U-N-I - 30. Chapter 30

"Tonight's the night," Rob quietly sang the title of the old Rod Stewart song as we watched our friends prepare to leave, making me giggle.

Nick had already sent me a text to tell me he'd re-configured our temporary rehearsal space to re-create our on-stage set-up as best he could; he'd been delayed in doing so due to our extended music-making the night before.

He'd be driving us to where Rob's paragliding session would begin and I was under strict instructions to start reeling in Nick ready for later while Rob was out riding the thermals – although how the hell I was going to do it still hadn't come to me.

I watched as Rob was strapped into the harness of the paraglider and couldn't resist taking a photo of the nervous but excited look on his face to post on Instagram.

"Oh and don't worry babe, I did have Tom check and we're up to date on all your insurance premiums," I laughed as I realised I hadn't answered Rob's comment about hoping his life insurance was paid up.

Nick was using Rob's i-phone to film the launch, Rob didn't need it as the helmet he was wearing had a camera and the canopy was fitted with cameras looking to the sides and front, as well as having one pointing at the passenger's position.

"This is amazing!" I heard Rob yell as they left the ground; for one quite terrifying moment, they seemed to be absolutely still, but then they began to soar.

The instructor's support team would keep in touch with them and their progress then send map co-ordinates straight to our car's sat-nav, with any luck we'd be there to see them land.

"How's Rob likely to be when it's over?" Nick asked as we sat in the car waiting for the first set of directions to follow them.

"Hyper," I laughed, "he was like a kid on a sugar-rush at Christmas last time."

"What's next on the birthday list?"

"Racing cars at Brands Hatch."

"I'd have thought that was more your kind of thing," Nick smiled.

"It is. I'm gonna do it with him!" I grinned.

"Smart!"

"Besides the cars and parachuting what's he got to look forward to?"

"Abseiling, parascending, white-water rafting, water skiing, gliding."

"I take it you gave Tom a couple of Prozac sandwiches when he found out about all that lot," he chuckled.

"He was freaking out, I had to use all my powers of persuasion to get him to agree," I sniggered. "Oh and stunt driving, almost forgot the stunt driving 'cause he refused categorically. It'll all have to wait until after the tour, just like the parachute jump."

"Yeah, that'll give Rob something to look forward to and you'll have all the time in the world after the tour."

"Oh yeah, we're taking a long break, well we were, but with the new material I think we'll end up in the studio before we go anywhere!"

"How come Dylan asked me to be tape-op?"

"No idea, it was as big a shock to the rest of us when he did as it was to you. There's one thing that didn't get asked though, what did your wife say about you being away from home for even longer?"

"That was why," he didn't get any further because the sat-nav chimed with the first of out directions.

"You know," he said as I released the car's handbrake, "this feels so wrong, you driving me I mean."

"Don't worry about it, I'm usually in the driving seat when it's me and Rob so I'm used to having a good-looking passenger," I waited to see how he'd react.

He was smirking a little when I glanced across to him but he said nothing for a few moments,

"How's that working for you now?" he asked quietly without looking at me directly.

"Yeah, state normal," I giggled.

And so it began- again!

We followed Rob's progress above us for over an hour and after the instructor's assistant caught up with us we simply followed her, instead of the sat-nav, leaving us ample time to chat; and while there was some flirting neither of us mentioned our one round of three-way fun.

"You didn't finish saying how your wife reacted to us claiming even more of your time," I said as we pulled over behind Alessandra, the instructor's driver, she was speaking with Federico who was clearly telling her where they were heading.

"She's good with it, said it would be an amazing thing to have on my C.V."

"Looks like we're on the move again," I'd noticed Alessandra walking towards us so I turned down the music,

"The thermals are failing, Federico thinks they will be down soon, perhaps a half hour but they may still catch air."

"Ok, we'll just keep following you," I told her, she smiled and nodded then headed to her jeep.

"She's pretty," Nick commented as we set off again.

"Yeah she is, she reminds me of Liv Tyler," I said.

"I forget, well I think most people do really, that you and Rachel were a couple when you were in school. Did you ever think that you could simply be bi or?" he left the question unfinished.

"Yeah, well for a while I thought I might be, or maybe just curious, I mean weren't you horny more often than not when you were eighteen?" I laughed.

"Guilty as charged," he laughed with me, "but by that age I also knew that I'm bi although I hadn't acted on it beyond reading and watching porn. It's what caused me and Liz to split up the first time."

"The first time? There's been more than once?"

"Bad phrasing, I meant the first time we were together. We'd both realised things about ourselves, things we were too immature to talk about. Going to different universities gave us the opportunity to explore, to really find out if what we were thinking was real. There was a guy who'd been in the forces before going to uni so he was three or four years older than me, we had fun on and off for most of my second year. When Liz and I got home for the summer it was obvious things had changed, there was no big falling–out, just an acceptance that it was over."

"Did you tell her? About you being bi I mean?"

"Not then, the summer before I started my Master's degree I worked with a band, that most glamorous of jobs head roadie, a.k.a. only roadie, and sound engineer, Liz came to see them with a group of her friends when they played our home town and we chatted before the band went on and after they'd played; we've been together ever since. After the gig I took her to this wonderfully un-salubrious all night cafe a bunch of us used to go to when we'd been out clubbing. Liz and I talked all night, that's when we both 'fessed up."

"Reminds me of having to Rachel about me and Rob but in my case it was going to end something."

"Well whatever you said, or rather however you said it, you got it right you're obviously very close."

