“Becausewewere together for a week.” Joshua shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over one of the dinette chairs. “Lincoln knows about us. We talked last night.”
Van tugged him forward into a loose hug, his hands gentle weights on Joshua’s hips. “How did it go?”
“He didn’t seem very surprised, and he’s happy if we’re happy.”
“Are we happy?”
“I’m happier when we’re all three together, but yes. Still happy, even though I miss Ben.”
“So do I. Somehow he’s imprinted himself on this apartment.” Van nuzzled his cheek. “So have you.”
“I like being here.” Proximity to Van was fucking with Joshua’s senses, perking up his dick and making it very difficult to remember he’d come over for brunch, not a booty call. Every time he had sex with Van, Benji was at least present, if not verbally participating. Fooling around without him, permission or not?—
“It doesn’t feel right, does it?” Van asked.
“Huh?” Joshua pulled back and saw the same reluctance in Van’s eyes. “Only being the two of us? No, it doesn’t.”
“We can simply spend time together, Joshua. We don’t have to define our one-on-one relationship by the fact that we fuck. We’re both more than that.”
“I know, and you’re right. Why don’t we eat?”
The brunch foods Van had laid out were similar to last week’s spread. Strawberry-pineapple smoothie instead of mango, with a slightly altered selection of fresh fruit, plus that oddly named Ezekiel Bread and smoked salmon.
“Is this your daily allotment of meat?” Joshua teased, poking at the salmon with his fork.
Van nearly inhaled his smoothie. Once he’d stopped coughing, he wiped his eyes and said, “Fucker. Smoked meatretains more nutritional protein than regular cooked meat. It’s better for you, in other words.”
“Gee, thanks for dumbing it down for me.”
“You’re the one who tried to kill me with a meat joke.”
“Endeavoring to cause as many spit-takes as possible is part of my duties as your boyfriend.” Van’s head snapped up, and Joshua realized what he’d said. “That’s okay, right? Calling you that?”
“Of course. Sorry, it still sounds strange.” He worked up a sad smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Is it awful that I’m twenty-eight years old, and no one’s ever called me their boyfriend before you two?”
“It’s not awful.” Joshua needed to make him smile again, only he wasn’t sure how. “We all walked different roads to get here. I’ve only had one other serious relationship, and that was in high school.”
“Tell me about that?”
He pulled at his memories of a time he hadn’t actively thought about in ages. “Her name was Megan, and we met in freshman Spanish after she teased me about not being able to roll my R’s correctly. We dated for most of high school, but we broke up after Homecoming senior year.”
“Why’d you break up?”
“No particular thing.” Even six years later, Joshua couldn’t pinpoint a single reason why they’d called it quits the day after the big dance. “Our chemistry was always great, but as we grew up, our interests changed. We grew apart, and our circles of friends shifted.”
“Did she know you were bi?”
“Of course. I told her when we first started dating, and it didn’t seem to bother her. She never used it against me, or accused me of being selfish or any of those things bi people get from the dickfaces who don’t understand. Megan and I arefollow each other on Instagram, but we don’t really talk much. She’s married now, with her first child on the way in a few months.”
Finally, Van cracked a smile. “That’s good to hear.”
“Yeah. She’s a great girl. Always supportive of me, especially when my family imploded because of Kirk. I hadn’t told her about the abuse before he was arrested, and when I did, she was amazing. I spent more than a few nights on her parents’ living room sofa that year.”
Ferocity overtook that precious smile. “This Kirk bastard. Is he still in prison?”
Joshua’s stomach soured. “He got out two years ago. Served five and a half years, plus three years parole and he had to register as a sex offender. He gets within twenty yards of my nephews and he goes right back in.”
Joshua's fifteenth year had been one of the most confusing time periods of his life, between Kirk’s arrest, his parents finally believing the allegations of abuse, and then Joshua’s stubborn refusal to talk to the police. He’d been too angry at carrying the truth alone for five years that he’d dug in, despite a whipping from his father.
