Chapter 69

The wind rattled the windows gently, the warm breeze lifting the curtains every now and then, letting flashes of the orange light from outside spill over Marcus' legs where he lay on the floor.

He'd manhandled the two mattresses out into the sitting area while Hope and Shawna arranged the cushions from the sofa into a makeshift bed, and the three of them lay with their heads together, their legs pointing out in three different directions.

"You still awake?" Hope asked, staring up at the light fixing on the ceiling, her nightdress clinging to her in the heat.

Normally she'd have been in just her knickers with it being that warm, but then normally she'd have been in a bed, on her own, not lying on a mattress on the floor, one of three bodies stretched out.

Shawna rolled over, wrapped up in just a sheet, her hair flicking in both their faces as she tried to get comfortable.

"Remind me again why we can't at least try the bed?" she asked.

"You'd get too many ideas in the bed," Hope told her, smiling.

"They'd be good ideas," Shawna said after some thought.

"Good ideas for another night," Marcus told her. He was still tense, still wound up after the long day and couldn't sleep, but he really did feel like he was coming to terms with things. "This... This does feel right, though."

Hope smiled in the darkness, relaxing into the mattress he'd manhandled out onto the floor for her. Shawna pressed her legs together to keep her mattress dry, trying to keep the images out of her mind with the other two so close.

"Still can't sleep?" Hope asked.

They heard more than saw Marcus shake his head. Shawna rolled over onto her front, hoisted herself up on her elbows, and gently reached out to close his eyes, running her hands gently over his face.

"If you have to be awake," she suggested, "I know something we can do."

"Princess..." he started, but she pressed a finger to his lips, and gently, softly, began to sing in his ear.

"Baby, in a world without pity,
Do you think what I'm askin's too much, "

Hope's breath tickled his other ear, as she arched her neck and gently joined in.

"I just want to feel you in my arms
Share a little of that human touch
Feel a little of that human touch
Give me a little of that human touch."

And then it was morning.

Hope opened her eyes slowly, as sunlight flashed across her face again, and the scent of coffee helped kick-start her senses.

"Morning," Marcus whispered, and she craned her neck a little until she could see him sat cross-legged on the floor above their heads. She took stock and realised that she and Shawna had shuffled round at some point and ended up alongside each other.

"It took me nearly twenty minutes to get out the middle of there without waking either of you," Marcus said, and she stretched, smiling broadly. "You want some coffee? A croissant?"

"You've cooked breakfast?"

"No, but the oven's warm."

She nodded, and he rose smoothly, silently crossing to the kitchen, leaving her to snuggle down into the warmth of Shawna's embrace.

"If you want me to clear out," Shawna muttered, eyes still closed, "it's OK."

"What?" Hope asked her, surprised she was awake.

"Listen, we've done the dirty, you and me. I've done it with Marcus. You and he haven't been together yet. If you want me to leave you to it—"

"If this happens, Shawna," Hope told her, snuggling in tighter, "it happens together. This will be all of our first time together."

"But not today."

They jumped at Marcus' voice close by their ears, but he didn't sound upset. Hope started to unwrap herself, but he pushed her back, gently, and broke off pieces of the warm bread to feed to her. It wasn't erotic but it did make her feel warm, and, nestled in between Shawna's arms, she just didn't want to move at all.

"Why not today?" Shawna asked quietly.

"Today... Today we think about this," he said, offering a piece to her lips, but she pushed it away. "Really think. Yesterday was... manic. I don't want to start this and find that any of us has reservations. It feels right. It really does, but I think we owe ourselves the cold light of day to be sure."

"I can't imagine wanting anything else right now," Hope said, opening her mouth in a prompt for another piece of croissant.

"I woke up warm and comfortable too," he confirmed, taking a sip of his coffee and popping the bread in obligingly. "I don't want to build anyone's hopes up and feel uncomfortable tomorrow, or... whenever."

"We can't keep putting things off hoping one day we'll know the future," Shawna pointed out.

"No... but... a day? Is that too much to take, to be sure we aren't just going to hurt each other."

"It did hurt yesterday, didn't it?" Hope asked, quietly.

"It did. It shouldn't still hurt today, but it does, a little. Only a little. I need to sort that out."

"OK. A day," Hope agreed with a hesitant smile.

"Well, if neither of you's going to wake me up with some good sex, shut up and let me sleep," Shawna mumbled, pulling the duvet up over her head.

"Princess isn't a morning person." Marcus finished his coffee and stood up. "I'm going for my run. Unlike you two, I have a lecture at nine this morning."

"Oh, God. It's Monday, and I'm awake before nine," Shawna mock wailed.

"Before seven, if Marcus hasn't taken his run yet," Hope clarified, and the wail grew louder.

"It's just past half-past seven. I didn't have the heart to wake you both, you looked too gorgeous in there. I just sat here watching you, feeling lucky."

"I'm telling you now, you've five more seconds to get in and get lucky or I'm going back to sleep," Shawna said, pulling the duvet down to reveal her naked figure. She watched Marcus swallow, hard, and pulled the sheet back up. "Tomorrow. No excuses."

He nodded before getting up and slipping out the door.

"Is this going to work?" Hope asked, after a moment.

"Only if you two don't keep waking me up at ungodly hours of the night."

"Sho, seriously..." and there was a quiver in her voice that brought Shawna up on one elbow.

"Hey." She stroked Hope's hair, following the line of her bare shoulder, resisting the temptation to let it roam. "Your boyfriend just hand-fed you croissant while your girlfriend has free roam of your tiny yet perfectly formed body. Can you imagine anything better?"

