Repercussions (Siren Publishing Menage Amour)

by Rainey Daye

Troy gave a harsh laugh. “I asked her who the father was, and she decked me.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Hey, it was a knee-jerk reaction. It’s not like we’re in a relationship or anything. All we do is fuck. For all I know, she’s got a string of guys that she regularly lays.”

  “That’s harsh,” Alex pointed out.

  Troy shrugged and crumbled the now-empty beer can.

  “Then what happened?” Alex prompted.

  “Well, she started screaming at me, calling me names, asking how could I doubt that I was the father since I’m the only guy she’s been screwing. She threw a couple of things at me and then kicked me out.”

  “And you came straight back here? You didn’t stick around to try to talk to her, to apologize or calm her down?”

  Troy looked at him blankly and then scowled at the obvious look of disgust on Alex’s face. “Hey, man. Don’t judge. Like to see how you handle things when you find out that you knocked someone up. She left me pretty much in a state of shock.”

  “Well, getting high and drunk isn’t going to help,” Alex pointed out.

  “Fuck! For all I know, she’s lying and I’m not the father. Like I said, we’re not dating. We never had the relationship talk. We never said we were exclusive.”

  “So you’re telling me that there are other women out there that you might have knocked up also?” Alex asked disbelievingly.

  Troy took umbrage with Alex’s question and tone, but then he gave a quick jerk of his head in negation. “Maria’s the only woman I’ve screwed since last year.”

  “How’d you meet?” Alex asked, figuring that he might as well get some answers while Troy was in a talkative mood.

  Troy threw back his head and laughed. “Don’t ask me why, ’cause I really don’t know, but I approached her in a bar and said, ‘Wanna fuck?’ and she said, ‘Sure,’ and I pulled up her skirt and fucked her right then and there.”

  Alex’s eyes widened in shock and jubilation. He was shocked that Troy actually had acted in such a fashion and was willing to admit it, but he was also jubilant that it really was Troy and Maria in the picture that was making the rounds of cyberspace and they could use it as leverage if necessary.

  “Let me get this straight,” Alex said slowly. “You fucked a complete stranger in the middle of a crowded bar?”

  “Yep,” Troy said as he got up to retrieve another beer out of the outmoded refrigerator and brought a second can for Alex. “I really thought those days were behind me, too.”

  “Behind you? What the hell are you talking about?” Alex asked in shock.

  “Let’s just say that I did some crazy and stupid shit the year after Maggie and I broke up,” Troy said.

  Alex didn’t want Troy’s thoughts to linger on Maggie. Right now Troy seemed to have forgotten that he was talking to one of Maggie’s roommates, so he quickly steered the conversation back to his pregnant non-girlfriend.

  “So what are you going to do about the baby?” Alex asked curiously.

  “Well, if she keeps it, I’m gonna insist on a paternity test just to be sure. Like I said, we never agreed to be exclusive, so if she wants to call me the father, then she’s gonna have to prove it.”

  “That makes sense, and once you explain your reasoning to her, as long as she has nothing to hide, then she shouldn’t protest your request.”

  “Right!” Troy said, vindicated. “If she was my girlfriend and she cheated on me and was trying to pass another guy’s kid off as my own, then she would get all indignant and mad and, and, you know, all, ‘How dare you accuse me of cheating? You’ve probably cheated on me,’ you know, like that,” Troy finished, taking a deep draw on the joint yet obviously feeling the effects of the marijuana and alcohol.

  “Are you sure this is your first time getting high?” Alex couldn’t help but ask again. “Because you’re toking like a pro.”

  “Huh?” Troy said, looking down at the joint in his hand as if surprised to see it there. “Oh, yeah. First time. Figured this was the day for it. First time being told that you knocked someone up, first time getting high,” he said, and he burst into giggles.

  “So what are you going to do if the kid’s yours?” Alex asked. “You gonna marry her?”

  Troy snorted beer out of his nose at that question. “Are you nuts? I don’t even know her!”

  “You got her pregnant,” Alex pointed out.

