~ ~ Josh ~ ~

In the aftermath, and as the sweat on my skin cooled, I stared up at the ceiling in Alex's room. Lay to my left was the man himself. Turning my head, he was lying on his side facing away from me, his breaths steady and even.

My heart and lungs had long since recovered from that incredible moment, but my brain was still trying to wrap itself around the whole thing.

It didn't seem real.

Alex and I had just had sex.

And it ranked up there as one of my best and most intense moments. My only other intense moments having been with Ivy and when all three of us were together.

I would have pinched myself to check I hadn't dreamt it if not for the bittersweet soreness in my arse right now.

And just as good was the fact that we'd turned a corner in our relationship. It was as though the choke-chain on his control had snapped and he was free to let himself feel more.

More for me.

And I didn't have a clue what had brought it on.

Had something happened whilst I was out?

Either way, I sure as hell welcomed it.

And wanted more of it. The two of us. The three of us. Just more of all of it.

But lying here, part of me wanted to dissect it. Make sure we're on the same page. That this was a relationship and not just sex.

He'd said some stuff in the shower, but I would be the first to admit, half of it got lost in translation because of the way he was looking at me and the sexual energy pouring off him.

And when he touched me, and not in the rough, demanding way I was expecting, my brain went offline and my dick was in the drivers seat.

Snapping me from my thoughts, Alex cleared his throat. "Am I interrupting some serious thinking over there?" There was a hint of wariness in his tone.

"Nah," shifting onto my side, I moved closer, and taking a risk, I pressed my lips to his shoulder.

I didn't realise the relief I'd get from him not baulking or pulling away from my touch. My words were soft when I said, "I don't want to move from your bed."

"No rush, is there?" he asked.

None, other than I'd promised my mum I'd call round to look at her washing machines as it was on the fritz again.

"No rush," I repeated.

Alex grunted his agreement, then asked. "You good... with what happened?

"Good? Shit, Alex. I'm better than good. You?"

"Yeah. I'm good too. Fantastic."

Fantastic.  And didn't that have my heart thumping in a whole different way as we went back to a comfortable silence for a while before I asked. "What time will Ivy be here, later?"

"I'm guessing around seven." There was a smile in his tone. "This feels right. The three of us."

I smiled against his skin. "I was just thinking the same thing."

Neither of us made any attempt to move, and I thought, what the hell... let's see how far I can take this. My lips began a slow trek down his spine, my tongue sliding over his smooth skin. Alex's body tightened when I reached the crack of his arse and I pushed up and gentled him to roll over for me.

It surprised me when he did, but not one to look a gift-horse in the mouth. I repositioned myself and ran my hand up his hairy thighs, enjoying the sensation.

Smoothing a hand over his arse, I peeled his cheeks open and dipped.

Alex's hand fisted to the duvet and moaned low in his throat as my tongue grazed over his hole. His arse clenched, and I stopped and asked. "This okay?"

He shifted his legs slightly wider, and I took that as a yes and went back to rimming his hole, but felt the need to ask again, as Ivy always told me. Words were important. "This still okay?"

"Yeah," he answered, giving me the green light.

I tormented him with light licks at first, followed by gently probing as I tongue fucked him.

Could I risk a finger?

Hell, why not?

Pulling my tongue free, the lube was close by. Alex didn't protest when I slipped in my first lubed finger up to the knuckle.

I slipped in two and went in deeper.

Another groan.

"You like it?" I asked.

It took him a little longer to grunt out a yeah, and I decided this would be as far as I would take it today.

Wouldn't want to push my luck and fuck up a good thing.

Fingers freed, I kissed back up his spine and moved to lie next to him and he shifted his head to look at me. "Something wrong?"

I shook my head. "No, everything is pretty damn perfect."

That seemed to relax him.

"But I forgot, I have to nip my mums."

"Oh. Okay. Then I might grab a few hours of sleep."

"You do that. I'm gonna nip and grab another quick shower."

He eyes had already closed as I slipped from his bed and headed for the bathroom.

~ ~

It was just after half-six when I got back.

Kicking off my trainers and pulling off my hoodie, I walked through to the kitchen, dropping my top on the back of one chair.

"Hey," walking over to the fridge to grab a drink, reaching for the bottled milk. Flipping around, my head pulled back as Alex was right in front of me and next thing I knew his mouth was on mine and I was pushed back into the fridge door, and my hand shot out to place the milk on the counter before I dropped it.

Alex didn't hold back. Chest to chest, our rapid heartbeats hammered in time with each other as he kissed me fiercely. I groaned when his hand slid up behind my neck, holding me there.

Not that I wanted to go anywhere.

It also answered some questions that had been rolling around in my head all afternoon, the main one being would Alex have any regrets about earlier.

Hell, no!

There was no dancing around what was happening between us, although half of me was expecting the other shoe to drop, that this was too good to be true.

Sinking into his kiss, soaking in Alex's dominance with every lick of his tongue and the swelling of both our dicks as he pressed his into mine.

