Chapter 26
Seb
Seb could feel Daniel staring at him. She was naked except for a crop top and the thin bed shorts he liked, all pale pink and wispy like cotton candy. He ignored her, staring hard at the chessboard until he heard the quiet rustle of fabric. “Daniel…you better not have done what I think you did.”
“Look at me and find out.”
In his peripheral vision Seb could see she’d taken off her crop top. “You’re teasing me.”
“No. I’m enjoying the light caress of fresh air on my skin.”
“We’re inside.”
“Still…” She stretched so that her breasts rose up and out, her nipples presenting themselves to him. “Mmm. Air.”
Seb kept his gaze on the board. “We’re playing chess.”
“I know we are. But here’s my question; do you think pants are an essential part of the chess playing process?”
Seb didn’t reply. She’d been handsy all through the making of a four-cheese lasagna and the clean up afterward but he’d resisted. Now the table was set, the pasta was in the oven and he only had to hold off twenty more minutes before they’d be having a nice romantic dinner as opposed to downing handfuls of salted cashews and swigging orange juice before going back to bed.
The past four days he’d lived like an animal; barely doing anything except screwing, sleeping, and fueling up on whatever foodstuff placed themselves closest to his hands. It was like riding a sexual merry-go-round that sped up and slowed down but never stopped.
He knew most men would punch him in the stomach for being such an ungrateful baby Seb knew he needed more. As amazing as it was to finally have sexual preferences that went beyond ‘Sex. With a woman. At any time and in any way’ he wanted things with Daniel that didn’t involve their bodies touching.
Daniel’s crop top landed on the board, upending two of his knights and one of her pawns. “Oh no.”
Without looking Seb picked it up and placed it beside him, straightening up the chess pieces. “No harm done.” He moved his bishop in position to take her queen. “Your turn.”
Daniel reclined back on the couch and Seb tried to ignore the bounce of her breasts. He knew exactly how they felt now, in his hands, his mouth, against his chest…
“Hey Seb?”
He ignored her.
“Seb? Sebastian? Sebastian Rhodes?”
“I’m not saying anything until you make a move.”
Daniel shoved one of her pawns directly in the line of his knight. “Seb?”
“What?” he said, trying not to smile.
“What’s your middle name?”
He fought not to smile. “Arthur.”
“Nawww. Do you want to know something, Sebastian Arthur Rhodes?” She leaned closer, her breasts swaying. “It turns me on when you ignore me.”
“Everything turns you on,” Seb pointed out.
“Not everything,” Daniel protested. “Not cheese.”
This time he had to clench his teeth so he wouldn’t grin. “I told you; we ain’t havin’ sex right now.”
“But you look so gorgeous sitting there in your polo shirt. I’ve seen you naked so much lately it’s a novelty, trying to picture what’s underneath it.”
Seb rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed and flattered.
That was the thing about Daniel; she never held anything back. She always made it clear how much she wanted him, how attractive she thought he was. After years of feeling like a freak it was an ego-boosting experience. At least up until he realized that might be the only thing Daniel liked about him. Seb refocused on the board, determined to carry on with his plan. He reached forward and claimed Daniel’s bishop. “Your move.”
Daniel picked up her queen and bopped his king on the head with it. “Checkmate.”
Seb’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not how chess works.”
“Pretty sure it is. Pretty sure I just won.”
“No you didn’t.”
“Fine.” Daniel sighed. “I didn’t want it to come to this, Boy Scout, but you leave me no choice.”
She swept a hand across the board, knocking over all their pieces in a loud rattle. “How do you like that business?”
Seb, knowing when he was beat launched himself over the coffee table at her. She squealed as he drove his fingers into her sides, honing in on the spots he knew she was most ticklish.
“How are you doing this to me?” he growled. “A man shouldn’t need to be with a woman eight times a day, it’s not right.”
Daniel’s nails scraped over his scalp. “When you say ‘be with a woman eight times a day’ you mean…?”
Seb swallowed. “I want to…fuck you. All day, every day. I never stop getting hard for you.”
Daniel smiled against his neck. “You’ve come a long way Sebastian, I might cry.”
