by Lana Hartley
In the end, I have to make the choice to keep them on board with me. For one, they’re experts in the field and can help me soar to new, groundbreaking heights.
It will be faster with their help, because they already contain vast amounts of knowledge that they can explain in a shorter time rather than me wait until all of my classes are complete.
I imagine the praise I’ll get when the professors and colleagues here review my remarkable findings.
Of course, I’ll have to give the guys credit for their charity for my benefit, or in my case, their efforts to be involved in my research.
“Why are you so worried that your research won’t be a success?” King quizzes me.
“Yeah, do you not trust us or something?” Dylan adds, but he’s smiling to soften the blow. I know they’re only teasing me.
“I think you guys are incredible,” I admit. “It’s just…well this research is important to me because of the fact that I lost my father, grandfather, and many other relatives to work in the dangerous mines.”
“We’re so sorry to hear that,” Simon tells me.
“Thank you,” I nod and clear my throat. “I just want the mine workers of today to live in a better world where they don’t have to get up in the morning and wonder if they’ll ever get to go home to their families again.”
“You’re a wonderful person,” Dylan smiles adoringly at me.
“Clean energy and clean coal are extremely important to me,” I confess. “I want to live in a world where I visualize this in all the mines around the country.”
“That’s where we come in,” King beams with pride. “We want to help you be successful and reach your goals.”
I know they genuinely mean it, and I appreciate them for it. I wish we could all live happily ever after while I receive orgasm after orgasm from them in a line…but that’s unfortunately not the way life works most of the time.
I yawn because it’s getting late, but we still have a lot of ground to cover.
“Are you tired?” King asks.
“Maybe a little,” I shrug and laugh.
“We can stop whenever you’re ready,” Simon offers.
I glance at all three guys. They’re equally hot, equally charming and charismatic and as a set, they complete me perfectly.
I take a deep breath and sigh dramatically.
“What’s wrong?”
King’s brow furrows because he apparently thinks we’re already moving on from the gnawing subject.
At my luck, there are probably cameras in this room or something. I have to be careful from now on.
“If I’m to prosper in my venture to clean up renewable resources, then it means I have to stay in this scholarship. My dreams are only as possible as I make them.”
“Right…” Simon mentions as if I’m already stating the obvious.
“I might get kicked out if they know I’m having sex with the three of you,” I comment.
The forbidden makes me want them even more, but I have to press forward and focus on what really matters here.
“I just want the mines to be safer,” I admit. “If not, then my relatives would’ve died in vain.”
“It’s remarkable that you want to be the hero,” Dylan smiles at me.
“Thank you,” I say as his eyes twinkle as they rise to meet with mine.
“Listen,” King shifts his weight. “We understand that you need our relationship to remain under wraps.”
“Yeah?” I ask.
“Absolutely,” Dylan and Simon state in unison, and affirmatively.
“We can keep this our little secret,” King’s eyes gleam with mischief.
“Do you really think that’s possible?”
I have my doubts, but I want to believe them. They’re behaving convincingly enough.
“The only way anybody would ever even be able to find out is if one of us tells,” King points among us.
“I don’t plan on saying anything,” Simon agrees.
“My lips are sealed,” Dylan offers.
“I’m obviously not going to rat myself out,” I chuckle.
“See? Everything will work itself out.”
King pats me on the back, and I want him to give me a nice neck and back massage.
“Let go of your reservations,” Simon coaches. “Cast your cares to the wind.”
I lean back in my chair. “I’m afraid that’s easier said than done.”
“It might take some conditioning,” he agrees. “It is possible though.”
“Anything is possible,” King adds.
I know the guys are enhancing my research, and I’m better off sticking with them than kicking them to the curb.
“It’s just an internal struggle I’m dealing with,” I confess.
“Then let us help you work through it,” Dylan says.
“I want to, believe me,” I chuckle.
“You’re just suppressing what natural attraction you already have for us,” King tells me. “Just let it go and ignite the flame burning inside you.”
“You only live once,” Dylan says.
“That may be true, but I only have one shot at this. I can’t fuck it up,” I remind them.
“You can get fucked in the process,” King, my wild little devil grins.
“You like having multiple orgasms, don’t you?” Simon croons.
“Of course,” I bite my lip, enjoying their flirty banter.
“You’re just too sexy to ignore,” Dylan says with a wink.
“You guys are super-hot too,” I confess. “I love it when we are together.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Simon asks.
I don’t answer at first. I know I need to set boundaries with them but I’m careful to admit that to them out loud.
Then, as if reading my mind, King laughs. “We want to break the limits with you, because we think you’re worth every minute.”
My heart flips because I feel the same way about them. Every relationship that’s new is going to be exciting, sure.
Will it last? Only time will tell.
We continue to press on with our work and finish up late.
“We want you to get home safely,” King says. “Can we walk you home?”
“I can take the subway,” I wave a hand dismissively.
Simon eyes me like I’m crazy. “This time of night? Do you have a death wish?”
