By Any Other Name (29 page)

Both Skye and Thom chuckled and moaned in succession when the smallest movements seemed to amplify every feeling.

“Move,” Thom said over his shoulder, and Skye obeyed once again.

The pull of Thom’s body, the heat and sounds and the way Dru writhed under them, made Skye feel true, undeniable desire that stroked something in his soul. That wasn’t the thing that surprised him the most, though. What took his breath away was the way Thom was losing his usually so carefully composed restraint while rocking back and forth between Skye and Dru.

“Oh, fuck… can’t… gonna…,” Thom gasped, and one of Dru’s feet fell from his shoulder at the strength of Thom moving more uncontrollably between his lovers.

A ripple in Thom’s internal muscles made Skye feel an unfamiliarly powerful twitch in his own gut. Dru whimpered below them, the sound frustrated for some reason. Skye looked down and saw his hands twisted in the sheets. The blond couldn’t get a hand between himself and Thom to touch himself.

By sheer instinct, at the same moment Thom’s muscles clamped down on Skye’s cock, Skye leaned forward over Thom’s back and dug his teeth into the side of Dru’s foot. The surprised howl from Dru turned into a moan as he began to climax. Skye opened his mouth and pressed his forehead against Thom’s back, letting his own orgasm hit him like a tidal wave.

When he managed to get his bearings again, he was lying next to Thom, who was panting equally hard. They had succeeded in not crushing Dru, who was still sprawled in the exact same spot, a silly smile on his lips.

“That was…,” the blond mumbled and opened his eyes to look at the others.

“Phenomenal,” Thom groaned, trying to move but seeming to give up almost immediately.

“Hey, guys… I’m not a virgin anymore,” Skye said, making the others burst out in laughter.

Thom

They
had agreed to spend a whole week in Costa Rica, and Thom was glad. They needed the vacation, and the place seemed to suit their need for privacy better than he could have imagined.

The house was perfect for them, and the maintenance people, a woman who cleaned and her twenty-something son who handled everything else, brought them food so that they didn’t have to go anywhere. It was heaven, really.

The rest of the holiday after the three of them had made love was interesting. The next morning, their third one there, was nice. There was very little wind, and they all felt energized. After a quick breakfast, they walked to the shed next to the house and took out the three ocean kayaks that had come with the house rental.

Skye was practically vibrating, knowing what they were going to do. It was funny to see the slightly serious young man being so childishly enthusiastic about something.

“Thom, you sure you’ll be okay?” Dru asked for the fifth time, and Thom rolled his eyes.

“I might be an old man, but I’ve been kayaking before,” he said and thumped his plastic kayak on the sand.

Dru and Skye had been kayaking on some school trip in their teens and kept coming up with, “Do you remember…?” and “Wasn’t it funny…?” stories Thom couldn’t comment on for the obvious reasons. It gave him joy to see the younger men be so carefree and relaxed, even sharing things about their past like this, without the ugliness that had come later spoiling it for them.

They got into their kayaks and took a little test paddle before heading out to a place the maintenance guy had suggested. They paddled side by side, suddenly respectful and quiet. There were openings of little rivers nearby, and they peeked into them but didn’t want to leave the ocean quite yet. Instead they kept circling the shoreline of the island.

They found a couple of tiny beaches and one larger one, all of which seemed pretty much untouched even though others had certainly been there before them. Suddenly Dru looked out towards the ocean and froze.

“Skye,” he hissed excitedly and pointed at something.

Thom shielded his eyes and then saw a shadow far away from them.

“A whale,” Skye whispered reverently.

“Let’s move a bit closer so you can see properly,” Thom said, and they paddled closer but not too close.

It was perfect, especially when, after a while, the whale dove deeper, turning so that its massive tail fin rose over the surface and they could see it glisten in the sunlight.

After the whale swam away, they just sat there, the gentle waves of the ocean moving them a little. Just as they were about to turn away in wordless understanding, the whale breached the surface, pushing its massive body above the water for a few short moments before splashing down and vanishing for good.

None of them could speak, so they just paddled away toward their beach and the house.

The
next day when the lady and her son came over to check on things, the son asked if they’d gone kayaking.

“Oh yes,” Skye said, his eyes turning to look out the window and at the ocean.

“Someone saw their first whale?” the guy asked in a slightly flirty tone that Skye didn’t even notice.

Thom watched the Costa Rican man’s expression change as he sighed and mumbled something about going to check the grill outside.

“He didn’t even realize he was being flirted with, did he?” Dru asked quietly from beside Thom where they were sitting on the couch, and Thom chuckled a little bit.