That was the other thing about Daniel and sex, she didn’t withhold vital information. In a single hour she’d showed him exactly how to make her come. Compared to the ASVAB it was easy. There were patterns to follow with his tongue and places to press his fingers and signs that acted like markers; shaking legs, increasing wetness, soft breathy moans. When Daniel finished all over him, hips rocking, hands fisted tightly in his hair, he’d known exactly what was about to happen. It was better than he’d ever imagined and he’d imagined it a lot.
Beneath him Daniel laughed. “What are you thinking about?”
“What I did to you on this couch. That first time,” Seb admitted.
“Interesting…” She ran a thoughtful hand down his abdomen. “Would you like me to suck your cock while you think about it?”
Seb shook his head. “Let me do…what I did to you again.”
Daniel quirked an eyebrow at him. “Say it?”
“Pussy,” Seb said resolutely. “I wanna to eat your pussy. I want you to come all over my face until I feel like I’m gonna drown in you.”
Daniel’s breath hitched. “Then what are you waiting for Sebastian?”
Seb knelt down in front of her, on the same bit of carpet where he’d first given head. He peeled Daniel’s shorts aside and slicked his tongue through her folds.
“You taste like the beach,” he told her. “Like salt and seawater and warm air and soft towels.”
She smiled at him. “And you’re a natural born lady-killer, Boy Scout. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not.”
It wasn’t what Seb wanted to hear and not the name he wanted her to call him, but he knew better than to push for words of affection. He didn’t want her to tell him what he wanted to hear, he wanted her to cry it out in passion, whisper it to him in bed. She hadn’t yet, but she might, if he was good and patient. He bent forward, nuzzling his face against her inner thighs. “How d’you want it? Fast or slow?”
“Slow.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He bent to his task only to have his head tugged back up.
“Say it for me?”
“Say what?” he said, playing dumb.
She glared at him. “You know exactly what, Rhodes.”
He laughed then assumed a look of what he hoped was smoldering devotion. “As you wish.”
Daniel burst into peals of delighted laughter that soon became soft sighs of pleasure as he recommitted himself to her pussy.
Time stood still as Seb licked her, losing himself in the slow whorls and gentle sucks, the taste and her soft sounds of pleasure. He was suddenly grateful that Maddie never let him do this, if she had he’d never have gotten the marks he needed to study medicine. His brain gave him a gentle prod, quietly reminding him that college would mean leaving Daniel. He shoved it aside. Part of being with Daniel meant blocking out thoughts of the future.
She was seconds from orgasm when the living room door swung open with a bang. Seb jerked up to see Colt standing in the doorway, his hair wet from the surf. “Hey kids. Something’s burning in the kitchen.”
Seb swore as he raising his watch to eye-level. “Dammit I thought I set the alarm.”
“Just kidding,” Colt leaning over the back of the couch. “Lasagna’s fine. I turned the oven off.”
“Cheers, Tarzan.” Daniel’s face was pink, her breasts heaving. “You’ve always gotta make an entrance, don’t you?”
“Yeah…” Colt stared dumbly at the place Seb had just been licking. “You’re so fuckin’ hot.”
Daniel rolled her eyes. “Speaking of entrances, you are useless whenever you can see my gash.”
“Can you blame me?” Colt made a face. “Don’t call it that.”
“Don’t tell me how to live my life,” Daniel said cheerfully. “In case you hadn’t noticed we were in the middle of something. Either make yourself useful or leave.”
“Make myself useful, huh?” Colt leaned over the back of the couch and cupped her breasts. “You mean like this?”
Daniel’s eyes closed in pleasure. “Seb, is this okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, his face only heating slightly.
What Seb’s former preacher would say if he knew he spent most of his time having threesomes with a Jewish girl and a six-foot-four Hispanic man Seb could only imagine, but that was exactly what he was doing. And more to the point he was enjoying it.
He and Colt had talked the morning after they’d both slept with Daniel. Daniel had escaped her bed in the early hours of the morning, locked herself in her bathroom and taken the world’s longest shower. Uncomfortable at finding themselves alone in bed together he and Colt had walked back the main house wound-up and silent. When they reached the surveillance quarters they found John had scrawled a note to say he’d be out all day, which didn’t help either of their moods.
“’S’pose we should talk about this?” Colt said, looking as though he’d rather peel off his own fingernails.
“Yeah probably,” Seb had agreed.
