CHAPTER THREE

Chance and Noah were still joking and laughing as they approached Noah's home. There were some failures of the night, but at least it would make one interesting memory for them to chuckle over at their next brunch. After Chance had been so kind, Noah was almost disappointed to leave him. It still seemed like the night shouldn't end just yet.

Noah had his hand on the doorknob, but suddenly it was ripped away from his grasp.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Wade blustered before them. He stood right in front of Noah and his eyes were burning into the younger man.

Noah stuttered at the interruption. "I… what?"

"Your damn cellphone wasn't on," Wade stated accusingly.

Chance looked over at Noah. He knew his friend wanted to hide his trip to Pain Etc, but he assumed Noah would have had the common sense to come up with some sort of cover story. It wasn't like him to leave Wade home alone wondering where he went. Noah was usually very good at remembering to leave a note.

Wade's nostrils flared slightly when he realized Noah would say nothing. He slowly turned his dark eyes at Chance. "Where was he?"

Chance swallowed and bit his lip. He looked over again at Noah.

"Stop it, Wade," Noah insisted. He just couldn't let his friend lie for him. Or lie to his husband for that matter. "I was at Pain Etc."

Wade turned around with disturbing slowness and Noah prepared himself for the impending roar. When Noah heard nothing, he cracked one eye open. His husband may not have uttered a single word, but the accusation in his eyes was weighted in steel.

"I'm sorry!" Noah declared earnestly.

"The sex club?" Wade whispered in horrifying faintness. "The BDSM sex club? Noah, I thought we've been through this!"

Noah felt his chest pinch. "It's not what you think!"

Wade clenched his jaw and shook his head angrily at Noah. He was furious that his own husband would go behind his back to investigate some strange, obsessive curiosity. He growled and flexed his fists, but he came to an abrupt halt when he noticed what Noah was wearing.

"You wore heels?" he spat like an accusation. "How the hell did you expect to run away?!"

Noah stumbled backwards for a moment before ultimately deciding that he was insulted by the inference. "Run? Run from what, Wade?"

Wade gritted his teeth. He didn't want to say it. He just nodded towards the house. "Get inside," he ordered.

Noah crossed his arms. "No."

"Noah, just do it," Chance asked softly. Confusion and bitter frustration had fused into a dangerous flame in Wade's eyes and Chance knew he needed to smother that fury before he would be capable of talking to Noah.

Noah blinked. "What?"

"Noah, get inside," Chance repeated tightly.

Noah snorted at first, but then he looked at the two most important men in his life and realized he was outnumbered. He angrily stomped his booted foot and resentfully stormed inside.

Now that Noah was gone, Wade turned his anger back towards Chance. The other man didn't care for the closeness, but he had to resist the sudden urge to back away. Wade's face was firm with grim intensity, but there was a jerky pattern to his breathing. Chance realized that the man who stood before him wasn't enraged. What surrounded Wade was a sense of fear and Chance felt his own breath stop.

"Oh, Wade, no," Chance whispered. "No."

"No what?!" Wade pushed himself as close to Chance as he possibly could, but the other man barely flinched this time.

"Noah was perfectly safe the entire time. He never left my side. I would never let him."

That statement only seemed to spark more fury in Wade's eyes. "You? As if you could protect him? You and your sissy ass? You must be shitting me. Noah was already put in the hospital once! How many times do you think he can get his teeth kicked in and survive? I damn well ain't gonna let him find out!"

"As well you shouldn't," Chance tried to say calmly. "We're all looking out for Noah. You never need to worry about him when he's with us."

Sadly, that seemed to hit another nerve. "You and your damn friends are always getting Noah into trouble. I keep praying for the day he gets sick of you fools and branch."

Chance studied Wade through a sidelong glance. "Do you really think Noah would be better off without us?"

"He sure as hell would be better off without Ricky!" Wade proclaimed brutally. "Whose idea was it to go to a sex club anyways?"

Chance sucked in a breath and Wade immediately rolled his eyes.

"Goddamn it!" Wade swore and kicked at the front door.

"In all fairness, Noah did come to you for help first." Chance prepared himself for the wrath that statement would ignite. "Tell me, did you even bother to read the book?"

"Hell no!" Wade spat. "Like I told Noah, I'm not down with that!"

Chance sighed. "Down with what? Even at a first glance you would see that the book is not overtly sexual. Most of the time it doesn't even involve sexual touching."

Wade dismissed him with an angry shrug. "Still sounds like some sort of pervert handbook to me. I love Noah too much for that."

Chance stared at Wade for a moment. He had a dark, brooding quality to him and Chance immediately understood why Noah likened him to a hero in a romance novel. He had a stubborn passion for the person he loved.

So, with a sigh, Chance removed the book from his back pocket and handed it to Wade.

"Sex clubs are exciting, but they can also be a clogged drain of anonymous self-hate," Chance admitted. "You've seen how unhappy and empty Ricky is, so maybe you already guessed that. But I knew Noah wouldn't even last five seconds observing that place and I was right. What he was looking for was the intimacy he has with you. Whatever misconceptions you have about this book is just that: misconceptions."

"Your point?" Wade barked.

Chance simply tapped the book. "There is something there for Noah. For you and Noah actually. All you have to do is take the time to read it. Once you do, I'm sure you'll understand."

Wade looked indignantly at the book. His lip twitched into a familiar warning. "I think I have a better understanding of our relationship than you."

Chance nodded. "Then you already know how important this is to him."

