Reunion
Authors: Laura Harner
Reunion: Three’s Allowed
L.E. Harner
Reunion is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or
locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright ©
2013 by Laura Harner
Cover
photograph by DWS Photography and Romance Novel Covers
Cover Art
by Laura Harner
Edited by
Jae Ashley
All rights
reserved.
Published
in the United States by Hot Corner Press
ISBN: 978-1-937252-58-8
Warning: All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced in any many without written permission, except for brief
quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of
this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including
infringement without monetary gain is investigated by the FBI and is punishable
by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Contact the publisher for further information:
[email protected]
For my readers. Let’s find more worlds to explore
together.
I would also like to offer a special thank you to Will
Parkinson. You have gone above and beyond once again, my friend.
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and
trademark owners of the following trademarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Arizona Highways
(magazine):
State of Arizona
Arizona State
University:
Arizona Board of Regents
Candyland:
Hasbro, Inc.
Denny's:
DFO,
LLC
Disneyland:
Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Haggar:
Haggar
Clothing Co.
iPad:
Apple,
Inc.
iPhone:
Apple,
Inc.
James Bond:
Danjaq, LLC
Jeep:
Chrysler
Group, LLC
Kevlar:
E. I. Du
Pont De Nemours
Levi's
:
Levi Strauss & Co. Corporation
MacBook
: Apple
Inc.
Mario (games):
Nintendo of America, Inc.
MIT:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation
National Geographic
(magazine):
National Geographic Society
NAU:
Arizona
Board of Regents
Oreos: Kraft Food
Global Brands
Prius:
Toyota
Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha AKA Toyota Motor Corporation
SIG (pocket 9mm):
SIG Swiss Industrial Company
Space Mountain:
Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Sponge Bob:
Viacom International Inc.
Tinkerbell:
Disney Enterprises, Inc.
First day of college
RJ Mendez looked around the crowded pizzeria.
Damn…all the booths were full, and he wasn't ready to figure out the dorm screw
up on an empty stomach. And he sure as hell wasn't ready to call home and ask
for help—that option was clearly gone. He just needed a few minutes to…figure
something out. And food. He definitely needed food.
“Hey, sit here. I haven't ordered yet.” He looked
down and met the hazel eyes and shaggy blond head of a kid who looked vaguely
familiar. Of course, with ten thousand freshman starting school this week,
they'd passed each other somewhere on the Arizona State campus.
He smiled at the gangly teen and slid into the
booth. “Thanks, man.”
“Grant Anderson,” the kid said with a grin. He
stuck out his hand.
Unsure if he was supposed to do one of those
knuckle-bumping hand things, RJ gave his name and settled for a handshake,
feeling strangely mature. His first day of college and his first handshake, all
on the same day. The thought had him smiling as the waitress approached the
table.
In a breathless rush, she said, “Hi-I'm-Patti-what-can-I-get-you?”
Her words all strung together, her gaze already on the table next to them,
obviously mentally creating her to-do list.
Patti?
The name, then the face, penetrated
RJ's overstimulated brain. For the benefit of those who couldn't read minds, he
repeated her name out loud.
“Patti Cox?”
She blinked down at him as she clearly struggled
to put his face into a recognizable context. He knew how she felt, there were
so many people here compared to where they’d grown up in southern Arizona. It
only took a second for the pieces to fall into place, and her broad smile said
she recognized her high school friend and sometimes date.
“RJ!” Her voice came out an excited squeal and
people in the surrounding booths and tables turned to watch as she leaned over
the table and gave him a one-armed hug and full on kiss. When she straightened,
her face was flushed, and she tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. “What
are you doing here? I didn’t think you could come?”
The question sounded innocent enough, but RJ
flushed. Patti knew his background. With a father who followed the seasonal crops
and a mother who shifted between housekeeping at a small motel and by-the-job
day work, there was barely money for food and a tiny two-bedroom apartment.
Swallowing his pride in front of Patti and this
stranger wasn’t easy, but the desperate reality of his situation was starting
to sink in.
“Yeah,” he said, glancing apologetically at Grant.
“Look, there might have been some kind of mix up with my parent’s check for the
dorm. The scholarship covered everything but room and board, and uh…” He
cleared his throat. “Are they hiring here? I could really use, uh…”
Pushing his way into the conversation, his
tablemate leaned forward and thrust a hand in her direction. “Hi. I'm Grant
Anderson. You’re Patti Cox, and he’s RJ Mendez. Got it,” he said with a nod. “Wait.
Let me take a picture…” Grant pulled a small camera from his backpack, then
snapped a photo. “I'm calling it 'My First College Friends,' so you've been
warned. Now, let’s talk because I’m still looking for a roommate.”
Just like that, the pieces of friendship fell into
place. RJ and Grant stayed at the table far longer than their two slices of
pizza warranted, and Patti stopped at their booth nearly every round she'd made
of the crowded restaurant. By the end of the evening, the three of them
returned to Grant's off-campus room, so Patti could officially deem it worthy before
she returned to her dorm. RJ breathed easier knowing that for at least the
remainder of the first semester…he had a place to call home.
