Outsider by Olivia Cunning Read Free Book Online Page A

don’t know how to
make them feel the way I do. They both seem to be struggling.”
    “Reagan
too?”
    Trey
nodded. “At least I know what her issues are. She talks to me. Ethan? Ethan
never wants to discuss anything emotional.”
    “That’s
because he’s a guy.”
    “I’m
a guy,” Trey pointed out.
    “A
weird one.”
    Trey
threatened to flatten him with the pillow.
    “Hey,”
Dare said, lifting his infant shield. “Drop your weapon. Baby on board.”
    “I’m
not weird.”
    “You
love three people with all your heart.”
    “Two,”
Trey corrected.
    Dare
leveled him with a challenging stare. “Three.”
    Trey
hugged the pillow against his chest again. “I don’t love Brian anymore.”
    “Right.
But I don’t doubt you could simultaneously love five people with all your
heart. Or ten. And that’s weird, Trey.”
    “Everyone
knows I’m a man whore. Sed was one before Jessica, but no one gives him grief
about it.”
    “This
is entirely different from having multiple sex partners, Trey. You are in
love—deeply in love—with several people. Most of us don’t—can’t—function that
way. That’s why you’re weird. It’s second nature to you. You don’t struggle
with it or even question it. It’s just part of who you are.”
    Trey
hauled himself off the couch and reached for Malcolm. Dare had doted on the
baby enough. It was Trey’s turn to cuddle with the little guy.
    “I
called you over here to make me feel better, not worse,” Trey said as he
shifted Malcolm out of Dare’s arms and into his own.
    Dare
laid a hand on Trey’s head just as he had a thousand times in the past when
Trey had come to him seeking advice or approval or just to be around someone he
knew would be in his corner no matter what.
    “Your
open heart is a gift, Trey. It killed me watching you struggle to keep it shut
all those years while you waited for Brian to come around. You’re finally
discovering what you needed all along, and I’m glad for you.”
    Trey’s
heart swelled up into his throat. That was what he needed to hear from Dare.
Why he’d called him here. He could always count on Dare to say exactly the
right thing and make him feel like he could rise above anything trying to pull
him down.
    “But
it’s still weird,” Dare added with a laugh and slapped him in the side of the
head.
    “Gee,
thanks.”
    “Not
that you should change. Just realize not everyone can function the way you do.
Maybe it’s okay for Reagan and Ethan to struggle with this relationship. It
means they’re willing to fight for it, right, even if it’s not easy for them.
They want it.”
    Trey
had a lot to think on. He didn’t know if Dare was right, but his opinions made
sense to Trey. Maybe he could somehow help Reagan and Ethan. He wanted them
both to be happy. He loved them both so much. He didn’t know if he would survive
letting someone else he loved go the way he’d let Brian go. That was Trey’s
struggle. Not loving more than one person—that was easy for him. Letting go?
That was damned near impossible.
    “Feel
better?” Dare asked.
    Trey
shrugged. “I guess.”
    “I
should have become a shrink,” he said. “If I charged you every time you came
looking for advice, I’d be a millionaire.”
    “You are a millionaire,” Trey said with a grin.
    “Oh
yeah. You got anything to drink around here?”
    Trey
was glad Dare was sticking around to keep him company. He really didn’t like to
be alone.
    “Check
the fridge. Just don’t drink any of the milk. It’s Myrna’s.”
    “You
sure Malcolm won’t share?”
    Dare
turned and laughed when he saw what must’ve been a look of disgust on Trey’s
face. Just thinking about consuming Myrna’s breast milk made him want to hurl.
    When
Malcolm’s parents came to collect him about an hour later, he’d been changed,
fed, burped, bathed, and redressed after a spit-up incident, and thoroughly
spoiled by both Mills brothers.
    “You
two should adopt,” Myrna declared as she