Chpt. 16 APOV:
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Christian asks me for the umpteenth time today.
"Yes, I'm sure," I lean over the console and kiss him on the cheek.
"Are you sure man?" Taylor asks.
"I'm good," Christian says but the tight grip on the steering wheel gives away his nervousness.
The three of us are heading to Christian's parent's house for a family dinner; Christian decided he's going to tell them about…well, us. Taylor and I both said that if he wasn't comfortable doing so, we would understand but Christian wanted no part of hiding. I can't imagine how nervous he must be right now. I have no family to worry about their reaction to hearing I'm dating two guys at once and neither does Taylor. Christian on the other hand has an entire family; Elliot obviously knows about us but there's still his parents and his sister. Christian tried saying that he doesn't care what people think but I think it's impossible to not care how your family feels about something you're doing.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I'm not nervous for me; I'm nervous for Christian…and for Taylor. Part of me wants to say forget it; to not tell them that the three of us are together. But with things getting serious between us, we can't hide our relationship. Since we moved in together more than two months ago, we've become so much closer to each other. My job is going amazing; it's everything I had hoped to find in a company and didn't have at Littman's. I love the team feeling of the company; I love that we all work together and that I have flexibility in my designs. I don't see Christian and Taylor often at work; just meetings here and there but I always look forward to the rare occurrences when I end up on site with one of them.
"Here we are," Christian parks the car in front of a beautiful home and takes a deep breath.
"Hey," I squeeze his arm to get his attention. "No matter what happens in there, it doesn't change what happens between the three of us."
"I know," he nods and gives me a weak smile before opening his car door.
"He'll be fine," Taylor says quietly as we both head around the front of the truck.
I take Christian's hand in mine, holding it tightly as he leads me up the steps to the front door. He opens the door and calls out announcing that we were here.
"Christian!" Mia comes barreling down the steps towards him. She immediately latches onto him, hugging him tightly.
"Ana you came!" she notices me and pulls me in for a hug.
"Hi Mia," I giggle her happiness contagious.
"Taylor, you all came!" she pulls Taylor in for a hug next.
"Mia, leave the kids alone," Grace warns as she walks into the foyer. "Welcome guys I'm so glad all of you could join us. Ana, it's nice to see you again."
"Thank you for inviting me Mrs. Grey," I return the hug she gives me.
"It's Grace, please dear," she corrects. "Taylor, welcome as always."
"Thank you Grace," he hugs her as well.
Grace leads us into the great room where everyone is hanging out, I hug Kate and Elliot before sitting next to Kate on the couch. Christian sits next to me, holding my hand, while Taylor stops to chat with Elliot.
"You okay?" Kate whispers.
"Yup," I lie hoping my nervousness isn't showing. I talked to Kate last night and let her know what Christian's plan was for today.
We chat for awhile, the entire time Christian doesn't let go of my hand. I catch Taylor's eye every so often from across the room. I hate that he's not sitting here with us; it feels weird him being across the room and not sitting with us. When the three of us are at home or out together, we're next to each other. We don't hide our relationship from anyone, so doing it right now just feels odd. I hadn't realized how comfortable I had become with the three of us being together until we hide our relationship.
"I'll be right back," I whisper to Christian who is talking to his dad about a project he's working on.
"Need help?" Taylor surprises me when I leave the room.
"Bathroom?"
"Over here," he puts a hand on my back and leads me down the hall in the opposite direction I was headed to a small bathroom.
"Thanks," I lean in kissing him on the cheek before going into the bathroom.
"Want to go see the boathouse?" Taylor asks when I come out of the bathroom.
"Sure."
"I'm going to show Ana around outside," Taylor says to Grace as we cut through the kitchen to the back yard.
"Okay, dinner should be done in about 15 minutes," she says.
Once we're outside, we turn and head through the beautiful landscaping down to the water. Once we're a little further away from the house, Taylor grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly. He doesn't say anything, but then again he doesn't need to. We walk along the edge of the water taking in the beautiful scenery surrounding the house.
"It's so peaceful out here," I sigh.
"It is," he agrees. "I like being further away from downtown like this."
"Me too."
"One day I want to own a house with a view like this."
"With a big balcony off the master bedroom, so you can watch the sunrise."
"With a huge outdoor patio," he adds.
"And a firepit," I can picture it all especially with a view like this.
"Someplace to chill outside with a cold beer after a long day."
"I could see a large kitchen window above the sink so you could look outside while you were cooking."
"How about a large window in the bathroom, right above a jetted tub so you could relax and look outside."
"I'd love a jetted tub."
"We would need a larger shower, maybe one with three shower heads."
"We would," I say quietly wondering how we went from each of us describing something individually to him practically designing a shower for the three of us.
"Maybe a larger master bedroom, with a big enough closet for…everything."
"It would make things easier for everyone," namely Taylor since his clothes are in a separate room. For the most part the three of us sleep in Christian's room every night, but Taylor's clothes are still in his room since there isn't enough room in Christian's closet.
