"Not in a bit," Max argued, wrapping his fingers around my wrist and placing my hand over his hard dick. "Need some help with this."
"You do, huh?" I teased. I shut the lid of my laptop and carefully set it on the floor next to the bed.
As I rolled back to him, I caught glimpses of how our lives had meshed together in this room. Max's cologne on top of the Tony's dresser next to my wallet and sunglasses. An overflowing hamper of dirty clothes belonging to all of us because Max said it was ridiculous to try and keep everything separated. Tony's polo shirts hanging next to Max's T-shirts in the closet. A sense of peace washed over me, a little reminder that this wasn't a passing fling for any of us.
"Hey, you okay?" Max asked, running his fingers through my still sleep-tangled hair.
"Yeah, it just..." I rolled over to face him, pushing my leg between his. This was one thing I loved about Max; a lot of times when all of us were in bed, physical closeness turned to sex, but with Max, I was confident we could lay here all day just talking. "Sometimes this still doesn't feel real. But then I look around our bedroom, and it is."
"Hey, if it bothers you that much, maybe it's time to talk to Tony about how we're going to break it to the family that we're together too." My stomach flipped because it was exactly what I needed, but it was also something I feared.
Everyone loved Max. In the weeks since Tony had first brought him to family dinner, he'd become a fixture. Mama even asked him to come up with some fun, kid-friendly drinks once she overheard him and Frankie talking about how to revamp the bar menu at Marino's. He didn't realize it, but it was the greatest stamp of approval anyone could've asked for. She was fiercely protective of her boys, and although she'd handled everything my brothers had thrown at her recently, eventually we'd find the limit to her acceptance.
Max drew his thumb across the crease in my forehead before scooting close enough to kiss me. "Stop borrowing trouble."
"How do you know that's what I'm doing?" I didn't need to wait for an answer; Max and I had spent enough time together I knew he saw right through me in ways no one else ever had. Everyone else in my life thought I was the shy one, the people pleaser. And maybe I was, but part of it was because I took the time to consider all possible outcomes before acting. Usually. Almost always, except when it came to Max urging me to go after what I really wanted.
"Because I know you, Enzo." He smoothed his fingers over my forehead again. "You want to be happy, but you can't turn off your brain sometimes. You want to be honest, but you're worried about what everyone else will think. We can't change any of it, but the longer we hide what we're doing, the stronger their argument will be that we're hiding out of shame."
"I'm not ashamed of you," I insisted. "I'm having a hard time because I don’t feel guilty about Tony, and I don’t think anyone else will understand."
"We'll just have to show them how happy we are," Max suggested, forcing his hand between our bodies. I squirmed, equally annoyed and grateful he was trying to make me stop fretting. I tossed my head back, closing my eyes as his fingers brushed against the head of my cock. "At the end of the day, nothing matters outside the three of us. I know it's easier for me to say because I don't have as much to lose, but it also gives me a unique perspective. You have an amazing family. They love you, and once they see how good we are together, they'll come around."
"Now would be a good time to stop talking about them," I suggested, thrusting my hips forward, chasing the pressure I desperately needed against my thickening erection.
"I think you're right." Max shifted so I was flat on my back, his body pressed against mine from shoulders to knees. He propped himself up on an elbow as he traced his fingers over my face. "What we have is special, Enzo. You've both given me this amazing gift, and I'll do whatever I can to show the world I'd never do anything to hurt either of you."
We kissed for a while, but there was no urgency to take things any further. It almost felt out of place after what felt dangerously close to a profession of love from Max. He slid to the side, arm still draped over my chest as we drifted off to sleep.
I felt groggy and hungover when I woke up a while later. I groaned as I pulled myself out of bed, hoping a shower would ease the knots in my shoulders from sleeping with Max's arm under me.
"Everything okay?" Max mumbled, cracking one eye open to watch me. "You could come back to bed and we could finish what we started earlier."
