by Terry Towers
Ethan pulled off his jacket and hung it in the coat closet, confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, man.”
“I mean, Ivy is fucking with us.”
Ethan’s frown deepened. “Fucking with us?”
“As in she set this whole thing up. She came home just to make fools out of us by making us share her. Apparently she plans on dumping both of us. Cassidy knew about it so I would guess this is some little plot they hatched up together.”
The whole thing sounded so ridiculous that Ethan laughed. “Ivy wouldn’t do that.”
“I know what I heard, man.”
“Then you heard wrong.” Ivy wouldn’t do that. Period. He had no desire to even indulge in the notion. Ethan made an attempt to move past Trey, but Trey blocked his path.
“I know what I heard. Cassidy seemed excited over the idea and Ivy didn’t deny it.”
“I know Ivy. She’s a kind, smart, beautiful woman. She would never do that.”
“You knew Ivy. KNEW. We’re different people now and it’s not exactly all that farfetched to think that perhaps she’s changed as well. For all we know she has some boyfriend on campus and we’re just the entertainment for a few weeks. Come home, humiliate us, then go back to her life with some college frat douche.”
Ethan slowly shook his head. He couldn’t even conceive of the notion. Yes, it was strange that she suddenly wanted them both. Yes, she did seem to move quickly. Yes, she did seem to forgive him without giving him too much grief… All of those things when put together did seem a little odd. But to think Ivy was plotting against them? Bullshit if he’d ever heard it.
“Is this some sort of play for her?”
Annoyance flashed in Trey’s eyes. “What? Play for her?”
“Yeah, you want me to go off the handle, accusing her of some crazy conspiracy theory to humiliate us so she’ll go running to you, because… surprise, surprise, Ethan’s an asshole – yet again.”
“Look, I’m not saying we ambush her. I’m saying we discuss it with her. And just to remind you, I was the one to embrace this idea first. Not you. You’re the one that’s fucked in the head about it.”
Ethan’s fists clenched at his sides as he fought to calm his temper. “I’m not…” He gave Trey a not-so-gentle shove out of the way and proceeded around him. “I need some time to think about this.”
“I’m just saying we need to sit down and discuss this with her, man. Get the truth out and then decide how to proceed with this – together.”
“Just give me a bit to mull it over.” He pushed past Trey and made his way into the living room, flopping down onto the sofa, pulling off his boots, kicking them under the coffee table and then flipping on the television. He wasn’t in the mood for Trey’s bullshit. If this was the kind of drama that was going to come from the three of them involved in a relationship then it wasn’t going to work. She’d have to make a choice, which was unfortunate since he was honestly beginning to warm up to the idea – despite the potential complications.
Chapter 11
Ethan
But what if it was true…
“I’d buy that you’re just making this shit up to get Ivy and I fighting before I’d believe she’d do something like that,” Ethan stated, not looking over his shoulder when he heard footsteps entering the living room behind him, assuming it was Trey. He had no idea how much time had passed from the moment he sat down and now, if someone had tested him on what he’d watched on the television he would have failed the test miserably. If he were forced to guess, he’s say maybe a couple of hours.
“Do something like what?”
Ethan’s head spun around to see Ivy entering the living room. Where Trey or Cassidy had gone was beyond him. “Where’s Trey and Cassidy?” Not that he really fucking cared one way or another.
“Cassidy went home. I didn’t know Trey was back from the gym yet.”
Ethan turned back to stare at the television screen. Some sitcom was on. He didn’t know the name, had never seen it before that moment. “Yeah, he’s here. Was here. I think. I don’t know.”
She walked into the living room and plunked herself onto the coffee table, directly in front of him, blocking his view of the screen. When his eyes met hers he groaned inwardly; it looked like she’d been crying. He knew why.
Him. Again.
He’d fucked up. Again.
Cassidy had been there, they’d been chatting. No doubt Cassidy spilt the beans on their brief relationship – although it was so brief he hesitated to even classify it as one. Even if Trey had been right, maybe he deserved whatever plan she had in the works.
