by Terry Towers
Xander spread his hands out. “We’re here.”
“We wanted to surprise you.” Mitchell pulled me back to his side and placed a kiss on my temple.
“So how long are you here for?”
“Four to five years.”
I know what I heard, but was hardly believing it. “But I thought you said that it would be two years before you could afford to go to school.”
“Things change.” Xander nodded towards the door. “Are you going to invite us in?”
I laughed. “Yes. Of course.” Reluctantly, I pulled away from Mitchell and unlocked the security door. “Come on in.”
I was incredibly nervous as I led them up to my apartment. My mind was spinning with questions. Did this mean they were out of the business?
“Would you guys like a drink?” I asked, leading them into my three-bedroom, fifth floor Manhattan apartment.
“This is a beautiful place, Monica,” Xander said as they followed me into the living room.
“Thank you.” I sat down on the armchair, the men on the sofa. “It costs more than I would like, but it’s perfectly located here in Manhattan and by the trains so…” I shrugged. “So what’s going on?”
They both smiled, though Xander was the one to answer. “We managed to get the funds earlier. We’re registered for this fall semester. Starts in two weeks.”
“Wow.” I raked my fingers through my fair looking from one handsome smiling face to the other. “How long have you been in town?”
“We arrived last night.” Mitchell sat forward on the sofa, resting his elbows on his knees. “We’re staying at the Westin near Times Square right now, until we find a permanent place to live. We have a bunch of apartment viewings lined up for this week, starting tomorrow morning.”
“And, are you… ummm...” I cringed. How do I put it delicately? Do I even need to put it delicately, for that matter?
“Selling our bodies for a buck?” Mitchell offered with a grin.
Crinkling my nose up at him, I nodded. “Yeah.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Done and in the past.”
Xander, who was sitting closer to me, reached over and took my hand. “We did that so we wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have a huge student loan debt hanging over our heads. Med school is very intensive and not the easiest place to get into. One shot and neither of us wanted to waste it.”
“We’re not proud of what we did for a living.”
“Not ashamed either,” Xander cut in.
“No, not ashamed either, but it’s not like we’re going to run around announcing we spent a little over two years as escorts to pay for school.”
“What happens in Amsterdam, stays I Amsterdam. I don’t think our future employers would look kindly on it.”
A part of me felt bad for them. What they did to pay for their education shouldn’t hurt their career options. “That’s not right. What happened in Amsterdam shouldn’t reflect on your employability.” If they ended up being good doctors then they deserved a fair shot.
Xander chuckled. “Either way, that’s a bridge to cross at another time. We need to get through med school first.”
“Enough about us,” Mitchell cut in, giving me a smile that made my tummy do little flip flops. “Catch us up on the story of Monica.”
Chapter 14
Mitchell
The smell of frying bacon was the first thing that teased my senses as I began to awaken. The second was the warmth of the sleeping body next to me. Monica. Neither one of us had indulged in her luscious body last night, but damn I had wanted to. We both had. Despite spending a good portion of the previous evening catching up, it didn’t quite feel like the place or time.
Turning from my back to my side, I looked down at her. She’d lost weight since we’d last seen her. It’s not like she was an overly heavy woman to begin with, just the right amount of curves, if you asked me, but the loss of a few pounds gave her a little more definition to her waist and hips and made her cheekbones more prominent.
Being careful not to wake her, I pushed back a stray lock of hair from her eyes. My mind had been consumed with this woman. Almost a year of longing for her and finally she was back in my arms. No woman had ever had such an effect on me. I’d tried countless times to figure out what it was about her that drew me. Her charm. Her laugh. Her intelligence. Her ambition… all of those things and so much more.
Alas, I wasn’t the only one that was under her spell.
As gently and quietly as possible, I slid from the bed and tiptoed across the carpeted floor and into the open-concept living, dining, and kitchen area. Sure enough, Xander was working away in the kitchen preparing bacon, eggs, pancakes and hash browns. A full breakfast. Xander loved to cook and was aces at it, to boot.
“She still sleeping?” Xander asked, not turning away from the stove, but somehow sensing it was me exiting the bedroom.
“Yeah.” Crossing the room, I perched on one of the stools at the breakfast bar and decided it was time to broach the subject that I knew was on both of our minds, but we were both either too egotistical or too timid – maybe both – to bring up. Who gets the shot at Monica. While we rarely spoke of her the past few months I knew without a doubt she was on both of our minds.
“You’re burning a fucking hole in my back, you’re staring at me so hard. What’s up?” He still hadn’t turned, just somehow knew the intensity I was feeling.
“I think we need to talk about Monica.”
He finally turned, the spatula he’d been using to flip the pancake still in hand. “What about her?” Despite his question, I could tell he knew what my concern was.
“How are we going to play this?”
He cocked his brow at me.
“Don’t be an ass. You know what I’m referring to.”
With a shrug, Xander spun back around and went back to attending to the breakfast. “We have several options. We share her. We let her make up her mind.” Looking over his shoulder he grinned. “Or we split her in half and we each take part. Oh, or we rock-paper-scissors on it.”