"As wonderful as that sounds, I do have some things to get done today. A lot, actually. I probably shouldn't have napped with you." Max's brow furrowed, and I realized I sounded annoyed with him rather than myself. I sat on the edge of the mattress, lacing his fingers with mine. "Don't get me wrong, sleeping with you is never a hardship, but this is a bad week for me to slack off. Freddie just got me the finalized fall menu which means I have to get it ready for some new social media campaigns. Frankie's waiting on me to put together the full marketing proposal for both fall and holiday party planning. It's just... Ugh."
"Babe, it's okay." Max pushed himself off the mattress and draped his arms over my shoulders, kissing the back of my neck. "Believe it or not, I do realize you have a life outside my needs. But don't feel bad. You've been burning the candle at both ends, and you're starting to burn out. You needed the break."
"Yeah, but—"
"No, not ‘yeah, but.’ You needed the rest." He gave me a gentle shove. "Now, you shower, and I'll get started on lunch and coffee." I must've made a face expressing my distaste of the drink both he and Tony were addicted to because Max let out a hearty laugh. "Don't worry, I love you in spite of your freakish ways. I'll get your tea brewing, too."
I didn't bring up his slip, opting for the easy out as I gathered my clothes and headed to the bathroom across the hall. If we got a bigger place since there were three of us living together, I was going to insist on somewhere with a huge shower in the bathroom.
I slid down the wall while I waited for the water to heat up, trying to convince myself this life was real. Even though I tried to look at the bright side as much as possible, it was hard to believe one person—or three—could be as lucky as we were. What had started out as a night of letting go of expectations had turned into a relationship I couldn't imagine not having.
My musings continued as I quickly scrubbed my body, paying extra attention to certain areas I hoped would come under scrutiny this afternoon before Max had to go to work. I'd peacefully lived as a monk before he'd barged into my life and forced me to face my secrets, but now I proudly wore the cum slut label he'd tacked on my ass that first night. I wasn't sure I'd ever get enough of either of the guys. Max had given me a gift, encouraging me to go after the man I always wanted and never thought I could have, but it was more than that. It was the three of us and how well we fit together.
I frowned when I got out of the shower and noticed the distinct absence of tea on the vanity. Call me spoiled, but I'd gotten used to him popping into the bathroom while I showered. To make life even better, I also didn't have a towel in the bathroom with me. Without thinking, I whipped open the door and sprinted down the hall to our bedroom, stopping short when I realized we weren't alone.
Not once did I think about the fact that I was stark naked or dripping water all over the floor as I took in the confused yet pissed off look on my oldest brother's face. "Frankie, what are you doing here?"
His eyes darted to my right and then back to me. His gaze turned down right murderous then. Shit. This was as close to a worst-case scenario as I could possibly imagine. Frankie clenched his jaw, and I noticed his hand ball into a fist as he turned to Max.
"What the fuck, dude?" He took a step closer to Max, and I rushed to Frankie's side, digging my fingers into his biceps before he pummeled the man I loved—one of the men I loved—over something he knew nothing about. Frankie was a hell of a lot stronger than I was, and he easily shrugged me off. "I expected better from you. If someone told me you'd pull this shit, I'd have told them they were insane. I fucking went to bat for you when Tony was being all cagey about a relationship. And this is how you repay me? This is what you do to him? You're really a piece of work."
"It's not what you think, Frankie." The air-conditioning kicked on and a blast of cold air against my still wet balls made me aware of the fact that I was standing there without any clothes on. I started backing away, offering up a quick prayer Frankie wouldn't beat Max to a bloodied pulp before I could get dressed. "Why don't you head into the living room, and we can talk about this in a few minutes?"
"I'm not sure there's anything to talk about," Frankie argued. The muscle in his jaw twitched, and in the quiet of the room, I could hear him grinding his teeth. "Are you going to feed me a line of shit and try telling me you weren't about to walk into Tony's bedroom? You know, the bedroom he now shares with his boyfriend who happens to be the only other person in the apartment right now and doesn't seem at all uncomfortable with you walking around naked as the day you were born?"
