Get Off Easy

by Sara Brookes

  “His wife is the one who found us. She started shrieking and cussing at me. Broke my laptop into a thousand tiny shards. Called me a homewrecker and a few other choice names I can’t remember because everything started to run together. Not my proudest moment. When I ran out of there, they were still arguing. She was yelling and crying. Kept asking how could he do this again to her after all they’d been through.”

  “A serial cheater. I knew a few of that type.” Tory tightened her grip on Grae’s hand. “It wasn’t your fault, Grae.”

  “It was. It totally was. He didn’t force me and I could’ve made him stop at any time. Thing is, I didn’t want him to.”

  Grae paused for a moment to take a deep breath and dig for the strength she needed to continue. “I knew then I didn’t love Mason, and I never would. I didn’t relish the idea of telling my parents I wasn’t going to have the life they wanted for me, but I knew I owed it to Mason to be honest. He took it fine. Better than expected, really. I don’t think he wanted to marry me either. I’d always suspected there was someone else for him, but he was a true gentleman and never said a word. He, unlike me, was ready to carry through with the plans.

  “My parents on the other hand...my mother couldn’t stop calling me a homewrecker when I told them the truth. She also beat it into my head how much of a disappointment I was to her and my father. Telling me how much of a failure I was. For the first time in my life, I knew how they truly felt about me. No veiled accusations. No walking on eggshells. Just the unvarnished truth that I was never going to be the daughter they’d hoped for.” Grae was glad she had managed to get that out without breaking down.

  “Guess I’m not the only one who has Satan’s Bride for a mother.” Tory snorted loudly. “Everything I do offends her. Even how I’ve chosen to die pisses her off. Like she has a say in the matter.”

  Grae flashed a quick smile before the moment passed. “The night my parents made it perfectly clear I wasn’t welcome in their house anymore because I’d disappointed them is the night I moved back in with Saint and Boyce. The timing was horrible with graduation only a week away, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I hadn’t lived with my parents since I started college because I needed the space. I obviously couldn’t move back in with Mason, which is where I’d been living since I’d moved out of the apartment I’d shared with Saint and Boyce.”

  She’d never been able to explain how uncomfortable being in that apartment had been after she’d realized her feelings for them ran deeper than mere friendship. Moving in with Mason had been a convenient excuse at the time.

  Tory leaned forward, her blanket falling in a pile around her waist. “Now we’re getting to the good stuff.”

  It was Grae’s turn to snort. “Your obsession with sex is astounding.” The bland look Tory shot Grae’s way only made her laugh. “All right. I know, I know.” Grae dropped into the memory of that night as though it had happened just yesterday.

  Horror movie night with a pair of gorgeous men. Win! They made it hard to concentrate on the movie. In truth, the plot was subpar and the effects looked as though someone had jury-rigged them in a basement. She could do better on her shitty laptop she’d scraped the money together for because damn if she was going to ask her parents for another cent.

  A week after the traumatic experience and the fight with her parents still stung even though she was doing her best to forget about it. Somehow her life had become a drama better suited for afternoon television. Being dismissed and thrown out of the house she’d grown up in wasn’t an easy thing to move past in only a few hours. Neither was living with the truth she’d fucked a married man twice her age. She doubted she was ever going to recover. One thing she’d known for certain—she wasn’t about to tell the guys what had prompted her abrupt reappearance. The incident had been kept under wraps by the university faculty, and Noah’s sudden disappearance had been explained away by a family medical emergency.

  Saint and Boyce had welcomed her back into the apartment as soon as she’d knocked on the door. They hadn’t asked why she’d returned or why she had a shit ton of bags because she’d packed up her things at Mason’s apartment. They’d simply welcomed her back home with smiles, hugs, and assurances she’d always have a place to stay.

  She knew she didn’t deserve them. She’d been nasty to them. Shunning every advance they’d made to reconnect with her after she’d distanced herself. Turning her back, pretending they hadn’t existed, had been in an effort to turn her focus wholly on Mason. To concentrate on the life she was supposed to want and not on the one she kept fantasizing about.

  Then she’d fucked up that plan to oblivion.

  But she hadn’t come back to the same Saint and Boyce. She’d known they were different as soon as she’d stepped into the apartment. Had felt the change on a molecular level. They had always been larger than life, but something had changed. The tension flowing between the two men had always been palpable, even though they’d insisted their connection was purely friendship. But things had changed. Their friendship had been altered in a way that fascinated her. She hadn’t missed the brush of fingers as they’d prepared dinner. Nor the quick squeeze Saint had given Boyce’s ass when he’d been setting the table. It had been impossible to ignore the pulse of heat and tension that had flared to life between her legs.

  Then there was the kiss she’d walked in on when she’d returned from the shower they’d insisted she take in order to relax. So potent and raw and...real. The passion arcing between them was undeniable. Sitting between them on the couch watching the horribly shitty movie, she felt their cravings for one another. She longed to have that kind of electrical connection. Yearned to have even just a sliver of that kind of potent sexuality for herself. She’d tried not to stare at them, but it was impossible not to. Stunning. They’d always oozed sex appeal, but now their connection was fundamentally altered.

