Page 215 of Wild Like Us
“I don’t like it,” I say gruffly.
“Neither do I.” Akara tugs on his beanie and nods at her. “What’s the new verdict, string bean?”
She puts her fingers to her lips. “It’s…unconventional. I didn’t even think it was an option until I talked to Beckett today.” She drops her hand. “Would you both want to be in a relationship with me…together? A triad. Aclosedtriad.”
It’s like she’s speaking in Spanish—which she’sfluentin and I’m definitely not. “I don’t know what any of those words mean,” I say and glance to Akara.
Akara shakes his head. “No clue.”
Sulli looks over her shoulder at the road. “Fuck, I should have brought the M&M’s.”Don’t know what that’s about either. She lets out a frustrated breath. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at this or at words.”
“It’s okay, Sul,” Akara says. “We’re listening.”
“You have all my attention, mermaid.”
She smiles softly. “Alright, so basically, we’d be in a relationship. Like what we did in Yellowstone. Only there’s no end date that we’d have to worry about. No choice that has to be fucking made. We’re all just…together.”
I’ve got a lotta questions, but I’m not the logistics guy. Mostly, all I hear iswe’re all just together.
My mouth curves in a smile that Sulli hangs onto.
I go where the wind blows me.
It’s sent me here.
To Akara. To Sulli. To home and love.
I’m ready to be rooted down, and this doesn’t feel like a consolation prize, having him here too. It feels like I’ve won it all.
My best friend.
And her.
I glance to Akara, hoping he’ll feel the same. But I see more questions in his eyes. And unlike me—he is that logistics guy.
56
AKARA KITSUWON
“I’m in.”Banks barely hesitates. I didn’t think he would.
They both look to me for my answer. I could back out, and if I do, I lose her. But I’m more scared of losingthis. The ability to have what we had in Yellowstone. That’s like a dream. And I’d think I’m stuck in one, but it’s not snowing.
This is real.
“Slow down,” I hold out a hand. “How does this even work?”
“I can explain everything,” Sulli says, “But mostly, we get to choose our relationship. We define the boundaries. No one else.” She grins. “Wild, right?”
Banks smiles.
I try hard not to feed off their excited energy, but I can feel my lips already rising. “This might not work,” I say realistically. “I mean, what do we even call each other?”
She touches a hand to my chest. “You’re my boyfriend.” She puts a hand on Banks’. “You’re also my boyfriend.”
I narrow my eyes at Banks. “Does that make you my boyfriend?”
Sulli smiles. “Not unless you like that term with each other,” she says. “If you’re not romantically involved, it’s like a V-triad, I think that’s what Beckett said. It’s not a triangle, and in a V, I’m the hinge between you two. You can call each other metamours. Closer than a friend but not quite a boyfriend.”
