Shifted Illusions

by C. E. Black

  “The guys take gossiping to the next level,” Sam said, surprising me.

  “One of the guys told you about me?”

  Foxy raised her eyebrow at me.

  “Jordan called me first.” Sam nodded. “Then Alex, Paul, and Teij. My phone’s been ringing off the hook since yesterday.”

  “Teij called you? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound rude. But I don’t understand what the big deal is.”

  “We’re family.” Sam shrugged. “Hawk and Leo are like brothers to me. And to the rest of the team. A new woman in their lives is bound to cause a stir.”

  “Oh.” I grimaced at how close she seemed with the two men. It would be best if I didn’t talk about the events from last night. My plan to run away was looking desirable again.

  “Jordan was beside himself,” Sam told Foxy with a grin. “He said he was looking forward to teasing Leo about the R-word.”

  “The R-word?” I asked while Foxy cackled.

  “Relationships,” Sam replied. “Leo used to make fun of Jordan and Alex for falling in love. It’ll be fun to watch the fireworks with the shoe on the other foot.”

  Leo was definitely in love. But it wasn’t with me.

  “Is Jordan your husband?” I asked.

  “Yes. And Alex.”

  “And Alex…” I said, waiting for her to finish.

  “And Alex nothing. He’s my other husband.”

  Foxy laughed so hard, Sam had to hush her. “Sophie is sleeping! Do you know how long she was up last night?”

  “Sorry.” Foxy wiped under eyes and grinned at me. “Your face. Priceless.”

  I winced. “I’m sorry, Sam, I’m not judging. I promise. You just surprised me.”

  Sam waved away my apology. “Oh, I know. I’m used to being viewed as strange. If you have questions, I’d be glad to answer them.”

  “Hmm, which one gets you on Friday?” Foxy asked, getting a throw-pillow to the face.

  “Fudge-off, Foxy!”

  “Fudge-off?”

  Sam let go an exasperated sigh. “Ava said, “fuck” the other day. So, we have a swear jar now. The money will go toward the girls’ college funds.”

  “Oh, my God.” Foxy laughed. “I bet Jordan’s already paid off both of their tuitions.”

  “Almost.” Sam laughed with her before facing me again. “I understand your confusion. A ménage relationship isn’t exactly common to the rest of the world. But it feels normal to us.”

  “How did you meet? Are you part of the Division too?”

  “Oh, no. I’m only human. Jordan and Alex were my neighbors a few years back.”

  “Neighbors with benefits,” Foxy joked.

  Sam chuckled. “Anyway, it’s a long story, but what was supposed to be no-strings became serious once we found out I was pregnant with Ava.”

  “Um… it didn’t quite happen that way,” Foxy interrupted.

  “Well, that’s the quick version. The longer story includes a car wreck, a traitor,” she gave Foxy a wink, “and a kidnapping.”

  “Wow. A kidnapping? Wait, was the traitor on the Alpha Division team?”

  “Oh, yeah, he’s my husband,” Foxy revealed with a wink. “But don’t worry, Paul’s nothing but a lap kitty these days.”

  Sam snorted, and I silently concurred. Paul didn’t seem like he could be anyone’s lap kitty.

  “So, what happened?” I pumped.

  Foxy waved her hand. “Another long story, but in the end, Paul chose the side of good over evil, and we all lived happily ever after.”

  I sat back with a huff. “Wow,” I said again.

  “Indeed. So, how about you?” Sam asked. “How did you meet Hawk and Leo? I’ve heard a little but only from the peanut gallery.”

  “Not as exciting as your story,” I told her with a grin. “Henri… I mean Hawk,” I said when Sam gave me a questioning look. “We went on a few dates a while back, but I broke things off when I realized he was a shifter. I have a… thing about them. But I’m working on it,” I assured both of them. “It’s mostly with men. Anyway, fast-forward to a few days ago. Leo came into the coffee shop I work at, and we hit it off. But he stood me up for our date.”

  “Idiot,” Sam hissed.

  My chuckle accompanied a shrug. “He wasn’t ready. I understand now. He came to apologize but ended up saving my life instead. I found out he was friends with Henri when I woke up in his house the next day.”

