Clay: Agreed, but I’m about to get on a plane. My place tonight, 8pm?
Travis’s text didn’t come in until I got back to the clinic and I read it while coming in the back door.
Travis: Yeah. See y’all then.
I wore the red leopard print heels Clay had given me like they might be a good luck charm. Since I’d worn them the night the three of us had become one, my hope was their magic would work again. Trepidation made my muscles tight as I walked over to Clay’s house, and my steps slowed as I came through the gate.
Travis’s SUV was already parked in Clay’s driveway.
Was he running even earlier than I was, or were they meeting without me?
I swallowed dryly and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, Clay’s figure darkened the glass insert of the door. He wore jeans, a button-down shirt, and a look of anxiety that faded the instant he saw me.
“Hey,” I said softly.
“Hi.” He pushed up his glasses as he stepped back and gestured for me to come inside, but he seemed transfixed. He gazed at me like there were a million things he wanted to say, but first he just needed to look at me.
My heart skipped.
He’d never gazed at me like this before. It was the reaction I’d hoped for the morning after we’d all slept together, and I was thrilled to see he was back. Not just physically either. This was the man who’d let his guard down that night and let me in.
His focus moved down to note the shoes I wore, and recognition lit his eyes. He was pleased by my choice.
I’d been temporarily distracted by him but snapped back to reality. “Is Travis here already?”
Clay’s expression voided out and his shields went back up. “Yeah, he’s in the dining room.”
I followed behind him and when we stepped into the room, the tension was so thick it nearly knocked me over. It only grew when Clay went around the large table to the far side, standing behind the chair that was directly across from Travis, rather than take the one closest that was beside him.
Sitting on opposite sides made them seem like rivals, and had the added bonus of a choice for me. If I sat next to one of the men, it’d seem I was choosing them over the other. At my entrance, Travis rose to his feet. On the surface, it was merely courtesy. Neither man would take their seat until I did, but it felt like a power play.
So I marched to the end of the table, pulled out the chair at the head of it, and sat, leaving equal distance between me and the men.
The atmosphere of the room was already formal, and the gesture of the men taking their seats after I had only added to it. Was this a fucking business negotiation? I peered over at Travis. “You got here early.”
He frowned and cast his gaze across the table. “I wanted to talk to Clay first.”
My pulse quickened. “About?”
“I told him that if he truly cares about you, he’ll step aside.”
I stopped breathing. “You did what?”
He gave me a look that I didn’t understand. It was like he’d faced a difficult decision, made his choice, and now he had to see it through. “By his own admission, I can give you things he can’t. Lilith, we can be in a relationship that’s more than just scene partners.”
Clay’s tone was curt. “Has she said she wants that?”
The question momentarily derailed Travis, and he blinked, lost. But then his expression firmed up. “I’m not just talking about dating. I’m talking about,” he took a deep breath, “love.”
It was the same reaction as if Travis had dropped a bomb on the center of the table. I froze, while Clay inhaled sharply.
Love.
The word activated something in Clay. A fight-or-flight response, but instead of getting up and leaving, he leaned forward and spread his hands on the table. He looked like a man willing to fight, to go all in, and it left me breathless.
“Yes,” he glared at Travis, “in the beginning I said I couldn’t give her those things, but now everything is different. The rules keep changing. Every plan I draft gets altered.” His focus snapped to me. “The only thing I can expect is the unexpected.”
My hands were in my lap, and they balled into fists from the way his intense stare drilled into me. “I don’t understand.”
His voice dropped to a hush. “Yeah. Me, either.” His gaze fell to the table. “It feels like I’m building a house and all of a sudden, this entire new section got added and now I’m scrambling to keep it together. To understand how to make it work.”
I got what he was saying. We’d started to build a relationship together, and when Travis was added, it upended that. Didn’t he know he didn’t have to figure it out alone? Yes, he was my dom, but I’d never expect him to have all the answers.