Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
The stiff leather seats of Joshua’s car weren’t the most comfortable things for a long-ish car ride through traffic to the nearest grocery store, considering how long it had been since he’d had a dick up his ass. And Van wasn’t small or gentle.
Not that Joshua would complain about either of those things. He’d been taken on a ride he’d not soon forget—both because Van knew how to fuck, and because Benji had witnessed the entire thing. Hell, he’d initiated it and seemed to be toying with the idea of it possibly happening again.
Yes, please, and thank you.
All three of them were well aware that something beyond sex had happened in that bedroom. Now they needed to navigate the strange, dangerous waters of this new thing they’d all discovered.
The shopping trip took close to an hour, thanks to long lines and a back up in traffic heading south. He’d managed to get everything packed into three reusable shopping bags, which he lugged up the short pathway to the front door.
“Hey, Joshua!” one of the girls from upstairs shouted down. The third floor apartment had a small balcony—lucky them—and the blonde whose name he never remembered was waving at him. Chilly as it was, she still wore a bikini top with her sweatpants.
“Hey,” he shouted back.
“So who was doing all that loud fucking earlier?”
He nearly dropped his grocery bags. Willing himself not to blush, he got the front door open and shouldered his way inside. Van and Benji were on the couch, close enough that their knees touched, and engaged in some kind of spirited discussion.
“—can’t ever match the perfection of season one,” Benji said.
“Well, don’t spoil the series,” Van retorted with a cute huff. “I’m only on season three.”
“It’s not really a spoiler, especially when the show is so old. Sometimes a series can’t capture the magic of its very first season, especially shows that unique.” Benji glanced up at Joshua and grinned. “Welcome home.”
“Thanks.” Joshua kicked the door shut, then headed for the kitchen. “Do I want to ask?”
“Van’s roommate Melody got him to start streaming Glee from the beginning.”
“Ah ha.” Glee was one of Benji’s favorite TV shows ever. Being homeschooled, he’d missed a lot of the high school experience, and watching the bullied underdogs turn into school champions really spoke to him.
It didn’t speak to Joshua as much. He’d tried watching it for Benji’s sake, but he simply didn’t like the characters.
Most of them were obnoxious stereotypes, and he lived in a state of constant agitation whenever Coach Sue was on the screen.
After half a season of Joshua grumbling, Benji had let him off the hook.
“Fantastic,” Joshua said. “Finally, someone you can obsess over the show with.”
“I know, right?” Benji’s smile was big and goofy, so much like the free-spirited Benji Joshua fallen in love with. Benji turned all of that energy back to Van. “But seriously, none of their performances ever match the joy of the Journey medley.”
“I don’t know,” Van replied. “I really loved ‘Loser Like Me’ because it was so appropriate for the characters. It was like one giant ‘fuck you’ to Coach Sue.”
“Ha! True.”
Joshua half-listened to their spirited debate while he put away groceries.
More frozen pizzas, cold cuts and bread, honey mustard for Benji’s sandwiches, bags of apples and oranges, a monster container of coffee, and other assorted stuff.
When he was finished, he tucked the shopping bags under the sink, and then took the requested Pringles into the living room.
Benji squealed when he saw them. “You’re the absolute best.”
“I know.” Joshua handed them over and sat in a nearby armchair. “So has Benji told you his all-time favorite Glee character yet?”
“No, I haven’t, because Van hasn’t finished season three, so the character has not yet appeared.”
“Now I’m intrigued,” Van said. “My guess would have been Sebastian.”
“What?” Benji crossed his arms and huffed. “The asshole Warbler? Really?”
“Hey, two minutes ago you were waxing on and on about the Michael Jackson episode. I mean, his duet with Santana gave me chills.”
“Oh, dude has a great voice, and he was awesome on The Flash, especially the musical episode, but no. I hate Sebastian. Ugh.”
Joshua started laughing, which got him a glare from Benji. “He takes his TV shows very seriously.”
Benji blew a raspberry in his direction. “I’m on the road a lot. Sometimes all I have are my earbuds and my tablet.”
Somehow, that single comment shifted the mood from humorous to serious. Benji was on the road all the time, traveling between gigs. This week at the shore was a rare, bright spot, and here they were starting . . . something with Van.
“So,” Joshua said, “anyone hungry? Thirsty? Want to watch a movie?”
Van looked directly at him. “Actually, now that you’re back, I was hoping I could make out with your boyfriend a little more. If that’s okay with him.”
“Fine with me.” He glanced at Benji, who was watching Van with wide eyes. “You guys could have made out while I was gone.”
