Page 37 of Come As You Are
The three of us fell silent. My mind was still stuck on the idea that someone in our family was actively working against Illyria and Olivia. I couldn’t imagine how that felt to Olivia. She trusted her people implicitly, and in the three years I’d worked at the club, I hadn’t seen any reason for her not to. It felt unreal to me that someone I’d worked with almost every day could be behind Illyria’s problems. At the same time, I was overwhelmingly grateful that Olivia hadn’t once thought I could be responsible for those issues.
“What if we told different people different things and waited to see which rumor got back to Orsino?” Vee asked. “Like we know someone told him about the pageant idea, but I suggested that in front of all the employees, so anyone could have been the source, but if we come up with two different things—”
“That would give me enough proof to ask,” Olivia said. She leaned over and wrapped Vee up in her arms. “That’s brilliant.”
Olivia kissed him, and for a moment, I watched the two of them get lost in each other. Would there ever come a time whenthe sight of them together wouldn’t make my heart beat faster and my cock take interest? Because it was definitely interested. Even though my brain was very aware that nothing beyond what we’d been doing was happening today, and that we still had a lot of talking to do about what each of us wanted, the idea of being with both Olivia and Vee, of getting to explore their bodies and tease them until they begged me to let them come…
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked. I’d completely missed the thread of Olivia and Vee’s conversation while I’d been fantasizing about having them both in my bed.
“I know where your mind was,” Vee teased, and Olivia’s cheeks pinked.
I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Yes. Of course, I was with the two of you kissing in front of me.”
Olivia leaned back into my space and kissed me. “I suggested that we tell both Andrew and Festus that we’ve got a special event. We’ll tell Andrew that it’s going to be a dance marathon, and Festus that it’s going to be a 1950s-style sock hop. If the Grotto copies either of those, we’ll know who’s been sabotaging Illyria.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said.
With a nod, Olivia sank back against my chest. “I hope it works,” she said.
“If it doesn’t, we’ll try something different.”
“Thank you, Bast, and you too, Vee. This might be the first time in months I feel hopeful about Illyria’s future.”
Two nights later, Iwas back on shift at Illyria. Vee was still laid up with his injury, but that hadn’t stopped us from making out on the couch like teenagers. On the night I headed back into work, Olivia stopped by on her way to the club to check on Vee and make sure he was doing okay, and all three of us talked a bit about what we wanted and whether we were working toward a three-way relationship.
Vee had surprised me by bringing the subject up, and I had to give the kid props for having bigger balls than I did. Equally surprising, Olivia said she wanted to see where things went with both of us, but she was concerned about the whole employer/employee issue.
“No one gives a shit when people hook up,” I said. “I’d hope they’d be equally as okay if you found someone—or two someones—you wanted to be with.”
“Yes, but, we’ve also got someone who could be disgruntled enough to try to harm the club, so I don’t want to stir the pot too much before we figure out what’s going on.”
“So, we keep it under wraps until then,” I said, and Vee and Olivia both nodded in agreement. As difficult as I thought it was going to be, I’d also kept my feelings for Olivia hidden for the previous three years. “But everyone already knows about Vee and me. Are you going to be okay with that?”
Olivia gave me a smile like I’d never seen from her before as she sidled up to me. “The night you and Vee danced together, it turned me on so much I masturbated in my office.” She laughed when my jaw fell open in shock. “And you never had a clue, did you?” With a smug flick of her head, she gave me a wink. “I think I’ll be able to keep how much I want both of you to myself.”
And with that, she’d kissed both of us and swept out the door, leaving both Vee and me completely at a loss for words.
Of course, it meant that my brain wasn’t focused on making drinks at all that night. Nope. I was completely focused on thewindow that overlooked the club. Every flicker of shadow made me glance up hoping for a glimpse of Olivia like I was Romeo waiting for Juliet to appear on her balcony. It was even worse when she came downstairs and teased me by never quite getting to my station at the bar. She’d almost make it, and then get sidetracked by talking to one of our regulars or called away by Festus or Maria or one of the other employees. I didn’t doubt for one second that she was doing it on purpose, and I loved it.
