by Ramona Gray
“It’s okay, honey. It’s okay. Come here.” He grabbed the box of tissue from her desk and led her to the small loveseat. He sat down, drawing her into his lap. She curled into him like a scared kitten, and he rubbed her back as she cried.
After about five minutes, her sobs turned into the occasional sniffle. He handed her some tissue and she wiped her face and blew her nose. She tried to sit up and he tightened his hold around her, pressing her head against his chest.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s fine.” He kissed the top of her head. “Tell me what happened, honey.”
“Lori is what happened,” she said.
“Who’s Lori?”
“My sister. She’s a drunk and she got herself arrested again. My grandmother went to bail her out, I told her not to, but she was upset and scared.”
She took a deep breath. “Traffic was horrible and by the time I got there, Nana had already paid her bail and they were leaving. We-we got into a fight and Lori slapped me across the face.”
“I’m so sorry, honey.”
She shrugged. “It isn’t the first time.” She pushed up the sleeve of her blouse and showed him the thin scar that ran down the outside of her arm from her elbow to the middle of her forearm. “This was from last year. She sliced me open with a box cutter when I poured her alcohol down the sink.”
“Jesus,” he said. “Maybe you should -”
“Maybe I should what?” She sat up, her slender body stiff and fire in her eyes. “Maybe I should give up on her? Maybe I should let her drink herself to death? Is that it?”
“Shh,” he said. He pulled her back into his embrace and rubbed her back again until her stiff body relaxed. “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. You’re being very kind and I’m being awful.”
“You aren’t.”
“I’m just,” she let her breath out in a shuddering sigh, “so tired of dealing with it, you know? She’s ruining my life and I’m letting her, and I don’t know how to stop.”
She sat up and stared at him. “I don’t know what to do.”
Tears were starting to slide down her cheeks again and he wiped them away with his thumbs, being careful not to press too hard on her injured cheek. “Don’t cry, honey.”
“I’m so tired of crying, so tired of worrying and – and…”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth and he made a muffled sound of surprise when she pressed her mouth against his. She kissed him hard and he made another shocked sound when she slipped her tongue into his mouth. Jesus, she tasted sweet.
He gripped the back of her neck and pulled her back before he could do something incredibly stupid like kiss her back. “Chloe, wait.”
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Oh my God, what am I doing? I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that, and I don’t know why I did.”
“It’s fine,” he said.
She stared at him with wide eyes. “I’m going to be fired for sexually harassing my co-worker.”
He tried not to grin. Chloe was obviously panicking, but her thinking that kissing him was sexual harassment, when he couldn’t stop fucking masturbating every night to thoughts of her, was laughable.
“I have to tell Luke what I did,” she said. “I have to tell him and hand in my resignation before -”
“Chloe, it’s fine. Really.”
“It isn’t. I’m a-a sexual predator.”
This time he did grin, he couldn’t help it, and her panic disappeared to be replaced with a flash of temper. “You think this is funny?”
“No, it’s -”
“It’s not funny, okay? I finally got the chance to live my dream of being a designer – maybe – and I’ve ruined it by kissing you. I forced my goddamn tongue into your mouth like some, some kind of…well, I don’t know what…but it wasn’t appropriate and now I’m going to be fired. I’m going to be fired and lose my chance of being a real honest-to-god designer all because I couldn’t keep my tongue out of the mouth of a co-worker who doesn’t even like me. Who doesn’t even want me, or -”
He stopped her talking with a kiss. She squeaked into his mouth and he traced her upper lip with his tongue before nipping at her bottom lip. She parted her lips and he slid his tongue into her mouth to taste her again. She sat passively in his lap, but a soft moan escaped when he sucked on her bottom lip and her ass pressed against his growing erection.
He released her mouth but kept his hand on the nape of her neck. “I want you, Chloe. I want you very much.”
“Why?” She whispered.
“Because you’re beautiful,” he kissed her again, “sexy, sweet, and,” he kissed her a third time, “have a great fucking ass.”
She smiled a little and he pulled her closer. “Kiss me.”
She pressed her lips against his and he relished the feel of her soft mouth before sliding his other arm around her and pulling her tight against his body. She rocked her ass rhythmically against his erection as they kissed. He nuzzled her neck before sucking on her earlobe and sliding his hand under her to squeeze that delectable ass.
She moaned into his ear and he squeezed her ass again. “Come back to my place, Chloe. Come back to my place and -”
“Jackson? Sorry I’m late. The receptionist was leaving, but she told me it was fine to come back to your office. Are you ready to…shit, sorry.”
He cursed inwardly at the sound of Ian’s voice. Chloe had stiffened on his lap and the look on her face was one of complete and utter shock.
He peered around Chloe’s body. “Sorry, Ian. Uh, give me a minute, okay?”
“Yeah, sure, sorry again, I’ll…”
Ian’s big body froze as Chloe slowly turned her head to stare at him.
“It’s you,” his best friend breathed as Chloe made a low moan of dismay.
“What’s happening?” Jackson said.
Chloe scrambled off of his lap and backed toward her desk, never taking her eyes off of Ian.
