Chapter 93
When Rhys had come out and seen Alfie kissing Mel… Well, he wasn’t quite sure what he’d been feeling. It wasn’t jealousy. He was pretty damn sure of that. It wasn’t lust, either.
Affection. Hope. Wanting. He definitely wanted to be right in there with them. If he hadn’t completely screwed everything up, maybe he could still have that. Back at the clubhouse, they’d said they wanted him.
He didn’t understand why. No one else ever had.
Not true. That was not true. Hadn’t all those pictures proved that? Simon had wanted him in his life. He hadn’t been able to make that happen. Because of society’s stupid rules.
Like the one which said you could only love one person at once.
His heart beat harder at the thought that maybe, just maybe, he could have something with both Alfie and Mel. If they could forgive him for what he’d brought down on them.
He pulled on the shorts and shirt Alfie brought over for him and took a deep breath before heading out into the kitchen.
Whatever Mel had been cooking smelled amazing, and his stomach rumbled.
He’d barely managed to make himself eat enough to stay fueled this week.
Now, he was ravenous. They were dishing it out into bowls.
He came in and grabbed two of the bowls to take over to the table. Mel shot him a look, but he smiled at them. “Just trying to help.”
“You can help by sitting down and eating,” they said. Then added “And talking to us.”
“I can’t eat and talk at the same time. That would be rude.”
“Rhys,” both Mel and Alfie said at the same time, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
Alfie shook his head as he took out a bottle of seasoning and started sprinkling it over his bowl. Rhys wrinkled his nose. “I can smell the heartburn from here.”
“You cannot smell heartburn.” Alfie stabbed a piece of chicken and brought it to his mouth.
The way he closed his eyes and moaned made Rhys shift in his seat. Mel reached over and put a hand on his thigh. Yeah, that wasn’t helping matters any.
“Do you want to talk about what happened last week?” Mel asked.
“No,” Rhys said with a groan.
Alfie opened his eyes and pinned him with a stare. “We need to talk about it, Rhys. Ignoring it will not make it go away.”
“I know. I’m sorry, okay. I thought if I didn’t respond to him, he would go away. I didn’t expect him to take things so far. I’m sorry that because of me, your lives got messed up.”
“You shut down on me,” Alfie said. “I was right there, and you—”
“You mean the way you’ve done to me so many times?” Rhys shot back. “How you would just walk away because you didn’t think we could work. I thought I was doing the right thing. Saving you both from having to deal with my life imploding. I never wanted either of you to get caught up in it.”
“That’s not why I was upset.” Mel turned in their chair to face him. Their hand remained on his leg,. It made it difficult to focus on pretty much anything else. “Yes,” they said, “there was some fallout, but I dealt with it. I would have preferred to do it with you at my side, though.”
“What about your family?” Rhys asked Alfie.
“They love me,” Alfie said. “And they love you as well. They only wondered why it took us so long. You should have seen the look on my mother’s face when she realized she raised such a fool.”
“Your mother would never say such a thing about you. Even I know better.”
He smiled softly and took another bite of food. Mel squeezed Rhys’s knee. “Why did you just drop us?” they asked. “We would have been there for you. There was no reason for you to deal with this on your own.”
Alfie put a hand on their arm. “Rhys was right earlier. I let things said by people who were not important get in my head. It kept me from handling things the way I should have.” He looked over at Rhys. “I want to do better. I want to be with you. Whatever that might look like.”
“No one’s ever wanted to keep me around.”
Alfie’s head came up. Rhys wouldn't call his expression a glare, but it was definitely hard. “That is not true.”
“My mother abandoned me at a fire station when I was two. There wasn’t a single family who wanted to deal with me when I became too much trouble. Until today, I thought even Simon, the one person who believed in me, didn’t actually want me.”
“You thought we wouldn’t be there to stand with you?” Mel asked.
“I thought it would be better for you if I took myself out of your life. I’ve never been any good for anyone.”
“Pura mierda,” Alfie said. “You have so much good, you just refuse to see it.”
“What if you change your mind?” The question sprang from his mouth, and he wished he could reel it back in. It was too late for that.
“Idiota.” Alfie came around the table and kneeling in front of him. “You have had me almost from the moment we met. It took me a while to realize what was happening, but I have loved you for years. That is not ever going to change. No matter what happens.”
Mel pressed a little more into his side. “I can’t say the same thing,” they said. “Mostly because I haven't known you as long. We didn’t exactly get off on the right foot, but you are more than whatever you believe. I really want to give this a chance.”