Laughing, I gave my head a shake. “We could let her choose. I suppose.” I could see the complications with that. It could cause a rift between us. We’d been friends for so many years and endured so much fucking shit together the idea of losing my best friend was unthinkable. As much as I wanted Monica for myself, I’d give her up to Xander before losing his friendship – though I had a feeling he felt the same way.
Xander turned around again. This time without the spatula. “Or we share her.”
My brow creased as I stared at him. “Share her? What do you mean, share her?” How the fuck were we supposed to do that? He gets her weekdays and I get her weekends and holidays?
“We’ve shared women before. And we more or less shared her in Amsterdam.”
Apparently, we were on two completely different wavelengths here. “Sexually, sure. But what I mean is on a more personal level. Amsterdam was different. We knew it wouldn’t be forever and that we weren’t playing for keeps. The situation is different here.”
“It doesn’t have to be different here. And given the choice I think she might be interested in the sharing option. She seemed to warm up to it before, despite her initial hesitation.”
I stared at him as I processed his proposal. Could it possibly work?
~*~ TT ~*~
Xander
This was more or less the reaction I’d been expecting from Mitch. The idea of sharing her had been on my mind for several months and I’d tried numerous times to broach the subject with him, but ultimately decided to wait until we were back in the United States and saw Monica again before discussing it with him. For all either of us knew she may have already been with someone new and this entire conversation would be irrelevant. Just because she never mentioned being with someone didn’t mean she didn’t have someone – the man she was with last night was proof positive that she’d been at least putting in some sort of effort.
&
nbsp; “Have you really given what you’re proposing real thought or is it something you’re just pulling out of your ass?” Mitch asked me.
“Of course I gave it some thought. I’ve thought about it a lot. It was obvious back in Amsterdam that we both had an interest that surpassed both friendship and sex. At first I thought if you didn’t want to go for her then I would – it was selfish, especially since you were the one to meet her first.” I attempted a nonchalant shrug and began plating up the food. “But you kept saying you weren’t interested past friendship.” Turning with two plates of food in hand, leaving plenty for Monica when she woke, I took it to the breakfast counter and sat down next to Mitch, who currently had a spaced-out expression on his face. I didn’t press him. All I could really do was put the idea out there and hope he saw the benefits that I did. “I knew you were full of shit, though.”
We ate in silence. Each minute that passed made me wish I hadn’t brought it up. “You know, she may think it’s an insane idea. Of course, I know I may be jumping the gun. But you know how I am.”
“So, what if things get to the point where marriage becomes a factor? Or children?” Mitch stared at me, waiting.
Valid points. “I honestly haven’t gotten that far.”
Mitch threw his hands up in the air as if to say, ‘yeah exactly.’
“But that doesn’t have to be an issue. We play it by ear.”
“Pretty sure you’re still only allowed to have one husband or wife.”
“Okay, I didn’t say it was a perfect idea.” I popped the last forkful of pancake covered in syrup into my mouth. “But it’s an idea. One I think can work.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. When I think about getting married and all the things that come with it I never envisioned sharing my wife, even if it is with my best friend.”
~*~ TT ~*~
Monica
Upon waking, I placed my hands above my head and pointed my toes stretching as far and as long as I could make myself, uttering a low groan. The feel of my muscles pulling felt divine. One of my favourite parts of my morning routine was the after waking stretch.
Opening my eyes, I turned my head to the left and frowned, noticing men’s clothing draped over the back of a large black armchair by the closet. I did sleep with Phillip? I cringed. How much did I have to drink last night?
The smell of breakfast drifted to my nose, causing my stomach to grumble. At least he made me breakfast. Hey, wait a second. Phillip went home last night. Male voices coming from the other room made me gasp.
Xander and Mitchell… I thought it had been a dream. Obviously it hadn’t. They were here – now. In my kitchen. Ohmygod! The previous night came rushing back to me: Mitchell and Xander showing up, the three of us having drinks as we reminisced, then me falling to sleep on the couch, cuddled up in Mitchell’s arms sometime late into the night or early into the morning, depending on which way you wanted to look at it.
My brow creased as I looked down at my naked body. Did we have sex? I hadn’t had sex since the last time with them in Amsterdam, and I would have guessed that if we did, I would be feeling it this morning. Who undressed me and why?
Something occurred to me and I cringed. Throwing the blankets off, I looked down at my hairy legs and groaned. I had no intention of sleeping with Phillip and didn’t even bother to shave my legs. I looked like a human ape. Oh, fuck me over with a wooden spoon. Even my mound wasn’t fully shaven like it normally would be. I’d kind of let myself go in regards to my primping routine. It wasn’t a amazon jungle down there, that was hardly the case, but still… On the bright side my armpits were perfectly shaven – at least something was going right for me.
Slipping out of bed, I grabbed my black satin robe that was hanging on the back of my bedroom door and slipped it on, tying it firmly around my waist. I was tempted to run to the shower and clean up my hairiness before going out to greet them. But considering one or both undressed me for bed, the damage was already done.
Maybe they were into ape women? I thought with a snicker – not likely.