“No,” I laugh.
We walk out together, and I want to refuse their offer, but as we walk to the gates leading out of the university, I stop.
I’m frozen solid, I can’t move a muscle, and my breath catches in my throat.
Standing at the edge of the gate, staring directly at me with the three guys, is Brandon.
Simon
“I don’t fucking get it,” I blurt out with no preface.
Dylan and King both look at me, with expressions that are both curious and shocked. I don’t think they have any fucking idea what I’m talking about. It’s random; I’ll give them that. And seeing as we’re walking into a coffee shop, they refrain from asking any questions until we get our coffee and table.
But I couldn’t contain myself.
“I actually wanted to get her number and see her again.” I grab my black coffee at the counter, trying to process the whole situation between Krista and us. “But obviously, not like this—not in our program. This is the last thing I thought would ever happen.”
They both nod their heads in agreement, but King is the first to confess.
“Same. I’m disappointed we didn’t get to talk to her or at least get to know her more.”
“Fuck! Exactly. I wanted to get her number because I actually want to call her. Fucking crazy, right?” I say.
We find a table away from the crowd, avoiding prying eyes.
Dylan bursts out laughing and then shakes his head in disbelief. “Not crazy. That’s fucking surprising. Who would’ve thought this asshole would actually want to call a woman back? Mr. Casual Sex over he
re.” His insults are directed at me, but he’s talking to King.
“Okay, douchebag, I’m being serious here,” I say, my tone oddly clipped and harsh.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m joking. Calm down. But yeah, I guess I was a bit disappointed, too,” Dylan admits. He takes a large sip of coffee, wincing as he swallows it. “Fuck, that’s hot.”
“To have another chance with that woman, I’d do almost anything. Fucking sign me up.” King laughs.
That’s what I wanted, another mind-blowing night with Krista. Recalling that night, I had the urge to talk to her again, to know who she was at the bar. But then, she ran away too quickly.
I didn’t get the chance to ask her...or to even try.
I feel relieved knowing that I’m not the only one thinking about Krista like this, but still.
I don’t understand why I felt disappointed about it at the time or why I’m still thinking about it. That’s not like me.
Like Dylan said, I don’t do relationships—I hit it and quit it. I don’t want lingerers, and I fucking hate commitment. The night at the bar, in the closet, is the—my—perfect scenario: fuck the woman and then never see her again.
I sip my coffee, hoping it’s not so hot by now, and shake my head. “But of course, she has to be a fucking grad student in our department, doing similar research. What are the fucking chances?”
“Yeah, it got complicated way too quickly,” King says, scanning the shop, hoping not to see anyone we know—or at least, that’s what it looks like he’s doing. It’s smart seeing as we’re talking in a very public space about a very private matter.
“Seriously? How in the fuck did that happen? One second, we’re fucking her in a closet at the bar. And now, she’s in our department and working with us,” Dylan adds, shrugging his shoulders in disappointment.
“I couldn’t fucking believe my eyes when she walked into the door the other day. I almost had a heart attack.” I laugh, trying to hide how anxious I suddenly feel. “I thought, for sure, we’d be fucked.”
“Seriously, I saw you tense up like a motherfucker. It was hilarious,” Dylan quips.
“Your telling me you were fine? You didn’t think anything? Perhaps that we were caught fucking a student?”
“Nah, we’d be fine. And we still will be. If anything, when she walked in, I just knew I wanted to fuck her again. Seeing that tight-ass body stroll right in front of us, acting like she didn’t know us, it was fucking gold. I almost came in my pants on the spot.”
“You’re fucking crazy, Dylan,” I chortle, trying not to spit out my coffee.
But he’s right; I couldn’t agree more. I also wanted to fuck her on the spot, watching her walk around the campus, pass the familiar walls...
She made things surprisingly exciting again. Most importantly, she pretended like nothing happened. She radiates anxiety, but there’s a hint of excitement in her eyes, almost like she’s having fun playing pretend.
Hell, I am. It turns out to be another turn on for me—keeping our secret.
“Well, now that we do have her number, what do you think we should do with it?” King chimes in, and I can see the wheels in his head turning.
“What do you mean?” I ask, hoping for him to say what I think he’ll say.
“Do we just ignore her?” Dylan adds. “Fuck, no. At least, I won’t.”
“I’m not saying ignore her.” King looks at Dylan, already annoyed at his interruption. “I’m saying, do we want to use it...again?”
“We can use it all we want, but will she reciprocate?” Dylan asks.
King retorts, not missing a beat. “She has so far, so why wouldn’t she again? She seems to have enjoyed herself immensely.”
He’s eyes light up. He’s probably replaying her coming—us coming. I’ll never be able to get that sight out of my head.
“It’s clear that everyone involved wants this to happen. But she’ll keep trying to resist us as much as she can,” I note.
“She does have a lot more risk to take on than us, given her position in the university and ours,” King says, laying out the facts.
