Chapter 6

Bryce had the next day off. He slept until late morning and was finally awakened when Rollo began racing around the bed, desperate for companionship. After eating bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast—Rollo got his share too—Bryce made up a few pans of lasagna to feed himself through the next week, and he and the dog took a long run.

Despite not having to go to Nathan's to work, he headed over for dinner, needing to get out of the house. He refused to spend the night jacking off to thoughts of Toby and Matt again. He'd planned to go alone, but Rollo's plaintive look when he grabbed his keys changed his mind. Nathan's technically only allowed dogs on the tiny patio out back, more of a smokers' gathering spot than an actual dining area, but as long as the dogs were well-behaved, no one said anything if they came inside. Fortunately, everyone there loved Rollo.

"Got any plans for tonight?" Mason asked, a sly grin on his face when Bryce took a seat at the end of the bar where Rollo could lie down under his stool.

"Why does everyone who's in a relationship turn into a matchmaker?"

Mason grinned. "Happiness likes company?"

"I thought that was misery."

He shrugged. "Maybe it works both ways."

Bryce huffed. "I'm plenty happy."

Mason studied him. He obviously wasn't fooling anyone.

"I've got two good jobs and good people to work with—for the most part." He narrowed his eyes at Mason, but the bastard only laughed.

"So you're really not going to pursue them?"

Bryce sighed. "What is it with you? Do you want me to fuck over my new position?"

Mason shook his head. "No, but I also don't want you to say no to possibilities."

"Yeah but… I know you and Jack and Gray worked things out, but seriously, how often can a three-way work?" Wait… What? Why the fuck was he comparing Toby and Matt and himself to them? Mason was in a committed relationship. All Bryce was considering was whether fucking Matt and Toby was the worst idea ever.

Mason smiled like he realized what Bryce had said, but he didn't comment on it. "It all depends on the people involved, I guess. I've seen how you watch them."

Bryce hoped no one else had noticed. "They're really fucking hot."

"Plenty of guys who come in here are hot."

Exasperated, Bryce blurted out, "They're extra hot."

Mason laughed. "Keep telling yourself that's all it is."

Bryce finished his meal and shot a few rounds of pool with some firefighters who worked at another station in town. Rollo sat watching and happily accepting treats from anyone who offered.

When the game wrapped up, he glanced at his watch. It was late enough he might succeed in picking someone up if he hit a club or another bar. From the look a guy was giving him from across the room, he could likely pick him up right then, but he'd made a rule to stay away from Nathan's regulars just like he needed to stay away from his fellow firefighters.

As he headed to the bar to pay his tab, Toby and Matt walked in. Fuck.

You know you hoped they'd be here.

The hell I did.Was he lying to himself? Had he hoped they'd come in? He didn't have to stay just because they were there. He could still head out to a club or another bar like he'd planned.

Toby made a beeline for him. "Thought you weren't working tonight?"

Had he told Toby that?

He glanced at Mason, who quickly looked away. Bastard. He'd been talking to them? They were going to have a long chat later.

"I'm not. I just stopped in for dinner and a beer or two, but?—"

"You're not leaving, are you?" Toby asked in a voice so sultry he might as well have said "You're going to fuck us tonight, aren't you?"

"Um…" Since when did he get tongue-tied, especially around overly bold twenty-two-year-olds?

"If you can stay for a while, come sit with us," Matt said, giving Toby a look that probably meant for him to tone it down.

Stay or go? He'd not accepted Toby's invitation to join them at a club because he figured the chances of them all ending up in bed were almost certain, but here at Nathan's that wasn't the case. Toby and Matt weren't out and there were plenty of people around so all they were going to do was talk, right? "What do you think, Rollo?" he asked, looking down at his companion. Rollo stood up on his back legs to sniff at Matt and Toby. Then he gave a little yip that Bryce decided meant they should stay. "Okay, I'll join you. You wanna head to the back, play pool or something?"

"Sure. Go on." Toby gestured to Matt. "I'll get your beer. You want something else?"

Bryce nodded. "Mason knows what I'm drinking." And now he'd know Bryce was drinking it with "his boys," as Mason called them. Dammit.

Bryce headed toward the back, and Matt followed close behind him.

"I feel like I should apologize for him, but Toby's just?—"

"Extra friendly?"

Matt laughed. "Yeah, that's one way to put it. I just don't want him to piss you off. He's a little…"

Bryce looked at Matt. His cheeks were red. "I get it. It's fine." What had Matt planned to say—eager? Infatuated?

The pool tables were taken, so they played a round of foosball while they waited for Toby. He joined them a few minutes later, set their drinks down on a high table next to the game, and leaned on the edge of the table to watch. Matt was good, but Bryce ultimately won the round.

Matt and Toby played each other next, and Bryce sipped his beer and petted Rollo while he watched. The more he saw, the more he wanted them. Toby smiled the whole time, even when Matt got a point. When Toby won a point himself, he shook his ass and danced in a little circle that made Bryce wanted to bend him over the foosball table and see what it felt like to drive right into all that energy.