Four and a half years later…
Memories as tangible as a breeze swirled around RJ
as he walked around the small apartment that had been his home since that first
night of his freshman year of college. Now armed with an undergraduate degree
in engineering, Raymondo Juan Mendez was headed to Massachusetts and the MIT
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Grad School. Pretty damned
impressive for a poor kid from the wrong side of Phoenix.
Not that he was Raymondo any longer. Although the
much-despised reminder of his heritage had shifted to initials when he was in
high school, a legal name change came last year—thanks to a small settlement
from the insurance company of the driver who’d killed his parents. The premature
deaths of two itinerate workers hadn't been worth much, but it was enough to
give him a fresh start. RJ blinked rapidly against the sudden and surprising
sting in his eyes. He’d never been very close to his parents. As a child, he’d
been ashamed of their poverty, their lack of education, their rigid and narrow
faith. Only now, after it was far too late to say thank you, could he
acknowledge their sacrifices. They’d both worked too hard, too many backbreaking
hours just to make sure he could get an “American” education. No amount of
money could replace the satisfaction he’d have gained from showing them he’d
actually made it.
With a sigh, he continued his trip down memory
lane, walking through the first true home he ever had.
It had taken them nearly two years to fall into
this bed together. At first, he’d been afraid Grant would be horrified to
discover he’d agreed to room with a guy who liked guys. Then he realized Grant
liked watching him and didn’t mind if RJ watched him back. And they both really
liked watching Patti.
Two long years of flirting, sitting too close
together on the couch, lingering looks, accidental touches. Then, in typical
Patti fashion, she suggested they form a study group. A sexual study group.
Lord, how they’d all laughed at that. The memory still brought a smile. As
she’d pointed out, they were attracted to each other, they were best friends,
they were adults. What could it hurt?
Patti had held his hand and kissed away the nerves
over his first blowjob from Grant, and shown him how to return the favor. He
and Grant had perfected the art of the one-handed condom roll, Patti could
glove a dick with her lips. She'd helped RJ prep Grant's ass the first time,
and he'd helped Grant prep Patti. It had been a great learning experience, even
if he’d never told them just how far they were pulling him under.
What he hadn't ever done was take that last step
of letting Grant fuck him. As if that final bit of holding out would keep his
heart safe. Even now—
especially now
—he couldn't say why he'd held back.
There was no pulling out in time when it came to love.
With a hand that shook more than he wanted to
admit, he traced fingers over the breakfast counter, along the back of the
couch, a light touch of the bedroom door, stopping to grip the fake brass
headboard. Their last night together hadn’t even been here, but at a rented
house in Sedona. One final celebration of so many firsts, one last opportunity
to be with his best friends. He closed his eyes and let the memories from last
night take over.
“God, RJ, you’re so tight.” Grant moaned as the
broad head of his cock breached RJ’s virgin ass and he stopped moving to let RJ
relax around the invasion. His hands soothed over RJ’s back, fingers tracing up
his spine, then back along his sides. Every place Grant touched him was on
fire, every inch so good, so very fucking right.
While he rested on his hands and knees waiting
for the burn to ease up, a shudder raced through him, momentarily tightening
his ass in a spasm. RJ bit back a moan and let his head drop forward to hang
between his arms in order to hide behind a thick curtain of hair, afraid of
what expression might be showing on his face.
“Don’t tense up, breathe through it,
sweetheart,” Patti whispered. “Push back. Take what you’ve been waiting for.”
She smoothed his hair back, trying to offer comfort he didn’t need.
One last look…that was all he'd needed. Every
memory was permanently etched in his heart. He made his way back to the kitchen
counter. Using his thumbnail to pry the silver ring open, he twisted his key
until it was free. Placing it on the counter next to the two other keys
extinguished the last hope that this was all a dream and he’d wake up anytime,
snuggled between his lovers.
Leaving Phoenix—a place where his clearly Hispanic
looks had gotten him pulled over more than once—wasn't a hardship. Not really.
Cambridge would be different. Enlightened. Racial profiling wouldn't be
tolerated. Hell, he could probably even go out to a movie with another man if
he wanted to without raising too many eyebrows.
Leaving Patti…and Grant? Yes, that was the true
hardship. Still, it wasn't as if they had any future together. People simply
didn't live like they had the past few years. Three people in a committed
relationship…having sex? That was the stuff of porn and jerk-off fantasies.
Never intended for the real world.
In the light of morning, with Patti and Grant definitely
gone, he could finally be free of the temptation to return those dreaded three
little words they'd both shared last night. Because he’d known he’d never be
able to leave the rest of what he wanted unsaid. The best he'd been able do was
put everything he felt into their final night of love making, into finally
giving Grant what he'd been waiting for.
God, it had been so much more than he'd expected.
Not the stretch—although that had been plenty big—but the feelings. The
overwhelming sense that Patti and Grant completed him, that somehow the three
of them were all equal and necessary components of…one.
So yes…in the aftermath of most intense orgasm of
his life, with his leg muscles quivering and his ass still clenching, Patti had
asked them all to promise to meet again in ten years and seriously consider a
relationship, kids, the whole thing…he'd agreed. It had been a promise he knew
he would never have to keep. Patti and Grant would find their happily ever
after long before then, either with someone new—or with each other.
With a final touch of his fingers to the three
keys, RJ turned and left their apartment for the last time.