The Glue

by Webster, K

  I nod and swallow. “Right.”

  The tension leaves Aiden’s shoulders. “Okay then. We’ll talk. But I want some of those snickerdoodle cookies and the lemon berry muffin you promised me.”

  Vaughn releases him and glances around the kitchen. “You’re selling food? I thought it was just a coffee shop.”

  Aiden snorts. “Keep up, man. I made her tear down those ugly-ass curtains too. We’re sprucing up the place and making it better.”

  My husband’s brows lift in surprise. “But you made those curtains.”

  “They were lovely,” I say with a pout.

  “The customers didn’t think so,” Aiden argues. “Admit it.”

  “They visit more without them,” I say with a grumble.

  Vaughn winks at me. He once gently tried to tell me the curtains were a little much for a coffee shop and I cried. I fight a smile. At first, he looks like he might approach me, but then he fists his hands and holds back. I’m tired of him holding back.

  The heat in the kitchen burning from these two men has me escaping. Coffee. They both need coffee or in their inebriated state we may all do something we can’t undo.

  And why does that thought send a flutter of butterflies dancing in my belly?

  My brother keeps texting me, his jokes a thin veil for his worry. We have the whole twin shared brain thing going on because it’s like he knew the moment things blew up with Vaughn and me. I’ve ignored him, but now that I’m sitting in the backseat of Vaughn’s SUV as Vale drives us to their house, I’d like to escape the awkward tension.

  Me: I’m alive. Call off the search.

  Ugly Twin: Asshole. What’s up?

  An ache forms in my chest as I reply.

  Me: Remember my complicated confusion?

  Ugly Twin: You have the hots for your boss and for your professor. I remember.

  Me: I kissed them both.

  Ugly Twin: Sounds hot. Keep it casual so it doesn’t get any more complicated.

  Me: Turns out they’re married.

  He sends me some wow emojis.

  Ugly Twin: Dude. Walk away. You’ll have double the trouble if their spouses find out.

  Me: Anthony, they’re married to each other.

  The dots move and then stop. Move and then stop. I lift my eyes to catch Vale watching me in the mirror. She turns her attention back to the road but not before her cheeks turn pink.

  Ugly Twin: Aiden. Just…no.

  Irritation flits through me. Easy for him to say. He’s with the woman he loves. Went through hell to get her too. It was messy and not socially accepted at first. I was there for him every step of the way.

  Me: I can smell your judgment from here. Stinks, bro.

  Ugly Twin: I just don’t want you to get hurt. If a married couple was cheating on each other to be with you, that’s fucked up. Too much baggage. You deserve better than that.

  I grit my teeth and nearly crush my phone in my fist.

  Me: I’m not your little brother you have to look out for. We’re the same fucking age. I can make my own decisions just like you made yours.

  Ugly Twin: Calm down, man. I’m just fucking worried, okay?

  Me: Well, stop your fucking worrying. I’ll figure it out.

  Ugly Twin: Dad is going to throw a shit fit if he finds out.

  Me: It’s none of Dad’s business who I fuck.

  We roll to a stop in front of a cute bungalow house. The yard is kept nicely with lots of colorful flowers and trimmed shrubs. It represents the ideal happy marriage. Messy Aiden Blakely who couldn’t cut it as a lawn boy is about to kick dirt all over their world.

  Ugly Twin: Call me if you need to talk.

  Me: Yep.

  Vale lets out a ragged sigh before climbing out of the vehicle. Her cute ass jiggles in her tight leggings as she walks away. Vaughn falls into step beside me, neither of us speaking. We walk inside and she turns to face us.

  “I’m going to go shower off the day and then we can talk.” She wrings her hands in a nervous way.

  I give her a nod and follow Vaughn into the kitchen. When he pulls open a drawer with a bunch of takeout menus, I laugh.

  “Hungry already?” I ask.

  His jaw clenches and he regards me with a hot stare that has my dick lurching in my pants. Fuck these people with their needy stares and perfect mouths.

  He clears his throat. “Yep, and pizza sounds better than that shitty bar food we ate.”

  Pizza sounds boring. I walk over to the fridge and start rummaging around. He closes the drawer when I pull out some chicken and vegetables.

