One More

by Daisy May

  “It’s sexy?”

  She smirked. “Only kind of.”

  I stood up, grabbing my latte. “I’ll see you later.”

  Maybe, just maybe, I’d made a horrible mistake.

  Charlie

  Work went slowly for the next few days. I got everything done, but it felt slower because I was analyzing every interaction I had with other people.

  Was the foreman annoyed when I didn’t smile at him? Was my boss offended when I didn’t ask about his kids? What did people actually feel about me, and what other nicknames had I unknowingly been picking up?

  These people knew me. They understood I wasn’t the cheerful, chatty type. I’d never been a bubbly person, and I was never going to be. That simply wasn’t me.

  Except I’d thought those coffee shop baristas felt the same, and now I knew for a fact that wasn’t true.

  Apparently I was bad enough to get yelled at and banned from the place. And bad enough for the guy to call off a damn threesome.

  That couldn’t have been easy for Reuben. Not to brag, but I’d seen myself in the mirror. And then there was Jasper, who was my match in every way. Back in the day when we did this more regularly, the two of us rarely got turned down. Individually we were great, and the fact that we came as a package deal was even better.

  So I went about my work and came home—without going to the coffee shop. I watched TV and I did my woodworking and I worked on my ‘69 Camaro.

  I tried to talk to Jasper, but he was a little distant. The lack of conversation was fine with me—I only really did it for his sake, although after so long I’d kind of gotten used to it, and it did feel funny to talk so much less.

  But he was distant physically, too—pulling away from my touch and refusing any attempts for more than a peck on the lips. He was still sleeping in bed with me and everything, but if we weren’t having sex, I almost would’ve preferred if he’d taken the couch. It was killing me to be so close to him and not be allowed to touch him.

  We'd never really fought before. We had our spats, but they usually ended with us fucking out our differences. That tended to smooth everything over.

  Now I guessed Jasper was angry that his threesome had been taken away from him. I hadn’t realized how much he’d been looking forward to it.

  After a few days, I thought of the perfect way to make him happy again.

  “Check this out,” I said as soon as I got home.

  He was in the living room, and I plopped down on the couch beside him and pushed my phone into his hands.

  Instead of immediately telling me what a genius I was, he frowned at the screen. “What’s this?”

  “It’s what you wanted,” I explained. “We can find a third guy.”

  Now he frowned at me and held up the phone so I could look at it—as if I didn’t know what was on there already. “Seriously, Charlie? Hot bear couple seeks sexy twink for no-strings bedroom romp?”

  “You can rewrite it if you want.” Even if I’d been a little proud of my phrasing. “It was just a jumping-off point. If you don’t want me calling you a bear, or something…”

  He just shook his head. “And these pictures? Seriously?”

  I’d taken some from our last vacation—beach shots that showed our bodies—and cropped out our heads. They weren’t half-bad, in my opinion. Especially considering every other guy on this hook-up app posted full-on cock shots.

  “So… you don’t like it?” I asked.

  “No, I don’t like it!”

  “You… love it?”

  “No, Charlie.” He put his hand on my arm, smiling apologetically. “I don’t like it or love it. Did you really think I’ve been upset because we didn’t get our threesome?”

  “Well… yes.”

  “That’s not the issue,” he said. “I mean, it is an issue. But I’m upset that your behavior was bad enough to make a perfectly nice man freak out like that. It really made me question what kind of person I married.”

  “Oh.” Now that I thought about it, that did make sense. After all, I’d been questioning what kind of person I was.

  “So finding some random guy to fuck isn’t actually going to solve any of our problems.” He squeezed my arm gently, and I knew he still loved me, despite everything. “Can I delete this stupid profile? Please?”

  Putting that “stupid profile” together had taken the better part of my lunch break. “Sure,” I said.

  I didn’t even say a word about the fourteen unread messages in our inbox. I just let him hit a few buttons, and then the whole thing was gone.