“Nope, he has no idea.” Thom’s amused tone seemed to snap Skye out of the staring, and he turned to look at his lovers.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing… just that we love you,” Dru said and grinned.

“Love you too.” Skye blinked at them, the words flowing naturally by now despite his being surprised at the change of subject.

“Fine, we’ll go take one of those fancy whale-watching tours before we leave,” Thom said and made both Skye and Dru whoop a little.

As much as he hated the idea of being crammed in a boat with enthusiastic tourists, he’d do it for his lovers.

They went on the tour, did some hiking to see more of the wildlife, went kayaking, made love, and generally enjoyed their vacation more than Thom would have thought possible. He was worried about the return to their regular, everyday life, but he had faith in them as a threesome. They just worked, as Dru had stated multiple times, and they could work through anything.

Thom was still constantly surprised by how much his boys had changed. How much he himself had changed. Maybe it was partially because of Skye that he could now believe in his relationship with Dru. Skye loved them both so obviously and with such vigor it left Thom breathless and, what was more important, without any doubts about it lasting.

Dru was going to take a sabbatical and figure things out, Skye was about to see if he could be a personal trainer, and just before they had left for vacation, Thom had been told the law firm was considering making him a partner. It would be a big responsibility, but he could make his own hours more, his bosses had promised him. He’d see what happened—work didn’t worry him that much. What did worry him, though, was coming out to his family once again. This time he’d be supported by Dru and Skye. Thom’s family loved Dru, and they had accepted Skye too, but this would rock their worlds.

They lay in bed, boneless and sated, the last night of their vacation, when Skye suddenly spoke. “When I realized Dru had named you like I named him all those years ago, I felt jealous. In my mind, it was supposed to be our thing, but I now see why he did it,” Skye said and looked at the two of them in the dim light of some strategically placed candles.

“Why is that?” Thom asked, curious about where this was going.

“Because he loved you enough to give it in the first place. You don’t name something you don’t care about. You weren’t named on a whim, and neither was Dru. My name, it’s weird as it is, but I don’t really care anymore. Dru made me accept it.”

“So you’re saying we show our love with what we call each other?” Dru asked thoughtfully.

“Basically, yes. And that despite what other people call us or think about us, we’re still these people,” Skye said, taking Thom’s hand and entwining their fingers before placing them over Dru’s heart. “Who we are right now, that’s what matters.”

Little
Jacob Thomas Williams sat under the table at his grandma and grandpa’s house. All the adults were there—well, except not his uncle Peter, who was somewhere in “You-rup” with his new girlfriend, but JT’s grandparents were there, and his mom and his uncle Thom with his boyfriend, Dru, and their friend, Skye.

Skye had the coolest name ever, Skye Walker. Like in
Star Wars
! And he had this really cool keychain that looked like a mini lightsaber and had a button in it that would turn the light on. It was pink, which was funny, because pink was totally a girl’s color, but Skye didn’t seem to mind. Though he did turn that color a bit when JT pointed it out.

JT peeked out from under the tablecloth and saw Skye sitting at the counter on the other side of the kitchen peeling carrots. Skye was fun. Not as much fun as Dru was, but still quite a lot of fun. It was cool that Skye was living with Thom and Dru now, because there was always someone to play with JT when he was over there. Teaching Skye how to play Mario Kart was so much fun! How an adult couldn’t play it was something Jacob couldn’t really understand, but Uncle Thom had said that Skye had lived in a place where there were no game consoles.

Quietly, after looking around to see if his mom was around and deciding the way was clear enough, JT crawled to Skye as fast as he could. His bony knees made a shuffling sound against the floor, and Skye was smiling when he got there.

Skye handed over a piece of carrot, and JT sat down at his feet, leaned against them, and was happily munching away when his mother walked in.

“Jacob Thomas! Where have you been hiding?” she asked, and JT shrugged, ignoring her otherwise.

“I have no idea,” Skye said from above him, and JT snickered. Skye had quickly become one of his favorite allies in the family.

“Yeah, right.” Jacob’s mom snorted and shook her head.

“Laura, I hope you’re not messing with my kitchen sidekick,” another feminine voice said from the doorway, and JT’s mom stepped away from Skye.

“No, Mom, I’m not. I was looking for my son because he needs to come and feed the rabbits before dinnertime, and he needs to go and get cleaned up too. Look at him!”

“JT, take these to the bunnies,” Skye said and handed over a few more pieces of carrot.

Jacob got to his feet and hugged Skye tightly. It had taken some getting used to, but Skye didn’t flinch anymore. “Okay!” Jacob said and ran past his mom and grandma and into the living room to use the back door there. After all, there was the mudroom next to the kitchen, and if his mom caught him there, she’d make him wash up.