"You... I... No, I can't. This is where I want to be."

"Well, then."

"Him?"

"I... I don't know. I hope so."

"You have free roam of my tiny yet perfectly formed body. You aren't using it."

"No..."

"It doesn't feel right without him?"

"We said we'd wait a day. I meant it, jokes aside."

"Me too. He knew that. Is that hurt going to go away?"

"I don't know. I don't know why it hasn't already."

"You betrayed him," Hope said, after a few moments. "I know I was there, but... You've been the centre of his universe forever. That must have rocked him. I'm just... on the side."

"No, you aren't, not really. If I'd been with any other girl I think he'd have gotten over it already. It would have been my girl itch. But then, if you'd been anyone else I wouldn't have had the itch.

"He couldn't choose between us. I couldn't choose between the two of you, and he's only known you for what, eight months? That's what's gotten him worried. His heart knows, but his head's still catching up with that idea. It's taken him years to get this comfortable with me, and you've done it in months. He's wondering if you're going to keep growing on him and he'll stop feeling about me like this. He'll work it out eventually."

"How long will that take?" Hope's voice was quiet, almost despondent, and Shawna wrapped her up tightly and smiled.

"Until you wake him up with a blow-job at ten to six tomorrow morning."

"Oh, so I get to swallow it." She made a face, but felt herself getting excited at the same time. "I suppose you get to go first, then?"

"Me? Hell no. Wake me up at ten o'clock when he's already worn out and I can do what I want with him without a struggle." They fell back to the mattress giggling, and counting the minutes until he came back.

Marcus felt the hand on his shoulder before he realised anyone had sat down, and started upright, pulling the earphones out as Tony, Lorraine and Elspeth stared at him.

"We were having a bet," Elspeth told him. "I reckon that vacant stare is the stare of a man who got ravaged by two hot vixens last night. Tony reckons it's the stare of a man who can't understand why he didn't..."

Marcus turned to Lorraine, seeing her blush as much as he suspected he was.

"I think you blacked out from the shock of seeing them go at each other," Lorraine put in, not willing to let the opportunity go, as he stammered, and the three of them laughed as he slowly wound his MP3 player closed.

"A gentleman never tells," he finally said, venturing a slight smile through the blushes.

"A gentleman never gets any," Tony pointed out, and Lorraine slapped his arm affectionately.

"Seriously, Marcus... no icky details," Elspeth said leaning forward. "How are things with... the three of you?"

"Cautious," he admitted, after a moment. "But... I really think this is going to work. They've come around to it a lot quicker than I have."

"You have reservations?" Tony asked, incredulous.

Briana came over and dropped into a seat beside them.

"I've got a few minutes break. How's things?"

"Marcus was just telling us how Hope and Shawna were ready to jump him this morning, and he chickened out and ran," Tony replied.

"That's not what he said at all!" Lorraine gasped, earning Tony another slap.

"Easy, woman. I speak 'guy' fluently. It's what he meant. Personally, I think it's a mental illness."

"No," Briana put in, staring fixedly at Marcus, as she rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. "It's fear, plain and simple. Still remembering the feeling of being pushed aside yesterday... been pushed aside a lot. It hurts to have to go back and risk that again."

Marcus held her gaze, nodded gently.

"It's worth it. It really is. I risked letting Elspeth get close before I knew for sure about... you know."

"You can say it, Bri. It won't make it come back." Elspeth hugged her.

"Lorraine took a chance on Tony, even though he's a complete idiot and nearly threw it all away. Hope and Shawna, they're both willing to take a risk on you, and they've both been treated badly by guys."

"I know. I know all this. I know I have issues. I've been abandoned by just about everyone in my life at some point or another..."

"Nick?" Tony cut in.

"Never. But my Dad..."

"Ally?" Briana cut across him.

"No, not yet, but Steph."

"Hope?" Elspeth asked

"I'm... I don't know."

"Shawna?" Lorraine nailed the last, quietly.

"Yes," he admitted, looking down at the plate.

"Did she? I mean, did she really?" Briana asked, craning her neck down to get into his line of sight.

"Yes," he finally decided, looking up and letting her sit straight. "I know she wasn't with another guy, but... If this is going to work for us, it's going to work because it doesn't matter who's a guy and who's a girl. It's going to work because we are who we are."

"And she went behind your back with someone who wasn't in the relationship?"

"I know it was Hope. It shouldn't make a difference, now. She was in the relationship, even if we didn't all say she was. It's Hope, she's a part of it."

"She was hanging over your heads then. Are you wondering if Shawna's going to do it again? Find someone else?"

"I-"

"Or was Hope right? Are you remembering how close you were to cheating, and wondering if you might do it again?"

He didn't answer, and they sat for a few moments.

"You're just having to come to terms with the idea that you felt for her like that before, Marcus," Lorraine finally said, with a shrug. "You all felt like that about each other, but they gave in to temptation before you did."

"They admitted it before I did," he countered.

It wasn't Shawna's betrayal of him that still irked him, it was his betrayal of her. Once he accepted that idea that they all felt that way before hand, it suddenly didn't feel like a betrayal. It was about him being slower to admit it than they were.

"Listen, Marcus," Tony said as he leant over the table. "If I had Lorraine waiting at home to bounce my bones, I wouldn't be sat here wondering about this. You've got two Lorraine's. No-one knows what's going to happen tomorrow. Run with today."

"Are you saying you want two of me?" Lorraine asked, archly.

"I can't keep up with one of you, Lolo, let alone two," he managed, straight-faced.