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  “You don’t think everyone’s bi?” Tom Alan bent down to kiss Erika, and then offered Billy a peck, not on his red stubbly cheek, but on the lips, one hand on his face, the other gently on his chest. “Night night. If I can’t drift off, I might be back.”

  Erika waited for Billy to take his fingertips away from the spot. He kept it there a long time. “That’s it.” She got up.

  “Huh?”

  She yanked the sheet from under the duvet and right off Billy. Wrapping it around herself, she flung the train behind her, and then walked across the room. “Here. Put these back on.”

  Billy caught his boxers. “Why? Where are you going?”

  “To sleep on the bed in the nursery.”

  “Huh?” Billy stood, grinning in all his naked glory. If Erika wasn’t mistaken, he was getting hard.

  “I’m cutting you off. Tom Alan and Milo can’t have sex, why should you?”

  “Babe.”

  “You’re the only one getting any, and it’s not fair.”

  “You’re getting some, too.”

  “You’re getting extra…just…kissing on everyone.”

  “You kissed Tom Alan first,” Billy countered. “Now we’re even.”

  “I haven’t French kissed Milo.”

  “You want to French kiss Milo?”

  “The thought isn’t as yucky as it once was.”

  Billy let loose with a seal bark.

  “And I haven’t slept with Tom Alan…recently.”

  “That was hardly—”

  “I’m cutting you off.”

  “For how long?”

  “I’ll let you know.” Erika threw back the bedroom door with dramatic flair. Before she crossed the threshold, Billy fell back on the bed laughing hard. Glancing over her shoulder, seeing his gut flex and his hard-on throb as it got even thicker, it took everything she had not to turn around, run back across the room, and mount him.

  Chapter 12

  When Erika leaned over the crib railing the next morning, rubbing her stiff back from a night on a mattress that was way too soft on a bed that was way too empty, Etsuko was quiet. She’d been up more than once, but now finally seemed comfortable for the long haul. It was a late practice day, and the hour was early, so Erika decided to head back to her own room. She stopped at the door, slightly ajar, dragging the sheet behind her again. Her make-believe tantrum had made its point. One night alone, maybe she would wake Billy up for make-up sex. She could hear him softly snoring and could see his bare gut heaving in and out. Billy always got too warm and the covers often came off partway through the night. They were down right now to the base of his dick. Almost as if on purpose, all that showed was red hair and a hint of the whitest flesh Erika had ever seen, all thick and pale.

  “No. I’m awake. I’m glad you called.” It was Tom Alan’s voice. Erika pushed the door open wider. He was in bed with Billy—again! “I miss you.” He had Milo on Facetime. “I’m closing my eyes to pretend you’re here.”

  Erika cooed. “Aww. Now open them.”

  Tom Alan did. “Whoa.”

  “I look that bad?” Erika tried to smooth out her tousled hair.

  “No,” he said. “You’re…”

  Billy rolled over and smacked his lips to ease into waking. “I wasn’t lying. She looks amazing, huh?”

  “I’ve never seen you more beautiful.”

  “Let me see,” Milo said, and Tom Alan turned the tablet toward Erika still in the doorway, the gathered sheet in her grip at her chest. “When you’re right, you’re right.”

  “Stop.” She felt herself blushing.

  “Don’t touch a thing.” Billy crawled out from under the covers, making his way to the bottom of the bed. He was still naked—and apparently no longer shy about it. “Come here.” He yanked opposite sides of the sheet and brought her to the bed, where he pulled her down beside Tom Alan.

  “I should go back to my own room,” he said.

  “How’d you all end up in one room without me? Now I am jealous,” Milo said.

  “It was just me and Billy. We had a good long talk. My endless blathering kept putting him to sleep, though.”

  “I wasn’t sleeping. And I give as good as I get.”

  “Do you, now?” Milo asked.

  “You would know. Oh.”

  “He kept waking up saying ‘Don’t go…I’m listening.’ I guess at some point I fell asleep, too.”

  “We’ve covered all the letters now, Fisher. Rika’s mom is the L; you and Kensuke, you’re the G; I have the B going on; Jesse’s doing the T; and now Tom Alan is at Q—for questioning. That letter can go two ways. So will he, most likely.” Billy thought he was clever. “Cool, huh?”