"She's my best friend, closest confidant and harshest critic, she helps keep me normal."

Nick chuckled,

"Normal? Like you'd actually want to be normal."

"You know what I mean, Rach stops us all from getting too far away from who we really are."

"She's definitely not scared of speaking her mind although she's fairly diplomatic about it."

"She knows all of us really well, most of the time she doesn't even need to say much."

"Liz is like that, sometimes she just has to look at me and I know I've messed up," he huffed a laugh.

"Rachel's got one of those looks, scares the fuck out of all of us," I laughed with him.

"Does she know about you and Rob sometimes having fun with other guys?" he asked unexpectedly.

"They all do, took them a while, it was Jord who actually sussed first."

"Do they know that we have?"

"No! And trust me we'd know if they did," I sniggered, instantly remembering the day Jord had caught Rob and I kissing.

I had a question I needed to ask but in asking it, it would infer Rob and I didn't fully trust him,

"Does Liz know?

"Yes and no, she knows I've had fun but not who with. The only reason I know the people she has fun with is because I've met them."

I shook my head marvelling at the balance they'd worked out for themselves in their relationship,

"If this is too personal then tell me to sod off, do you have fun with women as well as men when you're away from home?"

"No, but we do have fun with ladies together."

"Wow, wasn't expecting that."

"We both enjoy some of the same things in the fetish scene and ladies are a part of that."

"Yeah, I can see how that would be I guess."

"Ever had a threesome with a lady?" he asked.

"No, not for lack of trying, but Rob just won't do it. I've had a bet going on with Jordan for years!"

Nick laughed,

"Does Rob know what you know?" he asked quietly – I immediately understood what he meant.

"No," I smiled, "I want to see the look on his face when he finds out 'cos it shocked the fuck out of me," I chuckled, "and I'd bet I'm not the only one."

"Well yeah, but that meant I learned a lot a hell of a lot quicker than most. Let's be honest, most teenaged lads aren't exactly overly concerned with technique, then again from what I gather some blokes never are, so I read a lot, by the way under other circumstances I'd tell you to never bother with the Karma Sutra for the most part it's downright bloody boring," he chuckled, "and what I realised back then was that if I concentrated on whoever I was with, spent time finding out what really turned them on, without giving the game away you could say, then both of us would end up having way more fun."

"Speaking of which I've been thinking about later."

"You're not the only one," he murmured.

"I've had a quiet word with the hotel manager and as I suspected, once they'd cleaned up after our guests and got everything ready for who comes after us, they've pretty much been running on a skeleton staff. Providing Rob's not been throwing up the entire time he's been in the air,"

"I doubt it," he put in, "wouldn't Federico have brought them down sooner if he had?"

"Good point, so if we go with that idea I was thinking we could eat at that place Grainne found when you four were off exploring on the way back to the hotel, a sort of late lunch early dinner so when we get back we'll be ready to tackle the set-changes."

"Good plan."

"That said, I've asked the hotel's chef to lay on a cold buffet but I've said that I don't know if we'll need it in the room we've been using to work on the new songs or one of the rooms that open onto the terrace."

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Nick's shoulders shaking and when I glanced across to him, he was obviously trying not to smile.

"Have I said something funny?"

"Not funny as such," he said although clearly something had him amused, "remember I messaged you to say I'd got things set up for the rehearsals – well what I didn't say was that I'd moved the gear to the one reception room that opens onto the terrace. I paced it out and it's big enough for you and Rob to work in but it wasn't for all five of you."

"What the hell made you think of that?"

"Personal Prime Directive, I'm here to keep you guys,"

"Happy," I finished for him with a laugh, "well you sure do that," I added.

God but I so wanted to do what I'd have done had it been Rob sitting next to me, to stroke his thigh or maybe even reach a little further across to touch somewhere else but that wasn't how Rob and I did things so I kept my hands firmly on the steering wheel instead; but whenever I had to change gears my right hand came perilously close to disobeying my brain!

"At this rate you're going to end up being on our permanent staff roster," I chuckled.

"With a view to submitting my C.V. you do know I speak English, Français, Deutsch, Ruski and Espanol, don't you?" he said, having pronounced each language with an appropriate accent.

"What? No, I didn't. All that besides Japanese, how come?"

"Some of it's family, Liz is from a Russian émigré family, my mother's German, the rest I learned because I knew they'd be useful if I was going to build a career travelling with bands."

"Now I really do feel inferior."

Just at that moment, Alessandra put her hand out of the sun-roof of the jeep and pointed skywards, she'd also turned on the indicators to show she was intending to turn right about two hundred yards ahead. We both looked up briefly and saw Federico's paraglider not so very high above us.

Alessandra found a place for both of us to park and watch as Federico slowly, expertly, brought the craft into land; when it became clear where that would be, all three of us started walking towards them.

"That was freaking AWESOME!" Rob yelled as Alessandra unhitched him, I thought his smile was going to split his face.

I took a picture of him to put with the one from their take-off,

"Then and now," I typed before up-loading it to Instagram.

Nick was busy filming every moment.

"You," Rob said before kissing me when he was finally able to walk away from the glider, "are," he kissed me again, "the most wonderful person I know. Thanks babe, it really was spectacular."

Rob hugged me close as we kissed for longer while Nick was talking to Federico and Alessandra,

"How's your car journey been?" he whispered when our lips parted.

"Interesting," I giggled, "I just found out that our one-time Japanese interpreter actually speaks a total of six languages."

"You're kidding!"

