Sizzle

Chapter 17

Alex

The bravado on Joelle’s face begins to wane in the lingering silence after her bold proclamation. I love seeing her like that, daring and straightforward, going for what she wants. She ought to have everything she wants.

And what she really wants is Elliot. They’re here with me now—that’s one hell of a testament to how much they want to be together. If I hadn’t suggested the idea to Joelle, I don’t know that they’d ever get close enough to even try.

She’s perfect for him—brave enough to call him on his bullshit when he blusters, but not afraid to show when she’s vulnerable, which will keep his rougher edges in check. And God knows, she’s good for him.

That’s my role in all this; I realize that now. I knew there was never a chance for me and Elliot to be together, not in a romantic way. No matter how curious or heteroflexible he might actually be, he’s my best friend, not my lover.

No, my role here is to make sure these two don’t screw up what could be a good thing between them.

In the meantime, I’ll take what I can get, consequences be damned.

Joelle looks worried at my continued silence so I stroke my fingers down her cheek.

“There’s a little more room on my bed,” I tell her. “What do you say, sunshine?”

I can actually feel the heat rushing to her face under my fingertips. She’s so damn responsive, a walking wet dream.

I glance at Elliot. He’s pushing her feet off his lap, standing up to offer his hand. Joelle takes it and he swoops her up into his arms, making her squeal. I bite back a laugh but can’t hide my smile. His thick corded arms flex as he skirts around me, walking like she weighs nothing. In a short while, I get to see all that strength, all that deathless pent-up energy of his put to work in service of Joelle.

I can hardly wait.

I follow them back to my bedroom, watching Elliot set Joelle down carefully on the edge of the bed. He kneels before her, pulling her socks off. When he lifts her foot to press a tiny kiss to the tips of her toes, Joelle blushes hard and covers her red face with her hands.

He’s over the moon for her. It pulls at my heart to watch them, my cock stirring with interest. No matter how badly it’s going to devastate me when it’s over, I’m in this for every minute they’ll let me stay.

Joelle’s peeking out from between her fingers now, looking my way.

“You planning to stand there and watch all night?” she asks.

“It’s a thought.” I approach the bed slowly, standing next to them, Elliot still kneeling at our feet.

When he looks up at me, my stomach twists. I want to stroke his cheek, the way I did to Joelle just a moment ago on the couch, but I don’t dare. There are lines being crossed here tonight, but not that one.

“Stand up, Elliot.” His eyes widen and if I’m not mistaken, the bulge behind his fly jerks at the order as he does what I tell him.

For a man who is so determined to control his own world, he’s quick to defer to me. It’s fueled my fantasies for years, once I figured it out. For now, I take a moment, watching their faces before I pull Joelle to her feet. I set my mouth to work near her ear and whisper.

“Undress him.” She shivers, lifting those soft, strong hands to his collar, loosing the button there. She makes her way down his shirt button by button, trembling only a little as I lay kiss after kiss along the curve of her neck. When she reaches his belt, Elliot’s eyes jerk up to meet mine. I realize he’s waiting for permission and my cock begins to throb.

Not touching him tonight is going to be sheer, unadulterated hell.

Joelle tugs the shirttails from his pants, pushing the sleeves down his muscled shoulders. Her gasp covers the sound of mine. I’ve never gotten used to seeing Elliot without a shirt, but lately he’s taken his workouts to a new level. Every ounce of his frustration over Duckbill, over Joelle, and maybe even over what happened the other night between me and him, it’s all been etched into those muscles, adding to their bulk and definition.

Joelle is no less awed by his body, apparently having forgotten the task at hand. I slap her ass lightly.

“Now, now, sunshine,” I say as she gasps. “Plenty of time for that later. You’re only half done here.”

“Damn it, Alex,” says Elliot, his voice rough. I smile.

“Sorry, El. Rules are rules.”

“Are there rules?” Joelle says softly, glancing between us as she slowly works his leather belt open. It’s a fair question. I cover her hands with mine, stilling her, my knuckles accidentally brushing across Elliot’s rigid abdomen. He sucks in a breath and I have to focus hard to remember Joelle’s question.

“Only the ones we make ourselves,” I murmur into her ear. I catch Elliot’s gaze and hold it. “No other rules allowed. In here, we make the rules ourselves.”

Elliot swallows hard but he nods, still meeting my eyes. The spark of hope ignites again inside me, so strongly I can’t shut it off for a moment, and my knuckles graze his stomach again.

Joelle is watching us where our hands are joined at Elliot’s waist.

