Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
They probably don’t even realize what’s happening.
To be fair, they’ve been a little distracted.
With a silent laugh, I scoot out of bed and pad out to the kitchen, topless in my rumpled plaid skirt and knee-high socks, stretching and yawning as I go. It takes me a few minutes to track down my phone, but when I do, I check the time—1:15 am—and decide to check in with Polly and Molly in a three-way text.
I weigh the phone in my hand before I start to type, hesitating. Because for the first time since arriving at the house, I’m feeling…guilty. Before I agreed to do this, the women assured me a million times that there was no reason to feel an ounce of guilt for sleeping with their husbands. After all, it was their idea! They condoned it. However…
I think I underestimated the feelings I still have for Cameron and Dean.
Feelings I developed as a freshman in college, when we all got so close.
Did I ever truly let go of them?
I’m starting to wonder if I’ve been unwittingly carrying a secret torch all this time. In fact, I never could explain the need to move to California, away from the Northeast. Now I’m wondering if I did it to avoid the married men I accidentally fell in love with at eighteen. There’s no avoiding them now. I don’t want to, either.
Hence, the guilt.
Swallowing hard, I text Polly and Molly, surprised when they respond.
Ruby: Hey there. Just checking in. Dean won the contest. LOL.
Polly: Aw! Proud wife moment.
Molly: Can’t believe I married such a loser. Just kidding!
Ruby: Hahaha
Polly: But I’m sure there were no losers tonight, right, Ruby?
No, I want to say. But it’s more complicated than that. Because me and Cameron haven’t actually had sex yet, the way the wives would assume. He’s only watched me and Dean, able to bring himself to completion by witnessing me please my Daddy.
My Daddy?
When did I start thinking of him as mine?
Feeling a little winded, I start typing but stop again. Telling Polly and Molly about the circular kink we’ve accidentally stumbled into feels wrong. Like I’m betraying a confidence. A secret that should only be between me, Cameron and Dean. Is that…bad?
Ruby: No losers indeed.
Molly: Good. Are they starting to play nice with each other?
Ruby: Starting to. Yes. They’re speaking without arguing.
Polly: That’s great news. Keep up the good work!
Molly: I knew this would pan out.
Ruby: Any instructions for tomorrow?
Polly: Yeah. Make them take you on a date! You deserve it after all the hard work!
Molly: Wear that itty-bitty, pink corset dress. It’ll look insane on you.
Polly: Don’t forget the white heels.
Ruby: A date it is. I’ll check in tomorrow!
I plug my phone into the charger and head for the bathroom, taking a long soak in the tub to ease my sore muscles, washing my hair, shaving my legs right before getting out. Then I lotion myself all over, quietly dry my hair in waves and creep back into Dean’s room. But I don’t leave Cameron in the chair by himself. I wake him up and beckon for him to follow me. Then I settle into sleep, clean and naked, wedged in between two very different men, both of whom I suspect I’ve needed for six long years.
What on earth am I going to do about that?
Dean
I wake up to Cameron’s stupid face nestled into a pillow not two feet from mine—and it instantly pisses me the hell off. Especially because I was expecting to find a certain blonde looking back at me. Jackknifing in bed, I shout for said blonde, a little panicked that she’s not here. Did she leave? Was I too rough with her last night?
“Ruby!” I bellow, lunging out of bed, only pausing for a moment to put on a pair of boxer briefs, before continuing out into the kitchen. “Ruby.”
“Dude,” Cameron gripes. “Some of us were still sleeping.”
“I didn’t sign up to sleep in the same bed with you.”
“I didn’t sign up for it, either, but that’s where Ruby was.” He sits up in bed, scrubbing at his hair with a jerky movement. “Therefore, that’s where I wanted to be.”
“Seemed pretty content to watch from the corner last night.”
To my surprise, color deepens along his cheekbones. “Well, I’m not going to be content with that today. You’re not going to have her all to yourself.”
“Watch me.”
“Your gatekeeping Ruby wasn’t the plan.”
“The plan?” I scoff, pacing away and rounding on him again. “The plan itself is fucking crazy. Three days with the girl who we never got out from under our skin? Did they really think this was going to be a good idea? Like I’m just going to go home and be able to stop thinking about her?”
Cameron is massaging the middle of his forehead. “I know what you mean. I can’t see how this isn’t going to make life…impossible. It’ll be like getting kicked out of heaven.”