"Nope, English, Japanese, French, Russian, German and Spanish."

"Fucking hell, the man's a genius," he laughed taking my hand as he called his final thanks to Federico and Alessandra.

"In more ways than one," I sniggered as we followed Nick to the Merc convertible we'd hired, we'd dropped the top and after he'd opened both front doors for us Nick jumped into the back.

"So come on," Rob began, "what did you mean?"

"Tell him what you've done for when we get back to the hotel," I said as we set off.

"I see one major drawback to that," Rob smiled after Nick had explained what he'd arranged.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" I asked.

"The view could be distracting," he winked at me, he'd quickly glanced over his shoulder and seen, as I had in the rear-view mirror, that Nick was using Rob's i-phone

"Close the curtains," Nick murmured just before he handed Rob's device back to him. He'd been setting up the film of Rob's adventure for him to watch, having downloaded the recording taken while he was in the air to go with what Nick had filmed at take-off and landing.

"Thanks dude, I'll show him when we're back at the hotel."

"Not going straight back," I told him about my plan for having a late lunch come early dinner to which he happily agreed.

-----

"Before we make a start proper," Nick said as I was about to pick up Suzi, "I've been working on the changes you want to make. Thanks to good old Youtube, I've been able to review some of your old live performances that have the songs you're intending to drop into the set-list and they've given me an idea of the tunings for them in relation to what's staying on the list."

He handed Rob and I a few sheets of music, they were the manuscripts of the songs we were about to rehearse,

"I've adjusted them from the studio versions to the live ones to help get us started but if those key signatures don't work, I can re-do them."

"This guy's waaay too efficient," Rob smiled.

"It's my job," Nick grinned back at him.

We spent a little time watching the videos Nick had been using to see how he'd come to the decisions he had – and we had to admit they were good ones.

Before we knew it, Rob and I were ready to call a halt to what we were doing – although we'd actually been working for over three hours. We'd enjoyed the session, despite Nick turning out to be something of the slave-driver he'd jokingly referred to me being at lunch the day before; our productivity did bode well for working together in our studio at home.

"Here you go," Nick said when Rob and I declared the rehearsal over, "give it a listen, make sure you're happy with it," he held out a USB to me.

"I told you he was too efficient," Rob laughed as I took the flash-drive from Nick.

"Seemed the logical thing to do, you could send it to the rest of the guys so they'll have some idea of what you've done," he smiled in reply.

"I'll get on it while we wait for the food," I said.

"You guys go and have a quick conflab with the others if you can contact them. I'll make some room in here for the food tables."

Rob and I moved outside to the sun-terrace as Nick put our guitars into their cases and their stands into the small flight case ready for our departure – Nick had even arranged the hire of a decent-sized van to ferry our gear to our destination in Germany.

As we made our way to our suite, I came up with a really silly plan. I had no idea if Rob would go for it, or even if I really wanted to do it myself but unless I told him I'd never know either way.

"You're up to something, I can tell," Rob surprised me by saying as we got comfortable on the sofa in our suite, "come on, 'fess up what're you thinking?"

"Nothin', well nothin' much, I mean you're going to think I'm being ridiculous," I mumbled.

"Spit it out, I'm going to grab some towels and put on some trunks and shorts," the evening was warm and balmy and we'd long-since decided that we, the three of us, were going to make use of the pool.

"We need trunks?" I asked with a giggle.

"Did I say we were going to get them wet?" he sniggered, "Now stop avoiding the subject and tell me what you were thinking."

"I'm thinking that there's not much point in us getting to Munich hours before our guitars and amps."

"Ok, so we arrange for the helo to pick us up later?"

"Not what I was thinking."

"Which was?"

"Look if you think it's a stupid idea, that's ok, but I was thinking about what we want to do with the new songs, you know back to basics."

"And?"

"And then I started remembering what it was like when we started out, borrowing vans, piling into friend's cars to get to our gigs."

"And you thought road-trip," he grinned.

I nodded, smiling back at him,

"It's only about a four-hour drive, not exactly like when we drove around the States, but yeah maybe."

"Could be the inspiration for more music," he smiled, "how about we say nothing to Nick, that gives us time to decide if we still want to do it. We were going to throw our cases in the van with our gear anyway so if we do decide to travel with them, we just throw ourselves in the cab with Nick. By the way, you do know I told him to move in next door, don't you?"

"No, I didn't, now you're the genius," I giggled.

We quickly changed from the jeans and tees we'd been wearing into shorts and – well and nothing apart from deck shoes.

"Great timing guys! But then that's normal for you," Nick smiled as we approached him, he was standing just outside the room we'd been using.

"Everything's set up for supper and your guitars are bedded down for the night!"

"How long before we are," Rob whispered under the guise of kissing my cheek.

"I'll get the amps in their flight cases as I load them in the morning," Nick said. "Unfortunately there's been a bit of a delay on the stage build, the crank-shaft sheared on one of the trucks so they're running about four hours behind schedule but the crew's agreed to work through the night so they should pull some of it back; but it does mean I'll have more time to get your gear to Munich."

I looked at Rob who smiled at me, knowing I was thinking road-trip again.

"I'd already allowed about five and a half hours for the drive, built in extra for comfort breaks , bottlenecks at the borders, so I'll still be setting off no later than ten-thirty preferable earlier which should get me there about an hour before you're scheduled to arrive, if the traffic's flowing well I'll be there earlier."

Rob and I headed to the food,

"I hope the food's alright for you," I said to Nick.

"Looks good to me, I'm easy."

