“Not if you don’t want to. You can write a note and tell her the school needs you to help get it set up, and you’ll be back in a week or so.”
“That would be preferable. I don’t know if I can keep myself from strangling her.”
He sighed and moved to the closet. From the look of his damp hair, he’d already showered, but he still needed to dress. His muffled voice came from the walk-in closet. “From what you’ve said, she seems to be fond of this town, its people, and you. What she did was despicable and unforgivable, but at least let your solace be that her friendship was probably real.”
“Using my words to report to her boss makes the friendship decidedlynotreal,” I grumbled to my bacon.
“I know, but I was trying to think of something to help you feel better,” he said as he came out, tightening his tie.
“Time will do that. In the meantime, it feels like someone has died.”
He walked back over to the bed and kissed my forehead again. “I might be gone for a couple of days, but I’ve arranged for Roan to come around. And you mentioned catching up with Doryu. He said he’d come by this evening.”
“You understand, I mean to see what happens with him, right? I’m attracted to him.”
He stopped at the door and gave me an inscrutable look. “When you’re with me, you’re mine. But I can’t be with you all the time. I don’t have the time to commit to a monogamous relationship. Neither does Roan. That’s why this could work so well for us. We like you, you like us.”
“And Doryu?”
“We like him as well. If this thing goes all the way, so to speak, he’d eventually have to move in here, so in a way we have to see if we want to spend significant time with him as well. In a way, we’re all dating, but we’ll only be having sex with you if that’s all right.”
“Fine by me. I know you all are okay with sharing, but I’m not. If that’s selfish, fine, we don’t have to do this, but I won’t hear about you sleeping with another woman… or man.”
“I don’t know about Doryu, but I’ve known and been close to Roan for many years. He occasionally likes a man in his bed. I don’t mind sharing a partner with another man, but I’m not interested in men that way. It’s something to consider, though.”
He walked out, leaving me reeling. Roan was bisexual. It didn’t bother me, but I hated the thought of not only having the entire female population of the world to compete with, but also the male. I rolled my eyes. “Oh, fudge, it might work, or it might not. Might as well give it a go,” I told the remainders of my breakfast.
I finished my food and was sipping the last of my orange juice when Roan walked in, grinning from ear to ear. “Somebody didn’t sleep in their own bed last night,” he said.
“Yeah, yeah. Stop grinning, you fool,” I said.
“I’m thrilled! I mean,I would’vebeen more thrilled if it had been me and you last night, but I’ll take the fact that you’ve opened yourself up to us.”
I stood up and let a flash of what I wore under the robe tantalize him. Grabbing my tray, I headed toward him. As I passed him in the doorway, my body skimming against his, I said in my most come-hither voice, “Chew on this. I went to your room first, but you weren’t there.”
His moan followed me down the hall toward the kitchens and widened the smile already on my face.
The kitchen was bustling, so they wouldn’t let me do my dishes like I wanted to. I dropped the tray off and went to my room to shower and prepare for the day. I had no idea what I’d be doing, or not doing, so I threw on jeans and a t-shirt, my staple.
I was in the middle of drying my hair, which took forever since it had gotten so long, when I realized we hadn’t used protection.
How in the world had I forgotten that? In what universe would I not use a condom? I was raised by a religious and strict mother, sure, but the school systems and television commercials and public service announcements had succeeded in training me to never, ever have unprotected sex.
I went to my bedside table and pulled out the little flip phone Alexander had given me. It would ring straight to his cell and was untraceable. Not by magic, but a simple human burner phone.
“Jen? What’s wrong?” He used his authoritative voice, so he was obviously in the middle of some Junta mess or another.
“We didn’t use protection,” I hissed into the phone. “What were we thinking?”
“Oh, that’s okay,” he said. “As long as things are covered on your end, they’re covered on mine.”
“Are you around people?”
“Indeed.”
“And you can’t talk?”
“Absolutely right.”
