Repercussions (Siren Publishing Menage Amour)

by Rainey Daye

  This meant he was going to have to stick around and have the STD talk with the stranger. God, let her be disease free. He knew that he didn’t harbor any and only hoped that he hadn’t contracted herpes or anything else last night from her. Shit, he was so totally screwed.

  He sat down heavily in the only chair in the room, trying to piece together the events from last night. Just where was he, and how had he gotten there? Why did he get drunk and wind up in a motel with a stranger?

  He finally stood up and walked over to the window, hoping to get some bearings. Pulling the curtain aside, he stood there naked and looked out, trying to gauge where he was. He squinted against the bright sunlight and let his eyes track left and right. And then again before his blurry mind registered the sight of the bar next door.

  He then turned back to the room with a frown and scanned it. When his eyes finally came to rest on the Bill Clinton mask lying on the floor, some of the events from last night clinked into place, and he remembered following Maggie and her roommates to the bar next door where there was a Halloween party going on.

  Okay, obviously he’d followed them into the party, and that partially explained how he wound up drunk. But how did he wind up in bed with a strange woman? A hot, strange woman, Troy amended as his eyes raked over her nude body again. He licked his lips as a dim memory of her taste inserted itself in his mind, and he had taken a step toward the bed, his eyes glued on her pussy, before he came to his senses and stepped back toward the window.

  Idly fondling his stiffening cock, Troy turned his back to the room and looked back out the window as he attempted to reassemble the pieces of last night. How long he stood there, he didn’t know. But his mind snapped momentarily back to reality when a pair of soft arms encircled him from behind and he felt a pair of soft, lush breasts press themselves against his back while ripe wet lips nibbled his carotid artery in an openmouthed kiss. A tongue swiped along his neck and a hand dipped down to cradle his sac, and Troy found himself turning around, wrapping his own arms around the soft, lush stranger.

  * * * *

  Alex left the motel and walked across the parking lot and the small strand of grassy land separating it from the bar where their car was still parked from the night before. Quite a few cars were still there, as a matter of fact, and he passed a couple of people doing the walk of shame. Since he had nothing to be ashamed of, he whistled jauntily as he fumbled the car keys out of his coat pocket. Since Maggie and Jess’s costumes weren’t fit to wear in public during daylight hours, Alex had left them showering as he went to retrieve their transportation.

  Damn, but last night had been a blast, he thought as he climbed into the driver’s seat and twisted the key in the ignition. The three of them had been insatiable, and he had no doubt that Jess and Maggie were enjoying a shared shower at this moment. Not minding in the least, Alex maneuvered the car into an empty space in front of the motel and then went back inside, where he had noticed a continental breakfast set up for motel guests. Detouring to it, he popped a slightly stale bagel into the toaster and poured himself a cup of coffee and a glass of juice before sitting down at an empty table to enjoy it while giving Jess and Maggie some privacy. If nothing else, Maggie really needed some time to wash the lollipop residue off her skin and out of her pubic hair. He grinned to himself as he remembered how he had trailed it all over that delectable body of hers and followed the path with his tongue before inserting it deep inside her several times last night, and his cock twitched in remembered delight.

  A fellow motel guest got up to leave just about then and politely asked Alex if he wanted his newspaper. Alex was just reaching for it and smiling his thanks when he glanced past the man’s shoulder and saw Troy walking across the lobby.

  Holy fuck! What was Troy doing here? It couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? Maybe this was where Troy was staying while he spied on their house. No, that didn’t make any sense at all. This place was too far away. So maybe he was just seeing a man who looked remarkably like Troy.

  Nope, he wasn’t buying it. This had all the markings of serendipity to him. He tossed down the paper and stood up, moving toward the entrance to the breakfast area to get a better view. He blinked in surprise when a dark-haired woman in a short skirt joined Troy at the front door. She smiled at him, and Troy leaned down to brush a brief kiss upon her lips before he took her hand and they walked outside together.

  Alex let out his breath in an explosive whoosh. Okay, this was good, maybe. Troy had hooked up with someone. And he seemed happy about it. So maybe he had met her while he had been spying on them and the reason Alex hadn’t seen him lately was because he was making time with his new lady. But that was pretty shaky reasoning. It didn’t explain what Troy was doing in town in the first place. He had to know what the fuck was going on!

  With that thought in mind, Alex moved to the front doors and watched as Troy climbed into the passenger seat of the brunette’s car. He fumbled in his coat pocket for a pen and something to write with, thinking he should jot down her license plate number, even though he didn’t know how the hell you were supposed to track someone with that, and then frowned as he saw the woman pull into the bar lot next door. He watched in amazement as she stopped beside an older model Ford Taurus and leaned over to kiss Troy once more before Troy finally exited the vehicle and climbed into the Taurus.

  His only thought being to find out what rock Troy hid under during the day, Alex rushed outside the motel and climbed back into his car. Keeping his eyes on Troy’s vehicle, he almost hit another car that was backing out of a parking space. Waving a vague apology toward the other driver, Alex pulled out onto the road to follow Troy. He was forced to run a stale yellow light and followed Troy as he turned onto the expressway.

