Rain Storms Ch. 02

"Who the fuck are you?" Eric snarled.

"Ryan. You must be Eric."

"Are you fucking my Rain?" Eric accused.

"Jesus Christ!" Ryan snapped. "Do I look like a fucking top to you?"

That gave Eric pause. "Where is he?"

"He's sleeping. Hey! Wait!" Ryan exclaimed. "I don't know if I should let you in."

I smirked at the image in my head. Eric was nearly two feet taller than Ryan. Ryan probably came up to his belly button. There was no way Ryan could stop Eric from doing whatever the fuck he wanted but it didn't keep Ryan from standing up to him.

"It's ok, Ryan," I called out. "Let him in."

Seconds later, I felt the bed dip down as Eric crawled onto it. He grabbed me and manhandled me into the little spoon. "Is it true, Baby?" he murmured. "Are you fucking him? Have I lost you forever? Have I destroyed us?"

I knew he didn't mean Ryan. "What time is it, Eric?"

"One." My timing had been off by at least seven hours.

"I'm going to go," Ryan called from the bedroom doorway. "You guys need to talk."

"Don't go, Minx," I begged. "We can't talk. We don't know how. Besides, I'm tired. Come back to bed."

Ryan giggled. "I don't think there's room."

"Sure there is," I argued. "You're tiny. Eric will scoot over. Come back to bed."

"You're a freak, you know that?" Ryan snickered but walked over to my side of the bed.

"I know but you love me anyway." I held up the covers and Ryan stepped out of the shorts he was wearing, my shorts, I noticed, and crawled back in bed. I tugged Ryan's body into mine so now I was playing the middle spoon. Eric softly growled his displeasure at the situation. "Don't be an ass, Eric. If anyone is leaving, it's you. Do you want to stay in bed with us or not?"

Instead of a verbal response, he snuggled up to me tighter and kissed the crown of my head.

I drifted back to sleep sandwiched in between the person that I loved and the man that I was in love with. I had never been more content in my life.

When my alarm went off, there wasn't a damn thing that I could do about it. It was on the other side of Eric's body. I opened my eyes to find Ryan awake and facing me.

"You're still here," I smiled.

"Yeah," he grinned. "I didn't know if I should leave you alone with him."

"He wouldn't hurt me but I'm glad that you stayed."

"Based on your toy collection, he hurts you all the time," he replied with a frown.

"That's consensual, Minx."

He shrugged. "Things get carried away. Happens all the time."

I kissed him on the nose. "I love you."

He smiled. "I love you too."

"That's the first time we've said that."

"I know." He wrinkled his nose. "He's fucking sexy."

I chuckled. "I know."

"He's fucking annoyed," Eric grumbled. "What the fuck is that noise?"

"It's my alarm, Dickhead. It's behind you. Turn it off."

Eric released his grip on me and rolled. He slapped the clock a few times until the beeping stopped. Then he rolled back and snuggled into me again.

"He probably just snoozed it," I smirked.

"Doesn't he know how to work an alarm clock?" he teased.

"No," I replied. "He has an amazing internal clock. He doesn't even own any clocks."

"Weird," Ryan replied.

"We've got nine minutes, Minx. Whatever shall we do with them?"

He looked shocked and then giggled. "You should probably get up and get ready for work."

"I'm up already," I murmured and tugged his little body flush with mine.

I kissed him and he pulled away. "Ew," he said. "Morning breath."

"Mine or yours?" I smirked.

"Mine," he replied. "Yours isn't bad. You don't snore."

"Good to know," I grinned. "You do and it's adorable."

He grimaced.

"I don't care. Kiss me anyway."

I pinned him down and took possession of his mouth, eliminating his choice. He responded after a few seconds. I didn't forget that Eric was in bed with us, I was just tired of constantly worrying about, and trying to riddle out, his feelings. If he had a problem, he'd have to tell me.

He didn't let go of me but he relaxed his grip enough to allow me maneuverability. I used it to my advantage. I pulled Ryan further under my body and slipped my hand between his legs. He parted and raised them for me instinctually. I rubbed circles around his entrance but didn't try to penetrate him.

"I want inside you, Ryan," I purred.

"For eight minutes?" he groaned.

I groaned out my frustration. "No. That's not enough time. It will have to wait." I kissed him and wiggled my way out of Eric's embrace, over Ryan's body, and off of the bed. I walked toward the bathroom, turning off the alarm clock on the way.

