Free A Second Chance Love by T.K. Paige Page B

not being enough again.”
    At that point Jacob buried his face in hands.
    Kyle’s face drained of color. He rushed over to Jacob, pulling his hands away. “Oh, God, baby, why would you ever think you were not enough?”
    “Because I never was before,” Jacob said quietly. “Then when I tried to fix things with your dad, Kerri”—he looked over at me—“I wasn’t here when you needed me.”
    “You were exactly where I needed you. You and Kyle got me out.” I came over and kissed him on the forehead. “I love you, Jacob. I would never leave you.” I moved out of the way as Kyle came back.
    Kyle reached up and cupped Jacob’s face as if it was the most precious thing in the world to him. “I am so sorry that you ever thought that you weren’t enough for me. I wish I had never suggested trying to find someone else.” He sighed. “I was afraid. You were missing her and I was afraid of losing you too. We were so worried about trying to give each other what we thought was needed…” He gave a self-deprecating smile. “Face it, Jacob, we were bloody stupid. We did everything but ask each other and be honest.”
    “I didn’t want the other women, Jacob. Not after we fell for Kerri. I mean the sex was nice and it was fun at first when we first started at college, but we grew up. Nothing with them compares to what I feel with you. And now that I know what it feels like with the three us.” He moved one hand to bring me to them. “If it’s not Kerri, I won’t share what we have with anyone ever again.”
    I closed my eyes, overwhelmed with guilt. I’d caused them so much pain and I’d been completely oblivious. I snuggled into them, holding them both to me. “Why have you been running yourself into the ground, Jacob?” I thought about what he’d said about fucking up. “Were you trying to fix everything so we wouldn’t be angry anymore?”
    “Kerri! What the hell!” Kyle’s eyes on me were sharp as he turned his face to me. A part of me noticed that he shifted just a bit so he could grip Jacob even tighter, protectively. “Nothing was his fault!”
    “No shit! Of course not, Kyle. But he was blaming himself, so he was afraid we would blame him too.” I could see the painful vulnerability in Jacob’s eyes, and I put the pieces together. Watching my relationship with my father implode must have been horrifyingly familiar to a man who had grown up as a beloved child. Jacob had been brutally disowned the second he’d come out to his parents—he’d known all along it would happen if he chose Kyle.
    Had he actually thought we might want him to leave? His parents had because he was gay, so maybe he really did think he was disposable. Oh, fuck no!
    I made my voice steel hard. “Jacob, I don’t care if you really do fuck up, you are ours. We are keeping you forever, so we sure as hell aren’t kicking you to the curb over this.”
    Kyle’s lips parted in a slight, almost silent gasp, and his eyebrows rose. As he watched Jacob’s shoulders slump, a silent admission that there was nothing left to hide, his expression changed. His green eyes darkened with a hungry heat and the stance of his entire body changed to aggressive. He stood taller and shifted his weight to the balls of his feet. And everything about the way his eyes were devouring Jacob screamed ‘mine’. That surprised me. While I had seen that look directed at me before, I don’t think Kyle had ever taken that dynamic with Jacob before. Not just around me. I mean ever. He grabbed Jacob by nape of his neck, pulling the hair just hard enough to be a little painful. “I think it is about time you realize that you belong to me, to us, and we are never letting you go. Do you understand what I am saying? When we are through, there will be no doubt that we own you just as much as you own us. The way you have always owned me . ”
    I looked at Kyle in shock. We might call Jacob our ‘gentle giant’, but in bed he had always taken the lead