Her giggles broke the contact between us, and she kicked off a shoe to get one leg free of her pants. “I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who needs to be exposed.” She undid my jeans.
At the touch of her soft hand around my shaft, I jerked into her touch. So good. My jeans hung low on my hips. I found enough brain space to roll on a condom, lifted her onto the desk again, and glided the head of my cock along her slick skin.
Phillip moved in, gripping Addie’s chin and drawing her in for a long, hungry kiss. Watching them was a whole different experience as kissing either of them, but just as delicious in its own way.
“So much for directing,” I teased.
He turned his attention to me with a tight chuckle, and bit my bottom lip before diving in to crush his mouth to mine. “You were saying?” He growled.
“I was saying… Not a clue.”
Phillip pressed back into Addie, working a hand between her and me without breaking us apart, and kneaded her breast while he worked his mouth along her body.
She dragged down his zipper and freed his cock as well.
I nibbled her earlobe. “I like a woman who knows what she wants.”
“I don’t have a clue.” She arched her back with a moan when Phillip slid his hands between her legs, teasing both her and me. “But I’m really enjoying the options. It’s like a buffet. I can try a little of this. A lot of that…” She tugged Phillip’s shaft and his grunt rocked me to my core.
I slowly slid inside her, relishing every inch of penetration, Phillip’s fingers brushing me as he teased her clit. It took the last of my restraint to stay still when I was buried to the hilt. I wanted so desperately to move, but then this would be over.
Addie and Phillip fingered and stroked each other, their faces both reflecting their pleasure—mouths slightly parted, eyes fluttering shut. Addie’s pussy twitched around my cock, the squeezing growing more frequent and intense with each breath.
When her hand dropped way from Phillip and her gasps became stuttered and laced with whimpers, I knew she was close. He fisted his cock, stroking hard and fast. She bit her bottom lip, her cries escaping anyway.
I was done holding back, as she came, milking me, I pounded hard and fast. I lost myself in the sensations. The sounds—her whimpers and Phillip’s grunts. The tang of need on the tip of my tongue. It all wrapped around me, and I let go of any restraint.
My thoughts fuzzed and I plummeted into pleasure, orgasm rushing up inside, spilling through me and from me, until stars danced behind my eyelids and climax drained me.
The pounding intensity slowed to a stop. Addie leaned her head against my chest, Phillip rested his on her shoulder, and I settled my forehead on her hair. The only sound in the room was us panting, struggling to catch our breath.
How was this—how were they—so incredible?
“You win.” Addie’s words were muffled by my shirt. “Your dick is long enough.”
I laughed.
“I think that’s the most unique way I’ve ever heard someone say you’re well hung.” Phillip chuckled.
“I’m awesome like that,” Addie said.
I kissed the top of her head, reluctant for this moment to end. “You’re incredible.”
We forced ourselves to go back to work, and the mood stayed light and playful in our room until the end of the day.
Thursday I dropped the girls at their schools with the reminder that their mom would pick them up this afternoon, for Alana’s swim meet tonight. I’d have my house to myself until the weekend, when Daria had to get back to her remote work.
An empty home was normal, but the idea didn’t sit well with me today.
When Brandon stopped by the Art room in the afternoon and invited us all to his place to watch an early screener of a film festival movie, I didn’t know who said yes faster—me or Addie.
Which was probably the reason it felt like Phillip took forever to chime in.
Maybe after the movie, we’d head back to my place for another round of lessons.
Twenty-One
Phillip
I’d hesitated to accept Brandon’s invitation. My no was right on the tip of my tongue, and then yes came out instead.
The night was great—movies with friends, just like it used to be—which left me torn. I was about to give this all up, which was the right decision, so why was it easier to accept just one more evening out with Dustin and Adrienne than it was to consider when my final day with the company would be?
I should pick myself up and go. I’d spent as much time with people as without over the last week or so. At Dustin’s, with Adrienne, even at my place, which I preferred empty and quiet.
So why was I still here, wrapped up with Adrienne and Dustin even though the movie was over, while Danny and Brandon sat in their own content cocoon, and Reese reclined like a queen on her throne?
I was too entrenched in this. Adrienne was coming up to speed quickly at work, and it was time for me to consider moving up the date I was leaving. Judith was just waiting for my final notice, to make things official. Monday might be that time. Hell, maybe even tomorrow.
Brandon sighed with contentment. “Man, Phillip, I can’t believe you’re thinking about leaving all of this behind.”
“What?” Dustin jerked his head up.
Fuck. Maybe I’d pick that leaving date tonight.
“Oh.” Brandon grimaced. “I thought with her here, you would’ve… Oh.”
Told someone besides him and Judith? “Nope.”
“Her who?” Adrienne’s question was uncertain. “Her me?”
“Leaving what all behind?” Dustin asked.
Brandon clamped his mouth shut.
About a minute too late.
“Adrienne is my replacement.” I might as well tell them at this point. “I’m leaving the company.”