  “I bet that was awkward.”

  “You have no idea…”

  “So, are you with Hawk or Leo? Or both? No one can agree.” She laughed then bit her lip. “I’m sorry, that was rude.”

  “It’s okay.” I shook my head. “I think it’s funny. Actually, I’m not with either of them.” I shrugged.

  “Liar,” Foxy coughed. She sipped her water, raising her eyebrow at me over the rim of the glass.

  Lifting my chin, I stuck to my guns. “I’m not. In fact, today I…” I sighed, reconsidering my sentence. “I’m sorry,” I said to Sam. “I’m not sure I can talk about it. Some secrets aren’t mine to share.”

  Foxy scoffed. “Please. Beth caught Leo and Hawk together in bed,” she revealed to Sam.

  Sam didn’t react at all as I expected. She only nodded, her mouth tipped in a knowing smile.

  “That’s why she’s here with me instead of with the two men who are in love with her,” Foxy continued. “She’s running scared.”

  My scoff went ignored.

  Sam inclined her head in my direction. “So, you’re upset they’re attracted to each other too?”

  “Hell yes,” I sputtered. “Wouldn’t you be upset if your husbands started sleeping together?”

  Sam’s eyes glazed over as pink tinted her cheeks. “I wish,” she muttered.

  “Right?” Foxy laughed. “That would be so hot.”

  My mouth went slack. “But…” I shook my head forcefully. “You’d lose them…”

  Sam bit her bottom lip and leaned in. “Why would I lose them?”

  “Because…” With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I placed my glass on the coffee table. “They chose each other,” was my half-hearted reply.

  “That outcome is possible,” Sam agreed. “But you’ll never know unless you talk to them.”

  “You think Leo and Henri want to be with each other and me?” Why was the concept so hard for me to wrap my head around? Envisioning the three of us together had been easy before.

  Sam nodded her head slowly. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. But you won’t know if you keep running. Being part of a threesome is hard work, no matter the logistics. But if you feel anything remotely like love for them…” Shrugging one shoulder, she gave me a gentle smile. “You owe it to yourself to try.”

  She was right. I’d known it deep inside before I’d left with Foxy to come here. Even if she was wrong about the guys wanting me to be a part of their new twosome, I had to talk to them.

  “I should call them,” I said to Foxy, regret sinking in. “If they find me missing, they’ll think the worst.”

  “Already taken care of, dear.” Foxy’s grin was full of mischief, as per usual, I was coming to learn.

  “And I bet my left toe they’re in panic mode,” Sam added. “I say we let them stew. We’ll put on a movie, have a glass of wine, and get to know each other better. It’ll give the guys time to come up with a suitable apology. I’m predicting large amounts of flowers, chocolates, and orgasms are in your future.”

  I wiggled my eyebrows. “Sounds like fun.”

  We laughed it off like we were joking, but deep inside, I hoped she was right. I didn’t need an elaborate apology. But an explanation and a little reassurance would be nice.

  19

  Leo

  My fingers were slipping under the waistband of Hawk’s sweats when we broke apart. Panting, I twisted my head away and closed my eyes, the temptation of his lips too great. We needed to control ourselves before this grew out of hand.

  “Beth,” Hawk wh
ispered, echoing my thoughts.

  “Yeah, Beth.” I sighed.

  Hawk shifted on the bed, and my fingers brushed the head of his cock. With a hiss, I pulled my hand away and lay flat on my back, flinging an arm over my eyes as I calmed down. It took a while. It had been the most intense make-out session of my life.

  “Want to talk about it?” Hawk asked. Of course. Hawk was the type who needed to express his emotions and shit.

  “What’s there to talk about, Hawk? We messed up.”

  “You think we messed up?”

  “Don’t you?”

  “It probably wasn’t the best idea. Beth and I made love less than twelve hours ago.” He hesitated. “Now that I think about it, yeah, it’s messed up.”

  “It was a mistake.”

  “Now, that I don’t agree with.”

  When he said nothing else, I lowered my arm and turned to him. He propped up on one elbow and stared down at me with an uncertain smile.

  “Leo, you and I both know this has been going on a long time. It’s not going away.”