They’d had a brief but furious argument that culminated in Seb admitting that he didn’t think either of them, John or Colt, cared enough for Daniel
“The fuck are you talking about?” Colt asked.
“You passed out the second you were done with her! And John was rude as hell. He wouldn’t talk to Daniel, wouldn’t touch her, then he sat in the corner of the room and watched her sleep like an ax murderer in a horror movie.”
“Shit,” Colt said, running a hand through his hair. “Well first of all, I always doze off after I come. Always. Sorry you have to know that about me, but there you go.”
Seb avoided his gaze. “Right.”
“The other thing is that John’s got issues when it comes to the girl, he told me as much last night.”
Seb recalled the bright smears of lipstick on both their necks. “You mean when you and he were out picking up some other woman?”
Colt’s neck went red. “Look, kid, I know we fucked up. We were drunk and jealous and it didn’t mean shit. I wish that hadn’t happened.”
“Well it did,” Seb shot back.
“Yeah, and you’re fucking perfect, are you? Panty-sniffer?”
Seb’s insides turned to ice. “You’re not gonna tell Daniel about that, are you?”
Colt fixed him with a hard unblinking stare. He was rarely serious but when he was it got a little unnerving. “No. Not if you listen to what I’m about to tell you.”
“What is it?”
The older man sighed. “Look I know you like her kid, but so do I.”
“You’re not gonna ask me to step aside, are you?” Seb asked, knowing what his answer would be if Colt did.
“You wouldn’t leave her even if I asked.” Colt walked over to the fridge and pulled out two beers. It was eight am but Seb accepted it all the same.
“The way I see it we have two options,” Colt said after taking a long pull in his bottle. We can butt heads, get jealous, try and make Daniel choose but chances are she’ll tell both of us to fuck off.”
The thought had already crossed Seb’s mind. “And the second option?”
Colt took another, even larger gulp from his bottle. “We share her.”
“Share her?” Seb’s brain sagged. “You mean…Sleeping with her at the same time?”
“Yup and if our balls touch, so much the better.” Colt grinned at his horrified expression, looking like his usual frat boy self again. “Just messing with you. We don’t have to get in bed together, I just think we should decide we’re okay with both of us seeing her. Try not to make it a competition.”
Seb thought carefully, weighing his options. He didn’t want to compete with Colt for Daniel’s time or affection. It just seemed like a recipe for heartache. Besides, there was no reason why Daniel wouldn’t choose him. They were closer in age, had similar interests, he didn’t black out right after coming…
“I know what you’re thinking,” Colt said, almost draining his bottle.
“No you don’t.”
He stood up and moved towards the mini-fridge. “You think if you game this out right you can get Daniel to pick you.”
Seb took a small swallow of beer, a little embarrassed to be caught out so easily.
“Got a newsflash for you blondie,” Colt said yanking another two bottles from the fridge. “It won’t work. Like it or not we’ve built this thing together. Daniel’s interested in both of us. She chooses me, she’ll miss you. She chooses you, she’ll miss me. It’s just the way things have turned out.”
“So we share her instead?” Seb said, trying and failing to sound sarcastic. “Make her feel like a piece of meat.”
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be treated like a piece of meat every now and again Rhodes. After last night I thought you’d know that.” Colt’s frat boy smile faded. “Besides, this isn’t gonna last forever. Contract’s almost up.”
“I know,” Seb said hollowly. “I’ve been trying not to think about it.”
“So don’t think about it. Let’s just enjoy what we have without overthinking things.”
Seb ran his tongue over his teeth. “What about Ms. Elkin, do you think she’d let both of us see Daniel?”
“Don’t see why not, she sounded pretty fuckin’ blasé about it when we spoke. Besides, we can go in at different times if you’d like. I see her in the mornings, you can come down afterward that kind of thing.”
Seb imagined punching in and out of Castle by the Sea like it was shift work. “Seems a bit…wrong.”
Colt raised his eyebrows at him. “Did get jealous when you saw her with Hall?”
He recalled how he’d sat in front of the monitor’s his fists clenched, feeling sick to his stomach. “Yeah.”
“How about when me and John were in with her? You get jealous then?”
“I don’t know…it was different.”
“Different, how? It was the exact same situation. You up here by yourself, watching.”
