Page 107 of The Holy Grail
“You don’t think they’ll lose their shit?”
“No, I don’t, because they’re pretty open-minded—”
“There’s open-minded, and then there’sopen-minded.”
Jules blinked at him. “Okay, well, they’reopen-minded. I mean, do you think I raised myself to be the way I am? Or do you think I had help?”
“Hmm.” Malcom blinked back at her. “Fair point.”
She gave him a long look, then turned his question back on him. “Would you be able to really be with Evan, and also share me with him?”
“Yes, to both.”
“What about going out in public and having people see you with a man and a woman, and being judgmental?”
“Obviously that will be an adjustment.”
“What about telling your parents? Your mom, I think, will be fine, since she’s a good person, but I’m sure your dad will be … problematic.”
He nodded. “My dad will definitely lose his shit.”
Jules could sense his rising anxiety, and she decided to put a pin in the conversation because they were getting ahead of themselves. Gently squeezing his hand, she told him, “All of that is down the road.Waydown the road. We don’t know what’s going to happen, not without talking to Evan first. For all we know, he might not be interested in being adopted—” she broke off as Malcom snorted. “I think we should slow our roll, and not worry about item fifty on our list, when we’re not even at number one, yet. Nothing happens until we have a conversation with Evan, and we should probably do that soon.”
Malcom leaned forward to kiss her, before pressing his forehead to hers. “Maybe I should talk to him alone, first.”
“Okay.”
Pulling back so he could gaze into her eyes, he asked, “You’re really prepared to cross the Rubicon?”
“What’s the Rubicon?”
“It’s a reference to Julius Caesar entering Roman territory in 49 B.C. by crossing the Rubicon, a stream in northern Italy. It just means the point of no return.”
“Then why didn’t you just say that?”
“Because I like being pretentious.”
“Well, you’re really good at it.” With a chuckle, she kissed him back, then turned serious again. “Anyway, as far as the Rubicon goes, I think we’ve already crossed it. We just need to find out if Evan is willing to cross it with us.”
Chapter 32
A guy walks into a bar ...
After spending an emotional evening with Jules, crashing on the couch with her, and waking up alone with a hangover (not quite a full-grown one, and not a baby one, either, but somewhere in the adolescent stage), Evan wasn’t really prepared for the sight of a man making his way toward the bar—a man he was now seeing for the second time in two days after an eight year drought.
Malcom fucking Hodge.
Somewhat off-kilter, Evan dropped the rag he’d been wiping down the top of the bar with into the sink and schooled his features as Malcom came and sat down. Like yesterday at the Farmer’s Market, he was wearing casual jeans, but now they were paired with a white button-down shirt, instead of the Pink Floyd T-shirt they apparently both owned and wore on the same day, like five-year-old twins. On most people the simple shirt wouldn’t be anything to get excited about, but for Evan it was his kryptonite, especially on this man, who at forty-two, looked better than he did eight years ago.
Asshole.
Why the fuck did Malcom have to be aging so well? Why couldn’t he be balding and a hundred pounds overweight?
There were times when life wasn’t fair, and then there were times like this when life was giving you the big middle finger and shoving it up your ass. Without lube.
Malcom was likely the same under his clothes—toned and fit, with strong thighs and nicely defined arms—and for a second, Evan pictured the other man naked in the hotelroom, only this time, the woman with him and Evan was Jules, not Gwen. He had to use his imagination for Jules, but the vision turned out pretty good.Toogood.
Beyond annoyed, Evan gave a slight shake of his head. He’d told Jules he needed to figure out how to quit loving her and Malcom, and picturing the three of them in bed together probably wasn’t the best way to accomplish that.
