Chapter Four
Gideon came in with a tray on which was a large tea kettle in a flowered knit cozy, surrounded by an arrangement of three china teacups and saucers with various designs on them.
"Can you tell, I like flowers?" He placed the tray on the coffee table and looked at Vihaal. "How are the sandwiches?"
"Wonderful. You spoil me."
Gideon looked at me. "Do you like my sandwiches, Angel?"
"This egg salad is really good. It's…" I shrugged, taking another bite and chewing slowly. "Zingy."
"There's some sweet onion and minced gherkin, and chili powder in there. But don't tell anyone." He leaned forward and spoke in a whisper. "It's my secret recipe."
"Hmm," Vihaal said, "Angel, you'll soon find that Gideon has quite a few secrets."
"Not as many as you," Gideon said, making a face at Vihaal.
Vihaal smiled. "And not as many as Angel's been keeping."
"Touché," I said, picking up my tuna sandwich. "I've kind of been on autopilot, not really spending time on self-examination."
There were things they weren't telling me. Important things about them, their relationship. But I didn't give a fuck at the moment. And a part of me couldn't wait to find out.
"Shall I play Mother?" Gideon asked, lifting the teapot and a saucer and cup, and pouring the dark amber liquid into it.
"Can I possibly stop you?" Vihaal asked, grinning, and taking two more sandwiches from the platter. Ham this time. "Angel? Still hungry?"
"Oh yeah." I was famished, and the sandwiches didn't seem to be filling me the way they should.
"Here you go," Gideon said, passing me the filled teacup on its pretty saucer.
I took it carefully. Vihaal waited until I'd put it down.
"Plate?" he said.
I held it out, and Vihaal placed two small sandwiches on it. Gideon filled a cup for Vihaal and passed it to him, and one for himself.
"Do you need sugar, Angel?" Gideon asked, lifting a silver holder from the tray.
"But he's so sweet already," Vihaal murmured, sipping his tea and staring over the edge of his cup at me.
I rolled my eyes. "Look, I don't know what Sebastian and Jacob told you, but I'm far from sweet."
"Now that you mention it, Jacob said—and I quote—Angel never sleeps with the same woman twice."
"Oh, come on. How on Earth would he know that? Honestly."
"Is it true?" Gideon asked, regarding me with interest.
"Ha! No," I said, trying to remember. "Wait. Yes. It might be. I don't know."
Vihaal's eyes went wide. "You don't know if you've ever slept with a woman more than once?"
"Oh my God," Gideon said, gazing at me in awe.
"Now hold on a minute. Maybe I've never had a relationship with a woman, but it's because I enjoy being single." I gazed at Vihaal. "Unfettered."
At that word, his eyes widened and he couldn't stop his smile. "Sleeping with a woman more than once is not a relationship, Angel. It's a nightcap."
"Oh, fuck, well of course I've gone a few rounds with the same woman in one night."
"Glad to hear it," Vihaal said, grinning around his teacup. "Stamina is going to be an important asset if we…"
"If we…" I swallowed my tea and put my cup down. "If we…what exactly?"
"If we are going to explore this strong attraction between the three of us," Vihaal said. "I'm glad to hear you've been a bit of a slut."
I frowned. "Well…that might be the wrong word for it."
"Oh no," Vihaal said. "I think it's a perfect word for it."
I gazed at him. "You think I'm going to be slutty with you and Gideon?"
"Well, I certainly hope so. Gideon?"
"Oh, fuck yeah." He smiled, gazing at me over his teacup.
"Holy shit. I feel like I'm being hunted."
"Yes, but do you mind?" Vihaal asked.
"Maybe not," I admitted. "But I am curious about a few things."
"Only a few?" Vihaal said with an arched eyebrow.
"Okay, fine. About a lot of things."
"What do you want to know, Angel?" Gideon asked.
I gestured back and forth between them. "How long have you been married?"
"Three and a half years," Gideon said, leaning in to give Vihaal's cheek a kiss.
"But…I take it it's not a traditional marriage."
They both smiled.
"Nothing about us is traditional," Vihaal said.
I shrugged. "Fair. Do you…make it a habit of inviting other men in for physical…dalliances?"
Vihaal glanced at Gideon.
"I wouldn't call it a habit," Vihaal said. "But we have had the occasional third as a bit of a laugh."
I frowned. "A bit of a laugh?"
"What Vihaal means is that we've occasionally brought someone cute home that we met by chance at an event or something. But we've never tried to seduce someone in particular before."
"Oh," I said.
"We've put quite a bit of effort into you, Angel," Vihaal explained. "I'm glad you've decided to give us a chance. Sebastian seems to think you'd complement our dynamic."
"Whoa," I said, swallowing. "Um…"
"No pressure. I simply wanted to let you know that we don't usually make these sorts of invitations. And we don't do the casual thing anymore."
"Not since we got married," Gideon added. "It's just…it's not us."
"That's why we wanted to be friends with you, first."
I nodded, trying to wrap my head around all of this. "You've given me a lot to think about."
"Understood. I'd also like to ask you to look over the financials at my antique store."
"Sure. I can do that."
"Oh, thank God," Gideon muttered. "It's honestly such a mess and I think there's something underhanded going on—"
"And I think Gideon is paranoid. But. That's why we'd like you to go over Tarnish's financials. To see if anything jumps out at you."
"Oh. I see," I said, becoming serious as I added milk to my tea and stirred it with the little spoon Gideon passed me. "Tarnish is your store?"
"Yes," Vihaal said, sitting back and crossing one long leg over the other. "It does pretty well. But over the past few years there's been a decline in profit, which concerns me."
"I don't trust Dominic," Gideon stated.
"Gideon," Vihaal sighed.
