Threes Company (17 page)

Company N.R.

Walker

at Simon, he rolled his eyes. I got the impression Adam wasn't
helping
much at all.

I was just about to suggest Adam and I go

downstairs and leave Simon alone for a while when my cell phone rang.

I checked the caller ID. It was Callie.

"Hey, Cal."

"Don't you
hey Cal
me, mister," she said by way of greeting. "Do you have any idea what kind of morning I've had? It's not bad enough that staff call in sick and shit doesn't get done unless you do it yourself, but then you call me and drop a bombshell."

She'd obviously had enough time to think things through, and with the e-mail of financial reports, I guessed she now knew I was serious. Adam and Simon were both staring at me, obviously hearing Callie bark at me. I smiled.

She not only dealt with stress very well, she thrived.

"You'll handle it just fine, Cal."

"I just wanted you to know I'm having Marta look over the money side of things," she told me. Marta was the local bank branch manager, so I presumed Callie was trying to organize finances.

"Is there anything you need from me?"

"That list is long, Wilson Curtis."

I chuckled, and when Simon said something to

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Adam, Callie heard it through the phone. "Who's there with you?" Callie asked.

"Um, Adam and Simon are both here with me right now," I said, looking at them. They both stopped talking and stared at me.

"Good," Callie snapped. "
Both
," she mumbled.

"Like it's not weird to talk about
both
boyfriends. Anyway, put one of them on the phone. I want to speak to both of them, so it doesn't matter which one goes first."

Oh, shit.

I held my cell phone to my chest and spoke to both Adam and Simon. "Um, you know those really awkward conversations when you get introduced to the friends of new boyfriends and they're all 'you better not hurt him or I'll track you down?'" I looked at both of their faces and held my cell phone out to them. "Well, this is going to be one of those conversations. Who wants to go first?"

Simon chuckled, but Adam grinned and bounced

over to snatch the phone out of my hand. "Hello," he said brightly. "Adam Preston speaking."

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We could hear the buzz of Callie's voice as she talked. I almost dreaded to think what she was saying to Adam, but he laughed into the phone, and they started to chat like old friends. He answered
yes
,
no
and the occasional
absolutely
, but I left him to defend himself and walked over to Simon.

He was standing now, leaning his ass on his desk, and I walked straight up to him, slid my hand along the side of his neck and kissed him. I spoke in a low voice so only he could hear. "She's trying to sort out money."

He looked at me with hope in his blue eyes and whispered, "Are you staying?"

"I want to. God, I want to." Then I looked over to Adam, but whispered to Simon, "But if it can't happen… I don't want to hurt him."

Simon pulled my face back to look at him. "And that right there, Wil, is why I want you to stay."

I gave him a sad smile. "I don't want to hurt you either," I said softly.

Simon didn't say anything. He just kissed me. Slow and soft, with his hands holding my face, he consumed me.

Until Adam spoke beside us. "Well, he's kind of indisposed

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at the moment," Adam told Callie. "Oh, no, nothing like that. He just has his tongue down Wil's throat."

"Don't tell her that," Simon hissed.

Adam held the phone out to Simon. "She wants to talk to you."

I cringed, and Simon took the phone and cleared his throat. "Simon Stanford speaking."

Adam looked at me and chuckled at Simon's formal manner, and Simon walked over to the window so he could speak to Callie in private. Or be lectured in private, as was probably the case.

Adam pushed me against the desk and kissed me.

Hard. The difference between them still surprised me, from Simon's steamy seriousness to Adam's bundle of energy.

He pulled back only to grin at me. "Your friend Callie loves me."

I laughed. "Did you dazzle her with your boyish charm?"

"Totally."

I nodded over toward Simon. "Should I be worried about what she's saying to him?"

"Nah," Adam said with a chuckle. Then he kissed me again.

I pulled my face back from his and laughed. Trying to stop Adam from kissing when he wanted to kiss was

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proving impossible. "Callie wasn't harsh with you?"

He grinned. "Well, she told me if I hurt you she'd make me the most popular gay guy on the coast by ripping me a second asshole. Does that count?"

I barked out a laugh. "She said that?"

Adam nodded and laughed. "Sure did." Then he pushed me back onto the desk and pulled my legs around his hips and leaned over me. "Now I have no intention of hurting you, but that second asshole could be useful."

I fell back against the desk, so I was lying down, and laughed. Adam climbed onto the desk, kneeling over me and kissed me again, all tongue and open mouth. I tried to pull him closer against me, to feel his weight on me, but it was difficult given our positions. On a desk.

"Knock that laptop off that desk, you two, and I'm gonna be pissed."

Adam and I stopped kissing and looked over at

Simon.

"Sorry, Callie," he said into the phone. "They're…

misbehaving.
"

Adam and I both laughed again, and Simon smiled at us. Then he said, "Callie said to stop sounding so damn happy, Wilson Curtis." He laughed quietly at something she said, told her, "I'll be sure to tell him," followed by a good-bye, and he hung up the phone. He walked over to

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where we were on the desk, and slapped Adam's ass. "You need to get ready for work." Then he handed me my phone.

"I need that desk. And Callie said she'd call you later."

Adam climbed off the desk and pulled me to my

feet. Then he lifted my hand to read my watch. "Shit, look at the time." Then he pecked my lips, told me he'd see me downstairs, kissed Simon, and as he got to the door, I stopped him.

"Adam, wait!"

He turned at the door and waited for me to talk. So I asked them, "Earlier, when I was walking up the stairs, I heard you both talking. Adam, you said Simon should ask me to do something, and he didn't want to? What was that?"

"Oh, that was nothing," Simon dismissed it quickly.