The clearing of a throat had us breaking apart. "Would you boys like some privacy? Because I can ... uhm..."

Me and Alex were both standing there, chests heaving and breathless when Alex stepped back, putting some space between us.

I would have worried about his reaction when he laughed and that untied that last knot of concern in the back of my mind.

Alex dragged his thumb across his bottom lip. "We never need privacy from you, Ivy," he told her in that gravely dominant tone that my dick definitely liked.

My eyes batted between them. Did she already know about earlier?

"Good to know," Ivy said with a dip in her tone and a wiggle in the eyebrows.

Alex's gaze swung back to mine. "Do either of you want anything to eat?"

"I'm good," I said, "ate at my mums," And Ivy shook her head.

About to ask how her day was, Alex's phone cut in.

"Ugh. When is this tosser gonna take he fucking hint?" he stared hard at his phone. "He won't quit until I answer. He's been blowing up my phone all d-d-day."

I rolled my eyes and glanced at Ivy, whose expression wasn't playful any longer.

"I'm gonna take this outside," he said.

When he slipped out of the room, I shifted my attention to Ivy. I had a feeling I was blushing, but pretended I wasn't. "You're early. I only just back myself."

Ivy bit into her bottom lip.

Was something bothering her? "Everything alright, Ivy?"

Her smile returned, but it wasn't her usual easy going playful one. "Hmm," she hummed, putting her purse on the table, and then moved toward me. "And is that how Alex welcomes you home now?"

Within reach, I slipped my hand over her waist and pulled her in, eliminating any space. "That was new." Sealing my mouth over hers, I loved how she sighed, her tongue chasing mine. And then, just like Alex, she took control with her small hands digging into my biceps as she deepened the kiss, letting me feel her pent-up tension.

One hand slipped from my bicep and moved between us. Teasing my bottom lip with her teeth and said, "is it wrong to admit that I like this—" Her feathered touch grazed over my erection. "—Is also for Alex?"

Not waiting for my answer, she slipped her other hand around the back of my neck and pulled my lips back to hers. Slow and deep, she kissed me leaving no doubt who was in charge.

Fuck, I loved this woman, and I was so close to just blurting it out.

We were both breathless when she eased back and I rested my forehead against hers. "Drink?" I offered. "Wine?"

Ivy stepped from my grasp. "Yeah, I could definitely use a drink."

I grabbed the bottle that Alex had already bought up earlier from the cellar and opened the drawer, searching for a corkscrew. "Grab a glass from the cupboard. Top right."

As the cork popped, Ivy held out her glass, and I filled it.

"The tosser? Alex just mentioned." I put the wine bottle down and picked up the milk as I had yet to have a drink myself. "Was that Alex's step-dad, Nick?" she asked, walking toward the table.

"Ex-step-dad." Shaking my head. "The guy is a dickhead and the way he uses Alex's sister—Vanessa, makes him a shit-stain of a human being too."

"What do you mean?"

I realised there were quite a lot of things Ivy didn't know about us.

"He won't let Alex see her and although Alex is good at hiding it—it's really fucking with his head. He told you what happened, right? To Nessy?"

She nodded. "Yeah, some. But why is he stopping him from visiting?"

"Fuck knows." I scoffed and my top lip curled up. "Cheeky bastard also asked Alex to sell him this house—which won't fucking happen. Ever."

Ivy ran her knuckle over her full bottom lip, her expression darkening.

"Has Alex told him about me?"

"No." Swigging a mouthful of milk, swallowing, I dragged the back of my hand across my mouth. "Alex tells him jack-shit. But he has told Nessy, so I'm thinking she could have mentioned you to him."

Ivy mumbled something I didn't catch. "Does it matter if he knows?"

She never answered, and an uneasy feeling tightened in my guts. "You sure you're okay, Ivy?"

Ivy stood straighter and forced a smile. "Ah-huh."

That was not convincing and I was about to ask again. The back door opened and in walked Alex, and he didn't look fucking happy.

"What's up?" Flicking my chin up. But he paid me no mind. His eyes were all over Ivy as he slammed the door shut.

"Y-y-you want to tell me what happened today?" he asked her and my head batted between the two of them.

Ivy's shoulders dropped, and she sighed out loud. "I'm guessing he told you."

Alex's jaw twitched. "Motherfucker!" he spat out.

"What? Someone wanna tell me what I'm missing here?"

Neither seemed willing to say I repeated my question.

Alex scrubbed a hand down his now reddened face, and Ivy looked at me and spoke calmly. "I have seven days to leave the UK. My visa has expired."

My jaw dropped. "And what? Can't you just renew it?"

"There's an appeal process, but Zack has been speaking with a HR lawyer and it seems I'm being asked to leave under some bureaucratic bullshit called administrative removal. It's different from actually being deported, which takes a hell-of-a-lot longer to do."

"Okay, so appeal"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Before he left Risk today—"

I butted in. "What the fuck? Nick was at Risk? Doing what!?"

"It doesn't matter why he was there. On his way out, he left a letter for me with the hostess."

