“What’s the other option, T? That we all go our separate ways and none of us be happy?”
Troy and Liam stood chest to chest, both breathing harshly while Dalton looked on, and then, so quietly he could barely hear himself, he spoke up.
“What if we didn’t have to choose?” Both of them looked at him and he cleared his throat. “What if we could all sort of… give it a go together, at the same time? No you and me, no Troy and me, just… us.”
“Us?” Liam was about to say something else, but he stopped himself abruptly, several different emotions visible on his handsome features, but all passing so quickly Dalton couldn’t list them in time before he sighed, turning his attention back toward Troy.
A silent moment passed, one where they just stood still, each one glaring into the other’s eyes, then Troy hissed, stepping back and fisting his hands beside him as he found his voice. “All of us in a relationship? What? No. How would that even work?”
“However we wanted it to, I guess,” Dalton offered quietly. “There are options to consider. Not all of them conventional to a ménage relationship—not that I'm some sort of expert on them, but perhaps for us, right now, it would be what we needed. I mean…” Dalton should have thought longer about selling this idea. “Perhaps we could think about it.” Dalton hid behind his glass of water while they both scrutinised him from above.
“I dunno.” Troy was apparently totally unconvinced, and to be honest, Dalton couldn’t really argue with that response. After all, his sales pitch—if it could be called that—wasn’t exactly stirring and positive.
When Dalton slid his eyes to Liam, he saw he didn’t share that feeling. He appeared to be considering it thoughtfully. For the first time since they'd laid eyes on each other that evening, Dalton and Liam connected, sharing their own unspoken words and a soft smile appearing on both of their lips.
Troy whined before wrapping his arms on top of his head. “You cannot be serious, Liam. You're considering this?”
It wasn’t often Liam contemplated a situation seriously, and Dalton and Troy seemed to share this knowledge, because Troy took on a more reasonable attitude, and let Liam speak his mind. “I guess I was prepared to be in a ménage from the start. It just involved me being an onlooker, but I think I like Dalton’s idea more.”
In theory, Dalton considered his ménage option a good way to move on. In reality, it might have been the stupidest way to resolve their problem, but Dalton knew one thing for sure. “I can't choose between you. I just can't. I want you both. Troy, you need Liam in your life, and Liam’s in love with you, I'm not totally convinced that’s one sided.”
Troy huffed loudly, flicking a strand of hair from his face. “I have enough issues right now to think about, thanks anyway.”
“I want to try, Troy.” Liam held his hand softly and tilted his chin up so they met eye to eye. “There’s a few options, and we don’t have to have anything other than what we have right now, except we’d have Dalton to love, and hopefully one day, he’d love us back.”
Dalton smiled softly. “It could be good, Troy.”
“It could be really good, Troy.” Liam had that sexy smirk on his lips and both Dalton and Troy huffed at the same time making Liam laugh.
It didn’t surprise Dalton Liam would be the one thinking about sex, but Dalton had no plans in his head in that direction. It could be an exceptionally stupid suggestion, and it all could go spectacularly wrong, but Dalton had learned a lot in the recent months.
Never hold back what your heart wanted. It knew before your head what direction you should go in, and for the first time in Dalton's life, he was following his heart.
Dalton couldn’t decide between them, and he couldn’t continue without either of them, but he couldn’t play a part in splitting them up either, and hadn't he thought how beautiful it would be to have both of them in his life, his bed?
Dalton suddenly joined Liam in the dirty thoughts section, cock jerking in his jeans and the heat passing over him like fire. Shit!
Chapter 36
When Dalton offered to leave them both alone to talk things through, Troy agreed quickly when Liam said he wanted Dalton to stay. After all, it wasn’t like everything had been resolved and they were okay moving on. Instead, Troy said he wanted to take some time out and have a cool shower to freshen up, leaving them both to chat in the lounge.
He could sense neither of them wanted him to go, but they weren’t going to move as one unit all of a sudden just because of some idiotic ménage idea. He needed space, not much of it. Okay, yes, Troy hated time alone and Liam more than anyone knew this, but having twenty minutes to shower and change wasn’t like he was doing anything differently from normal.
