Redemption FinalWPF6 7 (10 page)

Feeling free from the smothering emotions of the last week, free
from conventions, Diane indulged her temptation to stir things up. With a broad
swipe of her hand across the top of the water, she showered Uriah in a cool
splash.

"Whooo," Uriah yelled, then sucked in a sharp
breath. “Why you little—” Then he was on her, rolling her under in the shallow
pool. He pinned her with his big body and with a cupped hand, splashed the
water repeatedly until she was laughing and sputtering.

“Okay, uncle, I call uncle. Gabe! Help me…”

Gabe’s amusement carried over to them and they could hear
the smile in his words. “Sorry, Dee. You’re on your own.”

Without further invitation, Uriah wrapped his hand behind
her head and threaded his fingers in her wet hair. Slowly, he lowered his mouth
to hers. The kiss was hot and full of promises. Maybe he was also in search of
those same new beginnings. When he finally pulled back, Diane stopped him with
a nip at his full lower lip. The she released him with a quick lick.

“What do you want to do?” she whispered, assuming Uriah was
on the same wavelength. As one, they both looked over at Gabe. He had turned
his back, and his shoulders looked a little hunched. It was as if he was
steeling himself against seeing or hearing any happiness between her and Uriah.

Uriah leaned in for another quick kiss. Barely lifting his
mouth from hers, he whispered his answer. “You know I want you, but I want him,
too, Dee. Are you okay with that?”

Suddenly unsure, Diane wondered where she fit in the
situation. “Have you ever been with another man? I mean I always knew Pete was
gay. I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy being left behind—” She broke off when his
lips crushed hers. This time he was the one biting her lip when he pulled back.

“Sweetheart, I said I want him, too. As in also. As in with
you. You already know I love you. You heard us talking last night. I loved you
first…I always have. It nearly killed me when you wanted Pete—shh, don’t say
anything. I understand it, now. I was too young, in any case, too confused. I’m
not gay, not straight.” He pumped his hips and rubbed his hard cock against her.
“I want you both. I know that’s supposed to be wrong, but it’s how I feel.”

She swallowed hard.
Jesus, talk about a fantasy come
true.
“I’m very okay with that, Uriah. Now, how do we get Gabe to
understand?”

“Leave that to me,” he said. He gave her one more kiss, then
quick as a cat, he hopped up and began to stalk across the sand.

****

Gabe kept his back to Diane and Uriah, and tried to force his
mind away from imagining what they were doing down there, splashing around in
the water. He had to admit it made him smile, despite the impending loneliness.
The last thing he wanted was to be jealous of the chance they were about take.
Realizing that it didn’t sound as if his friends were going to be ready for
dinner anytime soon, he moved the water off the propane burner. Gabe took his
time straightening their supplies, shuffling the packaged dinners, making a
production over organizing the food packets. When Diane and Uriah grew quiet,
Gabe closed his eyes and started to recite the names of all two hundred and six
bones in the human body. Alphabetically.
In Latin.

The loss of the alcohol was both a relief and an agony and Gabe
was working very hard at maintaining his composure. The other couple would have
been easier to take if he could’ve found himself some shade and had one of his
small bottles to drink. He frowned at that thought. Dee had been in a bad way
with her drugs, a physical as well as psychological dependency. He knew there
was no physical addiction on his part, but goddamn if that knowledge made the
psychological withdrawals any easier.

Full of good intentions prior to the trip, Gabe had packed a
battered copy of the twelve-step handbook he’d picked up at a stray AA meeting
he’d tried once. He didn’t think the program was for him, but when Diane had
recited the familiar words, he’d felt recognition deep inside. A kinship with
someone who he realized did know what he was fighting, even if her demons were
different.

Deciding now was as good a time as any, Gabe turned toward
the backpacks, in search of the pamphlet. Without warning, he was grabbed from
behind by a big, beefy, and very wet Uriah. Then he was tossed over the other
man’s shoulders like a sack of potatoes.

Uriah ignored all of his grunted protests and trotted, apparently
with maximum bounce, back to the pool of water and the waiting Diane. Then, amidst
a giant splash of water, Gabe was on his back, looking up at a very naked Diane
and a grinning Uriah.