  “Never thought I’d turn to Bill Wahl for a sex talk, Milo, but there I was at one A.M. confessing I’m in love with two people…in love in a way that still surprises me, Kiki.”

  “Oh.” Erika, now settled between them, didn’t know what else to say.

  “You knew,” Tom Alan said. “All along?”

  “I hoped.” Erika gently touched his face. “I knew how I felt…confused at first, selfish, unfaithful…”

  “I went through all of that, but Milo and Billy…they both helped me through it…once I stopped acting like a complete jerk. How lucky are we to be with these two?”

  “Very.”

  “I wish I was there,” Milo said. “All squeezed in between you. I bloody hate it here, Skater Boy. There are four of us crammed into one staff dormitory.”

  “Like a frat house?”

  “I wish. I’ll never complain about Flower’s flannel on the hot water knob again. No one will even talk to me. Must be because I’m a foreigner.”

  “Yeah. Some people still are bent out of shape over that whole Revolutionary War thing,” Billy said.

  “It’s only a few more days.”

  “Too many, love. So…I know what Flower’s got on. What’s everyone else wearing? Skater Boy?”

  “Boxers.”

  “I’m naked.” Billy smirked.

  “Show me,” Milo said again.

  “Where are you?” Tom Alan asked.

  “Outdoors on the smoking bench all by my lonesome. Show me willie.”

  “I don’t know if I can get a good angle.” Tom Alan turned the tablet toward Billy. “He’s under the covers.”

  “I meant you, love. I miss your body.”

  “We’re not alone,” Tom Alan reminded him.

  “I don’t care. If I can’t touch you, I want to see you.”

  “You’ve seen it almost ev—”

  “Here.” Erika grabbed the tablet.

  “Who’s got me?” Milo feigned panic as she gave him an unsteady shot of the ceiling.

  “Me.” She climbed down off the bed, fighting the sheet, more off than on. “Strip for him.” She expected Tom Alan to offer resistance, but his shirt was already up, revealing his gut when she got to the other side of the room. “Wait. Let me get the shot.”

  “Oh.”

  “You want to see it come off, right?”

  “Absolutely,” Milo answered.

  “Do I have all of him?” Erika asked, peeking over the tablet to see Tom Alan smooth his shirt back down.

  “Both of them, actually. Lose the sheet, Hockey Puck.”

  “Okie doke!” Billy was up on his knees. The light blanket beneath the duvet seemed to float as it attached itself to his hard dick.

  Erika grinned. “I think he’s game.”

  “Wait.” But was Tom Alan? “Are we really venturing into this territory? Because once we do…”

  “No…Yeah…” Billy sat back on his heels.

  “We’re all in.” Erika turned Milo so she could look at him. “We’ve talked about it…right? Discussed it as much as necessary?”

  “I’d say so,” he answered. “Separately and now together.”

  “But you’re not even here,” Tom Alan said.

  “We can wait, if you want. Or…you can cum for me…on your foot
, Skater Boy.”

  “You can do that?” Billy asked, raising himself up again, letting the blanket fall this time.

  “Figure skating makes a guy limber,” Milo said. “Now get him naked.”

  “You want me to strip him?” Billy asked.

  “Yes.” The answer came quickly, from both Erika and Milo.

  Billy held out his arms, calling Tom Alan to him with the same “Come here” hand motion he used for Etsuko. Tom Alan still seemed bashful as he got to his knees, but he let Billy pull his Ani and Otouto T-shirt over his head, as Erika watched with her bottom lip clenched between her teeth and Milo no doubt got hard some hundreds of miles away. “I used to beat off listening to you two doing it through the walls at that crap apartment,” Billy said, stroking himself now.

  “Get his knickers off him,” Milo ordered, and Billy immediately obeyed. Tom Alan lifted each knee, so they could come off all the way.

  “Now wank him.”

  “Yeah?” Billy asked Tom Alan, not Milo. He got consent—after an interminable wait by Erika’s estimation that was likely only a second or two—with a nod, followed by a shudder.

  “His hands are rough.”

  “I know.” Erika loved the feel of them, especially where she now touched herself.

