A/N: All right people, before I even begin on the next chapter I want to know your thoughts. Now I believe that I have asked you in prior author’s notes in Painted Love what you guys would think about a threesome. Be it brief or otherwise. This is sort of what I had in mind. So Read it and Review and give me your opinion! I want to know what your thoughts are before I even start writing the next chapter. Do you like the idea? Hate it? Want to stab me in the throat with a fork? Just keep in mind that if we decide to keep this chapter and the idea… then the threesome will only be for a period of time and not permanent. Unless we just wanna say screw Kinley and go with it. Lmao. Muahahahahahaha. Tell me something.

I repeat. I will not be writing the next chapter until I get a sufficient amount of opinions. That way, when I do start writing the next chapter I’ll know where I’m going and no one can say you hate my guts. So ha.

Kane and Kinley

Chapter One

“Not bad. It could be worse,” Jessie mused aloud as he eyed Kane’s handy work. The silver and black surface piercing was just above his left hip and showing in stark contrast to Jessie’s fairer skin. The skin around it was mildly swollen but no more than was to be expected when getting any piercing. All in all, Kane was getting damn good at this sort of thing.

“Not bad? It looks fucking awesome!” Van, Kane’s piercing confidant and teacher over the last six months, was quick to put his word in. A friend of the guys from Razorblade Kisses but too stuck on his own tattoo parlor to join the guys, he had allowed Kane to hang around and apprentice him a few hours each day to learn the art of piercing. He wasn’t surprised at Kane’s patience or the man’s attention to detail and safety, Kane had always been the type to take his work seriously and become the best at what he did. And he certainly was one of the greats when it came to tattooing and now he had mastered the piercing trade.

“Damn, you guys are going to take all the business now. Remind me why I helped you out again?” he asked rather belatedly when he considered his own business across town and the many piercing clients he just knew he was going to be missing.

“Because you’re a good friend?” Jessie replied, grinning over at Kane where the man had his digital camera out and was snapping a picture of his newest work. “You don’t need to use the camera as an excuse, Kane,” he joked. “You know if you ever want to see my sexy bod all you have to do is ask.”

“Eh, don’t flatter yourself, Romeo,” the redhead snorted back, his voice hinting at an extreme self-satisfaction. And he was satisfied, damn it. He was needed again and felt worthwhile at the shop now. As it’s only piercer he felt a little less a part of the background and more like a new asset. “I’ve seem plenty of body’s every bit as hot as yours.”

Van raised a brow at him and made a point of looking back to Jessie’s bare torso. As a bisexual male with a wife in tow, he ate up the chance to see fine male flesh. Honestly, that was one of the reasons why he enjoyed piercing so much, it was a perfectly legit excuse to ogle other people and not get in trouble over it. And damn but he liked ogling those Razorblade boys. How Jessie and Kane had set up the shop and it’s employees to look so good and be so openly, well, gay in Virginia he would never know. But people didn’t seem to mind and onlookers such as him self really didn’t mind. “Really?” he asked in regards to Kane’s comment.

Kane laughed and shook his head at the older man’s tone - which implied there was no way possible. “Don’t swell his head up, Van. He’ll be prancing for days. Besides, there’s got to be someone out there as nice looking as he is or maybe even better looking, it just makes no sense that the universe would curse us with just him.”

“But there is, Candy Kane!” Jessie interrupted, hardly paying any heed to the other men’s comments over his good looks. Sure, he was comfortable with the fact that he was a nice looking guy but his friends seemed to play it up like he was a supermodel. It was humorous, sure, but he felt like Kane particularly downplayed his own hotness. “You’re like… my equal. Only taller and with red hair.”

“Uh, thanks?”

“No thanks necessary, big baby, you know you’re sexy and if you don’t you should. You think I’d stare longingly at just anybody?”

