Page 38 of Fanboy in the Falls (Devon Falls #3)

And then I know I’m ready. They’re ready. We’re all ready for more. —Colin Templegate

“This is really nice.”

Gabe leans his head back against the padded headrest of the hot tub and sinks lower into the water.

Tom beams at me from the other side of the tub, where he’s keeping watch on the large plastic cast wrap we all but welded to Gabe’s leg before we propped it up on the edge of the tub.

“This was a wonderful idea, bestie,” Tom murmurs to me.

I shrug. “I figured if anyone knew how to get a broken leg into a hot tub, it would be one of the doctors in town.” Sam came through with that cast wrap, that’s for sure.

Gabe looks the most relaxed he’s been since the hospital, his eyes fluttering open and closed as his dark hair floats down against the water.

Gabe peeks one eye open. “Thanks for this,” he whispers.

I can almost let myself fully relax into the water.

This is only our second full day at the cabin, and I know we all have plenty of shit itching against the backs of our brains.

Especially Gabe. He jumps every single time one of our phones goes off, his eyes lighting up, then falling when he sees it isn’t the social worker or the sheriff or Jack or Benson calling.

It’s like taking Christmas morning away from a little kid. Every. Damn. Time.

And there’s something else itching against the back of my brain right now too. Tom. He’s finally leaning further into what he and I are finally trying together. He’s not second guessing my touches anymore, and he’s looking a lot less wide-eyed when I kiss him now. But.

But.

He still hasn’t told us what the hell happened at The Good Sword.

Tom getting fired? From any job? That doesn’t compute.

Tom’s moms may be well-off, but he was never some Hollywood nepo baby.

He worked his ass off to get every single role he ever had, moving all the way from commercials to the franchise role of his dreams across many, many years.

He’s good at what he does, and he’s got incredible drive and perseverance.

Something fucked up happened to him out there, I’m sure of it.

I can’t push him to tell us, though. I’m also sure of that.

Tom’s the kind of guy who puts so much of himself out to the world that when there’s something he wants to keep hidden, he wraps it up tight.

Over the years I’ve learned that getting the hardest truths out of him requires time.

And patience. So for now, I’ll just keep pushing him toward relaxing hot tubs, working him closer and closer to trusting what we have here.

I look out across the patio, at a fresh bed of leaves that have fallen to the ground overnight.

Lots of reds, some oranges. A golden one here or there.

“Christian would have loved this place.”

I say the words out loud without thinking about them, but I don’t regret them. Especially not when Tom pushes one hand across the tub to take my left and Gabe pushes another over to take my right. I’m circled between the two of them now, and the sentence feels right as it lingers between us.

“Yes, he would have loved this place,” Tom echoes.

Gabe smiles. “Tell me about him?” he asks.

Tom laughs. “Oh, he was the trouble twin. That’s what Colin’s mother used to call him, anyway. A total daredevil.”

Gabe laughs. “And you were a perfect angel?” he asks me, his voice teasing.

“I was absolutely the fuck not.” I grin. “A lot of the time I was two steps behind him.”

“Like that time,” Tom says, “that you both decided you wanted a dog, so you kidnapped the neighbor’s and hid it in the basement.”

Gabe’s mouth drops open. “You did not!”

“She was always chained up outside alone, barking!” I shrug. “But yeah, we did. We definitely got up to some shit together. I had nothing on Christian, though, when it came to causing chaos. Sam spent most of his time chasing after Chris, keeping the chaos to a bare minimum.”

“They sound like they were a good pair,” Gabe says.

“We always thought so.” I glance over at Tom. “Now we know they weren’t so great together at the end, before Christian died. But when we were younger, you never saw one of them without the other.” I smile at Tom. “Just like us.”

Gabe sighs. “I wish I’d had someone like that,” he says softly. “Someone who I knew I could always count on to be behind me, one thousand percent, no matter what.” He smiles. “That was my mom for a long time, I guess. Until she got sick.”

Tom and I separate to move closer to Gabe, until I’m leaning against his shoulder and Tom’s pressing against his good leg under the water. “Tell us about her,” Tom says.

The bubbles from the hot tub’s jets seem to hum in time with Gabe’s voice as he starts speaking slowly.

“She was an artist,” he says. “A painter. Abstract stuff, mostly. I never understood it.” He grins.

