He shook his head again, then looked between us, his eyes darting from Mars and back to me. “About you?” he said weakly. “She doesn’t like me… spending time with you both.”
A pang shot through my chest, and I clenched my jaw to force it aside. “She doesn’t?”
“She thinks I should find just one person to date,” he said, his voice quivering. “She thinks I’m making a mistake, and that I need to grow up, and that I need a new job. It’s nothing. It’s not real problems. I’m just not used to having her reject me like that.” His shoulders slumped again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to mention anything. You both shouldn’t have to worry about this.”
Without thinking, I threw my arms out and pulled Clark into an embrace. Mars stepped beside us, wrapping his arms around Clark’s shoulders, and as we held him from each side, I felt his deep, unsteady breathing and the warm pressure of his body, tightly held between us.
“It’s okay,” I said.
“Yeah,” Mars said, stroking the back of Clark’s head. “You don’t have to hide anything from us.”
After a moment, Clark’s breathing returned to normal. He stepped back, then removed his glasses to wipe at his eyes. “I know things are more serious between you two than they are with me,” he said. “I’m not expecting you to take care of me or anything.”
I shared a glance with Mars and almost blurted out what we had talked about, but stopped myself, sensing that it wasn’t quite the right moment or the right place.
“Rip and I are in love,” Mars said. “You helped us figure that out. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be there for you, too. Hell, I couldn’t count the number of times Rip showed up for me over the years, back when we were just supposed to be friends.” He pushed his hand through his hair. “Fuck, I’d have been screwed without him, but you’ve got both of us.”
I nodded, then squeezed Clark’s shoulder again. My heart ached to help him feel better, even if I wasn’t quite sure how. “Why don’t you come back to our place anyway? Maybe it will help to have a little company, even if we don’t get up to anything in bed.”
Clark looked between us, then raised his eyebrows. “Would that be okay?”
“Hell yeah,” Mars answered. “If the bed is big enough for us to toss you around, it’s definitely big enough for us to just sleep in.”
“And trust me,” I added. “If you need someone who understands family trouble, we’re your guys.”
“My guys,” he said quietly.
That’s right, I thought.That’s right.
