Stealing the Show (PolyAm Fam #3)

Chapter 15

fifteen

maggie

It had been a few years since Leo had been off work for the Fourth of July. Usually, I stayed home and caught up on reading, but this year, we’d been invited to Cynda and Jason’s home for a cookout. Raine was invited too, and it would be one of our first appearances as a throuple.

“Are we a throuple though?” Leo asked as he watched me trying to coordinate red, white and blue outfits for us.

“Well, there’s three of us…and we’re in a relationship.” I laid a red-and-white-striped polo shirt on top of a pair of navy-blue shorts to see if he’d bite.

“I’m not going looking like a candy cane,” he said. “Or Where’s Waldo. Or the IU basketball team’s candy-striped warm-up pants.”

“The warm-up pants have vertical stripes,” I argued, rolling my eyes. “Fine, how about plain red?”

“I don’t like to wear red.” He put the striped polo back in the closet and opened up one of his drawers. He pulled out a shirt with a thin blue line flag on it. “How about this instead?”

“Fine.” I really didn’t care what he wore. I wasn’t that kind of wife, so I wasn’t sure why I was bothering.

“Back to the throuple thing.” He poked his head through the top of the t-shirt. “Right now, we’re more of a couple with a surrogate partner.”

“In a legal sense, I suppose we are.” I nodded in agreement.

“Well, do you think it will change?” He stepped into a pair of shorts, not the ones I had laid out on the bed, but a pair of baggy tan ones he wore all the time and had a bit of paint splattered on one leg. I wasn’t going to let that bother me. He was a grown man, and if he wanted to wear paint-splattered shorts, that was his own problem.

“Do you want it to change?” I dug in my jewelry box for a pair of flag earrings my sister got me several years ago.

“I just wondered what would happen after the baby is born, that’s all.” He fastened his shorts and gave himself a once-over in the mirror.

“I can’t believe I’m the one saying this since I’m the planner in this relationship, but I think we’re gonna have to cross that bridge when we come to it.” I poked the earrings through the holes in my earlobes and put the backings on.

He turned to face me. “So you don’t have feelings for Raine, then? Like poly feelings?”

“Are you asking if I’m in love with her?” I stared at him across the room. He was standing in the doorway with one arm propped against the frame.

“Well, yeah…you know, do you love her?”

I fastened my gold necklace, giving myself time to think of what I wanted to say, how I wanted to answer. “I think Raine is a lovely young woman, and I really appreciate that she’s trying to help us have a baby. Of course I think she’s beautiful, and I love having sex with her. But I wouldn’t say I’m in love with her.”

Then my mind went to the obvious: why is he asking this?

“Okay. That’s pretty much where I am with it too,” he said. “I just wondered how she saw things. If she sees us as a throuple.”

“Why don’t you ask her?” Speaking of obvious, that seemed like the obvious solution.

“Maybe I will.” He grinned as I walked toward the door. I tried to brush past him, but he caught me in his arms. “You gotta pay the toll if you wanna pass.”

“The toll, eh? And what’s that?”

“A kiss, duh!”

I rose on my tippy-toes as his arms wrapped around me. Mmm, it felt nice to be in his arms. I closed my eyes as our lips made contact, sending a flurry of tingles through me. All these years together, and he still affected me like this. He still made me weak in the knees.

“You ready to go?” he asked when I opened my eyes and caught him staring down at me with an adoring look on his face.

“Ready if you are.” I smiled back up at him.

“I can’t wait to show off my two lovely ladies.” He spun me in a circle, and then escorted me to the garage.

I bent down and gave Blue a pat on the head. “Be a good boy while we’re gone.”

“Should we take him with us?” Leo asked.

“They have cats, right? We better not.”

We waved goodbye to our pup and headed out.

raine

“Hey, how are you feeling?” I put my arm around Danielle’s shoulder as she stretched out on the lounger in Cynda and Jason’s back yard wearing nothing but a tube top and a pair of boy shorts.

“Like a bloated pig,” she huffed. “This heat is killing me, and I’m only five months along! I can’t imagine what I’d feel like if I was nine months right now. I’d probably go bathe myself in ice.”

We watched the guys set up a volleyball net across the yard. “Well, if you think you’re hot now, just wait until they get this volleyball game going. It’s going to be like Top Gun up in here.”

Danielle was too uncomfortable to giggle. She merely let out a snort. “Can you get me some water?”

“Yeah, babe, just a sec.” I headed to the cooler, pulled out two icy-cold water bottles and brought them over. She took hers and immediately stuck it between her boobs.

