It’s time everyone knows it.
forty-eight
Linus
The Same Morning
I’mbehindher.
Liam’s beneath her.
We are inside her.
Avonna’s sprawled over Liam’s chest, head resting against his heart. Eyes blissfully closed. She holds us together in the same space. Flesh to flesh.
We’ve spent the past year fucking her together. Fucking each other. Making love and playing house and hiding in plain sight. Both Liam and I have failed to live our lives authentically. Always finding excuses to keep our love for each other hidden in the shadows.
In the process, we forgot to put the kindest, most beautiful woman in the worldfirst.
She’s sick of it. Rightfully so.
Last night everything shifted. She laid herself bare and called us out. Made it clear she won’t stay with two scrambling idiots who don’t treat her like the goddess she is.
Anchoring her hip with my palm, I slide one hand up her back, tracing her spine with my fingertips. Liam’s hands are threaded through her hair. His thumb strokes her cheek. He gazes at her like she might vanish.
We won’t let her.
Everything changes now.
I shift slightly, enough to slide deeper into her body against Liam’s cock.
“Look at me.” I kiss Avonna’s ear.
She leans up toward me. Her eyes are half-lidded but clear.
“We love you,” I whisper.
Her exhale catches, almost a sob, but she holds it in. As she relaxes back against Liam’s chest, her hand finds mine at her hip and she brings it to her belly in between her and Liam. Her skin is soft and warm. His abs are taut and flexed with tension. His arms wrap around us both like he’s trying to bring us even closer, if possible.
“I know I’ve made you feel like a secret,” he says into her hair. “Both of you.”
I don’t interrupt. He needs to say this.
“I told myself it was protection,” he goes on. “But you were right to call me out. I’m afraid. My fear is mine, not yours. I haven’t put either of you first.”
Liam’s not the only one to blame here. In fact, I’ve done the same thing.
Avonna may be my wife, but no one really knows about us. We’re never affectionate in public. Our love has always existed behind closed doors.
As for Liam, I’ve loved him for years and the only time we were open about our relationship was in college. I’ve neverspoken about him to my parents and since I brought him into my relationship with Avonna, we’ve gone out of our way to hide from everyone, including his twin brother.
Liam kisses her shoulder. “Never again.”
“Never again,” I repeat and rest my forehead on the back of her neck. “I love you both. Fully. Without apology.”
She doesn’t speak, but her hand grips mine between her and Liam. She pushes back onto me, her body soft and trusting. Liam brushes her hair from her face, cradles her cheek.
“I thought we should keep our personal and professional parts of our lives separate,” I sigh. “I was wrong. I don’t want to live in pieces anymore.”