As he stripped off his dirty clothes in the bathroom, he thought about the whole ménage idea. Troy was sceptical to say the least and the biggest reason concerned Liam.
Although he’d always considered Liam as his best friend more than brother, it was still a shock to the system to go from what they had to a full on relationship, and that was without adding another man in the mix.
It had taken so long for Liam to speak those words out loud, but Troy always felt the love Liam had for him, and he knew from previous relationships what type of love it was. Troy always felt like Liam didn’t want to love him in any way other than a brother, and because of that, he’d never pushed him to speak up and be honest.
Troy knew what being in love felt like. He’d enough failures in his life to compare his feelings for Liam to, and after his first ever love affair at twenty, he knew when it was over, Liam was always going to be number one in his heart. So many times Troy looked over at Liam and wanted to ask for more, but after so many years with Liam denying what they both felt, Troy couldn’t stand to be refused. It was better to have something than nothing.
Obviously, they were in love. Everyone else seemed to see it and they’d always constantly denied or laughed off suggestions, but Troy had always beamed inside when someone thought they were together. Now it was real. Now they could be honest and talk about everything, but it wasn’t just Liam. It was Dalton too. A ménage…
Dalton had less reasons to feel concerned about Liam’s feelings, and Troy was happy Liam had found someone to love, he just didn’t expect to hear himself added into the same category moments later. There was a part of him which was totally cool about this ‘new’ declaration. Newly spoken about between them, but Troy had always felt more than just a friend to Liam, and he honestly thought Liam did too. It was hidden and discarded for so many years. It almost felt good to just get it out into the open.
Troy took his time showering, working through the list of questions which kept popping up. There were so many and his mind wasn’t really coping that well with the pressure. He felt like Liam and Dalton were good with everything and he was the deciding factor. If he said no, what then?
“Troy?” Dalton’s voice carried over the cubicle’s thin glass.
Troy opened up the door and saw him poking his head through a narrow gap. “Hey. I'm okay.”
“I know you are, I was just…”
“Checking up on me?” Troy half smiled at him. “Liam been worrying you with tales of how I don’t cope under pressure?”
“No… Yes. That’s not why I'm here, though.” Dalton moved more into the room as Troy continued to shampoo his hair. “I'm hungry. So is Liam.”
“Oh, well, if you two are hungry and you feel we should get something, then just go ahead.”
Dalton’s cerulean blue eyes focused more deeply on him. That certain sternness, which Troy now understood as his business face, leaked through and Troy scowled before turning from him, rinsing the bubbles off his head.
When he pulled back from the jets of water, Dalton was leaning against the sink, arms folded across his chest, trying not to look at Troy’s naked form. “We’ve not decided anything. Not about the food or the ménage. That’s why I'm here, asking what you want before we do anything. And that’s just about the fucking food.”
Troy stepped out of the cubicle, grabbing a towel from behind Dalton, almost smiling when he saw how red the poor guy became when his drenched body grazed his clothing. “You two are okay with this. I'm not. You’ve got it all planned out and I'm just running to catch up.” Troy was still draping a towel around his hips when Dalton stopped him from walking away. A long sigh left his mouth, but he came to a halt and looked into Dalton’s piercing gaze.
“We have nothing figured out. We're all in the same place, and until we all talk and agree, then nothing’s happening. It’s just an idea, one which could be incredibly stupid and it could make things worse between the three of us, but I want you both and I want you both in very different ways, but that doesn’t change how strongly I want you in my life. I'm not prepared to just walk away from two people who I connect so deeply to and quickly with.”
Dalton placed his fingertip lightly on Troy’s arm, following the outline of the Chinese dragon inked there. “I've spent my whole life never listening to my heart. I've always done the sensible thing, followed the rules, been the good boy, lived the average conventional life, but that’s not what I always truly wanted. If I never do it again, I’ll be happy for speaking up, because I know in here.” He tapped his heart and touched Troy’s jaw tenderly. “I’ve felt like I can't breathe ever since I met you. Finding someone like you is something I never thought I would experience, and I can't describe how powerful the urge to be with you is inside me. You’ve been on my mind for every second of every hour in every day since we met, but you haven’t been the only one there.”