Menage on 34th Street by Elise Logan

recently. I’m getting too old for this, Kat. I don’t want to have to start over again with every new partner.”
    “You’re talking about a relationship. You want to add a permanent third. And you don’t mean only if it’s Hunter.”
    Hunter made a noise, but Liam couldn’t pin down if it was hurt or anger. Liam didn’t want either option. He rubbed his face again, then shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never imagined anyone but Hunter in that spot.”
    “I don’t understand what you want.”
    “I’m not sure I know what I want. I know that I’m tired of finding new partners. I’m tired of doing the health checks and constantly worrying about testing. I love you. I love our relationship. But both of us have needs that are bigger than just the two of us. I want to...” He barked out a laugh. “I want everything.”
    He didn’t know how to explain what he wanted. He wasn’t dissatisfied with her, or with their marriage. It was that he wanted a third person to be part of that marriage. And he wanted that person to be Hunter.
    “Liam. The one unbreakable rule of our marriage is communication. You know that. And you’ve broken it.”
    “I know it.”
    “You can’t keep doing this. It’s one thing to try to make things go your way. It’s something else entirely to make life-altering decisions for me without consulting me. Or for Hunter. Or for anyone.”
    Liam frowned. “What do you mean?”
    “You kept Hunter’s note from me. Effectively, you made my decision for me. And for Hunter. That’s not okay. You did the same thing when you lied to Hunter about my being here. You decided to force the issue of a threesome without any input from either of us. Also not okay.”
    “I just want us all to be happy. Is that so bad?”
    “No. But did it occur to you to discuss it with me? Then or now?”
    “Sure.” Evidently that was the right answer, because her shoulders relaxed.
    “Then why didn’t you?”
    “It wouldn’t have changed anything.”
    “How can you know that? How can you know what might have been?”
    Liam’s pale brows came together. “Hunter had his mind made up.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “I’ll take that one,” Hunter interrupted. “When I came by, he tried to talk me out of going. I told him to fuck off.”
    Liam raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t expected Hunter to go to bat for him.
    “What did you think was different now than when we were teenagers?”
    “The world has changed,” Liam pointed out. “Gay marriage, the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, hell the Marines are even offering spousal benefits to gay married couples.”
    “So? Do you think that his dad’s bigoted bullshit suddenly disappeared from Hunter’s brain?”
    “Leave my dad out of this,” Hunter growled.
    “He’s been dead for years,” Liam said defensively.
    “Seriously?” Kat’s incredulous expression echoed her tone. “Liam, your parents have been dead and gone for nearly twenty years. Are you going to honestly try to tell me that their shit doesn’t affect you today?”
    The blood drained from his head. Shit. He hadn’t thought of it like that.
    Relentlessly, she drove the point home. “Eight years in foster homes didn’t erase their crap. All the years since haven’t done it, either. You’re still trying to create stability around you. You need that stability because you didn’t have it with them. Do you really think Hunter’s dad didn’t affect him just as much?”
    “Leave that bastard out of it,” Hunter repeated.
    Kat turned on him. “How? Are you really going to tell me he had nothing to do with you running?”
    “That’s past. He’s dead. That’s dead.”
    “It’s not dead as long as you let him have power over you.”
    “What the fuck do you think I’m doing here, Kat? I made my peace with my old man years ago.”
    “Fine. But Liam didn’t know that, did he?”
    Hunter looked at her for a long moment. “No. No, he didn’t.”
    Liam closed his eyes.