Has Jefferson taken advantage of me? Used the sex lessons to lure me into something bigger? Am I a pawn?
I shouldn’t feel used and icky. I initiated the lessons. I shouldn’t feel hollow.
The thing about sex and power being intertwined takes on a whole new meaning. I underestimated how much power I gave them when I didn’t check my heart at the door.
But true to what’s been said about men and sex, they’re able to do it without emotional commitment. They’re able to use it and walk away, which is exactly what I want to do right now…not from my job, just from this mess.
Anywhere is better than my boss’s house. Needing breathing room, I toss enough clothes on so I can rush outside, thankful the storm passed. I call Nathan and leave a voicemail asking if I can stay at their place tonight. I’ll clear my head then plead my case on their doorstep.
With no particular plan beyond that, I end up at the mudslide. Lincoln told us his car got stuck as the mud oozed around him, but with the storm and all of the lessons, I hadn’t gotten outside to check it out.
It’s staggering to stand at the edge of the muck where the side of the mountain simply sloughed off. Lincoln’s lucky he didn’t get hit by one of the trees or boulders.
Faced with the insanity of the situation, I call my best friend Zoe. Time to confess the mess I’ve gotten myself into. Maybe she’ll have advice. When she doesn’t answer, I head back.
“Hey,” a woman’s voice calls from the second-story deck of the nearby house. It’s Madison Shepherd. She was a few years ahead of me in school so I remember her, but she doesn’t remember me. It’s nice to chit-chat and forget about my troubles until two men walk onto the deck and flank her rather intimately.
“Hey guys, meet Natalie, her brothers live two houses down and her boss lives in the next house. And Natalie, these guys are Jayce and Elijah…my boyfriends.”
Plural? Maybe what I’ve done with Lincoln and Jefferson isn’t as deviant as I thought. Not mainstream enough for us to pull it off while Jefferson fights for custody, I imagine.
On my walk back, voices from my siblings’ rooftop draw my attention. They have a rooftop deck, and there’s a half wall around it. All I can see are heads…three of them to be precise. One woman, who I recognize as my best friend Zoe, and two men—my brothers.
That’s something I never wanted to see. I shudder and look away. What the heck is going on? Have I entered the twilight zone? Another threesome? No wonder she didn’t answer. No wonder they didn’t want me at their house.
I’d heard through friends that there was crazy stuff going on with the mayor’s daughter and her three stepbrothers. I don’t dare look across the lake to the mayor’s house.
The walk leaves me with more questions than it answered. Diving back into work might be my only savior. I put my earbuds back in and call the company I’d hung up on as I make my way inside.
Fifteen
Jefferson
ThesecondLincolnendsthe virtual meeting he’s attending, I storm into his office. There’s no tempering my anger, aside from not throwing a punch.
“What the fuck did you say to her?”
He spins around in his chair. “What do you mean?”
“What did you say to Natalie? Everything was perfect, then she was calling her brothers to see if she could stay at their place tonight.”
“She got what she wanted from us, learned her lessons, and moved on.” He swivels back toward his desk but I catch his chair back.
“No one walks away from what we have.”
“Correction…Natalie does.”
“Tell me what you said.” I ball my fists while I tower over him.
He shoves me backward, and I’m about to go at him when he says, “I told her that you’ve never been happier. That she can have an instant family with you. And that I hoped she would stay on as my admin.”
“But you’re part of it. The three of us are a thing.”
“Then why did you ask me to give you time alone with her?”
I would have felt the same way if our roles had been reversed. It’s sibling rivalry at its worst. If I’m going to salvage this, I have to trust the two people I care most about.
“I was scared. I thought I was going to have to choose between my son and Natalie. I’d love to say there’s not a choice, my son is my priority, but no other woman has nestled herself so perfectly in my heart.”