Remembering my goal, I pull my hands back to circle her wrists, urging her hands forward.

“Go on, sunshine. Let’s see what he’s got, hm?”

Fuck.

Elliot’s eyes are back on mine with that statement, the memory of what we did the last time he was in my bedroom written all over his face. My hips move of their own accord, seeking the heat I can feel rolling off Joelle in waves. When our bodies make contact, she moans. It prompts her into action.

She pops open the button of Elliot’s fly, simultaneously arching her back to rub her ass against me. Elliot takes her hands off his zipper to wrestle with it himself. I toy with the idea of making him let her handle it, but given the erection he’s sporting just now… better safe than sorry.

He’s barely gotten the zipper down when Joelle wraps her hands around the waistband of his jeans and shoves them down around his thighs. His cock pulls free of the fabric, swinging up right into her hand. I trail my fingers up her arms and down her back, coming to grip her hips. I set my mouth against her ear once more.

“Poor Elliot. Looks like he could use some help with that. Don’t you think, Joelle?”

“Jesus, Alex.” Elliot wraps a thick hand around the base of his long cock and squeezes.

I shake my head.

“Nope,” I say. “Hands off.” Elliot’s glaring at me now, but he obeys, and God, that’s fucking hot.

“Can I—” Joelle starts. “I want—”

“What, sunshine?” I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her back into me, unbuttoning her pants and pushing them down out of the way. “What do you want?”

She curls her hand around the back of my neck and twists back to look up at me. She bites her lip, not quite sure, but I’m not having it.

“You can have anything you want. Anything at all, Joelle. There is nothing we wouldn’t do for you.” I meet Elliot’s eyes and he nods.

“But you have to say it,” he tells her. “Out loud.”

Joelle licks her lips and takes a deep breath, looking up at Elliot.

“Can I suck you off?”

I think Elliot’s about to spill just hearing her say it. I feel like I might, and it’s not even my dick she’s after. Joelle drops to her knees between my feet. Struck by inspiration, I follow suit, kneeling behind her on the soft carpet near the bed and tucking my hard cock up against her ass once more as I slide my hands around to stroke her breasts.

Joelle reaches out to touch him, veering off target at the last second and stroking his thigh instead. Elliot groans, peering down at us, his eyes flicking back and forth between us.

A thought occurs to me.

“Have you done this before?” I whisper to Joelle for her ears only. She turns a little my way.

“It’s been a while,” she whispers back.

“Nothing to it,” I whisper, then continue loud enough Elliot can hear. “Take his cock in your hand.” Elliot moans as she complies. “Elliot, open your eyes. Look at how big your dick looks in her hand.”

“Jesus, Alex. Are you trying to get me off already?”

Heat is burning in my gut and before I can consider their impact, the words come out. “We’ll have to try that sometime.” His eyes go wide and I hurry to distract us all before he can freak out.

“Stroke him, Joelle. Nice and easy at first,” I tell her. “You don’t have to be gentle, but watch the friction.”

“Then again,” says Elliot in a rough voice, “some guys like a little burn.”

The heat inside me swells up, stretching through the tip of my cock and now I’m leaking pre-cum like it’s going to put out a fire.

“Two hands, sunshine,” I tell Joelle, sliding my cock against her ass. She moans, arching back into me. I slide my hands down to wrap around the inside of her knees, stroking the soft skin of her inner thighs with my thumbs. Joelle shudders but she does as I say. “If you want to give him a little pain, tighten your grip and move a little faster.”

She does, stroking both fists up to the head of his cock then adding a twist on the downstroke. Elliot’s head falls back as he thrusts into her hands.

“Please, Joelle.” Elliot shoots a hand out to grip the bedpost, steadying himself before he collapses back on the bed altogether. “Please.”

“Use your words, Elliot,” I tell him. Joelle looks back at me and I nod.

“Suck my cock,” he gasps. “Please, Joelle.”

Joelle leans forward, wrapping her lips around the tip and holding him there. Girl’s got some damn good instincts. Just the sight has me ready to shoot. I stroke my hands up the inside of her thighs, brushing my thumbs over the thin, damp strip of her panties.

“Good girl, Joelle,” I say in her ear. “You’re a natural. Just look at you. You look so damn beautiful with your lips around his cock.” Elliot rocks his hips forward, seeking more of her mouth. “Go on, sunshine. Take a little more.”

I reward her instantly as she slides her mouth up his shaft by sliding my thumbs under the edge of the fabric to press lightly against her clit. Joelle pulls off of her prize with a pop, crying out, rocking her hips into my hands.

