“Give me your phones.” I may not be the boss of them, but both Garen and Felix hand over their phones without argument.
I open the contacts in each cell and delete her number where it’s saved in our phones. The temptation to keep reaching out is too much, and I won’t allow us to become pests.
“What the fuck, motherfucker?” Garen’s temper flares when he realizes what I’m doing.
“The next move has to be hers, doesn’t it?” Felix is resigned to the inevitable. We can be as commanding and controlling as we need to be in the bedroom, but there’s got to be respect for her wishes outside it.
The reality of not hearing from her sits like acid in my stomach. I head for the antacids in my Dopp kit in the bathroom. While I’m walking away, I hear the crack of plaster being punched in and know without looking that Garen’s put his fist through the wall. We’re lots of things, the three of us. Patient is none of them.
* * *
At the five-day mark I start to accept Poe’s not calling. It’s time for us to head back to Mariposa with our tails between our legs and give up on the idea of sharing our little pet between us. I don’t know where we’ll go from here with the idea of being a quad. It felt as if things with us and Poe were so perfect. I can’t imagine achieving that with another woman.
There’s only so much work we can do remotely, and while I’m willing to hang around for as long as it takes, I know staying here puts pressure on her. If and when she reaches out to us, finding out we’ve all been cooling our heels waiting around for her is a lot to put on her shoulders. The little fox is skittish enough as it is. I won’t risk pushing her even further away.
“If you’re coming in here to say what I think you’re coming in here to say, turn the fuck around and go the fuck away. Asshole.” Felix has been grumpier than I’ve ever seen him.
Usually, I’m the one with the mean mug people give a wide berth. The past few days, the guy can’t even muster a smile for the server at the breakfast spot we go to every morning. I’ve never known him to have a serious girlfriend, and I’m beginning to think he’s never had his heart broken at all. He’s got no fucking clue how to cope. Truthfully, none of us do.
I pick up my laptop from the desk in the shared office space and head back to the living room. One thing I won’t miss is being shoehorned into such a small area with Garen and Felix. We’re used to the sprawling campus where our company is headquartered in Mariposa, and the connected but distinct spaces in the building our condos are in.
A house we’ve designed to share once we find the fourth piece of our dynamic is in progress. But none of us have fully moved out to it yet.
At this rate, we won’t.
CHAPTER13
POE
“Can phones mock people? Mine’s mocking me.”
If I sound like a whiny brat, it’s because I’m being one. It’s a wonder Master Shane picked up the phone to answer my call at all.
“You think maybe that’s your conscience, Poe? Because it sounds like it’s your conscience calling you out.” Master Shane sounds patient, but I know it’s a lie. If I was at Club Sin right now, he’d have me bent in half, getting my ass heated before I could blink.
The thought makes me think of my night with Archer, Garen, and Felix. A night I relive in my mind every single day, though fear makes me too afraid to respond to any of their messages. A couple days ago, Archer messaged to tell me they would give me space. That’s the last message I got.
“Besides, it’s been too long, now. Who even waits around for a stupid girl like me, anyway? They probably already found someone else who isn’t such a pain in their asses. You’d tell me if they asked you for a new set up, wouldn’t you?”
Shane just chuckles. Somehow, that makes my heart hurt even worse. I need straight answers here, not bullshit Dom riddles and guessing games.
“You know I can’t tell you that. They’re members just like you are and entitled to their privacy.” He lets his words draw out until I’m sure there’s hidden meaning in what he’s not saying. “Privacy is paramount here at Club Sin. Which you’re well aware of, Poe. They have the right to privacy when you ask me if they’ve selected another submissive. Just like you’ve been entitled to privacy every day when one, or shit, all three of them call to check up on how you’re doing and if you’ve been back to the club.”
He speaks slowly and deliberately, the message between the lines clear. If the three of them are still calling Shane to ask about me, then it can’t be too late. Right?
Maybe, I could just…send one little message. We could all get coffee. Or go bowling. Something. Maybe?
CHAPTER14
FELIX
Garen’s watching me again. It ought to freak me out. Instead, low level arousal thrums through my veins, wondering what he’s plotting or if he’s envisioning how easily he took command of my body without laying a hand on it. Nothing’s happened between us since that night. It wouldn’t feel right without having Poe there as the catalyst for it all. All that night did for me was fuck up my head.
To be so close to unlocking everything I’ve ever wanted, and even things I didn’t know to want, and being unable to lock them in place is painful. The world around me feels as if it’s lost the vivid technicolor details I now know it can have.
Right now, we’re all sitting in the back of a hired town car, being shuttled to the airport to head home. I tried to argue in favor of hanging around Chicago longer, but both Garen and Archer outvoted me. Sure, I could stay here without them, but for what? If we have to figure out how to go on without Poe, we ought to do it on our home turf rather than in a rental condo. Luxurious or not, it’s not home.
I don’t have enough give a shit to care about the vibrating of my phone in my pocket. Who gives a rat’s ass who is messaging me? The only one who matters, aside from the people in the car with me, is Poe. She hasn’t messaged a single time in the six days since we left her in the care of the Club Sin concierge.