"That's why I asked while you were both here," I said, nodding toward Adam, "because I didn't think you'd tell me. Honesty, remember?"

Simon rolled his eyes, and Adam grinned. "Sy thinks it would be unprofessional to ask you to work tonight, because you're still
technically
a guest here. And although you've helped out before, he didn't actually
ask
you. He doesn't want you to feel obligated, or pressured, but, Wil, I don't mind putting it on ya, you know, with the new honesty policy we have going on," he said, as only he

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could. "We're really stuck," Adam continued. "We've got the hotel owners in town, a developer throwing money at them, and we can't afford unhappy guests right now."

So Miguel was finished, effective immediately, and they needed a replacement. I looked at Simon, trying to gauge his reaction, or looking for some sort of acknowledgement of what Adam just said, but he said nothing.

I smiled at him. "I'd love to work tonight for you."

"You'll do it?" Simon asked, genuinely shocked, I think. "Because I haven't even had a chance to look for a replacement. I'm really swamped, and the day's half-over and I haven't got anything done. These two really hot guys keep making out on my desk…"

"Of course I'll do it," I said simply. "For you two, I'd do almost anything."

"Anything?" Adam asked with a smirk. "Like move interstate and set up house with two really hot guys?"

I grinned. "I said
almost
anything."

* * * *

I spent the afternoon packing. Regardless of my decision, I was leaving the hotel
room
. Not that I'd brought a great deal of stuff, but while both Simon and Adam

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worked, I sorted, folded, and packed. If I was leaving, I had to be gone by six am, so I needed to be organized.

And it was funny.

A part of my brain already knew.

I wasn't getting on that plane tomorrow. I didn't think for a moment I ever thought I actually would.

As much as I wanted it to be Callie who bought my business, I knew if she couldn't—or wouldn't—it didn't matter.

So I'd take another week, like Simon suggested. Or another month. Or whatever. I'd list it through a Realtor, or I'd
give
it to Callie. But I knew my time in Alabama was over.

It wasn't until later that night that I actually confirmed it though.

I'd seen Sydney while she did the lunch shift and told her I was doing the dinner shift. I even offered to do extra prep just to fill in time and keep myself occupied while Adam and Simon worked. Needless to say, she didn't argue.

Dinner was busy, but I was organized, and the two other kitchen staff and I handled it easily. And the time flew. We hadn't seen Simon all day, so I plated up a steak and salad and had one of the waitstaff deliver it to his office.

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But when he still hadn't come down after Adam had closed down the bar, I suggested we wait for him in my room. And we'd only been in there less than a minute when my cell phone rang.

I looked at the caller ID then looked to Adam. "It's Callie." I took a deep breath to steel myself, ready for whatever answer she would give me, and answered her call.

"Hey, Wil," she said sadly, and from her tone alone, my stomach sank to my feet.

"Hey."

I tried to not look at Adam. I knew my tone would speak for itself, he'd see the
no
on my face. But he sat down on the bed slowly, quietly, and I knew that he knew.

"Well," Callie said. "The bank said it'll be fine."

"What?" I asked, confused. "They what?"

"They said it would be fine," she said again. "Said the figures looked good, actually, and if all you're asking for is stock, plant and equipment, it'd be real good buying."

Well, it was a very good business. Until the

homophobic town didn't want to catch being gay from the salad.

Adam was staring at me, waiting.

Then Callie said, "But I don't want to say yes."

And my stomach twisted. My voice was quiet.

"Why not?"

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"Because if I say yes, then you won't come home."

"Cal," I said gently. "It's okay. If you can't do it…"

Adam fell back so he was lying on the bed, with his feet still on the floor. He put his hands over his face.

Before I could tell him it would be okay, Callie spoke in my ear. "Please tell me why the hell I'm going to miss you so much?" she cried. "You've given me stress lines today, gray hair too probably."

I climbed up onto the bed and sat cross-legged next to Adam. I pulled one of his hands away from his face and held it tightly, but his eyes stayed closed.

"Wil, are you there?" Callie asked.

"Yeah, I'm here." My voice was quiet, even to my own ears.

After a long moment's silence, she sighed sadly.

"How am I supposed to do this without you? It's always been us, Wil. You and me."

And she wasn't just talking about the restaurant.

I nodded, and my voice was just a whisper. "I know, Cal."

"Goddammit, Wil. I want you to be happy." Then I heard some voices in the background, then Cal's muffled voice as she spoke to them. It sounded as if she was giving orders. "Sorry, about that," she said to me. "Just doing inventory."

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I looked at my watch. "At eleven at night?"

"Well, I needed to know stock at value because I just bought the goddamn business, didn't I?"

It was surprising I didn't laugh out loud. But I just nodded in relief and blinked back tears instead. It was like one of those defining moments when the pieces just simply fell into place.

"Thank you, Callie."

She told me she loved me, and she'd speak to me tomorrow to sort out details of the contract. Then she told me she'd better get going, because at this rate, she'd be counting fucking spoons and forks until morning. Then I was smiling at a dial tone.

I squeezed Adam's hand, and with such sad eyes, he looked at me. But then he looked at my smile, and then his eyes went wide.

"Yes?"

I nodded. "Yes."

And then in a flash, he leapt up and tackled me back onto the bed, pinning me down with his hands. His grin was beautiful. "Really? You're staying? For real?"

I laughed and nodded. "I am."

He kissed me quickly. And he looked at me for a long moment then he kissed me slowly. He pecked my lips again and again, and when he pulled away, he climbed off

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me and pulled me up. "We need to go tell Sy."

We knocked on his office door and got a tired,

"Yeah" in response.

Adam opened the door, and a worn-out looking