"I can't wait to go swimming in that pool later, tell me you haven't already packed our trunks," Rob said.

As an opening gambit for suggesting we all go skinny-dipping, it was about as subtle as a flying brick but as I couldn't think of any kind of 'in' I'd work with it.

"Um, actually I think I might have," I replied.

"Damn!" Rob exclaimed dramatically.

"You'll just have to go and dig them out, they're in your case I think."

"Not on my account," Nick said quietly from where he sat on top of one of my AC30 amps strumming my Majesty Monarchy, another gift to me from Rob, I winked at Rob – it looked like it was game on.

He'd been playing "A Skyfull of Stars" and he segued perfectly into "A Head Full Of Dreams."

"That was real good dude," Rob commented.

"It's how I've got them mixed in my music library."

We talked ate and laughed, played a game of 'Guess the Song' with the questions based on either a few lyrics or a few bars of music, happily passing the time until Rob said we'd waited long enough since we'd eaten to go swimming.

"I'll go grab some towels then, shall I?" Rob said by way of firing the starting gun.

"Thanks babe, seeing as there's loads, bring a couple of extras," I cast a swift glance towards Nick. Rob left by the door to the corridor leading to our suite.

"How likely is he to actually bring trunks back with him?" Nick asked.

"He probably will but he possibly won't say that he has."

"As in he'll be trying to see if I meant what I said about not bothering on my account?"

"Or to find out if you want to wear them," I smirked.

"Shall we disabuse him of that idea?" Nick smiled and yes, there it was – that totally cute dimple.

"He's got to find out about you sometime."

"Well yes and no, I'm not exactly at attention twenty-four seven."

Nick stood and pulled off his polo shirt then undid and dropped his cargos.

"In for a penny," I thought, "can't back out now," so I followed his lead.

He strode towards the pool around five metres away and, I had to admit, very gracefully dived in, not coming up until he was almost halfway along its length; while he'd had his back to me, I got in simply by sliding off the edge. Sooner than I was expecting Nick was reaching out to catch the pool's edge beside me.

"How much swimming do you do?" I asked; Rob and I had found out months ago that Nick's physique came mainly from swimming not gym-work like Rob, me and the rest of the band.

"At home I do fifty lengths a day minimum, on the road I do as much as I can when I can."

"You know what we've forgotten, don't you?"

"Drinks, the staff left a few coloured unbreakable glasses so we could bring them to the pool," he told me.

"I'll get Rob to bring them."

"How're we actually going to explain being naked?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Depends on how and when he asks."

"He's back," Nick nodded towards where Rob now stood between the loungers we'd been on after we'd eaten.

"Before you get in swap the drinks to different glasses babe," I called.

"There's some coloured ones that're good for using over here, they're on the far end of the buffet table," Nick added.

When Rob re-appeared, Nick still hadn't moved from my side,

"If you're interested, my phone's in the side pocket of my cargos, there's a ton of music on there, see if anything takes your fancy."

Rob cast a wickedly sinful smirk in Nick's direction,

"Something already has."

"Same here," Nick retorted.

"Whose idea was it to go for the naturist look?" Rob asked.

"Him!" Nick and I both said at once.

"Joint decision then," Nick chuckled and began swimming again.

Rob looked at me wide-eyed, his brows raised in surprise as he knelt to put down the tray on which he'd put our drinks and Nick's device.

"Something wrong?" I asked, trying to sound innocent, I had my forearms on the edge of the pool looking up at him.

"He really went for it!" he whispered.

"Didn't you want him to?"

"Well yeah, but I wasn't sure he would."

"Come on get in, you're wasting time," I smirked.

He walked just far enough towards the nearest lounger to be able to throw his shorts onto it. The thought struck me that Nick had seen both Rob and I naked, me twice now, but I'd only seen him partially undressed and Rob hadn't even had that.

"Fucking hell," Rob murmured, when he was in the water beside me, "it was worth the wait to see that body."

Nick came back to stand at my left as Rob was to my right and he took a quick swig from his drink.

"Mark said your wife didn't go postal when you told her you'd be working with us for longer."

"No, but I do have to abide by our T.'s and C.'s."

"Come again," Rob said, "you have terms and conditions with your wife?!" he chuckled.

"Yeah, depending on how long I've been away, I either have to take Liz away for a long weekend or I have to do that and arrange a family holiday. When I got home from the first part of the tour, I took Liz to Norway and we did the whole ice hotel Northern Lights thing. I'd love to bring her here but it's hardly ideal for a weekend getaway and definitely not suitable for bringing a two-year-old."

"What sort of family holidays do you go on?" Rob asked.

"The classic sandcastles on the beach for now, Zander's too young for anything else really as yet but we avoid big touristy places."

"Such as where?"

For a moment I was puzzled about Rob's interest in Nick's family – was Rob getting broody again? I was so keeping out of this.

"He was about six months old when we went to the west coast of Ireland and just before I got the call to join you guys in Tokyo, we'd been to Santo Porto - funnily enough not far from where you had your short honeymoon in Madeira. By the time she's added up all the time I've been travelling and then in your studio, I'll have to come up with something pretty spectacular," he laughed.

"Ever been to the Caribbean?"

I breathed a sigh of relief – I'd suddenly understood where Rob was going with this!

"We went to Tobago the year before Zander was born."

"How d'you fancy the Turks and Caicos?"

"Yeah, that could do it, but I hear it's one the most expensive Carribbean islands, good hotels are very pricey."

