Missing Linc

more in common with each other than any of us knew.”
Linc frowned as he looked back and forth between the two of them. “What do you
mean?”
They both seemed to hesitate before Mitch said, “Tomi and I used to be part of a triad
relationship too.” Linc stared at him in shock. He didn”t know what he”d expected the other
man to say, but that wasn”t it. “His name was Alec,” Mitch continued. “He was my lover as well as my business
partner when I first started my personal training business several years ago. Alec handled the
sales and marketing part of the business, while I focused on the daily operations. We”d been
together for three years when he started hinting that he thought it would be fun to add a
third person to our relationship. At first, I was hesitant. I was worried that the wrong person
would disrupt our life together.”
Mitch”s gaze shifted from him to Tomi. Linc watched him stare into her eyes, his
expression filled with worship.
“Then, Alec met Tomi. She was looking for a personal trainer and came by for a
consultation. When Alec told me about her, I was still skeptical. But when I met her, I knew
right away that she was the one.”
Tomi nodded. “It was mutual. The connection between us was so immediate, so…right.
I”d never felt anything like it before.” She paused for a moment before shaking her head and
chuckling. “I wish I knew the right words to describe the feeling to you.”
Her words weren”t necessary. Linc already knew the feeling. He suspected that it was
similar to what he”d felt when he first met them.
“You don”t have to,” Linc murmured. “I think I know exactly what you mean.” Their
eyes locked, and from the look on her face, it was obvious that Linc”s eyes reflected what he
felt for her.
“Yes.” Her voice was soft. “I think you do.”
Linc slowly dragged his eyes away from Tomi and glanced at Mitch, who sat watching
their exchange with a knowing look on his face.
“Anyway,” Mitch continued, “it didn”t take long before our threesome became a lot
more than physical — at least for Tomi and me. I think the novelty of it wore off for Alec
after the first few months we were together. I don”t think any of us could have guessed that
Tomi and I would bond the way we did. Within weeks, we had feelings for each other that would have taken most people years to develop. The love that I felt for her was deeper and
stronger than I”d experienced with anyone else before — including Alec, even though I”d
known him longer.”
“I think Alec knew that, and he felt threatened,” Tomi spoke up. “He was used to being
the center of attention, and for a while, he was the center of our relationship. When we
realized that we shared a special connection that didn”t exist between Alec and us, we felt
guilty. We never meant for it to happen, but we couldn”t deny that it existed. That didn”t
mean we loved Alec any less, because we didn”t. We loved him differently. We went out of
our way to make sure that Alec knew how much we loved him, and how important he was
to us, but it seemed that the harder we tried, the more he resented us. He went out of his
way to let us know as often — and as cruelly as possible — that his biggest mistake was
bringing the three of us together.”
The sadness on Tomi”s beautiful face, the pain in her words, was almost too much for
Linc to bear.
The conversation stopped for a moment when the waiter came by and refilled their
water glasses. When he walked away, Mitch spoke again.
“Finally, we decided to do something symbolic to show our love for Alec — and each
other. We approached him about having a commitment ceremony. Frankly, I was surprised
when he said yes, considering how distant and combative he”d become lately. But he really
seemed excited about it, even made most of the arrangements, and I remember thinking that
we were finally on the right path to getting our relationship back on track.”
Mitch grew quiet for a moment, as if lost in a distant memory. Based on what he”d
heard so far, Linc suspected that the worst of the story was to come. He waited patiently for
Mitch to continue.
“On the day of the ceremony, we were all set to leave when Alec said that he”d left
something back at the apartment, and he”d meet us there. When he was a few minutes late, we weren”t worried. After a half hour, we were calling his cell phone. Once nearly two
hours passed and he still hadn”t shown up or called, we knew he wasn”t coming. By the time
we got back home, all his things — and quite a lot of ours — were gone. He”d even emptied
out the accounts that we had together.” Mitch paused, his jaw muscles clenched tightly, and
his face showed the disgust he felt.
“Five years together, and he wasn”t man enough to say good-bye. He didn”t even have
the courage or the decency to leave a note or anything. He just disappeared like a fucking
coward, and we never saw him, never heard from him again.”
The lingering anger and resentment in Mitch”s voice was evident. Reaching out, Tomi
grasped Mitch”s hand; her impressive diamond solitaire engagement ring sparkled brightly in
the dimly lit room as she brought his hand to her lips for a kiss. He placed a kiss against her
temple, and Tomi rested her head against his shoulder as she looked at Linc.
“That happened over a year ago, and for a while, things were difficult for us. We were
both so bitter; we felt so betrayed by Alec. He started as the anchor in our relationship, the
one who brought us together. Then he became our adversary, the one determined to tear us
apart. And he almost succeeded. When Alec left, it was as if he took a part of us with him.
We felt like we had a void in our relationship, and we couldn”t figure out how to fill it. One
day, we realized that we