by Lane Hart
“Exactly,” Nix says, then winces when he realizes he just agreed with me on something.
“There are plenty of nice women out there…” Quinton says while rubbing his chin in thought. “Just don’t look for them at the stadium. Or at a club. Probably not here in town either since everyone knows who you two are…”
“Great advice,” Nix tells him blandly.
“Stellar,” I agree, then hate myself for agreeing with that chump.
“See, this is something you two can bond over, right? Both of you finding a beautiful, decent woman to have a committed relationship with. I promise you there’s more than one. In fact, there are two right here in this house,” Quinton tells us as he jabs his finger into the table trying to make a point. “Not that you can have Callie or Kelsey. They’re both off limits, of course; but I mean women like them are out there. You just have to find them.”
And just as I expected, even if Kelsey was interested in me and I allowed myself to have another chance with her, there’s no way Quinton would let that fly. Most likely because of my previous reputation with women, a rule I’ve been living by since I was fifteen.
“You know what?” Quinton says as he pushes his chair back and gets to his feet. “I bet Kelsey has some friends that she could probably convince to go out with you two shitheads. Kelsey?” he belts out her name as he strolls out of the dining room in the direction of the hallway.
Nixon and I look at each other for a second before we’re both up from our seats and moving to see who can reach them faster. I win, barely, and get to the bedroom door just as Kelsey opens it and sees the three of us standing there staring at her.
Tonight, she’s barefoot in a pair of tight, black yoga pants and an oversized Wildcats tee with her long brown hair up off her neck. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything sexier on a woman. She looks cute and comfortable like she’s dressed for a roll in the hay followed by making a batch of cookies and then binging on a Netflix series.
“Yes, sir?” Kelsey asks timidly with her brown eyes wide and cheeks stained pink like she thinks she’s in trouble. And fuck if her submissive words don’t make me think of her on her knees asking me instead.
“Have you got any single friends looking for more than a one-night stand?” Quinton inquires.
“Huh?” she asks him, blinking in confusion.
“Nix and Cam here are looking for dates, like the real deal, or so they say,” Quinton explains to her before glaring at each of us as if to warn us that we better not be lying and fuck Kelsey’s friends over.
“No, that’s okay,” I start since I’m not looking for a relationship. Even now I wouldn’t put it past my father to try and sleep with a girl I’m with just to teach me a lesson about not letting anything distract me from football.
Completely ignoring me, Quinton tells Kelsey, “They want nice girls who don’t chase dollars or sleep around, that sort of thing. Know anyone who might be interested?”
“Ahh,” Kelsey mutters, looking at each of us in turn, reminding me of poor little Bambi lost and alone in the woods without her mother. Her unease and bafflement shouldn’t be cute, but it is.
“Surely, you know some ladies who wouldn’t turn a guy down for a date, right?” Nixon pipes up and says to her, the antagonism in his tone obvious at least to me.
“Maybe,” Kelsey squeaks.
“Why don’t you two write down your numbers for Kelsey, and then she can call you if she finds any takers?” Quinton suggests. “I’ll go find a pen and some paper.”
He wanders back to the living room, so I take the opportunity to swagger up to Kelsey’s side and brush a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Sorry about the friend thing,” I tell her softly. “Quinton’s just trying to be helpful.”
“Yeah. Right,” she says with a nod.
“You know I’m feeling more talkative all of a sudden,” Nix says when he saddles up to the other side of Kelsey and leans his shoulder against the wall. “Maybe I should tell Quinton the sordid details about the party, get everything out in the open. I mean, the three of us did fuck right here under his roof, so shouldn’t he know?”
“No,” Kelsey and I both say.
“Gonna take more than that to convince me to keep my mouth shut,” Nix replies with an evil villain grin, warning me that I’m not gonna like whatever he says next. “I want a do-over.”
“A do-over?” I repeat in disbelief. “You can’t be fucking serious. Even if I could, which you know I can’t, I wouldn’t do that with you again.”
Chapter Ten
Nixon
My buddy clearly doesn’t get it, but I saw it on Kelsey’s face the second she stepped out of the bedroom. No, scratch that. I saw the desire on her face the night she watched me while Cam was kissing her under the mistletoe and then later when he was inside of her.
Kelsey wants both of us.
If we make her pick between Cam or me, she’ll refuse. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body and wouldn’t want to hurt one of us. But she won’t refuse if she gets the two-for-one deal again.
My best friend may have superstitions, or more like hang-ups, when it comes to banging the same chick twice, but I know him, and his competitive side will override that rule in this instance. It has to, because there’s no way I’m not having Kelsey again. And if she requires Cam too, then by God I will make that happen.
“Kelsey?” I ask since she hasn’t responded to my threat.
She bites down on her bottom lip because she doesn’t want to say yes, just like she didn’t ask for my cock while Cam was going down on her but she wanted it all the same. When they were kissing, she practically eye-fucked me into following them into that bedroom, because she wanted me and him. But Kelsey’s a sweet girl who probably thinks she shouldn’t want two guys at the same time, so she won’t admit it even now. That’s why I save her the trouble and answer for her.