“What’s wrong?”
She laughed, but it was a hollow, joyless sound. “Why did you do it?”
He took in a deep breath and slowly released it. “Do what?” He felt stupid even asking the question, they both knew what, the words kinda just fell from his lips.
“With my best friend. A week after I left. Was it not enough to break my heart, but you felt the need to rub my nose in how inferior I was? How unworthy? How could you?” She sniffed and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. The waterworks were about to start again.
“I was stupid, Ivy. I was messed up. You were ignoring me.”
Her eyes widened, filling with anger. “So you felt the best way to gain my attention was to give Cassidy what I wanted?”
“We fucked, Ivy. A few times. It wasn’t a relationship, it was a release. A way to get you out of my head. Nothing more or less.”
“It didn’t feel that way for her. You hurt her.”
Ethan leaned forward, throwing his hands out to the sides in surrender. “Guess that’s what I do. I was an asshole. Am an asshole. I break women’s hearts for sport.” His jaw clenched as a fresh batch of tears streamed down her cheeks. He sucked at relationships. He wasn’t smooth like Trey, he didn’t always know the right things to say to make things better. “I didn’t promise her anything, Ivy. She knew I wasn’t ready for anything serious.”
“And so you decided it would also be a good idea to keep it from me. All of you did. You, Cassidy, Trey. You all lied to me.”
“When was a good time to bring it up, Ivy? When you hated me? When we were finally getting past what I did? When I was fucking you, with my best friend might I add? When would have been a good time to say ‘Oh Ivy, by the way, I had a fuck fling with your BFF, thought you should know.’”
She stood suddenly and turned to rush from the room, but Ethan wasn’t letting her go. Not again. Last time she ran she was gone for well over a year. Leaping from the sofa he grabbed her upper arm, stopping her and spinning her back around to face him.
“I’m not letting you go. Not again. We’re going to discuss this and make it right.” He stared into her eyes and he saw a shimmer of guilt. Just a smidge, but enough to consider that what Trey said may have been true. He wasn’t the only one being dishonest in this relationship.
A voice in the back of his mind screamed at him to confront her about Trey’s allegations. But he wasn’t sure if he could – or should. If the answer was “yes” he didn’t know if he could handle the truth, he’d opened his heart to her and been willing to do anything to make her happy. But just because her original intentions may have been less than honest that didn’t mean they couldn’t have changed. And if they’d changed then that should amount for something, right?
“Let me go, Ethan!” She attempted to pull her arm out of his ironclad grip, but he refused to release her even though he feared he may be leaving a bruise.
“No, there’s no way in hell I’m letting you go again. Not like this.”
“Please.” Tears were flowing freely now and she didn’t even try to wipe them away as she glared up at him. “I can’t get the image of you fucking Cassidy out of my mind! It sickens me.”
A smirk turned up the corner of his lips and he shrugged. He didn’t know why he smiled, it was just a stupid reaction to a heated situation. “Funny, you had no problem letti
ng me watch as Trey fucked you and ate your pussy. Double standard or all a part of the master plan?”
The slap came so suddenly and so unexpectedly he immediately released his grip on her arm and touched the side of his face where the palm of her hand had once been. He was in complete and utter shock. Sure, it wasn’t the first time he’d been on the receiving end of a scorned woman’s palm, but he didn’t expect it from Ivy. And the woman had put some power behind that slap, it stung like a son of a bitch. Their eyes locked and he knew what Trey had heard was the truth.
“Fuck you, Ethan!”
She stormed off, rushing up the flight of stairs and moments later her bedroom door slammed shut and Ethan was hit with an uncanny sense of da-ja vu.
Trey
“What’s wrong with it?”
Trey looked up from his partially disassembled motorcycle to see Ethan at the garage doorway that led to the foyer. He motioned to the bike with a look of disgust. “Fuck if I know.”
