(This is Book 2, so you need to read "These Men," first.)
CHAPTER 1
So, two weeks have passed since our bundle of pure pink nastiness was literally dropped on our doorstep.
You know that whole male/male thing? That ‘mark your territory’ instinct that is so obviously a guy thing? Well I’m here to tell you that it’s not exclusive to men. Alpha females have that same instinct apparently, and if body language and attitude are any indications, I’m pretty sure Brittany is pissing all over my turf. Theoretically that is.
Let me backtrack and make a long story short here. Yes, Eli finally got Greta to come into the house, along with her punk-ass rock star wannabe boyfriend, Lars. Apparently, Greta has been back in the States for over two years on a work visa. Lars is a citizen, though originally born in Sweden. They met online. Supposedly they are engaged. They’ve been living in Utah.
Imagine that.
Not that she ever tried to communicate with Eli on social media to let him know he had a daughter, or that they were in the country, or any of it. Nope. Not until she wanted to tour with Lars’ heavy metal band, Lead Poisoning, did it occur to her to find Eli so that she could unload her sullen-with-a-definite-chip-on-her-shoulder teenager.
I know what you’re thinking and you’re absolutely right. Karma has come back to bite this bitch. But not only will I survive it, I will use it as an opportunity to save Brittany from herself, the way that my men helped save me. So, I look at this situation as being one where something positive will come out of it.
I hope I’m right.
At any rate, this is the part that seriously pisses me off. Eli has gone total bonkers. I get the fact that Brittany, at fourteen and a half is impressionable, but like I said before, she’s beyond her years.
Still, Eli has provided her with this whole fake window dressing thing because he is so obviously not comfortable with having her know the truth about his sexuality, or about our ménage loveship.
Since she witnessed our kiss the day she dropped in, he has explained to her that I am his significant other. So, that explains why we sleep together, but poor Cain. He is not a happy camper.
“It’s only going to be for two months,” Eli explained when Brittany and Greta went back out to the van to get her stuff. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask the two people I love more than anything else to go along with this. I just met my daughter for fuck’s sake. I’m not about to risk alienating her over something she is too young to understand. It’s as simple as that.”
Cain and I had looked at one another helplessly. There was validity to Eli’s logic, but still, would there ever be a right time to divulge the truth to her? If so, when? What is that magic age where complicated or alternative lifestyles suddenly become perfectly normal and acceptable?
I think of my parents and realize that there is no such thing. Still, it is Eli’s call, and Cain and I agreed that we would bite the deceptive bullet for two months as requested.
Eli took a week’s vacation to get Brittany settled in. He made the third bedroom hers, which she was delighted to have since it was used as our office. There’s a computer station in there, and a television, which accommodates her Xbox nicely, along with a loveseat that pulls out into a double bed.
Since it’s early June, there’re no worries about getting her into a local school, which would be totally problematic being Eli’s only claim is that Greta gave him medical Power of Attorney for Brittany in case a health emergency would arise in her absence.
Brittany has a cell phone, and we can always tell when she’s talking to her mother because she switches from English to Swedish to converse. This has caused some raised eyebrows between Cain and me, although Eli seems (or pretends to be) oblivious to it.
As much as I’ve tried to connect with Brittany by offering to take her shopping with me, or inviting her to a girls’ afternoon out, it hasn’t been met with her acceptance. I realize she has literally been thrown into a situation where she’s living with strangers, notwithstanding the fact that one of them happens to be responsible for half of her DNA, it doesn’t negate the fact that this has to be a challenge for her.
It is for all of us, especially Eli.
“What the fuck does she do all day?” Cain whispers to me as I’m rinsing off the dinner dishes and handing them to him to load into the dishwasher.
“You don’t need to whisper, Cain,” I tease. “Eli took her out for ice cream, remember?”
“Yeah, so fatherly of him,” he snaps, and I realize that Cain is the one that has the most to complain about here. “So, what does she do all day?”
I pause, and give him a look. “She sure as hell doesn’t pick up after herself,” I finally say, and feel guilty that I’ve said it. “I mean what the fuck? She could at least rinse her dishes off and load them.”
“Jesus Christ,” he says with a sigh, “Eli can’t even get her to toss her dirty laundry in the hamper. I caught him checking under the bed to find dirty socks and panties she’s kicked under there. I mean, what the hell?”
I sigh and wipe the back of my hand against my brow. “I know it’s tough, babe. How are you doing?”
“Without,” he growls huskily, “and I’m fucking tired of it.”
“Well,” I reply with a grin, “if it makes you feel any better, not much happening with me and Eli. Like…at all.”
“What?”
I nod and release a sigh. “He’s afraid she’ll hear us since her room is across from ours. No haps. None. Nada.”
Cain seems somehow relieved which proves misery does in fact love company. And then he starts laughing, and it is so contagious that I join him.
Finally we stop. And the way we look at one another tells me that we both have the same thing in mind.
“Where?” I say, my breath hitching, because it’s been too damn long. My period has come and gone and I am so ready to be thoroughly fucked I can’t stand it.
“How about my work van?”
“Are you fucking serious?” It’s a dumb question because Cain is always serious.
“I’m that fucking horny, babe.”
It’s not that in our relationship, we don’t all couple up from time to time. It’s what makes it work for everyone. Cain and Eli; Eli and me; and me and Cain, but the majority of the time it is the three of us. It just feels weird now for some reason. It almost seems like we’re cheating on Eli and I can’t figure out why since the dynamic between the three of us hasn’t changed.
Yet, it has in a way. Because Eli has assumed the parental role, and that is singular. We are not a part of that dynamic.
I shove that all from my mind for the moment. “It’s too hot to be screwing like horny teenagers in a van, Cain,” I giggle. “How about Easton and Darcy’s? They took the kids to Disney World and I still have a key and the pass code.”
“Let’s go,” he says, his voice husky.
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