  “Can’t prove it by me. Hell, she might have been lying about being pregnant for some fucked-up reason. Or maybe she’s just late. Only been screwing around together for six, maybe seven weeks now.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “Doing it now.” Troy grinned. “Getting stoned.”

  “And when you are no longer stoned, and thinking clearly, then what?”

  Troy frowned. “You’re ruining my buzz, man.” He sulked.

  “Sorry, dude. Just trying to help.”

  “Yeah. You’re a good friend. And a good friend to Maggie, too. Maybe I should go ahead and confide in you.”

  “You already are,” Alex pointed out, again trying to keep Troy from wondering how Alex came to show up here. “You confided in me about possibly being a dad.”

  “Yeah, but if I’m going to be a dad, then I’m going to have to take care of and protect my kid and won’t be able to do the same for Maggie. So I guess I’ll have to get some help if I’m gonna save her.”

  “Save her from what?” Alex asked, confused. If Troy knew about their polygamous relationship, then he would not be talking like this. Alex realized that for some unknown reason Troy truly did believe that he was doing the right thing. Which either meant that he had lost his grip on reality if he thought stalking someone fell under the category of “for their own good,” or he didn’t have any idea that Maggie was involved with her roommates, even after all these months of spying. That made Troy either a truly inept spy, or it meant that Troy was looking for something else altogether. And this was his chance to find out what that was.

  Troy looked at him from slightly bleary eyes. “I don’t know if I should tell you.”

  “You can trust me. Maggie’s my friend, too,” Alex pointed out.

  “Yeah, you and Jess take good care of her. I really appreciate that,” Troy said.

  “So what do you think Maggie needs saving from?” Alex asked.

  “Herself, maybe. Or it could be her boyfriend,” Troy said.

  “Boyfriend?” Alex gasped.

  “Don’t know who he is,” Troy admitted. “Been watching her to try to run him to ground.”

  “What makes you think she has a boyfriend?” Alex asked, starting to lean toward the “lost his grip on reality” explanation after all.

  Troy looked at him gravely. “Can I trust you?” he asked.

  Alex saw the lucidity in Troy’s eyes and spoke solemnly. “If it involves taking care of Maggie, then yes. You can trust me to do whatever I have to to keep her safe and happy.”

  “You’re a good man. A good friend to her. I’m glad you and Jess took her under your wing. That’s why I’m assuming that it happened before she moved into your house. Probably the same year that I went a little nuts back at school. You know, with my newfound freedom and all.” Troy rambled drunkenly now.

  “What happened?” Alex asked, confused.

  Troy shoved back in his chair and rose unsteadily to his feet. He looked down at the joint in his hand and then snuffed it out on the tabletop before he staggered over to the bed and dropped to his knees. Alex hurried over to him, thinking that Troy was about to pass out, but instead found Troy with his arm thrust almost to his shoulder under the mattress. Alex stood there frowning as Troy rooted around, remembering that he and Jess had checked under the mattress, but then mentally smacking himself as he also remembered that they had just checked the edges, not all the way in the middle. They should have taken the mattress off the bed while they were snooping.

  With that thought in mind, Alex lifted the mattress and pushed it
off the opposite side of the bed. Troy rose higher on his knees and snagged a manila folder from between the mattress and the box spring. He then lurched to his feet and made his unsteady way back to the table, where he collapsed in his chair and drained his can of beer. Troy then looked at the envelope and announced, “I need another drink. And so are you,” before he rose to his feet again and stumbled back over to the refrigerator, taking the envelope with him.

  Troy returned to the table with the envelope clutched under his arm and two beers in his hands. He handed one to Alex, who automatically took it and placed it next to the unopened one already sitting in front of him. Troy popped the top on his can and took a deep swallow, followed by a loud belch. He looked morosely down at the envelope lying in front of him and then slowly opened it with shaking hands.

  Alex watched in fascination as Troy cradled the envelope to his chest as he closed his eyes. Troy then sighed and opened it with his fingers, pulling a bunch of papers about an inch past the opening and flipping through them with a frown. “I shouldn’t be showing you these,” Troy mumbled, but he finally selected a page and pulled it out. He then flipped it face down on the table and pushed it toward Alex.

