Ryan huffed, so agitated he wanted to throw his coffee across the room.
But that wasn’t his father’s fault, it was his.
“I don’t want to hurt Graeme,” he said before he changed his mind and walked away instead of confiding in his dad and getting advice. “He’s been through enough already.”
Robert shrugged. “Why would you be hurting Graeme by dating him?”
“No, not dating him, dating Art,” Ryan said. “Or whatever passes for dating in Art’s world. Probably just fucking around until everyone is too exhausted to move.”
“Okay,” Robert said slowly. “Then fuck around with Art until you’re too exhausted to move. I fail to see the problem here.”
“I care about Graeme,” Ryan said, more frustrated by the second.
“And?”
“And I don’t want to hurt him by having fun with Art.”
“Why would you be hurting Graeme by fooling around with Art?” Robert asked, then rushed on to, “And don’t think I haven’t grasped the significance of you having a lover named ‘Art’. Given our family, I think that’s hilarious.”
Ryan sunk into a scowl. “I care about Graeme,” he said. “I could fall in love with him.”
“So fall in love with him,” Robert said, shrugging again.
“I like Art, too,” Ryan said, throwing his hands up.
Robert chuckled and shook his head. “You’re missing the obvious, son.”
“You’re not taking this seriously, Dad,” Ryan countered, not wanting to hear the uncomfortable thing he knew his dad was about to say.
Robert looked at him with mountains of fatherly affection, the wrinkle lines around his eyes that said he’d lived a long and happy life prominent. “Since you’re being deliberately obtuse, and Goddess knows why, I’m just going to say it.” He leaned forward, staring at Ryan with almost mad intensity. “Date both of them. None of you are exclusive with anyone right now. Date them both. Fuck them both. It’s the twenty-first century. No one cares about heteronormative relationship roles anymore. You’re making this too hard for yourself, and I don’t know why.”
“Because—” Ryan stopped, no words coming. His dad was right. He wasn’t exclusive with Graeme yet. They hadn’t even had a conversation about dating at all. He wasn’t exclusive with Art for that matter, either, though it was hard to imagine Art being exclusive with anyone. The man was a walking libido.
“Something has you caught up,” Robert said, sitting back in his seat again. “I know good and well that you’re not some purist or prude, not after being raised in this family. Your mother and I have practiced ethical non-monogamy since the day we met. I didn’t raise you to be squeamish about unconventional relationships.”
“No, you didn’t,” Ryan said, then rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t know what it is. I just…I just don’t want to hurt Graeme.”
“Then that’s what it is,” Robert said, spreading his hands like they’d found the answer, even though Ryan was as lost as ever. “But maybe you should find out more about what would actually hurt Graeme before assuming that you and him and Art getting involved in a three-way is it.”
Ryan’s body heated again at the mention of a three-way. It was the obvious answer. Maybe. Possibly.
It still felt wrong somehow.
“I need to get back to work,” he said with a sigh, standing.
“Sure, you do,” his dad said.
Ryan glanced over his shoulder at his dad, one eyebrow raised, as he took his mug to the sink.
As he left the office, intending to head back to his studio to finish work, everything his dad had said started to sink its claws in. Why was he afraid of hurting Graeme? Why was he assuming that Graeme was a fragile porcelain doll that could be hurt?
Unsurprisingly, instead of going back to his studio, he headed out the front door and started around the house to the garden, where he knew Graeme was working. He was like a goddamn moth to a flame where Graeme was concerned.
Halfway around the house, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, then grinned when he saw Art’s message.
“How do you feel about dick pics?”
Ryan chuckled and typed his reply.
