Chapter 1 - Coming Home
My phone buzzed in my pocket as I hurried through the airport. I thought I was leaving myself plenty of time, but then between traffic on the way there, not being able to find a parking spot, and an extra-long security line, I wasn't sure I was going to make my flight home. I wove between people on the moving sidewalks, trying not to run over small children or hit anyone with my suitcase. I raced over to my gate just as they announced the final boarding call for my flight to Portland.
Panting, I pulled up my boarding pass on my phone and handed it to the man scanning passes at the gate, just as the screen flashed with my missed call. I quickly cleared the notification and handed the phone back to the airport employee, who scanned me in and ushered me through the gate to the jetway.
That was close, I thought. Some people were fine just barely making it to places on time or squeaking past deadlines by the skin of their teeth - but I was not one of those people. I boarded the plane and found my seat, thankful that the overhead bin wasn't full. Before I missed my chance, I pulled my phone back out and shot off a quick text reply to my missed call.
Just boarded, I'll be home soon!
Jonah text back instantly.
Safe flight, love. Will we see you tonight?
I'm not sure, I'm not landing until 10 and then I want to stop by home. Can I just come by tomorrow?
Of course Lyla, we'll see you then.
I turned my phone to airplane mode and looked out the window as we taxied down the runway. I was tired already, and I just wanted to get home and fall into bed. My own bed. I had been at yet another conference for work this week, and it was getting a little old. Sure, it had been at a conference like this one that I had met my current boyfriends, but now that I had them, I was really getting tired of all this trouble.
Yes, "boyfriends". As in, more than one. Two, actually. Caleb and Jonah, the two hottest guys I had ever met, and they were both mine. And also each other's, but mine too. It was a little hard to explain, so mostly I didn't talk about it. My roommate, Sara, was well aware of us, but she had also been my roommate when I had first fallen into the situation 6 months ago. Travelling for another conference, I had met Caleb in the hotel lobby and invited him up to my room, like some kind of uber-confident pick-up artist that I most certainly was only pretending to be that day. Turns out, he already had a boyfriend, another amazing man named Jonah, and then two of them took me out the next night. And then there was that third night....
I had never expected to fall for a stranger on a business trip, and I certainly hadn't expected to fall for two of them. But after three days of mind-blowing sex, I was absolutely smitten, and went home feeling lonely and depressed. Three months later, Caleb had been relocated for work, and he and Jonah (with the help of some scheming on Sara's part) had surprised me at a bar one night and invited me back to their new home, back into their bed, and, most surprisingly, into their relationship.
Another three months later, we were still going strong. At first, I had been intimidated at the idea of jumping into a relationship where my partners had been together for years and I was the new girl. But, after many reassurances from them, I was really starting to feel like I was on equal footing with them.
There were a few things that weren't equal, though. They lived together, and I lived with Sara a few miles away. They had made it very clear from the beginning that if I ever wanted to move in, I was welcome to. I just wasn't sure. Caleb and Jonah were amazing, but they were also a little... overwhelming? They were just.... a lot. A lot of broad shoulders, a lot of strong jaws, strong arms, and a whole lot of taking my breath away.
I didn't really know how to explain it, but sometimes I just wanted to keep my breath for a bit? When I was with them, they were all-consuming, and I needed a space where I wasn't being consumed. So, I kept my room in a house with Sara, and tried to limit my nights with my men to a few each week. They had had two years together before I came into the picture, and I was still learning how to keep myself and not be consumed by them.
They were also together in public, just the two of them, a lot more than I was. Whenever Caleb had a business trip, Jonah would go with him. I couldn't leave my job whenever I wanted, plus I had my own travel I needed to do, so my trips were always separate from theirs. If Caleb had a work function to go to, he would take Jonah with him, and I would take the opportunity to spend my night at home with Sara. Caleb had invited me to a few, but I had always demurred. What was he going to do, show up with two of us on his arm? How do you explain that one to your boss and co-workers, not to mention clients?
I tried not to let any of this bother me. If this had been a new relationship with just one person, I'm sure I wouldn't have been taking him on my business trips, or going with him to every work thing that came up. So it wasn't so much that I wasn't going to these things, but that Jonah was. But, I knew what I was getting myself into when I agreed to date them. Caleb and Jonah were an established couple, and I just needed to find my place in the relationship too.