  Grow up and get a real life, Grae. Stop living in the clouds.

  Her mother’s shrill voice rang through her head. It followed her into the kitchen where she’d excused herself to make a fresh batch of popcorn. Continued to echo as she tore open the cellophane. Grew louder as she keyed in the cook time and shut the microwave door. She closed her eyes and willed the ringing to cease. Silently begged for the strength and courage to go on without seeking the constant approval of those who had given her life. Without reliving the events that had changed the course of her life forever.

  Why did she have to make such a terribly foolish mistake? She’d seen every possible avenue of escape from the situation she’d been in and instead of taking the way she’d imagined a thousand times, she’d elected for the road marked with bright orange neon danger signs. A terrifying wave of emotion threatened to pull her under as the memory of what she’d done slammed into her. She refused to drown under the immense weight of pressure and expectation between classes and family obligations. However unconsciously it had been, she’d made her choice. Now she had to live with it.

  She inhaled, held it to a count of thirty, then expelled it slowly. As the voice in her head silenced, she thought about how grateful she was to have Saint and Boyce in her life. How lucky she was to have people who accepted her unconditionally. Unlike her parents, her friends accepted her. They didn’t ask for apology or forgiveness for their unconventional relationship. She wanted that kind of life. Even for the briefest moment so she could experience what it meant not to constantly struggle with maintaining what was expected of you, and not doing what you truly yearned for.

  Most of all, she simply wanted to feel something again.

  “Grae.”

  She yelped at Boyce’s voice and dropped the glass bowl she hadn’t been aware of clutching.

  “Don’t move,” he ordered briskly as he surged forward to scoop up the large pieces that had shattered on the tile. She remained still as he carefully swept up the smaller pieces and met
hodically checked for any other shards. When he finally rose, she realized she hadn’t moved a muscle. Had barely taken a breath as though she’d been pinned in place by his direction to remain still. He’d been genuinely worried about her well-being. Hadn’t wanted her to injure herself on a fragment. It was as though he’d gathered up the broken pieces of her soul to show her she could trust him to safeguard them.

  Boyce tilted his head. “You okay?”

  “I broke up with Mason and my parents told me never to come back,” she blurted, her tongue tingling at the weight of the admission. It was the truth, at least. She couldn’t bring herself to confess the part about Professor Fillion. Not yet, anyway. She needed to hold that unpleasant piece of herself under lock and key.

  “Oh, sweetheart, why didn’t you tell us?” Boyce moved in to bundle her into his arms. She welcomed his strong grip wrapped around her, giving a shudder as the strong beat of his heart resonated in her ear when she pressed her head against his chest. She had no idea how she knew everything would be better in Boyce’s embrace, but she’d been right. In the small bubble of space around them, her bungled transgressions didn’t exist.

  Well, except for one. “I burned the popcorn.”

  “We’ll eat it anyway,” Saint whispered against her ear.

  She giggled, startled at the foreign sound. She hadn’t been aware Saint had joined them in the kitchen. Her laughter grew, flourishing into something she couldn’t process. The pain and humiliation of the past week hit her like a freight train. The unexpected surge overwhelmed her and she suddenly found herself shedding the shell she’d been hidden inside.

  “I did something so stupid. So wrong.” The words bubbled out of her in a rush. “And my parents...I feel like they’re smothering me. That I’m trapped and fighting to get away from something I’m never going to be able to escape. I just—oof.” She gasped as Saint stepped against her, banding his arms around them both. She had no idea how he’d managed to do it, but being between them felt incredible. They cradled her in a way that let her know everything would be okay. She needed the closed circuit of contact for this current to build. For their connection to flow through her.

  Her breathing was deep and erratic as she struggled to calm her thundering heart. She also didn’t understand, but her attraction to them had altered and seemed a thousand times stronger than ever before. It was fierce and hot, pulsing deep inside her like a living, breathing thing. She felt pieces of the old her, before her parents demanded she marry and she’d had her lapse of judgment with Noah, rise to the surface.

  Saint and Boyce could be her saviors.

  Boyce lifted his hand to her face, using his fingertips to angle her chin higher a moment before he put his mouth to hers. When he groaned against her lips, she felt the vibration of the noise all the way to her clit. Saint pressed hard against her ass, rotating his hips so she felt the unmistakable ridge of his erection. He pushed harder, angling her body firmly against Boyce so she noticed how aroused Boyce was as well. She was pinned between them, hips rocking in a slow dance that made her ache.

  She allowed the pent-up desire for her best friends to pour into her kiss with Boyce. Wanted to let them know they were turning her into a mindless mess. Saint swept her hair to the side, exposing her neck to his lips. His warm breath gusted against her skin, sending a wave of shivers along her spine.

  “What do you say, angel?” Saint’s breath tickled her ear as he asked in a raspy voice that she could barely hear over the pounding of her heart. “How do you feel about two devastatingly handsome men wanting to fuck you?”

  Grae cleared her throat. “Do you mean the two devastatingly handsome men who just happened to already be fucking each other?” She’d needed to at least acknowledge the fact she knew things had changed between them. To also make it clear if they continued, she didn’t want them holding back on her account.