  “I’ll cook us something.” I gesture for the bar.

  His brows rise. “I didn’t know you cooked.”

  “You don’t know a lot about me,” I mutter as I wash my hands.

  “I want to.”

  Our eyes meet and my lips quirk up on one side. “I guess that’s why I’m here.”

  As I wash the chicken and find a cutting board, I can’t help but notice the blankets and pillows on the couch. I don’t say anything, but he follows my stare. His nostrils flare with embarrassment and he hurries to put the blankets away. I watch his ass in his slacks every time he bends over. Vale’s kitchen is set up similar to how she keeps the coffee shop. I find what I need easily and soon the house smells of oriental stir fry.

  Now that the coffee has sobered me up some, the reality of my situation is hitting me. I’m in this married couple’s house to talk. Talk about what? The fact they both are attracted to me and kissed me. The fact that when I talked to them before I knew they were married, they made their spouse sound dreadful. These two people have guarded themselves so deeply against each other. It’s fucking sad.

  By the time the rice finishes up, Vale comes into the kitchen fresh-faced, with her hair still dripping. She wears black yoga pants and a white Nike tank top. Underneath, she wears a sports bra, but I can see her nipples, pert and erect, from a mile away. I flash her a grin and her cheeks blaze pink. When I glance over at Vaughn, he’s watching our exchange with interest. Not jealousy. Maybe something akin to awe.

  I wink at him and he smiles.

  Fuck, is that man ever hot as hell when he smiles.

  “I worked with what you had in the fridge. This is my stepmom’s favorite. I make it a lot at home for her and my dad. My younger siblings hate it, though, and cry when they have to eat their veggies.” I chuckle as I think about the twins and their adorable pouty faces.

  “So you have siblings?” Vaughn asks as he sets to opening a bottle of wine.

  “Yeah, the twins, Jayden and Joseph are little terrors. The youngest is June. She’s cute and spoiled but a happy baby.” I smile fondly. June looks just like my stepmother, Ava. Dark brown hair. Big, innocent eyes. She has Dad wrapped around her little baby finger.

  “You have another brother, though,” Vale says. “The ugly twin.”

  I snort. “Yeah, Anthony.”

  “Two sets of twins?” Vaughn asks in astonishment.

  “They run in the family,” I tell him, grinning.

  Surprisingly, dinner goes well. They each ask me lots of questions. Now that Vale knows I’m in college and a student under her husband, she asks more about my major and future plans. Vaughn seems keen on learning about my job and all I’ve done for the coffee shop for Vale. It’s so obvious they’re sneaking glimpses at the other through me.

  “He’s not old enough to drink,” Vale remarks, humor dancing in her eyes as Vaughn pours me another glass of wine.

  “Yeah, so I told him. He does what he wants,” he grunts.

  I shrug at her like, See, he gets me.

  The room grows quiet and I finally let out a huff. “Are we going to talk about the big elephant in the room?”

  Vale stiffens and Vaughn drains his glass.

  “What am I doing here?” This question goes unanswered too.

  I give them each a pointed look.

  “We’re having dinner,” Vale says weakly.

 
; “We’re getting to know you,” Vaughn adds.

  “You both are such bad liars,” I say, chuckling. “Fine. We’ll play this game. But we’re going to play it from the living room and I’m going to need a stiffer drink than wine.”

  After the kitchen gets cleaned up and Vaughn changes out of his dress clothes into some sweats and a T-shirt, we congregate in the living room. I can’t help but check out Vaughn. He looks nothing like the stuffy professor who’s always on my ass. Fuck, he’s hot, even if he does seem a little nervous. The cool, aloof professor does seem to get rattled and my being here does it to him.

  I smirk at him. “Shall we?” I motion for the sofa. Vaughn makes a beeline for the recliner. Before he gets too far, I grab hold of the back of his T-shirt and pull him back. “Nope. Sofa.”

  He looks over his shoulder at me in confusion. I let him go and plop down right in the middle. They both eye me warily until I grin and pat the cushions on either side of me.

  “If we’re going to talk, I want you both close,” I tell them boldly. “I want this ‘discussion’ to feel equal and not two against one.”

  They both nod and settle beside me. Vaughn unscrews the lid off his liquor bottle and takes a swig. He winces as the burn tears down his throat.