“She’s in,” I tell Cam without looking away from Kelsey. “Be a good girl and go get your phone so you can put our numbers in it,” I tell her. Her brown eyes widen a second before she turns and disappears back into her room.
“Are you out of your mind?” Cam whispers. “That was a one-time thing. I can’t do it again even if I wanted to.”
“You want to, and you can have home field advantage,” I tell him. “Friday night, your place. Our plane doesn’t leave until Saturday afternoon, so she can stay over all night.”
“Do I even get a say in this?” he huffs, but if I can already read Kelsey after barely knowing her, then I sure as fuck know my best friend. Former best friend. He’s definitely in, because he wants to try and one-up me.
“You don’t need to say anything,” I tell Cam as I pull out my cell phone. “She’s gonna come over to your place. And even if you can’t technically fuck her again because of your stupid rule, you can still do other things with her, right? Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Not with you there, it’s not,” he says, making me grind my teeth together in annoyance.
“Tough shit. Threesome or no-some. That’s your choice,” I reply as I tap on the screen to pull up my contact list and enter Kelsey’s name. Cameron hasn’t figured Kelsey out yet, and I don’t plan to enlighten him on how it’ll be both or neither of us taking her to bed. His stupid self-imposed rule may not allow him to penetrate her, but he wouldn’t turn down a blowjob.
Kelsey comes back to the door with her phone in her hand, and I glance over to catch the surprised look on Cameron’s face when she complies with my request, asking us our numbers that we both give her.
“Jeez, that took forever but I finally found a pen!” Quinton says as he comes strolling back down the hallway.
“Thanks, Quinn, but we’ve taken care of it,” I tell him. “Now, what’s your number, Kelsey?” I ask her. She only hesitates a moment since it would be rude to not give it to us in front of Quinton. She calls out the seven digits, and I quickly plug them into my phone.
“Got it. Thanks fo
r your help,” I tell her with a grin and a wink Quinton can’t see, since he’s standing behind me and he still thinks Kelsey’s gonna set us up on dates with her friends.
“Ah, yeah,” she replies, somewhat flustered, face still blazing red hot. “You’re welcome.”
In a few days, she’ll be the one thanking me when Cam and I make her come over and over again.
“I know!” Quinton says, nearly making me groan because I have a feeling I’m not gonna share his enthusiasm for his new idea. “Let’s all double date, or triple date,” he suggests. “Kelsey, do you think you can find Cam and Nix dates for Friday night?”
“Sure,” she replies even though her jaw is clenched tight.
Good, she doesn’t like the idea of us with other women. Maybe a little jealousy will force her to admit that she wants another night with us.
“Great!” the matchmaking fucker says. “And if Kelsey is getting you two dates, then the least you can do is set her up, right? Then we can all quadruple date.”
Ha! Yeah right. Quinton wants Cam and I to have to work together finding Kelsey a date. Little does he know that may be the one thing we can agree on.
“We can do that,” Cam agrees, and I’m certain he’s not throwing in the towel but opting to find the shittiest date ever, just like I’m planning.
“Sounds good. I’ll ask Callie to make reservations wherever she and the baby feel like eating, then I’ll find us a babysitter,” Quinton tells us. “This is gonna be fun. Then you two can get all your shit sorted before Sunday night’s game.”
Right. Sorted. Sure thing, QB.
Chapter Eleven
Kelsey
Jeez! I thought I would be safe from any and all confrontations with two sexy football players tonight, and then, WHAM!, I’m face-to-face with both…along with Quinton, so I had assumed that he'd found out. Only I came to find out my boss didn’t know I slept with two of his teammates at the same time. He actually wants me to set them up on dates with my friends!
What in the world is going on? I swear it’s like I’m in the middle of the Twilight Zone. My boring life is suddenly filled with enough drama to start a television series.
Do I want to set up Cameron or Nixon on dates? Hell no. The thought of them dating other women right in front of me makes my stomach roll with nausea, but it’s not like I have a choice unless I want to tell Quinton the whole truth. And that’s not going to happen. It’s bad enough that two men know about my slutty night, and I plan on keeping it that way.
Scrolling through my call log, I look at each friend’s name and try to determine who I could ask out for the men I’ve slept with.
If I push aside the jealousy and be honest with myself, setting Cameron and Nixon up is a good thing. I’ll pick my two most beautiful friends from school that all guys love. Then they’ll forget all about me, and I won’t end up getting my heart broken. Again. Sure it’ll suck to see the guys move on, and I need to warn the girls not to get attached because those two are never going to commit or settle down with one woman. But at the end of the night, I’ll be free and clear so that I can move on with my life and look for a decent man who will actually stick around.
A knock raps against my bedroom door, but I hesitate before answering. I don’t think I can handle any more of Cameron or Nixon tonight, much less my boss, who I’m now lying by omission to. I thought the guys had left, but maybe I was wrong.
“Kelsey, can I come in?” Callie’s voice asks from the other side of the door, and I blow out a breath of relief.
“Sure, it’s open,” I tell her from where I’m sitting on the edge of the mattress, contemplating the complexities of my life as I scroll through my contact list.
