Ink Enduring (Montgomery Ink #5)(41)

Jake flipped his younger brother off. “No, Graham and I are nearing it. You and Murphy are still below the halfway mark in your thirties. You can’t start bitching about the next decade until you reach the five-year mark.”

Murphy grinned, his dimples deepening. “Yeah, well, no matter what happens, you’ll always be older than me. I’m just glad I’m getting older at all.”

With that pronouncement, he piled a few slices and wings on his plate and sat down on the other couch in the room next to Owen.

The other three brothers stared at each other at the casual way Murphy spoke of his mortality. Their kid brother had almost died countless times when the cancer had overtaken his body, but now he was here, alive, healthy, and making comments about the fact that he was damn lucky to be alive.

Jake wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he quietly dumped wings on his plate with ranch and celery. He’d dig into the pizza later and continue to ignore the fact that he didn’t know what to say when it came to Murphy and his cancer.

“So, Holly, huh?” Murphy asked around a mouthful of pizza. “You said it’s not just her.” He swallowed and took a sip of his beer, and Jake just shook his head at the way his baby brother ate. And he thought the Montgomerys could pack it away.

“No, it’s not just Holly,” Jake repeated.

“So, what’s it about?” Owen asked, wiping his hands on one of his many napkins. The damn man was a little OCD when it came to lists and being clean.

“Could it be about the man you have living in your house right now?” Graham put in. “The man you used to be with, the man who used to be your best friend before he moved away? The man you refuse to talk to us about?”

Jake let out a breath.

“Are you worried we’ll judge?” Murphy asked, pain in his eyes. “Because we won’t. I mean, we haven’t all these years, and we aren’t going to now. Be with who you want to be with. As long as you’re happy, we’re happy.”

Jake shook his head as his brothers frowned at him. “No, it’s not that. I promise. I’ve never once thought you guys, or our parents for that matter, would judge me for being with a man or a woman. Hell, you guys didn’t criticize when I was with both at the same time.”

There, that was a good segue into what he needed to say. Because even if he wasn’t exactly sure what would happen later that night when he, Border, and Maya spoke, he felt like he needed to talk it out beforehand. And why not make that happen with his brothers, who already knew more about him than most brothers knew about their siblings. He might not always feel like he fit in since he didn’t work full-time with their business and was a lot more artistic than they were, but he’d never felt like he wasn’t wanted, wasn’t loved. They’d help him even if they just sat there and listened. The fact that he was so sure of that let him relax marginally.

“So, what’s going on?” Graham asked, his voice calm. He was always the calmest of the bunch until he wasn’t. Then he was the one to blow up and take things down until he could right them again.

Jake let out a breath. “It’s not just Border. It’s Maya, too.”

Graham raised a brow while Owen snorted and Murphy grinned. “It’s about goddamn time,” Graham grumbled.

“Fuck, yeah,” Owen put in. “The two of you should have gotten together long before this.”

“And with Border, too?” Murphy asked, still grinning. “So you’re in a triad with two people I know you care about and damn well care about you? What’s wrong with that?”

Hell, his brothers continued to surprise him, even when they shouldn’t have. He should have had more faith in them, but in reality, it was his lack of faith in himself that was the problem.

“We’re still new,” Jake put in. “So new, we still need to talk about the fact that Maya and I have slept together, and yet we both know I want to be with Border, too.”

Graham studied his face silently. “Communication is important,” he said softly. “You know I get that. It’s what f*cked up my marriage.” His brother looked off in the distance, pain clear in his eyes. “Well, that and other things.”

Jake cursed under his breath. “Shit, I’m sorry for making you think about that.”

Graham shook his head. “I’m always going to think about what happened, Jake. What I lost, what we all lost, isn’t far from my thoughts. Every damn second of every damn day. But this isn’t about that, it’s about you.”

Jake nodded, letting the subject of what had happened to Graham’s family drop. “The three of us are talking tonight. Putting down ground rules, or at least going over what the f*ck is going on in our heads.”

“Good,” Graham said softly. “That’s good.”

“And you want the two of them?” Owen asked. “You want them both in a relationship? Because this isn’t just a ménage for a night, I don’t think. Right? I mean, Border and you have a long past, and you and Maya? Fuck, she’s your best friend. You can’t hurt that because you’re horny.”

Though anger crawled up his spine at Owen’s words, he pushed it aside. Owen was only saying what needed to be said, what needed to be thought, and Jake had to be okay with that.

“It’s not just a night,” Jake said softly. “I don’t know what it is, and that’s something the three of us are going to have to figure out together. But…but I don’t want to make it more than it is either. If I go in thinking of a solid future, I could mess everything up before it all begins.”