“I remember someone told her once that all her paintings just looked like shapes, and she told him his whole face just looked like shapes.”

Tom snorts. “Oh, yes, I would have liked her very much.”

“You would have,” Gabe agrees. He looks back and forth between us. “She would have liked you both, too. She would have loved the way you dress, Tom. All the colors and patterns you like.”

“Thank you very much.” Tom takes a miniature bow in the water.

“Colin, she would have loved the way you look at something like a destroyed room and see all the possibilities for it. She was like that too. She loved finding old furniture pieces at estate sales and restoring them.”

“Huh.” I frown. I’m not sure I ever realized that was something people actually did. It sounds… fun.

“She was loyal, and strong, and really good at asking for things she wanted. And she wanted me and Lou to be like that too.” Gabe shakes his head and sighs. “She’s rolling over in her grave somewhere if she can see what’s happened to Dave since she died. She’d hate the way he acts around Lou.”

“And around you,” I remind him steadily. “You matter too, little one. I think you forget that sometimes.”

“Agreed,” says Tom.

Gabe frowns and then swallows. “Thank you,” he finally says.

I answer by leaning over and kissing him across the lips. When I pull away, he’s smiling. “Can I ask for something?” he says.

“Anything at all,” Tom says before I can answer the exact same way.

Gabe takes a deep breath. He’s staring down into the water now, not looking directly at either of us. “I liked it,” he whispers. “Yesterday, when you took control, Colin. When you told me and Tom what to do. I liked that a lot. I was wondering if we could, you know. Do that again.”

“Oh my goodness,” Tom mutters. “You really are trouble, little fox. In the very best possible way. What do you say, Colin? Do you feel like bringing out that racing voice of yours again?”

I can’t figure out how to answer him. I can barely speak.

All I know is that my cock’s rising in the water, and my entire body feels like it’s thrumming as I remember how good yesterday felt…

how much I liked being in charge of these two.

It was like all the best parts of driving again: locking in on a goal and steering toward it, making every choice and movement with that goal in mind.

But in this case, my goal gets to be about making all three of us feel good.

Fuck, yes. I would like that very much. And maybe a little more of me taking charge is exactly what Tom needs to finally trust this and open up all the way. I stand up so fast I splash water across the patio.

“Let’s get out of this tub.”

I can’t tell if I say the words or growl them.

We end up in the bedroom, with Gabe’s broken leg stacked comfortably on pillows.

Both of them are naked, laid out in front of me, and every animal instinct in me wants to fall across the bed and devour them, but I stay standing.

Patient. I've got my shirt off, but I'm still in jeans and boxers. I want them to remember that I’m in charge here. They won’t have me until I say the word.

“Tell me,” I say to them, “what your wildest fantasies are.”

Because even though I've known Tom all my life, I know almost nothing about this side of him: what he likes in bed. What makes every nerve in his body stand at attention when he’s touching someone else intimately.

There’s so much I have to learn. And Gabe…

well, there are so many pieces of him neither Tom nor I know anything about, and I want to learn all of them.

Gabe’s pupils seem to be a little dilated as he starts speaking

“Um,” he says, “well, since I first started dating you both, there’s something I’ve always wanted to try. But it never would have worked when the two of you weren’t together.” He purses his lips.

Tom sits up on one elbow and raises an eyebrow. “Tell us,” I order.

Gabe gulps. “So, yeah. In this fantasy I have, Tom is, um, inside of me.” He blushes. “He’s making love to me. And then, Colin, you’re inside of him, fucking him into me…”

He trails off, but Tom quickly starts talking. “Enough said. That’s my fantasy too.” He looks over at me. “Or it most certainly is now. My goodness.”

I grin. “Okay.” I pace back and forth in front of the bed as I study them. “We're going to make this happen, then. If we can do it safely, anyway.” I frown down at Gabe’s leg.

“The doctors just said no weight bearing and that I had to rest it a lot and be careful about not moving it too much,” Gabe says. “I can be careful! I promise!”

Tom laughs. “We will have to be especially cautious,” he tells me.

“But this bed is covered in pillows, and I know I won’t mind if we move very slowly.

” He sends me a sly smile that looks like it’s from the Tom I know so well.

Yes. Gabe and I are breaking him back out of the shell of worry he’s been wrapped in. I can feel it.