I slap a fake smile on my face when Callie comes in. She shuts the door to lean her back against it.
“I couldn’t help but hear…” she starts. And when I look up, she finishes her sentence with a nod toward the hallway.
Oh, crap.
“You did?” I ask, refusing to admit anything since I’m not sure what she heard exactly or what it would sound like to a bystander.
“Everything okay?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest, accentuating her small bump that’s growing underneath.
“Everything’s fine,” I assure her even if that’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard with my own ears.
“You sure?” she says in disbelief and her eyes narrowed in what I’m starting to realize is anger. “It sounded like Nixon was blackmailing you.”
“What? No,” I reply quickly with a brush of my hand through the air to wave that notion off.
“Really? Because he asked for sex in exchange for not telling Quinton that you slept with him and Cameron at the Christmas party.”
The bottom half of my jaw separates from the top entirely when Callie manages to sum it all up in one sentence.
“How…how did you…?” Words fail me, because what do I say to that.
“So, he is blackmailing you?” she asks, pushing away from the door to come sit on the bed beside me.
“No,” I tell her. “I mean, it’s not blackmail if it’s something I want to do, right? Besides, after I set them up with dates Friday, I’ll be completely erased from their radar.”
“Oh,” Callie replies, eyebrows pinched in thought. “Guess it’s none of my business. I was just worried because his tone sounded threatening.” I’m pretty sure she’s biting her tongue to refrain from saying more.
Honestly, I’m confused about a lot of things but not how much I want Nixon. And Cameron. Even though I know that I shouldn’t.
“I was crazy to fool around with both of them, I know,” I say for her. “But it’s all over now. They don’t want anything serious. And even though Nix said he wants a do-over, both will be distracted by their dates after Friday even if they are looking for more, right?”
“Well, I think I would’ve agreed with you earlier today before Quinton came home worried about those two going at each other during practice…” Callie trails off.
“That wasn’t about me,” I assure her. “I think those two are just super competitive and can’t stand to lose.”
“Yeah, well, that’s a pretty big problem, Kelsey, because there can only be one winner here.”
“What do you mean?” I ask. “It’s done and over.”
“If this turns out to be more than a hookup or a fling, then you’ll have to choose eventually.”
“No, I won’t, because that’s definitely not going to happen,” I argue.
“How do you figure that?” she asks with an arched eyebrow.
“Because I doubt if I’ll see them again after Friday. And even if I do, I’ll refuse to pick one over the other. Nixon asked me out, but I turned him down, since I assume he was just trying to get a leg up on Cameron. And if Cameron asked, I would say no.”
“But together…” Callie puts two and two together, or in this case one and one. Being with both means I’m not choosing, so no one has the upper hand in whatever competitive little game those two play with each other. I refuse to become one of their bets, but I can admit to myself that the idea of being with both again does make my stomach clench with desire. Desire is not enough reason to give in, though, so I’ll set the guys up on dates so that the three of us can move on.
“Being with both, that makes me a huge slut, doesn’t it?” I ask her flat out.
“Kelsey, you’re like the least slutty girl I know,” Callie answers with a laugh. “Slutty would be if you were sleeping with both behind their backs. You’re not sneaking around, and the three of you are adults who can make your own decisions. I just didn’t want you to get hurt or do something because you’re worried about Quinton finding out.”
“I don’t want Quinton to find out or anyone else,” I tell her since it’s so shameful. “Will you keep this to yourself? Quinton may blame me for causing problems with his friends or make a big deal out of it when it’s probably already over.”
“As long as you’re sure t
hat these are your choices and not blackmail.”
“Absolutely,” I tell her honestly. “There’s no coercion needed to convince me to take part in a repeat of the Christmas party if they’re still interested after Friday. But that’s highly unlikely.”
“Then I guess you’re a lucky girl and you’re gonna make a ton of women jealous,” Callie says with a grin.
“Why, because I’ve been with both?”
“No, because you’ve single-handedly pussy whipped two of the country’s most eligible bachelors,” she explains. “I’m not sure if you could hear them arguing in the hallway, but they’ve got it bad for you. I don’t think dates on Friday night with other women is going to change that.”
“It’s just a competition –” I start, but Callie interrupts when she pats my knee and gets to her feet.
“Quinton has told me all about how Cameron and Nixon have always bet on everything under the sun. Win some, lose some, they’ve remained best friends for years. Now they’re brawling during practice, which they both know could’ve gotten them benched or even suspended.” Turning to face me, she says, “This is more than a bet. You are already more than a bet. It’s only gonna get worse and wreak havoc on their friendship, so you need to make a decision to end it entirely or pick one now before they kill each other or lose their football contracts.”
God, Callie’s right. It would be crazy of me to keep dragging this out and give in to being with both again.
But when my phone beeps in my hand with a text from Nixon telling me I better show up at Cameron’s house Friday after dinner and then a message from Cameron pops up on the screen a moment later saying I don’t have to come over after our date but he really hopes I will, it’s impossible for me to refuse.
Just one more night with the two hottest wide receivers in the league, and then I’ll end it.
Chapter Twelve
Cameron