Travis
was just about to give them both a piece of his mind when something caught his
eyes. Or rather someone.
Kylie.
Oh,
God. She looked so beautiful, and she was coming toward them. Sierra was
walking along beside her, her face expressionless. That’s when Travis noticed
that Kylie had been – no, she
was
– crying. He pushed to his feet,
sending his chair over backward and without thinking he walked right up to her
and pulled her into his arms.
“Oh,
God, Travis. I’m so sorry,” Kylie sobbed against his chest.
Travis
pressed his lips against the top of her head as Gage walked around to his side.
Without hesitating, Gage put his arms around her too. Kylie released one arm
from around Travis and wrapped it around Gage, her face still buried in Travis’
shirt. She trembled as she cried, and Travis’ heart broke again.
He
met Sierra’s eyes over the top of Kylie’s head, and she gave him a small smile.
This was the reason they were there. Luke, Cole, and Sierra had come down to
help Kylie. Luke and Cole had been a distraction. The real conversation had
been between the two women.
When
Kylie pulled back a couple of minutes later, wiping her eyes with the heels of
her hands, she turned to face Sierra.
“If
you ever want to talk, call me. And I’m serious, you guys should come visit the
new club. Anytime you want,” Sierra said as she hugged Kylie as though they
were long lost friends.
“Or
better yet, hang out at the resort if it ever opens,” Luke joked.
Travis
mouthed a “Fuck you” to Luke and got a one finger salute in return.
“Look,
we do need to get back to Dallas,” Luke said as he pulled Sierra up against
him.
“Oh,
and Gage, if you’re interested in a job, I know this resort who needs a
security team. I heard that the owner was actually thinking about hiring an out
of work cop to manage things for him.”
Gage
flipped his gaze to Travis’, his eyebrow going up in question.
Hmmm.
Did he fail to mention that to Gage?
Travis
and Luke had talked about Gage managing the resort shortly after they found out
he was undercover. Since he was a friend of the family, Travis had wanted to
bring him on if he was interested. He just never got around to discussing it
yet.
“Thanks,
I’ll have to talk to the guy,” Gage told Cole as they shook hands.
Luke
slapped Travis on the back and leaned down close to his ear, “Whatever you do,
don’t fuck this up.”
Travis
laughed. “Pot. Kettle, right?”
“Damn
straight.”
♂♂♀
After
Luke, Cole and Sierra made their exit, the three of them stuck around long
enough for Travis to drop cash on the table to cover the coffee and that was
it.
Now,
as Gage stood on his front porch, he watched Kylie’s truck pull down the
driveway with Travis at the wheel. Because they had all arrived at the diner in
separate vehicles, and neither of them wanted Kylie to drive when she was so
upset, Travis decided to leave his, and he called Kaleb and asked him to get it
when he could.
Gage
felt a wave of déjà vu. Kylie was suddenly back in their lives after what felt
like forever and a day, but had only been less than a week. The only difference
now was Kylie was coming to see them on her own. For once, neither Travis nor
Gage had interfered. And now Gage was ready to have that conversation they should’ve
had before this all happened. The one that might’ve prevented any of the
suffering that they’d had to go through to get here.
Gage
walked out to the truck and opened Kylie’s door for her, taking her hand in his
as they headed into the air conditioned house. June was in full swing, and now
that the storms weren’t blowing in cooler air, it was downright uncomfortable
to be outside for more than a few minutes.
Once
inside, Gage led her to the living room and let her crawl up onto the couch. He
watched as she kept her eyes down and curled her feet up beneath her. She
looked so broken, and he had to fight the urge to want to pull her into her arms
and tell her everything would be ok.
As
much as he wanted that to be the case, they still had to talk.
“Need
anything?” Travis asked Kylie, and when she shook her head, he sat on the couch
beside her, but not too close.
Gage
sat down beside Travis. For some reason, he felt as though he needed to keep
some distance between him and Kylie. She’d hurt him and the throbbing ache was
still alive in his chest, even if seeing her was the closest he’d come to any
sort of relief in several days.
“For
the record, we had no idea they were going to do that,” Travis told Kylie as he
crossed one leg over the opposite knee and reclined back into the couch.
“I
know.”
“Do
you?” he asked, his temper rearing its ugly head.
Kylie
met his gaze head on. “I do. I talked to Sierra, and I think they did it
because Zoey asked them to.” At the mention of Zoey’s name, Kylie looked at
Gage, but he didn’t say anything.
What
could he say? It wasn’t like he could change the past, no matter what Kylie
wanted.