  “So, what do we do?” I dropped my gaze to his mouth, and he lowered his lips to mine. The kiss was deep yet languid, the opposite of what had occurred in the bathroom.

  We didn’t touch, other than our lips, and neither of us sped up the kiss, happy to take our time learning each other’s flavor. Breathe in our combined scent.

  I could have lived in the kiss forever, but we had to stop. Beth was important to both of us, and Hawk was right. We needed to talk.

  A strand of saliva stretched between us, linking us until I licked it away. Hawk’s brown eyes smoldered down at me, and I growled.

  “Enough,” I whispered, and he had the audacity to smirk at me. “Watch it,” I warned, my throbbing cock causing me to groan.

  My phone rang, and I padded to the bathroom, finding my phone under the pile of clothes I’d left on the floor.

  “It’s Foxy,” I said to Hawk as I came back into the bedroom. He still lounged in the bed with one arm behind his head, his sweat pants tented, showing off his arousal. The sight was too tempting to ignore.

  “Hey, Foxy,” I answered while climbing back into bed. Hawk gave me a satisfied grin.

  “No need to panic,” Foxy said, which only made my adrenaline spike. “I’m taking care of your woman.”

  It took two heartbeats to register what she meant. Beth was fucking gone?

  I jerked up into a sitting position. Hawk leaped from the bed, having heard what she’d said.

  “Let me guess… You haven’t noticed Beth missing. I wonder why that is…” Foxy snickered.

  Hawk and I shared a look, and my heart fell to my stomach. She knew.

  “Where is she?” I demanded sharply.

  “No need to get snippy, Leo. As I said, I have her, and she’s safe. We’re having a little girl time. Why don’t you and Hawk have a chat and maybe come up with a proper way to make up for your stupidity? Get your knee pads out, boys. A large dose of begging is in order. Don’t wait up!” she sang, then hung up.

  “Fuck!” I pulled back my arm to throw my phone, but thought better of it and dropped it on the bed. I stomped to Hawk’s dresser and started opening drawers until I found a pair of gym shorts.

  “What the hell are we going to do?” Hawk asked, watching me get dressed. “How did she know?”

  “She had to have seen us,” I said, my gaze landing on the opened door. “Shit! We’re fucking idiots.”

  “Not exactly breaking news,” he grumbled, raking his fingers through his messy hair. “So, what do we do?”

  I stared into Hawk’s panicked expression. It mirrored mine. I would never forgive myself for hurting Beth. And neither would Hawk. I cared about Hawk. An understatement. But Hawk had been right when he wanted to talk. In fact, it was the first thing we needed to do. Once we figured out us, we would plan our apology to Beth. And it better be a good one.

  “We do what Foxy suggested,” I said, striding up to my friend. I tipped his chin down with my finger and gave him a lingering kiss, grinning when his eyes glazed over. “Get ready to beg, my friend.”

  Operation Kiss Beth’s Ass was now in full swing.

  After a long talk, which admittedly included many, many kissing breaks, we planned our attack on Beth. And when I said attack, I meant our piteous attempt at winning her over. The most important decision Hawk and I had agreed on was we both wanted Beth in our lives. But we weren’t willing to give each other up. Which sounded terribly selfish to our ears, but the bottom line was, we wanted a true ménage relationship.

  There was only one hitch.

  “You need to tell her,” Hawk said, giving me a sympathetic glance over his shoulder. He stood over the stove, cooking something delicious we hoped would sway Beth in our favor. Whatever it was, it had me drooling.

  “I know.” I sighed. The apology was on both of us, but the rest sat on my shoulders. What if my disfigurements appalled her? Could I let Hawk go too? I would have to. No way would I let him walk away from Beth because of me.

  “Don’t make that face,” Hawk chuckled. “It’ll be fine. Beth won’t care. I didn’t. I swear to you, Leo, it’s not as bad as you’ve made it out in your head. I’m not downplaying your pain. But it doesn’t change the way I look at you and sure as hell doesn’t make me want you any less. Beth will feel the same. You’ll see.”

  I fucking hoped he was right.

  My phone dinged with a text message, and I snatched it off the table.

  Foxy: OTW… You had better make this good, pussycat.

