“What do ye think?” I growled out, dropping my fork again and falling back against the chair, arms crossed. “He told me to get gone, said he wouldn’t have apiteogas a son.” Fallon, Aspen, and Vail all got identical thinking wrinkles on their brows, and I sighed. “A sissy. He wouldn’t have a sissy for a son. I told him I liked women and men, but that wasn’t good enough for him. So, I packed me shite and I asked ye and Eamon to come with me.”
“Ye never told me that.” Rowen’s mouth parted in surprise.
“Would ye have believed me? Ye thought the world of him. I wanted to keep ye safe, didn’t I? If he reacted like that with me being bisexual, what do ye think he would’ve done with ye being gay? I didn’t cut them off for the fun of it.” Relief that he finally knew the truth washed through me. I hadn’t realized the toll keeping the past a secret had taken on me until now, when a sense of calm overtook me as I stared at him. I sighed. “Listen, Rowen, I know ye wanted to think the best of them because they took ye in, and maybe Ma’s not so bad, but she didn’t stand up for me when Da told me what he thought. She stood there and watched, didn’t do a damned thing.” I clenched my fists on the table. “I protected ye. Took ye away from him, told ye to keep yer secret to yerself.”
“I thought ye were shaming me for not liking pussy, too.” Rowen laughed, but not in amusement. He slammed his hand down on the table and the utensils and plates clattered. “Do ye know how long I hated ye for telling me not to come out? I was so angry at ye, andnowye tell me it’s because ye were protecting me from yer da? All those years, Cillian, and I could’ve actually understood why ye did it.”
I grunted. It was easier to have him hate me than Da, but trying to tell him that wasn’t easy. I fucking hated these sorts of conversations, where you had to put all your cards on the table. It wasn’t my thing. I shrugged. “It is what it is. Now, Fallon, tell Vail what ye know about me. I’m curious.”
Rowen slumped in his chair and shook his head, the steam leaving him. I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but fuck that. Shaughnessys didn’t do that. Vail reached over and laid a kiss on Rowen’s cheek, and he smiled sadly in appreciation.
Fallon perked up, clearly in his element as the center of attention. He flipped his hair off his shoulder. Fucking show pony. “Well, let’s see. Where to start with a mess like you?”
I grunted.
Fallon sent Vail a winning grin. “He’s got a decent-sized dick, so that’s something, right?”
Vail’s laughter lit up the room. “More than decent.”
“And I know how to use it, too.” I curled my arm around Vail’s shoulders and dragged him close, slamming my lips against his. He moaned, and I pushed my tongue into his mouth until I had him breathless. “I’m a fucking catch.”
Fallon rolled his eyes. “Anyway, you’re a soccer—” He made a dramatic gesture of slapping his hand over his mouth. “Oops. I meantfootballlover. He is, of course, a fan of Dundalk.”
“Is that all ye got on me?” I teased.
Vail laughed harder and let his head fall against my shoulder.
“Fine.” Fallon straightened and his eyes glinted. “He is an egotistical fucker who loves violence, sex, and control.” He shot Vail a look. “Him and Aspen usually share guys or girls.”
Vail glanced at me. “Really?”
I slid my fingers over his chin and tilted his face up so I could kiss him again. “We’ve been known to share, yeah.”
“Oh.” His pupils dilated, and there was interest in the way he licked his lips and how his stare went to Aspen.
“Does that sound like something ye’d be interested in, bug?” I whispered.
“Maybe.” He glanced at Rowen. “But I have you and Rowen.”
“Rowen doesn’t mind sharing ye with Aspen. Do ye?” I raised my eyebrows at him.
Rowen stared. After a moment, he shook his head. “If that’s what Vail wants. I’d never push him into something he’s uncomfortable with.”
“Don’t forget I’m here, too,” Fallon said.
I snorted and cocked my head at him. “And?”
“Well....” He leaned on his elbows and smiled seductively at Vail. “I want a piece.”
Vail’s blush stretched out across his face and down his neck and he hid himself against my shoulder. “I can take it. All of it. I have a high sex drive,” he whispered into my ear so only I could hear.
I stroked my fingers down his back and kissed his cheek. “Whatever ye want, bug. If ye want all of us, ye can have us. Ye belong to us now.”
He shivered and moaned into my ear.
“The question we should be asking is how Vail is,” Rowen said, making Vail jerk his head toward him in surprise. “With your dad.”
Vail chewed on his bottom lip, and I glared at Rowen. We had Vail in a place where he was forgetting, for just a moment, that life wasn’t perfect. He’d spent the last two days with the knowledge his father was dead. He deserved a bit of time in his own fantasyland. That was the difference between me and Rowen—I enjoyed pretending the outside world didn’t exist; Rowen was a realist when it came to the serious topics.