"Okay..." I obviously wasn't getting it. "And?"

Ivy sighed, her shoulders slumping. "The letter said I had twenty-one days to appeal."

"Well, then—" I tried to interject, but she held up her hand.

"The letter was back-dated. Meaning, supposedly, they sent it to me two months ago." She shook her head. "But that's bullshit."

"What? So he's faked it?"

"No, it's real. But I imagine he's pulled some strings." She waved it off. "Anyway, I've missed the twenty-one-day window, so I have to return home and re-apply to come back—get a new visa."

Oh. Oooh. That didn't sound as bad. "So, you go home for a few weeks, reapply, yeah?"

"Josh. Who's to say he won't deny it? And it's gonna take a lot longer because I broke the rules of my visa, working when it had expired."

"Fuck!"

She nodded, and I switched to Alex. "And what's the twisted bastard just said to you now on the phone?"

Alex tilted his head back, releasing a frustrated sigh, looking up at the ceiling as if it were going to part and grant him a reprieve from this shitty situation. "If I sell this place to him for one million, he will let Ivy stay and I g-g-get to see my sister."

His words had a prickling sensation erupting beneath my skin and had my stomach twisting itself into knots.

Ivy's jaw dropped this time, and then she gave her head a little wobble. "One million! He gets your home for one million!? You know you can't do that right, Alex." She threw her hand up. "The man is asking you to bend over whilst he fucks you over. This place is worth at least twelve, possibly more!"

How the hell did Ivy know that?

She looked at me and answered my silent question. "Yeah, I'm a nosey bitch. I did some digging on-line. Bite me."

I had to smile at that.

But what a shady bastard Nick was. What the hell gave him the right to do any of this shit? My hands clenched into tight balls, shaking with frightening might, wanting to lay the fucker out.

Ivy let out an irritated huff and Alex looked ready to kill someone.

Silence settled between the three of us, and I was sweating like a turkey at Christmas.

"Look," Ivy finally broke the standoff, putting her untouched wineglass down on the table. "Its fair to say I'm going home as any other option is not an option."

"Like fuck y-y-you are!" blustered Alex. "Fine, if he wants this place, he can have it. You're staying. End of conversation."

Ivy's eyebrows went skyward."Are you shitting me right now?" Waving her hand dismissively. "That's flat-out crazy, Alex, and you know it."

"I know it's crazy if we let you go back home. Neither me nor Josh want to lose y-y-you."

"Fucking hell Alex. We hardly know each other. You are not selling your home, so I can stay!"

"It's my house, Ivy. So I think I can do whatever the fuck I like."

Ivy inhaled a heavy breath. "No. I can't let you do that, Alex." There was a bite in her tone I'd not heard before.

But Alex bit right back. "Not your choice."

"I—" She started when Alex stopped her. "I'm not sure you're getting this, but me—" He glanced at me for a second. "And Josh. We're both in love with you. And what's money when you find what we have?"

Not the way I wanted to tell her, but that bastard had left us little choice, and I nodded in agreement when her eyes hooked on mine.

Ivy's mouth snapped shut. First time I'd ever seen her short of words. But then she stood straighter, pushing her shoulders back as if she was surrounding herself with some kind of invisible force field. "No, Alex."

"What the fuck does that mean, Ivy? No, Alex?" He moved fast and cupped her cheeks in his big hands. "Don't tell me y-y-you're not feeling this, because that's bullshit. This is real. Us. The three of us."

Moving toward them. "He's right Ivy."

Ivy's eyes flicked between us.

"I'm sorry." She lifted Alex's hands from her face and stepped back.  "This. Us. It's not gonna work."

I saw the change come over Alex, gone was the quiet demeanour I was used outside the bedroom.  He seemed to grow taller, wider.  "I'm calling bull-fucking-shit."  And not once did he stutter.  "You're scared.  We hit our first roadblock and that's it you want out!"

"I'm not scared." 

"Don't you think we're scared too?"  I said nothing my eyes flicking between them.  "Don't you think I worry that I don't know what I'm doing here?  And at least twenty fucking times I worry I'm going to fuck it up. With you."  His head flipped to me.  "And him."  He took a breath.  "I worry that you will decide I'm not what you want and leave me. That I'm not enough."

I knew Alex's fears. In his head everyone he loved left him.

Ivy blinked and her face softened and I thought Alex's words had touched something... but then a mask of calm slipped over her features.  "There is no point in dragging this out." Picking up her purse, she opened it and pulled out the key.

Placing it on the table, she didn't spare us another glance as she left us standing there.

"What the fuck just happened?"

Alex said nothing and started walking out of the kitchen, only to stop and put a hole in the wall with his fist.

"Alex!" I grabbed hold of his shoulder to stop him from doing it again. 

He jerked away from me.  "Just don't, Josh. Fucking don't."

I watched him stomp out, and less than a minute later, the door to his bedroom slammed shut.

Fuck!

I wanted to go after both of them, drag them back. Make them talk and find a solution. But it was best to give them both some space to calm down... for now.