I debated going home to put on something more comfortable and decided I’d haul my bag into Eric’s and change there. There was bound to be tension over me showing up despite Drew’s request that I not and I wanted time to let him know where I stood when it came to others knowing about the three of us.

Chapter 15

The smile on my face when I saw headlights flash past the tall windows along the side of the house quickly faded when the back door opened. I’d expected it to be Cam and Jason, but it was Bryce. I quickly schooled my reaction so he wouldn’t think I was unhappy to see him. I was elated and that was the problem.

Although I’d practically begged Eric to call Bryce and ask him to not come over tonight, it’d killed me to do so. The only way to explain how I felt when Bryce was around was that he grounded me. I wasn’t used to relying on someone else to make me feel secure and stable.

If Bryce noticed my discomfort, he didn’t mention it as he dropped a bag inside the door and stalked over to me. He took a quick glance around the room before curling his fingers around the back of my neck and pulling my face toward him for a searing kiss filled with longing and desperation.

My body melted against his, realizing I was a fool to think I could turn him away. No, I wasn’t looking forward to the myriad of questions my best friend was likely to ask, but the interrogation would be worth it to have him around. Just feeling his arms wrapped tightly around my back steadied me, prepared me for a house full of friends.

I’d agreed to having the guys come here because it was better than having to go to Jason’s, but that didn’t mean I was happy about it. Although Eric assured me it was only going to be the few who were in town, I still felt on edge. I knew none of the guys who’d be here tonight were responsible for my attack, but the cops were no closer to having a suspect which meant my over-active mind viewed everyone as a potential threat. I hadn’t shared that with Eric or Bryce, but I’m sure they both noticed how I stiffened whenever it was more than just us in the house.

“I thought you weren’t coming over tonight,” I said when we broke the kiss so both of us could breathe. I saw Eric enter the room and motioned for him to join us. I still wasn’t comfortable doing anything with one of them when the other wasn’t involved. If we were to keep exploring whatever was going on between us, we needed to figure out what was acceptable to everyone. As much as I’d grown to enjoy our times as a threesome, I still longed for time with each of them individually, and wanted them to explore that aspect as well.

“No, you asked that I not come tonight,” Bryce corrected me. “And I’ll have you know I was perfectly fine with that, but Jason asked me to come and I couldn’t turn him down without outing the three of us.”

Eric laughed as he worked his way into our embrace. “I hate to break it to you, but there’d be no outing there,” he informed Bryce. “Jason’s known about me for almost two years now and he’s known about Drew since summer.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Bryce growled, turning his head to bite Eric’s neck. Suddenly, having a house full of our closest friends was a colossally bad idea. There wasn’t time to beg Bryce to take us to the bedroom which meant the three of us were going to be battling the sexual frustration all night. “Unless you’ve told someone, no one knows about the three of us. And being totally honest, not everyone’s going to be okay with it. Not even if we tell them we’re just fucking around.”

“What do you mean if? Isn’t that what we’re doing?” I asked, breaking away from the guys as much as I didn’t want to. Our guests would start arriving soon. Eventually, they’d figure out what was going on, but we didn’t need to give them a live display of what happened behind closed doors.

“Come on, Drew,” Bryce scoffed. “We can tell each other that it’s just sex, but when was the last time we did anything more than hand jobs or blow jobs?”

Good point. I shrugged, trying to figure out where he was going with this line of thought. I had a feeling I knew, but I wasn’t ready to admit it just yet, not even to myself. The three of us made sense, almost as much as it didn’t. It shouldn’t be possible to need two people as much as I needed Bryce and Eric. It shouldn’t be possible to long for their touch when I spent so much of my time pushing them away.

“Yeah, you can’t answer that because you aren’t comfortable with the answer,” Bryce chided. I wanted to be pissed at him for thinking he knew me so well, but I couldn’t. Because he was right on point and that was just one more thing I wasn’t certain about. In the past, I’d been able to keep an emotional distance from most people. It was safer that way because it meant I wouldn’t have to face uncomfortable truths about myself. No, I wasn’t ashamed about being gay, but the fact that I’d heard all the hateful slurs from coaches and other players my entire life was a harsh reality. They hadn’t directed them at anyone in particular, but they’d stung just the same. “I’m not going to push you to call this anything more than what you’re comfortable with, but remember the one thing I asked of you the night I came over here for dinner and a movie.”

“What’s that?” Eric asked, having not been privy to that particular conversation.

“Honesty.” Bryce looked directly into my eyes as he spoke the word. Then, he looked at Eric as he continued to explain. “I promised Drew this could be whatever he wanted it to be, whether it was him with each of us on his own or as it turned out, the three of us together. The only request I made is that we’re all honest with one another about what we’re feeling. It’s the only way a relationship can work, especially when it’s more than two people.”

“You sound like you’ve done this before,” Eric pointed out. Now that he mentioned it, Bryce did seem to be in the driver’s seat most of the time. It was as though he had experience juggling more than one partner.

Bryce shook his head. “No, I’ve had friends in poly relationships, but always thought it would be too much of a hassle to be worth it,” he said bluntly. I was curious if he felt that way about us, or if he would. We had the added complication of not all being in the same place most of the year. The fact that we’d come together at the beginning of the off season was serendipitous, but it also set us up for a major fall when it was time for Eric and I to head back to work, or when Bryce was sent back to Portland.

“And now?” Eric urged, stepping closer to me. Whether intended or not, I feared it would seem to Bryce that Eric was making a silent statement of his allegiance to me over Bryce.

Bryce stepped in, countering Eric’s action so subtly that I felt my cock thickening. I wasn’t even sure Bryce understood what it did to me when he took control the way he did, but he’d have to be a fool to not feel me pressing into his thigh.

“Now, I’m beginning to see how brilliant they were,” Bryce admitted. “Even though we’ve had more downs than ups so far, I think this has the potential to be something pretty damn awesome.”

Eric laughed, holding out one arm as he wrapped the other around me, pulling Bryce back into his embrace. It was a clear gesture that, to his mind, we weren’t three individuals, but rather a single, slightly dysfunctional unit.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” The three of us leapt apart at the sound of Cam’s voice from the back door. I turned to look at him, my face blanching as I realized we were well and truly busted. Leave it to Cam to make tonight be the first time he and Jason managed to show up on time. Rather than interrogate me, he turned his anger and confusion on his boyfriend. “Did you know about this? I mean seriously, how could you have not told me that Drew was fucking two hot guys? Here I felt bad for not being here when you told me about him getting the shit kicked out of him, and he had two men here catering to his every whim? What in the actual fuck, Jason?”