Chapter 26

When we decided to stay over at my brother’s place that night, the four of us on the one queen-sized bed in the spare room, Kent got huffy and sour, and his bad mood spread like an oil spill. On his way back from the bathroom, he made eye contact with Sam. A mischievous smile bloomed across his face, and she looked away. He gazed down at Max, who was laughing with Doug, then leaned down and whispered in her ear. Even though Max had rebooted herself less than 10 minutes ago, her face went vicious. She rose, turned, and slapped Kent hard. Kent staggered back. With all of his alcohol and her fire, it was amazing he wasn’t flat on his ass.

“Oh my god!” Alex’s eyes went wide.

“What did he say?” Sam asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Max said, scowling. I stopped myself from repeating Sam’s question.

“But--”

“No, you really don’t.”

“Nothing that deserved that,” Kent muttered as he stood up and rubbed his cheek. All three of my girls turned their backs on him. Doug and I shared a look.

“Alright,” I declared, getting up across the table. “Maybe we’ll go.”

“You don’t have to,” my brother said. “It’s my place; I decide who sleeps here tonight.”

I looked to my girls; they all shook their heads. I nodded at them: we were all on the same page. Doug versus Kent was going to be a fight. We thanked Doug and started to collect our winter coats.

“Gene!” Doug pulled me aside. “Thank Max for me? Now I have an excuse to dump Kent.”

“If you were looking for an excuse, you’d have found one tonight even without us,” I pointed out.

“Say something nice to her for me anyway. They’re really special girls, man,” and he punched my shoulder. “They could do better.”

“No we couldn’t,” Max said. She kissed Doug on the cheek. “Thank you for being lovely.”

“Lovely,” Alex echoed, and hugged Doug from behind. Sam piled on as well. Doug put his arms around them.

“Any chance I could keep one of you?” Doug laughed.

“No,” Sam said, and kissed his other cheek. “Good night, Doug. Good luck.”

“Oh, sweetheart, this is old hat.”

Our goodbyes were finally final. We stepped out into the cold Halifax winter night. I worried about Sam. I worried about her legs. I stared at her legs.

“It’s beautiful!” Alex said with spinning arms out on the sidewalk. Snow walls separated sidewalks from the street. The stars were out, as much as you could see them in the city, and the girls were warmly dressed. The fortification by white wine and black rum encouraged Alex. “Can we walk?”

I closed the taxi app and put away my phone. Sam snuggled up on my left, Max on my right, Alex hopped on my back, and I stumbled forward, faceplanting into the nearest snowbank.

“Oh my god!” Sam said. She couldn’t stop drunk-laughing.

I dropped Alex to the sidewalk. Max helped me up. We turned and grabbed Alex by both hands and levered her to her feet. Sam rushed in and licked some snow off my cheek.

“It wasn’t yellow, was it?” I worried.

“Yuck!” Sam squealed and spat out the snow.

I grabbed her and kissed her. She laughed, and pushed me off.

“Well, if you don’t want it,” Max snickered, then grabbed my collar and pulled me in for a kiss.

“What about me?” Alex said.

“Sam’s free,” Max said, tilting her head in a ‘go on, then’ gesture. She kissed me again; Alex grabbed Sam and kissed her too.

We all held the kisses for a long moment. I had to breathe, so I broke contact with her lips, and smiled at the woman I still held deeply dipped in my arms.

“I love you,” I said. Her blue eyes widened half as fast as her smile.

“I love you too,” Max whispered, then the wind carved through us. I set Max upright and let go.

“It’s a long walk home,” I said.

“Not with you, it’s not,” Alex said, and rushed over and grabbed my glove in her mitts. Max did the other side. Sam hopped on my back. This time, I was better braced.

Alex frowned at Sam, who said “What?” innocently. In my peripheral vision, I could see her sticking her tongue out at Alex. “It’s a long walk. I don’t want to slip and hurt my ankle.”

“Why not?” Max asked. “It’s how you got Gene to take your virginity.”

I blushed. I was so in love, I was forgetting how new this all was. Sam’s arms were hooked tight around my collar and her ankles crossed in front of my cock.

“Yeah, but I’m out of virginities,” Sam replied.

“Damn!” Alex giggled. “I guess that means you’ll have to marry him or something, then.”

“Don’t give her ideas,” I warned. “I like a girl who can run enough to be caught.”

They smirked, but shook their heads.

“Oh, don’t look like that,” Alex said, and kissed my frown. “Comedy can be hard. And it was almost funny!”

“I’m glad you don’t actually want me to run, “ Max commented. “The sidewalk’s too icy.”

“Yeah, and I don’t want you breaking that gold medal ass of yours,” I said.

“Wait? Does that mean Alex has a silver medal ass?” Sam gripped my shoulders a bit too hard to ask that.

“God no! Yours should be gold medal,” and Alex shook her head. “Max is silver.”

“Hey!” the redhead growled.

“Great asses are a team sport. Go Team Girlfriend!” I shouted.

“Better.” Sam kissed my cheek. We crossed the street under the light. The drivers watching us pass were surely jealous of me. I was king of the world.

“So, OK, but if it’s not a team sport?” Alex eventually asked.