He might have been feeling a bit sorry for himself only a minute
earlier, but he got the message clear enough. He was invited to the play. He
had to make an instantaneous choice…accept the offer as it was given,
spontaneous, fun, and all about now. Or he could tell them the truth. He
thought making the wrong choice might be a matter of life or death. His life or
death.

He smiled up at Uriah, whose happy expression had started to
slide a bit when Gabe hadn’t laughed and pulled him down into the water.

Almost as one, Dee and Uriah knelt on either side of him.

“Sorry, you two…didn’t mean to spoil—” he started to say
before Uriah cut him off.

“Shut up, Doc. Just listen this time. Diane and me talked
about things. This is strange as hell for most people, but we want to give it a
try. A threesome, I mean. You already know how we feel about each other, but
you also know we haven’t built any kind of relationship out of it. We’re
willing to give it a try, but we want to try with you, too.”

“What does that mean? More watching?” He wished he could
take back the bitterness in his voice.

“Gabe,” Diane said, and she reached to touch his arm. “We
want to be with you. The three of us together. None of us can see into the
future and you can’t expect to figure everything from one encounter. If you
want something, you have to work for it. It’s a lesson I’ve had to learn, too.
Happy doesn’t come in a bottle…numbness does. You want to feel, then you have
to take a chance. We’re willing to risk sharing our hearts with each other and
with you. Will you take a chance with us? At least for the next few days? Then
we can figure it out from there. We know your friends have done it. I mean have
a long-term threesome. Like the motto says, let’s just take it one day at a
time. Okay?”

Feeling a little shell shocked mixed in with a heaping dose
of hopeful, Gabe nodded, then risked a look at Uriah. The big man was keeping
his face impassive. “Uriah? Is that what you want? I need to know if you want
to be with a man? With me? Or were you thinking to keep Diane in the center,
with you and me separate?”

Uriah muttered something and looked away, his eyes scanning
the distant cliff tops as the sky turned a deeper indigo. The rough-and-tumble
wildness of the river rumbled through the evening air, and Gabe thought he
could almost hear the excuses Uriah was likely forming.

Then Uriah knelt beside him, placed a big hand on Gabe’s
chest, and he leaned in close to whisper. His breath was a caress that lit a
fire deep in Gabe’s belly. “I don’t know how to be with a man,” Uriah
whispered. “Teach me.”

Then their lips touched and the kiss was as heated and
tempting as any sin. Gabe reached for Diane, who stretched out alongside and
wrapped her long legs over his. Almost lazily, he pulled away from Uriah’s kiss
to taste Diane. Their tongues battled, her eyes closed, and she moaned deep in
her throat.

“Oh, fuck,” Uriah whispered, pressing himself even closer
and they fought each other in a sloppy three-way kiss. This was like nothing Gabe
had ever experienced. These two knew him in a way that not even Marcus did.
They’d seen his hands tremble as he poured away his crutch, and they would hold
him tonight when the dreams came. They knew the worst and they wanted him
anyway.

“Let’s move this back to the shelter, we’re too exposed
here,” Gabe said, suddenly feeling the urge to take control.

“I want to wash first,” Uriah said, finally pulling back
from Diane. “Someone’s been hogging all the water.”

“Me too,” Gabe agreed. Suddenly everything took on an air of
normalcy. All thoughts of self-pity and shyness were gone. He knew what he
wanted, and he was going to go after it. Grab life with both hands and if he
could somehow manage to make these two his forever…then he would.

With a deliciously naughty grin, Diane smiled at them. “Why
don’t you two take your time? Maybe do a little inventory, wash each other’s
backs. I’ll go rearrange the sleeping bags and make sure there are no uninvited
guests waiting to sting our important parts.”

He admired Diane’s long, straight back as she walked across
the small clearing. She was one fine looking woman. One who knew herself and
knew her men. She was right, of course. Uriah needed to learn something about
himself before things went any further.

 
Chapter Ten

Still standing at the edge of the pool, Uriah quickly stripped
off his shorts and tried not to stare at Gabe’s body. Brown fur covered well-defined
pecs, a flat stomach, and he knew from watching Gabe jack off that his dick was
nicely proportioned. He was hit with a momentary wave of uncertainty. It was a
long way from letting a guy suck your cock to letting one fuck you. The thought
made his ass pucker and a shiver ran up his spine despite the heat that
lingered long past sunset.

