Free Threes Company by N.R. Walker

himself. He threw his head back and laughed. He was carefree, and well, less stressed. It was easy to see why he and Adam were a couple, the way they laughed together, looked at each other.
    I looked at them from my beach chair, Adam was in the middle of us. "Do you guys get to do this often?" I asked them.
    "Not as often as we'd like, but yeah," Adam answered. "Once every couple of weeks we find a way to get away."
    Simon looked out toward the flat, blue water. "You know what it's like when you run a business. Free time isn't exactly free."

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    I nodded, thinking back to my restaurant back home because I knew exactly what he meant. And right on cue, my cell phone rang. I looked at the number. "And speak of the devil," I mumbled before answering. "Callie!"
    "Hey, Mister Man of Leisure," she goaded me.
    "How's the Florida sun?"
    The sound of her voice made me happy. "Good, Cal. How're things going up there? Everything under control?"
    I rolled off my chair and walked off a few yards, giving a bit of courteous distance between me talking on the phone, and Adam and Simon.
    Callie chatted brightly, telling me all about what I'd been missing at home, which admittedly wasn't much.
    People were still talking about me—the scandalous rumors were still buzzing along the grapevine. Callie tried to laugh it off when she told me, but it still stung.
    "But they're coming into the restaurant again?
    You've been busy…"
    "Yeah," she said quietly, and I understood. She didn't have to explain.
    "They're happy to eat there, as long as the chef's not gay."
    Her silence was my answer. Fuck.
    "They won't let it go, will they?" I asked her quietly.

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    "Sure they will," she said. "Just give them time."
    "How much time?" I asked rhetorically. "Until I'm broke?"
    Callie sighed and changed the subject. She'd been out to check on my house, making sure it was as I'd left it.
    As she talked, I turned back to look at Adam and Simon, some thirty yards away, on the chairs in the shade. They were talking and smiling. Just looking at them made me smile.
    "Wil?" Callie's voice snapped me back.
    "Yeah? Sorry…"
    "I asked if you were still spending time with that other guy?" she repeated. "Or did you meet someone else?"
    My grin widened. "Maybe."
    I heard her gasp through the phone. "Who is he? Is he cute?"
    I laughed. "Um… well…"
    "Wilson Curtis, you better not leave me hanging."
    I chuckled at Callie. I knew when she called me by my full name, she meant business. And with the safety net of telling her over the phone, I took a deep breath and told her.
    "Well, it's not really a he . It's more like a they …"
    She was silent, obviously trying to make sense of what I saying. "What?"

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    "Well, it is a he ," I clarified. "But it's not one he …"
    Then I added, "It's two ."
    "Two?" Callie gasped again. Then she drawled out,
    "Wilson Curtis, you sly dog."
    I could hear the smile in her voice.
    "I know!" I laughed at the ridiculousness of it all.
    "They're great though, Cal. Adam's the fun one and Simon's the serious one of them."
    "Jeez. Wil, you make it sound like these two guys are a couple."
    I knew she'd presumed when I said two that I'd meant I'd scored twice with two separate men. "Um," I started, unsure how to explain. "Well, they are a couple."
    Callie was quiet again, trying to get the scenario right in her head. "So they're a legit couple, as in boyfriends…?"
    "Yes."
    "Then what are you to them?"
    I changed the phone to my other ear and gave a quick glance back to the two men in question. They were still talking. "Dunno, Cal. I haven't really asked them that,"
    I answered honestly. "Just a bit of fun, I guess. It doesn't matter. I turned up here alone and they're taking it upon themselves to make sure I have the best time."
    "So they're using you while you're there to fulfill

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    some fantasy?"
    "I don't know,