  “I don’t think I want any random guys,” Jasper said. “Maybe not ever again.”

  “Okay.” Hooking up with Reuben was his idea in the first place, but again, I knew better than to comment.

  “None of these guys would be the same as him, you know?” he asked. “You didn’t even get to know him, but he’s pretty amazing. Smart, funny… The innocence you can see in him is for real, but he’s more than ready to be corrupted. And God, I was ready to do that with you.”

  I scooted an inch away on the couch. “You still want him.”

  “It’s not a big deal. I just had my heart set on him.”

  I frowned. “It would’ve just been a hook-up. It doesn’t really matter how smart or funny a guy is if we’re just banging him once. All that matters is that he loves dick and he’s got stamina.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  But Jasper looked so sad about it, I wondered if there might be any way to get Reuben for him.

  Reuben

  I was a normal person with a normal social life. That is to say, I got texts sometimes. Not an exceptional amount, but enough that my phone vibrating shouldn’t have been any particular cause for excitement.

  And usually, it wasn’t. Today was different because I was still vaguely hoping to hear from Jasper and Charlie again.

  It was stupid. I was the one who’d rejected them. If for some reason I wanted the threesome to happen after all, I should reach out to them. They weren’t going to pursue me at this point. I wasn’t interested, anyway. They’d be harassing me if they ever texted me. Practically stalkers.

  Except I totally did want the threesome to happen, and I was downright annoyed that they hadn’t contacted me.

  “Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?” Hannah asked an hour or two into our shift. “I would’ve thought you’d be in a better mood now that Mr. A’s stopped coming in.”

  Ugh, she just had to remind me. “I’m fine,” I said. “Customer’s here!”

  I stood back and let her speak to the guy who’d just come through the door. He was ordering coffees for his entire department at work, so serving him took both of us several minutes.

  But when we finished, Hannah went right back to what we’d been talking about. “You’re telling me you’ve been walking around with that sour face for days because nothing happened?”

  “Contrary to what you apparently think, my personal life is not your business,” I sighed. “How about we talk about you instead? What ever happened with that thing you were planning with your boyfriend?”

  That got her off the subject. “It’s happening this weekend,” she breathed. “I’m so excited. I’ve never done anything like this before. Can you imagine? My boyfriend and another man, focused completely on my pleasure… Two hot guys all for me…”

  “They’re not into each other?”

  “Nope. My boyfriend wasn’t really enthusiastic about this, because he says there’s not much in it for him, but he’s willing to try because I told him I’ve always wanted to. I told him there may be a tiny chance of me returning the favor with a two-girl threesome. I think he might’ve overestimated that chance, but hey, what can you do?” She gave me an innocent shrug.

  “Who’s the other guy?” I asked.

  “An old friend of mine,” she said. “We always had chemistry, but we were never single at the same time. That’s why it’s so cool that we’re going to get to try
this out.”

  That kind of seemed like a terrible idea to me. Before I could say anything, another customer came into the coffee shop.

  By the end of my shift, I’d pretty much given up hope of any texts coming. Well, I pretty much said that every day. But I had to believe it for real. If I wasn’t going to reach out to the other guys, I shouldn’t whine and complain—even mentally—that they weren’t reaching out to me.

  I got in the car, checking my phone longingly one last time.

  Except this time, there was a new text. And it was from the number I’d saved under Charlie.

  Hey.

  Holy shit. My heart started pounding like a bass drum. Sweat pooled under my arms and, I’ll admit it, a rather powerful twinge went through my cock.

  Yeah, just seeing the word “hey” could do that to me. At least when it was coming from Charlie.

  I typed back, Hi.

  Wait, I needed to check the time stamp before I sent it. What if he’d just texted me five minutes ago? Worse, one minute ago? I couldn’t respond too fast, or I’d seem way too eager. Even if what I really wanted to write back was Please bury your dick in my ass at your earliest possible convenience.

