Broken Butterfly: MMF Bisexual Romance (Mundane Magic Book 1)

by Maxene Novak

  On top of it all, he really wanted another chance to roll around with Drew. He’d been with men before, but none of them compared to Drew. He’d been careful yet maintained a level of control and force that Max was quite the fan of. The stress of work and the need for release both combined and created the kind of sex that people wrote romance novels about.

  “I think you should talk to him about what’s going on with you guys,” Louisa said. She adjusted the strap on her bag and looked around. “Also, I wanted to tell you about something that happened at dinner with the girls last night.”

  Max made a face. “You guys went out for dinner?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was going to tell you. Claudette invited us all out for dinner, which I thought was really nice of her, but turns out all she did was talk about you to some of her lackeys. They’re so far up her ass that they agreed with everything she said. She pretty much admitted to not inviting you on purpose, and that she’s going to exclude you from the party we’re having tomorrow night. It’s just a small dinner party, but she wanted you to not be around.” Louisa shook her head in disbelief.

  “Huh,” Max said to himself. He turned around and looked at Claudette and the other girls. When she saw him, she gave a wave and a fake smile. Max turned back to Louisa. “Aren’t you going to get in trouble for talking to me about this?”

  She snorted. “Please, Claudette needs me around for all of her parties. Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but she has this deal with my sister. If she babysits her kids every few weeks, my sister gives her all the cupcakes and cookies she needs. She takes those things and pretends like she made them herself. Without me, she can’t impress anyone else at all of her extravagant get-togethers,” Louisa laughed. Max was relieved to hear that Claudette wouldn’t retaliate against Louisa for talking to him about her plans. Out of all the ladies in the group, she was by far his favorite, and he didn’t want to get her in trouble.

  “Interesting that she hates me so much,” Max murmured.

  “I think she’s jealous. I know, we’re in our twenties – and forties, in her case – but she still has that high school mindset. It never goes away. In fact, I think it gets worse as we grow up. Things become less about boyfriends and homework and more about husbands and children.” Louisa pulled her phone out and quickly sent him a text with Claudette’s address.

  “What’s this?”

  “That’s where the party’s going to be. I figured I’d let you know where she lives, just in case you want to, I don’t know, crash it or something.” She looked up at him with a devilish smile.

  “My, my, what a sneaky one you are,” Max beamed.

  “I may have some tricks up my sleeve,” she said. “I should get going, though. Maybe I’ll see you around.” Louisa winked at him.

  “Maybe you will!” Max said goodbye and headed home, his mind racing with thoughts. He couldn’t believe Claudette cared so much about him that she was now actively trying to keep him out of the loop. He wasn’t sure what it was about the woman, but it seemed as though her pettiness knew no bounds. That was fine by him. If she wanted to play hardball, he’d step up to the plate, too.

  That following afternoon, Max headed to the store to pick up the ingredients he’d need to make his mother’s famous triple chocolate brownies. It was a holiday classic for him, but he knew that if he was going to compete with a professional baker’s treats, he’d have to come with something amazing. He loaded up his cart and looked over the recipe his mother had sent him. Once he was sure he’d grabbed everything, he checked out and headed back to the house.

  Gabby was in the kitchen when he came in with the bags. She looked up from her magazine and smiled.

  “Hey there,” she said happily. “Out shopping?”

  “Yep. I was invited to a party tonight and I want to impress some of the ladies there.”

  “Oh wow, whose party is it?” she asked. She closed the magazine and leaned forward.

  “Do you know Claudette?” That name had an immediate effect on Gabby’s face. Her smile morphed into a frown in record time.

  She rolled her eyes, “Claudette O’Brien. That woman is as insufferable as they come. Are you sure you want to go over to her party? I don’t want to discourage you, but…”

  Max couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction. “No, I honestly don’t want to spend much time around her, but the fact that she intentionally skipped inviting me makes me want to see her squirm a little bit. She hates me, and that makes it all the more fun to mess with her.”