  “Can you, where you are?” When Tom Alan looked up from Milo on the screen to meet Erika’s eyes, she knew he had taken in all of her on the way. The sheet had fallen, and she stood there completely nude. He swallowed hard. She watched his throat, and then his tongue as he licked his lips.

  “Already at it, despite the nip in the air,” Milo said.

  “Show us.”

  “I’m covered by my cardie.”

  “Chicken,” Erika teased.

  “Someone could come out for a fag.”

  “Won’t they be surprised to find one with his willie out?” Tom Alan’s British accent still wasn’t very good.

  “Ha! Talk dirty, Skater Boy.”

  “Pretend my tongue is in your arse,” he said. “Or me willie…Which would you rather?”

  “Hard choice there, love. Can I get both?”

  “Not at once. I’m not that flexible. How’s about my dick and Bill’s tongue.”

  Billy flinched—or shuddered. It was hard for Erika to tell without seeing his face.

  “You filthy honking American stu-u—argmmoh!” Milo laughed.

  “Did you…?” Erika turned the tablet to face her.

  “Show us,” Billy said.

  Milo’s cummy hand took up the whole screen. Erika turned it toward the others. A similar sound immediately came from Tom Alan, followed by three words, “I’m gonna come,” as Billy continued to tug on his dick.

  “Look at me.”

  Tom Alan’s eyes found Erika’s, but then moved down to her hand, not the one that held the tablet, but the other, with three of its fingers up inside her.

  “Fuck!” The expletive came from Billy, as an eruption came from Tom Alan.

  “What’s happening?” Milo asked.

  In Erika’s sexual euphoria, the growing tingle between her legs and the prickling jolts it sent throughout her whole body, she’d forgotten about poor Milo, now left with only a close-up view of the highboy beside them. “Sorry. Here.” Breathless, she passed him over to Billy.

  “He didn’t come on his foot.” Billy swiped the back of his hand on Tom Alan’s instep. “How’s that? Or I can, if you want.” His smirk turned to a grimace. He’d need an answer quickly.

  “Yes.” Erika offered one as she stepped to the side of the bed. Grabbing hold of Tom Alan’s hand, she put it with hers, where she was hot and moist. He wrapped the other arm around her, like he would on the ice, and they kissed, as Billy’s warm, wet eruption hit them both.

  “Holy moly.”

  “Holy fuck.”

  Their disparate vernacular tickled Erika, with humor and also one last shock where she wanted the two very different dicks to tease and fill her next time. “I hope I can skate after that.” She was out of breath and sweaty, one hand on Tom Alan, the one left wet from her climax at Billy’s lips.

  “I’ve never seen a woman post-shag look so happy,” Milo said, once the other three collapsed back onto the mattress.

  Tom Alan snorted with laughter. He had one side of the tablet, Billy had the other. “Have you ever seen one at all?”

  “I think I’ve seen just about everything, love.”

  “Whoo.” Billy hooted again, albeit rather quietly, planting a kiss on Erika’s back. “I love you, babe.”

  “We love you,” Tom Alan and Milo said in unison.

  “The countdown is on, Fisher. Get back to us quick.”

  “I’m dying to,” Milo said. “I can’t wait to walk through that door, take all my clothes off, and crawl right up in there with the three of you. Come Tuesday, nothing’s gonna stop that from happening.”

  * * * *

  Billy was pretty worked up by the time his little brother arrived after school Thursday afternoon. He had brought a late lunch—hot dogs and little bags of popcorn. The notion that Peanut was B-boy had been planted in his head, thanks to Tom Alan. He hadn’t taken a single bite of anything. Burgess dating Jesse wasn’t a problem, he claimed. He just couldn’t wrap his head around the thought of his baby brother being on Grindr. “My mom and dad were pretty lenient with me.”

  “And you turned out fine.”

  “It’s a whole new world, babe. Mom and Dad wouldn’t know to snoop around to see if Peanut’s on Grindr. Mom and Dad probably don’t even know what sexting is.”

  “Are you sure you’re not more worried about your brother being gay than you are about how he’s meeting people?” Erika had asked.

  “You know me better than that.”