When Wade narrowed his eyes at him, Chance suspected that he did not have a great amount of patience left for this conversation. He certainly didn't seem impressed by the bare chested model on the cover.

"Will this make me regret being literate?" Wade asked.

Chance looked up and realized that Wade was actually making a joke. The anger in his eyes had vanished so quickly. He wondered when it was replaced with sensibility.

"Oh, you will," Chance promised good-naturedly. "But I think that's a risk you're willing to take for your husband."

Wade tightened his jaw. He was still unhappy, but Chance could tell he was trying.

"Out of all of Noah's friends, you're the only one I can tolerate."

Chance tilted his head in surprise. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"I suppose I ought to familiarize myself with Noah's work anyways." Wade tested the weight of the book in his hands. "Noah… he… he's only ever been to a sex club once before…"

Chance raised his eyebrows and put together another piece of the puzzle. "I'm surprised you would succumb to such foolishness."

Wade drummed his fingers along the book. "Yeah. Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"Like I said," Chance explained, "Noah didn't even last five seconds. We spent the entire night at a coffee house. The thought of touching another man never even crossed his mind. The sight of strangers having meaningless sex literally made him flee. For Noah, this wasn't about sex. He wanted to be taken out of his comfort zone. Once that happened, well, he didn't like it. I actually think he realized how uncomfortable he made you feel when he first brought up the subject."

"The subject," Wade snorted beneath his breath. "You make it sound so technical. Call it what it is."

"And what is it?"

Wade rolled his eyes and his grip around the book tightened. "I guess I gotta read this to find out, right?"

Wade continued to grumble at the thought. His fingers kept flexing around the book cover. Eventually, he looked across at Chance. "Thanks, man, for bringing Noah home safely. I really mean that."

"Always." Chance could see the memories of Noah in the hospital reflected in Wade's eyes. Keeping Noah away from pain was something that was important to all of them.

Chance eventually shoved his hands back into his pockets. "Well… I guess I should be heading back home. My husband and daughter have been long asleep by now and you have some reading to do."

Wade rubbed his chin. "Yeah."

"Yeah…" Chance nodded one last time and then he turned around and walked away.

Wade watched him as he disappeared into the night. Once Chance was gone, he retreated back inside.

All of the lights were still one. He flicked them off one by one until he entered the bedroom. Noah was already undressed and underneath the covers. He was waiting in disgrace for his husband to return.

"Wade, I am so sorry," he announced as soon as the other man came into view.

Wade rubbed his eyes, struggling to think of something to say. "We'll talk tomorrow."

Noah frowned and just watched as Wade undressed. "Are you very mad?"

Wade considered that over a deep breath. He stiffly settled into the bed beside his husband. "No, baby. I ain't mad."

Noah felt his pulse quicken. He never liked it when Wade avoided conversation. "But we will talk about it tomorrow? Right?"

"I said we would. Damn!"

Noah winced and pulled the blanket to his chin. "I just… I feel real bad, Wade."

This time, Wade slanted him a smile. "No worries. I just know we're both tired. The fate of the world ain't in jeopardy yet. This can wait until morning."

Noah felt almost guilty for being relieved, but it was a major consolation that Wade wasn't blowing up at him. Still, his husband lay as far away as he could on the opposite side of the bed.

"Can I rest my head on your shoulder?" Noah asked cautiously.

Wade grunted. "Baby… do you even have to ask?"

Noah didn't bother to answer. He just leapt towards his husband and snuggled tightly against him.

Wade felt the wind knocked out of him as Noah landed on his chest. Adoration instantly lit up in his eyes and he squeezed the smaller man tighter to him. He shimmied a bit so he could reach down to the floor and grab the novel. He continued to rub Noah's back as he tried to read with one hand.

"I don't fucking believe this," Wade muttered beneath his breath when he realized Chance had dog-eared specific pages for him to read. "That condescending little shit!"

He instantly whipped the book back to the floor and Noah's head shot up.

"What's wrong, Wade?"

"I don't want you hanging out with Chance no more," Wade answered heatedly. "All he does is make you doubt our relationship. Him and those other two idiot friends of yours."

Noah smiled and settled back against Wade. He's heard this argument before and knew Wade had already accepted that Alex, Chance, and Ricky were a part of their lives forever. "They're just looking out for me. That's something all four of you have in common."

The thought of having anything in common with those morons made Wade sick. "Christ."

"They can be just as overbearing as you are. I don't know about you, but I feel blessed to have four men who will always have my back. Most people aren't that lucky."

"That's for damn sure."

"You love them for wanting to protect me, don't you, Wade?"

Wade's face twisted in disbelief as Noah looked up at him with his doe eyes. "Damn. Fine! I love them! Just go to sleep."

Noah smiled and choked back a laugh. Wade groaned his irritation, but simply turned off their bedside lamp. He could still hear Noah's muffled laughter.

After some time had passed, Wade realized that he wouldn't be able to sleep. He sat in the darkness with the weight of Noah's slender body on top of him. He ran his hands slowly up and down the length of his upper body. Wade felt unstoppable and strong while holding his lover all warm and secure against him. This closeness always made them both feel safe. He only wished this had been the beginning of the night instead of the end. He spent too much of the night worrying about his husband.

Once Wade felt Noah's body go completely still and heavy, he dug for the flashlight in the bedside drawer and retrieved the book from the floor once again.

Wade instantly found himself exhausted like before. Chance had not only dog-eared the pages. He also highlighted specific passages from the text and wrote notes all along the margins.

"I'll kick his ass," Wade promised quietly into the darkness.

However, he continued to read each and every word that Chance wrote.