  Gabby’s eyes lit up. “If you’re only going to mess with her, then I highly encourage you to have fun at the party tonight! I know it’s not nice to wish bad things on people, but that woman, I swear. She has a stick so far up her ass you’d think she was a scarecrow. I don’t know if Drew ever told you, but I remember one experience with her. She heard some rumor about Drew and I and came up to us to curse us out and shame us in front of Izzy. Apparently we weren’t ‘fit to parent’ in her eyes. Like she would know what that’s like.”

  “Every single person I talk to about her has some kind of run-in like this. I don’t know how some of the women there tolerate her,” Max sighed. He began pulling out his ingredients and getting down the proper mixing equipment.

  “She’s the kind of person you just have to tell stories about. I don’t understand why everyone else’s business should be out in the open, but when you start asking her why her husband left her and why she acts the way she does, suddenly you’re out of line. It’s the kind of bully behavior we’ve taught Izzy to fight against.” Gabby rose from her seat and crossed the kitchen to help Max organize his items.

  “She’s going to lose it when I show up, and it’ll be worth it. After everything she’s done. Wanna help me make some brownies for tonight?”

  Gabby nodded, “Sure! We’ll make them extra good so she can’t help but admit that you’re a good cook.”

  “It’s like you read my mind,” Max grinned.

  Together, the two of them worked together on the brownies. While he whisked together all of the dry ingredients, Gabby blended up the eggs, oil, and butter. She stopped for a minute and ran to the other side of the kitchen to turn on some music. The speaker on top of the fridge came to life, and in no time, they were dancing around and cooking.

  Max placed the batter into a pan and slid that in the oven. While they waited for the brownies to finish, they took a seat in the living room and picked something to watch on TV. It was almost scary how quickly they both suggested some reality TV show. Gabby turned the station and got settled in, humored by all of Max’s commentary on the drama unfolding on the screen.

  At eight, Max wrapped up the brownies and headed out to the address Louisa had sent him. He’d spent a good amount of time getting dressed. A situation like this called for a fancy outfit, and that was exactly what he picked. As he waited at the stoplight, he adjusted his expensive button up and brushed his hair into place. He found Claudette’s home easily enough. All of the cars outside made it very apparent which home was throwing a party.

  Max climbed out of the car and hurried to the door, knocking three times. There was a moment of silence before Claudette opened the door with a smile. That smile quickly faded. “Oh,” she said.

  “I heard there was a party going on,” he grinned. From over Claudette’s shoulder, he spotted Louisa. She made a noise of excitement and came running over. Without a word, she pulled him inside by the hand.

  “Look who showed up, ladies!” she exclaimed. Most of the Nannies were excited to see Max there. Claudette’s most loyal followers, however, glared at him with disdain. He didn’t mind it all too much. He was there to bug Claudette, and if he could have fun at the same time, he considered it a double victory.

  “I’m here with brownies, too!” Those words left his lips and a few of Claudette’s friends’ resolves cracked, ever so slightly. Max unwrapped the batch of brownies he’d made for the party and began handing them out to all of
the ladies in the living room.

  Claudette closed the door and stalked towards Max. She took a brownie from the plate and bit into it, scrutinizing the rest of the women at the party. Max and Louisa watched her reaction carefully. Despite the fact that she was fuming at how rude it was for Max to show up uninvited, she’d be lying to herself if she said that the brownies didn’t taste spectacular.

  She wiped her mouth and looked at the treat in her hand. “These aren’t half bad,” she said, condescension in her tone, “Where’d you buy them?”

  “I made them myself,” Max said. He got a few ‘ooh’s from the ladies. “I would never bring store-bought brownies and pass them off as homemade. That’s so tacky, isn’t it?” Louisa and four other women nodded, agreeing with him. Claudette narrowed her eyes and smirked.

  “Well, since you’re already here and I’m not one to turn away a guest – even if they did show up uninvited – why don’t you stay with us and have dinner?” she suggested.

  “I would love that,” he winked, popping the rest of his brownie into his mouth. He kept his gaze on her as he licked his fingers clean. Louisa grabbed him by the arm and pulled him aside, trying her hardest not to smile as she scolded him.

