Chapter Thirteen
Kendrick
Kendrick ran a critical eye over the living room, ignoring the nervous ball making its presence known in the base of his stomach.
He fluffed the cushions once more and switched on a lamp next to the massive sofa.
His eyes narrowed before he lit the candles sitting around on ceramic plates in the corners of the room.
He noted several needed replacing, as he used them often when he came to read or watch TV.
The scent of citrus tickled his nose as he stepped back to view the room once more.
Nodding his approval, he walked through to the kitchen, placing beer glasses on a tray along with several bottles of beer. He’d picked up some of the IPA, but he’d chosen others too when Monty had no actual preference, from what he could recall.
Adding bowls with snacks in them, he took the tray through to the living room and laid it on the large oak coffee table that sat in front of the couch.
Was he trying too hard?
Possibly. He hadn’t been this fussy in a long time, and it was disconcerting when he understood it was because he wanted to give a good impression and get to know Rue and Monty—with their clothes on.
Doubt crept in to mix it up with the nerves.
Then came the second-guessing as he eyed the tray, then the flickering candles. It all screamed romance.
Christ, he was romancing them.
There is nothing wrong with that.
Please don’t fucking start. We don’t know whether they’ll show.
It was that which created the nerves. Kendrick had messaged both men earlier, just to confirm times, and had only received a response from Monty. Did that mean anything? He didn’t know Rue well enough to make an assumption.
The sound of an engine cutting out got him moving to the window and poking at the blinds to look out.
His lips tugged into a warm smile as Monty got out of the truck, staring up at the house.
Kendrick felt anticipation hum inside him at Rue’s appearance out of the other side of the vehicle.
Except, all that was missing was a big ‘back the fuck off’ sign on his chest, his stormy expression never so much as flicking in Monty’s direction.
This did not bode well, but Kendrick had faced worse situations, so he wasn’t overly worried. Rue had shown up, which had to mean something.
Through the doorway, he had the front door open before either man was at the top porch stair. He stepped aside wordlessly, smirking at Monty, who paused as he passed and puckered up for a kiss.
“Cheeky, I like it.” Kendrick didn’t disappoint and kissed him with an unrestrained passion that hadn’t dissipated fully since he’d left them.
Monty clung to him, whimpers sending thrills of torture, the good kind, through him. Rue’s presence right there, watching, added to the level of lust building between them.
Kendrick had to remind himself that getting naked straight away wasn’t on the cards. Reluctantly releasing the slick-lipped, lust glazed Monty, he turned his attention to Rue.
Rue was visibly vibrating with energy; Kendrick could sense it with how close they were to each other. A pained expression went with the large bulge he sported in his jeans. Yet, Kendrick picked up on the reticence.
“Come inside, I’ve got beer and snacks.” Kendrick witnessed the startled look Rue got before he shuttered his expression.
Did he think they’d all just strip and dive into bed? Kendrick believed that’s exactly what Rue thought when his lips thinned in disapproval.
Monty fired a look at Rue, one Kendrick didn’t understand. He walked inside, leaving Rue still standing on the porch making no move to enter.
Kendrick gave him a measuring look, concluding Rue might want what Monty had freely asked for. “Do you want a kiss?”
Silence. It was electric as he held Rue’s stormy gaze, seeing indecision along with desire. Whatever was going on inside his head, Kendrick had to wonder if the battle was with himself or his animal side.
He took a step towards Rue, assessing the other man and hoping he was picking what he wanted correctly.
Slowly, so as not to spook him, Kendrick slid his fingers around the base of Rue’s tense neck, stroking softly, waiting for the moment Rue relaxed into the touch.
Rue’s eyelids fluttered as his body swayed towards him, then Kendrick dipped his head.
Rue’s breath was sweet as he breathed him in, running his tongue over the lower lip, before nibbling at the corner of his mouth. “Honey, do you want a kiss?”
The moan and head moving a fraction got Kendrick slowly claiming the kiss he desperately wanted.
Where he’d unleashed his passion on Monty, he treated Rue’s lips to a gentle, sensual assault.
Drugging him, holding Rue captive with his hand, their bodies not touching.
The kisses were so different, yet equally potent.
