Page 43 of A Devilish Element
“I don’t wish you to think things are other than they are. Jem is—”
“Magnificent. It’s not difficult to see why you’d lean towards him. I haven’t his intellect.”
“That’s not true. You’re learned in different ways. Joshua, I don’t want you to think that I’ve made any sort of choice. I didn’t even comprehend until this moment that there was a choice before me.”
Jem came closer. If this conversation was to be had, then it was one that ought to include all three of them. Heartfelt words followed. Words and pleas, and heartache visible in all their faces. It was inevitable that one, if not all of them, were going to be hurt by the threads of desire that now linked them all.
He knew a solution but couldn’t bring himself to propose it.
“Gentlemen, I’m away home tomorrow. I do not wish to make this parting sad. You have both brightened my world these last weeks. Neither of you can ask me to hurt the other. I won’t. I don’t want that. Shall we agree to remain all friends together?”
What else could they do but agree?
Even now, he couldn’t find it in him to hate Joshua. He liked him too much. He’d spent days in the Stags Fell workshop with him, inhaling his scent, watching him rub the tension from his brow whenever his sister caused him a headache. People misunderstood him. They mistook kindness for weakness, and enduring love for his sibling as an endorsement of her behaviour. But all you had to do was look a little deeper, and the truth was obvious. Joshua craved novelty and companionship every bit as much as his sister did, only in Joshua’s case, he was afraid to let go of his security to secure it.
So, Jem kept his thoughts to himself, and didn’t say anything about triangles. Only in his imaginings did the afternoon end with the three of them entwined, loving one another as if three people doing so was the most natural arrangement on God’s earth. Both of them kissing her, together and apart, exploring her body in a similar way. Tupping her together. Fucking her in a wide assortment of arrangements. And fucking each other too, while she watched and encouraged them.
He was a fool even to dream it.
Still, the fantasy of it was enough to bring him off. He spent, sending opalescent streamers across the surface of the water.
Linfield pulled free of his mouth, and for a moment, Jem thought he meant to splatter his face, but he barked a command instead.
“Get out and lean over the bottom of the bed.”
Jem blinked. It’d been some time since Jem had last had his furrow ploughed. Usually, Linfield liked nothing better than to lie prostrate and utterly indolent and let someone else do all the work. Perhaps that was another contributing factor in his inability to tup his wife. It required actual physical exertion.
“What?” Linfield demanded. “I’m ramrod hard, and I need the practice.”
Rivulets chased down his body as Jem complied. There was no towel with which to dry off, and indeed, Linfield hadn’t the patience to wait for such a thing had one been available. He was behind Jem the moment his knees hit the edge of the bed and had a couple of fingers pushed inside him in a trice. It was uncomfortable, even with a slather of oil, but titillating in the same way having Linfield’s cock pushed into his mouth earlier had been.
Jem took refuge in his memories again. Stags Fell remained his favourite place in all the world. The scent of oil and grease combined with an underlying metallic tang, and instead of jacquard beneath his body he imagined the pits and grooves of the workbench. His various cousins were around him. Pip at his chemistry set, Sheridan composing by the fireside, Bertie tailored to within an inch of her life in attire a dandy would aspire to look half so handsome in. In another blink, they were gone, and his sole companion was Joshua.
The stub of a pencil sat tucked behind his ear, while delight crinkled the corners of his eyes. He’d just solved a page of rambling equations and arrived at the same answer as Jem. They were positioned either side of the bench, their brows almost touching. His nostrils were full of the other man’s scent, and he couldn’t stop himself from peeping inside the open collar of Joshua’s shirt. They’d both stripped off coats and cravats earlier when they’d been meddling with piston parts. There was still grease on the tip of Joshua’s index finger and all Jem could think of was how desperately he wanted the other man to put that greased digit inside his bum.
Well, he wanted more than a finger, but he also knew that Joshua would never speak to him again if he suggested it.
“Damn, you’re tight. You’re squeezing me.” Linfield licked the beads of water from the space between his shoulder blades. “Do some of the work, damn you. Push back. I’ve barely half my cock in you.”
“If you want to get balls deep, you might consider foreplay.”
“Dammit, I’ve already made you go off.”
Linfield had had next to nothing to do with it.
He shoved instead. Jem felt the sting through to his nose. But he took it. He breathed through it, knowing it would be over soon, and that Eliza would be safe, while also accepting that while his mind rebelled at his current situation, his body sure as hell liked it.
“You love it. Admit it, Jamie, you live for these moments. There’s no way you could live without them. You like taking it, and you like giving it.” Linfield groaned indulgently and started massaging circles into Jem’s flanks. “Oh, fuck, you’re a nice ride. This can’t end, Jamie. It can’t end. It’s too good between us. This is too good.”
Jem tactfully kept the fact that he was thinking of another man to himself.
“She can’t have you. I won’t allow it. You’re mine. Fuck, it’s coming…”
Those last words squeezed free of Linfield’s mouth as his load released. Jem rolled over once Linfield was done.
“Bring yourself off again.”
He might be erect, but he had no desire to perform. “I’ll be more eager for what you want me for later if you deny me the chance to finish now.”
