14. Bruno

14

brUNO

B runo unlocked the door to his apartment, feeling uncomfortably like there were butterflies in his stomach. He'd told Frank that the destruction was caused by vandals, but begged him to keep it quiet. Frank had guessed he was embarrassed that he'd gotten knocked out and Bruno let him think that because he didn't know how to explain having two mates.

He spent the next two weeks searching for both women in vain, with nothing to go on but the name Eva . He didn't want to involve police or get them in inadvertent trouble, and his efforts to get Tobias involved were hampered by his reluctance to explain two mates to him, knowing he would only make dirty jokes to make Bruno squirm. But Tobias had come through.

"Admit that I'm a genius!" the gnome said in triumph. "I found your mystery Eva woman and got you a date with her."

Bruno thought he could be happy with just Eva, but then Margo had crashed the meal, and he thought he understood what ecstasy could be .

Now, they were both coming home with him, and he had no idea what to do next.

Hug! his cave bear commanded. Now!

We can't just…hug them, Bruno protested.

Why not?

Bruno wasn't honestly sure. Shouldn't he do some wooing first, set the mood, warm things up?

Hug! his cave bear insisted.

Margo and Eva came in quietly when he opened the door for them, gazing around at his messy, pedestrian entryway. It was untidily hung with winter coats and cluttered with a broom that Bruno hadn't put away, an umbrella leftover from a season that needed it, and a pair of skis that Tobias had pressed upon him as a Christmas gift.

They all took off their boots, shaking snow onto the mat. Eva's boots were tiny compared to Bruno and Margo's; she could have slipped both of hers into any one of theirs.

It was an unimpressive home, Bruno thought in despair as he took their coats. He should have a massive and fashionable penthouse like Tobias or Frank to show them, decorated with exquisite artwork and carpeted in silk. He got so nervous that he knocked over the skis and had to juggle them back upright, bumping a painting on the wall off-kilter.

This is better than hugging?

"Do you want some refreshment?" Bruno offered. "Is it too late for coffee?" Should he find something stronger?

"We should discuss our terms," Margo said stiffly.

"Terms of coffee?" Bruno said, bewildered.

Eva gave a stifled little giggle.

How had everything gotten so awkward?

It was easier when they were kissing. But Bruno was pretty sure that making love to them in the arboretum was against the rules of whatever strings Tobias had pulled to get them set up for dinner there, so he'd invited them here, and everything had gotten stilted on the drive over.

"This," Margo said, gesturing vaguely at all of them. "We should have ground rules. Establish boundaries. I could be the jealous type. You might have expectations I should know about."

"Such as, do we like butt stuff?" Eva asked it innocently, but her eyes were dancing.

Margo and Bruno both gave nearly identical shouts of laughter and Bruno felt his anxiety melt into amusement. It was so unexpected of Eva, and so perfect.

Margo sobered first. "I was thinking more like, do we always wait for all of us to be together, or are we allowed solo liaisons, and is it an open relationship, or do we have a custody schedule? What about kids? Living arrangements? But now I'm kind of dying to know if you do like butt stuff, and what, exactly, that entails."

"Oh wait," Bruno said. "Are we actually going to talk about butt stuff ? I don't know if I can do that in a room with ladies."

"That presumes we are ladies," Margo said. "Eva may be, but I assure you I am not."

"I'm the one who brought up butt stuff, " Eva reminded them.

"Perhaps Bruno is the only lady present, then," Margo said, completely deadpan. "But this doesn't answer my questions, and I do think it's important to be transparent."

"I want to try everything ," Eva said frankly. "Everything with you." She turned from Margo to Bruno. "With you both ."

It would be easy to underestimate either of them, Bruno thought. Eva was so small and naive looking, and Margo was so grim and stone-faced. He could understand why their intellect might be overlooked.

"Do we need a contract?" he felt comfortable enough to tease Margo.

"I like contracts," she said. "They prevent misunderstanding later. But…I think it is enough to speak your mind, to have truth and trust between us."

Yes.

Bruno's cave bear was utterly delighted and Bruno echoed him out loud. "Yes."

"Yes to a contract?" Margo said shrewdly.

"Yes to you," Bruno clarified. "Yes to you both. I don't care how we make love or what papers you want signed. I can respect you enough not to bind you to me exclusively if that was what you wished, though I would be painfully jealous if you shopped elsewhere, and I will devote my life to the two of you forever if you let me. A dozen kids or none, I'd live in a cardboard box with you or give you any space you asked for." Bruno was no poet, but he thought he'd done a pretty good job of putting those words together.

His mates both inhaled, and he could read the joy in their eyes and feel it singing in his soul.

"I do not want anything outside of this," Margo growled. She was so like his bear: strong and straight-forward.

"Nor do I," Eva whispered. She was so like him: quiet, sensitive, and intense.

"I promise you this," Bruno said, digging deep past his cave bear's primal urge to take them now and make his claim a contract of flesh. "You are my soulmates. I will live my life for your pleasure and purpose. I will support and adore you. I am yours. Completely. That is my compact with you. "

Eva had gone still, but Margo was taking her shirt off over her head, and was stalking towards Bruno decisively. She was gloriously curvy, her breasts cupped in a support garment that deserved more letters than B-R-A.

Bruno met her with a possessive kiss and helped her strip his own shirt off as their proximity and press of lips allowed. His cock, which had been at attention since he'd first seen Eva waiting at the table for him, was fully erect now, and Margo was the perfect height to tease him and grind her hips against him. Their hunger only heightened, they turned in unison to Eva.

To Bruno's dismay, her face was shuttered. Margo picked up on her hesitation at the same time. "We can wait, or…?"

Eva shook her head, blonde curls bouncing. "No, no, I don't ever want to wait. I just…"

Bruno waited with all the patience he could dredge up for her to continue.

"Eva?" he finally asked, when she seemed incapable of continuing.

She closed her eyes and seemed to gather herself. "I'll show you," she said, lifting her hands to the buttons of her shirt. She unbuttoned it gradually and slipped it from her shoulders. Margo gave a little noise of appreciation as her slight curves were revealed, barely encased in a thin white bra and if Bruno hadn't already been fully aroused, nothing could have stopped him then. Margo was close enough to his side that he could feel the warmth off of her, and it was like knowing a multi-course meal was waiting for him.

Eva reached behind herself and slipped the bra off, then turned so that her bare back was to them.

There were two jagged, angry scars from the outside of each shoulder blade to her waist. They looked fresh, painful and red, barely past scabs.

Beside him, Margo gave a gasp of horror, and Bruno remembered how he had pulled Eva close, not knowing she was so injured. Had he hurt her when they kissed?

Squooshes? his cave bear said in consternation.

"Who did this to you?" Margo snarled.