DreamALittleDream (11 page)

"Cael, ‘sweetheart’ is what my grandpa used to call my
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grandma before she passed away. I would spend most of my time with them growing up since both my parents worked. They were so at peace with each other, and him calling her sweetheart was one thing I remember most about them. It means just as much as ‘baby’ does to me.” Gently, he tilted Cael’s face up until he could look in those violet eyes. Those eyes were wide with surprise and the soft glow of happiness.

“Really?” Cael asked. His grin widened when Jake nodded. “Oh, good.” It came out as a whisper, and Jake barely heard it over the roar of the shower, but hear it he did.

Jake grinned and pulled Cael’s unresisting body into his arms. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, we can get on to part two of the showering together thing.”

Cael laughed delightedly and leapt up to wrap his arms around Jake’s neck and his legs around Jake’s waist.

“What part? The part where we play together soaking wet part?” he asked silkily.

Jake nodded. “Exactly.”

Cael grinned and leaned down from his height to place a scorching kiss on Jake’s mouth. “Good,” he mumbled, without lifting his lips from Jake’s. “I was hoping that was part of this whole showering together thing.” He laughed as Jake turned him suddenly, placing his back against the cold wall tile and crushing into his front.

“Sweetheart, you haven’t seen anything yet,” Jake growled, right before he set out to make showering together one of Cael’s new favorite pastimes.

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Aiden grinned as he listened to the sounds of his lovers tromping down the stairs, Cael’s now familiar giggle leading the way. He pushed around the scrambled eggs as they cooked, shaking his head in wonderment. Never in his wildest imaginings had he believed that he and Jake would add a third to their relationship, and certainly never a former patient. Especially one so young.

If he was honest, that was the thing he worried about most. It wasn’t that Aiden was worried he couldn’t love his newest lover; hell, he was half in love with the kid already. But that was the problem. Cael
was
just a kid.

Then again, he had probably lived and dealt with more than Aiden could even imagine. So that was Aiden’s problem.

It hit him then, like someone striking an anvil right on his head. It was
Aiden’s
problem, not Cael’s. Aiden was always thinking about Cael as a kid, or just a boy, when in actuality, he was plenty old enough to make his own decisions and be held accountable for them. Sure, some may look at them funny, but Aiden had never cared what people thought about him. Being gay was already a big enough issue with some; being part of a triad would just be one more thing for someone to complain about. Who was he to deny someone as sweet and wonderful as Cael the love and friendship he and Jake could bring; shit, who was he to deny himself?

Besides, his mother would adore another son to spoil when she came down to see him, and it meant his brother could steal Jake more often to work on the cars
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in the garage without him noticing. Jake’s parents were estranged, Cael’s had passed away, and Aiden's hippie family had never been anything but supportive. Hell, he wasn’t even the only homosexual in the family. His sister, Anna, and her partner, Jill, had four kids together and another on the way; adding one more son-in-law wasn’t going to be a problem. Like his mom always said, “Male, female, it doesn’t matter who you’re in love with, as long as you love them with all your heart.”

Aiden grinned. He couldn’t wait to call his family and tell them the great news.

He jumped when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist and a warm chest rubbed against his back.

“You’re going burn the eggs, baby. What you thinking about so damn hard?” Jake asked, his deep voice rumbling through Aiden’s back and into his chest, making Aiden’s nipples hard.

“Nothing,” Aiden replied, quickly grabbing the forgotten spatula and stirring the slightly overcooked eggs. “Just came to a conclusion.” He glanced over his shoulder with a smile.

“Yeah?” Jake asked, quirking a brow. “And?”

Aiden set the pan of eggs on a cool burner and turned in Jake’s arms to face him. Aiden grinned. “Yeah. The three of us are going have a great life.”

Jake returned Aiden’s grin with one of his own, splashing his perfect smile. “Damn straight, baby,” Jake laughed, leaning forward for a kiss. “Mmm,” he moaned. “Bacon kisses, one of the best kinds.”

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Aiden laughed. “I couldn’t help myself. It looked so yummy.”

