Taylor
Another year, another Christmas with the family… with one difference. One loud, tall, horny bastard of a difference. Carrick actually behaved himself a lot better than I’d expected him to; he’d already charmed the heck out of our parents somehow, and the younger siblings thought he was hilarious. Even Ike was warming up to him, although I could tell he was still getting used to Zac’s boyfriend. But he was trying, even sitting with us by the fire sipping eggnog.
I was a little tired, so I mostly kept my attention on the fireplace, poking at it every few seconds. Carrick had told me ahead of time about his devious plan to torture Ike, confusing the poor guy by being his usual flirty self with both Zac and me. I knew it was probably a bad idea, but at the same time, the thought of our straight-laced brother getting all flustered and confused… it was pretty damn funny.
“Taylor, you’re going to burn the house down,” Ike admonished me for the fourth or fifth time. “You’re almost as bad at Christmas as Zac.”
“No one is as bad as Zac,” I answered with a shrug.
“Yeah, Tay just loves to poke things, right?” Carrick winked at me, and I felt myself blush; I hated that I always reacted to his teasing, but there was nothing I could do. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ike take a rather large sip of his eggnog.
“Not half as bad as you,” I muttered, but Carrick just grinned like a Cheshire cat. Zac shook his head at us, and I got the impression he hadn’t been informed about his boyfriend’s dastardly plan.
“So, um,” Ike said with a cough that almost sounded genuine. “Having a good Christmas here in Tulsa, Carrick?”
“Yeah, it’s nice to actually get some snow. I can’t remember the last time I had a white Christmas. Not this kind anyway,” he added, nudging Zac. I snickered as the two of them got into a playful shoving match, until Carrick let out a low growl that I tried very, very hard not to react to. Instead I shook my head and smiled at Ike, who was similarly trying not to stare. I didn’t know what the two goofballs were up to, and I probably didn’t want to know; I turned to the fireplace, poking at the burning logs again.
“Oh yeah, poke it harder,” came Carrick’s voice from behind me, followed by a snort from Zac, and I stifled a laugh.
“So did you guys, uh… exchange gifts already, or…” Ike asked, trying to find a thread of actual conversation.
“No, not yet,” I answered for all of us.
“We’re doing it later tonight,” Carrick added with a grin only Zac and I understood.
“We better be,” Zac whispered to his boyfriend, and I had to bite my lip to keep from snickering.
“Did you want yours now?” I asked Ike, clearing my throat.
“Oh, we can exchange them whenever. Whoever wants to start.”
“Babe,” Carrick said to Zac, “Go grab our gifts from under the tree. They’re close to the trunk, so you might have to crawl down there to get ‘em.” He smirked at Zac, who stuck his lip out.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Of course not!” Carrick gasped in mock-offence, the picture of innocence
“I did,” I muttered, smirking at Zac. Ike blinked, and I wondered if he’d heard me.
“Um, Zac, why don’t you just go get the presents,” he said slowly, still looking confused. Zac rolled his eyes, shot me and Carrick a nasty look, then crawled under the tree to grab our gifts. I tried to be subtle watching his rear wiggle under the boughs, but Carrick had no shame, leaning forward and grinning wide. He scooted closer to me then, confusing both Ike and myself; I shrugged, not about to complain, and smiled at our older brother.
“Well, while Zac goes on an expedition for those gifts, I’ve actually got mine right here.” Ike pulled a wrapped present from next to his chair; I opened it eagerly, grinning at the book on photography.
“Oh cool, thanks!”
“You’re welcome.”
“Hm, nice,” Carrick said, leaning way closer to me than necessary to look at the book. I felt myself blushing again and dared a glance at Ike; he stared for a second before shaking his head, and revealing another gift.
“And for you,” he said, handing the box to Carrick. He tore into it like a five year old, laughing when he saw a variety of Tulsa-related items. There was a couple of shirts, a few buttons, and a coffee mug; it was a pretty nice selection, really.
“Sweet!” Carrick exclaimed, holding up an ‘I ♥ Tulsa’ shirt. “Gotta represent, right?”
“Thought that might help you blend in.” Ike grinned at him, but I snorted; there was no way Carrick could blend in anywhere. “And we can save Zac’s for whenever he rejoins us…”
“Got them! Finally” Zac called from under the tree, wiggling his ass a bit as he crawled back out. Ike shuddered and looked away, giving Carrick and I the opportunity to look our fill.
