Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
C olt rolled over and looked at the clock, marveling at how time ceased to matter. They’d stayed awake nearly all of Friday night, not bothering to rise until lunchtime on Saturday.
After an afternoon spent showering, dozing and fucking, they’d fallen asleep. Now it was three a.m. on Sunday morning and he realized they’d failed to eat dinner again.
Rubbing his empty stomach, Colt looked over at his best friends sleeping peacefully beside him. Kylie was draped over Heath with her leg hiked up around his waist, her hand on his chest, and her head on his shoulder. He grinned at the image they made, both sprawled out and disheveled.
I could wake up like this every day of my life.
As soon as the notion crossed his mind, he attempted to push it away. Too many times this weekend, he’d found his thoughts drifting to what if?
Punching his pillow, he tried to find a comfortable position for sleep. Unfortunately his mind continued to race with the question that kept haunting him.
What if they made this arrangement permanent?
Who said they couldn’t change the rules of the game? After all, it was their game.
What if they snubbed their noses at conventional society and accepted the fact that the three of them fit? They were perfect together.
The words had been on the tip of his tongue several times, but he’d never been able to voice them aloud to his friends. Something always held him back.
What if Kylie agreed, but Heath didn’t? Or vice versa? He knew without a shadow of a doubt they were meant to be a trio.
If Kylie left them, he wasn’t sure what they would do. She brought out the best in both of them.
He had a habit of being headstrong and opinionated, but Kylie softened those rough edges and without her steadying influence, Heath would have succumbed to his workaholic tendencies long ago.
They needed her and not singularly, but as a unit.
This weekend had proven to him that there was no way in hell he could go back to a one man, one woman affair. He prided himself on being a red-blooded heterosexual male, but watching Heath and Kylie together had changed some intrinsic part of him and he knew he’d never view sex the same again. He was convinced that where this relationship was concerned, it was all or nothing and he desperately wanted it all.
Giving up on sleep, Colt pulled on some sweatpants and quietly padded to the kitchen. Maybe a midnight snack would cure his sleeplessness. Maybe it was an empty stomach and not his anxious fears keeping him awake.
Yeah right.
Digging around in the fridge, he found some sandwich fixings. Pulling them out, he started putting the ingredients together without thinking.
“That looks good.”
He looked up to find a hungry-looking Heath eyeballing his sandwich.
“Get your own.”
Heath grinned at him as Colt pulled his plate closer as if to protect a precious treasure.
“I think you must be the only man on the planet who’s irritable after sex.”
Colt frowned. “I’m not irritable.”
Heath didn’t reply, merely lifted his eyebrows in disbelief.
“At least, it’s not the sex.”
“Hunger?”
“No.” He wondered if he should try to explain his worries. He’d already attempted to bring the subject up once and Heath had dismissed it.
Heath sat down across from him and started to assemble a sandwich for himself. “Worrying about Monday isn’t going to stop it from coming.”
He glanced up, surprised at Heath’s astuteness.
“We made a mistake. A fucking whopper of a mistake.”
Leaning back against his chair, Heath crossed his arms across his bare chest. “I’d call it a miscalculation, not a mistake.”
“Whatever you call it, wiseass, we’re in the shithouse now.”
Heath’s anger seemed to swell at the comment and Colt suddenly realized he wasn’t alone in his worry. “Damn it, Colt. Do you know exactly what it is you’re considering here?”
“A permanent arrangement.” He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He’d expected Heath to be the easy one to convince. Heath wanted this as much as he did, but if he rejected the idea, there was no way Kylie would accept it.
“Colt, people don’t live in ménage situations. It’s a fantasy, not a lifestyle.”
“Who says? If I’ve learned anything from Kylie these last few years, it’s that I’m not living my life to make other people happy. Besides, we’ve all lived together so long, nobody even blinks an eye at us anymore.”
“There’s a difference between platonic roommates and what you’re proposing.”
“Think about it. Kylie knows what she’s getting with us. She’s already proven she can handle the day-to-day living together aspect. She’s put up with our overbearing, sloppy asses for years.”
