Sins & Mistrust (38 page)

We kiss for another minute before we break apart and look at Thalia. She’s standing a few feet away, wiping a tear from her cheek.

“Hey,” I croon. “Are you okay?”

“I’m just so happy,” she cries.

Marc grabs her and brings her to us, and we all stand there and hold each other in our own little circle.

“I have something else to say,” Marc announces. “My friends are staying here. Well, most of them are here.”

I nod my head slowly, waiting to see what he’s trying to get at.

“I saw Emilie,” Thalia squeaks from my side. “She was down at the restaurant.”

“You know Emilie?” I ask.

She nods. “I met her at Marc’s house. She seems nice.”

Marc smirks. “Lincoln met her, too.” I want to roll my eyes, because we both know I was in a mood that day. “You saw Troy that day, didn’t you?”

I hesitate to answer, but eventually nod my head.

“So, what are you trying to say?” I ask.

“Troy knows.”

“Troy knows what?”

“Troy knows about all three of us. I told him. Well, he guessed something was up between you and me first, and I ended up telling him everything.”

The shock that rolls through me rivals the happiness. “He guessed?”

Marc nods and grins. “Guess it was palpable.”

“He knows everything, everything. You, me, Thalia, and how we’re all together?”

He laughs. “Yes. Everything.”

“What about your other friends?”

Marc looks at Thalia and me. “I was wondering if you’d want to go with me when I tell them, then you can meet them, and then I can tell you all one more thing I’ve been keeping to myself.”

“Oh God!” I groan.

“Calm down,” he laughs. “It’ll be fine.”

“Well, where are we meeting them?” I ask.

“I need to change!” Thalia squeals, running off and into the room.

“I’ll call them and see,” he answers, pulling his phone from his pocket.

“Hey, Marc?”

“Yeah?” he replies, looking up at me.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Everything. For loving me. For loving Thalia. For telling your friends.”

He gives me his crooked smile and then presses his mouth to mine. I don’t want his lips to leave mine, but I know as soon as we get this over with, we have all night and forever to be together.

“Hey, Troy. Where are you guys at?” he asks into the phone. “Okay. Do you mind if we go up?” He smiles as there’s a pause. “Yes, we. Okay, good. See you soon.”

“You ready for this?” I ask as soon as he hangs up.

“I am. Troy has been really cool about it all. I can only imagine Jace will be the same. Maybe surprised at first, but it’ll be alright.”

“Good. I liked them when I met them at the club.” Marc starts to laugh. “What? Did they think I was an asshole or something?”

He laughs again. “No, actually, Troy told me he thought you were a good-looking guy.”

I raise my brows in surprise. “Well, can’t argue with him there,” I say with a wink.

Thalia comes out of the room dressed in the same dress she wore to the restaurant earlier.”

“Wow, you look great,” Marc says as she struts towards us.

“Thank you. Where are we meeting them?”

“We’re just gonna go up to their room.”

“Ah, man. Am I too dressed up then?”

“No. You look great. Let’s go, they’re expecting us.”

And with that, we walk out—Thalia in between us—and make our way to Marc’s friends. For whatever reason, I feel nervous. I hope they can accept this, because I know they are important to Marc, and he’s important to me.

After taking a deep breath, I knock three times on the door to Troy and Jace’s suite. Nathalia squeezes my hand and Lincoln rubs the back of my shoulder. I’m glad they’re here for this. I’m about to connect some of the most important people in my life.

A minute goes by and I hear one of the girls call out. “I’ll get it!”

When the door swings open, Emilie stands there with a drink in her hand. “Hey, Marc,” she chirps. When she looks over at Nathalia and Lincoln, her brows furrow briefly, but she quickly smiles. “Thalia, hey!” she says excitedly like they’re already friends. “Lincoln,” she says, more modest. “Come on in.”

We follow her in and I see Jace and Troy are out on the balcony, but the glass door is slightly open. Adrienne emerges from the room and sends me a smile.

“Hey, Marc. Good to see you.” She turns towards the balcony. “Guys, Marc’s here!”

“Hey, Adrienne. How are you liking California?” I ask.

“It’s amazing!” she squeals.

I know this is her first time out of Vegas, so I’m not surprised that she finds everything
amazing
.

“Marc, you made it!” Jace announces as he walks in. “Lincoln?” he questions. “Don’t tell me we have club business to do. We’re on vacation,” he jokes as he gives me a half handshake, half hug.

“No. No business,” I chuckle.

“Good. Who’s this?” he asks, looking at Nathalia.

“This is Nathalia. Nathalia, this is Jace, Troy, Adrienne, and you know Emilie,” I reply, pointing to each of them.

She shakes each of their hands, and I see Adrienne shoot Emilie a confused look. Probably wondering how Emilie knows her but she doesn’t. Emilie just shrugs.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Nathalia says softly. I can tell she’s nervous.

“Adrienne, I think you’re the only one who hasn’t met Lincoln.”

“So glad to be left out,” she jokes with an eye roll. “Nice meeting you, Lincoln.”

“You too,” he responds politely.

“Well, come sit down,” Troy announces, walking to the living area.

Troy pulls Emilie onto his lap on one chair, Jace and Adrienne sit together on the loveseat, and that leaves Lincoln, Nathalia, and me on the couch. Nathalia in the middle.

“I have a lot to tell you guys, and it might seem crazy, but bear with me.”

Everyone nods their heads, but don’t respond vocally. I take a deep breath and start from the beginning.