“Great idea, man,” he said to me quietly, and I grinned in response. Zac paused in front of us, pouting a bit at the rearranged seating, but sat on Carrick’s other side.
“Fine then,” he said, piling all the gifts in his lap; Carrick put an arm around him, which made him smile a bit more. He pulled the first box from the pile and handed it to Ike, who took his time unwrapping it carefully.
“I will definitely get a lot of use out of this,” Ike said with a grin as he opened the shot glass chess set. “Thanks, Zac. Here, this is for you.”
Zac was less careful opening his gift, which was actually two; a new controller and headset for his Xbox. He grinned widely at Ike.
“You know me so well.”
“Okay, my turn,” I said, feeling brave. I reached into Zac’s lap to grab my gift for Ike, letting my fingers ‘accidentally’ brush against him through his jeans. I felt him shiver, saw his eyes go wide, but tried not to react. “Here ya go.” I handed the gift to Ike; he blinked, hesitating, and I had a feeling he’d seen.
“I… uh… thanks. Hey, cool,” he added when he opened the Chuck Berry biography.
“Me next, me next!” Carrick squealed, also brushing against Zac when he grabbed the next gift, but not nearly as subtly. Ike took a long sip of his drink, and I wondered how much alcohol he’d put in it. Carrick handed him a small envelope; the first thing that fell out was a small guitar pick, the design faded and the edges rough.
“Um… thanks. Can never have enough of those, right?” Ike smiled politely, but when he pulled the piece of paper from the envelope, his eyes went wide. “This is… Are you shitting me?”
“What is it?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“That,” Carrick said, grinning proudly, “is one of the picks used by Stevie Ray Vaughan in his final concert. Thought you might like it.”
“He wins,” Ike stated, looking at me and Zac.
“Yeah yeah, we know…” I smiled at Carrick; I hadn’t expected him to put that much thought into it, but I was proud and touched that he had.
“Yeah yeah,” Zac echoed, sounding a little glum; I wondered why, until I noticed just how close Carrick and I had ended up sitting.
“Don’t worry babe,” Carrick said to Zac, hugging him a bit and kissing his cheek. “You’ll just love your gift,” he added with a wink.
“I better,” Zac muttered, pouting adorably. I sighed happily, watching the fire again for a moment. It wasn’t that their affection bothered me; I loved seeing how happy Zac was. What the three of us had was unconventional by every definition of the word, but for now… it worked.
“So what’d you get Mom and Dad?” I asked Ike.
“Some fancy new toolbox thing for dad, and I let Nikki pick out a nice necklace for mom. She’s better at gifts than me.”
“Nice. I got mom a new embroidery machine, and some power tools for Dad.”
“I bought them a couple books,” Zac spoke up. “An embroidery book for mom to go with Tay’s gift, and some theology thing dad mentioned.”
We all glanced at Carrick, who sat there grinning away. After a couple seconds, Zac pouted.
“What,” he deadpanned, and I braced myself. “Well, there’s this antique store back in LA; remember that weekend I went back to grab some stuff from the apartment?”
“Yeah…” Zac said slowly, nodding.
“Found this bolt of vintage fabric, it’s like lace and silk, really nice stuff. And then there’s this unfinished bookcase, all these intricate carvings and stuff. So I figure they’ll both have stuff they can work on.”
For a solid minute, all three of us sat there, staring in awe.
“Wow,” I finally said, smiling. The lengths he’d gone to were impressive to say the least.
“You are amazing,” Zac sighed. “And I kind of hate you right now.”
“Aww, you know that’s not true.”
“Well, it’s a little true…” Zac huffed, pouting.
“Wow,” Ike said after another few seconds. “That’s really… thoughtful. Are you trying to make the rest of us look bad?” he chuckled.
“Come on, babe,” Carrick said softly, touching Zac’s cheek. “You know that wasn’t what I was trying to do. I just… You guys are family. And I want to make a good impression.”
I smiled at him, touched by his words. Sure, the three of us were becoming a unit, but for him to want to be part of the Hanson family at large… it meant a lot to me at least.
“Yeah… I know,” Zac sighed, his pout fading. “And you did too good of a job, damn it.”
