“It’s okay,” I assured him, gently pushing him behind me. “Trust me.”
“I’m going to have a screening of that video right against the side of the frat house,” Kyle laughed. “There will be free popcorn.”
Kyle dealt the cards. We went back and forth. It took a while for each player to get a hand worthy of a big bet. I had an Ace and King of Hearts. Kyle stayed in. The cards got flipped. Ace of Clubs, Ten of Hearts, Jack of Hearts and Queen of Hearts. I had a Royal Flush. If I could get Kyle to go all in, the game would be over. I pretended to get flustered and turned to Logan.
“We get one more card, right?” I asked.
Logan, who hadn’t seen my cards, threw up his hands in frustration. Kyle laughed. He thought he had the game won and I knew I had him.
“All in,” he smiled.
I suddenly dropped the act.
“Call,” I said confidently.
Kyle blinked at me. He broke out in a sweat. I think, deep down, he knew he was beat. He looked at his cards. There was nothing he could do that would allow him to win at this point, although he did have a great hand.
“Two pair,” announced Kyle. “Aces and Jacks.”
“Royal flush,” I said. “You lose, Kyle. So will that be cash or wire transfer?”
“Holy shit,” gasped Ryan. “I can’t believe she beat you, bro!”
“Shut up,” snapped Kyle, throwing his arm through his piles of chips, spilling them everywhere. “Do you think I care? Your winnings are a pittance to me. A pittance.”
“Good, great,” said Logan, suddenly relaxed. “Then cash?”
“Oh, I have to send it to you? Do I?” said Kyle, standing up. “You didn’t seem too anxious to pay me, Cooper. Maybe I won’t be so anxious to pay you! Maybe I’ll just wait around and find a way to get you to bet again!”
“I just got jammed up, I was going to pay.” Logan explained.
“Yeah, I’m gonna pay too, Logan,” laughed Kyle. “Sometime in the distant nebulous future! And there’s nothing you can do about it because if you say one word, I’ll get you kicked off the team for gambling!”
Suddenly, I heard big guys clomping into the frat house. The football players, who had been drinking and enjoying the party around us, now suddenly moved over to the poker table and surrounded it. Kyle and his frat brothers backed away, but they were completely surrounded. The entire team was in the room and they were big and intimidating.
“Now, I’m now law expert,” said Dinkins. “But what I am is a man that can bench 225 pounds, fifteen times. And I’m not even the strongest dude on this team. This team, by the way, that just found a new quarterback. We don’t have any other quarterbacks left, dumbass.”
“Yeah, I was just, uh…” Kyle stammered.
“You were just gonna pay my teammate,” insisted Dinkins. “Or I can’t be responsible for what happens to you and your brothers and your frat house if you attempt to destroy our team. Because like you’re brothers, we’re brothers. So, do we have a problem here?”
Kyle looked around the room. The football team was literally made up of guys with the strength to destroy everything in the frat house. I’m not sure if Dinkins was serious with his threat, but getting Mason and Kyle kicked off the team would be a serious blow to Highwater College football. Even the college might look the other way to protect its players. It had in the past.
“I’ll send it to you online,” said Kyle. “I’m not fucking Richie Rich with a vault in here. Now get the fuck out of my house.”
“So weird,” I said, teasing him further. “You getting beat by a dumb slut. What’s that make you Kyle? I guess, dumber and sluttier.”
“I think you used too many words in that sentence,” said Mason. “He looks very confused.”
“It’s fine,” assured Logan. “People like Kyle have very short memories. Like dogs or worms or pieces of shit.”
“Get out!” screamed Kyle, his face red and his eyes wide.
When we got outside, Mason and Logan thanked Dinkins and the rest of the football team. It was like we had just won a game. They shook the hand or fist bumped every player. At least amongst this group, the three of us were completely accepted for who we are.
Chapter 24
Faith
For being a complete and utter douchebag, Kyle was at least as good as his word. He paid Logan as promised, although the three of us and the football team were unofficially banned from the frat house. We had way more money than we actually needed to save my parents house.
To avoid further drama, I decided that it would be best to introduce the boys to my family after church. Mason and Logan had no problem going. They had gone to church in the past, but hadn’t been in a few years.
I told my parents that I had come to an important decision and that we should all go out for brunch after church to discuss it. After a somber ceremony at the church, I introduced my parents to Mason and Logan. It was great to see dad up and about. He was still sick, but his treatments were allowing him mobility again.
At the diner, we got a private room in the back and told everyone to order what they wanted. My mother, of course, objected and worried that we were spending too much money.
“It’s fine, ma,” I explained. “It’s part of why I wanted you to come here today. I’ve made an important decision.”
“You are finally dropping out?” she anticipated.
“Better,” I said. “I don’t have to. We got the money for the house!”
“What?!” she said, gasping.
Dad was so exciting, he started to wheeze. He had to use an inhaler to calm his lungs down.
“Are you okay, dad?”
“I’m fine,” he gasped. “Where did you get the money?”
“Well, it’s a long story, but Mason, Logan and I were in a poker tournament and we won over two hundred thousand dollars! I told them about the situation with the house and they want to help you pay it off!” I exclaimed.