  “I said bring over some brownies and make her jealous, not call her out in front of everyone!”

  “What? I’m completely innocent!” Max exclaimed. Louisa crossed her arms and tilted her head.

  “Really? Did you or did you not pretty much let everyone here know that Claudette brings my sister’s baked goods over here and pretends she made them herself?”

  Fair enough, he thought. “Okay, fine, I did call her out, but she was being rude first! You can’t invite someone to be part of your social circle and then conveniently forget to invite one person. Especially when I’m the only guy. Kind of hard to forget that I exist.”

  “Yeah, well, you’ve made your point. Claudette’s steaming.” She leaned around to look at the woman. Claudette whispered angrily to one of her closest friends. They had to shush her and keep her quiet so she didn’t make a scene. Max looked back at the mini-meltdown and chuckled to himself. It was becoming easier and easier to upset Claudette. All he had to do was show up to an event without her permission and she was falling apart at the seams. Despite it all, part of him agreed with Louisa. He wanted to keep this dinner contained and fun. As much fun as it was to shake Claudette up, the other girls deserved to have one dinner without the group bickering back and forth.

  Max and Louisa had quite the fun with the rest of the ladies at the party. While dinner roasted in the oven, they opened up a game of Taboo and went around in a circle trying to get their teammate to guess the correct word. Shelby’s team won, and everyone in the room congratulated them. Surprisingly, Claudette wasn’t reluctant to give that team their praise, either.

  Rather than eating in the dining room, everyone carried their plates to the living room. Max sat on the floor beside Louisa. Since she’d won the game, Shelby and her teammate Megan got to decide what they were going to watch. For a minute, they went back and forth on whether or not they should watch a slasher or a rom-com, but the ladies eventually settled on watching a thriller starring Matt Damon.

  After the movie, everyone helped Claudette clean up and headed out. Max left the rest of the brownies at her place, partially because he wanted her to grumpily eat them in defeat and partially because he’d actually had a bit of fun at her house.

  When Max walked through the door in the kitchen at the Noble residence, he was surprised to see Gabby and Drew still awake. It was a bit later than their usual bedtime. Gabby smiled when she saw him.

  “Hey, did you have fun? How’d Claudette react when she saw you?”

  Max snorted, “She kind of went insane. It was great, actually. How come you guys are still awake?”

  “Well,” Drew started, “We kind of wanted to talk to you about what happened. Between you and me, I mean.”

  Max swallowed hard. He wasn’t able to tell if this was going to be a good conversation or a bad conversation by Drew’s tone. He gave a small nod and said, “Sure, let’s talk about what happened.”

  Relieved to see his reaction, Gabby waved him into the living room. “C’mon, let’s talk in here.” Max followed her into the other room, praying that things went over smoothly.

  Seven

  Gabby and Drew sat on one side of the sofa while Max occupied the other. For a moment, a silence fell over the three of them. This lack of conversation only helped the growing nerves Max felt eating away at his stomach. What if they told him that because of what he and Drew did, he’d have to leave? He’d already gotten used to living here with them, and it would break his heart to say goodbye to the friends and acquaintances he’d made. Or worse, what if Gabby was fuming at him and was only being nice to catch him off guard? Could he be capable of that?

  Finally, Gabby folder her hands in her lap and said, “So, I don’t see the point in beating around the bush with any of this. Drew told me about what happened in the kitchen.”

  Max, unable to decide whether her cool tone scared him or calmed him down, launched into a volley of apologies. “I’m so sorry, I know it was completely wrong of me to go there with him. I don’t even have an excuse, I was just stupid and selfish and tacky. If you want, I’ll go get my stuff right now and catch a flight back home. I’m so sorry, Gabby—”

  “Whoa,” she laughed, shaking her head. “Calm down, Max, calm down. I’m not mad at you. If I were mad at anyone, it would be Drew. He’s my husband, not you. But I’m not mad, so it’s okay.”