“Chloe, what’s wrong?” Jackson stood and stared first at Chloe before turning to Ian. “Ian, tell me what the fuck is happening.”
“It’s her,” Ian said. “The girl from the bar.”
“Chloe?” Jackson felt like he’d been hit by a truck. “Chloe is the woman you slept with?”
“Oh my God,” Chloe moaned. “You-you told him.”
“He’s my best friend,” Ian said.
Jackson had never seen Ian look so disarmed before.
“I have to go,” Chloe whispered. Tears were sliding down her cheeks. She grabbed her purse and her jacket, shaking off Jackson’s hand when he reached for her arm.
“Chloe, wait.”
“No, I can’t… oh my God, I have to go.” She stopped in front of Ian who was blocking the doorway. She whispered pleadingly, “Please move.”
He gave her a weirdly tender look. “Baby, it’s okay. Don’t cry.”
“Please let me go,” she whispered.
He stepped aside and she ran past him. Jackson stared at Ian. “What the fuck just happened?”
* * *
Chloe pulled her flannel pajamas on before slipping into her robe and belting it securely around her waist. A towel was wrapped turban style around her wet hair, and she wiped away the fog on the bathroom mirror before staring at herself. The spot where Lori had slapped her wasn’t as red, but the rest of her skin was so pale she looked like a ghost.
“I slept with Ian,” she said to her reflection. “I slept with my co-worker’s best friend who also happens to be a cop.”
She barked out a laugh. Jagged and sharp as broken glass.
“I’m lucky I didn’t get arrested for prostitution.”
Another jagged laugh. She didn’t like the hysteria that was in it, and she gripped the bathroom sink with white knuckles. “Deep breaths, Chloe. Deep breaths. You’re okay. Tomorrow morning, you’ll hand in your resignation to Luke, and you’ll nev
er see Jackson or Ian again. Everything’s fine.”
Yeah, everything was fine. She was about to lose her one and only shot at being a designer, but everything was fine.
She staggered out of the bathroom and made her way to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. She would have a nice hot cup of tea while she composed her resignation letter. Her dad always said that tea made everything better.
She swiped at the tears before cursing under her breath. She didn’t want to cry anymore. She was an adult who had made a mistake and now she had to face the consequences of that mistake.
She turned the teakettle on and leaned against the counter. It was bitterly ironic that instead of it being her sister who ruined her career, she’d done it to herself. She’d always blamed Lori for the bad stuff that happened to her, but maybe, just maybe, it was her own damn fault. Maybe she projected all the bad shit onto Lori because she didn’t want to face the fact that she was a fuck-up too.
There was a knock on her door and she made a startled jerk. Who the hell was knocking on the door of her apartment? She clutched the neck of her robe closed and walked to the front door. Before she could look, Jackson’s voice drifted through the door.
“Chloe, honey, let us in.”
Us? Us?
She checked the peephole. Shit, both Jackson and Ian were standing in the hallway, their cheeks red with cold.
“Go away,” she said.
“We just want to talk to you for a minute,” Jackson said.
She chewed on her bottom lip. “I – I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Let us in, Red.” Ian’s voice held a certain amount of demand to it that had her automatically reaching for the lock. She snatched her hand back.
“No. Go away.”
“We’re not leaving until you talk to us. We’ll discuss the whole thing here in the hallway through the door if you prefer.”
Her eyes widened. Shit, she did not want her neighbours hearing all about her night of sex with Ian. She opened the door and yanked it open, glaring at the two of them. “Don’t say another word in the hallway. Get in here, both of you.”
Jackson smiled at her as he stepped past her and took his boots off. Ian brushed past her and removed his boots as well as she slammed the door shut. “How did you guys even get in the building? There’s a buzzer to open the front door.”
Jackson shrugged. “One of your neighbours was coming out, Ian showed him his badge and he let us in.”
“That’s a misuse of your power,” she said to Ian.
He didn’t reply, but he didn’t look ashamed in the least. The teakettle started to whistle and, her mind spinning, she trailed after Jackson and Ian when they followed the sound to the kitchen.
“I like your place.” Jackson shut off the burner and poured hot water into her mug. He grabbed two more mugs that were hanging from hooks beneath the cupboards and opened up the canister that was marked ‘tea’. “Ian, do you want a cup?”
Ian nodded, and she watched in silent disbelief as Ian draped his coat over the chair and sat down. Jackson poured water into the two mugs and smiled at her. “Sit down, Chloe.”
“How do you even know where I live?” She sat down as Jackson set the mug in front of her. He found spoons and sugar in the cupboard and opened the fridge to get the milk before sitting down beside her.
She gave Ian a suspicious look. “Did you look me up in some police database or something?”
Jackson laughed. “We Googled your address, Chloe.”
She stared into her tea before squeezing the tea bag with her spoon and lifting it out of the mug. She set it on the table, added a generous splash of milk, and took a sip. “Why are you here?”
“We were worried about you.” Jackson took his own sip of tea.
“Why? You don’t even know me.”
“We were still worried. Plus, we wanted to talk to you about what happened.”