  Thirty minutes into his clandestine tail, his cell phone rang. Alex fumbled it out of his coat pocket and hit the speaker phone so he could lay it on the passenger seat and concentrate on his driving.

  “Where the fuck are you?” came Jess’s exasperated voice.

  “I’m on the highway, why?” Alex asked, distracted.

  “The highway? Uh, did you forget that Mags and I are still back at the motel?”

  “Shit!” Alex swore, having indeed forgotten about them in his zeal to follow Troy. “Damn, I can’t get back there now. Do you have enough money to take a cab home?”

  “Are you serious? Do you know how much a forty-five minute cab ride would cost?”

  “I’m pretty sure I left my bag in the room. Use my credit card,” Alex suggested.

  “Why can’t you just get your ass back here and pick us up?” Jess wanted to know.

  “Is Maggie nearby?”

  “Yeah, she’s standing right here beside me. I just got back from looking for your sorry ass in the parking lot.”

  “Damn! I’m sorry, man. Grab a bite to eat or something ’cause it’s gonna be awhile before I can get back there.”

  “And why is that?”

  “I can’t tell you right now.”

  “Well, you better tell us something because Maggie’s getting a scary look on her face, and I sure wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when you finally get your ass back here.”

  “Jess,” Alex sighed, thinking fast as he maneuvered around a semi in order to keep Troy’s car in sight. “Do you remember the night we practiced our roles for the Halloween party?” he went on as inspiration struck.

  “Of course I do. The sex was great,” his boneheaded boyfriend answered.

  “Afterwards, Jess,” Alex said exasperated, unsure if Maggie could hear his side of the conversation over the connection.

  A long pause followed, and then Jesse’s voice came back on the line, hushed, as if he had turned away from Maggie and was hunched over the phone. “You mean when you told me about seeing you-know-who?”

  “Exactly.”

  “What about it?”

  “I saw him in the motel lobby this morning and am currently following him.”

  “What?”
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  “Keep it down. I’ll explain it all later. But I’m not going to chance losing this prick. Get Maggie home any way you can and I’ll see you there.”

  “Okay,” Jess replied slowly. “Be careful.”

  “I will. I’m sorry I stranded you two, but I completely forgot everything when I saw him.”

  “I understand. See you later,” Jess said before hanging up, and Alex hoped he could come up with a convincing reason for his uncharacteristic behavior.

  Chapter 9

  Troy pulled into the parking lot of the pay-by-the-week-or-month motel that he had called home for the past couple of months. It was in a terrible neighborhood and many of the tenants were drug users or parolees, and his car had been broken into twice before he got smart and simply left it unlocked so he wouldn’t have to dish out any more money to replace the broken windows. But it gave him somewhere to sleep after he had exhausted himself from following Maggie around campus during the days and watching her house in the evenings.

  He let himself into his one-room efficiency and slid the deadbolt home before he tossed his keys onto the small kitchen table. A scrap of paper fluttered to the floor from his pocket, and he bent down to retrieve it, not knowing how to feel about Maria’s phone number that she had pressed on him just before he exited her car in The Inferno’s parking lot. She had been a hot fuck and had told him that any time he wanted to do her in a bar again, give her a call. That statement had brought a flush to his face and a vague memory of thrusting inside her while they stood at the bar, and he honestly didn’t know how he felt about that. He had sunk to new lows last night, even for him. Did Maggie honestly deserve a man who would fuck a stranger in public?

  He poured himself a glass of tomato juice and sat down heavily in the ratty armchair, trying to piece together the events of last night. He remembered following Maggie and her roommates to the bar and picking up a mask so he could get close to them without being recognized. And he remembered drinking. A lot. He had the hangover from hell to prove that.

  But for the life of him he couldn’t remember why he had had sex in the bar, or even getting to the motel with Maria. Hell, he didn’t even remember having sex with her the night before, but all the hickeys and bruises on both their bodies attested to a night of debauchery. And she had been quite eager this morning, so he had decided that if he was going to have sex with a stranger, then he was damn sure going to remember having sex with a stranger, and they had indulged for over an hour before she had announced that she had better be getting home.

  He did remember to have the STD talk with her and was relieved when she confirmed that she was clean. Of course, she could be lying, but he didn’t think so. Even so, he determined that he would stop in at the nearest free clinic he could find, just to be safe.

  But as he fingered the phone number she had pressed on him, he seriously began to contemplate what he should do about Maggie. She hadn’t met or hooked up with anyone at the bar last night. He was positive of that. Alex and Jesse rarely left her side, hovering like protective big brothers and scowling at any man who eyed her too intently. He was reassured that she was safe with them, so that was one load off his heavy mind, although he wasn’t too happy with them for allowing her to go out in public in the costume she had on. He wasn’t too clear on what it had been, but he knew it had given him a raging hard-on just looking at her in it, so he was positive it had been wildly inappropriate. Maybe that’s why he had gotten a blow job in the alley behind the bar? Oh God! He just remembered that blow job. And it hadn’t been delivered by Maria. Shit! He’d hooked up with two women last night! What was wrong with him?