“Give me your hand,” I tell her. I keep teasing her with one hand, using the other to pull her hand to my mouth. I hold her gaze, licking her palm, wetting it completely before guiding her back to Elliot’s cock.

He’s so hard he’s throbbing. I can see it from here.

I nip at Joelle’s ear, biting down a little hard.

“Make him come, Joelle.”

Joelle wraps her hand, soaked with my spit, around Elliot’s dick. In my mind, I might as well be sucking him off too.

The image flashes through my mind before I can stop it, of me and Joelle, on our knees like this for Elliot. Only he’s letting me touch him too.

That’s not going to happen tonight, so I file the idea away for later use. Instead, I keep whispering in Joelle’s ear as she sucks him off, working him over with her spit-slick hand, telling her all the things I would do if it was me.

Her pussy is soaked beneath my hands. I pull her panties off to one side, sliding two fingers to circle her clit, over and over and over. She’s moaning around Elliot’s cock, both of their movements getting more and more erratic.

“Stop.”

My voice cuts harshly through the lust-haze in the room. Joelle whimpers as I pull my hands away from her body, tugging her underwear back in place. Elliot is shaking, disbelief and something approaching outrage on his face when he looks at me.

For a moment, the only sound in the room is our harsh breathing.

I pull Joelle to her feet as I stand, holding up a hand for her to wait as I skirt around the bed for the nightstand. I’d bought a box of condoms just a couple of days ago—first time in two years—on the wish and prayer we might end up here. I can’t say I was planning on it being all three of us, but I’m sure as hell not going to complain. I free one foil packet and, making my way back to the foot of the bed, slap it into Elliot’s hand.

He looks at me, the question in his eyes obvious.

“Oh, please,” says Joelle, clueing in first. “Please.”

“Up on the bed,” I tell her, slapping her backside again, less gently this time. “Think you can take that big cock? Might be a bit of a stretch.”

“Oh my God,” she says, climbing up on the bed. “Elliot, hurry.”

Elliot suits up as Joelle gets up on all fours facing me. By now, I’ve soaked a wet spot through the fabric of my pants. When I finally wrestle my cock free, the relief is so great I groan, drawing myself an audience.

Two sets of eyes follow my hand as I grip my dick, squeezing the head, smearing the precum already collecting at the tip. Elliot’s tongue darts out across his lip and it makes me so fucking hard I have to count backward from twenty to stem the urge to take myself all the way to the finish.

Joelle is gasping between us, her face barely a foot away from me. I bend down, catching her lips with mine in a heady kiss.

“You ready for him, baby?”

“Yes, God yes. Please.”

“Please, what?” says Elliot, kneeling behind her. “Take your time, Joelle. I could watch this pussy work all goddamn day.”

I’ve got a pretty good idea Elliot’s full of shit, but it’s hot as hell hearing him work her up even further so I keep the thought to myself. I nip at her lips, tracing them with my tongue as she moans.

“Are you serious right now? You won’t do it?” she whines.

“Smart girl,” says Elliot. I can’t see what he’s doing with his fingers but by the way Joelle is starting to shake, I can guess.

“Go on, baby,” I urge. “Tell him what he wants to hear.”

Joelle moans.

“Fuck me, Elliot.”

I watch Elliot grip his dick, lining up the head, and plunge.

Joelle’s coming before he even bottoms out. Crying out and shaking with it, she’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.

Elliot’s a stronger man than I would be at that moment. He holds himself still, rigidly so. It costs him—pain darts across his face, along with a tenderness that takes my breath away.

Joelle is gasping between us, her head resting on the bed. If I so much as stroke my dick right now, I’m going to blow.

A million heartbeats later, Joelle raises her head.

“Come here, Alex.”

I step toward her, awed by the glorious flush on her face.

“You’re so goddamn beautiful,” I tell her. I stroke her cheek, bringing her face back to mine when she tries to look away. “I mean it.”

“Thank you,” she says. “Now can I please suck you off?”

“Fuck yes,” says Elliot, his hands stroking across her hips like he can’t help himself. “Suck that fat cock, Joelle.”

Christ.

She takes all of me in without preamble. When she pulls back off the head to catch her breath, Elliot thrusts into her, causing her lips to bump up against my tip. Joelle catches on quick, sucking me deep, then pulling back as Elliot draws himself out of her. Over and over, their eyes on me until I can’t stand it anymore. I fist my hands in Joelle’s hair to hold her in place and begin to pump the head of my cock between her lips. Not too deep, but sweet Christ, just enough. Elliot’s pounding her so hard I can hear his skin slapping against hers. She’s staring up at me, keeping eye contact all the while, until I see her begin to tremble again and I know she’s coming. I pull back as she gasps for air, Elliot pumping hard against her, his hand working her clit.