At some point we stopped walking and we're both staring out over the water. Taylor wraps his arms around me, pulling me against him without saying a word. It's crazy, but I love the house he's designed just now. I love that he's thinking about the three of us long term enough to specifically design something like that. I should be freaking out since we've only been together a short time, but I'm not. Things work between us, no matter how crazy or fast they may seem to everyone else.
"One day you going to help us design that house?" he asks.
"Yeah," I whisper.
"We should head back for dinner," Taylor says a few minutes later.
Several more moments pass before either of us move, but eventually Taylor lowers his hands from my waist and we walk the short distance back to the house. Grace is at the door waiting for us; she doesn't say anything but gives us an odd look. I go to the living room to find Christian; he's sitting where he was when I left with Taylor.
"Did Taylor show you the boathouse?" he whispers wrapping his arm around my waist.
"We ended up just walking by the water," I admit.
"It's peaceful down there."
"It is."
I rest my head on his shoulder wishing he could have been outside with us while Taylor was designing our fictitious house. I would have loved to hear what he thought about it. Has he thought about the three of us long term like that?
"Christian can I see you a moment?" Grace calls from the entryway.
"I'll be right back," he kisses my cheek before leaving the room.
A couple of minutes at most pass before we hear raised voices from the kitchen, we all fall silent trying to figure out what's going on.
"It's not what you think!" Christian says.
"I know what I saw," Grace replies.
"No you don't." he storms out of the kitchen and into great room.
"What's wrong?" I ask standing up to meet him when he walks over to me.
"My mother thinks you're cheating on me with Taylor," he says angrily.
"I saw them! He had his arms around her and was whispering in her ear!" Grace follows him in arguing.
"Sorry," I put my hand on his cheek and kiss him gently. Taylor looks at me feeling just as guilty as I do. We both thought we were far enough away from the house that no one would be able to see us.
"Taylor, what's the meaning of this?" Carrick demands.
"What Grace says she saw is accurate," I notice Taylor carefully choosing his words.
"How could you do that to him?" Grace fires back at Taylor. "He's your best friend!"
"Taylor didn't do anything," Christian says his entire body tense against mine.
"Christian! You just heard him admit he had his arms wrapped around your girlfriend," Grace points out.
"Taylor had his arms around Ana because she's his girlfriend," Christian says.
"I thought you two were together son?" Carrick asks.
"We are," Christian answers.
"I don't understand," Grace says.
"The three of us are in a relationship together," I give the simplest answer.
"I'm sorry…what?" Grace says.
"Like a threesome!?" Mia screeches.
"Mia!" Carrick hisses. "That's not what she's saying."
"No, that's exactly what she's saying," Christian confirms.
"The three of you….together?" Grace questions.
"Yes," Taylor walks over to us and stands next to me.
"How…what….how…." Carrick stumbles.
"The details aren't important," Christian says. "The three of us are dating; we're in a relationship together."
"Son, can't you see what she's doing?"
"Huh? What who's doing?" Christian asks.
"Ana…don't you see she's after your company?"
"What?" I stare at him trying to figure out where the hell this is coming from.
"By dating these two, you're sleeping with two of the three owners of the company," he glares at me. "If you think I'm going to stand by and allow you to take the company my boys worked their asses off to start up you're mistaken. I'll hit you with so many legal injunctions you won't know where to begin!"
"DAD!" Christian explodes. "How dare you accuse Ana of something like that!"
"Why the hell else would she go after two of the three owners of one of the most successful construction businesses in Seattle?"
"I met Christian and Taylor before they even had decided to go into business with Elliot," I point out.
"Come on Christian, you can't be this blind!" he completely ignores what I said.
"Sir, I can assure you that Ana isn't about the business," Taylor says.
"Then what the hell is this about?"
"It's about three people who care very deeply about each other," Christian says.
"I don't understand," Grace chimes in. "You three…you're together?"
"Yes," Christian sighs.
"What happens in the future? Do you…all get married? Do only two of you get married? What happens when you have kids? What happens when-"
"We don't have all the details worked out just yet," Christian interrupts.
"We'll figure it out as we go," Taylor adds.
"You can't just figure things out as you go! Not when you're talking about the future! About having kids!" Carrick yells.
"As for the future, we'll figure it out," Christian argues. "If we decide to get married, there are ways we could make it work. Obviously legally the three of us can't all be married, but if that's something we wanted to do we would find a way to make it perfect for us. We're committed to each other."
"If and when we have kids, then our kids will have three parents who love them. That's far more than what some kids have in this world and I don't see what as being a bad thing," I add.
"You're going to have a child together and not know who the father is?" Grace says.
"It won't matter," Taylor corrects.
"If we have a child, he or she will have two fathers and a mother who love them," I can't believe we've gone from talking about a dream house to now talking about having kids. Fuck the three of us haven't even talked about having kids or getting married amongst ourselves yet we're having this conversation with Christian's parents!
"You can't not know who the child's father is!" Carrick says.
"Why not? It's won't make a difference to me whether or not the child is mine or Taylor's," Christian argues.
