Tyler, Lynn - Be With Us (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Lynn Tyler

had made on her.
    The look of despair on her face made his stomach turn. He and Nick would do anything in their power to protect her and take care of her. They would cook for her, squash spiders for her, hell, they would even go buy tampons for her if they had to. But this was something he couldn’t fix for her, and it literally made him sick.
    They traveled in silence. He laid his hand on her thigh, and though she didn’t reciprocate, she didn’t shrug him off, either. She just stared out the window, her face drawn and pinched. Eventually the silence grew too large for him, and he dug out a CD. “Do you mind if I play some music?”
    Lindsay shook her head, and he was rewarded with a tiny smile when the vocals filled the air. “Really?” she said. “Roch Voisine?”
    “Hey, he was my idol growing up. My one regret about my family moving to Ontario was that I just missed out on one of his concerts.”
    The French lyrics floated through the car until they hit the outskirts of Toronto. “Liam?” It was the first time she had spoken since ribbing him about his choice of music. “Would you please just drop me off at my apartment?”
    “Of course, chérie . But I know Nick is worried about you and that he misses you. What do you say we phone him and have him pick up something for supper on his way over?”
    Lindsay turned and regarded him with hollow, haunted eyes. “All right. I think we need to talk anyway.”
    We need to talk. Liam’s gut clenched at those four dreaded words. At least when it was just him and Nick, neither of them ever said anything as scary as, “we need to talk.” He pulled into a parking lot and phoned Nick and told him the plan. “Everything okay, babe?” Nick asked. “You sound anxious.”
    “We’re okay, I think,” Liam answered, looking for some reassurance from Lindsay but finding none. Mon dieu , he hoped they really were okay. He was terrified of what she was going to say. “Lindsay says we need to talk.”
    “Fuck.” Nick swallowed loudly. “That’s never good.”
    Liam fought the urge to drop his forehead to the steering wheel. “ Non, mon cher .”
    After hanging up with Nick, Liam pulled out of the parking lot and drove to Lindsay’s apartment. They found Nick already waiting for them, a bag of Chinese takeout in his hand. When he tried to kiss Lindsay hello, she turned her head so that his lips grazed her cheek instead. Liam’s hope began to deflate. She didn’t even want the small intimacies that had seemed to come so easily before. Not good.
    She led them upstairs and disappeared into the bedroom while Nick set the food on the table and Liam got out plates. When she came back, she was dressed in baggy jeans and a thick, loose sweater that she wore like a shield.
    They sat at the table, Nick and Liam filling the silence with small talk that didn’t feel natural. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and cling to Nick for support but didn’t want Lindsay to feel that she was being shut out.
    Finally, she looked up from picking at her food. “I can’t do this anymore.”
    The bald statement was like a punch to Liam’s gut, and he had to fight to keep his dinner down. This was it. She was letting her past dictate her future. “Lindsay, don’t do this. Don’t leave us.”
    Her eyes glittered with unshed tears, but she held her head high. “I have to protect myself. I have to do what I need to do to survive.”
    “What the fuck does that mean?” Nick asked. He, too, looked sick.
    Lindsay stood up and walked to the sink, turning so that her back was to them. “Please understand. I could love you both so much. I think I already do. But I won’t survive what happens if you decide that you can’t handle the potential fallout of what our relationship will cause when people find out about our lifestyle. I’ve already picked up the pieces of my life once. I can’t do it again.” Lindsay got up and paced the perimeter of the room.
    Nick jumped from his chair