“I
owe you an apology,” she told Gage. “I was so shocked to find out that you had
been with her…” Her words died off.
“We
know this is new to you, Kylie,” Gage began, unsure where he was even going
with this. “And maybe we should’ve told you that we had a history with this
sort of thing. For me, because nothing I’ve ever experienced came even close to
this,” he said as he waved his hand to encompass the three of them, “I didn’t
even consider the subject relevant.”
“So,
it
is
different from when you were with her?” Kylie sounded surprised.
Gage
glanced between the Travis and Kylie. If he was going to lay it all on the
line, now was his opportunity. He could tell them he loved them and be done
with it. Whatever their reaction, he’d have to live with it.
When
he opened his mouth to speak, nothing came out.
“It’s
a lot different,” Travis said calmly, speaking directly to Kylie. “Like I told
you before, until you, I had never loved anyone. And until Gage, I hadn’t loved
anyone after you.”
Gage
was staring at Kylie as Travis spoke. When the last words came out, he jerked
his head in Travis direction. Gage’s heart skipped a beat. Maybe two. He stared
at Travis, replaying what he’d just said over in his mind, trying to figure out
if he’d misinterpreted it. When Travis turned to meet his gaze, he knew he
hadn’t.
“I
should have told you before,” Travis said, his voice low. “I’ve spent the last
three days trying to come up with the way to say the words, but I chickened
out.”
Gage
couldn’t say anything at all.
“And
I should’ve told you, too,” Kylie added. “Both of you.” She angled her body on
the couch to face Travis more fully and said, “I loved you the very first day I
met you. I spent ten years hoping I’d stop loving you. The day Gage took me to
see you, I realized it hadn’t worked.”
The
room was so quiet, the only sound was the air coming through the vents from the
air conditioner.
“And
Gage, I fell in love with you before you brought Travis back into my life. The
day you came to my house, and we made love for the first time, I knew I’d never
stop loving you. No matter how badly you hurt me.”
“I’m
sorry,” Gage said automatically.
“I’m
not,” Kylie added. “I didn’t like it at the time, but if you hadn’t dug around
in Travis’ past and found me, we wouldn’t be here. And I don’t even know
exactly where we are at this point, but I can tell you, I...” Kylie stopped as
a sob tore from her chest.
Gage
wasn’t sure which one of them moved faster, but Gage was on one side of Kylie
as Travis was moving up to her other side, their arms going around her.
When
she got herself under control, she started speaking again. “I don’t want a
divorce,” she told Travis. “I don’t know how this works or even what’s legally
acceptable, but I want to be married. To you both.”
“Baby,”
Travis whispered as he pulled her close.
“Sierra
said she had two husbands,” Kylie hiccupped as she buried her face in Travis’
shirt.
“They
aren’t legally married, but yes, there are some ways to go about it,” Travis
replied, his eyes locked on Gage’s.
As
he sat there staring into pools of steel blue, Gage finally found the words
he’d been searching for, and they fell from his lips although the rest of his
body didn’t seem to be working. “I love you,” he whispered to Travis.
He
hadn’t thought Kylie could hear him, but she looked up at him just as Travis
said, “I love you, too. And Kylie, I love you, baby.”
Kylie
held Gage’s stare for long seconds. The words were on the tip of his tongue and
he had every intention of telling her, but he was holding back because he knew
once they were out there… if she ever walked away again, he wasn’t going to
survive it.
She
must’ve realized he was having a hard time because she moved closer, taking his
hands in hers. “I’m sorry. I know you might not be able to trust me, but when I
tell you that I love you, I want you to know that the only other person I’ve
ever said that to is Travis. I don’t take the words lightly.”
Gage
slid his hand into Kylie’s hair, holding her so she continued to face him. “I trust
you, Kylie. That’s never been the issue. I’ve just never realized I could love
anyone as much as I love you and Travis. And truthfully, it just scares the
shit out of me.”
“I’ve
always been told that a little fear is a good thing,” Kylie whispered as she
leaned in to press her lips against his. “It means you’re alive.”
♂♂♀
Not
in a million years did Travis ever believe he’d be here. The place, the people,
the conversation. For so long, it’d been a dream and yet here they were,
sitting in Gage’s living room, professing their love for one another. Copping
to their fears and their mistakes.
They
weren’t lying in bed, bodies wrapped together and sharing the sweet words that
seem so easy to speak in the heat of the moment. Not that he’d ever spoken the
words that way either, but this was much more intimate than he ever expected.
