Page 45 of Buddy System

Chapter

Thirty-Three

Brooke

One thingI can say for certain about Honeybee Hollow is the town sure has some great looking men. Skyler, Asher, Jack, and now Deputy Blake.Wow. My gorgeous Levi fits right in with these hotties. Despite being older, even Buford Wallace is an exceptionally handsome guy if you’re into silver foxes.

Anyway, the town’s eye candy aside, over the next few weeks, Levi and I settle into our new life as permanent Honeybee Hollow residents. He rehearses a few times a week whenever his new alternative country band can get together, and they play a fantastic combination of country, rock, and pop at The Hive on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Now that they have Levi as their new singer, they changed the band’s name to Wildflower Whiskey. Their ridiculously handsome drummer they call Banger—and it gives me the giggles each time I hear it—has been in contact with a place up in Lexington where they might perform now and then. That would be terrific because it would give Levi an extra excuse to see his sister and her family. He’s excited about the music and performing regularly. He’s alsobeen writing songs again, so I’m thrilled about that. They plan to play one of them next week at The Hive to see how people react to it. He’s shopping around for an agent, so he seems committed to his music. This is as happy as I’ve ever seen Levi, and it warms my heart.

He’s kept up his appointments regularly with both the PTSD counseling and the physical therapy, and I’d say he and Skyler are both looking a lot healthier despite the worry of Skyler’s upcoming trial…well, now it’s unfortunatelytrials, plural. I still can’t believe any of this crap is happening to our sweet man.

My job is going okay. I have enough work to keep me interested and busy, but not so much that I feel as if I’m missing out on anything with Levi and Skyler. The pay is great, so I’m not about to give it up anyway.

Skyler hired the PI, Doug Freeman, but he hasn’t had much contact with him yet. No doubt the guy is out privately investigating or whatever. I hope he turns out to be helpful.

He also meets with his lawyer pretty often, and he doesn’t want to talk about it much. Levi and I ask if he’s doing alright after a meeting and leave it up to him whether or not we are going to discuss anything. He doesn’t seem happy though, and that has me a little worried. I hope he’s not keeping it all inside, so he doesn’t worry Levi too much. I’ve asked him if having us here is what he wants, and he assures me he never wants that to change, so it’s not our unusual relationship that has him down. He’s no doubt just worried about the lawsuits.

Last week, he came clean to his parents about what the three of us are doing and how he sees Levi and me in his life. I can’t say they were exactly thrilled to discover their son was “suddenly bisexual” and part of a threesome. They were cordial enough about it; no one yelled or disowned him, fortunately. But I can’t say they opened their arms to Levi and me like we were immediately part of the family either.

“Are you sure this is a good time to make such a big change in your lifestyle with your current legal problems?” his dad asked.

“Yes. It’s the best time. I need their love and support now more than ever,” Skyler answered. “Levi and Brooke are wonderful.”

“Are you going to have children?” was one of the first questions his mom asked.

“Hopefully, God willing,” Skyler answered. Fortunately, we’d discussed it a couple of days before that and decided we weren’t in a big hurry for me to conceive, but the idea sounded wonderful to all of us. We need to have another conversation about me getting rid of my IUD and when, but that’s our business—not anyone else’s. I’d like to feel totally solid in this arrangement before we make any plans—not that I doubt anyone’s love.

And I recognize that if there is even a remote possibility Skyler could be convicted, making a big change like getting pregnant might be an awful lot of emotion to handle at once. We need to concentrate on each other for a while, at least. We’re not just playing around; this relationship is the real deal for all of us.

After the second week of trying not to worry about Skyler’s often gloomy attitude, something came to light without him needing to say anything. He offered to accompany me to the Piggly Wiggly because we were terribly low on staple groceries, and he knew I’d have a lot to load into the car. He justified himself by saying, “I haven’t lifted any weights today yet, so this will be my workout.”

I readily agreed—happy to have his company—but when we got to the market, I noticed a lot of shoppers giving him the side-eye or turning around quickly so as not to pass him in the aisle. There were whispers and out-and-out hostile stares. My heart hurt for him, but I was also apparently guilty by association because very few people returned my polite smile.