They were a drug; they clouded his mind, took him to a place that was beyond reality.
He wanted more, because one, two, even three hits would never be enough to satisfy him.
It was that knowledge that got him easing out of the kiss, breathless and shaky.
Rue’s eyes were closed, but he looked no less affected than Monty had. Kendrick didn’t need a mirror to know he looked stupefied by the kisses when he could still taste both men, wanting them with a need that crawled under his skin.
He took a deep inhale, working to get himself under control. “As my neighbors are nosy, shall we take this inside?”
Rue’s eyelids fluttered open, and the dazed look didn’t harm Kendrick’s ego or the two seconds it took for Rue to register what he had said. Rue glanced over his shoulder, looking at the street.
With his lips pursed, Rue walked past Kendrick, and he resisted sighing at witnessing the tension returning. Kissing to keep Rue out of his head could easily become a full-time job. How much he wanted that shocked Kendrick into a statue, staring at the retreating man.
Double fucks. I’m double-fucked.
He rubbed at the center of his chest and shook off the stupid notion.
He didn’t know these men well enough to have thoughts like that.
It was a fling. A few nights of sex. With that anchored inside him, and the door locked, he followed at a slower pace, putting barriers in place—because he needed them.
In the doorway, he took in the scene. Rue stood by the coffee table, looking anything but comfortable. Monty, however, lounged on the couch holding a glass of beer, nibbling on a corn chip. Despite his seemingly relaxed position, he was as equally wound up as Rue.
“Rue, do you want a beer?” Kendrick walked over, picked up the IPA and offered it to Rue. At his nod, Kendrick opened it and poured it into a glass, considering how best to play it. He could have cut the tension in the air with a blunt knife.
When Rue took the beer, Kendrick poured himself one and went to sit on the couch next to Monty.
Monty’s openness was more obvious as he snuggled against Kendrick’s arm without waiting for an invitation.
Rue never took his eyes off them, but he revealed nothing of his thoughts. His body, however, did. Tension coiled in muscles that twitched.
“Last night, we didn’t talk about expectations—”
“What expectations?” Rue demanded, the glass halfway to his lips, a look of suspicion in the depths of those beautifully expressive eyes. “There are none. I thought this was just fucking.”
Monty stiffened against Kendrick but remained silent.
Kendrick slipped an arm over the back of the couch and laid his hand on Monty’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze of reassurance.
“As I was saying,” Kendrick deepened his voice, adding a bite of authority. “We didn’t talk about expectations. Sex comes with them regardless of whether it’s just that. You two have had sex before last night.” It wasn’t a question.
“How do you know that?” Rue blustered, aiming an angry stare at Monty.
Kendrick squeezed his shoulder again when he went to move, just enough pressure to assure Monty he would handle this. “The ease with which you wrapped your body around Monty’s while you were sleeping. It reveals a level of intimacy that speaks of a shared past.”
A strangled, choking sound came from Rue, whose lips parted, yet he looked at a loss at how to respond with color riding across his cheekbones.
“I bridged a gap between you. Offering something you need, Rue, to allow you to feel able to connect with Monty.” He held up one finger and shook his head when he could see Rue was going to deny it.
“No lies. They aren’t needed here. We are consenting adults who are old enough to admit what we want. What we need.”
This wasn’t quite the conversation he had considered they’d have, but Kendrick went with it when Monty relaxed against him once more and Rue moved to pace.
“I don’t… it isn’t…” Rue paused and flung his empty hand up. “What do you want from me?” he growled, teeth snapping.
“For you to be honest,” Monty answered when Kendrick waited.
“Honest about what?”
Monty shifted against Kendrick. “Why did you put distance between us after you came to my apartment?”
Kendrick, watching Rue closely, saw a flash of distress before it was gone. “I… you wanted to know about Drinkwater. I… comforted you after.”
Monty shot off the couch, his beer sloshing over the rim of the glass—not that he noticed as he slammed it down on the wood.
“There was no talking first. You fucked me against the door fully dressed. Is that what you call comforting? I call that unrestrained passion. The seven rounds we went after that—what were those? You couldn’t keep your damn hands off me, so I call bullshit when Drinkwater wasn’t why you came to my place at fucking one-thirty in the morning. ”
Kendrick lounged back and sipped his beer, letting it play out.