“I know you all have been wondering what’s been going on with me for a while now. I’m always late to things, I don’t answer my phone, I’m with clients, out of town, et cetera. Well, the truth is—I met Nathalia almost a year ago, and she became a client that I spent a lot of my time with.”

All eyes go to Nathalia, and I can see her cheeks redden slightly. “Yes, I hired an escort. Don’t judge me. You all have been escorts,” she says playfully, pointing at the guys.

Everybody laughs.

“Anyway, on our first night out, I met Lincoln and I knew right away there was something between him and Nathalia.”

Everybody’s eyes shift between us all. It’s like their all watching their own personal, live soap opera.

“Okay, I’m just going to blurt out this next part, because without acknowledging it, the other stuff will just sound weird.” I pause and breathe deeply again. Troy nods his head marginally, giving me support. “I’m bisexual.”

The girls gasp automatically.

“I knew it!” Emilie screeches.

When everybody turns to look at her, she lays back into Troy’s chest. “Okay, maybe I didn’t know that specifically, but I knew something was up.”

I smile at her and then focus on Jace.

“I’ve been that way my whole life. My family knows, and my friends back home know, but I never spoke about it here because of my job. I didn’t have many relationships with men or women, so I never felt it necessary to talk about. The one guy I had a relationship with was a long time ago, I stopped escorting during that time, and I didn’t know you guys that well then.”

“What the hell, man?” Jace says, leaning forward. “Why did you keep that from us for so long?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Like I said, I didn’t feel it important to bring up. People don’t normally go around announcing they’re straight, why would I announce I was bi? If I had been in a relationship with someone and wanted you to meet him or her, I would have brought it up, but it never happened. And, again, I couldn’t risk people at the agency finding out and me losing my job.”

“So, why tell us now?” he asks.

“I’m in love now.”

Adrienne and Emilie both
aww
simultaneously. Then Emilie’s eyes start bouncing between Nathalia and Lincoln and I can tell she’s putting it together. Troy sits there with a smug grin on his face because he already knows everything.

“Back to my story. When Nathalia was still my client, we became close, and I knew I was in trouble when lines started to blur. I didn’t feel it was right to take her money when I wanted to be with her just as much as she wanted to be with me.

“Without getting into too much of the personal details, let’s just say when I was introduced to Lincoln, I was attracted to him. Over time, we spent time together and while it seemed to just start off as lust, I knew I was falling in love with him as well as her. We took time apart, because they knew I hadn’t told you guys about them, and it wasn’t fair to keep them hidden.

“This has been going on for almost a year?” Jace asks.

“Yeah.”

“Damn.” He runs a hand over the top of his head.

“It’s about time for you all to know who I am, who I love, and what’s going on in my life. So, this is my girlfriend, Nathalia. This is my boyfriend, Lincoln. And, we’re all in this relationship together. We each have our own bond, and I want you all to know each other.”

“That is fucking hot,” Emilie says, causing Troy to smack her leg. “What? I’m just saying.”

Troy rolls his eyes. “She’s been drinking.”

We all laugh, and Jace stands up. “This is fucking crazy, man,” he says with a laugh. “But, I’m so happy for you. I’m glad you have someone. Or two someones, I guess.” I stand up and he and I embrace. “Good luck dealing with two people, though. Sometimes, I can’t figure out how to handle this one,” he says, jerking his thumb towards Adrienne, but giving me a wink.

“Hey!” she squeaks from behind him. “You better shut up.”

“I’m just kidding, babe. You know I know how to handle you.”

Adrienne’s face flushes.

“How come you don’t seem surprised?” Jace asks Troy.

“I knew,” he answers with a shrug.

“What?” Emilie screeches, turning in his lap to face him.

“I haven’t known for long. I kept it a secret for Marc. He wanted to tell you all himself.”

“Well, it feels good to have you all know. And you guys kind of know Lincoln already, so that’s good.”

Lincoln has been unusually quiet this whole time. I turn to look at him, but he sits there stoic as usual.

“I want to ask a really personal question. I just can’t keep it to myself,” Emilie says.

“No, no. Let’s not do that,” Troy replies, taking her drink.

Adrienne smirks, all too aware of how her friend acts when she’s been drinking. I’m not too concerned about what she’ll ask, but I worry if it’ll embarrass Nathalia. I turn to look at her, but she shrugs.

“Go ahead,” I say.

“Oh, I was gonna,” she laughs. “Do you guys like…do it…together? All three of you together? Or just two at a time? I’m confused.”

Lincoln clears his throat and scoots back into the couch. It’s funny to see him flustered. Nathalia’s cheeks redden once again, but she’s smiling. Amused by Emilie, I have no doubt.

“We have all been together as a threesome, and we’ve each been together as a twosome.”

Emilie fans herself dramatically with her hand. “Whew. I always knew you were something else, Marc. Good grief. I need a drink.”

Troy smacks his palm on his forehead. “No, I think you’ve had too many. You do realize you just admitted to finding my friend with his boyfriend and girlfriend hot?”

Emilie rolls her eyes, ignoring him and then pins Adrienne with a look. Adrienne begins shaking her head.

“Oh no. Don’t get me involved in this.”

“You know you think it’s hot, too! You told me about that book you were reading with the two guys, and you said it was sexy as hell!”

Adrienne drops her head in her hands.

“What book is this?” Jace asks.

“No book,” Adrienne responds, her face still in her hands.

Nathalia begins laughing. “It really is hot to watch.”

“See!” Emilie screeches.

“Oh my God,” Troy groans, dropping his head back over the chair. “Look what you started, Marc. Now I’m gonna be hearing about books, and fantasies, and all kinds of stuff.”