Too
bad his true nature was kicking in because Travis’ cock was as hard as a
baseball bat, and he was ready to strip them both and alternate fucking them
both until they were screaming his name. He’d be more than willing to tell them
he loved them a million times after the three of them came.
His
opportunity presented itself when Kylie kissed Gage, but as he moved closer,
she pulled back. He waited, breathless and eager, and he wasn’t disappointed
because Kylie leaned in again and this time Gage pulled her to him, cupping the
back of her head as their mouths pressed together.
Travis
wasn’t sitting this one out, and he quickly got in on the action, moving up
behind Kylie, lifting her so she was sitting on his thigh as they crushed her
between them. Travis grabbed the backs of their heads and inserted his close
enough so they had to break the kiss.
“What
are you doing?” Kylie giggled.
Yeah,
it probably looked a little ridiculous, but he had his reasons.
“I’m
planning to kiss you,” he explained. “Both of you, right now.”
And
that’s exactly what they did, the three of them shared a kiss hot enough to
torch the place down. Maybe that was because they expressed their love for one
another, or because they’d spent so many days apart. Travis didn’t care. He would
put more effort into thinking about it once they were naked.
He
felt like he was high, his body not his own. He had been so overcome with anger
and pain when Kylie left them that he had a hard time coping. He had just
settled in to go back to the life he had been happy to shed and here he was again,
the euphoric feeling returning in full force.
Gage
was the first to pull back. “This couch isn’t big enough for the three of us.”
No.
No, it certainly was not. Although, if they… Ok, no. It wasn’t the right place
for them right now.
“You
don’t have to tell me twice.” Travis pushed to his feet and held his hand out
to Kylie. Before she could take it, Gage swept her up into his arms and headed
toward the stairs.
Travis
didn’t stay still for long. They were almost to the second floor when Gage
stopped suddenly, and Travis had to grab the railing to keep from slamming into
him. “What the hell is the matter?”
“We
haven’t finished talking,” Gage said seriously, and Travis damn near rolled
himself right down the stairs to ease his misery.
“What
else could we possibly have to talk about?”
“Condoms,”
Gage said.
“Condoms?”
Kylie and Travis asked at the exact same time.
To
Travis’ relief, Gage continued up the stairs but at a much slower pace. He
stopped at the top, which left Travis still a couple of steps beneath him.
“Yes, condoms. We need to talk about us using them.”
“We
always use condoms,” Travis reminded him. Had Gage fallen on his head lately?
“Yes,
we do. What if we
didn’t
?”
Ok,
now Travis feared he actually would fall down the stairs, so he pushed past
Gage and Kylie and stood on level ground.
“I’m
on the pill,” Kylie said, squirming in Gage’s arms like she wanted him to put
her down. “And besides the two of you, I’ve only ever had sex with two other
people and we always used condoms, but I was still tested after both of them.”
“I’ve
never had unprotected sex,” Travis said as Gage put Kylie on her feet. As he
waited for them to keep talking, he did his best to herd them toward the
bedroom. “I’ve been tested routinely, including when I joined Club Destiny, but
I’ll be glad to do it again and get you both a copy of the results.”
Just
as long as you’ll move your asses into the bedroom.
“Same
here,” Gage added, his smile growing as he stared back at Travis. “Going somewhere?”
“Yes.
To the damn bedroom. You know, the place with the bed. And the condoms we don’t
want to use.”
“I
know the place well.”
“Good,
then lead the way.”
“Impatient
much?”
“Ask
me that question after I’ve got my dick buried in your ass,” Travis growled as
he pressed Gage against the wall.
That
worked.
Gage
grabbed a fistful of Travis’ shirt and yanked him forward, their bodies
slamming together. The kiss that ensued knocked the breath from his chest and
Travis clung to Gage, desperate to feel his bare skin. He pulled his shirt free
of his jeans and tore it over his head as Gage did the same. They were still in
the hall, Kylie staring up at them both, her mouth hanging open as she fought
for breath.
God
it was fucking hot that she got off on watching them.
Without
releasing one another, they managed to stumble into the bedroom and onto the
bed. Travis was about to demand that Kylie take her clothes off, but she was
one step ahead of them. Gage was the next one naked, and by the time Travis was
stepping out of his jeans, Gage was crushing Kylie into the mattress, his mouth
on hers.
Her
sweet moans filled the air, and Travis knew there wasn’t going to be much
foreplay. Then again, maybe they could consider the lovey dovey shit they’d
done downstairs foreplay. Shit, it had damn sure turned him on.
Before
climbing on the bed with them, Travis reached for the lube and the condoms but
stopped and glanced over at the bed. “Condoms or no condoms?”