by Nicole Casey
“I would say the idea has been very recent,” I replied, staring at her meaningfully.
It’s too fast. You’re going to scare her off.
I could hear the warnings in my head, but I couldn’t stop myself from saying what I wanted to say. I meant the words too.
Abruptly I changed the subject and gestured at the bouquet.
“Someone is trying to show me up,” I said casually, gauging Maya’s face for a reaction. “They are lovely.”
The air in the room seemed to still and grow heavy as the men looked at each other and then at Maya.
“No one is showing you up,” she muttered as she began to chew on her lower lip. “They shouldn’t have come here.”
A flutter of unease swept by me and I looked imploringly at her.
“Jilted lover?” I half-joked but to my dismay, her face only grew darker.
“Oh for heaven’s sake. Just tell him before he dehydrates playing twenty questions,” Chase snapped. “Maya has a stalker.”
“What?” I laughed, expecting it to be a joke but again my affect was misplaced, and no one cracked a smile.
I really do not know my audience here at all, I mused grimly.
It was becoming more apparent by the second.
“I don’t have a stalker,” Maya corrected as Chase rolled his eyes. “I have an infatuated client. I’m sure it is nothing.”
But there was no reassurance in her voice.
“Who is this guy? Do you know?” I demanded, my tone sharper than I intended but the feeling of protectiveness was clouding me.
“He’s harmless,” Maya insisted. “A bunch of flowers doesn’t constitute a stalker.”
“Yeah but inviting himself over to your house with his girlfriend, that’s a little stalkerish, My,” Chase argued.
I was having a difficult time keeping up with the conversation.
“Wait what? He came here uninvited? Maya, that’s serious. You should contact the police.”
“I am not calling the cops on my client who has no social graces. He is harmless. Now drop it.” Maya was annoyed, but I could still detect the worry in her eyes.
“You don’t have to file a complaint –” I started to say but Malcolm held up his hand.
“She doesn’t need the police,” Mal interjected. “We’ve got her back here. We take care of each other, don’t we?”
Maya nodded as Mal slipped his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. Her head fell back against his shoulder, her eyes half-closed.
A weird sensation of jealousy and suspicion coursed through me as I studied the body language between Mal and Maya.
It hit me then like a ton of bricks.
They were lovers.
Dizzy, I stood as the dynamic of the house began to sink in.
I was about to have supper in a commune.
Maya had invited me to have dinner with her and her lovers.
I felt like I was in the plot of a bad movie suddenly.
“Where are you going?” Maya asked but I was finding in difficult to breathe.
“You are – you’re…” I couldn’t finish my sentence. Instead, I whirled to run from the house.
What kind of freak show had I walked into? How could I have thought I had feelings for a woman like that?
I rushed toward the front door, pulling it open and hurrying out to my car.
As the door swung inward, I froze in my tracks.
Someone had busted out every window on my BMW.
8
Maya
“What the hell?” Chase asked as Slade ran from the kitchen, but I knew what had caused him to flee. I didn’t even have to think about it.
I had been right to invite him to the house.
He needed to see what he was getting into before we went a step further.
There could not be a step further, I thought woefully. But deep down I had always known that.
A sinking sensation threatened to erupt from my stomach as I stepped away from Malcolm.
“Are you going after him?” Mal demanded and I nodded but before I could even leave the room, I heard Slade swearing from the front of the house.
We ran toward him and saw him still in the doorway.
“Slade,” I started to say but as he turned to look at me, I could see that his face was ghastly pale. Without a word, he pointed toward the lawn and we scurried closer, each of us gasping in shock as our eyes rested on what had happened.
“Oh my God,” I mumbled, stumbling from the house toward the malicious disaster on the lawn. “Why would he do this?”
“Maya, come back in the house,” Mal growled, rushing out to meet me. He grabbed me by the arm, but I brushed him off angrily.
Tears filled my eyes as I saw that the headlights had been smashed out and the sideview mirrors too.
“He’s right, Maya. Come inside,” Slade said quietly, seizing me by the shoulders and turned me around. My initial reaction was to shake him off too until he spoke again, and I could hear the concern in his tone.
“He could still be out here,” Slade said. “If he’s unhinged enough to do this…”
Cold shivers slipped through me and I allowed him to guide the way, but we stopped again when we read the garish red words on the house.
“WHORE” screamed out at us from the face of the house and this time I couldn’t stop the tears from slipping down my cheeks.
“Oh Mal,” I murmured, horrified that I had brought such vandalism to his house. “I am so sorry.”
“Stop it!” Mal commanded as we ventured back into the house. “You had nothing to do with this.”
“I’m calling the cops,” Chase said, hurrying away for the phone in the kitchen.
Numbly, I fell onto the sofa in the living room, unsure of what to do next.
I looked from Mal to Slade, hoping they could read the sadness in my eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” I mumbled again, burying my face in my hands. “I should have called the cops before. I didn’t think he was this bad.”
