“Well, well, well, I can hardly believe my eyes, Ace dancing?” A woman purrs, slowly clapping.
We break apart suddenly, as if caught doing something we shouldn’t. The woman who has intruded on our intimate moment is tall and thin, with long dark hair and angular features. She’s wearing a figure-hugging dress that leaves littleto the imagination while still looking classy. Her makeup is flawless; she’s stunning.
“Cherri,” Ace grunts, back to his stoic self. I’m ashamed of the part of me that’s glad he doesn’t seem pleased to see her.
“So, who’s the lucky girl who finally convinced you to show off those dance moves?” she asks. I feel intimidated and small under her scrutiny as she sizes me up and finds me wanting.
“I’m Naomi,” I say, extending my hand, which she ignores.
“She’s under our protection,” Ace hastens to add. I wonder why he feels the need to clarify this. Who is this woman?
“It looks like she’s under more than that.” Cherri laughs, the sound hollow and fake. “Do your brothers want to share her, too? Or is she not good enough for them either?” she adds bitterly.
Ace’s voice comes out in a low growl, a warning. “Cherri…”
She tosses her hair over her shoulder and places a possessive hand on his chest. “Always so serious,” she pouts. “I’m just teasing, Ace.” She looks over at me, a small smug smile on her pretty face that doesn’t show her teeth. “Ace and I used to date.” I can tell she relishes sharing that she got there first, as if she has some sort of proprietary claim on him. She studies me closer, a small crease appearing on her forehead that transforms into a frown. Just as I’m wondering what the hell I’ve done to offend her, her head snaps back to Ace, and her touch becomes aggressive, gripping his shirt in her fists, her eyes filled with fireas she glares at him. “Please, tell me this whore isn’t wearing my fucking pants,” she snarls.
My stomach drops with embarrassment. I knew I shouldn’t have worn these pants again. It was okay that one time when I had nothing else, but I shouldn’t have borrowed them again tonight. “I’m so sorry, it’s a long story, but I had nothing else to wear and…” I start babbling, trying to explain.
Ace gently but firmly removes Cherri’s hands from him. “You didn’t want them, and Naomi needed them,” he says calmly.
“I can give them back to you,” I start to say, but she cuts me off.
“Keep them. I don’t want them anyway, they’re too trashy. I got them for a Halloween costume. It’s actually kinda pathetic that you wore them,” she says scathingly, looking every inch the queen bitch as she looks down her nose at me. I feel about ten inches tall.
“Enough,” Ace says coldly. “Just because I broke up with you doesn’t give you the right to talk to my friends that way. I think you should leave.”
Cherri looks as if she wants to argue further, her eyes filled with wrath and envy, but then she spots Gage and Cash making their way over. “Whatever. I was just about to leave. This place is still lame, and you and your pathetic friends are clearly still as co-dependent as before.” She turns that killer snark toward Ace. “When are you gonna grow up and become a real man? The kind that starts a family and quits living with his buddies like some frat boy. Newsflash, you’re not getting any younger, and trust me, no woman will want to fuck a guy like you in a few years.”
Ace looks unimpressed by her remarks, as if he’s heard them all before. Gage and Cash reach us. “You still after Ace? I see nothing’s changed,” Gage quips, his tone light but his words cutting.
“Still pining after his scraps?” she snaps back at Gage.
“Says the woman who couldn’t handle the fact I didn’t want her,” Gage drawls.
Wordlessly, Cash has moved between Cherri and me, standing sentinel like a bodyguard. With no comeback to Gage and noticing Cash’s protectiveness, Cherri gives up with her attempts at causing trouble. “I’d watch your back with these three. Unless you’re the kind of slut who wants to fuck all three, I’d steer well clear,” she warns me, trying to sound callous and uncaring, but the tremor in her voice betrays her hurt feelings from the sting of rejection. Holding her head high, Cherri turns on her heel and strides out of the bar, pushing her way past irritated patrons on the way out.
Ace sighs, dejected. “Well, I think the party’s over. Let’s go home.”
None of us argues, the fun, carefree atmosphere from earlier has been sapped away, leaving us melancholy and silent on the taxi ride home, lost in our own thoughts.
I’m left reeling by the encounter. Why was she so threatened by me? And what was she talking about? Do the guys really want to share one woman? Are they really into that? For some reason rather than be horrified by that thought, I’m kind of intrigued. And turned on by the idea.
What does that make me?
I have to admit that I’m attracted to all three of them. I already have feelings for Gage that grow stronger every day. I’m developing them for Cash. There are hidden depths to him that I have to admit are alluring, a dark sexual energy I want to unleash. And even though Ace and I fight like cat and dog, I have to admit that there’s passion there. Perhaps we don’t hate each other; maybe it’s something else, something primal between us. Could I really explore my feelings without hurting anyone? Would it ever be possible to have a relationship with all three? Am I wrong for wanting that?
Chapter 12
Naomi
Ace stalks through the front door ahead of us, beelining for the liquor cabinet in the living room and pouring himself a large whiskey. With no beer left in the house, the only choice is hard liquor, though I have a feeling Ace would have chosen it even if there were alternatives.
“Well, that was eventful,” Gage says nonchalantly, jumping onto the couch and stretching out. “Pour me one, would ya, heartbreaker?” he says jovially, looking at a sullen Ace.
“Get your own damn drink,” Ace growls, filling his already empty glass before sitting in the armchair.
Cash wordlessly goes and pours three glasses, handing one to me and one to Gage. I sit down on the other couch beside him. When, after a few moments of silence, none of them starts to talk, I can’t hold my curiosity back any longer.
