Pat didn’t know what to say to that. Swinging my gaze back to his face, I could see a fire light up in his eyes. He was pissed. All he wanted to do was protect her, and there she was, pushing back. I could see it from both perspectives. Petra was having fun and didn’t want Patrick to ruin it. Patrick knew things about the three of us that Petra didn’t know, deep secrets from drunken college days.
I knew a few things about Patrick too, and that made it hard to take him seriously. At one fraternity party back in the day, he’d shown up in pink leggings and drank malt liquor out of a boot. That was just the kind of thing that he didn’t want his little sister to know. But to be fair, the three of us were good guys who didn’t mean Petra any harm. It wasn’t like any of us were married and cheating on our spouses. We weren’t criminals with a history of violence. We were just regular people who had gotten a little crazy early on in life. If that was a crime, half the population would be locked up.
Patrick struggled for words but couldn’t find them. Faced with the powerhouse of energy that Petra represented, he was no match. Turning on his heels, he stalked out of the bedroom, leaving the four of us alone with a lot to talk about.
There was silence for a long moment as we each struggled to digest what Petra had said. She was unapologetic about wanting all of us, and that was something I couldn’t quite get my head around. What did it look like going forward? Was she proposing something like her best friend had, an arrangement with multiple men? Was that even possible?
I checked with Gavin and Cory and found them both as stunned as I was. We were each up in our own heads, trying to do the math. Did we like Petra enough to share her? Was that really what she was proposing? How would it work with the four of us together? There were so many questions and no easy plan to follow.
“I think we should talk,” I said.
Looking around the room, everyone agreed. I didn’t know how this was going to work going forward, but a good healthy discussion was obviously the first step. Cory sat down on the bed, and Gavin grabbed the only chair from beneath the computer desk. Petra and I remained standing. I didn’t know how to begin, but I knew we had to start somewhere. I couldn’t worry about Patrick and his hurt feelings at that moment. There were so many bigger issues to discuss.