"You won't need a hotel, you can stay at our place," Rob finally told him.

"You're joking!" Nick exclaimed.

"I think it's the least we can do after all the time we'll have kept you away from home," Rob replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," I put in, hoping Rob wouldn't hear any note of relief in my voice.

Every so often I picked up that Rob was thinking about us having a family, although he'd yet to say anything specific about it. I had given it some thought, but just like when Rob had first expressed his desire for us to marry, I wasn't sure I was ready for that next step.

"Zander's going to love your pool, he's a real water-baby," Nick grinned, "you are giving me so many Brownie points, it's untrue," he laughed.

"There are actually three different pools and a direct access to the beach."

Nick smiled happily.

"Zander, that's an unusual name," I commented.

"It's short for Alexander."

"That's what your ink says," I said.

High on each bicep Nick had a band of ink – not something we'd seen before – the writing was Gothic in style and although it wasn't as heavily embellished what it said hadn't been immediately obvious.

"The other one's Elizabeth with the date we got married, Zander's has his birth date."

"Any plans for more?"

"Don't intend getting married again and we were told we were lucky to have our boy, so no."

We carried on chatting about tattoos, mine and Rob's and what they meant, films, cars, the tour, music, anything that took our fancy until Nick said he was going to do a few more laps of the pool,

"Are either of you actually going to do any swimming?" he asked before setting off.

"Come on, how about we all do four!" Rob suggested.

"Alright. And then I've had a bit of a fun idea, see you back here in four," Nick chuckled as he pushed himself forward.

"Cheat!" I laughed as Rob and I did the same trying to catch up with him.

We didn't and it had quickly become clear that we wouldn't; Nick was an exceedingly good swimmer, he cut through the water like I'd seen Olympic competitors do.

"So what's this idea you've had?" Rob asked when we'd finished our own four laps – Nick was waiting for us with his drink already in his hand.

"Ok, adaptation of Ellen's Newlywed Game," Nick suggested. "We ask one question each in turn and we all answer, first one to ask a question somebody won't answer wins."

"Works for me," I answered.

"Me too," Rob added.

"Ok, we'll start with an easy one," Nick began. "First crush whether they knew or not."

"You," Rob said, looking at me with a brief but seductive grin.

I smiled. "Geography teacher, second year of high school," I put in.

"I remember a girl at school, Isobel," Nick said, "and about the same time I had a bit of a thing for the actress Renée Russo."

"Who and where was your first date?" Nick asked.

"Christy Walker, we went to the fair," I answered immediately.

"Emma Rayman, we went bowling."

Rob said nothing, then carried on saying nothing.

"You're not telling me I win that easy," Nick said, some seconds later, sounding amazed.

"The guys I knew before we," Rob briefly moved a hand between the two of us, "got together, I didn't have that kinda thing with them and," he paused, "well we never needed to."

His words took me aback but it was true we hadn't needed to, not in the truest sense, dating is when two people get to know each other after they get together, Rob and I got together because we already did.

"Mark, come on mate, Rob's never taken you on a date?"

"When we first got together? Come to think of it you didn't," I told Rob.

"Well, we were hiding from everyone! To me, it was even better than dating."

"I hope you do go on dates now," Nick said.

"Sure," I said, "although we don't go for the flowers and chocolates if that's what you're thinking,"

Rob laughed,

"No, we go for the 300k supercars, five-starred Michelin restaurants, five-thousand-dollar guitars, yachts, ten-million-dollar mansion!"

Nick and I both laughed.

"Lucky bastards," Nick said, shaking his head.

"First kiss?" I said asking an obvious one.

"Erica Grűnwald, I was in Germany to spend the fourth form Easter school holiday with my parents."

"Quick worker," Rob sniggered.

"Well she was, she thought I was older than I was so I think she sort of expected it."

"The previously mentioned Christy Walker, but not on the first date."

"Paul, no Niall, actually I don't remember what his name was."

"Didn't you kiss Sarah...," I couldn't remember her last name so I paused, "when we were like, twelve!" I giggled.

"Yeah, maybe. Yeah sure, my first kiss was with a girl but I dunno, just doesn't seem important."

"But real first kiss was with a bloke whose name you can't even remember," I laughed.

"You've made me forget about him!" he smiled at me.

"Remember Charlie?" I asked him.

"Oh yeah, I remember Charlie, first fuck buddy, I wonder what he's up to, and what he looks like now."

"He must be telling everyone he knows that he used to sleep with you!"

Rob laughed,

"He would've liked us to be much more than just fuck buddies but," he paused, "he knew I was only interested in having sex with him. First, because I didn't want to come out to anyone and second, because of you."

"Because of me?"

"Yeah, he knew he didn't have a chance because of you."

"What? You never told me that. You used to talk to him about me?"

"Yeah, he knew," he smiled with a soft nod, "and he thought you were hot as fuck!"

I huffed a laugh,

"He could've been our first threesome!" I joked

We carried on asking ridiculously silly questions of each other.

"How old the first time?" Rob asked.

"Fifteen," Nick and I said simultaneously.

"I was," Rob stopped and looked at me, "hang on, has Rachel been telling porkies all this time? She's always said she was sixteen and you're a couple of months older than her."

"She was," I replied, lowering my head and trying not to smile.

Everybody - including Rachel - had always assumed that as we'd got together relatively young she'd been my first, and only, until Rob.

"So?" Rob queried.

"In France, her name was Céleste."

"And was she, heavenly I mean?" Nick said immediately understanding the meaning of her name.