“It is yummy,” a voice piped up, and Aiden looked over Jake’s shoulder at the table where Cael was sitting in what had become his chair, munching on a large piece of bacon.

“Hey!” Aiden scolded lightly. “No bacon for you until I get my morning kiss,” he huffed.

Cael blushed prettily as he got up, carrying the rest of the bacon in his hand. He leaned into Aiden’s chest, but right before Aiden’s lips touched his, he popped the rest of the bacon into his mouth and planted a big, bacon flavored kiss on Aiden’s grinning mouth.

“Little shit.” Aiden laughed as he swooped back in for a deeper kiss, sweeping away every trace of bacon he could find in his little love’s mouth. He swallowed Cael’s giggle turned moan before nipping at the tempting, full bottom lip as he pulled away. Cael smiled, sighing softly.

“Come sit, you two, before your breakfast gets cold,”

Jake interrupted, shaking his head with a smile.

“Honestly.”

Aiden swatted the back of Jake’s head as he passed, and Cael sat down in a chair quickly.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, face completely on fire.

“Hey,” Jake said, reaching over and placing a gentle
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hand on Cael’s arm. “I’m not mad, sweetheart, just kidding around. No worries.”

Cael studied his face for a minute and then smiled softly. “Okay.”

Aiden chuckled. “It’s actually because Jake becomes a bear when there’s food on the table and he wants to eat.

After all the exercise I heard you both doing upstairs, he’s got to be starving.” Aiden laughed louder when Jake growled at him. “See!”

Cael laughed softly at Jake, then turned to Aiden with a question lurking in those big, beautiful eyes. “You really don’t mind? You don’t care that Jake and I were together when you weren’t there too?” Cael looked so afraid of the answer that Aiden could have sworn he felt his heart clench.

Aiden leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Cael’s brow. “No, honey, I don’t mind. I love the fact that the two of you were together. It turns me on and makes my heart light at the same time.” He stopped to take a sip of his coffee and winked. “Besides, that just means that now you and Jake both owe me one,” he said, leering between both his men.

Jake laughed, and Cael blushed. “We’ll make it up to you, I promise,” he swore.

Aiden smiled. “Of that I have no doubt. Now eat your breakfast, honey. The sooner we get done, the sooner we can start the day.”

“What are we doing today?” Cael asked, taking a bite of
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eggs.

“Ooh, me, me! Do me!” Jake cried, raising his hand in the air as a volunteer.

Aiden quirked a brow and glanced over at Cael. “That sound good?” he asked. Aiden nearly laughed out loud at the look of pure lust of the younger man’s face as he stared hungrily at Jake’s bare chest. “Yeah, I thought so.”

***

Never before had he felt this way. Not even with Sam, his ex. Cael had never known that making love could be so fun, so good feeling. The three of them had made love twice more that day, and now they were sitting on the couch, watching the first Star Wars movie, him cuddled up to Aiden’s side, playing lightly with Jake’s hair as the bigger man rested with his head in Aiden’s lap. It was heaven.

And it truly was lovemaking they were doing together, not just sex. Earlier that day, Aiden had taken him with such hunger, but still made sure Cael had felt the maximum amount of pleasure possible. Then Jake had made love to Aiden, so tenderly it had made Cael want to cry. It was so beautiful, and he’d found himself hoping that someday those beautiful men would look at him like they looked at each other; like their entire being revolved around the other. Then Aiden had looked at him, and to Cael’s amazement, the loving look didn’t
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fade, not even when Aiden pulled Cael closer to kiss him and whispered that he loved Cael as he climaxed.

It was so beautiful, so very beautiful.

Cael watched Luke Skywalker cry over the loss of his aunt and uncle, and sympathized. He’d cried for days after his parent’s death, not necessarily because they died, but because they hadn’t listened to him when he begged them to stay home that night. He’d gone as far as throwing a tantrum, but still, it had been no use. They’d died in a car accident on the way home, just like the dreams had said they would. It was after that he knew he had to start recording the dreams, first with writing them in a journal, and later, when one of his foster parents had found that and claimed he was disturbed, in drawings that only he could really interpret. It wasn’t nearly as functional, but it worked well enough. If only they didn’t cause more trouble than they helped.