“Oh, my God! That’s so wonderful!” mother said excited. “Thank you so much. You handsome boys!”
She hugged and kissed them. Mason leaned over and shook dad’s hand.
“Thank you,” dad wheezed.
“It’s no problem, sir,” Mason said respectfully.
Seeing his brother shake hands, Logan reached over and did the same.
“We care very much about your daughter, sir,” said Logan nervously.
“You both do, huh?” asked my father suspiciously.
My father seemed to get the message. He was very savvy that way. He looked at Mason, Logan and me. My mother, overcome by the fact that we were saving the house was oblivious to the entire scene.
“You take good care of her,” said dad.
“We promise, sir,” assured Mason.
“How much do we need to pay off the house?” I asked.
“I think it’s around $128,000 or so,” said my mother. “But you should save the rest. For your future. Let us pay for the brunch.”
Mason, Logan and I laughed. We had totally overestimated the cost of the house. We had way more than that.
“It’s no trouble,” I insisted. “Please, let me do this, for once.”
“Okay, Faith,” said mother, finally relenting. “Thank you.”
She hugged me.
“Oh, I knew you could do it!” she continued. “You can do anything you set your mind to! I always had faith in you! I never gave up hope!”
I hugged her back. That was a bit of a generous take on the past few weeks, but I was willing to let it slide for now. Although my father had gotten the message about my new relationship, easing my mother into accepting it would be a whole other ball game. Hopefully, he would work on her in the coming days and weeks. And while, she probably would never be completely happy with the arrangement until the Pope was, she might allow herself to be willfully blind to what our relationship really was. If that was what it took to allow my mother to sleep at night, I’d accept it. At least maybe she wouldn’t be
criticizing me every ten seconds.
***
Mason and Logan’s dad was a whole other story. When we got the money, Logan had to deposit it in his account and this set off all kinds of bells and whistles at the bank. His father monitored the account and took the first plane out to find out first hand where his sons got that kind of money.
“This is bad,” said Logan, pacing in his and Mason’s dorm room. “This is so bad. He’s coming to disown us, I know it.”
“Look, we’ve had some problems with dad in the past,” said Mason. “But I don’t think he’d disown us.”
“You just have to talk to him,” I said, sitting with Mason on his bed. “My parents accepted you two and I didn’t think they would.”
“Yeah, but that was a kind of tacit acceptance,” Logan pointed out. “Plus we saved their house, what else were they going to do?”
“I’m sure in his own way, your dad loves you,” I assured him. “Just give him a chance. Talk to him. When’s he coming in?”
“I don’t remember,” said Logan, as he continued to mentally panic.
“Jeez, look at you,” said Mason. “Normally, I’m the one that’s freaking out. It’s like we switched. He’s coming in at two. It said in the email.”
“Well, he’ll have to drive up to the quad,” I said. “Why don’t we go down there and meet him. We could take him to lunch. Free food worked on my family.”
“Sure. Whatever. Fine,” said Logan. “I can’t think straight until this is over.”
We went downstairs and out on the quad. Logan spotted a town car with tinted windows and a driver that looked familiar to him.
“Hey, isn’t that dad’s driver?” said Logan, stopping in his tracks. “Man, he brings him everywhere.”
“Yeah, that means dad is here,” said Mason. “But we couldn’t have passed him.”
“What’s he look like?” I asked, looking around.
“Kind of like us, only older and meaner,” said Logan.
“Like that guy talking to Gregory?” I asked.
I had spotted Mr. Cooper standing at the edge of the quad talking to Gregory. They seemed to know each other and were shaking hands. The boys rushed over there and they were surprised.
“What the hell is this?” demanded Logan.
“Oh, sorry, Mr. Cooper,” apologized Gregory.
“No, it’s fine,” said Mr. Cooper. “Boys, Gregory here works for me. I hired him to keep tabs on you and keep you safe.”
“You what?!” snapped Logan. “You’ve been spying on us the whole time?”
“Yeah, see,” said Gregory, looking at Mr. Cooper. “I told you they might react this way.”
“How do you expect us to react, Gregory?” said Mason, extremely suspicious. “Is that even your real name?”
Gregory looked to Mr. Cooper for approval. He nodded.
“No?” Gregory said.
“Jesus, dad! I can’t believe this!” snapped Logan. “You sent a guy to spy on your own sons.”
“I did it out of love,” said Mr. Cooper. “I didn’t want to interfere, just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I wanted you to interfere a little, dad!” said Logan. “All I’ve ever wanted is some attention from you. Mason and I have been playing football for years, but you hardly ever see our games! And we’re really good, dad. Mason’s the quarterback now. A freshman quarterback! Do you know how good you have to be to be a freshman quarterback?!”
“Well, technically all our other quarterbacks were hurt,” pointed out Mason.
“No-no,” I whispered. “Not the time, not the time.”
Mason stopped his train of thought and Logan continued with his rant.
“We just wanted you to be there, dad! To actually show your support! How are you going to show it when you send a spy?”