"You said that you weren't fucking him." Eric's voice was soft but I could still hear it clearly.

"I've never fucked anyone in my life," Ryan responded.

"Semantics, Squirt," Eric replied.

"Really?" Ryan retorted. "Would it still be just semantics if I asked you if you let Rain fuck you?"

Eric scoffed, "That's not the same thing."

"It's exactly the same thing," Ryan responded. "And don't call me squirt."

I turned on the shower to drown out the sound of their argument. I trusted Ryan not to hurt Eric too badly, emotionally, and I trusted Eric not to hurt Ryan at all, physically. As the reverse was completely impossible, I had nothing to worry about. I was just going to let them work it out on their own. When I came back into the bedroom, only Ryan was on the bed. But he was fully dressed.

"Did he leave?" I asked, drying myself off.

He shook his head. "He went outside to smoke. He shouldn't do that. It's what killed Tony."

"I know, Minx. He doesn't do it all the time. He's a pretty light smoker unless he's stressed out. Which, I imagine, has been a lot recently."

"Do you want me to go make coffee?" he offered.

"If you like. Did you argue the whole time I was showering?" I asked, digging through my closet.

"Not the whole time," he assured me. "I see what you mean, though. He's hurting. You can see it in his eyes. He needs to just let it out. Why can't he do that?"

"He once told me that he didn't talk about himself because he felt like people were just looking for something to judge him about or ways to hurt him. He doesn't like to feel vulnerable."

"He's already hurting," Ryan pointed out. "He should trust you more."

"I do trust him," Eric interrupted. "I trust him with my whole being; body, heart, and soul."

Ryan turned to Eric. "Then talk to him."

"I don't know how," Eric admitted. "Everything I say comes out wrong. I can't make myself understood. We both get frustrated and we fight. I'm tired of fighting."

"Is this better, Eric?" Ryan asked. "Are you happy? You're going to lose him if you can't figure this out."

"What do you care?" Eric groused. "You'd rather keep him for yourself anyway."

"Don't do that," Ryan said gently. "I'm not the problem here. I am not your enemy. Rain and I are friends. I love him and I want him to be happy. He is in love with you and believes with all his heart that you two would be happy together if you could just communicate. You said yourself that you want to stop fighting. Find a better way."

"See! That!" I exclaimed. "Why can't I do that? Why can't I respond with logic and compassion when he gets all snarly?"

"Because you're emotional and sensitive. He trips all of your triggers and you can't help but respond with passion. You are both very passionate men. Maybe you guys should find a shrink."

Eric and I both shook our heads. A psychiatrist was impossible.

"I can't talk to him," Eric argued. "I certainly can't talk to someone I don't even know."

Ryan sighed dramatically. "I'm going to go make coffee."

"I made it already," Eric replied.

"Then I'm going to go drink some coffee."

After Ryan left the room, Eric asked, "Is it true? Are you fucking that Granger guy?"

I arched my eyebrow at him.

He rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Is he fucking you? Are you lovers?"

I sat on the edge of the bed to put my socks and shoes on. "Don't ask me questions if you don't really want the answer."

"I'll take that as a yes," he croaked. "I had hoped that, with the little show you put on this morning, Sheldon was wrong."

"Ryan and I are just friends."

"Friends with benefits," he corrected. "I know better than anyone how difficult it is for you to develop friendships, Baby. I would never try stand in the way of a friendship for you. But it drives me crazy that you touch him and you won't touch me."

"Do you want me to fuck you too, Eric?" I drawled, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

He ignored the question. "How many people are you having sex with, Baby?"

"Less than you," I retorted.

He sat down on the bed next to me. "I'm not having sex with anyone, Rain."

It was my turn to scoff. "You don't expect me to believe that do you?"

"Not really. No," he sighed. "It's the truth though. I haven't been with anyone in a long time."

"What's a long time for you, Eric?" I snapped. "A day? A week?"

"You're the last person that I had sex with."

That pissed me off. "Don't insult my intelligence by lying to me! You and I both know that's an outright fucking lie!" I shouted. "I fucking walked in on you!"

He sighed, "You're right. THAT was the last person that I had sex with. Except that I didn't finish. So I don't know if it counts."

"You had your dick in her, Eric. It fucking counts."

"That being the case, I've had my dick in my hand a lot. So I guess the last person that I had sex with was me," he half smirked.

