Triple Beat-nook(25)

Bryson snorted. “Only to you, Mr. Semantics.”

Aiden refused to be deterred. “Regardless of what Dani said, what did you think about it?”

Bryson looked down at his coffee cup, toying with the rim. Aiden had known this would be a difficult conversation for his friend. Bryson was the visceral one in their trio.

While Dani and Aiden wrote the love songs and broken-heart ballads filled with introspection and self-awareness, Bryson’s music and lyrics were simpler, running along the lines of “Friends in Low Places” and “Red Solo Cup”. His songs were destined to be feel-good, do-whatever-the-f*ck-you-want, barroom staples, while Dani and Aiden wrote music that lent itself to weddings or was most likely to be accompanied by a tub of Ben & Jerry’s and a crying woman.

“It was hot.”

It was a simple answer. Exactly what Aiden expected for the first pass. “You didn’t mind that I was there?”

Bryson let out an exasperated groan and picked up his cup, walking to the couch. “Why do you do that? Why do you always have to go there? Why can’t we just say it was fun and move on?”

Aiden took a deep breath, trying to keep a cool head. He’d spent nearly a decade figuring out how to have difficult conversations with Bryson. It required a lot of patience, which Aiden usually had in abundance. This morning, however, he was on edge and struggling to figure out why. “Do you want to move on?”

Bryson narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“What if we didn’t just forget it? What if we expanded on it?”

Bryson didn’t reply immediately and Aiden thought he was looking at his own face reflected back at him. The desire to keep going was definitely there. Neither of them wanted last night to be a one-night stand.

“Doesn’t matter what we want. Dani doesn’t want that.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

Bryson slammed down his coffee cup, ignoring when it splashed onto the table. Aiden should have expected the response. If he was feeling like a powder keg about to explode, no doubt Bryson was reaching critical mass. “No, I’m not okay with that! But I don’t remember us being given a choice. She said it couldn’t happen again, so that’s it.”

“No. That’s not it. There are three of us with a vested interest in how we proceed from here and we’re all capable of voicing our opinions. Neither one of us spoke up last night.”

Bryson raised an eyebrow in accusation. “You shut down the conversation. Pretty damn quick.”

Aiden dropped down into a chair, leaning back wearily. “We weren’t going to solve anything last night. We were still lust drunk.”

Bryson’s lips tipped up. “That would be a good title for a song. Remind me of that when I’m not still suffering from the condition. That was…just…f*ck me.” His words were spoken so reverently Aiden almost laughed.

“Yeah. I didn’t see that coming.”

Bryson tilted his head, curious. “Seriously? I mean…you’ve never thought about doing it with Dani?”

Aiden lifted one shoulder then confessed, “I’ve thought about it a lot. Too much. But you were never there with us, bro.”

Bryson chuckled. “Ditto.” They fell silent for several minutes, sipping their coffee. Aiden wasn’t sure what was going through his friend’s mind, but he was replaying the previous night. Which was a mistake, as his cock twitched, stirred.

Finally, Bryson shifted, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked at Aiden. “I didn’t mind that you were there. It sort of made it better.”

Aiden nodded slowly. He felt the same way.

Bryson continued, “It was like being on the same basketball team, passing the ball, the assist, the layup, the rebound. We were working together to score, to win.”

“We’ve always made a pretty good team. Onstage and on the court for those pickup games.”

“And apparently in the bedroom,” Bryson added quietly.

“Yeah.”

Bryson crinkled his nose. “Does this mean we’re bisexual or something?”

Aiden laughed loudly. “Jesus Christ, no. Did you want me to touch you sexually?”

Bryson stood up quickly. “Fuck no. I’d have punched the shit out of you if you’d tried.”

“Ditto,” Aiden said.

Bryson calmed down briefly, but his concerns about his sexuality were clearly not the only thing bothering him. He started pacing across the room. “If Dani doesn’t want us, there’s not a whole hell of a lot we can do about that.” Bryson’s fists clenched. “Fuck. Listen to me. Us. If she doesn’t want us! Since when is that even a thing? We don’t do threesomes any more than Dani does. I’ve always been a one-man show when it comes to sex. And no matter how f*cking awesome it was, last night was…”