Page 20 of Give Me Three

That cat was capable of making anyone happy.

I took another hit, glancing at Jaxon out of the corner of my eye. He was sitting in the same position—hadn’t moved one bit—and his eyes were shut again. He wasn’t asleep though. More than likely he was just… keeping me company, I guessed. Making sure I wasn’t alone with my thoughts. I was grateful. Staring at him kept me distracted.

But… why wasn’t he asking questions? Why wasn’t he sitting over there, studying me and trying to figure me out?

“Why aren’t you prying?” I blurted, frowning at him.

He hummed, still not opening his eyes. “You’ll talk when you’re ready to, Zeppelin. And I’ll be here to listen when you’re ready. But until then, I’m content to just be here for you like this.”

My heart squeezed in my chest. Why was this man so damn good? What had I done to deserve him or Eros, much less both of them? Eros had come from a good family. Granted, they were a bit distant, but they still loved their son, had welcomed me in with open arms, and never judged our lifestyle. They’d even loaned me money to open my own tattoo shop. I’d paid them back, but still. Without hesitation, they’d written me a check. Just like that.

The back door slid open, and Jaxon and I both turned to watch Eros step outside. He’d stolen Jaxon’s robe, and immediately,he walked over to me and settled on my lap, knowing I needed him without me saying a word. He straddled my lap, my cock nestling in the crack of his ass, and he settled against me, tucking his face into the crook of my neck.

I wrapped my free arm around him, squeezing him to me. My eyelids slid shut as I reveled in the feel of Eros against me—steady and strong and just always there.

When I opened my eyes again, Jaxon was gone, the back door shut, and Ash was gone with him.

My heart clenched in my chest. Was he walking away now that Eros was here?

CHAPTER 14

Eros

“He went inside,” Zeppelin muttered, a sour note to his voice as he stared at the chair Jaxon had been sitting in. I sighed, pressing a kiss to my husband’s cheek, hoping to settle him.

Waking up in bed alone when I’d gone to sleep with two men was a little alarming, especially when I’d found their spots cooling, which meant they’d been up for a good minute. When I noticed it was dark outside, I knew without a shred of a doubt that Zeppelin had a nightmare or a flashback.

I was glad Jaxon had woken up with him because Zeppelin really didn’t need to be alone after he had a flashback. And Zep never woke me up. In fact, he did his best to let me keep sleeping, and I hated it. I wanted to be there for him, but the man was fucking stubborn. And I was a deep sleeper for the most part. The only reason I’d woken up was because I’d gotten cool and wanted to cuddle into Jaxon, who’d been sleeping sandwiched between us.

“I’ll go talk to him in a minute,” I assured him. Leaning back, I gripped Zeppelin’s chin and forced him to look away from Jaxon’s empty chair and back at me. I hated the pain in his eyes. It made my gut twist uncomfortably. Zep had suffered enough, hadn’t he? Why did he have to suffer flashbacks, too? “Talk to me about your flashback.”

His lips twisted into a wry smirk before he lifted the blunt to his lips. I waited patiently as he let the smoke settle in his lungs before slowly blowing it out, aiming his face away from me. I ran my fingers through his dark, wavy hair, scraping my fingernails along his scalp. His hand slid down to settle over my ass—not squeezing, just resting there.

“It was just another man,” Zep muttered. “One of the very many who’d been allowed to touch me and use me.” I barely bit back a flinch. “Nothing terrible happened in the flashback itself. I was just in chains, naked, and he used his foot to get me hard. That’s what woke me up.”

Nausea churned in my stomach and rose up my esophagus, but I swallowed it down. “Baby—” I rasped.

He shook his head, peering up at me with those damn beautiful dark eyes. “Don’t,” he begged. “I’m begging you, Eros—don’t. Please. I can’t… I can’t take it when you hurt for me. Not over this.”

I swallowed thickly. Ialwayshurt for him. Didn’t he know that? Couldn’t he fuckingseethat? But instead of arguing with him, I just nodded and leaned down to brush my lips over his. “Okay,” I said softly. “But just know, I won’teverlet anyone hurt you again. I fucking swear it. They’ll have to get through me first.”

His lips tipped up the tiniest bit at the corners. “I love you so goddamn much, Eros.”

My eyes burned with tears, and my throat tightened, but I still managed to rasp, “I love you, too, Zep. With every fiber of my being.”

I could hear Jaxon in the kitchen when I stepped inside, leaving Zeppelin on the porch to soak in the start of a new day and sort out his head. The sky was beginning to lighten, and he had finished his blunt, leaving him mellowed out and content, his mind no longer in that dark space it went to after a flashback.

Something clinked—a spoon against a coffee mug, maybe? I paused. “Logan, I just… I’m struggling. I don’t know how to navigate… whatever this is. I like them both, but they’re married, and they have something so damn good together. Theyknoweach other, and I feel like I’m intruding.”

I paused, staying still as I listened to the only side of the conversation I could hear. “Yes, I know I should just go with the flow,” Jaxon growled, sounding irritated, “but I spent twenty years of my life married to a woman—one person—andyou expect me to just be able to navigate being with two marriedmen?”

I sighed. Jaxon was trying. I couldtellhe was trying. But he was also a forty-three-year-old man who was having a bi-awakening moment or maybe even just a gay-for-you moment. He was a man still recovering from the loss of his wife, even if he thought he was completely over her, which I knew he’d never be. No one justmoved onfrom a woman they’d spent twenty years with andraised a child with. But Zeppelin and I were ready to guide him. We wanted him with us so badly, it felt like a living, breathing thing inside of us—something pulsing and alive, urging us to claim this beautiful man as ours.

“Okay. I’m sorry I called you with my shit… No, it’s… Okay, Logan. Okay. Don’t go blabbing this to Spencer, yeah? He worries enough as it is… Okay. Have a good day at work. Love you, kid.”

Blowing out a soft breath, my heart aching for him just as fiercely as it ached for Zep, I stepped into the kitchen and cleared my throat, dragging Jaxon’s eyes from his mug of coffee to me.

“Who were you talking to?” I asked casually as I leaned my hip against the kitchen counter, pretending I wasn’t eavesdropping.