"Um, too little experience to say," I said.

"You didn't answer," Nick pointed out, looking at Rob.

"Almost sixteen, with Paul, or Niall, or whatever his name was," Rob said and I laughed out loud, "as soon as I looked old enough to get into a gay club and get it on with a guy."

"Most reckless thing you've ever done?" Nick asked.

"Oh God, it might be hard to pick one!" Rob said.

"There are so many to choose from," I joked.

"Probably the one time I decided to jump off the ramp at that festival in Spain and they all chased after me, I thought I would never get out of it alive!"

"I've seen that video," Nick chuckled.

"Yeah, it was a tremendous error," Rob said and we laughed.

"What about you?" Nick asked me.

"I don't do reckless things unless he makes me do them."

He let out a short laugh and cast a swift, smirking, glance towards Rob, then he looked at me again.

"You mean, like having sex in the press box at the Rose Bowl?"

"Wha," I stopped and simply looked at him. Had he watched us? Well the frosted glass in the press suite doors wouldn't have given him a great view but even so, it would've been pretty easy to work out who was doing what to who.

"Yeah, I guess that would be a good example."

Nick carried on smiling at me.

"So, it was you, I knew I'd seen someone," I said, looking at Rob who was trying not to laugh.

"I did tell you I'd asked him to keep guard for me," he smiled and it was true, he had.

I gazed at Nick seductively, raising an eyebrow. "So, did we put on a good show?"

He smirked. "Would you know how to put on a bad one?" he giggled. "Put it this way, I daren't think about it when I'm in your company – or anybody else's for that matter," he finished with quite a lecherous laugh.

I looked at Rob to see if he would add something. He didn't. None of us said anything for a few short seconds.

"Two lengths of the pool and we start again?" Nick said, changing the subject. "Otherwise we may as well have not bothered getting in the water!"

"Just how many laps do you swim in a day?" Rob asked in a repeat of my earlier question just before Nick launched himself away from us.

"Minimum of fifty, when I'm at home and I am so lagging behind on the schedule."

He was waiting for us when we'd completed our own couple of lengths, this time he was facing away from the wall and I wondered if Rob's would notice how Nick was built - even at rest his cock was pretty impressive.

"How about," Nick began when we were holding our drinks, "best and worst pick up line you've ever used and had used towards you?"

"Erm, not sure my favourite counts as a pick-up line but I'm having it, it was Mark saying I could kiss him, the worst? Probably the guy I didn't know who came up behind me when I was stood at a bar, he grabbed my hips, pulled us together and said something like I'm really gonna have fun with you."

"Can I take it he didn't?" Nick chuckled.

"You can take it to the bank," Rob laughed.

"The worst was probably a girl at a friend's party who really didn't believe I'm gay, she came out with the female version of 'but you've never had anyone like me' crap, gotta say I wasn't very complimentary in reply," I smiled.

"What d'you tell her?"

I winced,

"I told her to go to weight watchers."

Rob clapped his hands together, threw his head back and laughed,

"I love you," he said.

"That's just cruel," Nick laughed with us, "and the best?"

"Well I'm with Rob on this one, that first night we got together, whatever it was he said that had me saying he could kiss me," I looked at Rob and saw his eyes gazing intently back at me at the memory.

"Yours?" Rob asked.

"Don't tend to go for the one-liner, I'm more of a get them laughing kind of bloke, you know, charm them into my bed. Despite what you may think from our last conversation about girls, my mate Phil and I were actually quite selective. Turns out Phil had a very different reason to me for being that way. Just like you Rob, he wouldn't entertain anyone who wanted more than just fun until he plucked up the courage to actually tell the object of his affection that she was."

"Yeah, I bet you have to be careful," Rob sniggered, casting a swift look down Nick's torso and back - so he had noticed.

"Yeah, well I'm not the only one," he laughed, "I know for a fact that he managed to dissuade all bar two of a clutch of girls from making him their first."

It took a moment for the both of us to take in what he'd meant, that his friend, who we'd met at an after party in New Zealand where he worked as a music journalist, must be made in the same way as he was.

"Did you ever do the same, dissuade someone?" I asked.

"I did the same three times, doesn't mean we didn't have fun though," Nick smiled.

"So the one seemingly straight man here's the only one who doesn't have that particular notch on his bed post," Rob laughed.

"Did I say that?"

"Well yeah, you pretty much did," Rob replied.

I was having fun watching this, Rob had left the semi-flirting behind, the original q and a was long abandoned, by keeping out of it I could watch both sides of this conversation and Nick had Rob right where he wanted him.

"Did I? No, I don't think so."

"You said you'd had to dissuade three women from making you their first."

"No, I actually said I'd dissuaded three."

I roared with laughter, Rob lost his hold of the pool edge and went under making me laugh harder, Nick never flinched. Note to self don't ever play poker with this guy.

Rob looked at me as he surfaced,

"He's fucking good," I laughed.

"Good? Good! As fucking good as Rihanna on the performance stakes."

"And of my vanilla friends only Phil knows – and no he and I never have. Oh, and like my best friend, I have two such notches on my bedpost, one on either side you could say. Questions asked and answered I think," he smirked, as took the final swig of his wine.

I looked at Rob who was still shaking his head and laughing at how Nick had reeled him in.

"Hook, line and sinkered my friend, I had you as soon as you made the unspoken dare about us getting in here naked. What you don't know is that my parents are psychiatrists, dad specialises in Neuro Linguistic Programming and I've read their books, to make sure they weren't using their skills on me, more wine anyone?" he said as he pulled himself from the water.