“What if I totally fuck it up?” Rhys’s voice caught on the words. He couldn’t believe that they were just… taking him back. He hadn’t done anything to deserve it.
“Any of us might,” Alfie said. “I have. People can make mistakes, Rhys. That doesn’t mean we just give up on us.”
“If that happens,” Mel said, “we decide if we can live with that, and if we want to work together to fix whatever is broken. That’s our decision to make. You don’t get to decide it for us.”
“You think we can make this work?” he asked.
“If we are on the same page, I really do,” Mel said. “Which means you have to talk to us.”
“Can we do that naked in your bed?”
Mel patted his thigh before removing their hand. “Finish your dinner first. Then, you can let us take care of you.”
He had a feeling they’d all be taking care of each other. Hopefully for a long time to come.
Rhys fell onto the bed, bringing Mel with him. They laughed then slid out of his arms. His shorts came off, and he wrestled with his shirt before Alfie was there, pulling it off over his head. Alfie pressed him down onto the bed and took his mouth in a hard kiss.
Mel’s lips skimmed over his belly and down his hip. He groaned against Alfie’s mouth, but he was still holding him to the mattress. Mel took their time kissing his hip and down his thighs. Before they finally grazed their lips over the tip of his cock.
“Let us take care of you now,” Alfie told him as Rhys writhed against his hold.
“I want to give you something, too,” he said.
“You can. Take your pleasure first, though. You deserve it.”
Rhys hadn’t done anything to earn that. “For being you,” Alfie said.
“For letting us in,” Mel added. “That’s enough.” Their mouth was on him again, taking him all the way in.
Alfie released his mouth, pressing kisses to his throat and over his chest, before sucking a nipple between his lips. “Please,” Rhys said, not sure exactly what he was asking for. He just knew he needed more.
Instead, Mel rolled off of him. He started to whine, but Alfie slid quickly down his body, taking over.
Almost as if they planned it. He watched Mel as they moved to the side of the bed, stripping their shirt over their head and sliding off their leggings.
Alfie released Rhys’s dick only to dip his head and take his balls into his mouth.
“Fuck,” he said, his voice thin. “You know, Alfie. You know what that does to me.”
Alfie chuckled and sucked harder, his hand wrapping around Rhys’s cock.
Mel took out a small bottle and a couple condoms from the bedside drawer. “I want to taste you first,” he told them. “Please.”
“Wow,” they said over their shoulder. “He even said please.”
“I guess that means he deserves a treat,” Alfie said, his voice husky.
“A little taste,” Mel agreed. Rhys watched as they slid a hand down their stomach and between their legs. He whimpered as Mel slid their fingers back out and held them out to his lips. “Not what I meant,” he said, but his tongue wrapped around them, licking between their fingers as well.
“Then, you should have been more specific with your requests.” Mel grabbed one of the condoms and opened it, sliding it down over his cock.
Alfie lifted his head from between Rhys’s legs and kissed Mel.
Right there over Rhys. His cock jumped as even more arousal flooded through him.
Alfie let them go and reached for the other condom.
“I want to see,” Rhys said. “I want to see both of you.”
“I have some extra pillows,” Mel said. “I’ll grab them.”
Alfie kneeled between Rhys’s thighs as Mel left the room. He drizzled lube over his fingers, then rubbed them along Rhys’s crack. There went his cock flexing again. A finger slipped inside him, and Rhys groaned. Alfie pulled it back out. “Not yet.”
Mel returned with a few pillows, which they slid under his back.
They lowered themself down onto his dick.
Alfie stretched him a little more before the other condom wrapper ripped open, and Alfie was inside him.
He could just see him over Mel’s shoulder.
When they lifted up, he could see Alfie’s cock disappear inside him.
“Oh fuck.” His eyes closed of their own volition.
“Watch us,” Mel said, and he opened his eyes. “Watch us love you.”
That was nearly enough to tip him over the edge. Or it was the way Alfie canted his hips, sending sparks off behind Rhys’s eyes.
Mel draped themself over him, their hips riding him through his orgasm, even as Alfie gripped his hips, burying himself deep.
When the fireworks stopped, he looked right into Mel’s eyes. “Did you mean that?” he asked. “You love me?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” they asked. “You are extremely lovable.”
Why? Why? Why?
Maybe he would never completely get rid of that voice, but as Mel and Alfie came back to the bed and curled up on either side of him, he thought he could at least quiet it.
They were here with him and that was what mattered.