Everything he’s saying is true. She’s a graduate student who sees her position as more precarious than ours. And in every account, it is.
She comes to school on a scholarship, and it can easily be revoked if she’s caught finagling with professors.
Though we still have large risks to take into consideration, it’s nothing like the magnitude of her problem.
We all sit there in silence for what feels like hours, looking down at our coffee and then sipping it every once in a while.
I’m the first to break the tension-filled silence.
“Ah, fuck it. I’m not giving in. She can try to resist us all she wants, but I’m not backing down.” A weird sense of righteous and possessiveness is overtaking me.
They both look at me, taken aback by my sudden outburst...again. I’m also very loud, gathering attention from a lot of customers—something I shouldn’t be doing.
“Good, I was hoping you’d say that,” Dylan says, sitting back in his chair, crossing his arms smugly. “I didn’t want to stop pursuing her either. There’s just something about her.”“There is. And we’re about to forgo any responsibility and take on all the damn risks involved to continue to have that sweet-ass pussy.” King smiles menacingly, but the tone of his voice stays stone-cold, giving nothing away.
“Here, here! To that sweet pussy,” Dylan cheers, lifting his coffee cup and tipping it against ours.
We laugh, shaking our heads.
“To Krista,” I correct him.
We might be putting up a front for each other right now, trying to remain cool; but I know, deep down, we’re aching inside, giddy with excitement, thinking about the next time we can be with her—or in her.
How this woman got to all of us, especially me, is beyond my comprehension, and I don’t think I’ll ever understand.
It might be that she’s fucking gorgeous, and my dick goes hard at the mere mention of her name. Or it’s her passion and determination for her research that turns me on, even though I do truly admire that about her.
But who knows?
All I know is that I’m not giving her up, despite everything working against us. We’re all too good at whatever this is to not try.
With a plan set, we decide it’s time to head to the university to get some work done.
When we cross the street, we notice Krista walking ahead of us. Suddenly, her strides slow down.
I look ahead and see a man standing outside the gate, staring at her—or us? No, both.
I don’t need to hear or see anything more. I know something is wrong with this situation. And that same possessive, primal instinct takes over my body.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I don’t know the situation, and I can’t assume anything.
I also can’t go off on someone because I feel the need to protect Krista. How would that sound to the university president?
But King, Dylan, and I exchange glances and walk faster, reaching Krista.
“Do you know this guy, Krista?” I ask.
She smiles, tightly. “He’s um...he’s my ex-boyfriend.”
Oh, fuck.
I glare at the douchebag over Krista’s shoulder, eyeing him up and down like he’s my opponent in the ring. I could take him easily. And I’d be more than happy to, especially if it’s in Krista’s honor.
Krista
This can’t be happening. What the fuck is Brandon doing at the gate? How the hell did he know where to find me?
I guess he was paying attention, after all, during all those years I talked about my clean energy research.
I stand corrected, or I need to give credit where credit is due.
No, no, no. Fuck this asshole.
Annoyance foils my mood, and irrational thoughts take over as I stare into his pompous, whiny-looking face.
I glance back at the guys.
Should I just run
the opposite direction and pretend that none of this ever happened?
Yeah…that sounds like the most plausible course of action to me.
First of all, I don’t want to see Brandon ever again. Why is he here? Has he forgotten what it means when someone ignores his calls and texts?
Maybe I should remind him of that.
I know we haven’t been broken up for very long, but I can see now that he’s not a part of my life anymore. He stands in front of me, staring daggers at the three guys I’m fucking on a regular basis at this point.
Is it obvious? I wonder sheepishly. But I know the answer to that.
Ah, shit. I’m in quite a pickle, and it involves four pickles—yes, pun intended. Or at least 3 pickles and a gherkin.
King, Simon, and Dylan catch up to me; and I can feel them standing behind me now. I suppose I need to provide them with an explanation. I mean, it’s not exactly like I can pretend to not know them, because each side will give themselves away, laying claim to me.
Well, I can’t be that self-assured that the three guys feel like this new relationship is redeemable of that worthy title. But I know that if Brandon is here right now, then this country boy is ready for a fight.
I cringe because the inevitable will happen.
Oh well, so much for crawling into a hole and disappearing.
“Do you know this guy, Krista?”
I spin around to answer Simon because I can’t blatantly ignore him. Obviously, that would be rude.
Let it stand, though, that I don’t want to be having this conversation right now, but clearly, Brandon is forcing me to with his irritating presence.
I toss Simon and the other two guys a timid smile. “He’s um…” I shift my weight.
Shit, these aren’t exactly the introductions I wanted to give.
“He’s my ex-boyfriend.”
I cringe, bracing for impact. Of what recourse, I’m not yet sure.
I stare at the ground and then bravely tilt my head to face reality and the negative reaction I’ll surely be met with.
My fuck buddy trio just stares blankly at me in palpable shock.
“Ex-boyfriend,” I remind them, placing emphasis on the word ex. “We broke up a few days ago.”