I was still laughing as he strode to the table, having picked up all the glasses on the way, Rob was shaking his head, chuckling,

"Come on, if you still can, let's do some more actual swimming shall we, first one to four laps," I said already pushing away from the wall.

"You cheat," Rob called as he tried to catch me.

We were watched by Nick as he filled the glasses. On the return lap, I managed to get a few decent glances at him and fuck, even if he got no longer or thicker - which I knew he did - he was a singularly impressive specimen. And my guess was he was all top – but he'd already surprised the fuck out of me so who knew?

"I'll give you two time alone to relax, you've earned it," he said.

"You don't have to. I mean if we'd wanted to be alone, we wouldn't be here, would we?" Rob replied.

"Well if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna do a few more le," he stopped, smirked and began again, "laps of the pool."

This time he dived in a few feet to Rob's right and didn't surface until he was a fair way from us.

"Fucking. Hell!" Rob's eyes were wide and his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"We are so out of fucking practise," I laughed.

"Never in a million would I have expected that."

"Say what? We've known he's bi for ages" I began.

"Not that he's bi, I mean that he's so easy with it, he doesn't flaunt it but he knew exactly what signals to put out."

I smirked, then started laughing silently, before long I was all out laughing.

"What?"

"He's even better than we thought," I told Rob.

"What d'you mean?"

"He told us what he was doing and we still didn't spot it, he said he was more the 'get them laughing type' and he did. He," I pointed to where Nick was about to turn at the far end, "he has just seduced the pair of us without upsetting either of us."

"Turns out we can be easy too," he giggled.

"I'm heading back to grab a few snacks," I said as we finished the last of another few laps, I hauled myself from the water to sit on the edge, looked down the pool to where Nick was putting in some serious swimming, then added quietly, "I think he's a top."

"You thought you were for a while," he smirked.

"That was inexperience as you well know," I leaned to my right so I could kiss him.

"Either of you fancy a few more nibbles?" I asked.

They both said yes and I told them I'd have it ready in about five minutes; they were both laughing when they walked from the pool into the room where our food had been laid out,

"I'm telling you I never sussed until, well until the moment was upon us you could say," Nick was saying.

"But you didn't run for the hills though, did you?" Rob retorted.

"No," Nick chuckled, "I just thought why the hell not."

"Why the hell not what?" I asked as they both took their plates from me.

"I'll let him tell you when we've got comfy again," Rob laughed.

They each had a towel wrapped around their waist and they both looked sexy as hell with damp hair and the occasional trickle of water running down their tanned skin from it. Nick walked back outside, Rob had put down his plate and came to stand behind and wrap his strong arms around me,

"Are you sure about this babe?"

"Oh, I'm sure. Are you?"

"Oh come on, he's had us both thinking the same thing at the same time for the first time in how long? That's gotta mean something. And he's told me he's tried being bottom a couple of times."

Our second, smaller, supper passed in a bit of a blur, mostly of laughter, we'd never done things this way, we, or more generally Rob, had simply found someone on the spur of the moment in the past, the concept of spending so much time before and after the event was an alien one for us.

But it didn't seem that way for Nick, he was so relaxed, so easy in his manner, even in the way he sat more side-on to the table we were sitting at using only his fork to eat; that he genuinely enjoyed our company was obvious - that he wanted both of us was abundantly clear.

"So, why with us?" I asked eventually.

"Well I'd seen first-hand working with you on tour, having had time to get to know you, how solid you are, and this," he moved a finger to indicate the three of us, "only works well between three single people or one very strong couple and a guest," he smirked, as he drew air quotes around the last word.

"There's a wicked thought," Rob giggled, "the hosts seduce the guest."

"There's a song title in there somewhere," I laughed.

"Oh yeah, U-N-I sing about threesomes, that I gotta hear," Nick laughed, we all did.

He was doing it again – and I didn't care, he was treating us in the same way he'd treat anyone he was interested in. He wasn't making any allowance for, or doing this because of, who we were, a by-product of having been around famous people for most of his adult life, and it felt good. For all the right reasons, here was one guy we knew we really could trust to keep our secret – he was no trophy hunter.

"Anyone for a coffee?" he asked when we'd quietened a little, "They very kindly brought supplies with the supper," we both said yes – well I opted for tea, "Mark, at the far side of the lounger I was on earlier, there's a bottle of decent cognac. I don't know about you but I think our supper deserves rounding off properly, don't you?"

He stood up to make our drinks. We'd all pulled on shorts again and they displayed his body well. The thought had suddenly struck me, as I headed to fetch the brandy, that it was like he was slowly edging, edging! That was it, exactly what Rob and I had fantasised abous us doing with him and it was happening without us even realizing it.

This guy just got better and better. He kept taking our conversation towards where we all knew the night was headed but then pulled back to another topic and at an appropriate moment – one he generally set up – took it back towards things between the three of us taking off. If he was this good with words, I couldn't wait to find out for myself what he was like with a cock!

Before Nick came back with our drinks, I whispered to Rob,

"Remember when I said yesterday that Nick must love playing edging games and you said that you hoped he did..."

"Yeah," Rob said.

"Well, I hope you're in the mood for more edging."

Rob looked me in the eye, his brows furrowed, as he thought about what I'd said.

"More?" he tilted his head quizzically, then gradually his face changed to a look of understanding.

