Twenty-Nine

 

 

 

Trent couldn’t help but smile at the concentration on Lily’s face.  She was frowning with her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth as she moved the mop over the floor.  The handle was too big for her little hands, so Trent was helping without letting her know, keeping the bulk of the weight in his own hands above her head and helping to steer it where it needed to go.

“Looks pretty clean to me, buttercup.  What do you think?”

She paused and stared down at the floor.  Finally, with an emphatic nod of her head, she declared, “Yep, it’s clean.”

“Let’s get the mop and bucket put away so your daddy doesn’t trip over them, okay?”

“Okay.  And then we can play more candyland!”

“And then it’s time for bed, little lady,” Trent said with a stern look and his hands on his hips.

She looked like she was going to argue but then she glanced behind Trent.  He looked over his shoulder and saw Liam, with Aleksy’s arm around his waist, cradling him against his body.  Aleksy had a look of awe on his face while Liam had a range of emotions flitting over his like clouds floating across a clear blue sky.   Hesitation, grief, wonder, skepticism, hope  - it all moved across his face.  As Trent stared at Liam, he felt Lily step up next to him and slide her tiny hand into his, “Are you, um, are you better now, Daddy?”

Liam’s eyes moved to Lily and his face lit up, “I’m clean now, baby girl.  Still sore though.”

“You should be in bed.  Get into bed, daddy.  I’ll fix your pillows for you!” she said as she turned to climb onto the bed.

As she moved, Liam’s eyes moved back to Trent’s and then he seemed to remember that his hand was clenched over Aleksy’s at his waist with their fingers entwined.  He unwound them and dropped his hand to his side.  Was he worried that Trent didn’t like Liam touching Aleksy?  Or that he didn’t like Aleksy touching Liam? 

Newsflash - he really was okay with both.

Trent shook his head as he took a few steps forward,  “I like it there,” he whispered as he reached down to Liam’s hand and brought it back up to Aleksy’s.  He pressed his lips to Liam’s forehead then pulled back to look into his eyes, “It looks good there, feels right,” he said and then he turned to press his lips to Aleksy’s, “feels good,” he said as he turned to look back at Liam, whose eyes were wide as he looked between Aleksy and Trent. “Yes?”

Liam’s adams apple bobbed as he swallowed a few times before he nodded and said, “It does but….but why?”

Trent reached forward to cup Liam’s cheek and slide his thumb across his lips, “I have no idea,” he said with a smile.

“Lily?” Liam said as he kept his eyes moving between Trent and Aleksy.

“Yes, daddy?”

“Can you please move my pillows to the middle of the bed?”

His eyebrow lifted at his question, a silent way of asking them to sleep in the bed….with him.

Trent smiled and nodded his head once as he turned to help Lily.  Aleksy squeezed Liam’s hand and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

None of them had any idea what was happening between them but they were all onboard with finding out.

 

               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Can I have a story?” Lily asked as she twirled circles in the laundry room while Trent dumped out the bucket and rinsed the mop.

“Of course, buttercup.  Why don’t you go brush your teeth and then pick one out while I finish up here?”

She was gone almost before he finished his sentence.

“You sure lit a fire under her,” Aleksy said with a chuckle as he leaned against the doorway.

“Storytime,” Trent said as he wiped his hands on a towel.

“Ah,” Aleksy said as he stared at Trent.  “So….” he started but then hesitated.

Trent leaned his hip against the large sink, “So?” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Have you done this before?”

“Done what?  Washed a mop?  Yeah, a few times,” he said with a smirk.

Aleksy smiled, “You really are a smartass, aren’t you?”

“You’d be amazed how many things my ass is - smart, firm, tight, delicious,” Trent said as he took a few steps forward.

Aleksy’s hands reached out to grip Trent’s shirt by his hips, “I don’t even know how to do a normal relationship, Dragon.”

“Are you saying that three men together isn’t normal? That it’s wrong?”

Aleksy rolled his eyes, “No, of course not. But it isn’t something you run across every day.  I fuck up relationships with just two people.  I’m a chronic workaholic, and I have to work extra hard to keep a reputation of an honest detective. I really don’t know what I’m going to do when there’s not one but two other people that I have to worry about not pissing off, not doing something wrong, not hurting them.”

“So, you’re scared,” Trent whispered, his lips pressing against Aleksy’s neck.

“Terrified.”

“Is that going to keep you from trying?”

“Nothing short of one of you telling me to take a hike could keep me from trying at this point.”

“Ah, so you’re feeling it too.”

“Yes, but how?  We’ve barely talked, hardly know each other, haven’t fucked yet.  Why am I feeling this so strongly?”

“You’re a good detective, right?”

Aleksy snorted a laugh, “I like to think so.”

“So, you go by your gut a lot, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s your gut telling you right now?”

Aleksy stared into Trent’s eyes for several seconds before he spoke. “That I’d be making the biggest mistake of my life if I walked away.”

Trent smiled, “And there’s your sign, babe,” he whispered as he pressed a kiss to Aleksy’s cheek and slid past him out of the room.

“But……” Aleksy mumbled with a frown.

“Not without him, babe.  If we do this, we do it together….all of us.”

Aleksy watched him walk down the hall.  For a man who purported to be just as bad at relationships as Aleksy, Trent sure seemed to be getting this one right.

Aleksy could only hope that he got it right too.