Dustin stared at me, and the seconds ticked away. “Just like that?” he said. “No, wait, not just like that, because Brandon knows. Because that’s why you hired Addie. You started this weeks ago. You’ve been planning this.”
“Yes.” Half of me rebelled with the straight answer. Telling me to take it back. To reconsider. But Dustin was right—I made up my mind long before this. A moment of awkwardness wouldn’t change that this was the right decision.
“But…” Dustin shook his head. “Aces… The game… It’s all going to be amazing. It is amazing. How could you walk away from that? From… everything?”
The real answer hovered at the edge of my thoughts and felt vaguely like fear. If I reached for it, I’d dive into what I felt last weekend. But I didn’t want to admit it to myself. To them. This way I choose when you’re gone. The accusation in Dustin’s glare burned through me, and I hated that as much as the way everyone else was staring at anything but me.
Especially Adrienne, gaze on her hands as she fidgeted with her shirt.
I extracted myself from the comfortable pile of us, and bit back my revulsion at the shocking cold of want that rushed through me when I stood. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Fuck you,” Dustin said.
Yeah. Not ever again. I turned and walked out of the house.
Twenty-Two
Adrienne
The heavy cloud hanging in the room when Phillip left was nothing compared to the weight pressing on my heart on Dustin’s behalf. On my own. Why did this hurt so badly?
“So, we should go.” Dustin nudged me upright as he spoke. “Thanks for tonight.” He choked off the words. He’d picked me up because he said Brandon’s house was hard to find.
“Sure.” Brandon’s retort was weak.
I walked to Dustin’s car with him, close enough the heat from his arm brushed mine, but feeling a chasm between us at the lack of physical contact. The silence was enough to gag on, and Dustin’s blank stare as we got in his SUV made me hurt even more.
He sat there, keys in the ignition, engine off.
“I’m sorry.” I had to shatter the quiet. I couldn�
��t stand it anymore. “I’m not here to take anyone’s place. I never—”
“Don’t.” Dustin squeezed my thigh. The heat of his palm and his tight grip shocked my system. “You’ve been told, never apologize for being you. Or for being here. Or anything. Don’t.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Okay.”
Dustin raked his free hand through his hair. “Do you want to come back to my place?”
“I don’t want to be your rebound lay.” That was a bad reply, even for me. But I didn’t know what to do. What to say.
Dustin’s laugh was strained. “Not for sex. This is going to sound dumb.”
“I doubt it.”
“I’ve had extra people in my house for days, and hearing this... I thought he was a better friend. I thought I was a better friend. I don’t...”
…want to be alone. That was my answer, whether or not it was his. “Your place sounds good.”
The drive to Dustin’s was quiet. I kept my window cracked, hoping the cool night air would calm me. It didn’t work.
At his house, he showed me to the guest room—which was the same as the photography room, but with the cameras put away—handed me a shirt to sleep in, and told me good night.
I wasn’t sure what I expected, but this wasn’t it. An ache set in my chest from what I witnessed at Brandon’s, between Dustin and Phillip. I hadn’t imagined Dustin’s hurt. Or how fake Phillip’s indifference was. “Do you want to talk?” I asked.
“About what? Not him.”
That wasn’t a good sign. “Something else, then. If you go to bed now, you’ll be up all night stewing about things.”
“Most likely.”
“I can’t make you talk to me, but I’m here if you want.”
He shook his head. “You’re welcome to the shower, towels are in the closet, kitchen is yours, make yourself at home.”
“Thanks.” The people in my life would be impressed. Something had knocked the words out of me.
Dustin turned away and disappeared into room across the hall and one door down.
How fucked up was tonight? It felt weird being in this room again, considering the first time I was here. It felt weird missing Phillip, though he wasn’t gone yet. It felt weird stepping into someone else’s shower.
The need to rinse off the hurt and disappointment before I fell asleep—like sleep was going to happen—won out over awkwardness. I cleaned up quickly, and changed into the shirt and shorts Dustin gave me. I pulled the drawstring tight, and managed to get the bottoms to hang on my hips.
I could scroll social media, see if that put me to sleep. Play a mobile game? Head into the living room and watch TV? That definitely felt weird.
Before I could decide, there was a knock, and I opened the door to Dustin. His hair was damp, he was only wearing a pair of sweats, and he smelled like soap.
He cupped my face between his palms and crushed his mouth to mine, stealing my thoughts and my breath and my anchor to reason. This felt so incredible. I wanted him desperately, before now, but especially after what we’d done in the office…
I pressed my palm to his chest, barely aware of the gesture until I pushed him back with a no.
Someone could let me off this emotional roller coaster now, please, while it was cresting a peak again.
Dustin’s growl made my flames of need surge, but he stepped back, breaking the contact between us. “You’re right.” He scrubbed his face, sat on the bed, and patted the mattress next to him.
I sat, keeping some distance between us, but not much. What now?
Silence again, apparently.
“Why art? What made you pick up a pencil and say I’m going to get better at drawing?” Dustin’s question was so random, so far away from the core of whatever this mess was, I almost smiled through the sadness, frustration, and confusion.