“There is also a difference between picking up a few dirty dishes and dealing with two Doms in bed. Right now, she can tell us to go to hell if we get over-possessive because we have no real claim on her.”
“And if I know Kylie, she’ll keep right on telling us where to go, lovers or not.”
“Colt, there’s no way she’ll agree to this. We promised her a fantasy weekend with a return to our ‘just friends’ status on Monday. How can we go back on our word?”
“All I’m suggesting is that we ask her.”
Heath rose and walked toward the kitchen window to gaze into the black night and Colt questioned his friend’s feelings.
Heath certainly had more to lose if their unusual situation became public knowledge. His friend was next in line for a partnership at the architectural firm where he worked. If the powers that be at his office found out he was an active participant in a ménage a trois, he could be putting his career aspirations at serious risk.
“That is if you’re willing, Heath. It’s not a small thing I’m proposing here. I’m not saying let’s try it and see how it goes. I’m serious about making this a forever thing.”
“So you’re proposing? To me and Kylie? I’m not sure if I should laugh or punch you in the face.”
“I, I mean we would be proposing to Kylie. But I guess now that you mention it, we’d be making a commitment to each other too. You’re my best friend, Heath. We’ve been in each other’s lives for nearly two decades. I wouldn’t know what to do if you weren’t in my life anymore. I mean, shit, we root for all the same sports teams. That’s rare, man.”
Heath laughed at his attempts to lighten the mood. “I do want this, Colt. I’m not blind and I can appreciate how perfect this weekend has been. Neither of us has had much luck in the love department. Now I can’t help but wonder if it’s because we’ve been in love with Kylie all this time. Maybe we were avoiding the obvious because we thought it might end in a competition for her attentions.”
He groaned at Heath’s words. “Christ, do you have to mention the ‘L’ word? You know the thought of that emotion gives me gas.”
“Well, you’re going to have to overcome that little obstacle because I know for a fact Kylie won’t accept any offer we make that doesn’t include that sentiment.”
Colt ran his hand through his hair once again. “I love her. Shit, I’m crazy about the girl.”
Heath walked over and joined him at the kitchen table again. “It really won’t bother you when I’m alone with Kylie? There are going to be nights when you’re on duty and I’m telling you right now, I won’t just be in bed sleeping with her. I’ll be fucking her. That doesn’t bug you? Even a little?”
Colt shook his head instantly. “Not a bit. I swear to you. Does it bother you that the same holds true when you’re out of town?”
Heath gave a humorless laugh. “Not a bit. Geez, what’s wrong with us? Don’t you think there’s something seriously fucked up about that?”
“Not really. I trust you with my life, buddy, and I know you’ll take care of Kylie when I’m not around. The three of us fit and I’m not so sure the same would hold true if it was just you and Kylie or just me and Kylie. It’s hard to explain but I really feel like this relationship only works as a trio.”
Heath nodded. “I feel the same way. I guess when you think about it, we all bring something different to the table. Besides, with our fucked up work hours, it would take both of us to make one full-time husband for her.”
“Heath, we’ve shared everything our whole lives—bedrooms, clothes, cars. It’s second nature to us now. Besides, I gotta tell you, the sex—” He stumbled, trying to find the words, but his friend saved him from the task.
“I know,” Heath said. “So now we share Kylie?” Heath’s words sounded less like a question and more like a statement, so Colt let it slide without a response. “She’ll never go for it.”
“You said that about this weekend and she jumped in with both feet. I can’t go back, Heath. If she refuses, there’ll be no going back to the way things were.”
Heath turned and frowned at him. “You’d move out?”
He shrugged. “I’ll never be able to be in the same room without wanting her again.”
Heath considered his words for a long time. “Neither will I. So I guess we’d better put on our most persuasive faces and convince the girl, since failure doesn’t seem to be an option.”
He smiled and walked over, placing a friendly hand on Heath’s shoulder. “Well, my friend, I’ve been thinking about that and it seems to me that Kylie responds better to actions than words.”
“Are you suggesting we seduce her into agreeing to marry us?”
“Like you said, failure’s not an option and the way I see it, all is fair in love and war.”
“You’re speaking in clichés,” Heath muttered.
“Better that than the puns I usually annoy you with.”