Gabe seemed to notice the direction of his gaze and gave a
sexy, knowing grin. He hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his soaking wet
shorts and pushed them down. He stroked his hard cock while he spoke. “Thinking
about me fucking your ass, Uriah? Don’t worry, I’ll take it slow. I’ll make you
moan with it.”

Uriah grinned back at the sexy challenge. Even if he was
nervous, he could do smack talk. Hell, especially if he was nervous. “We’ll see
who fucks who, old man.”

Gabe barked a loud laugh that bounced off the canyon walls.
“I have your number, college boy. I know exactly what you need. Now, before you
chicken out, why don’t you kneel down here and see what kind of a blowjob you
can give?”

The moment stretched out, but Gabe never looked away, never
changed his expression, just waited with those damn light-colored eyes,
patient, understanding. Uriah didn’t know why he was hesitating. He knew he
wanted this, had dreamed of this. But what if he messed it up somehow?

“Touch me, Uriah. I want your hand on my cock.” Gabe’s whispered
demand skittered along his spine and coiled around to grip him by the balls. He
couldn’t have disobeyed that quiet order, even if he’d wanted to. Caught in the
net of Gabe’s gaze, Uriah dropped to his knees in the sun-warmed water and reached
blindly until his hand brushed the top of the other man’s thighs. The unfamiliar
feel of the coarse hair was a jolt to his system and his pulse rate
skyrocketed.

Oh God, I want this, but—

Knowing his own body hadn’t prepared him for the sensation
of the velvet on steel of the other man. Like his, but not his. He might not know
his way, but he was content to explore, to be guided, to taste. Saliva pooled
in his mouth as his fist closed around Gabe’s hard cock. Moistening his lips,
Uriah finally looked down to see the thick length of the other man. Gabe’s
engorged cock twitched in his hand and a pearlescent drop gathered in the slit.

Uriah glanced up at Gabe and saw the desire etched on the
other man’s face.

“Go ahead. Taste me.”

Uriah nodded, then leaned down to swipe his tongue over the
mushroom head, catching the salty-bitter taste of pre-cum tart across his taste
buds. He followed an unfamiliar path, tracing the veins, finding the bundle of
nerves, delicately discovering the places Gabe liked to be touched. Then he
wrapped his lips around Gabe and slid his lips until Gabe’s cock bumped against
the back of his throat. He coughed against the unfamiliar sensation. He tried
again. And again. Each slick downward slide was slow and sweet.

There was a tug against the nape of his neck as Gabe twisted
Uriah’s hair around his fist, a heavy weight, guiding, encouraging. Following
an ancient rhythm, he took the other man’s shaft, sucking, licking, humming his
pleasure.

They were together in the mystery of the canyon, steeped in
the magic of their loving, in the rich glow of the moment.

“That’s right. Feels so good, Uriah, so good. That’s it. Now
ease back, or you’re going to push me too far, and I’m not near enough finished
with you yet.”

With a smacking pop, Uriah pulled off Gabe’s cock and sat up
to meet Gabe’s gaze. There was no mistaking the look of lust, or pride, and
maybe even a hint of ownership on Gabe’s face. He was sure his own face lit up
in a smug smile.

“You turn around now, Uriah. Lay back against my lap.”

“What the—” he began, confused about what Gabe might have in
mind. He turned his back, fairly certain they weren’t going to fuck out
here…but still his pulse thumped loudly in his ears.

“Relax. I’m gonna wash your hair, Uriah. Then we’re going to
go up and claim our woman. Think you can handle that?” Gabe grabbed Uriah’s
hair in a tight fist and tugged him sharply backward until he was on his back
in the small pool of water. It was as if the twist of the hair pulled directly
on his cock. The feeling of being overpowered, possessed, washed over him as
Gabe smiled down.

“Oh, yes, Uriah…I do know what you need. I’m going to give
it to you. Now just close your eyes and lie still. Strong fingers threaded
through his long hair and massaged his scalp. They used no shampoo, just cool,
fresh water. Then Gabe gathered Uriah’s hair and used it as a lever to help him
back into a sitting position. “Now you wash my back,” Gabe ordered. He dropped Uriah’s
heavy wet hair and turned around. Again, they were careful of the land and only
used the sand from the riverbed to scrub. Gabe stretched and arched like a cat
under his firm hands.