However, when we made our way to the cashier, she was kind enough to proclaim in a loud voice, “Skyler Colfax! It’s so good to see you. You’re looking great. Listen, I know you’re too nice a guy for any of those horrible claims that crazy old bat is making against you to be true. So you just keep your head up and know that me and my Bible study group are all prayin’ for you!”

Skyler blushed when she came around the counter, wrapped him in a hug, and patted his back. “Thanks, Maybelle. That means a lot,” he said in a choked voice.

I wish I could say she cheered him up for a while, but too many other folks were suspicious of him, and it broke my heart to see it. I can just imagine how he felt.

Skyler retreated to the creek with a fishing pole when we got back and told Levi, “I think I need to be alone for a little while,” before he left. Levi nodded his understanding, and later Skyler returned with no fish.

Despite the gloom, my two men are incredible. The devotion and care they demonstrate within our relationship is beyond amazing. I feel cherished by them, and I see the way they love each other, and it melts my heart. It’s sometimes just little things like a casual touch or a kind word in the middle of normal life. They look out for each other and for me like it’s their purpose in life. I hope I’m doing as well with them as they are with all of us.

Oh, and the physical aspect of our loving! I knew Levi and I had something special when we married, but adding Skyler to the mix blows my mind. Our “two-in-one” lovemaking is a favorite for all of us because of the incredible closeness and intimacy it creates, but we also experiment with all sorts of configurations and positions. Some are better than others. You sure can’t trust online porn for any great ideas because most of what you see is something a director sets up for good camera angles rather than reality. And books glorify everything for the purpose of storytelling. We’ve figured out that we need to trythings for ourselves and be honest with one another as to whether it did anything for us or not. Thankfully, we’re almost always on the same page.

Almost as much as our “two-in-one,” I love getting fucked by Skyler while Levi takes his ass, and Levi loves to fuck me while Skyler plows my ass, but Levi’s decided he’s not that crazy about bottoming for Skyler. I wonder if it’s because Skyler’s dick is such a monster. Levi doesn’t mind being played with back there, and he responds well to finger pressure on his prostate, but…well, it’s up to him what he likes and doesn’t like. At least he tried it before making up his mind. Skyler is happy with anything and everything, so we make it all work.

One thing we discussed the other day was what happens when one of us is out of town for business or whatever. Levi spoke up and told us, “If I’m, say, gigging up in Lexington and you guys decide to stay here, it’s fine with me if you have sex. You know I love to see you two together. It actually makes me happy. But, Brooke, I know you have to make a trip out to San Francisco soon to have a meeting at your company, so how do you feel about Skyler and me together?”

“I was fine with it when I went back to pack up our stuff to move out. And you can always have phone sex with me so I can watch.” I wiggled my eyebrows to illustrate my enthusiasm, and they laughed. I sobered and said, “I’ll be lonely without you, so I hope I don’t have to stay for more than a couple of days.”

“We know,” Skyler said and squeezed my hand. “And if I go anywhere—like prison for ten to twenty years—I can hardly complain about you two being together, seeing as how you’re the married couple here. I would miss you both terribly, but I wouldn’t feel bad about you loving each other. How could I?”

Skyler’s comment was meant in jest (I hope) because there is no way anyone could convict him, so I’m not taking it completely seriously. Is that what they call gallows humor? I still can’t helpsaying, “You know you’re not going to jail, Skyler.” Dear God, I hope I’m right. But something else bothers me just a little. I turn to Levi and say, “Honey, you seemed nervous about Skyler and me leaving you for one another when he first came to see us in Hopkinsville. I don’t mean to be second-guessing you, but are you a hundred percent sure you’re over that?”

“Water under the bridge, babe. I know I freaked out, but now that we all have each other, I feel different about everything—way happier and more relaxed. I’ve talked to my therapist about it, and I’m good, I promise.”

So this is how we are. We’re respectful of each other’s feelings and careful with what we say.

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