“This may surprise you, but I’m not always the best at expressing myself through words.”
“I find that hard to believe.” His tone was sincere.
I ducked my head. “Not everyone appreciates my… quirks.” Which I didn’t really have to think about around him. Or Phillip. The fallout from the fight at Brandon’s would fade, right? Things would be better in the morning? “The drawing started as an outlet, and it made me so happy, I kept doing it. What about you?”
“Nothing nearly so noble.”
This conversation, this moment, was surreal. A bubble of peace in the middle of a storm. “My reasons are hardly noble.”
Dustin smirked. “I liked drawing dicks on things.”
I laughed in spite of myself.
He joined in with a light chuckle. “Told you. I had an art teacher who said if I was going to do that, I should at least learn to do it right.”
“Did your parents know?” Me, with my conservative upbringing couldn’t fathom being encouraged at a young age to draw genitalia.
“Knew. Encouraged it. As long as what I was doing wasn’t sexual, they were proud of me for being adult enough to handle nude drawing.”
I studied him with skepticism. “It was sexual.”
Dustin shrugged. “I was fifteen. It was completely sexual. But only until the novelty of drawing dicks wore off. Then my interest was real, and I was good. I wanted to be the best.”
“You’re pretty amazing.” I should qualify that. “At drawing.” And other things. “And other things.”
He covered my hand with his, and warmth wrapped around me. “I’m not the best yet,” he said. “But there’s still time.”
His confidence was so sexy. Then again, most things about him were. Same for Phillip.
Now the ache was back. I’d only known these men a few weeks. Was I letting the physical override common sense? Maybe, but it didn’t feel like it.
I just didn’t know what it felt like instead, or where to start untangling everything churning inside me.
We kept talking, and I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep until I woke up with Dustin wrapped around me. This was so comforting and right.
“Too early,” Dustin mumbled against my back.
It really was. Sadness whispered through me as his fight with Phillip rushed back, but it was sandwiched between two wonderful moments. Dustin and Phillip would be okay today, right? This was the kind of thing they could talk through and things would be all right?
Why did it matter so much to me? It was their argument.
But it did matter, even if I couldn’t put the why into words.
The mattress shifted as Dustin sat up. “Yesterday was amazing,” his voice was heavy with sleep and the huskiness was enticing. “The sex at the office, but also talking last night.”
No mention of Phillip.
“I’ll drop you at home so you can get ready, and meet you at the office,” Dustin said.
“Sounds good.”
We got dressed and we were on our way.
I couldn’t handle another drive full of silence. Not with my brain bursting to capacity with questions. “What are we?” My question tumbled out without a point of reference.
Dustin drummed a thumb on the steering wheel. “People? Skin sacks full of water?”
“Friends? Co-workers? Lovers?” I hadn’t lost the ability to be painfully direct and blunt. Go, me.
“Every day at work is a struggle to prove my credibility. A former co-worker is accusing me of plagiarism. I just found out the person I thought was in this with me through everything, one of my closest friends, was keeping a massive secret… I don’t know if you want to hold any of those labels,” Dustin said. “I don’t know much of anything right now. Except that you probably aren’t capable of lying to me.”
There was that.
Dustin pulled up in front of my apartment building. He squeezed my hand before I climbed out of the SUV. “See you at the office.”
I nodded and forced a smile, then headed inside. I rushed through my morning routine, and headed into the office. Dustin was already there, no surprise, and he looked up f
rom his work long enough to give me a weak smile.
Phillip arrived a short while later, announcing himself with a hey.
Dustin scowled and pushed back from his desk, managing to make rolling wheels squeal on linoleum. “I have some calls to make.” He headed into the vacant office and shut the door behind himself.
So much for everything being better this morning.
“I’ll give him some time to cool off, then talk to him,” Phillip said.
Apologize? It wasn’t my place to correct him, so I nodded.
Twenty-Three
Dustin
Should this bother me so much? Co-workers came and went all the time. So did fuck buddies. My lack of a long-term relationship history, and job history, spoke to both.
But Phillip was a friend. Or I thought he was. I didn’t understand his desire to move on, but I didn’t hold it against him.
Maybe a little.
That wasn’t the issue either, though.
I’d managed to avoid thinking about this all night, thanks to Addie’s company. But now that we were back in the office, seeing Phillip again...
The fury and betrayal were back.
And what he’d done was a betrayal. This wasn’t a matter of oh, I forgot to mention... Phillip actively made sure I didn’t know what he was doing. Why Addie was really hired. He made it a point to deceive me. He lied to me, and I had no idea why.
Was I doing the same to Addie? Her question what are we circled in my thoughts, along with everything else.
I’d been honest with her about not having an answer, but I was also having a hard time seeing past other people’s lies and it wasn’t fair to reflect that back at her. I did want her.
As more than a co-worker-slash-friend?
I didn’t know. The sex was incredible and so was her company.
Those things were amazing with Phillip too.
Damn it. I pinched the bridge of my nose, but the gesture didn’t cut off the rambling thoughts.
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