“It wasn’t just sex,” Seth said, suddenly more seriously. “If it had been just that, I wouldn’t have….”
“Yeah, I know, sweetheart.” Leaf reached over to hold Seth’s hand.
“So you do the thing in the bathroom, go on your separate ways? Then what?” Dev asked. He lounged on his chair in a casually sexy way, smoking his joint absentmindedly.
“Five years goes by. I kept thinking about him a lot, but we didn’t exchange any information. Not even last names,” Seth said.
“I thought of him more than I’d ever thought about anyone. It bugged me so much that I couldn’t get him out of my head. It had just been a random hookup, after all. It made no sense to me,” Leaf confessed to Dev, as the others knew this already.
“I was visiting some family near Houston. My cousin was big on the rescue scene, and she’d heard about this puppy-mill bust happening in the next county over. They were going to bring some dogs over to the local shelter, and she wanted to help. She needed a ride to the shelter in town—her husband had their car or something.” Seth stopped to take a hit off the joint and handed it to Leaf. “Anyway, I give her the ride, and as I wait for her while she’s inside asking if they need her, this beat-up truck with an even more beat-up trailer attached drives into the parking lot.”
“Jesus, those were horrible, unsafe things. I could’ve afforded better,” Leaf mused. “It’s just that I never quite got to buying anything better. I did dream of an RV, though.”
Which made him even happier to now have one.
Dev listened intently, seeming fascinated by the story.
“Yeah, so I wait there, look at the truck, and wonder how it stays together. Then this guy hops out of the truck and goes around it. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t place it. Not until he turns around and looks at me.”
“The rest, as they say, is history,” Leaf concluded like they had several times before when they told their story to their closest friends.
“Aww,” Dev said, looking adorable with a little pout on his full lips.
“I’m gonna go get another beer from inside. Anyone else need anything?” Leaf asked, giving the blunt back to Seth and getting up.
“Yeah, I’ll take a beer, thanks,” Seth said.
“How about a soda? Alcohol and weed don’t mix well for me.” Dev frowned a bit.
Leaf nodded. “Coming right up.”
“I’m gonna come in and pee,” Rain announced, then followed him inside.
While she went into the bathroom, Leaf rummaged in the kitchen and the cooler they’d brought back in, and found the drinks. He grabbed the two different beers and a Coke, then walked to the back door.
The sight in the backyard stopped him dead. He stood by the windows as Seth laughed and moved to sit on the same lounge chair with Dev. They faced each other, knees knocking, until Dev stuck his joint between his lips, grabbed Seth by the knees, and pulled him closer, leaving Seth’s thighs on top of his own. Then he wrapped one arm around Seth’s waist for balance, and smirked. Seth threw his head back and laughed, all the while holding on to Dev’s shoulder with his free hand, his blunt in the other one.
Leaf couldn’t hear what they were saying despite the open door, but he knew the beginnings of some very sexy shotgunning when he saw it.
Dev took a hit, then leaned toward Seth. Both men tilted their head in the opposite direction, as if they were going to kiss. Instead of doing that, Dev blew the smoke into Seth’s open mouth.
Leaf could see the mesmerized expression on Dev’s face as Seth enjoyed the smoke, then blew it lazily out to the side. Yeah, Seth was and had always been incredibly appealing to Leaf. When he got all pliant after smoking for a while, he became sinfully sexy in a way he almost never was when sober.
They’d had a couple of casual threesomes before, but those had been just for one night of sex and were never right in the way Dev had from the very beginning. Maybe it was another side effect of getting older, especially with the stuff that they’d all been through. They had learned to take things at face value, and if he was completely honest, he thought the universe might have owed them the good stuff.
Seth took a hit, then transferred the smoke into Dev’s mouth.
They were so fucking beautiful. Leaf could feel his heart constrict in his chest. How in the fuck had he ended up this lucky? Maybe it was karma rewarding him for all the shit in his past.
Rain stopped by his elbow and hummed. “Jesus, they’re hot.”
“I’m gonna call Seth’s therapist for a referral tomorrow.”
The words surprised them both.
Instead of making a joke, Rain nodded deliberately. “Good for you, brother mine.”
“With the three of us, whenever I die, Seth won’t be alone,” he said, again not knowing where the thought had bubbled up from. Damned weed.