When we had eaten earlier, I'd seen that, like me, Rob had been semi-hard throughout our meal. Yet we'd not touched each other, or even given each other lust-fuelled looks. It had been how Nick had been steering the whole evening, and not just the conversation, which had had us that way. And now Rob had twigged.

"You think that's what he's doing?"

I told him what had me think that Nick was slowly edging all of us forward and he had to agree.

"We really are out of practise," he giggled.

When Nick came back, he placed the cups and glasses for the brandy in front of us and said,

"Pour that cognac Mark."

He just couldn't stop himself!

"This is good," Rob commented after his first sip of the cognac.

"Remy Martin, laid it down the year my great-grandparents married."

Then we both stared at Nick without saying a word. I knew there was a smirk on my face. He stared back at us, confused.

"What?"

"Nicholas Bradshaw," I pointed at him, "I accuse you of edging towards getting us to do exactly what you want!"

He narrowed his brows and dropped his head down, admitting guilt. When he looked up at us, his lips twitched and the dimple popped out briefly,

"Come on, I couldn't resist, sorry," he laughed, "but could you if you'd had the chance to get two hot guys into bed at the same time?"

There, he'd done it again, referred to us as being two ordinary gay men, it made a really refreshing change from our normality.

Rob shook his head,

"You better not use those tricks on us in the studio on Mark's behalf to get us to do what he wants," he chuckled.

Rob was lazing on the steamer chair between the ones Nick and I occupied, curiously both he and I, without saying anything, had chosen to sit up, facing Rob and each other.

"Okay, so, I think we need to call in reality for a few minutes guys, don't you?"

"We sure do," Rob said, taking another sip.

"Can we re-cap on rules and boundaries?"

"We sure can," Rob said with a smirk.

"I presume there's still no kissing, well not on the lips. Most couples are the same, it's one of those too intimate things I think. What else?"

We explained how we'd done these things before and he agreed with everything we said,

"Pretty much standard protocol then."

"Just how often have you done this?" Rob asked laughing.

"In what combination?" Nick asked back.

"Clearly enough to know what he's doing," I added joining in with the humour, "but what about your own rules?"

"Hey, I'm the guest here. Your house, your rules, technically speaking."

As we drank and savoured the cognac, we talked more explicitly about what we all liked and didn't, there was virtually nothing we disagreed on although he did say he was disappointed that we had the no-one gets to fuck us rule,

"Ooo look," Rob said in an over-dramatic way some minutes later, staring into both his cup and glass, "I've finished my drinks," he looked at both of us suggestively.

"Slow coach," Nick chuckled, I had no idea if he too had finished his drinks but I took his comment to mean it was game on.

"That's one thing I learned about my husband early on, that he can be a total tease when he wants to be," I smiled at Rob and I saw that his cock was already more than half-hard, as was mine.

"A tease, am I? You kept me waiting for years!" Rob laughed.

He turned to look at Nick and then tilted his head towards me,

"Virtually every fucking night I was laid next to this beautiful boy," Rob told him and before I knew it Rob had thrown himself onto his knees in front of me and had his hands on my chest pressing me back to recline on the chair, "come and see what I had to resist."

Nick moved to the chair Rob had left empty,

"How long does it take you to lick all that ink?" he asked quietly as Rob bent to kiss along the lines of my abs.

"Oh I could make it last for hours but then I get all greedy and need to do more."

"I can understand that, but then I could do the same to either of you," Nick added.

"So come and help me out," Rob looked at Nick briefly as he spoke.

"My absolute pleasure," he answered.

Nick knelt to my right opposite Rob who was to my left and began tracing the outline of my pecs with a forefinger, then he moved to stroke my right nipple and I shivered, it had been such a long time since either of us had felt a stranger's touch that it felt like a new experience. I'd tilted my head back and closed my eyes so I had no idea if what I felt next had been agreed between them or if it was mere coincidence but I felt a tongue lick over each nipple and I exclaimed,

"Fuck, that's good!" before I could stop myself.

"It's supposed to be," Rob giggled.

After that, I just let them play with my body and allowed myself to wallow in every moment of it; someone raised my hands above my head stretching my body a little.

"It's me," Rob whispered in my ear some time later as I felt fingers at the waistband to my shorts.

I nodded but said nothing and kept my eyes closed.

"No one to interrupt us, I'm gonna take my time to savour this cock," I heard Nick say once Rob had removed what little clothing I'd been wearing, he'd gently moved my hard cock until I could feel that it was pointing towards my navel.

"You're a lucky beggar, he's beautiful," Nick whispered to Rob.

"Oh I know he's perfect. I'd show him off more, but then again, I also wanna keep him all to myself."

"Can't blame you," Nick giggled and they both picked up exactly where they had to leave off over two months before in the dressing room.

Nick almost swallowed my entire shaft in his mouth and started bobbing up and down on it, Rob was all over my chest with his lips and tongue and I was shivering under their touch. I felt Nick's tongue on my cockhead and then it was gone.

"I don't want to ruin the moment," Nick said, "but I want to try something, try keeping your eyes closed, I hope it'll be worth it."

I was too lost in what Rob was doing to my body to want to open my eyes. Rob took Nick's place and started giving me head as I heard Nick moving away from us then a door opening, and, oddly, noises that made me think of furniture being moved before Nick came back to us.

I felt someone pass a blindfold over my eyes. I didn't object, I'd found that blindfolds could be the way to really good things, starting with our island home, although this felt different to normal.

I could hear Nick whispering to Rob but not the words although I did hear Rob giggle,

"That's awesome," he gasped, "let's go."