“Ahhh…” She closed her eyes and smiled. “Now that’s nice.”

“Hey, so I just finished up my first period after going off the Pill,” I shared.

“Oh…so I guess you didn’t get pregnant last month?” She opened her eyes and stared at me as I took a swig from my water bottle.

“No, despite Leo’s best efforts.” I sighed as a bead of water dripped off my bottle and landed on my arm. “But I probably didn’t ovulate, you know? This month I have a better chance. Maybe I should get one of those kits that tells you when it’s best to get knocked up.”

“Such an eloquent way of phrasing it!” Dani teased me. Then she gestured to herself. “I know you’re in a big hurry to look and feel like this.”

“You’re still beautiful, so don’t even. You’re getting the cutest little tummy!” I moved my hand like I was going to touch her belly, but she glared at me.

“I already had a tummy, so there’s nothing little about what’s going on here now.” She looked down at her emerging baby bump. “But it is pretty cute, right? Noah and Aris have been rubbing shea butter and coconut oil into my skin every night. They take such good care of me.”

“That’s amazing. I know Leo and Maggie will take good care of me too,” I confidently asserted.

“Hey, so did you ever hear back from your mother?” She took the water bottle out of her cleavage and unscrewed the cap.

“Nope.” I sighed. “It was worth a shot, but no. I sent her a text. Maybe she thought it was spam and deleted it?”

Dani rested her head against the lounger and closed her eyes again. “Didn’t your brother tell her that you might be reaching out?”

“When we first talked, he told me they aren’t close. They don’t live in the same state, and they don’t talk much. He had her number, but it’s possible she’s changed it. I don’t know.”

“Social media?” Dani’s eyebrows quirked as she returned the cold bottle to her tube top.

“I mean, I could try. I don’t know how common a name Reina Clarke is. The area code suggests she lives in Michigan, but who knows if that’s actually the case.” I was daunted by the idea of tracking her down, yet I felt compelled to for Leo and Maggie’s sake.

“I hope you hear back from her soon,” Danielle said. “Maybe you should tell her she’s going to be a grandmother?”

“Yikes, that might scare her away even more!” I laughed.

“Looks like your fam is here.” She lifted her sunglasses and pointed toward the house. Leo and Maggie were rounding the corner with Leo carrying a cooler and Maggie carrying what looked to be a pie.

They both simultaneously spotted me and waved. Cynda rushed to greet them and took the pie and cooler, so they headed my way. Leo was wearing a thin blue line flag shirt, and Maggie was wearing a pair of red capri pants with a navy and white shirt.

I didn’t look very patriotic in my short, ruffled sundress with daisies on it, but I did have a matching headband in my hair, which was blowing in the breeze as they made it to my side.

“Hey, sexy lady.” Maggie wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me into a soft kiss on the lips. When she released me, Leo took me into his arms and also gave me a kiss.

“You remember Danielle,” I reintroduced them, and everyone nodded and smiled.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” Maggie said.

Danielle smiled and patted her tummy. “Yup, hoping the sun helps le bébé bake a little faster.”

Aris and Noah must have been waiting for us to finish our conversation because, as soon as they saw Maggie and Leo arrive, they wandered over. Handshakes and hugs all around as everyone got reacquainted.

I looked around the yard, not only at the six of us standing in our little group, but at Jason, Cynda, Darth, Lachlan, Molly, Poe, and a few other new faces whom I hadn’t met yet. It looked like Poe might have a girlfriend, judging by the fact she had her arm around another femme-presenting person. There were fifteen or twenty people celebrating the Fourth of July in this yard, a holiday devoted to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And we were all pursuing our happiness with multiple partners.

We were all polyamorous, and we were all connected either by love, friendship, or at the very least, like-mindedness, and we were so lucky to live in a place where we were free to love anyone we chose.

I wasn’t the most patriotic person in the world, but that realization did cause a few tears to sting at the corners of my eyes. Sure, there were people in our country who didn’t like us, understand us, or support us—but they couldn’t stop us from gathering here today to celebrate Independence Day.

leo

My two ladies were looking especially alluring today in their festive outfits—my wife in her patriotic colors and my girlfriend in her little daisy dress that kept conveniently blowing up so I could see her pale blue panties underneath. The sun was setting, and Jason and Darth were pretty gung-ho on setting off fireworks, but I was more interested in creating a different kind of spark.

Cynda saw me mixing drinks at the makeshift bar and headed over. “Having fun?”

