but I’m not the type of man who lords it over my employees. Nothing gets done that way. I want y’all to come to me with your ideas and help me make the place great, not scare you into submission.”

“Still. You don’t know me.”

“We can change that.” Taking a chance, I ask, “Are you hungry?”

“It’s almost eleven.”

“That doesn’t answer my question. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t eat dinner, so I’m starving.”

He’s quiet for so long I don’t think he’s going to answer, but finally he says, “I could eat.”

“Great.” Turning on my blinker, I take the next turn and shut the GPS off so we don’t have to listen to the annoying computerized voice as we go off course. “I know the perfect place.”

* * *

“This isn’twhat I was expecting,” Graham says, as I lead him to a booth.

“Well, as you pointed out, it is eleven at night. Not a lot of options.”

“Yeah, but…I don’t know, doesn’t seem like the place you would frequent.”

“Oh?” I remove my coat and toss it onto the seat before sitting down. “And what do I look like to you?”

He flushes and bites his bottom lip, gaze on the table for a few moments before he looks up. “You’re what, forty? You said you buy businesses—as in more than one—which leads me to believe you have money. Which I already suspected, because everything about you screams expensive, even your damn coat.”

“Ouch.” Placing a hand over my heart, I sit back against my seat. “I’m thirty-two, thank you very much. I’m not going to lie and say I don’t have money, but I also worked very hard to get to where I am.”

He raises a brow, and it makes me smile. So distrustful. He reminds me a lot of Vincent when we first met.

“Yeah. So, some of it is family money, but I didn’t get access to the first half?—”

“First half?”

I ignore the interruption and continue. “I didn’t get the first half until I was twenty-five, but I wouldn’t have gotten anything at all until later if I hadn’t gone to college and started working. The rest became available at thirty. Did that make things easier? Sure. But I didn’t need it, so I put it in a trust and it’s still sitting there.”

Graham shakes his head. “You’re unbelievable, you know that?”

I shrug. “I can’t help what I was born into, Graham, and I won’t apologize for it. I spent the first two years of college in the dorms, and the last two sharing a tiny, two-bedroom apartment with my boyfriends. And that may seem like a good deal, but three very different people in a cramped space gets old very quickly. There were many nights we were all in separate rooms, because—although I love them both—sometimes you just want your own space.”

He cocks his head. “Are they not together?”

I shake my head. “No. They tried, at the beginning, because at the time we thought that was the only way it could work, but none of us knew what the hell we were doing. To say it didn’t end well is an understatement.” I won’t tell him I almost lost them both because of it. “They’re best friends now.”

“Huh.” He looks down again, and I watch the way his hair falls forward into his eyes.

Sitting across from him, I want nothing more than to take his hand, but I won’t—I can’t. This isn’t a date. We don’t know each other. I’m just giving him a ride and treating him to a meal.

The waitress appears and neither of us have opened our menus, but I always get the same thing, so I turn to Graham. “Would you like some time?”

He looks up and shakes his head, turning to the waitress. “Coke, please, and pancakes.”

“That’s all?” He shoots me a look, and I smile. “Okay, if you’re sure. I’ll have coffee and the waffle special. No eggs, please.”

The waitress shuffles off, and I fold my arms on the table, leaning forward a little. “You can order more food later if you want. You know I’m good for it.”

He shakes his head. “This is too much already.”

“It’s your birthday. You deserve whatever you want.”

Something I can’t decipher flashes in his eyes and his cheeks fill with color. “How can you say that? You don’t know me.”

“So you keep pointing out. But it doesn’t matter if I know you or not, Graham. Everyone deserves to celebrate their birthday. It’s a day just for you.”

His lips part, and I want nothing more than to lean across the table and kiss him. Which isn’t normal for me—kissing random people isn’t my thing. But Graham looks so adorable and in need of kissing, it’s hard to remind myself not to scare him off.

“Thank you,” he says quietly. “I…don’t have a good track record when it comes to birthdays. Seems stupid, since I’m supposed to be an adult now, but being acknowledged feels nice.”

“Hey.” Taking a chance, I reach across the table for his hand. “Everyone deserves to know they’re seen and heard.”

He looks down at my hand over his, and when I think he’s going to pull away, he instead turns his hand over and threads our fingers together.

The waitress drops off our drinks, and Graham goes to pull his hand away, but I latch on. Dark green eyes meet mine, and a spark of something passes through them. Hope flares in my chest but I try to tamp it down. The last thing I want is to scare him off.

I grab a handful of sugar packets and rip three open with my teeth, since I currently only have one hand. Graham’s gaze drops to my mouth, and I have to fight not to smirk at him. If this were anyone else, I would tease him, but I’m already taking a risk by holding his hand.

“You know, you’re the only one who didn’t tell me about your vision for the coffee shop.”

He shrugs. “I’m just a barista. My opinion doesn’t matter.”

I squeeze his hand in mine and rub my thumb alongside his. “Your opinion always matters, Graham. And anyone who says it doesn’t isn’t worth your time.”