“You guys are kinda…” Ike began, but he cleared his throat and took another gulp of his drink; I had a feeling I knew what he was trying to say, though, and he was right.
“You really did,” I told Carrick, placing a hand on his knee.
“Thanks,” he said to me, smiling. “Means a lot to hear that. I just hope your parents like it.”
At that moment, I almost didn’t care that Isaac was sitting there. I wanted to kiss him. But, reality couldn’t be ignored, so I tore my eyes away, settling for leaving my hand where it was.
“You think they’ll like it?” Carrick asked Ike; he nodded, glancing briefly at my hand. Embarrassment got the better of me and I pulled away, poking at the fire again.
“Uh… yeah, definitely. They’ll love it.”
“Well like I said, you guys are family.” Carrick punctuated his words by throwing his other arm around me, and giving both me and Zac a squeeze. I groaned, but really I was glad for the contact. Zac leaned against him, sighing happily. Even Ike smiled as he looked at all three of us. Going with instinct, I leaned my head against Carrick’s shoulder, giggling; Ike blinked at that, and Zac glanced over, but it had felt right.
“It means a lot to me that you guys have accepted me,” Carrick went on, slowly rubbing Zac’s and my arms gently. Ike raised an eyebrow at that, and I wondered if we were pushing our luck.
“Well… you obviously make Zac happy, so…”
“I hope so. I know I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time.” Carrick turned to smile at Zac, but I felt him give my arm a gentle squeeze; I looked down, my damn blush returning. “One big happy family, right guys?” Carrick nudged my knee with his own as he looked first at Zac, then me. I nodded, but Zac looked a little uneasy.
“Y-yeah,” he said slowly. Ike’s eyebrow remained raised as he watched, but he opted for silence, drinking the last of his eggnog.
“Need a refill?” Carrick offered, standing and reaching for Ike’s glass.
“That would be great. You could take lessons from this guy, you know,” he said to us, handing the empty glass to Carrick. I had to cover my laugh with a cough, and Zac snorted unattractively.
“I’ve been trying, trust me,” Carrick laughed, smirking at us before heading towards the kitchen.
Zac
With Carrick gone, Taylor stretched out and let his arm rest along the back of the couch, just barely brushing my shoulder. He smiled genuinely and said, “This is nice.”
“Yeah,” I said, risking a glance at him and a smile, hoping I didn’t reveal just how much I was enjoying what little affection we could safely show each other in front of Ike. “It is.”
Isaac cleared his throat, and Taylor turned his attention back to him. “I can’t wait to get the new album finished, though.”
“Yeah,” Ike agreed. “It’ll be good to get some new music out there…”
“Oh yeah,” Carrick agreed, walking back into the room and handing Ike a fresh glass of eggnog that I suspected was more nog than egg. With a quick wink as he turned back to us, he added, “I can’t wait to hear it either. These guys have been teasing me for weeks.”
I squeezed in closer to Taylor to let Carrick sit down; I just liked being between the two of them, in more ways than one. Taylor left his arm on the back of the couch, and now that I was scooted in closer to him, I really liked having it there.
“Thanks,” Isaac said, then took a long sip of his drink, sputtering a little as he did so. “This is… strong.”
“Now, now, don’t go hogging Tay all to yourself,” Carrick remarked as I scooted closer to Taylor. “So greedy.”
Taylor snorted, and Isaac nearly choked on his drink. I was sure he didn’t get the joke, but there was still something vaguely sexual about Carrick’s tone of voice that made it clear there was a joke. I just stared at him in disbelief, and Taylor stretched his arm out to flick him on the ear.
“What?” Carrick asked. “Can’t take a joke?’
“Not when it’s not funny,” I hissed. There was a fine line here between what we should and shouldn’t say in front of Ike, and Carrick was hopping right over it.
“Oh, you big baby. C’mere.”
Rather than wait for me to obey that subtle command, Carrick yanked me into his lap. More accurately, he pulled me into both of their laps. My legs were sprawled across Taylor’s, my butt planted in Carrick’s lap and the back of my head banged against the headrest so hard I saw stars for a second.
“Carrick!” I yelped, in both surprise and pain.
“You asked for that…” Taylor remarked, casually draping an arm across my legs.
“Simmer down,” Carrick said, stroking my hair as though I were an animal that needed to be calmed.