  Alex reached out and pulled it to him, afraid that Troy would change his mind and snatch the paper back. He flipped it over and stared, goggle-eyed, at a printed photo of a partially clad Maggie. “They get progressively worse,” Troy said soberly.

  Alex looked up at him, shock evident in his face. “Did you take these?” he asked, trying to control his temper.

  “Hell no!” Troy denied. “Maggie wouldn’t even give me a naked picture of her to take to college with me. She’s somewhat of a prude that way.”

  “Then where did you get these?” Alex demanded.

  “Downloaded them off her mom’s computer,” Troy said.

  “And what the hell were these doing on her mom’s computer?”

  “How the hell should I know?” Troy replied, his voice level rising to match Alex’s.

  Alex took a deep breath as he glanced back down at the picture. He tried to analyze it with a clinical eye. Outdoors somewhere, Maggie in virginal white, Maggie lying on a blanket with a sexy half-lidded look on her face. Her top unbuttoned, the curves of her breasts exposed, her nipples still concealed. Maggie biting sexily on the tip of her finger. Alex’s cock jerked in response.

  With a shake of his head, he flipped the picture over and stared at Troy. “How did you come to get these off her mom’s computer?”

  Troy drunkenly told his tale, and Alex absentmindedly opened one of his cans of beer and took a hearty swig. He was vaguely reassured to find out that Troy had wiped the file from her mom’s computer. “So the disk you downloaded and the pictures you printed are the only ones?”

  “Well, I’m assuming the sleaze who took the pictures has his own set of copies,” Troy said.

  “So what’s your plan?” Alex asked.

  “I’ve been trying to find the asshole who took these pictures.”

  “And how have you been trying to do that?”

  “Well, Maggie shot me down this past summer by telling me that she’s involved with someone. At first I thought that her boyfriend took these, but I haven’t seen her go out with anyone but you two. Nor have I seen her meet up with anyone on campus who acted like they’re dating. So either she lied, or they broke up already. And Maggie’s gorgeous. So I figured a guy would have to be nuts to walk away from Maggie. It would only be a matter of time before he came crawling back.”

  “Speaking from experience?” Alex couldn’t help but ask.

  “Yeah, man. I am,” Troy confessed.

  “Is the guy in any of the pictures?” Alex asked.

  “No. Well, I take that back. His hand is in a couple of them.”

  “His hand?”

  “Yeah. And believe me, you don’t want to know what he’s doing with his hand!”

  “You’re right. I don’t. But tell me, do you really believe Maggie would let a college boyfriend take nude pictures of her when she wouldn’t let you? After all, you were with her for what, three years?”

  “Yeah, senior year in high school and two years apart but still kinda together when we went off to college.”

  “So?”

  “Well, I figured that she got carried away. I mean, big-city campus. Sophisticated guy by small-town standards comes along and talks her into a little experimentation. Or maybe she was trying to make some money so she could afford a place off campus. You know, before you and Jess offered to let her move in. Either scenario works.”

  “So it could have been a one-time deal, a photo shoot to make some cash,” Alex pointed out.

  “Maybe. But the guy’s touching her! He’s got his hand between her legs, making her come in the picture. Don’t tell me that’s how they do it in the big city. That’s too sleazy for words.”

  “So what’s your plan?” Alex asked again, trying to steer the conversation away from a man having sex with Maggie and taking pictures while doing it.

  “I was hoping to find out who it was on my own, without ever letting Maggie know.”

  “How?”

  “Again, just look at Maggie. Any old boyfriend is gonna want a second chance with her. And if it was a so-called professional photographer, then he’s gonna want her to model for him again. Not only ’cause he wants to do her, but because he probably made a mint selling these pictures.”

  “They’ve been sold? You’ve seen them somewhere?” Alex demanded, feeling sick to his stomach.

  “No, I haven’t,” Troy said, and Alex breathed again. “But I keep surfing, waiting for them to pop up. I figure if the photographer wants her back, either for another photo shoot or just for sex, he might try to blackmail her by threatening to release the photos. So I’ve been waiting and watching, looking for someone to approach her that makes her really nervous. That’ll have to be the guy.”

