Chapter 10 #4
“Thank you so much for coming to the salon and for following up with the shelter!” Aspen said as the woman wound the dog’s leash around her wrist.
“Of course, darling. You should really think about making this a more permanent arrangement. I know my Molly would love to get her hair styled like her new dog, and I’m sure you would have repeat customers as well as new patrons if you extended your marketing year-round.”
The woman pulled her wallet back out, removed a business card, and handed it to Aspen.
“I work in the city town hall, and I’d love to help with joint marketing for the salon and the shelter.
I feel like we could always use some more creative endeavors like this.
Give me a call when you have everything all figured out. ”
Aspen held the card like a precious artefact and thanked her profusely, waiting for the family to exit before they locked the front door. Rachel hugged them fiercely and congratulated them on a successful day before gathering her things and going to find Blair.
The rest of the volunteers had been dismissed as their stations closed down and the shelter was almost eerily quiet as Aspen wandered towards the back, passing an impressive number of empty kennels and cages.
Earlier that day, Aspen had the honor of meeting the infamous Gordon, and they weren’t ashamed to admit they were glad to see that he was still in his enclosure, happily chewing on a bone.
Princess was also in her bed, which for some reason made Aspen’s butterfly flutter.
She had witnessed the start of whatever was going to take place between the three of them tonight.
That made her special. Or…even more special.
“If you keep eyeing Princess like that, I’m going to assume you want to take her home with you,” Charlie’s deep voice rumbled as he came up beside Aspen.
Noah approached Charlie’s other side, casting Aspen an overly eager look. “Are you thinking of adopting?”
Aspen crossed their arms over their chest, noting the way both men’s eyes immediately dropped to where their tits pressed into the opening of their shirt. Today was a good tits day, so they basked in the attention for a moment before dropping their arms to gesture at Noah.
“Why haven’t you adopted her?” they asked, but Noah was already shaking his head.
“I adore her, but I’m pretty sure she hates me. She’s basically in love with Charlie, though.”
“Hm, I noticed that, too,” Aspen said, leisurely dragging their eyes up and down Charlie. They didn’t miss the way Charlie’s hand was resting on Noah’s lower back. “Thankfully, it seems like there’s more than enough Charlie to love.”
Charlie snorted but draped his other arm loosely over Aspen’s shoulders. “Is that what you want, pumpkin? You gonna fall in love with me?”
“Well, that remains to be seen, doesn’t it? Between Rachel and Noah, my record is one-for-two. I’m pretty down to see if you can increase that average.”
Noah stared at them with an unreadable expression on his face, but when Aspen shot him a wink, he smiled back.
“I would love to talk more about that, but I need to do some final cleanup,” Charlie said.
After a bit of project management from Noah, who clearly excelled at it, they divided the inside and outside tasks.
Aspen and Charlie were happy to turn over the financial tallying and consolidation to Noah.
They orbited around each other, chatting easily and working together to get the shelter back to the way it was before—except almost ten thousand dollars richer and much cleaner.
As the sun disappeared behind the trees, Charlie led them out the back door and locked it tightly behind them.
He turned to Aspen with a thoughtful furrow in his brow. “I have ingredients for pork chops, potatoes, and salad. Does that work for your new protein goals? We can add some seeds and cheese to the salad if you’d like.”
“I’m happy to help cook as well,” Noah said, and Aspen pressed the back of their hand to their forehead.
“Oh my god, am I really going to have two men cook for me? The only way this could get better is if someone carries me there.”
Not expecting either of them to take them up on their bullshit, they let out a very undignified squeal as Charlie scooped them up bridal style.
“Charlie! You don’t have to! I don’t want you to hurt—”
“Asp, both of us are very capable and very happy to throw you around. Just enjoy it,” Noah said, affection and exasperation dripping from his voice in equal measure.
Aspen glanced up to see Charlie’s cheeks turning pink, but his dimples were firmly in place. “I lift heavier than you every day in my home gym. I promise, this is no hardship. I could even carry Noah on my back at the same time.”
“Oh, no, thank you,” Noah said, falling into step next to Charlie as they began walking down the path leading away from the shelter. “While I have spent many years getting my masculinity intact, I don’t think I’m quite up for that tonight.”
Aspen burst out laughing, the butterfly tickling their lungs until they were gasping around giggles, pressing their face happily to the lapel of Charlie’s work jacket.
“You have a very nice laugh,” he said
“So do you. It’s so warm and inviting. It makes me want to curl up in your lap like a cat. Just ask Noah—I do it all the time.”
“They do,” Noah said easily.
Aspen’s butterfly flapped its wings, urging them to hold out their hand to him. When Noah hesitated to take it, they made grabby hands until he accepted. They didn’t have far to go, but they held Noah’s hand the entire way.
Charlie’s caretaker's house was more like a cabin, and although that wasn’t Aspen’s usual aesthetic, they immediately felt at home.
The place was well lived in, with shoes and boots lined up near the door and a jacket hung on the banister.
The kitchen was immaculately clean, and the open concept living room had a well-loved leather couch with enough throw blankets and pillows to almost satisfy Aspen’s needs.
Noah had clearly been here before, because he immediately washed his hands and set to work, pulling out cutting boards and a large salad bowl.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” Charlie offered, opening a cabinet with well-stocked, if a bit mismatched, wine and beer glasses.