"Don't try to be cute, Eric," I griped. "You didn't go two days without sex the whole time that we were together. And that was only if you were so wrapped up in your work that you got lost. Don't expect me to believe that you've suddenly been celibate for six months."

"I don't expect you to believe it, Rain," he told me. "But it's the truth. You just don't understand and I can't seem to make you. I don't want to be with anyone else. I've even tried. It's pointless. I can't. All I can think of, all I desire, is you. I haven't even had sex with Irish. Nothing and no one else feels right."

"Then why did you cheat on me?"

He covered his face with his hands and groaned, "I don't know. I don't fucking know." He dropped his hands into his lap and turned to lock his gaze with mine. "I don't know, Baby. I don't know what I was thinking or why. I'm sorry. I wish I could take it back. I wish I could undo all the mistakes that I made. I have fucked up, and fucked over, everyone that I have ever cared about. I just don't know why."

"Hey." Ryan stuck his head in the doorway. "I have to go. I have a nine o'clock that I postponed from last night."

I glanced at the clock. I no longer had time for coffee. "Shit," I groused. "I have to go too."

"Do you want me to turn off the coffee pot?" Ryan asked.

"Please," I replied. "Thank you for last night and everything. Call me later."

He nodded and blew me a kiss.

"Eric? I want to keep talking to you but I have to go to work," I explained. "This has been good. It's a good start. You were doing really well. I'm sorry that I'm cutting you off when you're on a roll. Can we try this again?"

"Yes," he frowned. "I have to go too. I was supposed to meet with my lawyer about the GWG contract."

"Are you still going to do it?"

"Fuck no!" he barked. "I have a meeting scheduled with Granger at two. I feel like punching the douchebag in the face for touching you."

"Please don't do that," I begged. "I do care about him."

Eric snarled and I stood up and kissed him. "I'm not in love with him, Eric."

He brought his fingers up to his lips in surprise and gently touched spot that I had kissed. His stormy gray eyes filled with moisture that threatened to spill over but didn't.

"Thank you," he whispered, reverently.

"Thank you for talking to me," I smiled. "I know how hard this was for you."

I waited all morning to see if Dylan was going to tell me that Eric was due in the office. He didn't. I don't know why I was surprised, but I was. After the blow up the day before, I expected him to be a tad more considerate of my feelings. I was disappointed. I didn't get angry about it, just resolute. Dylan and I were simply not compatible. He was just as horrid at relationships as Eric, only in a totally different way. Eric was all action and no talk. Dylan was all talk and no follow-through. Really the perfect guy for me was Ryan. He had no problem telling me how he felt and he always kept his promises. I could have been happy with Ryan except for the matter of the fact that we weren't in love with each other.

At fifteen 'til two, I went to the reception area under the guise of working on her terminal. I was leaning on the desk beside her when Eric walked in a few minutes later with his lawyer. I smiled at him and his return smile could have powered the building.

"Marry me," he blurted out.

"What?" Holly tittered and blushed.

The ditz thought he was talking to her and I had to bite my tongue to refrain from laughing. "I can't marry you, Goof. It's not legal."

"We'll move to Denmark. We can get married there," he insisted.

"Legal union, Eric," his lawyer corrected, dryly. "It's not marriage."

"Close enough," Eric brushed him off.

I did laugh then. "Do they even speak English in Denmark?"

"Dutch, I think," Eric said.

"Danish," the lawyer supplied, rolling his eyes. I had never met Eric's lawyer, and I didn't even know his name, but I decided right then that I liked him.

"Do you gentlemen know each other?" Holly asked. We all ignored her. Could she not remember back as far as the day before?

"I'll get married when I can take my vows in the language that I speak and in the country that I live in," I said.

Eric pouted. "How about a long engagement then?"

"You're a dork," I laughed. "Go to your meeting. And be nice!"

"Holly?" Dylan came strolling down the hall. "Has Mr. Unger... Oh. Good afternoon, Mr. Unger."

"Granger." Eric's barely controlled rage was evident in his eyes but his voice was carefully modulated as to not be threatening. I wondered how long he'd practiced that particular skill. "This is my attorney, Stephen Harlow."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Dylan shook Mr. Harlow's hand and extended his hand to Eric, only to be ignored. I knew why. Eric wasn't overly fond of being touched by anyone that he wasn't intimate with, but there was no way that he'd intentionally touch someone that he had hostile feelings toward. He was big and intimidating. He had a great deal of strength in him, he was full of fire, and, as Ryan had said, passion. He could very easily hurt someone by accident so he didn't take the risk.