  It’d been almost half an hour since he’d texted, which was good enough for me. I hit send.

  Next I spent a couple of minutes playing Solitaire on my phone—out of pure love for the game, of course. Nothing to do with waiting around to see if Charlie would text me back. I’d never do something like that.

  He didn’t write back immediately, and I was getting hungry, so I headed back to my place. I tried to put the whole thing out of my mind as I drove. After all, “hey” could mean anything. Maybe he’d sent it to the wrong person!

  I did pretty well at not thinking about it. I even managed to get the egg salad wrap I’d brought from the coffee shop onto a plate before I pulled out my phone. I stuck the wrap in the microwave and checked my messages. There was a new one!

  How’s things, Charlie had written.

  My stomach flipped over, and a grin came over my face before I could make the effort to wipe it off. I did get rid of it after a second, though. It was freaking stupid to be this happy about a two-word message. The man hadn’t even added a question mark! How rude was that?

  But the question had come from him. This was more polite than Charlie had ever been, and I wanted to know what he wanted more than I cared about the lack of punctuation.

  Good, how are you? I hit “send” before I remembered to check the time stamp.

  God dammit! He’d only sent that ten minutes ago. I was giving away my excitement.

  Except, as I analyzed the conversation more closely, I noticed he’d sent “how’s things” a mere two minutes after my last text.

  A tiny smile came onto my face as hope blossomed within me.

  Seemed like Charlie was a little excited about this conversation, too.

  Jasper

  “I’ve got a surprise for you,” Charlie told me on Friday night.

  I set down my briefcase and loosened my tie. “Oh? A food-related surprise, I hope?” My mouth watered in hopes that he’d picked up some take-out from the Chinese place we both liked.

  “Not that kind of surprise.”

  “But I had to work through lunch and I’m starving.”

  He shook his head at me. “I’ll order something if you want, but you’re going to want to see this surprise first.”

  “What is it? You’re making me nervous.”

  Especially after his last “surprise” was so poorly thought out. Honestly, I’d questioned his judgment after that. But then, the hook-up app had also reminded me how much he loved me and vice versa.

  Things had been much better between us since then, although he’d been a bit wary of me seeing his phone. I wondered if that had anything to do with this.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re going to love this surprise.” Grinning, he took my hand to lead me into the living room.

  My stomach was empty and my eyes were tired, which meant it took me several long seconds to realize that Reuben Hartman was seated on our couch.

  What was he doing here? Charlie had brought him here? As Reuben looked at me, the expression on his face was nothing short of terrified.

  “Reuben, are you okay?” I asked. “You’re here of your own free will?”

  Charlie snorted, but Reuben cracked a smile—although I hadn’t actually been joking. “Charlie texted me,” he said softly. “He invited me over tonight. I’d been feeling silly for leaving so suddenly last time, so I thought maybe it’d be okay to give our get-together another try.” He paused. “If you want to, of course.

  “I definitely do.” I sat on the couch beside him and touched his shoulder. I was so amazed to see him that it felt like I had to confirm that he was there for real. “You two didn’t kill each other while you were waiting for me to get home?”

  “He just let me in and then left me in here with the TV.” Reuben smiled. “We had no opportunity to be at each other’s throats.”

  “You seem awfully good-humored about all of this,” Charlie said to Reuben. “Especially considering the way you ran out of here last time.”

  “I know—and I should probably apologize for that.” He looked scared again, or maybe more self-conscious. “See, I’ve never done anything like what we were about to do. I was already freaking out a little inside when you got home, and then when I saw who it was, I…”

  I squeezed his shoulder. “That’s okay. We’re just glad you came back.”

  “Charlie’s actually nice over text messages.”

  Charlie let out a soft huff, while I nodded. “He is nice underneath it all,” I said. “He just doesn’t quite know how to show it. It’s not like coffee shop baristas are the only ones he’s a dick to. He acts like that with everyone.”