  He stumbled over to the bed and thrust his arm almost up to his shoulder under the mattress, retrieving the file folder that he had stuffed deep under it, needing to remind himself that he had a purpose. Sitting down heavily, he flipped it open and slowly perused the naked photos of Maggie that he had printed out after he had downloaded that damn file off her mom’s computer.

  Somewhere along the line, Maggie’s life had taken a turn for the sordid if she would willingly pose for such pictures. He wondered now if she had done so in order to make ends meet and that Jess or Alex had found out and offered her a room in their house so that she could get off that particular path. If so, he owed them his abject thanks for protecting her from her mistakes. But he still harbored the fear that these pictures were floating around in cyberspace somewhere and, at the least opportune time, they would rear their ugly head and bite her in the ass. No, he wouldn’t rest easy until he knew that she was safe from such repercussions and that no one was out there jerking off to pictures of her.

  The fact that he had no say in her life and wasn’t responsible for it didn’t register with him. He blamed himself for choosing his athletic scholarship over their relationship, thus these pictures were his fault. If they had only gone to the same college they would still be together, and whatever had led to her posing for these pictures never would have happened. He had created this mess, and it was up to him to fix it.

  And then he could win Maggie back. Hell, he’d even transfer to whatever college she wanted so they could be together full time. Even this one. She’d have to move out of Turner House, of course, though Alex and Jess were both such stand-up guys that they would probably suggest that he move in with them. Hmmm. It was a damn nice house. Of course, he would have to keep his libido in check and only have sex with her in their room, but from that slide show she had put together and shown to the town, the house was plenty big enough for them to not be accidently disturbed if they got carried away outside the bedroom. They could easily fool around whenever the guys were gone. Yeah, this was sounding better and better. He could live with Maggie in security and comfort until they graduated next year, and then he would get picked up by the majors. He had no doubt that he would bypass the minors altogether, and they would settle down in the home city of whatever team signed him, and he would use his signing bonus to buy them a nice little house to live in.

  Troy lay back on the badly sprung bed, clutching the naked pictures of Maggie to his chest, and closed his eyes so the visions from their future together could play out behind his lids.

  * * * *

  Alex sat contemplatively in the parking lot of Troy’s home away from home. He jotted down the name of this place and Troy’s room number, along with Troy’s license plate and a quick description of the car to share with Jess. He eyed the neighbors loitering in the parking area and along the walkways in front of the rooms. Some were openly passing around a joint while a couple of them were eyeing him funny. Probably thinking he had come here to meet his supplier. Let them think that for now. Alex had too much on his mind to care.

  He had confirmed that it was Troy. If nothing else, the out of town license plates on his car confirmed that he had probably driven it across country for the sole purpose of stalking Maggie. But if he was trying to win her back, he was doing a piss-poor job of it. Maggie would be horrified to discover he was living in such a place and skeeved out when she found out he was stalking her. Maggie had insisted that Troy was smart, but this didn’t look too smart to him. Deciding to find out what the neighbors knew about him, he got out of his car and carefully locked the doors before approaching a pair of druggies who were too wasted to give him any trouble if things got rough.

  “Hey, guys,” he called out jovially as he drew near them.

  “Dude,” a skinny guy with greasy hair greeted him.

  “Been living here long?” Alex asked in a friendly voice.

  “What’s it to you?”

  “Looking for someone who can give me some info on an old friend of mine,” Alex responded to the sullen question.

  “Is he your dealer?”

  “Is he a dealer?” Alex asked, surprised, momentarily forgetting that he hadn’t identified his target to this druggie.

  “Don’t know. But guy like you shows up here in a fancy suit, makes one wonder, you know? He owe you money or sumthink?”

&
nbsp; “Nah. Other way around,” Alex lied with a grin, having forgotten he was still in the remnants of his doctor’s costume from the night before.

  “Oh. You got the money on you?”

  “Nope.”

  “Too bad. I coulda given it to him for you.”

  “You don’t know who my friend is,” Alex pointed out.

  “Been here a long time. I knows everybody ’round these parts. Who’s your friend?”

  “Guy over there in number fifteen,” Alex said, inclining his head toward Troy’s room.

  “He just got in a little while ago,” skinny guy pointed out. “Whys dontcha go knock on his door and give him his dough?”

  “’Cause I don’t have it on me right now and don’t want him mad at me for showing up empty-handed. Besides, I’m trying to work a deal and need some information.”

  “What type of deal and info?” the guy asked suspiciously.

  “That’s between me and him,” Alex said with an edge to his voice. “I’m just trying to get some background on him to see what type of deal to approach him with.”

  “What do you want to know?” the guy asked helpfully as Alex pulled a couple of twenties out of his back pocket and held them up nonchalantly while the druggie’s eyes gleamed with avarice.

  “How long has he been staying here?”

  “Coupla months.”

  “Does he have a name?”

  “You don’t know your own friend’s name?” the guy asked with a smirk.

  “We aren’t that close,” Alex said.

  “Ah.”

  “Well, do you know it?”