keep it down, someone responds. I like watching Sienna get railed.
Ignoring all of them, I say, “Stay tuned, because interesting things will be coming to a cam near you in the coming months!”
On that mysterious note, I end the stream. I sit there tapping the computer, feeling like the scum of the earth.
I never should have done what I did with Bennett and Arthur, no matter what excuses they gave me. I knew it was wrong to go behind their husband’s back and still, I did it. So did they, I guess—but I had control over one thing in the situation and that was myself.
Jack. It was strange to see him in person for the first time, someone I had done a very intimate act with. He was brown all over with a stripe of lighter fur on his nose and throat, and two pairs of curly horns instead of just one.
I have never seen a face so livid before. Now I feel like I owe Jack an apology, but that’s the last thing anyone needs.
My computer lets out a ding! sound as someone drops me a tip. Immediately, a direct message from HornyBen opens.
Hey. He came home, so don’t worry about that.
That’s good. At least now they can all talk about it.
Are you all right? I ask.
No. Nobody here is okay. But Jack is insisting on a dinner, all four of us. Including you.
I stare at the screen. Why would he want me to come over for dinner?
Am I going to get murdered at this dinner? I ask.
I couldn’t tell you what you’ll be walking into. I don’t know what he’s thinking.
I swallow hard. I can’t turn it down. Right now, it could be his kid growing inside me, and that means we have to figure this out between us. I won’t spend nine months or more with the specter of breaking apart a marriage looming over my head, wondering if there will even be a family waiting for this baby when it comes.
All right. Tell me when and I’ll be there.
Bennett
Jack doesn’t speak to us at all the next day. He gets up for work, eats his cereal at the counter and then strides past me out the door without looking even one of us in the eye. Then Arthur and I leave for our respective jobs, as much as we’d both rather stay home and mope.
Around lunchtime, I get a text message from Jack in the group chat.
Jack
We’re meeting at the house. 7pm. The surrogate coming?
I cringe when I send my reply.
Bennett
She’ll come.
Jack
Good.
Arthur says he’s passed the message along to Bree, and that’s all we get from Jack that day. When I head home at five, I’m shivering from the cold air front that’s moved in, even though it’s springtime. I have no idea what awaits us tonight, and I wish I could have had even a minute just to talk to Jack about what happened before we brought Bree into it.
She didn’t ask for this. It’s our fault, mine and Arthur’s. But I don’t think it will be that simple.
I wait for Arthur to get home, and then the two of us sit in silence until Jack’s car rolls up in the driveway. Now it’s 6:30 and neither of us thought to cook something for this dinner.
When he comes in, he’s carrying two big bags.