“The best time. Thanks so much for having us. I’m usually out arresting drunks right about now on the Fourth, you know?”

She laughed. “You’re welcome here any time, Leo. As a matter of fact, our camper is available if you three want to spend the night. I don’t want anyone making extra work for the cops on duty in your stead, you know?”

“Oh, we would never.” I grinned. “That’s very generous of you to offer.” I pointed across the yard toward the driveway. “That camper is yours?”

She nodded. “Yes, feel free to bunk up if you’d like. It’s unlocked and should be fully stocked with anything you need.”

“Incredible offer, thank you, Cynda. Please express my thanks to Jason too. He looks a little busy strategizing with Darth over the fireworks show right now. Don’t want to interrupt him.”

She laughed and patted me on the shoulder affectionately. “Good idea.”

She went over to talk to Molly and Lachlan as I carried the drinks to where Maggie and Raine were waiting for me. “Hey, Cynda offered the camper to us tonight if you guys want to crash here.”

“Oh, that’s sweet of her!” Maggie exclaimed. “That means you can drink too if you’d like, babe.”

“Oh, right!” I rubbed my hands together. “In that case, I’ll be right back.” After returning to the bar, I mixed my own drink and then rejoined the ladies. “Bottoms up!”

Maggie held up her red Solo cup like it was a biohazard. “How much fucking alcohol did you put in this thing? Geez!”

Raine took her first taste. “My god, Leo, this could fuel a rocket!”

They both laughed as I took the cup from her and sniffed it. “You want me to make you another one? I’ll drink this one.”

Maggie scoffed and linked her arm with Raine’s. “C’mon, beautiful. I’ll make you an actually potable drink.” She handed me her cup, rolled her eyes and marched off toward the bar with Raine in tow.

Noah slid up to me, watching them leave. “Hmm, looks like you drove them away. What’d you do?”

I sighed. “I guess the drink I mixed was too strong.” I held out Maggie’s cup to him. “Wanna try it?”

He held his hands up, palms out. “I have surgery in the morning, so I’m not drinking tonight.”

“You have surgery the morning after the Fourth of July?”

“Sinus problems don’t take holidays,” he said with a wink.

I downed the contents of Maggie’s cup, so now I’d had three of the rocket-fuel drinks wreaking havoc on my system. The buzz began to burn through me, making me feel tingly and my brain feel a bit floaty. The ladies wandered back over to me a few minutes later with new cups.

“These are much better,” Raine agreed as they each took a sip.

I started to make a smart-ass remark, but my balance seemed to have taken a holiday. “Wow, you’re right, those were strong. Maybe too strong.”

Raine caught my arm, trying to hold me up. “Leo, do you need to sit down?”

I waved her away. My words weren’t slurring yet. I was fine. “Maybe I should have one more just for good measure.” I started for the bar again, but Maggie grabbed me by the back shorts pocket.

She tugged me back toward her and Raine. “Oh no you don’t, you little lush. You’re gonna stay right here and watch the show with us.”

As if on cue, the wheeze and pop of a firework exploded several feet above us. I looked up to see tiny gold stars making a pattern in the sky. “Look, it’s a golden shower!”

Raine chuckled. “Oh, boy, is this what we have to look forward to all night?”

“Well, at least he’s a happy drunk, right, baby?” Maggie elbowed me and damn near toppled me over.

Another whiz through the sky and a crackle. “Purple Rain!” I exclaimed. “Those are the Artist Formerly Known as Prince’s favorites.”

“Wow,” was all Raine could say to my joke.

“Maybe we should get him to the camper before he passes out?” Maggie suggested. Noah heard her and came over to help.

Next thing I knew, Noah was on one side of me, and Aris was on the other, escorting me to the camper and then helping me step up inside while I regaled them with reasons they should let me stay outside. “But I wanna kiss my girls under the fireworks! Isn’t that a romantic thing to do?”

“Sure, buddy, but you can’t kiss them if you’re passed out on the ground,” Noah warned.

“You’ll feel better if you lie down,” Aris agreed.

“But how’m I gonna fuck ‘em if they’re out there, and I’m in here?” I raved.

“We’ll be just fine fucking without you,” Raine said as Aris and Noah got me settled on the bed at the back of the camper.

“Do you need the bathroom or anything before we head out?” Noah asked.

“No, man, but thank you for taking care of me. What would a guy like me do without guys like you?” I crooned as they both stood over me, arms crossed over their chests like I wasn’t the funniest drunk guy they’d ever seen.

I was definitely the funniest and funnest drunk guy.

At least at this party.