  “Excuse me!” Charlie exclaimed.

  “Excuse yourself.” I put my arm around Reuben’s shoulders.

  I still couldn’t believe he was here—that he was giving us a second chance. I inhaled his scent again. He must’ve been working today, because the smell of coffee and donuts was strong. I squeezed him close, not wanting to let him go. But it’s only for one night…

  “I’m perfectly nice,” Charlie said, still sounding offended. He was standing at the doorway, and he folded his arms over his chest.

  “Nice when you want to get into someone’s pants,” Reuben muttered.

  Uh-oh. Maybe they weren’t done with fighting yet. “Both of you, calm down,” I said.

  But Charlie was already taking a step forward. “You have something to say to me?”

  Reuben stood up, too. “Just pointing out that you might not have people running out on threesomes if you actually treated them like human beings.”

  Oh, shit. “Guys, stop.” I threw myself between them just in case. Charlie’s eyes were blazing, and Reuben wouldn’t stand a chance if things got physical.

  “You wouldn’t think I was so mean if you made my coffee right the first time.” Charlie stepped closer.

  Reuben refused to back down. “I’m surprised you can even make full sentences. As far as I could tell, all you do is grunt.”

  “You little shit.”

  “You freaking jerk.”

  I whirled back. Reuben looked as furious as Charlie did, and I didn’t know how to get them to settle down. What had happened to the night of passion we were planning?

  As I looked from one to the other, something strange happened. I could feel the heat between them. And to my surprise, it was turning me on.

  A little choked sound came out of my mouth, and both of them turned to me. “Jasper?” Charlie asked, grabbing my hand.

  Reuben touched my back. “Are you okay?”

  “Don’t you worry whether he’s okay,” Charlie snapped. “He’s my husband.”

  “Whoa.” My head was starting to spin now. All the blood in my body was rapidly making its way down to my groin. “The two of you…”
<
br />   “We’ll stop fighting if you want,” Reuben said.

  Charlie made a face, but then nodded tersely. “Yeah. For you, we can stop fighting.”

  “No,” I said. “That’s not it.” I gestured at the lengthy outline that had appeared under my pants.

  “Huh?” Both of them gaped at me.

  “Keep fighting,” I said. “It’s really fucking hot.”

  Reuben

  Jasper found this hot? I struggled to make sense of what he was saying. Yeah, I was all worked up, my face flushed and my body on edge. But that was out of anger. I couldn’t stand this Charlie guy. No way did I want to get in bed with him.

  Even if his eyes were gorgeously lit up as he launched cutting words at me. Even if I could almost feel his body covering me as he worked out that aggression on my more-than-willing hole…

  Jasper wasn’t even the first one to feel this way. I thought back to what Hannah had said. He’s a pain in the ass, but it’s also kind of sexy to watch the two of you facing off. Maybe she had a point.

  “I thought you were hungry,” I finally said to Jasper.

  “Forget food. We’ll get some later.” He grabbed both of our hands, moving us toward what I assumed was the bedroom. “Right now, I want you two to fuck it out.”

  A gasp escaped my lips as he pulled me along. His eyes were firm, his grip determined, and I already knew he’d be getting his way. A minute ago I’d been positive I hated Charlie… and now we were about to have sex.

  My life had been an absolute rollercoaster since I met this couple, and I wondered when I’d get off. Maybe in a few minutes—pun intended. In all seriousness, though, I was damn close to addicted. And I’d barely had my first taste.

  We reached the master bedroom. It was huge, with a picture window at one end and a fireplace at the other. Sunlight streamed in—it was still that early in the evening—and a chandelier hung from the ceiling for when it got darker.

  The bed was low-slung and huge, with a black-and-blue-striped cover. My heart caught in my throat as I realized it was big enough for three. They probably did this often enough that they’d bought a bed that size on purpose. Not that I cared or anything. After tonight, I never wanted to see Charlie again.