“Not in front of Lakken, no.” Kane laughed and joked but he didn’t take anything out of Jessie’s bullshitting. He wasn’t a bad looking guy but he hardly felt worth while when the only man he wanted was an uptight, selfish little prick who thought he was better than Kane and – Breathe, he reminded himself, just breathe.

“How is it that you two never got together?” Van asked with genuine interest. He had known these two for years and the two seemed to carry around a banter that all great couples had. Plus, it was clear there could be sexual chemistry there if given the chance to bloom and the fact that they both were stunning and complimented one another with their looks alone. Well, not only these obvious things, but also Van would pay a fortune to see these two fuck, just once.

Kane’s ears turned a little red at that while Jessie just shook his head and smiled that Cheshire smile of his.

“Holy shit, where was I?”

“I believe you had just finished getting married at the time.”

“Damn it, Jessie, why’d you have to bring that shit up?! Now I’m going to feel weird again,” the redhead complained even as his face flushed a bright red. He remembered that night and vividly. He also remembered the fact that neither of them was as fucked up as everyone assumed when they’d started making out.

“What’s there to feel weird about? It’s not like we fucked? And we’ve done that plenty of times since then, well, before I met Lakken anyway”

“What’re you talking about?” Van felt like he was in a twilight zone that granted your every wish. Had he not just been thinking about the two of them together?

“We just used to blow each other, nothing serious so lose that grin, asshole,” Kane snapped as he set about the task of cleaning up his new piercing area and getting it ready for his first say in his shop as a piercer. Lord, this was fucking weird. He couldn’t believe Jessie had just thrown that shit out there like that. Not that he was ashamed or whatever but those days were long gone and Lakken was in the picture now and what really bugged him was the fact that if Kinley heard then that would be yet another reason the man would use to continue hating his guts.

“Wow, violent,” Van threw his hands up at Kane’s aggression and took a step back. “So not my thing.” Dropping the apparently touchy subject, he instead turned to Jessie and asked, “When are you starting your apprenticeship?”

“First of the month.”

“Alright then, guys. I have some errands to run while I’m over on this side of town so I’ll check you laters.”

Kane watched him go before turning to Jessie with a full on frown. “What the hell is wrong with you? Bringing that shit up in mixed company? Jesus, Jessie, what if someone heard? Do you know how much shit we’d hear about it?”

The brunette shrugged nonchalantly, “So I gave him a thrill. He’s never hidden the fact that he would pay to see me and you go at it. It was kinda fun seeing his face light up like that.”

“I don’t care what he fantasizes about! Damn it, that stuff is private between you and me. What if Kinley heard that shit? He’d use that as yet another excuse to-”

“Fuck Kinley.”

“What?”

Jessie didn’t sugar coat it and stared Kane did in the face when he spoke next; “I said fuck Kinley. He’s my friend sure, but you are my best friend and I just don’t understand why you would even want him after he dogged you in mixed company at Canvas’ wedding. You deserve better than that shit and if he wants to be like that let him.”

Well, Kane wasn’t really surprised to hear that, the man hadn’t exactly been secretive on how he felt about that display. He had actually told Kinley when they’d gotten back to the states to ‘either get with him or get over it’ so pissed was he by how hurt Kane’s feelings were. Hell, Kane had been there watching the whole thing and not being able to say a word. Sure, it was weird having his best friend take up for him but Jessie seemed so livid that he didn’t think he’d get a word through if he wanted to. Kinley sure couldn’t. Honestly, all the smaller man could do was stand there and stare as the usually easy-going Jessie laid his ass out.

“Jessie, I can fight my own battles.”

“I realize that but you need to learn when to give up once you’ve lost the war. You and him could have had a great run, but he wont go there and instead he keeps hurting you over and over again. I know you want him, Kane, and most times it seems like he wants you too. But he’s never going to let himself have you and that’s just something you’re going to have to keep in mind.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Jessie,” the redhead shrugged and turned his face away. “It is what it is.”

“But it doesn’t have to be that way,” Jessie stood and walked over to the man, resting a hand on his shoulder.