  “Fuck, this is awkward,” he complains.

  I laugh and pat his thigh over his sweats. “It is.” When I don’t remove my palm from his thigh, he doesn’t push it away. The helpless way he looks over at Vale would be comical if not for her wearing the same expression. “Should I go?” I ask, my voice husky.

  Vale reaches over and clutches my hand. Her green eyes are wide as she bites on her bottom lip and shakes her head. “Stay. We want you to stay.”

  I turn and lift a brow at Vaughn.

  He knocks back another swig of liquor and then licks his full lips. “Stay, Aiden.”

  I don’t know what the hell we’re doing, but we’re doing it. We have this hot-as-fuck guy sitting between us. Touching us. Making us laugh. He cooked us dinner, for crying out loud. Vale and I are in unchartered territory and Aiden is steering the ship. I don’t want to fuck this up. With her. With him. Any of it. So I grit my teeth and keep my mouth shut.

  “I’m not going to lie,” Aiden rumbles, tilting his head back and staring up at the ceiling. “I have issues.” He swallows and the hard knot of his Adam’s apple bobs in his throat. I wet my lips because the urge to lick him is intense. My dick is aching in my sweats and I settle the bottle against it to hide my arousal.

  When I glance over at Vale, she’s blushing as she watches him with rapt attention. I don’t know how we got ourselves in this fucked up situation, but we’re here. This afternoon, she was as good as moving out and threatening divorce. Now? Now, we’re here. Together. Exploring something new. And we’re not fighting.

  I flash her an encouraging smile that she returns. It makes my chest squeeze.

  “I like women and I like men,” he explains, his brows furling together. “I can’t decide which I like better. I don’t want to decide. Sometimes, I catch myself in situations where I have both. It isn’t something I am able to navigate well because I’m still figuring it out myself.” He squeezes my thigh and turns to look at me. His blue-gray eyes are liquid lust and my cock aches at his perfect face. “But I like you,” he tells me. “The moment I saw you standing at the front of the classroom, I wanted to fuck you.”

  I let out a groan because my erection strains against my sweatpants for all to see. A fifth of Jack isn’t going to hide my monster cock. His eyes flicker down to the bottle and he flashes me a wicked smile that does nothing to help the state of my erection.

  “I’d like some of that,” he says, his voice husky and filled with insinuation as he reaches for the bottle. His fingers are hot against mine as he grabs it. I let out a hiss when his knuckles brush against my dick.

  My eyes catch Vale’s and hers are swimming with lust. She watches us as if she has a prime seat at a porno. Her cheeks burn red when she catches me staring. God, she’s so beautiful. I’d known it the first time I’d seen her smile. Something about her imperfect smile stole my heart in an instant.

  “I love you,” I mouth to her.

  Her lashes flutter as she looks away, a smile tugging at her lips.

  “And you,” Aiden says, turning his attention to Vale. “The moment I saw you, I was completely smitten. So beautiful. Curvy and all smiles. Those leggings…” My cock twitches because the girl can rock a pair of leggings. “I wanted it all.”

  He takes a swig of the liquor and hands it to Vale. Her lips purse together in a pouty kiss as she sips the liquid fire. She chokes and both Aiden and I chuckle.

  “Gah,” she groans. “That’s nasty.”

  She hands him the bottle and his fingers linger on hers as he takes it. This good-looking man in our living room seduces the both of us so easily. I’m in complete fucking awe.

  “I’m not going to fuck either of you,” he says with a frustrated huff.

  Both she and I tense up. Her furrowed brows match mine.

  “Nobody said anything about fucking,” I grunt. But what I really want to ask is, Why not?

  “For us to…” he trails off as if considering his words, “try anything, I need you two to be on the same page. Right now, you’re not even in the same book.”

  “We’re figuring our shit out,” I grunt, a little too defensively.

  She presses her lips together. “I told him I was leaving.”

  I gape at her and she shrugs.

  “I’m tired of lying to ourselves,” she whispers.

  “You wouldn’t be leaving if you didn’t resent me so much,” I snap back harshly.

  She flinches as if my words physically wound her. Aiden frowns at me in disappointment. Instantly, I feel like an idiot.