Opening the bedroom door I stepped out to find both Mitchell and Xander bare-chested, wearing only their boxer briefs. What a fucking sexy sight for the morning. I could easily get used to seeing them both like this every morning for the rest of my life. As soon as I stepped into the room, their hushed conversation completely stopped and both sets of eyes stared at me as I crossed the living room and took a seat on a stool on the other side of Mitchell.
Xander immediately stood and rounded the counter, grabbing a plate from the overhead cabinet and beginning to fill it with breakfast foods. “Is there anything you don’t like?”
Straightening in my chair, I examined what he was serving; bacon, scrambled eggs, home fries, and pancakes. “I like it all, so maybe a little of everything.”
He spun around, plate in hand, and a grin on his face. “Good, that’s exactly what I gave you.”
My eyes left the food and began to examine him. “Damn,” I muttered under my breath as I peered upon his well defined chest. Was he that chiseled when I was with him last? I did know one thing: the tattoo above his heart of a pink ribbon with the name ‘mom’ on one ribbon end and ‘1947 – 2012’ on the other wasn’t there before.
“Your mom passed away?” I didn’t know that. I’d talked to Mitchell about his family, a well-to-do family from Massachusetts, but my conversations with Xander had stayed away from the topic of his family. I’d asked a time or two, but he always seemed to divert the conversation to something else and I let him.
It was like he’d forgotten the tattoo was there. After placing my breakfast plate in front of me he looked down at the ribbon on his chest. “Umm, yeah.” He ran a hand through his shaggy blonde hair. “My mother had lung cancer. She passed a few years ago. I got the tattoo not too long after meeting you.”
“I’m sorry.” I had the urge to hug him, but refrained.
“Don’t be. Death is a part of life.”
“It’s a beautiful tattoo.”
He smiled and nodded. “Thanks.” We stared at each other a moment, his blue eyes locking with my dark ones.
“So, Monica.” Mitchell’s hand on my bare leg – my bare, hairy leg - surprised me, breaking the moment with Xander and shifting my attention to the man beside me.
“Uh-huh.”
“What are your plans for today?”
“Plans?” I looked at him as if I’d never heard of the word before.
He laughed. “Yes, like do you have anything scheduled?”
“Nothing.” Grabbing the fork that Xander passed me I speared a few of my home fries with it. “What’s up?”
“It’s been a while since we’ve been in New York and as you know we’re not from here, so we were wondering if you’d be interested in escorting us around to look at some of the apartments we have lined up.”
I forced myself to remain looking dour. “Hmm, what are my options here? Spend the day in front of a computer fantasizing about a hot guy, or actually spend the day with two of them in real life. Geez, that’s a tough one.”
“Excellent. Thanks, hon.” Xander leaned over the counter and gave me a quick and unexpected kiss on the lips.
“What was that for?” I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth, yearning for more.
“Because I wanted to.” Xander gave me a wink and walked out from behind the counter. “Gonna go get dressed.”
I turned to Mitchell.
“I can do so much better than that,” he stated matter-of-factly as he leaned in, his lips capturing mine. I sighed as he bit at my lower lip, his hand moving a little higher on my thigh.
Oh shit, my hairy gorilla thigh! I jerked back, batting at his hand.
“What?”
“You know what.”
“I do not.” He played innocent so well.
“Like you didn’t notice I haven’t shaved when you undressed me.”
“As a matter of fact, I didn’t.”
I
cocked a brow at him, dropping my fork on my plate and crossing my arms over my chest. “Bullshit.”
“I didn’t at first. Xander was the one who stripped you.” He gave me a lazy smile. “I just watched.”
“That’s so creepy.” I crinkled my nose up at him.
“You like it.”
“Uh-huh.” Hmm. I suppose I couldn’t deny it, and of course the slight blush I knew was coloring my cheeks would have given me away anyhow. I was getting wet simply at the thought of being with the two of them again. And now that they were out of the escort, or whatever it was they wanted to call it, business and I didn’t have to think about them being with different women every night... maybe. I forced the thoughts from my mind to keep from getting excited over the idea. Then and now were two entirely different things.
They’d said themselves med school was taxing. They wouldn’t have much time. Besides, we were all friends. Nothing more. Getting excited over something that was a big question mark at best was something a teenager would do, not a grown woman who should know better.
“That almost sounds like a challenge to me.”
Rolling my eyes I gave my head a shake. “Hardly.”
“That’s what it sounded like,” he insisted, leaning toward me, his lips grazing my neck. “At least to me.”
Get your head out of your ass, Monica! This is second nature to him. It means nothing! The voice at the back of my mind chastised. Watch yourself or you’re going to get hurt. I listened, pulling back from him and sliding from the stool and taking a few hasty steps away from him.
“I need to get a shower and dressed.” I jerked my thumb in the direction of the bathroom.
“Okay. I should get dressed, as well. Our first appointment is in three hours.”
“Exactly. I’m going to go now.” Without waiting for a response, I spun and rushed toward the bedroom not looking where I was going and colliding with what felt like a hard wall. I yelped as I was sent sprawling backwards onto the hardwood floor, my robe coming open and leaving my front exposed.