“I know,” he said. “I just--- Well, when you work in politics, you think of some pretty unconventional things. Somehow I thought this would be good. You could live your life and I could still know things without prying. Your mother was against it. Don’t blame her, blame me.”
We all stood in silence for a few minutes.
“Well, what now?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, you are?” asked Mr. Cooper.
“Oh!” said Logan. “Dad, this is Faith. She is Mason and my girlfriend.”
“Wait,” he said not understanding. “Mason’s girlfriend or yours?”
“Both,” said Mason. “We’re in a three person relationship.”
“Ooooh,” said Mr. Cooper. “Well, now it all makes sense why you wanted to buy her family’s house. Gregory told me some things, but I wasn’t sure what to believe. Is that a thing at college? Three people couples?”
“It’s called a polyamorous relationship,” I explained. “It’s not that unusual. We already know another group on campus.”
“But it’s just you three? Together?” Mr. Cooper asked, trying to understand.
“Yeah,” said Logan.
“Are you three happy?” he asked.
“Yes, very!” I beamed.
“Well, then it’s fine with me,” he said. “Whatever you work out. You’re grown adults. I wouldn’t dream of standing in the way of your happiness. Speaking of which, I had intended to surprise you but--- Well, you can keep all the poker winnings. I already bought up the debt for Faith’s parents’ house.”
“What? Why?” asked Logan.
“Well, you guys seemed to be adamant about it. When the bank called, I realized that’s where the money was going--- I thought I’d surprise you and pay for it. We can afford it, after all,” he explained. “You three should keep the money. Start something--- Well, if you’re serious about this relationship--- You can use it to start your lives.”
“You mean that dad?” asked Mason, his eyes wide with shock.
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess I should’ve come to the games. I feel bad. When’s the next one?”
“Tomorrow, if you can stay,” said Logan excitedly.
“Sure! Why not? I can work from my phone for a day,” he assured them. “Might have to work during the game. Just answer light emails, but that’s all. And emergencies, but I’ll be there. Sitting and watching.”
“Close enough,” said Mason.
We took Mr. Cooper out to lunch and he was affable and charming. I had never seen Mason and Logan so excited to be with anyone (other than me!). He got a room in a hotel near the college and sat next to me at the game.
I, uh, “relaxed” Mason right before, but we made sure no one knew about that. Mason and Logan played one of their best games ever and Mr. Cooper seemed genuinely impressed. He took short videos of the game and posted them to his social media accounts with the captions, “My sons playing football and winning!” As a master manipulator of public opinion, he knew how to use social media better than I did!
The post went a bit viral and Highwater College was getting a lot of press because of its sports program. I almost felt bad for the other team. We crushed them 48 to 0. The coach couldn’t even put a second string quarterback in because he didn’t have another back up. I could forgive Mason for running up the score a little because his dad was in the stands.
With my family’s financial woes behind us and Mason and Logan’s father issues coming to a resolution, the future looked bright for us. I was now on track to graduate. The only issue was, what were we going to do after I did. Fortunately, it was still months away. In the meantime, the boys and I had plenty of time to enjoy each other’s company.
Epilogue
Faith
My graduation ceremony was exciting. My family was especially happy and I was glad dad could make it out to see me. Mason and Logan’s parents offered to host my graduation party. (My mother agreed because she wouldn’t have to clean the house.) Mason and Logan waited for me after the ceremony, of course, and as always were very supportive. I met up with the boys and hopped into Logan’s convertible still in my cap and gown.
“You going
to wear that all night?” joked Logan. “You look like a judge.”
“Hey, this was four years of work,” I pointed out. “I might as well get some use out of it. Besides, I’m sure everyone will want to take pictures with me at the party.”
“What did you write on your cap?” asked Mason.
“I couldn’t think of anything clever,” I said, leaning down so he could see the top of my cap. “So, I just put hearts on it and thank you. I wish I was more creative.”
“You’re more creative in other ways,” Logan said, pretending to be sultry.
“This is true,” I said, agreeing.
Driving out to Mason and Logan’s parents’ estate, we ended up on the road by a huge lake. We could see the house in the distance. It wasn’t all that far from the college really, a bit of a drive, but you could almost commute it. It made it that much weirder that their dad hadn’t come to games, although in his defense he was almost never home. I had visited it once or twice. Logan missed the turn and continued driving.
“Wait, wasn’t that the turn?” I said. “Where are we going?”
“We have a graduation present to give you before the party,” said Mason.
“Well, the party starts soon,” I pointed out. “We shouldn’t be late.”
“Trust us, the gift is worth being late,” said Logan.
Mason handed me a blindfold.
“Here put this on,” he said.
“Jeez, really? You guys went all out.”
I put the blindfold on.
“This better not be a joke where you push me into a wading pool full of Jello or something,” I warned. “I don’t like being blindfolded.”
I really didn’t. It made me nervous when I couldn’t see. When I was a kid, I was afraid of the dark. However, with Mason and Logan here, I could easily ignore that fear. I trusted them completely. The car stopped and we got out. Mason and Logan helped me walk.
“Where are we?” I asked.
Mason took the blindfold off. We were standing in front of a gorgeous house.
“What is this place?” I asked.
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