Okay, so it was gonna be one of those times. Did we have some kind of energy that made people think we wanted to be propositioned for threesomes? It’d happened a lot over the years, though almost exclusively by much younger guys who were…well, like the two put-off twinks by the bar. Kyle was, at most, a few years younger than me.
Nate and I exchanged a glance, and I shrugged a little. The shot wasn’t the issue here.
“All right, one won’t kill us,” he replied. “Vodka for us, please.”
“Comin’ right up.” Kyle left the table and went over to the bar.
I gave Nate a pointed look.
“Do you mind if I decline the offer this time?” he asked. “When you do it, you’re…you know, you.”
Blunt. I was blunt. Not rude or anything, but blunt.
“I’m surprised you wanna decline at all,” I joked. “I find aviation so fascinating,” I mimicked, batting my lashes.
He groaned and slapped a hand over his face. “Oh my God, stop. I’m already mortified. I don’t know what came over me.”
I laughed. He was too fucking cute.
“It’s okay, baby. He’s very easy on the eyes.”
“It’s not even that.” He shook his head and discreetly looked toward the bar. “He reminds me of you.”
What? Kyle and I looked nothing alike. “The only thing we share is our height.”
“That’s not even close to the truth,” he argued. “You have to realize you’re my personal porn star, Ash. Over the years, I havewatched you climb mountains, assemble scaffolding on the sides of buildings like it’s nothing, create your own floggers, throw knives, run 10Ks for charity, lift weights, do chin-ups, and God knows what else.” That was an impressive ego boost. “Kyle has some of that energy too, and I guess it threw me for a moment.”
A slow grin took over my face, and I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I keep those abs cut for you, my love.”
“Quit it.” He exhaled a laugh. “Be cool, he’s coming over. I’ll decline the offer. Hopefully, he’ll stay and chat a bit.”
Fair enough.
“Do we thank him for his service?” he asked under his breath. “I always want to, but it feels awkward.”
I had no time to respond because Kyle was back with three shots. Truth be told, I didn’t know what I would’ve said anyway. We had a few friends who were military, and two of them were overseas right now. If the moment was right and we were on that topic, I liked to express that I appreciated what they did for us over there, because 9/11 had affected all of us. But I related to what Nate had said too. It could easily feel awkward, and the war brought out conflicting emotions. Wanting justice was one thing, but at the expense of so many young American lives was a whole other.
“All right, gentlemen.” Kyle handed us our shots, and I straightened in my seat. “To a good Pride weekend, I guess.”
I tipped my shot at him, then threw it back.
Damn, that was not top-shelf vodka.
I made a face as it burned its way down my throat.
Nate coughed and cleared his throat. “Fuck. Mental reminder, we won’t let the Marine pick the vodka next time.”
I let out a laugh.
“What’re you talkin’ about?” Kyle laughed too. “That shit’s solid.”
“If you say so,” Nate chuckled. “You wanted to ask us something.”
“Yeah.” Kyle leaned forward and rested his arms on the table. “I wasn’t interested in bagging two power bottoms, because I’m in the mood to get railed before I ship out. Are you by any chance into including a third every now and then?”
So he wanted to get fucked. I hadn’t seen that one coming, to be honest. And it changed things. Most guys who came on to us were bottoms too, but they were also submissive and kinky, and that was where Nate and I struggled. Our personal insecurities came out in full force because we had desires that the partner we’d chosen for life couldn’t satisfy. It stung. We were open about it. But Kyle didn’t strike me as submissive—or kinky. He’d just wandered into a gay bar to get laid.
Nate locked eyes with me, and he seemed on the fence too. As in we’d both gone from a firm no to…what the fuck did this mean? Because Kyle didn’t pose a threat to the issues we were working on. I couldn’t imagine getting jealous or too possessive of watching them go at it. If anything, it would finally allow me to see Nathan as a Top.