  “You’re not mad?” Max felt a wave of relief. He’d never seen Gabby mad. She could be an axe-murder in disguise for all he knew.

  “No, I’m not mad. I wish he would have told me what he was feeling, but that’s something between me and Drew. But no, I don’t have any kind of ill will towards either of you. I’m glad that you two had fun!”

  This was all too surreal for Max. He’d heard stories about swinger couples. Hell, he’d even heard the rumors about the Nobles. It was different actually being confronted with the situation, though. He couldn’t wrap his head around how two people who were in love would invite others into their bed. Every time he’d seen that on TV, it ended badly.

  “We had a lot of fun,” Drew chuckled. Gabby dropped her head on his shoulder and smiled.

  “I’m glad.” She laced her fingers through his and took a deep breath before looking up at Max. “Max, I’m sure it’s probably really confusing for you. It’s not the first time someone’s looked at us like this.”

  He hadn’t even realized he was making a face until she pointed it out. He let his expression ease away. “Sorry. I just… I guess I don’t understand how you wouldn’t be mad.”

  “What Drew and I have is something special. I know this type of relationship doesn’t work for a lot of people, but this is something we’ve talked about for years now. It works for us. It keeps things exciting. Usually the other person is around when one of us fools around with someone new, but still, it’s fun. Drew and I believe in the idea that while nobody else can love us the way the other can, we can still play with other people and enjoy their company in bed.”

  Max nodded as Gabby spoke, trying to work through this all in his head. In a way, it was almost sweet that they trusted and knew each other so well that this wasn’t a big problem for them. They had the kind of relationship that could withstand multiple people in bed with them over time.

  “I think we should take things slow, though,” Drew chimed in.

  Gabby nodded. “Right. Our situation is a little bit different than usual. A lot of the times, we’ll have people over for a one-off thing. Some guy will stay the night with us after meeting at the bar or something. He’s gone in the morning, and we never see him around. You, on the other hand, live in our house,” she laughed.

  “Easy access, I say,” Drew smirked. Gabby slapped his arm lightly. “I’m just saying. It is a bit different, but I think if
we take things slow, we can really avoid any kind of messy situations. I know it’s kind of a conflict of interest, but I think we can handle it. And hell, that’s even if you want to continue with what we did.”

  Max smiled and looked at the ground. He wasn’t sure if this was something he wanted to continue doing anymore. He’d had so much fun with Drew, but at the same time, this situation was complicated. What if one person got more jealous than the other and decided to take it out on him? He’d be out of a place to live and out of a job. It was dangerous to play with what he’d established, but at the same time, he couldn’t stop thinking about the fun he’d had with Drew in the kitchen. He was torn.

  “I think taking it slow is the best option. Like you said, this situation is unique. We have to handle it with care,” Max said. Drew nodded enthusiastically.

  “Exactly. Let’s all just sleep on it, play it by ear, and talk to each other if things come up, okay? If things get too out of hand, it’s going to make these next four months hell.”

  Drew was right. Max couldn’t imagine waking up every morning having to deal with drama until it was time for him to go back home. No, he wanted these four months in America to be smooth sailing, like an extended vacation.

  Gabby brushed her hair behind her ear and looked at the both of them. “I’m glad we had this talk.”

  “I am, too,” Max chuckled. It was much needed. They were all adults, after all. If they couldn’t talk to one another, Max didn’t need to be sleeping with Drew.

  “Now that we got that out of the way, I’m gonna get some sleep,” Drew smiled. He slipped out from under Gabby and then helped her up. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Night,” Max said. He watched them disappear into their rooms before he lie down on the couch. He put his feet up and switched the TV to something a bit quieter. It really didn’t matter what he had playing, though, because his mind wandered endlessly. He thought back to all the exes he’d had in his life

  Most of them had been in college, and they usually ended in heartbreak, tears, and arguments. Max needed someone who could talk to him about whatever they were feeling, and the people he’d dated in the past preferred putting on a mask and pretending everything between them was fine – even when it so clearly wasn’t.