  “And when you identify him?”

  “Then I follow him, confront him, beat the crap out of him, get all the pictures from him, and then beat on him some more,” Troy said, and Alex suddenly knew that Jess had found a kindred spirit.

  “Why not just ask Maggie about the pictures?” Alex wanted to know.

  “Because she would just tell me to butt out and accuse me of wanting her back.”

  “But you do want her back,” Alex pointed out.

  “Of course I do. I’m not stupid.” And when Alex snorted, Troy clarified with, “At least I can admit that I was wrong and that Maggie was probably the best thing that will ever happen to me. I’m willing to wait if that’s what it takes. And if she ever indicates that she wants to give us another shot, then I’m gonna be ready and willing.”

  “A baby on the way notwithstanding,” Alex murmured and saw Troy wince.

  “I know it looks bad,” Troy said.

  “I’ll say. You want to protect Maggie. You want Maggie back. So you come to town without telling her and follow her around. And just for the hell of it, you pick up a fuck buddy in a bar and proceed to knock her up. No, it doesn’t look bad, Troy. It looks like the makings of a world-class cluster fuck. Face it, there is no way in hell that Maggie will ever be able to forgive or forget when she finds out.”

  “She doesn’t have to find out,” Troy protested.

  “Oh? So what are you going to do? Tell her you had a kid by immaculate conception? No, let me guess. Artificial insemination. You made a few deposits, and by an amazing coincidence a woman from the same town Maggie goes to school at happens to choose your boys?”

  “You don’t have to be so sarcastic,” Troy grumbled.

  “And you don’t have to be so stupid,” Alex said.

  “So what do you suggest?” Troy said sarcastically.

  “Well, for starters, I would get rid of all hope of Maggie ever coming back to you.”

  Troy nodded slowly. “So when she finally does, I’ll be pleasantly surprised and grateful instead of insufferable with all the ‘I knew it was ju
st a matter of time’ crap. Yeah, I can do that.”

  Alex shook his head in disgust. “Whatever. But in any case, accept that Maggie is going to make a life for herself with or without you, so you need to concentrate on making your own life without her for the time being.”

  “And that way she can’t get upset when she finds out I have a kid.” Troy nodded eagerly. “Yeah, I like it. She moved on, and so did I. And things didn’t work out the way we had planned and eventually we wind back up with each other, older but wiser, ready to settle down and make things last forever.”

  “Oh, God,” Alex groaned, dropping his head in his hands.

  “Go on,” Troy encouraged him. “What should I do next?”

  Alex sighed as he looked up at an enthusiastically stoned Troy. He really hoped Troy would be too shit-faced to remember any of this in the morning. “Well, Maggie isn’t going to be too happy that you’re in town. And the only way to find out who took the photos is to ask her.” Troy tried to interrupt, saying that was a bad idea, but Alex steamrolled over him. “So you should hand over all the photos and disk to me. I’ll give them to Maggie and let her destroy them herself. And then Jess and I will confront the photographer and get the rest of them from him.”

  “You’ll let me help?” Troy’s tone was hopeful.

  “We’ll see,” Alex hedged.

  “Maggie will see that I’ve got her back. That I’ll take good care of her,” Troy put in.

  “And again, you’re forgetting that you knocked someone up while you were taking such good care of her,” Alex said, exasperated.

  “Well, you’re going to tell her anyway,” Troy pouted.

  “Tell you what,” Alex said. “You talk to Maria, confirm she’s pregnant. Get her to agree to a paternity test. Decide what the two of you are going to do, and I’ll keep your secret from Maggie.”

  “Decide what we’re going to do?” Troy asked, confused.

  Alex sighed again, ready to strangle the clueless twit. He forcibly reminded himself that Troy was not only mentally unstable since he thought his plan for being in town was a good one but also that Troy had suffered a real shock tonight and was reeling from that. Not to mention he was both high and drunk. He thought about telling Troy what to do but acknowledged that Troy probably wouldn’t remember this conversation come morning. That was a good thing. Alex could get out of here with the photos, and Troy would trash his room, scratching his head as he wondered what he had done with them.