The jealousy I’d been searching for streaked through me—hot and fierce. My hands curled into fists as I fought the urge to storm over there and drag Connor away, laying claim to half of all that was mine.
He looked up then, and our gazes met. And held. Fuck it all, I wanted him. I couldn’t escape it. I wanted him the way I wanted Gabi. Was it so wrong to be in love with two people at the same time? I’d started spending time with Connor at the same time Gabi and I began dating. I’d fallen for them in tandem and they’d become indelibly linked in my brain, in my heart. They both had feelings for me, I knew they did. Now I’d discovered they had feelings for each other, even if they’d never acted on them. Was it crazy to think… the three of us? Could it work?
“Hey there, gorgeous.” Gabi appeared in front of me and I jolted as her body collided with mine. “I’ve been looking for you.” She wrapped her arms around my neck, lifting to kiss me hard on the mouth. I kissed her back, thrusting my tongue between her teeth and my hands into her hair. Her breasts were crushed against my chest and I fought the groan crowding my throat.
Tilting my head further, I opened my eyes. Without conscious thought, I sought Connor’s gaze. Found it and locked on. Stark, anguished longing stared back at me. His lips parted and his chest moved in deepening breaths.
Gabi moved against me, the button of her jeans rubbing against the thickening hardness in my pants and my eyes squeezed shut as I moaned long and low into her mouth. Dragging myself away from her kiss, I touched our foreheads together, enjoying the rush of her warm breath against my lips. “We should stop,” I said, my voice a harsh whisper. “Your folks could walk in.”
“Not if we disappear for a few minutes,” she responded with a wicked smile. “I want to do naughty things to you.”
I glanced over her shoulder in time to see Connor pushing his way through the crowd before vanishing down the hallway towards the back of the house. I swallowed hard as images of the three of us together clamoured in my head. “Gabi,” I whispered, taking her head in my hands. “I need to talk to you about something.”
She laughed, her head falling back. “Talking is the last thing I want to do.”
“All right you two, come up for some air.” We turned to see Gabi’s best friend, Sean, standing beside us. “Don’t you guyseverget tired of making out?”
“Never,” Gabi replied, hugging me tight.
“Well, stop it, because I want to dance, and I want you to join me.” He held out an expectant hand to Gabi before adding, “You know gay boys make the best dance partners.”
She looked up at me, caught somewhere between the dance floor and her libido.
“Go, have fun,” I told her. “Come find me when you’re done.”
Her grin widened. “I won’t be long.” Grabbing on to Sean’s hand, she allowed herself to be dragged back towards the other dancers, her hips already swaying to the heavy beat.
I watched them for a few moments before my feet began to move, leading me in the direction Connor had taken before he’d vanished from sight. Maybe talking to Gabi first wasn’t such a good idea. After all, there would be no point in threatening my relationship with her if Connor was going to freak at the idea of the three of us exploring something together.
Connor stood alone in the hallway, arms by his sides as he leaned against the wall, head back, eyes closed. Faint tremors rippled through his limbs as he struggled under the weight of his apparent frustration.
I approached him in silence. My fingers brushed his as I passed by, curling at the ends in a slight tugging motion before sliding away. The touch was subtle, but electric. Barely discernible from the outside, but it felt wholly transformative for the two of us.
Nerves ran riot in my stomach. Would Connor follow me? Surely, if he wanted me, he wouldn’t be able to help himself.
I entered Gabi’s bedroom. Walking over to her dresser, I looked at the many photos covering the edges of her mirror. Groups of smiling friends. Gabi with Sean at the beach. With Connor and Frank.
Photos of the two of us dominated. I smiled when I saw one of me with Gabi and Connor at her seventeenth birthday party. Gabi stood in the middle, smiling as she wrapped an arm around each of us. Plucking the photo from the mirror, I slipped it into the back pocket of my jeans.
“Law?” My smile widened as I turned to see Connor standing inside the room, the door mostly closed behind him. “How’s it going?” he asked, arms crossed, hands tucked high.
“I want to ask you something,” I said, motioning for him to come closer. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
He tensed as he padded across the carpet to join me. “What do you want to know?”
How did I even broach the subject? “I wondered if, maybe…” I hesitated, my entire body a bundle of raw nerves. “Are you bisexual?”
Connor sucked in a breath as he backed up.
“You don’t have to be scared.” I held my hands up in front of me. “I think maybe…” I paused, my heart in my throat. My next words had the potential to ruin everything or grant me all my deepest and most hidden desires. “I think if you are, that makes two of us. Are you?”
He continued to watch me, wary and reluctant. “Maybe.”
The trembling of my limbs was reflected in his as we stood there, bracing ourselves for fight or flight. Only fighting was the last thing I wanted, and I was too far gone to run from this now.
“You’re in love with Gabi.” I didn’t bother to phrase it as a question. I already knew the answer. Perhaps it would have been better if I didn’t sound quite so excited about it though.
“We’re friends,” Connor insisted.