He shakes his head. “Who are you? Normal people don’t say things like that to someone they just met.”

I smile. “I’m just a man who knows what it’s like to be told I’m nothing, and no one, all because of the way I love. There’s value in everyone, and some people only feel better about themselves when they’re trying to tear that value out of someone else. So I do what I can to not be that guy.”

“I don’t know what to make of you.”

I shrug because…I get it. The person I am now isn’t the person I started out as, but I’ve worked very hard to become me. To feel comfortable in my skin, and to enjoy the life I’ve built with Sawyer and Vincent. Not everyone understands that, and I’m okay with it.

Our food arrives, and reluctantly, I have to let go of Graham’s hand. I pour syrup over my waffles and hash browns, but he shakes his head when I offer him the jug.

“Don’t like syrup?”

“I’m not that big into sweet stuff.”

“Well, we can’t be friends then.”

He smiles. “Is that what we are now?”

I shrug and cut into a waffle. “Why not? I can always use more friends.”

“And do you hold hands with all your friends?”

I grin. “I absolutely do.”

He gives me a dubious look, and I laugh a little. “My friends consist of my two partners, Vincent and Sawyer, and their partners. So, yes, I’m affectionate with all my friends. We’re more like a family than anything.”

I can see the amazement in his eyes. “How’d you know that you were…polyamorous? That’s the right term, I think?”

I nod. “Yes, that’s the correct term. And I didn’t. Not until I met the two of them and realized I wanted to be with both of them. It took a lot of trial and error, and I can tell you that story one day, about how we almost didn’t make it this far. But we did, and I love them both dearly. I love their partners as well. It’s…freeing, in a way. I can love them and know I’m loved, but not be expected to fit into a box either. They love all of me because I’m allowed to express all that I am. I’m not weighed down by a single person’s expectations.” I’m not sure if I’m making sense, but I’ve never had to say this out loud before.

“I don’t know how else to explain it. I understand if you don’t get it. I don’t expect the way I live my life to make sense to anyone but me and the people who are in it. I will ask though, since I’m putting myself in a pretty vulnerable position here, that you respect that and don’t go gossiping about me or my love life to anyone else.”

He shakes his head. “No, I wouldn’t do that. I…I’m not what society considers ‘normal’ either.” He takes a breath. “I’m asexual, and so I understand how judgmental and ignorant people can be when they don’t understand or try to fit you into a box. It…it made dating really fucking hard in high school. I wasn’t only the gay kid who was too pretty for his own good, but I was also the tease because I wouldn’t follow through on sex.”

His words are bitter, and my heart goes out to him because I understand so much of what he’s saying. Not about being ace, but everything else? About being different, even in queer circles? Yeah, I get it.

“I’m sorry, people are dicks.”

“It’s fine. Not like I have to deal with any of those people again.” He stares at me for a moment. “I’m nineteen, by the way. You’re robbing the cradle right now, but it’s not illegal.”

I laugh. “Thanks for letting me know. You said you were an adult, so I figured you were over eighteen, but you look like you’re sixteen, seventeen max.”

He shrugs. “Good genes I guess.”

“Anyway, we got way off track. Tell me your ideas for the coffee shop.”

He stuffs his mouth full of pancake and we lock eyes as he chews. He takes a drink afterward, and when he can’t avoid the question anymore, he sighs. “You said this morning you don’t want it to be another Starbucks, or whatever.” I nod. “Then you should give people a space to just…enjoy their coffee. Maybe a place where a group of friends can hang out for a few hours. Make it feel welcoming. Don’t blast the music. I know it’s almost like, what’s the point of playing it if you can’t hear over the machines? But you don’t want to scare people off because they have to yell to be heard. This isn’t a bar.

“Give people space to chill and relax. There’s a place across town that has live music and like, poetry readings and stuff. Make yours the opposite, where the introverts can go and hide from those weird extroverts.”

I can’t help but tease him. “I thought you were just a barista?” He flushes and glares at me. I grin. “I love it. Best idea I’ve heard all day.”

“Really?” There’s doubt in his voice.

“I don’t lie, Graham. It’s a wonderful idea and has a lot of potential. I want that. Help me bring it to life?”

He bites his lip and after a long moment, nods. “If you’re sure.”

“Positive.”

He smiles, big and bright, and my God is it beautiful. He’s beautiful.

* * *

It’s almosttwo in the morning when I drop him off. I want nothing more than to keep talking to him but we’re both exhausted and have early days tomorrow.

“I’ll see you in the morning, Graham.”

“Yeah. Thank you for the food. It was the best birthday dinner I’ve had in a long time.”

“You’re welcome.” He opens the car door, and I grab his hand. “Wait.” He turns to watch as I press a soft kiss to his fingers. “Bye.”

Graham lets out a shaky breath. “Goodnight.”

I watch as he rushes up to the door and enters the house. It takes considerable willpower to drive away.

I have no idea what I’m doing with him. What I do know, is that I’ve never felt like this, and I’ve fallen in love twice before.