When Ike just gaped at the scene in front of him, Taylor remarked, “You should see ‘em at home.”
“I’m… I’m not sure I want to…” Ike replied perhaps a bit more honestly than was really necessary.
“Isaac!” Carrick mock-scolded. “Taylor was merely referring to our daily wrestling matches. What were you thinking of, hmm?”
Isaac chose to answer that question with a few stammers and a huge gulp of his drink. Taylor rolled his eyes at Carrick, but his fingers were dancing across my leg like he was playing some melody on it. Carrick’s hand continued to stroke my hair, and I had to admit, it all felt pretty good. Somewhat in spite of myself, I sighed contentedly.
After nearly chugging the rest of his drink, Isaac mumbled, “I’ll uh… just get the next refill myself…”
He walked out of the room quickly. Taylor watched him leave, then turned to Carrick. “You really are pushing it, aren’t you?”
“I told you,” Carrick said, a strangely proud grin on his face. “Not my fault if you didn’t believe me.”
“You told him what?” I asked. There was definitely a joke happening here that I wasn’t in on.
Taylor chuckled. “Carrick here thought it’d be funny to mess with Ike a bit.”
“No, no. Not funny. Hilarious. And I don’t remember you disagreeing, either.”
“And you planned all this without me?” I asked, not sure if I felt left out because it was kind of hilarious or because my boyfriends were doing things without me. I didn’t really mind the latter… at least, I didn’t think I did.
Taylor pouted a bit. “We… I didn’t mean to…”
“We just weren’t sure if you’d be up to it,” Carrick finished for him.
“Well, I’m not sure if I am,” I admitted honestly. “But it would have been to have known.”
“I’m sorry, baby,” Carrick said, his head down a bit.
“Me too,” Taylor added.
“It’s okay,” I replied. “Just please don’t make Ike’s brain explode? It’s gonna suck to have to clean that up. And then you’ll have to be our new guitar player.”
“We won’t make his brain explode, Zac,” Taylor said. “But you should play along. It is pretty fun, actually.”
Carrick just leaned down and kissed my nose. It was probably meant to distract me, and it worked. I couldn’t help giggling at the way his hair tickled my face, but when Taylor decided to remind me of his presence by rubbing my thigh, I had to pause.
Staring at him I asked, “Are you sure… that’s a good idea?”
Taylor just shrugged.
“Oh, you’re just full of bad ideas tonight, aren’t you?” Carrick asked him.
Taylor bit his lip. “Rather be full of something else…”
“Hmm, we might be able to arrange that…” Carrick replied.
I nodded eagerly. “Yeah, I think we can manage that.”
Taylor bit his lip, a soft groan escaping them. Carrick leaned in and brushed his lips against Taylor’s, eliciting a whimper… just as Isaac appeared around the corner. I wasn’t sure if how much he saw, but the two drinks he carried–one for each hand–would probably have him seeing double soon.
“Double-fisting, already?” Taylor asked, causing Carrick to nudge him and chuckle.
Ike shot them a frown, then replied, “Figured I’d conserve energy.”
“Sure is a nice tree this year,” Taylor said, abruptly changing the subject.
“Yeah, bigger than I’m used to,” Carrick added.
Seeing my opportunity to join in the fun, I giggled. “Lots of balls, too. And not a one of them blue.”
“Hmm, how about that,” Carrick replied.
Isaac chose to ignore that conversation entirely, but chugged half his first glass in one go.
“Man, pounding ‘em back must run in the family, huh?” Carrick smirked.
I giggled again. “Guess it does.”
Once again, Isaac ignored us completely. He obviously couldn’t be missing the innuendo, but the fact that some of it was coming from Taylor had to be confusing him. Whatever weird and probably confusing thoughts we were giving him, he chose to drown them in alcohol, the room falling quiet as he sipped his drink.
Carrick used that pause to stretch his arm across the back of the couch, letting it brush against Taylor’s shoulder. Taylor didn’t seem to mind, settling back into his seat and pulling me further toward him. Whether he really meant to move his hips up, practically thrusting against me, or if it was just a side effect of his trying to get more comfortable, I really wasn’t sure. I squirmed a little and shot him a questioning look, wondering when he became as much of a little trickster as Carrick, and he just smiled sweetly in response.