"Of course it matters if the child is yours!" Carrick fires back.
"You're telling me it matters whether or not the child is mine or Taylor's? That whether or not the child is my own will matter to me? That I'll love them any less if the child is not mine biologically?"
"It does matter!"
"Carrick!" Grace hisses and before I realize what's happened Christian storms out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
"I can't believe you just said that," Elliot says before leaving to follow Christian.
I go to follow them, but Taylor grabs my hand stopping me. Kate wraps an arm around my shoulders as I shake my head in disbelief of what the hell just happened. I knew that it wouldn't be easy for Christian to tell his family about us, but I had no idea their reaction would be so…negative.
"You all can believe what you want," I say. "All that should matter to any of you is that Christian is happy. I know this is hard to understand, but this works for us…for all three of us. We love each other and all that matters is we make each other happy."
I give Kate a hug goodbye before taking Taylor's hand and leading him outside. As soon as the door closes Taylor wraps his arms around me, holding me against him. The pickup truck is gone from the driveway and neither Christian nor Elliot are anywhere to be found. Elliot's truck is still in the driveway so I can only hope that he's with Christian.
"Christian and Elliot were adopted by the Greys when they were little," Taylor whispers.
"Oh," suddenly the conversation inside takes on a completely different role.
"Mia is their biological child," he further explains.
"Fuck," and Carrick had the nerve to say what he did!?
"Apparently Grace was told she couldn't have children; they adopted Christian and Elliot only to get a huge surprise years later when she found out she was pregnant with Mia."
"I can't believe Carrick said…what he did."
"Me either."
The truck comes back up the driveway, parking right in front of us. Elliot steps out, tossing Taylor the keys before patting him on the back.
"Take care of him," he whispers to me before hugging me and heading back inside.
Taylor gets into the driver's seat and I climb in the back where Christian is sitting with his fists balled tightly in his lap. I slide all the way across the seat so I'm sitting next to him and I rest my head on his shoulder. There are no words that I can say right now to make him feel better. What do you even say after someone says something like that? He doesn't say a word but after a few minutes he pulls me onto his lap and holds me against his chest.
"I'm sorry," I whisper not knowing what else to say.
"You have nothing to apologize for."
"If I hadn't…if we hadn't-"
"Don't," he spins me so I'm straddling his legs. "Don't you even think that."
"I didn't mean to cause so much…so many problems with your family."
"That's their issue, not yours."
"But-"
"No, don't," he kisses me hard, holding my head against him. "You're the best thing that has ever happened to us. I won't let them take that away. I won't let them destroy what works so incredibly well between us. I won't let them do that."
"I don't want to lose you," I whisper.
"You won't," he assures me. "I love you and I'm not going anywhere. Fuck them if they don't understand what we have."
"You love me?"
"Fuck yeah I do."
"I love you too."
"You do?"
"She announced it in there to everyone," Taylor chuckles from the front seat.
"You did?" Christian asks.
"I did?" I think back over what I said.
"You told them that we all love each other and that the only thing that is important is that we make each other happy," Taylor reminds me.
"Well it's true and that's all they should care about," I say.
Christian runs his fingers through my hair and tugs me closer to him until his mouth is on mine. He kisses me softly, letting his tongue slide across my lips as he pours every ounce of emotion into the kiss. I feel the anger begin to slowly leave him; I kiss him back hoping it conveys just how much he means to me. With a hand on my lower back Christian presses me down until my sex is against his erection. My hands are all over him, as he rocks me against him. I need to feel him, I need this connection and I suspect he needs it just as much as I do.
I reach between us and unbutton his jeans before tugging them just low enough to free his erection, he groans when I stroke him from root to tip. His eyes squeeze shut when I rub him against my silk panties; his hands grab my ass holding it tightly under my skirt. I slip my panties to the side, letting him rub against my damp sex. He takes firm hold of my hips, when I lean in to kiss him and urges me to slide onto him. We both moan as he stretches me, filling me completely. When I open my eyes, I'm surprised to find his on me. I see so much in them; not just incredible want and need, but love….love that has been there for so long that I didn't let myself see. I can only hope that Christian sees the same in my eyes when he looks at me.
"You guys are making it hard to drive up here," Taylor groans from the front seat. My face heats up at the realization that Christian is deep inside of me as we're riding in the backseat of his truck with Taylor sitting in the front seat.
"When we get home you can join us," Christian thrusts into me making me moan as he hits that spot deep inside of me.
"If we make it home," Taylor argues. "I might find a place to just pull over and join you back there."
In the end he doesn't do that, instead driving straight home. We're only minutes away from the condo when Christian and I come together, kissing each other as the orgasms rip through each of us. He holds me against him, not letting me up even after Taylor has parked the car. We sit like that for several minutes, just catching our breath and slowly coming back to reality.
"I love you," he whispers.
"I love you too," I kiss him and chuckle when I feel him twitch while still inside of me.
"Let's go upstairs so we can show you just how much we love you," Taylor says from the front seat.