From the look on Dylan's face, and the glance that he shot me, he didn't understand. I just shook my head in incredulity. Dylan had really screwed up by not using his resources. He had a veritable fount of inside information on Eric and he blew it for no discernable reason.

Their meeting was short and I missed Eric's departure. I was walking by Dylan's open office door at half past two and he called out to me.

"Close the door," he requested after I stepped into his office.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

I closed the door but didn't move closer to him.

"Do you want to tell me what just happened here?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," I said, innocently. "Is there a problem with your computer?"

"No there isn't. I mean with your boyfriend. Would you like to explain what that was all about?"

"If you mean Eric, he's my ex-boyfriend, and I wasn't in here so I can't answer your question," I told him. "I'm also pretty sure that this does not fall under my contracted job duties, and therefore, by your own guidelines, we cannot be having this discussion right now. Can this wait until after work?"

"Damnit, Rain. You know very well what I'm talking about. Just answer the damn question."

"Here's what I know, Dylan. If you wanted to know the ins and outs, whys and hows, of Eric Unger, you should have asked me. You should not have contrived to put us in the ring together like some sort of glorified cock fight for your amusement. If it backfired on you, you can't say that I didn't warn you. I'm going back to work. If you would like to continue this discussion, we can do so after work."

The phone was ringing as I walked in the door. I grabbed it and plopped my sweaty ass on the couch with my mail.

"Hello?"

"You're home!" Ryan exclaimed.

"Hey, Minx," I grinned. "How was your day?"

"Good. Busy. How was yours?" he rushed though. "I was worried when you didn't return my calls."

"I was at the gym," I explained. "I just walked in. I haven't even had time to check the messages."

"Ok. Well, ignore the ones from me."

"You were worried?"

"Yeah, well... I left you guys alone."

"He wouldn't hurt me. I promise. You never have to worry about that."

"I know you said that but..." He sighed. "It's probably just my issues. It's just... he's big."

For some reason, the knowledge that he was worried about my safety made me rock hard. "Come over," I purred. "We have some unfinished business."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course, Minx. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I kinda thought that you were just doing that for his benefit."

"I would never use you like that, Ryan," I promised. "I'm sorry that I led you to believe that. I'm really sorry that I left you worked up and unsatisfied. I aim to fix that."

"Hmm. Sounds wonderful but I can't. I'm working tonight."

I braced the receiver on my shoulder and started sorting through and opening my mail. I hadn't picked it up the day before and there was more of it than I had expected. "What is it that you do every night?"

"I'm trying to get Tony's businesses in order," he explained. "And I'm having to learn how to manage everything."

"So you're taking classes?"

"In a way," he replied. "More like tutoring. I have a business manager and an accountant and a lawyer that I meet with. They are all teaching me different aspects of business. I'm also spending some time in the stores to see how they're being run."

"Well shit!" I exclaimed as I read the letter in my hand.

"What?"

"I've been turned down for the apartment that I applied for," I said. "That never happened before. It's the only place that I applied and my lease is up at the end of the month. I have nowhere to go. Fuck."

"Why were you turned down?"

"It says that I don't have enough credit history," I told him. "I don't have any credit, actually. And I've only been working for my company for a year. This sucks. I guess I know what I'll be doing Saturday."

"You have a credit card," he replied. "You use it at the bar."

"It's in Eric's name," I explained. "Everything is in Eric's name. My car, my apartment, everything. The card has my name on it, and I pay the bills, but it's just a secondary card. The account is in his name."

"Didn't you have student loans?" he asked. "That's gotta be credit."

"No," I sighed. "Eric paid for my schooling. I feel like a suddenly divorced housewife with no name of her own." I tossed the letter across the room in frustration.

He giggled. "That's what you are, Babe. Don't worry. It'll get better."

"Come over," I urged. "Make me feel better."

"I thought you wanted to make me feel good," he teased.

He made me grin. "I do. That will make me feel astounding."

"I wish I could," he sighed. "I'll be working late tonight, and I have to be back at it in the morning."

"I could come there," I suggested. "Then you wouldn't have to get up so freaking early."

"Umm..."

"Do you not want me to know where you live, Ryan?"

"No. It's not that." He hesitated. "I don't mind you knowing. It's just... It's Tony's house."

"Say no more, Minx. I understand."

"Do you?" he asked. "Because I don't. It's been over a year. Fuck it. Come over."

"No."