Ethan laughed as he walked into the garage and crouched down beside Trey. “Then why is it in pieces on the garage floor?”
“Needed something to do. You know, keep my mind busy while I sort out some shit.”
“Want some help?”
Trey laughed. “You certainly couldn’t make it any worse.”
Despite his offer to help, Ethan didn’t even attempt to touch the bike. Instead, he stood and leaned back against Ivy’s car, crossing his arms over his chest and giving his head a shake. “You were right, you know.”
“Oh.” Trey sighed. Normally he’d be happy to hear Ethan admit he was right about something, but this wasn’t one of those instances. “I didn’t want to be right. I was hoping there was an explanation. Or maybe I’d heard wrong or… something.” He stood and wiped his hands on his jeans. “What did she say?”
“After she slapped me she took off upstairs and locked herself in her bedroom. I didn’t get an explanation.”
Trey frowned. “And you let it go at that?”
“She’s fucking locked herself in her room and refusing to come out. She won’t even yell at me to go fuck myself when I pound on the door for her.”
“And you’re just going to let it go like that?” It wasn’t near good enough for Trey. Not even close.
“I can’t force her to talk to me.”
“Yeah, ya can. It’s what you should have done last year.”
Trey turned, intent on going to see Ivy, if it meant taking the door off of the hinges then so be it, but Ethan’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Before we go storming up there intent on breaking shit down, don’t we have something we need to work out first?”
“What?”
“Whether we are really willing to do this.”
He was, there was no longer a doubt in his mind. The fact Ethan was there discussing Ivy with him, as if she were their problem – not his, THEIRS – told him everything he needed to know. “Yeah. I am. And quite frankly I don’t think you can handle the new and improved Ivy on your own.” A grin formed on his lips. “I really think this needs to be a tag-team effort.”
“Are you sure? We can’t be flippant about this. If there’s more to this than just her little scheme to get even with us and she does in fact have feelings for us both, we need to be sure we’re fine with that.”
“For the last time. We’re cool. We’ve shared everything else since we were kids anyhow…” He jerked his head toward the direction of the house. “Now can we go get our woman back or do you want to continue with this circle jerk?” Trey started toward the door and stopped suddenly, nearly being knocked over and onto his ass as Ethan collided into him.
“Shit. Sorry.”
“Fuck man. A little space please.” Trey took a couple of steps backwards and motioned to the space between them. He proceeded to move past Ethan and to Ivy’s car. Popping open the hood, he removed the sparkplugs and stored them in the pocket of his motorcycle jacket, which was hanging over the handlebars of his bike.
“What are you doing?”
Trey grinned. “She’s a runner isn’t she? She’s not getting back to Boston anytime soon without spark plugs.”
Ethan looked like he was about to protest and then stopped, confirming Trey’s decision with a curt nod. “Good call. But when she flips out, I had nothing to do with it. You’re riding that out on your own.”
Suddenly, something popped into Trey’s head that he felt needed to be said, and now seemed to be as good as a time as any. “And FYI, ya need to lay off of the red meat and maybe start eating more kiwi.”
The look of confusion that came upon Ethan’s face was priceless. “Why in the fuck would I do that?”
“Because your jizz tastes horrible and I honestly have no idea how Ivy can swallow that shit without gagging.”
All colour drained from Ethan’s previously bemused face. “How in the fuck do you know that, asshole?”
Trey chuckled, but didn’t bother responding. Having to taste Ethan’s “storm troopers” on Ivy’s lips was almost, almost, worth seeing the expression in his friend’s face as he processed that comment. Almost.
“Hey, seriously. Did Ivy say something to you?” Ethan called after him. “You just can’t say fucked-up shit like that to someone and walk away!”
~*~*~*~*~
Ivy
“Go away, Trey!” Ivy shouted through the door.
“Look, Ethan isn’t with me.”