"Look, I'm sorry, but I never have trusted him. He doesn't like me."
"That's not true. And he's a friend of the family…"
"A buddy of your asshole father's, you mean."
My gaze flashed to Vihaal as he closed his eyes, then opened them again, seeming to be mustering patience.
"V, I'm sorry. But it's true. Your dad is an asshole. You've said it, yourself, many times."
"Yes, I have. And yes, he is. But there's a difference between me saying it and you saying it, especially in front of someone I'm trying to impress."
"Vihaal, I've been impressed since I met you."
Vihaal regarded me with curiosity. "Really."
I cleared my throat. "Yeah."
"What's your going rate for business accounting? I don't know how long it will take."
"Do you want me to look at this year's financials? Or the past three years? That will give me an idea."
Vihaal nodded. "Start with this year. If everything looks fine, then I doubt there will be a need to dig further. But, if anything gives you pause, then you can look at the previous year. And so on."
"I'll give you the rate I give Sebastian and Jacob, which is two hundred dollars per hour," I said.
Gideon, who was pouring another cup for himself, spilled tea over the edge of the cup as he stared at me.
"Whoa. If only I was better with numbers," he said, adjusting his aim.
"You're wonderful at what you do," Vihaal said.
Gideon was a registered nurse and worked part-time in the home of an elderly man whose middle-aged children had hired him so that their father could stay in the family home.
"I can't complain," Gideon said. "But can we circle back to where you said you were a bit of a slut? I'd really like to know more about that."
The way Gideon looked at me, with eagerness and bashful excitement, was absolutely adorable, and I laughed.
"I guess I was kind of…"
"Slutty?" Gideon asked.
"Sure. Okay."
"That word has fairly positive connotations in the gay world, Angel. It's not the insult you think it is," Vihaal clarified. "I've known quite a few sluts and they were all absolutely charming."
I sat there, with my teacup and saucer in my lap, the taste of Gideon's fantastic egg salad in my mouth, and the two of them looking at me like they wanted me to be the main course.
"Which is a great segue into what I wanted to ask you next."
I paused, another tiny sandwich halfway to my mouth, and raised my eyebrows.
"We were wondering if showing you some of our favorite porn videos would satisfy your curiosity about what Gideon and I do together. In an intimate way."
His words echoed in my brain as my cock pulsed. I put the sandwich down.
"What?"
Vihaal smiled. "Surely you watch porn, Angel."
I did watch porn. I used to watch straight porn, exclusively. Up until about two years ago. When I'd started satisfying my own curiosity.
"I…uh. Yes. I watch porn." Should I tell them?
I laughed, to stall. "This is the last thing I expected during afternoon tea." Then I sobered. "Actually, maybe not the last thing. But it's up there."
"Up there?" Gideon said, giving me a look. "Is it?"
I glanced at my crotch. "Yes."
Vihaal chuckled and stood. "Let me get my laptop. I'll stream it to the TV."
Okay. Well . So we were going to sit here eating tiny sandwiches and drinking tea while Vihaal streamed gay porn to the TV to see what my reaction would be. This was turning into the strangest afternoon.
Vihaal opened his laptop and fiddled about, while Gideon turned on the TV.
"Ready?" he asked, with a mischievous look on his face.
"I sure hope so," I said, pretending to be nervous.
"Here we go," Vihaal said.
But I couldn't do it. I couldn't lie to them. "Wait."
"Hmm?" Vihaal gazed at me, a question in his eyes.
"I…" I put my head in my hands. "I've watched it before."
Gideon looked at me, then at Vihaal. "What? This video?"
Vihaal's eyes narrowed.
"No, I mean, I don't know. It hasn't started yet."
"What are you telling me?" Vihaal asked, in measured tones.
I stood up. "I've watched gay porn, okay? Fuck, I've watched a fuck ton of it."
Gideon stood up. "What?"
"That doesn't mean I'm gay!"
"It probably means you're not straight," he said in measured tones.
"Yes, well. We already established that."
Vihaal was smiling. He sat back against the sofa cushions, the remote in his hand.
"Yes, but…we thought you were still in the early stages of accepting it."
"Okay, fine. I've been questioning things a lot longer than I mentioned to Sebastian or to you."
"Uh huh," Vihaal said. "Well. I'm fucking delighted."
I looked at him, then I looked at Gideon. Then I looked at the TV and sat back.
"Well? You gonna start it, or what?"
Vihaal hit play, and the three of us watched some cute twink get stripped and fucked over the back of a ratty sofa by two muscly bears. It was incredibly hot, and I definitely enjoyed it. For some reason it seemed like Vihaal and Gideon were watching me the whole time.
After it was finished, I said, "Okay. I have one question." I glanced at Vihaal. "Does…getting fucked like that hurt?"
"Not if it's done properly," Gideon said, a saucy glint in his eye. "And Vihaal, well…he does it more than properly."
"I didn't ask because I necessarily want…that. I'm just curious."
Vihaal leaned forward. "You don't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with, Angel. Not all gay men like to bottom. I'm not a fan. But Gideon…"
"Oh, I fucking love it."
I barked a laugh at how sincere he was.
Vihaal sighed. "All right, enough of this. Anyone for more tea?"
Despite the fact that I was having a good time, it all started to overwhelm me. "Actually, do you mind if I get going?"
"No, of course not," Vihaal said, while Gideon gazed at me with affection.
"This has all been a lot," I said. "Good. But a lot."
"I'm sure."
"Can you email me the Tarnish files?"
"Yes. We won't keep you," Vihaal said.
Gideon leaned forward, becoming serious. "Now, about the accounts. I don't trust Dominic. I wouldn't put it past that son of a bitch to sabotage V's store."
"Don't worry. I know exactly what to look for."