Rue’s glass joined Monty’s, and he towered over Monty, posturing aggressively. “Bullshit is thinking it was more than what it was.”
“And what was that?” Monty asked with a calmness that didn’t fool Kendrick one bit. The man was furious.
“Sex. A release of tension we both needed at the time.”
Monty’s chin poked out. “At the time. What the fuck was last night? Tell me that? If it was just sex, then why the hell are you hiding from what we did? Why won’t you talk to me like a normal human being, to clear the air?
You’ve acted like I have the plague since that night, which suggests you have an issue! ”
The challenge thrown down between them was for Rue to pick up. Kendrick wasn’t so sure he was ready to admit his reasons, which Kendrick suspected had a lot to do with how much Rue needed a third in his bed.
“What do you want?” he scowled darkly. “We fucked, we fucked again, that is it. It was nothing more than that.”
Didn’t Rue hear how unconvincing he was?
“You’re lying.” Monty unbuttoned his shirt, dragging it off, exposing his chest, the skin glowing like warm honey. He threw it on the floor, his hands going to the fly of his jeans.
“What… what are you doing!”
“What does it look like!” Monty sneered sexily at Rue.
“I’m getting naked to ride Kendrick’s monster cock.
It shouldn’t bother you. You aren’t interested in more.
I am. I’ve tried to talk about it. Before and today, but you just keep shutting me down.
Last night I thought with… what happened between the three of us…
things could be different. If you can’t be honest, then I’m done. ”
Jeans shoved down with his underwear, Monty’s dick was on display, hard and slick. His body was all smooth lines. Kendrick couldn’t breathe as he waited for Rue to make the next move.
The growl was threatening, as was the glint in the darkening eyes staring at Monty, drilling into him. Kendrick prepared to step between them.
“How the fuck do you tell someone that they aren’t fucking enough without hurting them?
How? Tell me?” he rasped painfully, throwing a deadly look at Kendrick, holding him still.
“He gives me something you can’t, that I need too.
How many folks do you know that would be happy realizing that they aren’t enough,” he snapped angrily, their noses nearly touching.
“Did I look upset last night? Did you even consider that I would be willing to try something unorthodox? To see if we could find a middle ground because you are worth the effort?” Monty spoke so quietly, yet the impact of his confession had Rue blanch and pale.
“What…” he licked his lips. “What are you saying?” He sounded strained.
Monty shook his head, pointing a finger at Kendrick and then at Rue. “This. I want to try. I’m attracted to both of you. I know it will be difficult because we are here temporarily, but I want to try, however it works out.”
Kendrick’s heart beat faster at what he hadn’t considered, a possibility of more between them, when Rue’s expression turned… hopeful?
Rue was on the other man without hesitation. The noises both men made, as their lips clashed in a heated kiss, scorched Kendrick. His desire was forceful enough to make him place his own glass down when his hand shook.
He stood, undoing the buttons on his jeans before his cock broke at the speed of blood filling it. Around the coffee table, he placed his hands on the necks of both men feeling them shudder under his touch.
“As it seems we’ve cleared the air, it’s time to rid you both of those remaining clothes,” he murmured next to their ears.
Both men turned to stare at him with unbridled lust. Breathing unevenly while working to gain some semblance of control the two men tugged at viciously, he let go. He lowered to his knees and tapped at Monty’s trapped leg. “Lift.” His voice was unrecognizable, filled with passion.
He removed both of Monty’s boots and socks before ridding him of the remaining clothes. Once naked, Kendrick rose, stroking his hands over both men’s backsides.
The jean-clad one clenched and pushed into the touch. “Have you ever been tied to a bed before and kissed from head to toe by two men?” He aimed his question at Rue.
A jerky head shake was the reply.
Kendrick’s devilish smirk appeared when Monty whimpered. “Monty, shall we show Rue how much fun that can be?”
Monty took hold of Kendrick’s hand and Rue’s, dragging them to the doorway.
Kendrick met Rue’s wide-eyed look, chuckling when Rue went willingly. “I think we have our answer, Monty.”