But I had my suspicions, of course I had.
The night he had shown up in the house, I could read his naked longing even though his date was right there.
How could I have been so naïve?
I stole a look at Slade in my peripheral vision and I wondered the same thing about him.
“We’ll figure out your car,” I babbled. “And find you a way home. Mal, can you take him home?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Slade said flatly, and I gazed at him in surprise. He met my look and shook his head.
“You think I’m going to leave you here when there’s a psychopath running around with a bat? How long was I in here before he did anything? Twenty minutes? He’s watching and waiting. I’m not leaving you alone to deal with that.”
My heart swelled with affection and I lowered my eyes as guilt seized me.
“It’s okay,” I breathed. “Mal is here. The police are coming. You don’t have to stay.”
Slade grabbed me by the shoulders, his eyes flashing with something I didn’t understand.
“Do you think I want to leave you?” he demanded, confusion flooding his expression. “I don’t! I just can’t bear the thought of sharing you with anyone.”
I gulped back the lump in my throat and nodded, hastily wiping the damp corners of my eyes.
“I tried to be as honest as I could with you,” I told him, my heart unsettled as I said the words. “I warned you that I didn’t date, that there could never be anything serious between us.”
Slade nodded, shooting Malcolm a look I couldn’t decipher before turning his attention back to me.
“You did warn me,” he agreed. “I just didn’t want to hear it. It’s not your fault. It’s mine for not hearing you when you tried so hard to explain.”
There was such melancholy in his tone and I wondered why my heart was cracking.
Maybe because I knew that while I had tried to be honest with Slade, I had not been honest with myself
.
I was falling in love with the man, despite everything I had ever known about myself.
Could I be the woman who falls for one man? Could this Type A, investment banker be my soulmate?
The idea seemed so far fetched but it was the only explanation I had for whatever was happening inside me.
Malcolm looked away, but something told me he knew how I felt.
What did that mean for him?
No! I told myself firmly. No, let Slade go. He doesn’t need to be a part of this lifestyle. Loving you will only cause him heartache. He cannot adapt to this life and you can’t adjust to his. It is better that he just goes before this gets any more complicated for him.
“The cops are here,” Chase announced, the cordless landline still in his hand.
Slowly, the three of us rose to deal with the aftermath of what Troy Caspian had done.
I wondered how we would deal with the aftermath of what I had done.
* * *
Nothing was resolved, of course.
There was no proof that Troy had done anything.
A bouquet of flowers and a questionable invitation to our house did not make for a stalker but I knew it was him and so did Malcolm.
The police promised to speak with him and ask him to stay away as a courtesy but that didn’t mean anything to any of us.
Troy would strike again.
And next time it would be worse.
Slade decided to stay the night despite Mal’s offer to drive him home.
In some way I was relieved that he wanted to stay but on the other hand, I was unnerved having him so close.
Mal set Slade up in one of the empty bedrooms and I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering how everything had gotten so messy in such a short time.
Weeks ago I was happy-go-lucky Maya without a care in the world, living life the way I wanted.
Suddenly I was thrust into a place of uncertainty and doubt as my soul yearned to run to Slade and press myself up against him for comfort.
I drifted off at some moment, but I was wakened by the feeling of hot breath on my cheek.
I bolted upright but Slade put his hand on me to steady my nerves.
“It’s only me,” he murmured. “It’s okay.”
“What are you doing in here?” I gasped. “Is everything okay?”
He nodded, and I settled back, my pulse still racing.
“I can’t let you go,” he told me quietly and instantly a lump formed in my throat.
I opened my mouth to protest but he put his lips against mine.
“I won’t let you go,” he whispered as we parted.
He was saying everything I wanted to hear; yet it filled me with dread simultaneously.
How could I make him understand that I wanted him but feared the future?
Slade didn’t want to talk, and his mouth found its way to my shoulder as he drew me against his warm, naked frame into the spooning position.
“Close your eyes,” he breathed. “Just let me be with you.”
I could hardly resist his command when I was already becoming a quivering mass beneath his touch and I let out a small sigh as his hand slipped around the front of my legs to rub my clef slowly.
The blankets were stripped away from our bodies as he rocked himself behind me but suddenly there were another set of hands on me and my eyes flew open as I gaped at Malcolm who slid upward to sandwich me between them.
Mal’s face was dreamy, his mouth finding the curve of my neck as Slade continued to nuzzle my shoulders with his.
Mal’s arrival inspired Slade’s fingers to work faster as Mal continued his journey across the front of my body, capturing my nipple in his mouth, his hands against my breasts.
A shock of wetness escaped my center as I tried to understand how Slade was permitting this to happen, but the pleasure was overwhelming my senses and Slade grew harder behind me, his shaft seeking an entry point.
I moaned as he finally placed himself inside me, jutting my hip against him to feel his huge cock at such an intense angle.
