The Billionaire Throuple

Nehemiah Jones

I gotta admit, I ain't surprised Andreas turned me down, but I had to ask. I ain't gonna give up that easy though. He's right about some things. I haven't been doing too much to show I'm into him, except be around as a friend.

Now that I know he's looking for flowers and chivalrous stuff, I can get to cracking on that. The past week, things have been moving right along, more so with Sammy, but with Andreas, I didn't wanna come on too strong anyway.

Now that we're past that whole 'is there enough Sammy to go around' business, we'll be alright. I don't have any relationships to compare it to, but we haven't been in a single fight since the hospital. Sammy makes sure of it. That's gotta be a good sign.

I spot the jailhouse as we're coming off the highway and that's when this visit starts to feel real. My heart speeds up and my body tenses. I figure it's gotta be worse for Andreas, so I reach over and grab his hand. He doesn't say anything, but I know he appreciates it. He might've rejected me, but I'll change his mind.

The jailhouse is at the bottom of a hill. It's five connected concrete buildings shaped like a cross with the yard in the center. As we get closer to the road leading up to it, he squeezes my hand tighter. He's losing color in his face.

"Just breathe," I say, demonstrating it until he actually does it, "Good, good. Keep doing that."

He gives me a smile, but I can tell he's still struggling. Ever since I found out he was anemic, I been keeping extra protein bars on me. Half of the daily need is in one bar.

"Did you eat anything yet?" I ask.

"Sammy-three ordered food."

That means no. I dig around in my little drawstring gym bag for a bar while he's turning onto the road to the jailhouse. It's about a quarter mile straight shot to the parking lot with nothing but grass around it. They got one of those medieval looking guard towers, but I don't think they shoot people who try to escape anymore, so I dunno what the point is.

To scare people? Well they got me on that one. 

Andreas puts the car in park as I shove the unwrapped bar up to his face. "Ew... no thanks." He pushes my hand down, but I give him some side eye and put it up there again. He takes a couple bites, big ones. "There? You happy?" he asks with his mouth full.

I can't help but smile. His cheeks are puffed out like a little chipmunk. I set the bar down on the dashboard, but watch, I'm gonna get him to eat the rest before it's all said and done. Just 'cause I ain't holding doors doesn't mean I don't care. I do, genuinely, but I show it in more practical ways.

I can tell Andreas likes to be worried over, likes having someone there to make decisions for him. That's why I asked him to come. I knew he wanted to, since he was all about closure, but there's no way he would've came on his own.

We check in at the admin building, the bottom part of the cross and they tell us to wait until our names are called. We take a seat on two gray plastic pod seats that are welded to a pole with two other ones.

I point out the fountain across from us. "It's water over there, in case you wanna rinse your mouth," I say, laughing a bit.

He nods and takes off after it. I can tell he's out of it, but I dunno how to make it any less worse than it is. Maybe getting hydrated will give his face some color back, but crossing those doors sapped the energy out of me too. It's crazy how a building can do that. That's how I'm certain there's a such thing as negative energy.

Since I'm trying to step my game up a little bit, I get up and hug Andreas before he can sit down. It's not about making moves, I'm being present. "Hope you don't mind. I really needed one. This place is bugging me out."