Trifecta (18 page)

Jason jumped back.

Russell caught her, but held her at arm’s length.  "Tell us what you want to do."

Her heart cried for what it wanted, beating fast enough and loud enough to overpower her mind, her questions. They came here for her.  With her hand shaking she located her room key in her purse and held it out to them. 

Russell took the key, walked past her and flashed the key to the guard.

"Jason." 

"Not now."  He followed Russell.

She went after them, glancing at the guard.  He shook his head.  Somehow she gambled and even with a sure thing, she lost.

Chapter Seventeen

Lauren's hotel suite was designed for sex and lovers.  If Russell had played his cards right they would have been indulging in Lauren, rather than staring out at a window overlooking the Las Vegas strip.

The lights put on their own show.  Perfect entertainment to watch after one was spent and relaxed from multiple climaxes.  From the thirtieth floor, the strip looked serene, even though utter chaos reigned down below.

He turned and took in the rest of the suite.  The oversized bed, the couch, multiple televisions.

He never even found out if he held a winning hand.  Instead, he folded.

Except for Lauren's broken whisper telling them her room number, the three of them hadn't said a word.  They entered the suite and she headed straight for the bathroom. 

Jason paced the perimeter of the sitting room.  He picked up a knick-knack then put it down, and moved over to the desk and lifted the pen.  "Stop looking at me."  He uncapped the pen, holding the point up to his face.

Russell chewed his lip and lost himself in a stare.

"What?"  Jason threw the pen down.

"Don't you have a plan?"  He grimaced as the words left his mouth.

Jason opened the desk drawer and slammed it shut.  "I'm not sure how mad I am, and I'm not sure who I'm mad at."

"She was with another man."  He pushed his glasses up and squeezed the bridge of his nose, wishing he could squeeze the image out of his mind.  Over a dozen times now he watched, even helped, dare he say participated in Jason making love to Lauren, but the sight of that other man made him want to punch his hand through a wall, or preferably Dr. Dalton's plastic face. 

"I am trying not to break anything, can you not bring that up?"  Jason pounded his fist into the desk.

"What do you think is going on?" Never once through this whole thing did he imagine losing her and he kicked at the floor.   The repercussions of every one of his abrupt actions throbbed through his head.  One second he agreed to try this, the next he threw it out.

"How can you ask that?"  Jason hit the desk again.  "She found someone to take her out!"

"Maybe she doesn't think this could work."  Russell shook his head. "Look how fast she ran to someone else."

"Maybe that's what you think."  Jason pointed at him.

"Maybe you never care for the consequences of your actions."  He shot back. 

"Maybe you need to apologize for being embarrassed of her and of me."

"You want me to apologize for another man kissing her?"  The time for apologies ended the second another man's lips touched her. 

Before Jason answered or they went through another round of accusations, the bathroom door clicked open and Lauren tiptoed out.

The entire drive to Vegas all he thought about was how he would rush up to Lauren and grovel.  When they caught her with Dr. Dalton, the man who appeared as if he could be a poster child good looking and stable, he wanted to walk away, tell Jason they were insane for ever trying this in the first place.

She came forward, took them all in and lowered her gaze to the floor.

After what took place there would be no groveling, and he waited, assessing her.

At the beginning of this evening he knew she must have looked magnificent. Sophisticated black dress, her hair down long, high heels to make her legs appear long, even if she were short in stature. Only Lauren could pull off a business sexy look in her own way.
 

Over the years she came into her own.  Gone was the girl who would put on anything purple or anything in sequins, and in her place was a woman who made men fall to their knees.
 

Who was he kidding?  Purple, sequins, or purple sequins, he always wanted her.

Now she appeared as if she were a melting statue of what walked out this evening for her account dinner.  She still wore the dress, but the makeup had long been cried away leaving only red, swollen eyes.  The heels were kicked away somewhere, and she pulled her hair back in defeat.
 

God, she was gorgeous.
 

"I need to say something."  Her voice came out low and broken.

"No!"  Instinct took over and he ran to her.  "I'm going to speak first."

She looked up at him with wide, wet eyes.  "Russell."

"Russell."  Jason joined.

He closed his eyes and held up his hand.  "We are so sorry.  We can't expect you to make love to us, and then hide what we are every time we step out the door.  We can't blame you for wanting another man.  We will figure this out.  We are so sorry."

She didn't speak.  He opened his eyes to find her biting her lip with her nose crinkled in the way that told him she was going to burst into tears.  It was the same expression as when a movie had one of those unexpected tragic endings and she wanted him to somehow fix the director's error.
 

Still, she remained silent, and he tightened his jaw.  What if she was turning the tables on them?  Giving them an unexpected ending.  Did she want that man?

"Hold up."  Jason put one hand on his shoulder and one on Lauren's.  "We need to make a few things very clear here."

Her focus darted between the two of them.

"Lauren, you have to believe us."  Russell licked his lips, at the moment his whole body seemed dry, hot, parched.  "Please say something."
 

“Before she says something, I must say something.”  Jason went between them.

“Why don’t we let her talk?”  Russell managed to get the question out through clenched teeth.

“Because, though the three of us may be together, I can speak for myself.”

"Oh God."  She finally let the tears go and lunged forward.

"Whoa!"  Jason caught her before she fell flat on her face.

Russell pulled her in.  She hid her face in his chest and said something, but between her crying and her voice being muffled by his shirt, he couldn't make it out.  "What?"
 

She shook her head.

While he was usually the recipient of Lauren's tears, Jason was the ultimate interpreter of the indecipherable cry.  "What?" 