  “I do. I don’t mean you wouldn’t accept him. It wouldn’t be out of line to worry about him, though. Even in 2016, being a gay sixteen-year-old isn’t always an easy thing.”

  “No. Everyone has a bullseye on their hoodie for something in high school.”

  The topic Burgess had in mind wasn’t all that deep. He was hoping to round up some adult volunteers to help out with the drama club. “I told Mr. Daley you might work on the sets with us, Tom Alan, because, ya know, you draw your comics and stuff.”

  “Definitely.” Tom Alan seemed rather excited.

  “What show are you doing?”

  Erika was pretty sure Burgess said it was The Wizard of Oz. One had to listen very closely to hear Burgess speak.

  “And maybe you and Milo might be our choreographers.”

  “What about me?” Billy asked. “Don’t you want me to help?”

  “With what? There’s no hockey in The Wizard of Oz.”

  “I can do other things,” Billy huffed. “If everyone else is going to be involved…”

  “What…you guys do everything as a foursome these days?”

  Billy came close to a spit take after chasing a handful of popcorn with a huge pull from his Sunny Delight.

  “Are you auditioning?” Erika asked, feeling a bit flushed herself.

  “Naw. I’ll be in the pit.” Burgess never looked at her but rather made faces at Etsuko in her toddler seat.

  “She loves her Uncle Peanut. Say dada for Uncle Peanut. Dada? Dada?” All Billy got back was giggles and orange drool a similar shade to Billy and Burgess’s hair. “How’s English going?”

  “Alright. Mr. Schwabb seems pretty cool, actually.”

  “No kidding. Maybe people do change,” Billy said.

  “Guess the parade this year will be in his honor.”

  Burgess looked at Erika. “Huh?”

  “Never mind,” Billy said. “Hey. Hand me your phone a sec?”

  “For what? Yours is right there.” When Billy reached out, Burgess brought it closer to his chest.

  “I just wanna see…”

  Erika willed Billy to come up with a good lie.

  “My personal business?” Burgess asked.

  “Maybe. I’m curious.
What are you into? Who are you hanging out with? We don’t talk like we used to…and Mom and Dad say you never bring any girls around…or any guys.”

  Erika looked to Burgess for a reaction.

  “They’d be fine with it, you know…whoever you want to date. We all would.”

  “Cool.” Burgess’s hair was wild, almost like Milo’s during his skating heyday, though no one could ever match the untamed, almost primitive quality of that. He was really tall—Tom Alan’s height—and rail thin. He looked a bit like a scarecrow with an orange yarn wig and nerdy glasses. There was some definition to his body, though. It showed when he reached for the bowl and his sweatshirt pulled tight across his chest. “I mean, after all this,” Burgess made an imaginary circle around Erika, Billy, and Tom Alan with his pointer finger, “as long as my love life isn’t discussed as a hot topic on some talk show like yours, Tom Alan’s, and Bill’s, I figure I’m one up on him. No offense,” he said to Erika.

  “None taken.”

  Tom Alan was grinning.

  “Do you smoke weed? Are you on Grindr?”

  “Gotta go.” Burgess stood. “Bye, baby…Oh.”

  Etsuko had nodded off in barely a moment. Erika envied that. She was still having troubling dreams, as her papa seemed to be warning her of impending doom. She’d lie awake dreading them, and then wake up, unable to fall back asleep.

  “Bye, bro. And of course I’m not on Grindr. How could I be? I’m not eighteen.”

  “By checking the box that says you are, same as I did when I was too young for all the good stuff on the web. They had Internet way back then, you know? I used Dad’s birthday.”

  “I use yours.” Burgess headed for the door. “Thanks, you two. I’ll have Mr. Daley and Ms. Fiedler give you a call. Good luck this weekend,” he hollered back, as the door closed behind him.

  “Well, so much for the direct approach,” Billy said. “When Etsuko’s sixteen, we’ll sneak a look at her phone while she sleeps.”

  * * * *

  Tom Alan was practically skipping by the time Saturday rolled around, from the hotel to the team bus, from the bus to the ice arena in the Big Apple, from the locker room to the rink for day two of the second qualifying event.

  “One more day!” he said as he and Erika stood at the boards waiting for their names to be announced for their free skate.