Take What You Want (75 page)

No one said anything to
dispute Wheland's suggestion. Instead they quietly waited for the
door to shut, then pulled chairs up, side-by-side, to sit next to
Alex's bed. Chase reached for Alex's hand and laced their fingers.
He watched Alex touch his forehead and run his fingers along the
length of his healing laceration.

“
Does
my head make me look like Frankenstein?” Alex asked.

“
More
like Dracula,” Chase said.

“
Why?
Because I love to suck?” Alex laughed and then grimaced.

“
How's
the pain?” Chase asked Alex.

“
At
the moment, its being managed,” Alex said. “The doctor
told me my leg is being held together by metal.”

“
You've
got pieces of titanium holding everything together now, enough to set
off the security alarms at every airport.”

“
Fucking
great,” Alex said. “As if they're not already giving me
cavity searches because of my band.”

“
You
fucking love the special searches,” Chase said, pushing two
fingers from one hand into the clenched fist of his other hand,
simulating a sex act.

“
Well,
there is that plus,” Alex grinned. He moved slightly in the
bed and grimaced in pain.

“
Do
you need something for the pain?” Danni asked, stroking Alex's
forearm.

“
No,
I'm okay,” Alex said. “I have you both here with me.
Life is good.”

Danni's eyes darted to
Chase. The warmth flowing from Chase's eyes to Alex made her breath
catch. The pulse of emotion bouncing between the three of them was
overwhelming.

Chase shifted in his chair
and took Alex's hand, twining their fingers together. “We need
to talk,” Chase said. “Are you up to it?”

“
Yeah,
we do need to talk,” Alex said. “I understand you met
Adam.”

The words had Chase sitting
up straight in his chair. “We did, many times, and not once
can I say it was pleasant.”

Alex squeezed Chase's hand.
“The doctor told me Adam was listed all over my contact
documents. I'm really sorry about that and I've already called my
lawyer to get it changed.”

“
So,
it was an oversight?” Chase asked.

“
Him
still being on my paperwork? Fuck, yeah,” Alex said. “You
should also know, I've asked security not to let him in here again.
He won't get past the nurse's station from here on out.”

Danni stifled a sob and
wiped at her eyes. Chase tugged her closer to him and kissed her
temple.

“
Danni,
please don't cry,” Alex said. “I want you both to know
Adam is a part of my past and will remain there – where he
belongs,” Alex said.

A collective sigh of relief
escaped Chase and Danni's mouths.

“
I
take it that news pleases you?” Alex asked.

“
More
than you know,” Chase said. “And, that's what we wanted
to talk to you about.” Chase slid an arm around Danni's
shoulders and leaned into her. “Babe, are you okay to talk
about this now?”

“
This
is what we've been waiting for, Chase,” she said. “We
have to.”

“
What's
going on?” Alex asked. He attempted to shift closer to the
edge of the bed, but the pain shooting through his body stopped him.

“
Alex,
do you need something?” Chase asked.

“
No,
no. I'm good. What do you want to talk about?”

“
I
want to finish the conversation we started a few days ago,”
Chase said. “The one about us – the
three
of us, and whether or not you'd be interested in giving it another
try?” Chase said.

Chase and Danni held their
breath. He couldn't have made their intentions more clear to Alex,
and yet, Alex stared blankly at them. And, then emotion began to
build in Alex's intense green eyes and Chase began to wonder if Alex
had had a change of heart. Alex's head sunk into the pillows propped
behind him; his eyes focused on the ceiling.

“
Alex?
Say something,” Chase said.

Alex closed his eyes and
drew in a long breath. “I'd really like to try and make it
work,” Alex said, lifting his head to look at them. “I
want to be a part of your lives, and you part of mine.”

“
That's
what we want, too, Alex,” Danni said.

“
There'll
be bumps along the way, you know that, but if we communicate we
should be able to figure out a way to make it work – for all of
us,” Alex said.

Danni nodded in agreement,
trying to keep her emotions in check.

“
You
already know I love Chase,” Alex said. “But, I'm in love
with you, too; have been since the night you finally relented and
kissed me. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, Danni. I was always
waiting for the
right
time and then we ran
out
of time and I lost my chance. It's what made the break-up so much
worse for me, knowing how I felt and not being able to tell you, and
wondering if it might have made a difference.”

Danni blinked around the
tears in her eyes. “I didn't make it easy for you, Alex, and
I'm sorry about that,” she said. “I fought what I was
feeling for so long; thinking I was somehow being unfaithful to
Chase. By the time I was ready to admit it, you were on the wrong
coast.”

“
I'm
here now, Danni,” Alex said. “Tell me what's in your
heart.”

