I’m definitely the problem, then…seeing as I’ve proven tonothave the best judgment in the past year. Speaking of poor judgment, Demetria slides next to me on the couch, bumping her hip playfully against mine. She’s sporting a baggy off-the-shoulder sweater with a nearly too short tennis skirt and her favorite pair of Vans. She’s almost too fucking adorable for her own good.
“You ready to go?” she chirps.
We’ve mutually decided to leave our little love nest for the first time as a throuple this afternoon. Not that we’ve been hiding from the world, but we’ve kind of been hiding from the world. Not that any of us think anyone currently around us will care. Hayes’ friends run a kink club for fucks sake. They’ve all seen way stranger than three people in love and definitely won’t care. Demetria’s father is still in Kansas City and her mother is still… not on board, in general. And for me… I don’t really care what my parents think. The only person’s opinion I care about is Sutton’s and she’s too busy with her messy life to really care about much else. Besides, I know she’ll support me–no matter what.
See? No objections. We just… didn’t want to share each other yet.
What did we decide to do for our big day? We’re going to an Art in the Park festival. I wanted to go for the music, Demetria wanted to go for the art and Hayes… I think he’s being nice and going for us.
“Yes, my love. I’m ready when you guys are. Where’s your boyfriend?” I ask knowing full well he’s still primping in front of the mirror. Primping is an extreme word, I know, but I’ve never met a man that cared quite so much about his skin like Hayes Adler.
“Yourboyfriend just finished putting some type of serum on his face. I know we joke about it, but you can’t deny his skin is baby butt soft. I kind of want to touch it all the time.” She’s not wrong, I’ll give her that. “Then he put his new cologne on and it made my vagina insta-wet. Are you sure we can’t cancel so I can take care of that little problem? Between that and the way those jeans hug your ass, I could surely keep myself busy all damn day.” She wags her eyebrows seductively and I can’t stop from chucking at her silliness.
I love how she’s fallen into this fun, silly version of herself. It’s a side of her I rarely saw when we were together–before.
“As much as I would love to stay in and do every bit of what’s in that sexy little brain of yours, it’s time to do normal people things. We can’t stay cooped up in this place all the time.” Demetria shoots me a very exaggerated pout and I sigh. “I do love that cologne on him, though. Let’s save those thoughts for later, yeah?”
“What are we saving for later?” Hayes strides into the room looking so much like a snack, I’m close to changing my mind and choosing Demetria’s plan after all.
But we need this. “We’ll tell you later, my love.”
“Okayyyy,” he drawls. “I was thinking we could get something to eat first. Demi’s already been there, but I’d like to take you to the diner, if you’re up for it.”
Demetria nods and I take a moment to pause, my mood shifting as I regard them both with admiration and trepidation. This date is about us as a unit but I also need to talk to them about something that I’m not sure they’ll love.
My gaze shifts to my beautiful girl. My heart warms at the sight of her. It always has. I’d be lying if I said I never had unethical thoughts about her from the moment we met. Being her therapist and knowing how wrong it is, I pushed it aside in my mind and told myself that made it okay.
It wasn’t okay. None of it was. But that didn’t stop me from crossing the line with her the second she presented the opportunity.
Now, the thing I’ve feared the most, has happened. My hand rubs the pocket of my jeans where the letter I received last week waits. I haven’t had the nerve to tell them yet, but my window is closing and it’s time to rip the band-aid off. I have to believe they’ll support my decision… even if they don’t agree with it.
“You alright?” Demetria asks, reaching out to caress my arm.
I offer a reluctant smile in response as I take both of their hands in mine. “Yeah, I’m perfect. Let’s go.”
46
Demi
“Ijust don’t think it’ll do any good. It certainly won’t change anything,” Hayes mumbles under his breath. Raegan has been pushing him to meet with his father and to no one’s surprise, he’s resisting. He just finished informing us of all that’s transpired in recent years. There’s a piece of my heart that’s torn in pieces for him. I can’t imagine being verbally assaulted by one parent over the other’s death, only to have to support that parent until their dying day.
“I doubt he’d even know who I am if he saw me.” His expression is an understandable combination of sadness and disdain.
I get up from my seat, next to Raegan, slide in beside him and rest my hand against his thigh. His hand finds mine under the table, meeting it with a soft squeeze.
Raegan exhales a long, slow breath like she’s readying for battle. Honestly, it’s not a stretch. “My love.” She pauses and her face twists like she’s searching for the right words. “I don’t think it matters what he knows or remembers. What matters isyou. This will let you say your piece. Have you ever been able to do that?”
“No,” he replies simply.
“It may sound somewhat insensitive, but what better time is there… then when he can’t really retaliate?”
Yikes. She’s referring to the most recent update Hayes received–a year or so ago–saying his father was no longer verbal… well, minimally verbal.
“She has a point,” I cut in and Hayes shoots me a glare. The message is clear in his eyes. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
I give his hand a tight squeeze to answer, “I’m on your side always dude, but she’s not wrong on this one.”
“Everything okay over here?” Dolores–the same sweet waitress that took care of Hayes and I after our first night together–asks. She delivered our food a while ago and due to the tense nature of the conversation, none of us have touched it. She pauses for a moment, her eyes darting between each one of us.
