“I think so.”
“I can come over to the office, and we can grab lunch if you’re free. I have to be in that area for a showing.”
“I’d love that. Let me know. I’ll put it in my new planner.”
“Love you, girl.”
“You too.”
After I hang up, I stare at my phone for a moment, deciding what to say to each of them. Depending on their level of friendship, maybe there’s still an opening. If not, I’ll chock it up to one more relationship I fucked up. Times two.
Chapter 3 Luc
The next morning, I roll over surprised to see Ben passed out next to me. I’m even more surprised when I realize we’re lying on the living room floor. I sit up, rubbing my forehead and squinting at the sunlight flooding the room. Fuck. How much did we bloody drink? I nudge Ben who grumbles and rolls over, so I pull myself up and head to the kitchen for some much needed caffeine. The countertop is cluttered with beer bottles, an empty wine bottle, and some dried out cheese. I don’t even remember most of this. After the fifth shot, it all blurred together.
I start the espresso machine and splash some cold water on my face before shuffling back to the living room to find my phone. I find it lying on the floor next to an empty bottle of whiskey. I check it and see a text message indicator. I swipe to read it, smiling when I see who sent it.
I am so sorry for how this went down. I was having fun with you and didn’t mean it to end on this note. I hope it didn’t cause a huge problem for you and Ben. Please forgive me. G
I glance at the clock. It’s nearly seven. Fuck. We’ll be late for work. I’ll text her later.
“Ben.” I nudge him with my foot. “Wake up. We have to go to work.”
He rolls over, opening one eye. “Shoot me.”
“No gun. Get up. If we try, we’ll make it.” He merely grumbles and makes no attempt to get up. “You can do it.”
“Why did we drink so much? Fucking chicks.”
I laugh. “We’re pussy whipped and we haven’t even got the pussy.”
Ben laughs, sitting up. “Right?” He looks at the watch on his wrist. “I don’t have time to go home.”
“Borrow a suit. I’ll jump in the shower and you can go after.”
“Alright, man.”
“Get yourself some coffee in the kitchen. I’ll be out quick.” I walk down the hall and into my bedroom. My head is pounding, but nothing a shot of espresso and some pain meds won’t fix. I jump in the shower, brush my teeth, and then walk down the hall with a towel around my waist. “You can use the shower now.”
Ben follows me and hops in the shower whilst I get dressed in record time. I pull out a dress shirt and trousers for Ben to wear. He comes out a minute later. I point to the clothes on the bed.
“You can wear that.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Yeah.” I head back to the kitchen for my coffee, drinking one down, and then another, before popping a few pain relievers.
Ben appears, tucking the shirt into his trousers. “I’m ready.”
“We did it and look like half way decent citizens.”
Ben laughs. “Looks are deceiving.”
“Definitely.”
We exit the flat, walking swiftly down the street. Ben scrolls through his phone as we walk with his brow furrowed leaving me to wonder if Georgie texted him too. I want to ask, but if she didn’t, well that would just add to the awkward. When we arrive at the office, we ride the lift to our floor in silence and part ways in the hallway.
I get to work replying to emails and voicemails and the hours fly by before I realize I didn’t respond to Georgie. But what do I say? I pull out my phone and read her message again. I’m not ready for this to be over with her, but how can we go on? I had a lot more time invested than Ben did. Maybe she was starting to like me too. Still, I wouldn’t go behind Ben’s back. He’s too good a friend. I set my phone down. I have to wait until I have a coherent response.
Around noon I look up to see Ben in my doorway.
“Lunch?” he asks.
“I’m bloody starved.” I stand and grab my phone. “Let’s go.” We make our way down the block to the burger place we eat at weekly. After ordering, I lean back in my chair. “How you feeling?”
“Tired but otherwise not too bad. You?”
“Same.” I drink some water. “It’ll feel good to sleep in a bed tonight.”
Ben laughs. “We were a mess.”
“Yeah.” We get our food and start eating, but I notice how Ben seems uneasy. “Something up?”
“Georgie texted me. You?”
Well that answers that question. “Yeah. She apologized.”
“To me too.” Ben eats a fry. “That was cool of her.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you respond?” Ben asks.
“Not yet. Didn’t know what to say. You?”
“Same.” He takes a drink of his coke. “I had an idea though.”
“About?”
“Georgie, you, and me.”
My eyebrow rises. “Listening.”
“I’m not ready to walk away, and I don’t think you are either.”
I nod. “True.”
“We both like her, right?”
“Right.”
Ben glances down briefly. “So I was thinking. Why don’t we take her on a date?”
“We?”
“Yep. You and me. We’ll call her and tell her we want to take her out. We want an equal chance to win her over.”
I pull my head back slightly. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Hear me out. She’s worried she’s impacting our friendship, right? That’s why she’s out.”
“Right.”
“If we’re together, then she knows that’s not what’s happening. If we’re together, both of us have to step up our game. By the end of the night, she picks the one she likes the most. We accept our defeat as men and move on to the next catch.”