Danni
wiped at the moisture spilling from the corners of her eyes, then
dried her hands on her jeans. “I went through a rough time
before
and
after you left, Alex. There were lots of mixed emotions about us and
what happened. I was happy you helped Chase discover who he really
is, but also jealous of what you had with him. I couldn't compete
with that and I knew what you shared was really intense. It took a
long time to sort through it, but I soon realized I had feelings for
you.”

“
Danni,
say it – all of it,” Chase said. “Get it out
there, so we can start rebuilding.”

Danni's gaze fell back to
Alex. She watched him blink around the moisture building in his
hazel depths. He touched her face, feather-like strokes, urging her
to speak.

“
I
realized we worked better as three than we did as two,” she
said.

“
Say
it, baby,” Chase said, his voice a whisper beside her ear.

His voice sent a shiver down
her spine. She closed her eyes, then opened them to look at Alex.
“I love you.”

Her voice was so soft, Alex
nearly missed it. He reached for her and tugged her down against
him; her face resting in the bend of his neck. “Say it again,”
he said, kissing her forehead.

She nuzzled closer,
breathing him in, then her mouth teased the shell of his ear. “I
love you,” she said again, then she licked at the tiny hoop
earrings piercing his lobe.

Alex's cock jerked beneath
the thin sheet covering his legs. “Wow, baby. See what you do
to me – even in this busted up condition.”

Chase lifted the cotton
sheet and Alex's hospital gown to steal a peek at his thickening
cock. “Lucky you, Metcalf,” Chase said. “Looks
like everything still works.”

“
Even
luckier for me they removed my catheter last night,” Alex said.
“Otherwise, I think I'd be in a different kind of pain right
now.”

“
But,
you have us here to kiss it and make it better,” Chase teased.

And, with that comment, Alex
was fully tenting the sheet with a hard-on.

Chase moved to the other
side of the bed and sat down on the mattress. He leaned forward,
inching closer to Alex; his mouth hovering over Alex's. “Before
we go any further, Alex, you need to give us an answer. Danni and I
want to give us another try,” Chase said. “Does that
sound like something you'd like to try? We don't want to be without
you, Alex.”

Alex nodded. “That's
what I want, too,” he said. “Us together, living as
one.”

“
Yeah?”
Chase asked.

“
Absolutely,”
Alex said. “It's what I've wanted from the start.”

Chase lightly kissed Alex,
then sat back on the mattress and watched as Alex kissed Danni.

“
Soon
as you get out of the hospital, we need to figure out how we're going
to make the logistics of this work,” Chase said. “That
alone is going to be interesting.”

Alex's
smile widened. “I bought the estate,” he blurted.

“
What
estate?” Chase asked.

“
Where
you live,” Alex said. “I bought it to give to you –
as a wedding gift. I thought Danni could use the music room as a
Pilates Studio and teach classes from the house.”

“
Are
you joking?” Danni asked.

“
I
wouldn't joke about that,” Alex said. “I gave the owner
a cash offer he couldn't refuse.”

“
Why
would you do that?” Chase asked.

“
Danni
needs studio space for her clients,” he said, shrugging one
shoulder. “Plus, I wasn't ready to give up on us. I was
hopeful if we were able to get back together, we could use that as
our East Coast home.”

“
Did
you always think we'd work this out?” Chase asked.

“
Fuck,
no,” Alex said. “Deep down, I didn't see it happening,
but being hopeful kept me from completely wallowing in my own private
misery.”

“
If
the estate is meant to be a wedding gift, then you'll be waiting a
long time for that to happen,” Danni said.

“
What'd
mean?” Alex asked.

“
We're
not thinking of having a traditional wedding ceremony, Alex,”
she said. “We're looking into the possibility of doing a
commitment ceremony, instead – for the three of us.”

Alex
glanced at Chase to be certain he understood what Danni was implying
and Chase smiled broadly.

“
Think
you could handle something like that?” Chase asked.

“
I
like the sound of it,” Alex said. “But, you know it
won't be legal, right?”

“
It
will be to us,” Danni said.

“
The
ceremony itself would really be for us, but we could share it with a
few family and friends; make a real celebration of it,” Chase
said.

Alex nodded and his eyes
dropped to his lap. “You really want to commit to me like
that?” he asked.

Both Danni and Chase nodded.

“
I
feel like we're already bound together, “Danni said, “But,
this ceremony would make it official to everyone we know.”

“
We
both really want this, Alex,” Chase said. “It may not be
legal in the eyes of the court, but it feels necessary to us in order
to create the kind of permanent relationship we're looking for with
you. We're hoping you feel the same way.”

Tears stung at Alex's eyes.
He tipped his head back into the pillows and sighed, trying to blink
away the building moisture. What they were offering was everything
he'd always hoped he'd find with another man and a woman. It seemed
surreal for that to be happening with the one couple he didn't want
to live without – ever. He'd no longer be disposable. He'd
belong to them equally, as they would belong to him. Three equal
parts. And, he loved it.