For my part, I flipped the bottles higher, flirted outrageously with the customers, and, at one point, even took off my shirt after I accidently spilled a drink all over myself. By the time my shift ended, I had a serious case of blue balls, but it was totally worth it.
Vee
When I’d left home—drivenoff by people who cared more about who I loved than the love they’d professed to have for me—I’d wondered if I was going to be making my way in this world alone forever. Heartbroken and grieving, I’d come to San Francisco seeking…something. And maybe “seeking” is too active a word because I hadn’t actually known what I was looking for. At worst, I was looking for a place that wouldn’t react in greater horror for my wanting a man in my bed than if I’d taken my daddy’s gun and slaughtered my entire family. At best, I was hoping to find someone I could love and who would love me in return, but it wasn’t something I could have imagined. Which is why, as I woke up three months after my arrival in the city by the bay, tucked between Sebastian on one side and Olivia on the other, I felt like I must still be dreaming.The dreamlike sense was further enhanced from the view that greeted me.
Olivia lived in a beautiful house at the top of a terrifyingly steep street that overlooked the Castro and the entirety of the city. Her bedroom sported a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that showcased the spectacular view. On days like today when the fog rolled over the city, it was like living in the clouds, the buildings and streets obscured by the thick layer of white that lay upon the city like a blanket.
The view outside the windows paled in comparison to the one inside, though. In my wildest fantasies, I could not have imagined this being my life. In the two weeks since we admitted our attraction and desire for each other, we’d rarely spent a night apart. Most often, we stayed at Olivia’s because she was the only one of the three of us with a king-sized bed. Sebastian had a full, and I had a twin, neither of which could comfortably accommodate three adults.
The decision—if you could call it that because there hadn’t been any real discussion—may have been made for practical reasons, but I think Olivia was delighted to have us there. The first time I’d walked into this house, it had felt empty and cold, something that made sense after she said it had been her brother’s house before he died. Now, it felt cozy, as if my and Sebastian’s presence inside these walls lingered even after we’d departed.
I turned my head and regarded Sebastian. In sleep, he almost looked fae, his beauty emanating from within so completely, it cast a spell on me. I’d thought he was gorgeous the first time I’d seen him, but it was nothing to what I thought and felt as I got to know him better.
Olivia, too, seemed almost otherworldly in sleep. Our physical relationship was developing slowly, Olivia having been hurt by too many lovers to give herself to us as freely as our growingpassions might otherwise indicate. And that was fine with both Sebastian and me. I would say my feelings for both of them were teetering on the edge of something much deeper than mere attraction, but I was content to keep that to myself for the time being.
Rolling onto my side to face Olivia, I took in the shape of her body hidden beneath the sheet. She was a wonder to me, mesmerizing and captivating me so powerfully, I almost felt guilty for the amount of time I spent staring at her trying to figure out what was so alluring about her. Initially, I had thought it was because of how striking she looked, her physical presence, the perfectly blended combination of masculine and feminine. The more I got to know her, though, I realized it was impossible to reduce her to the physical. Olivia was so uniquely herself, her hard-won ease and mastery of her body giving her an incredible mixture of power and vulnerability that resulted in a presence unlike anyone else I’d ever met. I had a difficult time keeping my eyes from her no matter if we were at Illyria or in her bed.
As we spent more time together, I was learning things about my lovers that made our connection understandable. Only a few nights before, Sebastian had opened up about his past. Like me, Sebastian’s family of origin hadn’t accepted him when he came out. While they weren’t openly hostile, their feelings were clear, and he’d run away when he was sixteen, ending up tricking to get by. Antonio had met him at a shelter when he was nineteen, and given him a job when he opened Illyria. Bast had been paying Antonio’s generosity forward when he gave me a place to stay.