Seemingly oblivious to what was happening, although I suspected that was just an act, Carrick stretched his arm fully onto Taylor’s shoulder and heaved a sigh. “Long day, though.”
“Yeah,” Taylor replied, still smiling. “You get used to it in this family.”
Something about that struck me as funny. Probably the word long. It was far from the most perverted thing the two of them had said all night, but it still made me giggle.
Taylor shot me a warning look, and I put on my best innocent face.
“What?” I asked.
Taylor and Carrick both shook their heads, then Taylor turned his attention to Ike. “So… had a good year in all, Ike?”
“Umm,” he sputtered out. “Yeah. Pretty eventful, but I guess… s’all worked out, hasn’t it?”
It wasn’t the most eloquent statement, but it rang true. Our year had been crazy, and sometimes it was hard to believe just how much had changed in what was in fact less than a full year. Two divorces, my coming out… Carrick moving in… sometimes I wasn’t even sure where the band fit into all of that anymore, and I felt bad for letting my music take a backseat to all of my stupid drama. We had been working off and on over the last few weeks, though, and a new album was starting to seem like a possibility. A new album for our new life.
“Yeah,” Taylor agreed, nodding. “I’d say so.”
“S’good,” Isaac slurred, and I started to wonder if he’d had enough to drink. At least he was a happy, sappy drunk. “Really good. You guys all… deserve to be happy…”
I wasn’t sure if Ike really knew all the implications behind what he was saying, but I didn’t doubt that he meant it. The surprised look on Taylor’s face before he managed to turn it into a smile suggested that he was thinking the same thing I was. Finally, he managed to reply, “Thank you, Ike.”
“Yeah, thank you,” Carrick said, his voice uncharacteristically serious. “I know things must have been kind of… weird for you. But I really appreciate how supportive you’ve been of Tay, and Zac, and us.”
Carrick’s wording was very deliberate, I was sure, and I thought I could actually see the gears turning in Ike’s brain as he tried to parse them.
“Yeah,” he finally said. “Been rough, but I just wanna see everybody happy.”
“That was really nice, Carrick,” Taylor said softly.
He grinned. “I have my moments.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, smiling up at my surprisingly sweet boyfriend. “You do.”
He returned my smile, ruffling my hair. For a moment, we all just sat in comfortable silence, before Carrick decided to speak again.
“I just feel really lucky, you know?” He said, glancing from me to Taylor, and then to Ike.
Isaac nodded and mumbled some sort of agreement, then polished off the rest of his drink.
“You know, Ike,” Carrick said. “If there’s anything you want to know–about everything that’s happened this year, I mean–you can ask.”
“Like, uh… what?”
“Yeah, Carrick,” I hissed. “Like what?”
Carrick shrugged, looking far too casual for someone who had just given my oldest brother an open invitation to probe into my… unusual… relationship status. “Just anything, really. I can’t answer for these two, but you know I think of you as a brother now.”
“Nope,” I said, giggling as I shook my head. “Totally don’t think of him as a brother.”
“Not what I meant, doofus,” Carrick replied, poking me in the side. Of course I knew it wasn’t, but the only way I knew how to deal with awkward situations was with humor, and I really couldn’t think of anything more awkward than Isaac putting together all the pieces and realizing what he was really witnessing.
“You two,” Isaac said, a strange smile on his face.
“Yeah?” Carrick asked, grinning. “What about us?”
Isaac shook his head, still smiling. “You kind make a cute couple, that’s all.”
We all looked surprised by that statement–even Isaac. Carrick was the first to find his voice and reply, “Thanks.”
“Yeah,” Ike said, still looking a bit dazed. “You’re welcome.”
“Ya hear that?” Carrick asked me. “We’re cute!”
Taylor chuckled. “And insane.”
“Insanely cute?” I suggested.
Isaac forged on even through Carrick’s laughter. “I mean it, though. You guys jus’ kinda work together, ya know?”
Carrick smiled, but I noticed that Taylor’s smile had fallen. Of course Ike hadn’t known that he was leaving out an integral part of what worked so well. But he couldn’t know. We couldn’t let him. Carrick discretely rubbed Taylor’s arm, but didn’t say a word.
“You must be like, part saint, though. Living with both of ‘em and not going insane.” Leave it to Ike to twist the knife without even knowing he’d stabbed Taylor with it at all. Taylor snorted a bit derisively; he was taking it better than I expected.