“It just was,” he said looking away, painfully aware of Colts eyes on him. He didn’t want to admit that it had turned him on to watch as the woman he’d slept with, the girl he cared about, being pleasured by two other men. He could barely admit to himself the tight-chested excitement he’d felt being relegated to the surveillance room and that he’d masturbated himself to an orgasm around the same time Colt was finishing inside. It wasn’t normal. It wasn’t right.
“It’s okay kid,” Colt said gruffly. “I know you weren’t jealous when John and I came in cos it was the same thing with me. When I saw you and Dani together it was nothing like when I pictured her with Hall. I wasn’t jealous like I was before.”
Seb smiled, touched that Colt was trying to comfort him. “It didn’t hurt the same way,” he admitted. “When I was watching I wanted to be where you were but I also knew you weren’t gonna hurt Daniel or-or.” Take her from me.
“You trust us,” Colt concluded. “That’s gonna be our saving grace going forward. If you believe that I won’t cut you out and I trust you won’t stab me in the back either we’ll be fine.”
He grinned at him. “Plus threesomes are fucking hot so if you’re happy to share in bed, I’m definitely up for it.”
Seb looked away, cheeks hot. “I don’t know.”
Again Colt sensed his distress. “We don’t need to have a big heart- to-heart, long as you know there’s no shame in liking this stuff, you know that right? Doesn’t make you gay. Isn’t gonna send you to hell.”
Seb nodded. He knew that in his brain, it was getting his heart to listen that was the problem. “I’ll think on it awhile, I’m sure I’ll get used to the idea.”
“That’s the spirit,” Colt said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Wait, you’re not from one of those Mormon families, are you?”
“They only let men marry multiple women, not the other way around.”
“That’s a damn shame; I think I’d be great at being half a husband.” He smirked at Seb. “Guess you and I are gonna find out what it’s like, huh?”
“Yeah.” Seb didn’t want to ask but felt he should. “What about John?”
Colt’s smile melted away. “Can’t say. He’s deep in his head about this thing. I don’t think he wants to come near Daniel again.” He shot a dark glance at John’s empty chair. “To be honest that doesn’t bother me now that I know he was such a prick.”
“Right.” Seb exhaled, more relieved than he was willing to admit to himself. “So now what?”
“I’ll call Elkin; get the papers Hall signed sent to us,” Colt said, cheerful again.
“I meant, what we should do about Daniel? She’s been in the shower for sixty minutes.”
“Oh yeah.” Colt glanced at the monitors. Their lover was facing the shower wall as though she knew what they were doing and was determined to hide her face.
“We need to be smart about this, not overwhelm her,” Colt said slowly. “Let’s stay here for a while, let her get her bearings, and this afternoon we’ll go down and talk to her. If she hears what we have to say and decides she wants both of us….” Colt shoved a hand at him. “Give it our best shot?”
“All we can do,” Seb replied and they shook on it.
That afternoon they’d gone down and helped Daniel make pizza. She was happy to see them but a little cautious as though she didn’t know how to proceed. Seb was so nervous he got a little drunk and was relieved Colt took it upon himself to explain their proposal to Daniel. Though not as relieved as when she accepted.
“I was scared you were here to make me choose like this was the fucking Bachelorette.” She laughed. “I hate that show. And I like you all the same.”
Seb noted that John had to be included in the all, or she’d have said ‘both of you the same.’ But John still hadn’t returned from whatever day-long errand he was on and Seb was glad. Like Colt said it was probably for the best.
“So what now?” Daniel had said, looking at them with an evil smile. “Should we shake on it like gentlemen?”
Colt seized a gentle handful of her hair and guiding her gently toward Seb. “How about we fuck on it instead?”
So Seb had his first threesome in the big black marble kitchen where he and Daniel had first kissed. And it had been hazy and manic and a turn-on from beginning to, well, it felt like their three-way had never actually ended. When he and Colt shook hands Seb had braced himself for failure. Now, kneeling between Daniel’s legs licking at her Colt rubbing his hands over her breasts, he could admit he was wrong. Their arrangement didn’t feel like shift work, it felt like a holiday, a state of suspended reality where anything went and decadence was the norm. He wanted more, he knew that, but it was all too easy to be swept along by the tidal wave of pleasure and try as he might, he never fought the current for long.