Triple the Love

Confrontation - Alastair & Jacob

Corey

I watched as Hank drove off. The date had started as a complete and utter disaster. I hadn’t expected Alastair and Jacob to act like total d***s. However, we had managed to salvage the evening and ended up having a good time. Of course, there had been no affection or even a good night kiss, and that had sucked. Not that any of it mattered. The anger I had been holding back hit me harder than I had expected. Jacob and Alastair hadn’t only disappointed me, but they had almost revealed the truth. It didn’t matter what their excuse was, they never should have agreed to it in the first place. Before I could even make a decision, I found myself headed toward their house. When I parked in their driveway, I sat there for a minute, thinking. The last thing I wanted to do was have a fight with my best friend and his husband, but I couldn’t deny the anger and the hurt inside of me. I finally got out of the car and marched up to their front door. Without giving myself the opportunity to rethink my life choices, I knocked on their door. A few moments later, a disheveled Jacob answered the door.

“Corey? What the hell are you doing here?” he asked, confused. I ignored him as I pushed past him and headed for the living room. Alastair was seated comfortably on the couch and the second he saw me, his expression darkened and the air in the room changed.

“How could you guys throw me under the bus like that?” I demanded as I glared at them both. Jacob had rejoined his husband on the couch, but I was far too angry to take a seat.

“Throw you under the bus? Seriously, Corey? You should be thankful we didn’t tell him the f*****g truth,” Alastair was just as angry as he jumped up and faced me. I wasn’t as tall or as well-built as him, but I wasn’t about to let his size intimidate me. “This isn’t right, Corey. Stringing them both along like this…it’s not fair and…I cannot, no, I will not be a part of it,” I frowned as I glanced over at Jacob, who suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable. He avoided my gaze, but the truth hit me straight in my face.

“You told him?” I whispered as I felt a wave of betrayal over me. When I had asked Jacob if he and Alastair would join Hank and me at the bar, I hadn't expected either of them to throw me under the bus the way that they had. It had baffled me that Alastair had run off, but now I understood. Jacob had told him. Jacob winced as he finally met my eyes.

“I didn’t mean for it to come out, Corey…it just slipped out,” he explained, and I felt a fresh wave of anger hit me.

“It slipped out?” I repeated, dumbfounded and angry. Alastair scoffed as he sat back down.

“It didn’t slip out, Corey. When Jacob said that we were going to join you and Hank for dinner, I was actually happy that you had decided to start dating Hank…but then he told me how worried he is about you because you aren’t just seeing Hank, you are seeing Jack too and…honestly, Corey, I’m seriously disappointed in you. After what you went through with Daniel, you can’t honestly tell me that it is ok to play with their feelings like this,”

“I’m not playing with anyone’s feelings!” I shot back as my voice trembled with frustration. “I care about both of them. I—”

“You’re a fool,” Alastair interrupted and his voice void and cold. “Do you really think you can have them both? Hank is one of my closest friends. He is a great guy and what? Do you expect me to be ok with this? And what about Jack? He has been a good friend to you, and this is what you do to him? To them? So…what is the plan here, Corey? You will end up hurting both of them and ruin everything and…and I…no, we will not be a part of you hurting them,” Alastair said as he stood back up and shook his head. Before I could say anything else, he left the living room, leaving me alone with Jacob. Suddenly, the anger drained from me and was replaced by a hollow ache. I turned to Jacob, who was once again avoiding my gaze.

“I am sorry, Corey,” he whispered. I wanted to blame him for all of this. I wanted to be angry, but I wasn’t. I couldn’t. This wasn’t his fault. This was all on me. I had put myself in this situation as I tried to juggle not one but two relationships and now that Alastair knew the truth, it was going to make things so much harder.

“No, I’m sorry, Jacob…I never should have put you in this position…either of you,” I said as I took a seat next to him. “I have ignored everything you have said to me…I believed that I could make this work…that I could just date them both until I knew for sure which one was meant for me,” I tried to explain, but all I could hear and think about was Alastair’s words ringing in my ears. “You told him everything,” I said then said softly and Jacob nodded, a look of pain crossing his features.

“I thought…I thought that maybe if you heard it from someone else, you would see that what you are doing is wrong,”

“Right,” I said with a nod.

“You forget that Alastair and I were friends before we started dating. Our relationship wasn’t easy either, but if you remember correctly, Alastair tried to move on because he felt like I was stringing him along,” I didn’t say anything about that because I didn’t feel like it was the same.

“I just don’t know how to choose between them,” I whispered.

“This isn’t the way, Corey. Lying to them…hiding the truth…stringing them along…they are going to end up getting hurt, Corey and…and so are you,” he said, and I slowly nodded. He was right. Of course, he was right. But how was I supposed to rectify the situation now? “Alastair is right, we cannot be a part of this, Corey,” his words stung, but I knew he was right. They both were. Without another word, I got up and left their home. I felt nothing but the crushing weight of my decisions. I had no idea how to fix it, but I had to do something.