“No we couldn’t. We haven’t established any rules here, and I don’t want to do anything that will make either of you uncomfortable or unhappy.”
“Okay.” Joshua fell a little bit harder for how careful Van was being with their feelings. “I’m okay with kissing between two parties if the third isn’t around. Benji?”
“Huh?” Benji looked at him, still a bit bug-eyed. “What?”
“Wait a second,” Van said. “Are these rules about you guys doing stuff with me, or each other? Because I don’t want you two to think you have to hold back or limit what you’re used to doing to spare my feelings. I know you’ve been together for years and have your own routines.”
“We’re also more used to spending time apart than together,” Joshua replied. “I mean, Benji and I will obviously be sharing a bed while he’s here, but would us doing stuff make you uncomfortable?”
“Absolutely not. Like I said, you’re the couple.”
“But we’re trying to do something as a . . .” None of them had said the word yet. “As a threesome. A triad. Whatever. For that to work, we all have to be equals, or the triangle doesn’t work.”
“Except we aren’t equals in this.”
“Not yet,” Benji said. He rested a palm on Van’s knee. “That’s why we’re talking, right? This is new for all of us, but it feels right. And honestly? I like knowing that when I leave next weekend, Joshua will still have someone here.”
Van hesitated, and then covered Benji’s hand with his. The sight of that made Joshua’s heart squeeze with something wonderful. “But would you be okay with us fooling around without you?”
“I’m not sure. I mean, when we were open and I knew Joshua was sleeping with other people, it was a hypothetical scenario. I didn’t know the people; I’d never meet them. You aren’t a stranger in a bar, Van. You’re someone very special whom I enjoy having in my life.”
“That’s a very good answer. At this point in time, I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable being with Joshua without you. It’s the same reason I ditched our hookup that night back in September. Even with the open relationship, I didn’t want to get in between you.”
A mental image of Van literally sandwiched between his and Benji’s naked bodies danced in Joshua’s head, and he pressed a hand against his crotch.
“The fact that you care so much means everything,” Benji said. “We all care, and we all want to be careful with each other. And it isn’t as if either of you need to worry about me mauling one or the other.”
Van laughed, and then twisted their hands so they were palm to palm. His smile went dark and wicked. “You know, I’ve changed my mind. I’d rather watch you make out with Joshua for a while.”
Oh hell yes.
Joshua was all over that idea.
Benji pouted. “You don’t want to kiss me anymore?”
Joshua could never resist that pout; apparently, Van couldn’t either.
He slid closer, put a hand on the back of Benji’s neck, and tugged him forward.
He froze with their lips centimeters apart, waiting.
Benji closed the distance, and Joshua settled in for the show.
Their first kiss had been intense and highly erotic.
This kiss was softer, more of a question than a demand. It was beautiful.
Joshua rubbed his growing erection under his jeans as he watched.
Van had a mouth and tongue he knew how to use, but he also seemed content to let Benji take over.
To explore with tentative licks and strokes of his tongue.
Benji loved kissing. It was his favorite physical thing to do.
Joshua could lose himself for hours in Benji’s mouth, so he knew some of what Van was feeling. Tasting.
Kissing Benji was its own erotic experience.
The front door squealed open. Benji and Van pulled apart, Benji’s face instantly coloring. Joshua sat up straighter and squeezed his thighs together, his heart pounding. Lincoln and Emmett stopped just inside, both of them zeroing in the couch.
“Hey, Van,” Emmett said.
“Hey, guys, what’s up?” Van said, somehow managing to sound perfectly calm and reasonable, as if he hadn’t been making out with Benji two seconds ago.
“Not much.” He glanced at Lincoln, his expression a little bit . . . guilty?
Joshua figured it out and started laughing. “Let me guess? You two were hoping the house was empty so you could fuck before Emmett has to go to work?”
Emmett squeaked. Lincoln slipped an arm around his boyfriend’s waist and glared at Joshua. “Yeah. So?”
“No ‘so.’ Go to town, dude, it’s not like I haven’t heard it before.”
“Thin walls?” Van asked.
Joshua nodded. “Very thin.” Emmett tried to hide behind Lincoln, obviously uncomfortable with the discussion of his sex life, so Joshua had mercy. “Don’t worry, dude, that’s why God invented earbuds.”
Emmett spoke against Lincoln’s back, so the words were muffled, but Joshua was sure Emmett said, “So not helping.”
“You guys, uh, hanging out here for a while?” Lincoln asked, seeming to direct the question at Benji.