“Oh, it’s cheesy, but yes please, I’d love it.”
He began to read. His dulcet tones made him a perfect narrator.
Leaning back and dropping grapes into my mouth, I felt like a pampered Greek goddess. I pondered the fact that this could be my real life, if only I was brave enough to seize it. Would anyone really care if I was in a three-way relationship? And if they did, would I care that they cared? At that moment it seemed as long as I had these two men to love and to love me back, I didn’t need anything or anyone else.
Hugh reached the end of a chapter and paused. “I don’t think you’re listening,” he said in a mock-accusatory tone.
“Guilty as charged. I’m just enjoying your voice. Say, when you two have been in relationships together before, how have people treated you?”
Cameron stopped rubbing my feet and looked over at me. “Okay, for the most part. Nothing’s ever lasted long enough for us to make a big announcement about it, but we’ve been seen around town with one woman before, and nobody seemed to mind.”
“Except Elijah,” Hugh corrected him.
Cameron rolled his eyes and groaned.
“Elijah from school?” I asked, and both guys nodded.
“He saw both of us kiss a girl in a restaurant one time, and he came over and told us we were all going to burn in Hell for eternity,” Hugh said. “He made a bit of a scene, so we had to leave, and it really upset the girl.”
“What a dick,” I said.
It didn’t surprise me. Elijah was the biggest snitch in school and a total pain in the ass. Once he noticed me doing my English homework in math class, and he told both the English and math teachers about it; I got a week’s detention. One of my biggest regrets in life was not punching him in the nose when I had a chance.
“Yep, he’s a dick, all right,” Hugh agreed. “He’s a councilman now, too, so I have run-ins with him all the time. But other than that, it’s not been a big deal. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, just wondering.” I still didn’t want to admit I was thinking about making this trio last longer than a day, but I had to confide in someone, and right then, there was nobody else available. “Do you honestly believe it could work—the three of us together, I mean?”
“Of course, it could work,” Cameron said, slapping my thigh excitedly.
Hugh looked less convinced, so I waited for his response with bated breath.
“From our perspective, there wouldn’t be any problems,” he answered carefully. “We’ve already said we want nothing more than to be with you. But you have to be certain it’s what you want, and I don’t know if you are.”
I frowned. “I think I’m certain.”
“Thinking you’re certain isn’t the same as being certain,” Hugh pointed out, and in my head, I cursed him for being so damn clever. Cameron’s eyes narrowed like he was mad at his best friend, but Hugh was undeterred. “Less than an hour ago you specifically said that we didn’t have a future; so, what’s changed?”
“I’ve changed,” I protested. “What we did in there, and this,” I gestured at my feet and the book that Hugh still held. “This has changed my mind. I think we can do it. It’ll be difficult with me living so far away at the moment, but this is what I want my life to be like, so I’m absolutely willing to try.”
“Fantastic!” Cameron exclaimed, stopping Hugh from saying anything more. “I knew you’d see sense, Muriel.”
I nodded, smiling, but before I replied, the sound of another massive crash made us all jump in alarm. We looked outside and saw the massive tree that had us trapped jerking about as if it had come to life. We heard a tap at the other window, and I turned to see Poppy waving at me.
“Oh my god, Poppy!” I ran over to the window and opened it as wide as it would go.
“Hey, baby girl. I called in a favor and got Cooper and Nolan to come down with their truck and a winch... look, you’re free.”
With mixed feelings I watched the tree being dragged away from the door, and Cameron pulled it open with a flourish.
“Freedom,” he yelled dramatically as Cooper and Nolan approached the doorway. “Come on in, bold rescuers. Welcome to our little prison.”
They all came inside, and nerves overshadowed my happiness at being free as I saw them looking between the three of us with varying degrees of amusement. Poppy was the most blatant, with a single eyebrow fully raised.
I was suddenly very conscious that we were all wearing nothing other than robes in the afternoon. I excused myself and headed back to the bedroom to get changed.