Jason held up a finger and tapped her.  “Hey, what’s with the water works?”

She answered with a sniff.

“Lauren.”  Russell tried this time.
 

She pulled back and faced Jason.  “Did you mean what you said?”

“Yes, we did.”  Jason nodded.

“Don’t speak for me.”  Russell moved into her field of vision.  “I’m the one who spoke.”

“It is you who needs to stop speaking for me.”  Jason shoved him aside.  “You said we didn’t blame her for wanting another man, but I say speak for yourself.  Also, for the record, I never wanted or tried to hide the three of us, so I don’t say I’m sorry.  For someone who wouldn’t do as much as go out to dinner with us, you are sure throwing the 'we' and 'us' word around a lot.”

“Isn’t that what we all wanted?”  He held his hand out between the two of them.

“For the record, I have to say I was impressed by the way you told the two girls at the bar that you were looking for the woman we are seeing.”  Jason held his hand up for a high five. 

Lauren blinked.

"Jason."  He waved his hand, a mock flag to stop the race of Jason's mouth.

Jason sped by him. “They tried to correct Russell twice before realizing we were both seeing the same woman.”

She pressed her hand to her chest.

“Lauren.” He would have to be the mop again and explain this.  Women at bars, men at gambling tables, this was a game of craps, and they had no dice.

She held her palm up to him.  “Did you really tell some women at a bar that you and Jason were seeing the same woman?”

He swallowed, giving himself time to choose the perfect words.  While he observed the happenings with Lauren and the doctor, she didn’t witness the two of them at the bar.  At this moment they didn’t need her to envision her own version of what happened.  “Yes.”

She shifted her attention to Jason.  “When you said the three of us were together, did you mean it?”

“Hold on, let me rewind.”  Jason glanced up at the ceiling.  “If I said it, it must be true.”

“Can you tell me what that means?”  Her voice came out laced with both hope and terror.

Russell straightened up, he needed to know the answer as well and in this case, Jason set the rules.

Jason paced around in a circle, stopping back in front of Lauren. “I think we have enough players in our game. Until we figure this out you shouldn't see other guys."

Russell nodded.  "No other men or doctors."

“Does that also mean that until we figure this out you don’t see women in bars?”  She curled her lower lip over her teeth and bit down.

Jason tapped his finger against his chin.  "I would have to say that would be included.  No bars, nowhere else either."

"I would definitely say that's included."  Russell held up his finger.  "But no men, you have enough."  This point needed to be made clear.  Watching her with someone else even if nothing happened was like watching Jason get kicked in the stomach and then getting kicked in the stomach himself.  Double the damage.

"Are we only playing at home or are we allowed to go outside to play?"  She turned her back to them.

Before Russell answered he paused.  No matter what, he needed to make damn sure he could do what she asked. 

Jason leaned back on his heels.

The little black cloud drifted over his head.  People would talk, they would assume things, they wouldn't understand.  The looks, the stares, the whispers would rain down on them.

He swallowed, willed the cloud away and tried to picture the light that always came after a storm.  "It includes all playgrounds."

She spun back around.  "I'm sorry."

As if they were drawn to each other, both he and Jason went to her, taking her into their arms.

Jason pressed his lips to the back of her head.  "Don't do it again."

"No."  Russell went with his instinct and lowered his mouth to hers.  They stepped over the threshold and would reveal themselves to the world.  He would have to deal with it or lose them both.

***

The lips, all four of them, were the right lips.  These lips gave her the swirl in her stomach, the heat in her body, and made her heart swell until she couldn't catch her breath.

They all ended up on the bed among the overabundance of pillows and blankets, and she tried to lose herself in the fantasy these two men turned into reality, but still the questions lingered in her mind, replaying over and over again on an endless loop.  What were they really doing?  What would have happened if they didn't show up? What did she want?

She sampled Russell's lips as if she never tasted him before. His kiss reminded her of one of the first they shared, tentative and testing at first, building into passionate and powerful.  He found his zone, pressed their bodies together and opened his mouth.

But she had two men, and now after being together almost every night, the insecure, uncertain movements of new lovers disappeared, and in their place were three people who learned how to coordinate themselves in a beautiful, fluid dance.

Russell took a breath, and she automatically turned to Jason.  He took her into his arms, put one hand behind her head and crushed his lips to hers, moaning as he tangled their tongues.

Jason trailed his mouth down to her ear as Russell went to reclaim her mouth, but she pulled back.
 

"Lauren."  Russell pulled her closer.

"You came for me."  She looked between the two most amazing men, instead of replaying all the questions, trying to focus on how they rescued her.  Their gesture nothing short of any romantic movie.  They were always there, always.  From the day Jason found her in English literature to this moment. No one who knew them could be forced to choose.  At least not her, she wanted to be selfish and have them both. 

"I hate when you disappear."  Jason pulled her hair out of her ponytail.  "Almost as much as I hate the artwork in this hotel."

She moved his bangs aside.  At the moment they didn't need adjusting, but she missed doing it today.

Jason caught her hand and kissed the back.

"We had to come."  Russell ran his thumb across her jaw.  "I had to come."
 

Shivers ran through her body and she removed his glasses.  She wanted back what she missed last night.  A night between the two men she loved.  Never again would she dismiss these precious moments.  If she had it her way she would fit them in a Valerie bag, hold it to her chest and never let the go.

Russell blinked a couple of times as if he were trying to keep his eyes open.  Still when she twisted around to put the glasses on a table he leaned in and pressed his lips to the juncture between her neck and her shoulder.

She bit her lip.  Every one of her nerve endings reacted to each of their touches.