Everything about Eric changed. The disarming cheer disappeared, his expression flat and dangerously calm.
“Take your hand off her.”
Gus didn’t let go, instead stepping sideways so he was standing between her and Eric.
“You don’t want to do this,” Eric warned him.
“Don’t I?” Gus almost purred.
Nikolett pinched Gus’ side. Hard.
He grunted and let go of her hip.
Nikolett stepped around Gus, put a hand on each man’s chest, and shoved.
They didn’t move.
Ego deflating, but she didn’t give up.
“Back up,” she snapped.
Eric was the first to listen, taking half a step back while also grabbing her wrist, holding her hand in place on his chest.
Gus stepped back next. He grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together.
Oh good, now they would accidentally rip her arms off if they started fighting.
“You’re with him?” Gus said without taking his grim gaze off Eric.
Shame crept up her neck but she fought it down. “Yes. I wasn’t when we met. I mean, he and I are complicated.” Damn it, there was that word. “We are on again, off again.”
Gus finally looked down at her, and there was hurt, real hurt, in his gaze.
“I would have told you,” she said fiercely. “When we met, and even the other night, I didn’t think I was looking for someone to add to my relationship with him, because I thought he and I were done.”
Gus looked like he didn’t believe her and she knew why.
“We just reconnected,” she said. “After you and I had dinner.”
Gus’ expression shifted to wary.
“There are things about us,” Nikolett said slowly, “that make it hard for us to be together. I didn’t think we could.”
“But I went to therapy,” Eric added.
Gus didn’t look away from Nikolett, but he blinked in surprise. Nikolett tugged on Eric’s hold, intending to slap her hand over his mouth to shut him up. The tugging did nothing, so she gave up.
“Shut up, Eric,” she muttered in Danish.
“If he can’t stand the idea of a trinity, better to know now,” Eric responded in the same language. Nikolett wasn’t entirely confident in her mental translation but she got the gist.
“You want to be with both of us?” Gus asked slowly.
“I want…” Since there was no un-ringing this bell, Nikolett went for it. “I want us all to be together, in a relationship.”
Gus looked from her to Eric and back. He looked almost lost. She wanted to hug him and apologize for the way they’d overwhelmed him.
“You two want to be in a thruple. With me.”