“Are we drinking? Or do we think there might be some fun to be had tonight?” Aspen asked, settling in at one of the barstools on the other side of the island from Noah.
“I think we should definitely talk first, so if a little wine or beer would help, I’d be down for that. But…maybe we hold off on the hard stuff for now?” Charlie asked.
“Okay!”
Aspen smiled and tipped forward in their chair, bouncing excitedly in their seat. This time, when Charlie glanced down at their tits, Aspen grinned wickedly at him.
“Asp–”
“I know, I know. Talk first,” Aspen said, waving their hand in the air to dispel Noah’s concern. “To kick that off, I’d love some white wine if you have it.”
Charlie nodded, his cheeks a little flushed as he opened the fridge and stuck his head inside for several seconds.
Aspen smiled sweetly at Noah, and he rolled his eyes but reached across the counter to cup their cheek. Aspen pressed as far forward as they could, and they were able to smack a quick kiss on his lips.
“You look really good today, Asp,” Noah said, and Aspen preened.
Once they all had wine glasses in hand, or in Noah and Charlie’s case, resting in front of them as they began to prepare dinner, Aspen decided to take the lead on the conversation.
“So, Blair and Noah have taught me that communication is absolutely key in any relationship, but especially polyamorous ones.” Both men nodded, and Aspen took a sip of wine before continuing.
“I thought I’d just start us off by saying that, Charlie, I am very attracted to you and would love to have sex with you and Noah.
All joking from earlier aside, I could also see myself going on dates with you and potentially falling for you. ”
Charlie nodded very seriously, and Noah remained silent, cutting a cucumber for the salad.
“If either of those interests you, I have test results and a spiel on parts and preferences I have given at least twice now, and I think I’m getting better at it each time.”
Noah cracked a smile, and Charlie nodded, but slower this time. “I followed all of that, except the last bit. Parts and preferences?”
“Yeah, like the fact that today I call my parts my tits, dick, and holes and then what my preferences are for how you interact with them, which is eagerly, roughly, and hopefully soon.”
Charlie’s brows disappeared behind his shaggy bangs, and Noah buried his face in his shoulder to try to stifle his laughter.
Aspen felt their face heat up. “Uhm…sorry, I guess that was pretty much the whole spiel, but to be fair, I usually give it while completely naked, so I’m counting this as me getting better at it!”
Charlie put down the meat tenderizer he’d been holding. He stared down at the scuffed laminate countertops, his brows furrowed so hard together they almost met in the middle of his forehead.
Several long moments passed, and Aspen was just beginning to wonder if they might have messed up when Noah put a hand on Charlie’s shoulder. “Gordy Simple?”
When Charlie looked at him, his entire face seemed to soften around the edges. “Gordy Simple? I think you’re both really hot, kind, and caring, and I would love to sleep with and date you both.”
Wow, that was pretty fucking simple. Had he needed the extra-long, anxiety-inducing pause to make sure he was positive about that?
Noah studied him, searching his eyes before a furrow formed in his brow as well. “It feels like there’s a but.”
Charlie shook his head slowly. “No, not a but, more like…an and. I want to explore and figure things out with both of you, and I’m aware that I’m coming in near the end of your trial period, so that might make things complicated. If that is okay with both of you, then it’s okay with me, but…”
Charlie snorted, and some of the tense energy that had begun buzzing around the room dissipated. “Alright, I guess there was a but. It’s okay with me if we don’t really know what we’re doing, and we don’t know where this is going, but I don’t want to mess up the end of your trial.”
Aspen looked at the place where Noah’s hand was clinging to Charlie’s shirt sleeve.
“I feel like that’s how we all feel, right?
” they asked. “I think we’ve taken turns saying it to each other today, that none of us want to get in the way of each other as pairs, but…
what about if we just start off as a triad?
I’m happy to hang out, go on dates, or have sex in pairs, but if our biggest concern is not stopping the potential of any two of us together, why not just avoid that, at least at the beginning? ”
Noah reached for Aspen’s hand, and they accepted it, linking their fingers together as easily as they took their next breath.
“I think that sounds good to me. That’s pretty much what we did with Rachel, and I think it went well.
” Noah ran his other hand down Charlie’s arm until it landed on top of Charlie’s closed fist, still holding the mallet. “What do you think, Char?”
Charlie flipped his hand over, linking their fingers together, and Aspen couldn’t help but think of that first night sitting on Noah’s countertop.
They didn’t feel confident enough in their connection with Charlie to sit on his island, so instead they leaned across it to reach for Charlie’s free hand.
He easily enveloped Aspen’s smaller hand in his as he looked between the two of them.
“I’d say that sounds great to me. I do have a bit more to add to the parts and preferences conversation, but that can wait until after dinner.”
“Same,” Noah said, and all the tension bled out of his shoulders.
“And I’m sure there’s more to discuss around boundaries, expectations, and all that.
We didn’t really date Rachel so much as just hang out with her as a friend and sexual partner.
It sounds like things might be different this time around? ”
Charlie kept Noah’s hand in his and looped his arm up and over Noah’s shoulders, pulling him tightly against his side. “Slow and steady, and Gordy Simple, peanut. If we do that—”
“I know,” Noah said, his smile wider and his shoulders looser than they’d been since he got back from his trip home for Christmas. “If we do that, nothing can go wrong.”