“Nope,” I said. “I’ve had enough landmines and potential fights tonight. Team Girlfriend is super hot, super pretty, and super--”

“Fuckable!” Sam shouted into the night. “I’m so horny!”

I laughed nervously as she fired her booming voice across the Halifax Commons. It was the middle of the night, in the winter, and the city was dead, but I’m sure someone still heard her.

“Slow down, Gene.” Alex squeezed in. “You fall over and you break two of my favorite asses.”

Alex slapped Sam’s and mine.

“I like yours, Alex,” Max said. “I want to watch Gene fuck it.”

“Yeah,” Alex rubbed her backside. “I mean, it was a big mess when Sam did it. Should we stop by the pharmacy and get some stuff like we looked up?”

“Maybe tomorrow,” I said. “Sam’s horny. We don’t have time to stop!”

“I’m horny too,” Max frowned.

“Yeah, now there’s no way we’re stopping, Max,” Alex laughed.

We were about ten minutes from Alex’s dorm, forty minutes from my apartment. The wind started blowing in our faces. Our banter was dying as our bodies grew cold and we tilted our faces down from the flurries and cold. I had to let go of the girls’ hands to hold Sam’s thighs. She covered my cheeks with her gloves.

“We could go up--” Alex stopped and pointed, but I was too much of a robot and kept plodding on. “OK. Do you still have some clothes for me to borrow at Gene’s?”

“I have my change for tomorrow,” Max said.

“Sam?” Alex asked.

“It’s bad enough you want to--” Sam shook her head. “Yeah, a sweater and a pair of jeans. You’ll wear your bra again.”

“How tight’s the sweater? Maybe she doesn’t?” I smirked.

“Not show-off tight,” Sam said apologetically.

The wind kicked again. Max’s coat was rippling. There was practically a gale fighting us home. Every step made me more concerned for my girls. When they did get to speak, Sam sniped Alex, or Max attacked Sam, or Alex pleaded for peace while Max yes-girl’ed her best friend.

“I don’t think I get my happy ending,” I murmured. I was about to say: “without slaying the Ice Queen.”

“The fuck you don’t!” Sam shouted over the wind, and waved a gloved fist. “Whatever your happy ending is, as long as I’m part of it, you’ll get it.”

“And if Alex and Max’re part of it too?” I grumbled.

“Then I’ll not say the mean shit I want to, and I’ll love them no matter what else I feel,” Sam said. “No one is taking you from me! Any of you...”

“I love you so much!” Alex shouted, and tackled me and Sam into a hug -- but with the wind, I lost my feet, and faceplanted into my second fucking snowbank of the evening. “Oh my god!”

Sam slid off my back to her feet. Three giggling girls pulled me out of the snow. The wind picked up and we all shivered. I brushed the snow from my face.

“It’s right there,” Alex was pointing to her dorm, one block away.

“We wouldn’t really have the room, and your roommate’s definitely there,” Max said. “We should walk you home, though. It’s a mess out, and it’s a long ways back to our dorms or Gene’s.”

“What? That’s not fair!” Alex was shouting more for the wind. I turned and scowled in the general direction of home.

I pulled in Alex and kissed her hard. “I want you safe and warm. I’m taking you to your room.”

“Really?” Sam lit up. The smile fell off her face in a moment of realization. Her shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry,” she said, and kissed Alex.

Alex kissed her back, harder. “It’s OK,” she said, and squeezed Sam tight. “I’m OK with you loving Gene. Love him. Really. Hard.”

“Try to stop me,” Sam said.

“Let’s go,” I said. We trudged up to her dorm. The wind had to turn a hundred and eighty degrees to get into our faces. It did. My teeth were clenched too tight to be chattering. Goddammit! It was already March! We were hours into the month. Come on, summer!

We all fought the weather and I kissed Alex at her door. I sent her in with a pat on her ass. She grabbed at my crotch with her mitt.

“I’ll be by first thing in the morning.”

“I’ll be dead to the world,” I smiled.

“Then I’ll Prince Charming your ass, Sleeping Beauty,” she said. “Oh wait. Prince Charming your ass, Snow White.”

“Get inside,” I said, and we waved as Alex closed the door behind her.

“Cab?” I said turning to face my remaining two girls. They looked at each other. Max leaned in and kissed a surprised Sam.

“I’m actually still OK,” Max said.

“I’m not really off on Max so much as Alex,” Sam frowned. “Let’s go. I want to get to bed, and running will keep us warmer.”

It was a good premise: running probably would have kept us warm. Too bad we were already cold. We should’ve called a cab and huddled up in the nearby bus stop. The wind was poking at us. Bursts of air that slammed us whenever we took a corner. At least the streets were empty. No one but us was out in this stupidity.

“Christ!” Max squealed as she slipped along some ice, but kept herself from falling by hip-checking the snowbank. I rushed over to grab her waist. She took a deep breath.

“Don’t break your legs. He likes those,” Sam suggested.

“You’re one to talk,” Max snapped. She covered her mouth with her glove. “Oh, sorry.”

“You used to last the whole night. It’s barely been two hours!” We were close now, though: three more blocks to my place, or two to their dorm.

“It’s not that! I’m still in love, but it’s fucking miserable out! It should have only taken us forty-five minutes, but it’s been almost two hours!” Max said, hugging her own shivering shoulders.