My breath caught as Mal’s hand took over the manipulation of my throbbing clit, his mouth still firmly suckling on my breast and Slade grunted in my ear.
I was having sensory overload, suddenly losing track of whose hands were where as Slade filled me harder and longer, his strokes amassing vigor with each cry I released.
I orgasmed one after the other, writhing between my two lovers.
Mal’s teeth nipped at the tender skin and I yelped, sending Slade into his release, hot juices spilling down my legs and up my core in unison.
Slade withdrew from me and I turned to look into his face, wanting to read his expression so badly.
He smiled at me and then nodded at Mal.
Malcolm looked at me and our eyes locked as we communicated silently.
“No,” Mal said, pulling himself off me. He tucked the sheet in around my body and I felt a warmth grow inside me.
“Mal,” Slade said, looking at me desperately. “We talked about this. I am willing to do whatever it takes to keep Maya. I – I’m okay with this. If this is how she is happiest, I can accommodate her. I just want to be with her.”
Mal grinned and shook his dark head, standing.
“You’re a terrible liar because you’re not okay with this but even if you were, Maya isn’t, are you?”
I shook my head and turned to Slade, tears clouding my vision.
“You would be willing to share me just to be with me?” I choked, and he nodded.
“I don’t even want to think about what my life would be like without you, Maya. You have already improved the quality of my existence in days. If this is what you want –”
“It’s not what she wants,” Mal assured him. “She wants you. Right, Maya?”
I nodded, wishing I didn’t feel so conflicted about telling Malcolm the truth but when I looked into his dark eyes, I saw nothing but understanding and love.
“I’m sorry Mal,” I told him, shaking my head. “I have never felt this way about anyone in my life. I have to pursue it.”
Malcolm grinned and shook his head.
“You deserve nothing but good things, Maya,” he assured me. “And I prefer him to Troy.”
Slade and I groaned simultaneously and Mal took that as his cue to bow out, chuckling lightly.
I turned to Slade.
“I don’t know if I can promise you –”
“I don’t want you to promise me anything but that you’ll continue to be honest,” he interjected. “I can handle anything you throw at me after this, I’m sure.”
I laughed and fell back into his arms, pressing my ear against his chest and savoring the sound of his heartbeat.
He kissed the top of my head lovingly and in that moment, I felt safe, secure.
“So do you think I can see you this weekend?” he asked, and I giggled.
“Maybe,” I teased. “But you’re going to have to stand in line.”
“Again?”
“This time the competition is fierce,” I replied. “It will be my family.”
“You family?”
I nodded.
“It’s my birthday this weekend. Did I mention I’m a triplet?”
9
Troy
There was a fury mounting in me and even I was surprised at the ferocity at which it struck.
I could not understand how my infatuation with Maya had gone so disgustingly unreciprocated.
She’s a liar, I thought furiously. She pretends to be someone she’s not.
It had started so beautifully.
I skipped work to attend her yoga classes and she still paid special attention to me like I mattered but then I saw her talking to other men.
I tried to brush it off, telling myself that she was just a tease but when I started hearing the rumors, how she would give it up to anyone, I had to know if they were true.
I refused to believe it. After all, Maya was perfect. She was my angel.<
br />
It took me a day to learn her routine, her jobs and her comings and goings. She really was a creature of habit more or less and easy to track down.
I enlisted Cara who was an unsuspecting accomplice in what I was doing.
In my heart I knew it wasn’t really wrong, but I didn’t want others to misconstrue my crush for anything more than it was.
People are so judgmental these days.
All I wanted was to see Maya and make her see me too.
Cara blew everything the night we showed up at Malcolm Trainor’s house and I could feel that Maya just wasn’t happy to see me.
She couldn’t even be bothered to stay and have a drink with us even though I begged her.
She brushed me off without a second thought, leaving me feeling like a loser who had broken into her house or something.
Is she sleeping with Malcolm? I wondered. Is that why Malcolm told me I didn’t have a shot?
To make matters worse, Cara had begun hurling accusations at me, threatening to tell Maya and Malcolm that I was acting strangely if I didn’t stop it.
I hadn’t seen Cara since that night, but she was not forgotten.
After I dealt with Maya, I would tend to Cara too.
They are all such betraying bitches. Maya, Cara, Regan. They don’t deserve a man like me. They don’t deserve goodness at all.
A dozen unhealthy thoughts coursed through me after that night and I found myself consumed with vile thoughts, ideas I shouldn’t have had about the sweet-faced redhead who had stolen my heart all those months ago.
When I spent all that money on those baby roses and she couldn’t be bothered to thank me, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
She needed to pay for her rudeness, for leading me on.
We could have had something special if she had only given us a shot, but she was too busy spreading her legs for everyone else.
I knew where she lived at least and the night I had sent the roses, I went back to the farmhouse.
I waited in the shadows, wanting to ensure that I had my chance to get her alone.
I wasn’t going to do anything; I just wanted to talk to her, to make her see she was being an unreasonable whore.