I mull over his words for a moment whilst I chew my bite of burger. “I don’t think she’ll agree to it.”
“I think she will. She even said last night that we just stay the way we are.”
“But she meant separately. This is completely different.”
“She’s a pretty adventurous woman. At least she is with me.” He grins. “Or are you worried about direct competition?”
“From you?” I shake my head. “I’m not worried about anyone. My game is strong.”
“So? You down?”
“Let me make sure I understand your proposition. We’re going to call Georgie and ask her on a shared date with the intent of her choosing one of us to continue seeing.”
“Correct.”
“Assuming she wants either of us, the other one will keep his chin up and accept defeat with no hard feelings or jealousy?”
“I’m man enough.” He eats a fry. “It’s perfect if you think about it. By asking her, we’ll find out if she likes both of us enough to even try it. We’ll find out a lot about her as a woman, and I’d guess we’ll find out a lot about our friendship.”
I consider his idea. It’s risky on many levels. I would never do this if it was someone else but it’s Ben. I trust this bloke with my life. A smile tugs at my lips. It’s strangely intriguing to do something so out of character for me. So beyond the norm. And I would get to see Georgie again. If she says yes.
“I’m in.”
Ben grins. “I knew it. You’re more like me than you think.”
“We’ll see. Should we call her together?”
“Yeah.” He picks up his phone. “Ready?”
“Who’s talking first?”
“Me. I’m the one who walked in and crashed the party last night.”
“Good point. Ready.”
Ben presses her name in his phone and then puts it on speaker as we both hover close so she can hear us. It rings three times until she finally answers.
“Hello?”
“Georgie. It’s Ben.”
“Hi.”
“And Luc is with me.”
“Hi, Georgie.”
“Oh, hey guys. What’s going on?”
Ben glances up at me. “Luc and I had a long talk after you left us last night.”
“Uh huh.”
“Obviously, we were all surprised by the situation.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. Did you guys get my texts?”
“We did and it’s okay. We both discussed it and decided neither of us is ready to never see you again. We both like you. Right, Luc?”
“Correct.”
“So we had an idea.”
“I’m listening.”
Ben nods, indicating for me to take over. “Georgie, we want to ask you out to dinner.”
She’s silent for a moment. “We?”
“Yes. Ben and I, together, want to take you on a date. We want another chance with you.”
“Explain.”
“Well,” I look at Ben. “You tell her.”
“Here’s the truth, Georgie,” Ben starts. “We like you. A lot. We want a chance to win you over to continue to date one of us. Whoever you like the most. We’ve agreed that we’ll accept your decision as men if either of us are chosen.”
“Um, okay. Why together?”
“Equal ground.”
“Honestly guys, I’m not sure if I’m flattered or insulted.”
I lean close to the phone. “Why would you be insulted?”
“It feels like a game or some chest pumping machismo between you two.”
“It’s neither of those things, Georgie. Ben and I are both sincere about our intentions. We want more time. Another chance. It’s no game.”
She’s silent as Ben and I exchange glances. Finally, she exhales. “Why not? If anything, going on a date with two gorgeous men at the same time will be an experience.”
Ben grins. “Yeah? This is great.”
“To be clear, you both expect me to choose one of you by the end?”
“Right.”
“And if I don’t? What if I need another date to decide? Or what if I still like you both? Then what?”
Ben looks at me to answer. “Why don’t we take it one step at a time?”
“Okay,” she says. “That’s fair. When are we doing this?”
“Saturday,” Ben says. “Gives us time to plan.”
“Fine. You know, guys, I have to say, I’m glad you called. I felt terrible how it went down last night. I was worried it would cause a conflict with you, but mostly…” She stops herself.
“What?” Ben asks.
“Mostly, I wanted to see you both again. So I guess this is good.”
“We’ll make sure it’s good. Right, Luc?”
I nod. “Absolutely.”
“Alright, boys. Saturday night I get my cake.”
My brow furrows. “Cake?”
“You know the saying, having your cake and eating it too. I thought I had to let you both go, but I don’t. Not yet anyway.”
“Not yet,” Ben says. “See you soon, gorgeous.”
“See you Saturday, darling.”
“Bye, guys.”
She hangs up and Ben shoves his phone in his pocket. “We have some planning to do.”
“Yeah. I was planning on our next date to take her dancing. She said she loves it.”
Ben nods. “Good. We start with dancing and then a late dinner?”
“Perfect. And then rooftop drinks at Moonlight?”
“Yes. By then it should be well after midnight. We’ll take her home and…” He pauses. “How do we handle the goodnight kiss?”
“I think we’ll have to let her navigate that part.”
“Yeah, good point. Then we’ll leave and wait for her to tell us what’s next.”
“Right. And no matter what happens, we stay mates, yeah?”
“No matter what.” He extends his hand. “Shake on it?”
I shake his hand. “Done. Craziest thing I’ve done to date, but women like Georgie don’t come round often.”
“Or ever. She’s something special.”
“A fucking work of art.”
“Sexiest woman alive.”
“Exquisite.”
Ben grins. “I’ll be jealous as fuck if she picks you.”