As he watched Hon Solo rescue the princess, he couldn’t help but feel like he’d been rescued himself. After all, without Jake and Aiden, he would still be in the hospital, or worse, with Max, the mean one. He shuddered at the thought of being at the man’s mercy again. Aiden’s arm tightened around him, but when he glanced up, Aiden’s total focus was on the movie. It made Cael feel good knowing the man was still thinking about him even when Aiden seemed not to be.

Aiden and Jake’s loving and care helped to erase some of the effects of that frightening encounter in the hospital, but he sometimes still woke up with

nightmares, on those nights the dreams didn’t come. In fact, the night before was the first time Cael hadn’t had a
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nightmare since he’d come home with Aiden and Jake.

It’d been so nice.

Another thing Cael found improved was his thought processing. He found it easier to focus on the good things and good sensations than all the things wrong with him and what he was feeling. Self esteem, Aiden had called it. Funny, he didn’t think he had anything like that before. But that was the time he was coming to refer to as the time before the goodness. He was now counting each day as the time after.

He smiled as he wiggled closer into Aiden’s warmth, his eyes feeling heavy and his body so comfortable. He relaxed, trying to focus again on the movie, but it was no use. His eyes fluttered closed, and he slipped into the dreams.

Cael stood before a wooden door. It took a moment for
him to recognize it as the door leading to Aiden and
Jake’s bedroom. He listened intently, but didn’t hear
anything on the other side. Glancing down, he could see
a light shining under the door, so someone had to be
inside.

Strange, he thought, unable to tear his eyes from the
door. Where were Aiden and Jake? Were they inside?

He raised his fist to knock, only then noticing that he
clutched a red paintbrush. Like most of the dreams,
everything was in shades of black and white, everything
but the paintbrush. The tip was covered in bright red
paint. He gasped softly, a feeling of foreboding
spreading through him. Whatever was in color was an
important part of the puzzle, something he was supposed
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to focus on. But red paint? What did it mean?

Whatever it meant, Cael knew he didn’t have time to
dwell on it now. He was supposed to go into the room.

He wasn’t sure how he knew, he just let the feeling of
the dream guide him, and right now it was telling him to
put his open hand on the doorknob and to open the door.

But why was he feeling like he was late?

Trembling, feeling a cold sweat break out along his
body, he swallowed carefully before he placed his
shaking hand on the cold brass knob. The door opened
with a loud creak that echoed all around him, and he felt
his breath catch. Why was it so damn cold?

Slowly, he pushed the door open farther, taking a
careful step into the room.

“Aiden?” Cael called softly, his voice hoarse. “Jake,
are you in here?”

He took a step farther into the room, noticing the two
large shapes lying under the covers in the king-size bed
that dominated the room. The closer he got to the bed,
the greater the feeling of dread became.

“Jake? Aiden?” Cael asked in a whimper. His hand
shook as he reached out to slowly lift the covers off the
two still forms.

Red, red everywhere; staining the sheets, covering his
cold lovers, dripping onto the floor. He screamed,
backing up quickly.

“Not paint, not paint, not paint!” Cael cried, sobbing as
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he gazed into the glazed eyes of his lifeless lovers.

Jake’s body half covered Aiden’s, like the man had tried
to defend his lover, and both stared at Cael with
accusing eyes.

“No, please… No, I’m sorry! Please!”

Behind him, the bedroom swung suddenly shut with a
bang, and he whipped around quickly, only to stop in
fright.

“Hello, Cael, long time no see,” Sam said, taking a step
forward from where he’d been hiding behind the door.

He looked exactly the same as he had the last time Cael
had seen him. His blond hair was military short, and his
blue eyes shone with a blankness that scared Cael more
than anything. Red ran down the side of his head; part
of his skull was crushed and some of it missing. Sam
raised a hand toward him, and it too was covered in red.