“What happened?” She gave that weird, ragged laugh she couldn’t seem to get rid of. “What happened was I slept with a-a damn cop who could have arrested me for prostitution, and then I tried to sleep with my co-worker who just happens to be the cop’s best goddamn friend!”
Her voice was rising and she took a deep breath, resisting the urge to jump up and run to her bedroom.
“I wouldn’t have arrested you for prostitution.” Ian’s deep voice washed over her, and a small shiver went down her spine. She wanted to stare at him, wanted to see if he was as beautiful and god-like as she remembered, but she kept her gaze on her mug of tea.
“What happened between us wasn’t prostitution, Red.”
“Yeah, okay,” she mumbled.
“Chloe, please don’t be upset,” Jackson said. “I’m not going to say anything at work and -”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m giving my resignation to Luke first thing in the morning.”
“Like hell you are,” Jackson said.
She flinched at the anger in his voice and Ian made a low growl. “Watch your tone, Jackson.”
She could hear Jackson take a deep breath and then he said, “Honey, you’re not resigning.”
“I can’t work with you. Not after I slept with your best friend and then sexually harassed you in our office. I’m a goddamn whore and now both of you know it.”
“You are not a whore, don’t let either of us hear you say that again, Chloe. And I told you before, you didn’t sexually harass me.” There was a thin thread of impatience in Jackson’s usual affable tone. “I want you as much as you want me.”
She peeked at Ian. She couldn’t help it. He was staring at her gravely, but he didn’t seem upset by Jackson’s statement.
Disappointment crawled into her belly. Maybe he didn’t want her anymore. Maybe he’d had his fill, or maybe it hadn’t been as good between them as she remembered.
Chloe! What does it matter? Have you lost your damn mind? You can’t go near him or Jackson ever again!
“You should go,” she whispered. “I-I’m very tired.”
“Honey, will you give us five minutes?” Jackson said. “Please?”
She hesitated. “Yeah, okay.”
Jackson glanced at Ian who nodded. She didn’t object when Jackson peeled one of her hands away from her mug and held it in his big hand. He squeezed her hand until she looked at him. “We don’t think you’re a whore for sleeping with Ian and then being attracted to me. Do you understand? You are free to sleep with whomever and however many men you want. Got it?”
She didn’t answer, and he squeezed her hand. “Chloe?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Good. Both Ian and I want you. Very much.”
“What?” She gave him a surprised look. “You – you’re kidding me.”
“He isn’t,” Ian said.
She spared a glance at him, blushing at the look on his face. “Why?”
“Because, like I said before, you’re beautiful and sexy and smart and neither of us can stop thinking about you,” Jackson said.
She swallowed and stared into Jackson’s eyes as he smiled at her. “You want both of us, don’t you?”
She chewed at her bottom lip, not sure if she could admit what they wanted to hear.
“Don’t you?” Jackson prompted.
“Yes,” she sighed. “I’m sorry, but, yes, I do want both of you.”
“You don’t need to apologize for that.” Jackson glanced at Ian again. “Both of us are very good at…sharing.”
Her mouth dropped open as the implication of what he was saying sunk in. “Sharing? I –you can’t be serious.”
“We are. We both want you, you want both of us. It’s perfect, Chloe.”
Her mind wanted to skip over the delicious and intoxicating thought of having sex with both men, of getting to have her cake and eat it too, and so she pounced on another problem. “We work together, Jackson.”
“So, what?” He shrugged. “I can keep it professional at the office, if you can.”
“I – w
hat if we got into a fight or…”
“What if we did? I won’t let it affect our working relationship.”
“Have you ever slept with someone you worked with before?” She asked.
“No, but I know me. I don’t hold a grudge, and I can keep my personal and professional life separate.”
She didn’t reply and he squeezed her hand again. “Look, Chloe, we’re going to be completely honest with you. Neither Ian nor I are looking for anything permanent.”
She peeked again at Ian. His jaw had tightened, but he gave her short nod of agreement.
“Nothing permanent,” she repeated.
“That’s right,” Jackson said. “We want you, and we want to have…fun with you, but we want you to know what this would be. A mutual good time for three consenting adults. We’re not looking to date or for a relationship.”
She wondered if she should be upset that she was good enough to sleep with, but not good enough to date. She felt like she should be, but truthfully, what Jackson was saying was incredibly appealing.
She’d been in a relationship before and it had ended badly because of her fucked-up life. The thought of growing attached to Jackson or Ian, of maybe falling in love with one of them only to watch that love be destroyed by the toxicity of her sister made her feel sick to her stomach.
She couldn’t – wouldn’t – go through that again. A no-strings-attached relationship worked fine for her.
“So, it would just be a mutual itch scratching then?” She said.
There was no bitterness in her tone but Jackson winced a little. Still, she was impressed when he didn’t try and gloss over it. “A bit of a crude description, but accurate enough.”
Chloe, you can’t do this. You work with Jackson! And you can’t have sex with two men ….nice girls don’t do that!
She shoved her inner voice down to the bottom of her brain. She was tired of being a nice girl, dammit.
“So,” she was impressed at how steady her voice was, “if I agree to this, how does it work? Do we do like an every other weekend thing? Just switch off or…”
“What do you mean?” Jackson gave her a puzzled look.