I laugh. “Same.”
We both stand to leave and Ben nudges my arm. “She made a good point though, man. What if she doesn’t want to choose?”
I shrug. “I don’t have an answer for that. We’ll have to deal with it at the time.”
“She’s greedy.”
I laugh. “She is, but turnabout is fair play. I’ve juggled plenty of women in my day, too greedy to make a choice. I understand in some ways. She’s single, beautiful, desired. Why should she limit her options?”
“True, but I’ve never been the one being juggled.”
I grin. “That you know.”
Ben laughs. “She’s got us by the balls, doesn’t she?”
“Absolutely. We are well and truly fucked at the moment.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
We make our way back to the office parting ways again to finish our workday. My mind is running a thousand miles a minute. This is truly a unique position to be in. Me and my best mate vying for the same woman at the same time. I have no idea how Saturday will go. Normally the sexual tension between me and Georgie is thicker than London fog, but will it dissipate with Ben around too? I might be a bit mad agreeing to this, but it shows how much I want her. I just have to make sure somehow, she chooses me.
I pick up my phone, staring down at her text again.
Excited to see you again. Thank you for saying yes. We’ll make it worth your time.
I wait a few minutes until my phone buzzes. I open the text, reading with a smile on my face.
I have no doubt.
She ends the message with a kiss emoji. I lean back in my chair, running my fingers through my hair. I’m getting hard just from thinking of her kiss. The way she presses her chest into me and lets her fingers tickle the back of my neck. The way she sighs when I bite her lip and bares her neck to me. I shift in my seat and adjust my growing bulge. How I’ll get through Saturday without throwing her down is a mystery.
Chapter 4 Ben
Looking down at my phone, I think about responding to Georgie’s earlier text. I read it over again, apologizing for causing trouble. A quick reply would be good. Keep me fresh in her mind.
Good talking to you today. Can’t wait to see you Saturday.
Several minutes pass before she responds.
Not sure if I’m excited or nervous or both, but either way it’ll be interesting.
If anyone can handle me and Luc at the same time, it’s you.
Mmm, now there’s a visual.
She ends it with a wink emoji, bringing a smile to my face. Fuck. A threesome with the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen? My dick hardens immediately from the idea.
I like the way you think.
Only how I think?
I grin, reading the message a second time.
Nah, gorgeous. I like a lot of things about you. That’s how we ended up here.
See you Saturday.
I exhale slowly, imagining her face, her eyes, her mouth. The way she kisses me. She gets into it. I recall the last time we kissed when I gripped her thigh under her dress and the low growling sound she made as she bit into my lip. Fuck, she’s hot. I gotta figure out how to stand out, how to suppress Luc’s charm and sophistication. That stupid accent of his gets women all the time. I don’t know if this was a good idea, but it’s the only thing I could think of to keep the friend and still get the girl. I look up to Luc. He’s so fucking smart and his persuasion skills are legendary in this company. He can get anyone to do anything he wants, including women, but he’s taught me practically everything he knows, leveling the playing field enough to give me a shot at winning Georgie.
I tap the pen on my desk imagining the date with us. I can
see Luc and all his smoldering bullshit he does with the ladies. I’ve seen women practically fall into a spell and throw their panties at him. Then he does that “hello darling” shit and that’s it. They’re done. But Georgie likes me too. I have a chance. My best strategy is to counter Luc’s charm with my swagger. She must like the opposing vibes she gets between us. But it’s a fine line that we come across as friends in a healthy competition and it doesn’t turn shitty. Then we both lose. Luc is the closest friend I’ve had in years, and I want to keep him that way, but I want Georgie too.
The knock on my door breaks my thoughts. I look up to see Kate from Finance in the doorway. “Hey.”
She smiles. “Got a second?”
“I do. What’s up?”
She comes in and hands me some papers. “These are from the account you closed last month, but I can’t reconcile them because they haven’t paid the purchase order yet.”
I take the papers reading over the company name. “Oh, this is Clark Baker. I was golfing with him last weekend and he told me he’d pay up this week. I’ll call and get a status.”
“Thanks. We need it before Friday to close the month.”
“You’ll have it. Thanks for letting me know.”
“No problem.” She lingers for a moment. “Um, didn’t see you or Luc at the party on Wednesday.”
“No. I had plans.”
“Oh, well you guys were missed. You’re always the life of the party.”
I smile, wondering if she’s flirting a little. “Yeah. Was it fun?”
She shrugs. “It was okay. John Campbell from development got way too drunk and threw up in some shrubs out front.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “Amateur move at an office party.”
“Definitely. Jake was not amused.”
“Is Jake ever amused?”
She laughs softly. “Good point.”
Kate stands before me with slightly rosy cheeks. She’s actually very pretty but seems shy and even naïve. She could never handle a man like me. She tucks a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear as a sweet smile spreads across her lips. “I’ve taken enough of your time. Let me know if you need anything from me.”
“I will, Kate. Thanks.”
The Thing About Us: A MMF Bisexual Romance Page 2
