Page 14
“Sure. Thanks, Joey.” I nod and fill another glass for Scotty as Patrick yells down to us.
“It’s a normal-sized shower, so we can attempt, but it’ll be tight.”
As much as I’d love to squeeze in, Patrick and I aren’t exactly small men, and besides, this is just the start of the week together. If what just happened was any indication of how it’ll go, there will be a lot more time spent naked.
“I can shower down here,” I offer with a shrug. “I just need a quick rinse off if you want to take Scotty upstairs and help him, babe.”
Scotty gives me a confused side-eye look, like he’s hesitant to go along with that suggestion, so I try to assure him with a smile and a wink. “We’ll talk more over dinner, but I promise we’re all okay.”
“Come on, let me take care of you,” Patrick encourages from the loft.
Scotty sighs, rolling his eyes playfully before he relents. “Fine, if you insist, I suppose you can spoil me.”
Scotty grabs his suitcase and heads upstairs, and I notice Patrick’s still down here. Hopefully that means Patrick will come down naked and that Scotty wants to sleep with us this week. Now that we’ve started off the trip with such a bang, the idea of saying goodbye at the end of the night sounds kind of awful, but I need to wait for him to confirm he wants that before I get my hopes up.
Peeling my eyes off them, I find the bathroom down here and quickly rinse off. When I’m out, I rifle through my suitcase, finding a pair of sweats to throw on and grab my phone to look up food options around us. Since we already drove so much today, staying in and getting delivery sounds like the perfect plan.
There’s a lot to choose from—which I wasn’t expecting—including a Mediterranean restaurant. From what I remember, that was one of Scotty’s favorites, and Patrick and I love it as well, so that seems like the obvious choice. Since they’re still upstairs showering, I add a bunch of entrées and sides to the cart and order.
As much fun as it would be to have Patrick come down completely naked, I decide to be polite and bring our suitcases up to the loft before heading back down to the living room. While I wait for them to return, I try to examine my feelings about the two of them upstairs alone together. Do I wish I was up there with them? Sure. But only because I enjoy being with them and I know how hot they are naked, not because I’m jealous. I also think it’s important for Scotty to see firsthand that we’re not afraid of him coming between us if we want him to fully embrace our time together this week. He needs to see how much Patrick and I trust each other.
Intentionally planning a vacation with a third rather than finding one there is new territory for us, even if we never had hookup plans when we booked this place. Patrick and I normally check in with each other throughout those experiences, and with this being an extended time with Scotty, I think it’s important that he’s part of those conversations as well, which is only part of why I’m hoping he’ll be sleeping in bed with us.
The sex was fucking incredible. I didn’t think it was possible to be more excited about the rest of our time here, but I am. Before today, I couldn’t tell if I’d built up how great that first night years ago was in my head or if it was actually that good. Somehow, it was even better. There are countless other positions I want to find us in this week, and while we originally made plans to leave the cabin to do Christmas activities, I just don’t know if there’s time anymore.
The bathroom door upstairs opens, and I’m immediately obsessed with the whole loft setup because I have the perfect view as Patrick and Joey step out with white towels around their waists and steam billowing around them.
Just in case my ogling isn’t obvious enough, I call up, “Fucking hell, you two look hot.”
“Glad we can give you something pretty to look at,” Patrick teases. “Thanks for bringing my bag up here, love.”
“Of course.”
They change into clean clothes—Patrick in Christmas-themed pajama pants and Scotty in gray sweatpants with a black tee—and make their way down the spiral staircase a few moments later.
“I ordered us a fuck-ton of Mediterranean food.”
“I love Mediterranean,” Scotty replies excitedly.
I smirk to myself. “I remembered. That’s why I ordered it.”
He gawks at me for a moment, mouth dropping open ever so slightly so his lips part. “You remembered? After all this time?”
“Of course I did. We spent multiple days a week together before you moved to LA. I’m just glad it’s still one of your favorites.”
“Even though we didn’t do well at keeping up, we did think about you and often talked about how we hoped you were happy,” Patrick tells him.
Scotty chews on his lip, the hesitation clearly back. “I thought I was happy for a while, but now that I’m back in New York, I’m painfully aware I wasn’t.” He pauses but looks like he wants to say more, so we both wait. “Even the few hours we’ve spent together already have been enough to remind me of how easy our friendship always was. My relationship with Harry was never this simple, but I’d already left my entire life behind and moved across the country to be with him. I liked the idea of being in that kind of relationship where we would do anything to be together, but obviously I was the only one who felt that way. There’s no use in wishing things could’ve been different, though, because it won’t change anything, but I will say, I’m happy I’m here with you two now.”
“Us too,” I answer confidently.
Patrick smiles as he claps his hands together loudly. “Well, I’d be happier here if the place had a few more decorations. How about we get into the Christmas spirit while we wait for the food to arrive? The meager attempt at holiday decor is honestly more depressing than if they didn’t have any.”
“Is there a hidden box of decorations somewhere…?” Scotty starts to ask before trailing off and answering his own question. “Wait, no, you packed one, didn’t you?”
“Just one? Where’s the fun in that? I couldn’t risk a boring Christmas! Let me go grab the bins in the trunk, and we can turn this home into our own winter wonderland.”
I knew he packed all of our decor, which is why our apartment only had the pencil tree and a few tea towels in it. But Scotty obviously had no idea. Patrick’s Christmas collection has only grown over the years we were apart, to the point Jace’s old room/our guest room is now basically a storage room. Scotty seems delighted, smiling as he watches Patrick shrug on his coat and boots before going outside.