She wasn’t sure if she was more upset or relieved that Ethan hadn’t persisted with his pounding on her door. But then again, why would he? He hadn’t last time, aside from a few half-hearted knocks on her door, and he hadn’t this time. A few half-assed knocks and that was it. His actions spoke louder than any words he could have said. She wasn’t worth fighting for.
But Trey was there. Trey… Sweet, fun, wildly unpredictable Trey was there. Didn’t she at least owe him an explanation?
“Fine.” Sliding from the bed, she slowly made her way toward the bedroom door and paused with her hand on the handle. “Are you sure Ethan isn’t with you?”
“Would I lie?”
Yes, he would and he did. But she supposed he hadn’t lied technically, he just didn’t tell her Ethan and Cassidy’s secret. Unlocking the door she pulled it open and came face to face with Trey.
“Thanks. I think we all need to just sit down and discuss this.” He walked past her and into her room, followed my Ethan.
Planting her hands on her hips she glared at Ethan. “I thought you said the Judas wasn’t with you, Trey!”
Ethan spun around and met her glare with one of his own. “Did you seriously just call me a Judas? I think that’s a little harsh.”
She cocked a brow at him but didn’t respond. Admittedly, she overstepped a little with that comment, but her pride refused to allow her to take it back.
Trey grabbed Ivy’s hand and pulled her further into the bedroom and steered her over to the bed, forcing her to sit down next to him. “All right. We’re all adults here. And we need to just sit down and get this sorted out.” He looked from Ivy to Ethan, who was reclined against a wall, his arms crossed over his chest, and back again to Ivy.
“He lied to me,” Ivy spat, her glare remaining on Ethan.
“You lied to us both,” Ethan retorted.
“I did not.”
“So you didn’t have this planned with Cassidy?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Really? ’Cause this plan has Cassidy written all over it.”
“Really,” she confirmed with a nod of her head. “Thought of it all by my little old self. Not too bad for a girl flunking out of college, huh?”
Ethan’s mouth dropped open. “You’re flunking college, Ivy? Flunking! You said you weren’t doing so good. Flunking isn’t doing not so good. Flunking is doing awful. What in the hell, Ivy!”
“Oh, don’t get so melodramatic, Ethan. Like you really care.”
“Fuck Ivy, of course I care. How many times do I have to tell you I love
you for you to get it through your thick skull?”
Chapter 12
Trey
Trey placed his face into the palms of his clasped hands and groaned inwardly. The two of them were going to cost him his sanity, he was sure of it. They had to be one of the most dysfunctional trios of all time. After allowing them to bicker like an old married couple for over ten minutes he stood, placing himself between them, attempting to defuse the situation.
“Let’s try this again.”
Ivy cocked a crow at him and shrugged. “Fine.”
He directed his attention to Ethan, who nodded his compliance.
“All right.” He focused his attention back to Ivy. “Look, love, we’ve done some stupid shit. I’ll admit it.” He jerked his thumb toward Ethan. “And I think somewhere between the two of you throwing insults and accusations at each other he admitted it.”
“Funny, that’s not what I heard. I heard a lot of nagging. A lot of scolding. That’s what I heard.”
Ethan threw his hands up in the air and glared at Trey. “See. I told you. There’s no reasoning with her when she’s like this.”
She huffed, jumped to her feet and stormed out of the room. “I’m done.”
~*~*~*~
Ivy
Ivy banged on the steering wheel with the palms of her hands. Why in the hell wouldn’t it work? Of all the luck, she was stranded there.
She sat in the car for close to twenty minutes attempting to sort out the mess her head was in. As her temper began to calm she began to see things a little more clearly. They’d all fucked up. And yeah, she may have deserved the lecture. It was Ethan’s way. He cared about her future and sometimes he came off a little abrasive – more abrasive than he intended no doubt.
But I’m not totally innocent here either, she mused.
The three of them had been so fixated on arguing about what Ethan had done and her lack of dedication to her scholarship that they hadn’t even really touched on her little deception – okay, big deception.