Kane made a point to ignore wherever this conversation was going and instead attempted to switch topics. He knew he was a fucking idiot for longing for a man that would embarrass him so openly in front of friends and during a wedding reception no less, but he didn’t need to be told that. “What about Lakken? Don’t you think it’ll hurt his feelings to realize that you and me… did shit? Maybe he wont want us to hang out anymore.”

“Lakken knows we used to fuck around. I’m completely honest with my boyfriend,” he answered and then grinned. “Well, I sort of had to be when he found a home video. Did you know that Mark filmed our make out session that night?”

Swallowing hard as his friend’s hand trailed down his back, that night firmly in mind, he asked, “What’re you getting at?”

“You’ve wasted five years of your life longing for something that’s just not happening. I just don’t want you to end up alone, Kane. And if, well, before that happens I’d rather you share my happiness.”

“Do you really think I’m that pathetic?”

Jessie scoffed. “Don’t try and pull that shit with me, I know you and you know me. You know I’d never think of you as some charity case so don’t even try to pull that shit on me just because you feel uncomfortable.”

Turning to his best friend, he glared down the few inches at him, “Well, if you know I feel uncomfortable then why’d you bring this shit up?”

“I’m just putting it out there so you know that you’re not alone that there are people that want you in their life. And you know you and I are compatible in that way if it comes down to it.”

“Okay, right, I’m going to turn the open sign on now.”

“Kane,” Jessie stared after him as he went to do as he said. “Don’t make this weird. I’m serious.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. If you were going to pull this shit you should have done it before you got a boyfriend. A boyfriend, I might add, who you claim to be in love with.”

Frowning, the other tattoo artist ground out, “I do love Lakken, damn you. And he agrees with me.”

“WHAT?”

“I was complaining after the wedding about how you were being treated and he brought up that tape and how comfortable we seemed with one another. So I,” he paused, not sure how to say the rest before just blurting it out, “Fuck it. I asked him if he’d ever want to do a threeway and, well, he didn’t say no.”

When Kane did little more than turn his face away and lean against the front counter, Jessie moved to once more stand before him. “Look, I know this probably does sound awkward coming out of my mouth. But, well, you and I had some good times and Lakken knows how much I love you – you’re my very best friend – I just don’t want you to be unhappy anymore.” Reaching up a hand, he cupped Kane’s cheek in his hand. “If you genuinely don’t want to then I’ll accept that and we can say that I was high or something and didn’t know what I was talking about. But I wish you’d think about it, Kane. If you can’t find your own happiness then I love you enough to share mine with you.” That said he pulled away and went about setting up his station.

Kane just stared at the door, ashamed that he was so obviously alone and unhappy that his best friend would feel the need to sacrifice his privacy and share his relationship just to include him. He was touched also, he had to admit and he knew that even if he didn’t take Jessie up on the offer this weirdness would go away and he would value the man as a friend even more. It wasn’t everyday a man got the balls to ask his long-term partner if they could bring in another man to share their life with. And the fact that it was him of whom Jessie was thinking about touched him. Also, he had to admit, the thought of fucking Lakken had his dick twitching even as Jessie’s mouth flashed through his head. Obviously, he wouldn’t have a problem in that department.

But what about Kinley? Five years of longing and yearning wasted. Five years of his life wasted. Could he really just turn his back on his hearts desires? Well, that got him thinking. Kinley was his hearts desire but the man’s treatment of him was shitty and the embarrassment he had experienced a few weeks ago. The thoughts still treated him to a hollow ache in his heart whenever he thought about those damned pitied looks he’d been subject to due to Kinley’s big fucking mouth. And his own. God, he’d spouted out all that romantic drivel that was just as true now as then and all the man could do was throw it in his face. Was love really worth the pain?

“Jessie?” His voice was low when he said the words but he knew the man heard him when his blue eyes locked with Kane’s black ones. “I’ll think about it.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.