Matt was making Bryce just as crazy. His sculpted arms bunched and flexed as he twisted the handles to move his men. And his ass. Bryce circled the table just to get a better look at it. He wanted to yank those tight jeans down and bury himself. He was in serious trouble.

Fortunately, their game ended before he did something as foolish as proposition them.

Now it was Bryce's turn to play Toby. How the hell was he going to concentrate?

He forced his gaze away from Toby's twinkling hazel eyes and onto the game. Watch the ball, no not Toby's balls. How would he react if Bryce toyed with them, tugged on them, took them in his mouth? Toby scored a point and danced around just like he had with Matt. Toby was so goddamn adorable Bryce couldn't even manage to be pissed at himself for being distracted.

"Ready?" Toby asked, holding up the ball.

"Yep."

"You seem distracted." The grin on Toby's face told Bryce that Toby knew why.

"No, I'm good."

Toby winked and sent the ball onto the table.

Bryce managed to concentrate well enough to keep the score tied until the very end, and sheer luck gave him the final point just as Matt returned with more drinks.

"Go again?" Toby asked.

"Nah, let's sit for a bit," Matt said.

They drank in companionable silence for several minutes, and then Bryce asked a question he'd been curious about since he'd met them. "Did you meet at the Academy or did you know each other before?"

Matt glanced at Toby, a nervous look. Why would Bryce's question provoke that? "We knew each other before. We were friends in high school, and…" He looked at Toby again.

"Well, we started out as friends, and then we…"

"Got closer?" Bryce asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, kind of."

Toby's and Matt's answers ran into each other. Matt's leg was bouncing and Toby was watching him. What was Matt so reluctant to say? Bryce wanted to understand, especially if they were going to… But they weren't. They were definitely not going to fuck.

"Remember the first day at the Academy?—"

Toby's comment brought Matt out of whatever funk he'd fallen into. "Oh God yeah. You were such an idiot."

"What happened?"

"Toby was running late. We were both living at his parents' house then, in a garage apartment."

That was interesting, but Bryce didn't interrupt to ask questions.

"So I thought—" Toby lost his obvious battle to hold back giggles.

"Toby didn't want to make me late too, so he convinced himself it would be fine to come to training dressed in the pink shorts he was wearing."

"They weren't really pink, just light red."

"Pink shorts and a white undershirt," Matt insisted.

"Holy shit." Bryce shook his head. He could only imagine what the officer in charge of their workout had to say about that.

Toby rolled his eyes. "How dumb could I be? Obviously everyone else was in uniform and it was not in any way okay for me not to be. I probably got twice as many extra laps as I would have for just being late."

"I'm not sure you've run that far in a single day since," Matt said.

Toby grinned. "I hope I never do."

Bryce laughed as he pictured the two of them at the Academy: Matt trying to keep Toby focused and Toby cheering Matt up, just like they were now. He hadn't quite had enough to drink to come right out and ask them how long they'd been fucking each other.

"So you've been a firefighter for ten years?" Matt asked.

"Almost eleven."

"You must have seen a lot in that time."

Toby slapped Matt on the arm.

"Oww!" Then his eyes widened. "Oh, I didn't mean… I wasn't thinking. Just ignore me."

"I haven't told anyone about that day, not even the counselor they sent me to. I've just never…" Bryce didn't know why those words burst out of him, but now his throat tightened and his eyes stung. He fought to be able to finish his sentence. "Never been able to put it in words."

"We would listen if you wanted us to," Toby said, his caretaking instincts evident in his soft smile and gentle touch on Bryce's arm.

Bryce hadn't wanted to talk about the night a mom and her kids were trapped in a burning house, had sworn he never would. He'd thought that if he put it in words, it would be like reliving it. But if he shared the story, would he actually be able to let it go? Was it wrong to burden Toby and Matt like that?

"Nah, I…"

"We'd be honored," Matt said.

If Toby and Matt hadn't been firefighters too, he wouldn't have considered telling them, but even though they were still green, they'd understand. They'd never mock him for how he felt. "Yeah?"

They both nodded.

He looked around the bar. It was crowded, and he couldn't be sure if he'd make it through the story without breaking down. "Not here."

"Come home with us."

Home? With them? That was definitely not a good idea, especially if he was going to spill his guts, because after he did, he'd need to get really drunk. If he got drunk around Matt and Toby, he was going to say something he shouldn't. Hell, he was probably going to do something he shouldn't. "I'm warning you, if I get through this, I'm going to want to get shit-faced afterward."

"Who wouldn't?" Toby slid off his stool and tugged on Bryce's arm. "We've got plenty to drink at home, and we can either drive you back to your place or you can crash on the couch."

Of course Toby would offer Bryce what he needed, but Bryce didn't think he'd really end up on their couch. That was what worried him. "I shouldn't?—"

"We're friends, right?" Matt asked.

"Well yeah, but like I said?—"

"And we put our lives in each others' hands already."

"Yeah but?—"

Matt gave him an assessing look. "Would it help to tell us?"

Bryce had no idea why, but he was sure it would. "Yeah, but I've got Rollo with me. I'd have to bring him too."

Toby glanced at Matt. "We love dogs. Let's go."

Bryce heard himself say "okay," but his voice sounded far away.