  A nervous Hawk hovered over me. “What did she say?”

  I rolled my eyes at Foxy’s unappreciated wit. “They’re on the way.”

  I jumped from my seat at the table. “Candles: check. Wine: check. Champagne, if she accepts our apology: check. Chocolates?”

  “I made a chocolate cake. But I haven’t added the strawberries yet,” he said, opening the refrigerator.

  I took the carton of strawberries from him. “I’ll do it. What about dinner? How’s it coming?”

  “Almost finished. Just waiting on—what are you doing? No, not like that.”

  “What? The red side looks better.” He removed the strawberries I’d shoved green-side down into the top of the cake. After a quick rinse, he dried them, then began arranging the berries on their sides in the center of the cake.

  “Okay, okay, I got this.” I pushed him out of the way, and he grinned at me.

  “I don’t want a mouthful of calyx,” he said.

  I carefully placed the berries the way Hawk wanted and scowled. “What the fuck is a calyx?”

  Hawk chuckled. “The green stuff.”

  “You’re so fucking smart. Why the fuck didn’t you just say green stuff? God damn it!” I dropped a strawberry, and it slid off the side of the cake, taking icing with it. “I’m not doing this right. We should have gotten the fucking flowers.” If I screwed this up for us, I would regret it for the rest of my life.

  “Hey…” Hawk placed a hand over mine. “It’ll be okay. We couldn’t get the flowers because it’s too dangerous. Whoever is looking for Beth is most likely watching Marguerite’s. It was too much of a risk.”

  He was right. It was too risky. But damn it, Beth deserved to have some fucking flowers.

  “Listen, Beth is a caring and understanding person,” he continued. “We wouldn’t love her if that wasn’t the case. I have full confidence in her… In us. Now stop murdering that poor innocent strawberry, and let’s get our woman back.”

  The strawberry I’d squished in my fist plopped to the counter, and I exhaled. “Okay. I’ll trust your judgment.”

  “For once,” he grunted. “All we can do, Leo, is apologize and lay our feelings on the table. It’s up to her to accept them.”

  I washed my hands, muttering under my breath about “fucking feelings.” “I hope you’re right,” I said louder. “Because she’s here.”

  Hawk and I tipped our heads and listened as Fox
y walked Beth to the door. She didn’t take any chances with our Beth, keeping her safe. Though I’d never doubted Foxy for a second.

  “Remember what Sam told you. Talk to them before you make any final decisions.”

  “I will. Thanks, Foxy. Tell Sam thank you again for me. I had fun today.”

  “I will. Take care, Beth! And remember, make them grovel.”

  Beth’s light laughter preceded a knock on the door.

  Hawk and I exchanged an anxious glance before leaping into action.

  “Showtime.”

  20

  Beth

  When Leo opened the door, I couldn’t bring myself to look at him, too afraid of what I’d find. Foxy told me they were planning something. But what was I walking into? A break-up apology? Or a “let’s work this out” apology?

  “Hey, Beth. Come on in. You didn’t have to knock,” Leo said as he held the door open for me.

  “The door was locked.” Chin down, I moved past him and into the living room, where I paused. The day had bled into twilight, and inside, the room was dark, illuminated only by the dozens of flickering candles strewn all over every hard surface available.

  “Damn, you’re right,” Leo said from behind me. “We need to have a key made for you.”

  I swung around and finally made eye contact. His eyes were wide, shining in the candlelight, and full of hope. “I might not be here long enough to need a key,” I told him automatically, wincing when he dropped his gaze.

  He cleared his throat, shoved his hands into his pockets, and rocked back on his heels. It was the most nervous I’d ever seen him.

  “Beth, I need to say something.” He inhaled and locked his gaze with mine. “I’m sorry for sneaking out last night. I had a reason, but it wasn’t about you or your inexperience. I’m sorry if you thought it was, even for one second.”

  Nodding, I hugged myself, rubbing my arms through my sweater. “Will you tell me your reason?”

  “I will. I’m… Are you cold?” Leo grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around my shoulders. His finger brushed my neck, and I shivered. He stepped back quickly and stared at the fireplace. “The fire’s almost out.”