  The sensual curve of Boyce’s smile incinerated her. “Does that bother you?”

  Every part of her screamed for her to take a pass. But the part that was wiring her brain right now demanded she surrender. A strange ache bloomed to life at the genuine need shining in their expressions. The intensity of the moment, of the questions, the taunting throb of tension, wasn’t something she’d bargained for.

  “Definitely not,” she responded.

  Saint spun her around, excitement coloring his eyes. “Even knowing I gave Boyce a blow job in the shower earlier today doesn’t offend you?” He angled his face toward hers, kissing her while keeping his steady gaze homed on her.

  “Only because I wasn’t there to watch,” she confessed as Boyce leaned in to capture Saint’s kiss-swollen lips. Watching them sent a bolt of response into dark, savage places. She had a sudden flash of Saint on his knees, water pouring down Boyce’s body while his hard, rigid shaft pulsed against Saint’s tongue and lips. Saint played his tongue around the edge of the corona, tickling, and licking under the ridge as he sucked and sucked and sucked.

  Her body quivered as the men separated and focused their gazes on her.

  One of these days, lightning was going to strike her.

  “You left soon after,” Tory stated simply as Grae surfaced. “Right after graduation, if I remember Saint correctly.”

  “Yes,” Grae admitted, embarrassed.

  Tory had broken the spell of the memory, thankfully. Grae hadn’t felt it was necessary to go into the exact details of how the men had draped her over the kitchen table. How Saint had held her down while Boyce had taken his time sampling her. She’d come alive under their combined touch, begging and whimpering as Boyce had flipped her over, suggested Saint take her right there and then so he could watch. Hints of command had been there then, but she’d been too uneducated to recognize it. That taste of submission, though she hadn’t known the name then, had frightened her nearly as much as being with the men had.

  Saint had indeed taken her right in the kitchen, the acrid aroma of burnt popcorn stinging her nose as he slowly fucked her. As Boyce had guided her hand, then her mouth, to his erection. Between them, their cocks inside her, she’d never known such heat and passion and intensity existed. Had never had it with anyone else but those two men. She’d never expected to feel that way about her best friends. To experience a love that she couldn’t give a name. At first she’d thought being with them had been a way to erase the darkness of the tryst with her professor. But being with them had been something wholly different.

  Real. They weren’t supposed to have blown her world apart, but that’s exactly what they’d done.

  In the moments after they’d all found completion, she lay on the table, sweating, exhausted and covered in things she hadn’t wanted to think about, their heaving pants echoing through the small room and she’d known, with absolute certainty, that she loved them. That the three of them were the most powerful emotion she’d ever known. But her mother’s voice had echoed in her head, accompanied by a wave of nausea as she’d reminded herself they’d invited her into their bodies, their beds, to share the ultimate pleasure with her, but they hadn’t invited her into their hearts.

  “When I woke up the morning after and realized I was in the arms of two men who were already very much in love with each other, I couldn’t stop thinking how my mother was right.” The echo of those words sounded in her head, tearing open old wounds that had been patched over. “I also realized I’d used them in an effort to forget my sins. So I put on a happy face just like I always did, got through the graduation ceremony, and then abandoned everything. I know leaving didn’t solve anything. Now, at least. I won’t lie. It was hard. Stupid, too. So, so stupid. And I was lonely for a long time. But those judgmental voices were always there just on the fringe of my life. Reminding me. Lecturing me. I should have risen above their pettiness and lived a life I could be proud of, but I...”

  “They’re still your parents, Grae.” Tory c
lutched her hand, squeezing tightly. “You know they’re out there, somewhere. You’ll always be their daughter, but—”

  “I’m always going to be the disappointment,” Grae whispered as a tear slid down her cheek. “I should bask in the fact these two men love and respect me no matter that I keep them at arm’s length, but all I can think about is the fact my parents wouldn’t approve of our relationship.”

  She’d never gotten past that fact. Though she had accepted her desire for two men, the angry cadence of her mother’s words still haunted her to this day. No matter how much she loved them, wanted to be with them, she would never be a homewrecker again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Next Saturday dawned bright and sunny. Typical beautiful California weather. Though too fast for Grae to get a handle on everything swirling through her mind. The talk with Tory had opened a door she’d thought she’d had firmly locked. But as she’d opened her hotel door, she’d schooled her features and given them the brightest smile she could muster.

  She sat in the back seat of Saint’s car while he drove. Boyce had slipped into the passenger seat and angled his body toward her, giving her the perfect view of his striking face.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Wouldn’t be much of a surprise if we told you.”

  She hadn’t expected either of them to tell her. But there were other ways. “Obviously we’re not going to someplace fancy. Not with what you’re wearing.”

  Boyce’s gaze flicked toward Saint. “Oh, I don’t know, Saint looks like he could be sitting behind a desk right now.”

  Grae agreed. The suit was remarkably similar to the choice of clothing he’d worn for the first scene they’d had together. The colors were slightly darker and more muted. Regardless of how Saint dressed, he was breathtaking. Boyce looked easy and casual in worn jeans and a white tee so thin, Grae wondered why he’d even bothered at all.