“Yes, yes, Christ,” says Elliot. “Come for us. Fucking come.” Joelle screams this time, and when Elliot looks me right in the eye, I come so hard the room goes white. I cant my hips back, painting Joelle’s back with it. The first spurt lands on the curve of her ass, right over Elliot’s hand on her hip. He picks up speed then, smearing my come into her skin with his thumb as he pounds his own release into her, coming with a roar.

God Almighty.

Elliot’s braced over Joelle’s back, kissing her shoulders and whispering. I can’t hear what he’s saying but I can guess, which means it’s time to remove myself from this picture, much as I loathe the thought of leaving them now.

I force myself to be useful instead, heading to the bathroom for towels and washcloths. I take an extra minute, washing my hands and cleaning up, trying to give them a little more time alone. Long after they ride off into the sunset together, I’ll be replaying tonight in my head every day for the rest of my life. I already know it.

I step back in the room, tossing a towel to Elliot. Wiping my handiwork off Joelle’s back takes me longer than it should. I hear a hint of a giggle from where her face is pressed into the mattress.

“Something funny?”

She lifts her head and damn near gets poked in the eye for her trouble. Unbelievable. I shouldn’t be this hard again so soon. Guess my thoughts ran away with me.

“If you want some help taking care of that,” she says, raising an eyebrow at my hardening cock, “I’m going to need sustenance first,” says Joelle. Elliot stands up from the bed, pulling on his boxer shorts, his eyes zeroing in on my no-longer flaccid cock. His eyebrows damn near hit the roof and the extra attention has the effect of puppet strings, jerking my cock up toward my stomach. He drags his gaze away, reaching down to adjust himself. My mouth is watering.

This is not the time. Break. We need a break.

“Food’s a good idea,” I say, making a grab for my pants and pulling them on. “Let’s order something.”

I head to the kitchen, pouring a glass of water and gulping it down as I listen to Elliot and Joelle bicker about takeout options. My phone’s blinking at me from its charger on the counter and I tap the screen to pull up the message.

I miss you. Can we talk?

It’s Diana.

“How’s the ex-ball and chain?” says Elliot. I didn’t hear him come in, but he’s right beside me. There’s no way he missed seeing that text. I can’t quite decipher the tone in his voice, but it puts me on edge.

“I don’t know. We haven’t exactly kept in touch.”

“Doesn’t look that way to me,” he says, tone overwhelmingly snide now. I know he doesn’t like her, but Elliot usually goes to the trouble of at least pretending to hide his animosity about my ex-fiancée.

“So what did we decide on?” Joelle asks, coming into the kitchen, her shoes in hand.

“It’s up to you two,” says Elliot. “I’m heading out.”

“What?” Joelle goes pale.

“Oh, come on,” I say.

“No, really,” he says, kissing Joelle’s cheek. “There’s a lot to do before I open tomorrow. You’re on at ten, right?” Elliot says to Joelle, not looking at me at all.

“You know it,” she says, taking the kiss and frowning, paler still, clearly confused and on the verge of freaking out.

Fucking idiot. Can’t he see he’s fucking this up?

“Elliot,” I say. It comes out as a growl. He just glares at me and heads up the stairs to his own apartment.

Joelle pulls her shoes on.

“I’m gonna head home, too,” she says quietly. She gives me a weak smile and stands up, tapping at her phone.

“Don’t go. We can—”

“Thanks, Alex, but it’s late. I should—I really should get back. Dad’ll be getting worried,” she says. Her voice is shaking and it’s killing me, but I don’t try to stop her again. It wouldn’t be fair to Elliot, spending time with Joelle when she’s clearly meant for him. Whatever bug crawled up his ass in the last five minutes, they’d have to sort it out themselves.

The three-minute wait for her Uber is the longest three minutes of my life. I want to beg her to stay, to apologize for whatever the fuck just happened. And to top it all off, I’m still half hard, visions of the last hour firing off when I should be making her feel better, or at least apologizing for Elliot’s asshole exit.

“Joelle,” I start. She’s got the door open before I can get to the car. She takes her seat, pulling the door shut behind her. She gives me another shaky smile and mouths “bye Alex” at me through the window. As the car speeds off, I catch a glimpse of tears on her cheeks.

What the fuck just happened here?