  “I’m sorry,” I say to them both.

  “Why do you resent him?” Aiden asks her softly.

  Her eyes become glassy with tears and her nose turns pink. “I don’t resent him.”

  “I can’t give her a baby,” I say bitterly. “It’s all she wants.”

  “It’s not all I want,” she hisses, the tears freely streaking down her cheeks.

  Now, I’m ashamed that we have a spectator in our never-ending fight.

  “What do you want then?” Aiden asks, mimicking my thoughts. They come out curious and not confrontational, unlike how they’d come if I were to say them.

  She swipes away her tears. “I just want to be happy.”

  “With a baby,” I correct.

  Her glare is icy, but Aiden doesn’t let it deter him.

  “So you take the baby out of the equation. Start there. Simple.” He says this as if it’s the easiest thing ever.

  “I don’t understand,” she mutters.

  “Fuck your husband and use a condom, Vale. Simple.”

  Her eyes fly to mine and her lips are parted at his bold words. “Okay.”

  “You have sex without the pressure of making a baby that you both haven’t been successful at doing,” he says. “Do you really want your marriage to dissolve? What happens when you move on and find someone else? What if the same problem arises? Do you keep running?”

  Fuck, how old is this kid?

  Eighteen.

  He’s eighteen fucking years old and already wiser than a man twenty years his senior.

  Vale, chastised by his words, shoots me an apologetic look. I set the bottle down and reach across him to take her hand.

  “Would last night have played out differently had I used a condom?” I ask, my voice shaking with nerves. “Would you have let me go down on you?”

  “I, uh,” she stammers, trying to tug her hand out of mine.

  Aiden grips her hips and pulls her into his lap, bringing her closer to me. His arms wrap around her middle in an easy, affectionate way. With his muscular arms, holding her so she doesn’t get away, I feel a little empowered to speak my mind. She’s not shutting down per her usual. Her eyes are frantic
as she implores me to understand. But I don’t understand. I don’t understand her obsession with getting pregnant.

  “I wanted to make you come on my tongue,” I tell her huskily. “I wanted to fuck you all night like old times.”

  Tears streak down her cheeks and her palm slides to my jaw. “I’m sorry.”

  I grab hold of the back of her neck and pull her to me, but she pushes against my chest. I freeze up and glower at her, embarrassment at being rejected making my hackles rise.

  Aiden shakes his head. “You two are so fucked up.” He sweeps her hair to the side, exposing her neck, and whispers against her flesh. “Kiss your husband, sweetheart. He won’t bite. Well, maybe a little, but I bet you’d enjoy it.”

  She sticks her tongue out at him, making him chuckle. I find myself relaxing. Then, she turns her glowing green eyes my way and wets her lips with her tongue. Her tits jut forward as she leans in to kiss me. So primly and so her this past year. This was not how she was kissing him when I caught them earlier. Reaching up, I grip her jaw and draw her to me. My lips crush to hers and I kiss her in a demanding, possessive way that has her melting. A small moan whines from her.

  “Closer,” Aiden murmurs as he lifts her and manhandles her into my lap so that she’s straddling me. “That’s it.” His palm runs up her spine and then down. It settles on my knee and he squeezes it.

  I kiss my wife.

  Hard and unrelenting.

  As Aiden watches.

  I’m hard as fuck and hope has me sliding my palms to her ass and squeezing.

  “Fuck,” I groan. “I’ve missed this.”

  Her small moans are breathy as she grinds her pussy against my aching dick. Through my sweats, I can feel every soft curve of her. Our breathing gets heavier and she’s actively trying to get off by rubbing against me. When I can’t take it anymore, Aiden grabs my hand and pushes a condom into it.

  “Go fuck your wife. I’ll sleep on the couch,” he says.

  I shoot him an apologetic look, but he shakes his head.

  Picking Vale up, I storm through the house, eager to get her stripped of all her clothes. I kick the door shut and start peeling off her shirt before we even hit the bed. It’s a mad, desperate scramble, but we’re soon naked. Her eyes follow my hands as I tear the foil on the condom. Our gaze meets and I roll the rubber on my dick that’s been hard as fuck all damn day. It twitches in my grip and she smiles.