Page 68 of More than Need

Dawson shifted out of Riley’s arms, making room for him. Gideon moved to stand in the vacated space between Riley’s legs. Riley took his time caressing Gideon’s hips and his thighs before resting twined arms loosely behind his knees. He leaned forward and kissed Gideon’s stomach. Dawson’s own quivered as if Riley’s lips were on his own. Watching them always felt like a physical touch, like they were all connected no matter who stood where.

“I want you, Gideon.” Riley kissed his way across Gideon’s stomach. Gideon’s eyelids fluttered closed on a shuddered exhale. “You.Not just for sex. If you insinuate once more that I only want to be here if it involves bending you over, you aren’t going to like the consequences, understand?”

“I understand,” Gideon said, sounding out of breath.

“Good boy. Now sit down.”

Dawson shuffled over a bit more so that Gideon could sink into the cushions, sandwiching himself between them.Perfect.

“Now let’s see if I can find a better channel than Riley.”

“I wasn’t looking for a channel.”

Dawson called his bluff, and they bickered all the way through the show he found. If someone asked what they’d watched, he wouldn’t be able to give them an answer. All his focus rested on the feel of Gideon in his arms and the sound of Riley’s deep voice as he challenged every single word that came out of Dawson’s mouth.

Gideon shifted restlessly in Dawson’s arms. For the third time.

With the hand resting on Gideon’s opposite shoulder, he caressed Gideon’s neck with his knuckles. “Something bothering you?”

Gideon didn’t deny it, stiffly keeping his head forward, glued to the TV. “Hudson’s decided that he wants to be a garbageman when he grows up.”

“You don’t think it’s a good job?” Dawson asked. “You know what they say: if we were all lawyers and doctors we’d have one hell of a garbage problem. They’re pretty important. Like cops.”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Let me guess,” Riley said, “Lucia’s new guy is a garbageman?”

Gideon tensed. He didn’t reply; he didn’t have to. Riley lifted his arm and cupped the back of Gideon’s head, forcing Gideon to twist and look at him. “If I recall, he wanted to be an astronaut last month. I had a particularlylongconversation with him where he somehow assumed I would be able to give him all the answers on how to make that happen. The month before that it was…” Riley trailed off, lips twisting in thought.

“Olympic swimmer,” Gideon supplied. “He’d moved up a grade in his swimming.”

“Why do you think that this isn’t also just a phase, from having someone new in his sphere? It’s likely after Dawson kicks the footy around with him and his friends that he’ll want to be a footy player for a month before he finds something else.”

“That particular dream has come around a few times,” Gideon said. “Lucia hopes he grows out of it, considering some of the injuries the players get.”

Dawson understood the concerns about sports players and their injuries. Contact sports weren’t an easy career choice. His own extremely short career playing had come to a halt due to an injury. Hecouldhave gone back after rehabilitation, tried for his shot at a spot on an AFL lineup. He’d probably have been drafted, but he’d found a new passion by then. He didn’t regret the decision he’d made to veer off on a different path.

“Does it bother you that Lucia is dating someone?” Riley asked.

Dawson froze, the thought not having occurred to him.

“No, I’m happy for her. I mean, it’s a little insulting she didn’t wait very long after we split to find someone new, but thathas more to do with her appeal than me.” He played absently with Dawson’s fingers on his shoulder. “We’d been over longer than either of us wanted to admit. It’s hard to see those lines when she’s my best friend. What’s friend behaviour, and what’s something more?”

“What are you afraid of?” Dawson asked. There had to be more to it than him and his ex-wife finding their new normal.

“What if he likes this new guy better than me?” Gideon let out a short laugh. “That sounds so ridiculous when I say it out loud. Irrational and pathetic.”

“It’s not pathetic,” Dawson chastised. It was a pretty natural and normal feeling, given the circumstances. “You’re used to being the most important man in his life, so it’s not unusual to feel threatened by someone else.”

“Have you spoken to Lucia about it?” Riley asked.

“No. I don’t think it’s fair of me to put that on her. Hudson said sometimes he has sleepovers, and all I can think about is some other man tuckingmyson in, reading him a bedtime story, doing the thingsIshould be doing with him. And I wonder if we didn’t try hard enough to make it work for him.”

“Staying together for the sake of a child never ends well for anyone involved, parents included,” Riley said. “If you’d done that, even your long-standing friendship wouldn’t have survived.”

“It’s hard to see someone else standing in your place,” Dawson said quietly. Not something he’d experienced before, but he could imagine it would be difficult. “But he’s not ever going to replace you, you know that, right?”

“What happens if he and Lucia work out?” He leaned his head back, exposing his throat. “Does Hudson call him ‘Dad’ too? Does he spend more time with my son than I do? Take him to Auskick? To his other activities? Come to parent-teacher nights? Where does he fit, and what does that mean for me?”

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