“Nah,” Carrick said, shrugging. “We actually work pretty well together. Balance each other out, ya know?”
Taylor glanced down, so I couldn’t read his expression, and I focused intently on keeping my neutral so it wouldn’t give away more than I wanted.
“I… I guess so,” Ike replied taking a thoughtful sip of his drink. “Kinda like the band does, too…”
“Yeah, exactly,” Carrick said. “You guys complete each other, each giving what the other two need most.”
Even though I knew we were treading on thin ice already, I couldn’t help mumbling, “And we make beautiful music together, too.”
That one earned me one very sharp elbow in my ribs, even though Carrick’s eyes didn’t flicker away from Ike for a moment.
“Oww…” I pouted.
Carrick rubbed the spot. “Aww, poor baby.”
“You oughta kiss it and make it better,” I said under my breath.
Taylor sighed, his patented sigh. “Like having two extra kids.”
“Ya know, I’m not sure which one of you three I feel most sorry for…” Isaac chuckled.
“Me,” Taylor stated. “Who do you think has to cook and clean up after these two?”
“Oh shush,” Carrick replied, grinning. “We do our share of work.”
“So you got divorced only to end up playing housewife anyway?” Isaac remarked, chuckling more. As he took another sip of his drink, I considered whether or not he needed to be cut off. When Taylor blushed and Carrick fought to choke back a laugh, Isaac asked, “So, I’m not wrong?”
“I am not the housewife,” Taylor declared, giving Carrick and I a pointed look. I was sure we had both called him that on more than one occasion, and I doubted we would stop any time soon.
Carrick rolled his eyes. “Sure, sweetie.”
“But you make such a good housewife, Tay…” I grinned.
Tay responded by squeezing my knee and giving me a smirk that would have looked just as at home on Carrick’s face. I shot him a wink that I really, really hoped Isaac didn’t see.
“You see what I gotta put up with?” Carrick asked Ike.
“I’m so sorry, dude…”
He shrugged. “Eh, it’s my own fault, really. Just a glutton for punishment, I guess.”
Isaac opened his mouth to speak, then quickly shut it.
“I think the same could be said for all three of us, really…” Carrick mused. Taylor nodded, and I couldn’t resist smirking. Given what we’d done the previous weekend–several of Taylor’s scarves were involved–we could certainly be described as gluttons for at least one type of punishment.
“Yeah, well,” Taylor said. “Just a good thing we can dish it as well as we take it, or we’d end up killing each other.”
“It’s gotta get awkward, though…” Isaac tilted his head to the side in thought. “I mean, the two of you… and him…”
Carrick smirked. “Not as awkward as you would think.”
Not as awkward as this conversation was getting, at least. I bit my lip and waited for Carrick to say something else… something even worse.
“No?” Isaac replied. “Well that’s… good… I guess.”
“I mean, maybe at first,” Carrick said–understatement of the year, considering how my relationship with him began. “But once we got used to each other, it’s been all good. Right, Tay?”
“Right,” Tay replied, still blushing but leaning against Carrick a bit. I was glad Carrick asked for his opinion, not mine. I was glad Taylor’s opinion mattered to him so much.
“Well, it would definitely suck if Zac’s brother and his b-boyfriend didn’t get along, and they had to live together…” Ike said. I noticed the slight stutter in his voice; maybe he wasn’t as comfortable with my sexuality as he seemed to be… or maybe the three of us really were getting to him.
Carrick laughed softly, seemingly oblivious–or just not caring about–to Isaac’s nervousness. “Yeah, that’d definitely suck.”
I nodded. Given that they were both my boyfriend, it was a really delicate balance. Seeing Taylor and Carrick growing closer made me feel like less of that balance rested on my shoulders; we all had roles to play in this to make it work.
While Taylor leaned heavily against Carrick, Carrick brushed his fingers across my cheek. I smiled up at him, enjoying these little romantic moments of his, however fleeting they were. Sure enough, the mood was lost when he made a silly kissy face at me, and I was once again left wondering what he would say next to shake things up and confuse Isaac even further.
To my surprise, it was Taylor who spoke next, a smile on his face so blissful that I wondered if he even remembered that the three of us weren’t alone. His voice soft, but still loud enough to be heard, he said, “It’s all about trust.”