Page 103 of Taking Turns

“I’m so good at self-deprivation, Marcella Walcott, I could stay right here. You could play with yourself until you come on your fingers and I’d still be… right here.”

“Really?” I ask, turning on my side and propping my head on my hand. “Then why did you take me downstairs last weekend?”

He presses his lips together in a small frown. “It was a conscious choice. To piss you off.”

“Piss me off?” I laugh. “I think you failed.”

“Yeah,” he says. “I can see that now. But I really thought you’d have a little jealous streak in you. And if you saw Bric and Quin fucking that girl, you’d walk out.”

I just stare at him.

“But you didn’t. So either you have no jealous streak or you’re here for some reason we don’t know about yet. Which one is it?”

“I’m not the jealous type,” I say without missing a beat.

Smith smiles. “Good. Because I’m bringing another woman to your house to live with me.”

“What?” I ask.

But Smith is already getting out of bed. “I got shit to do today,” he says, already reaching down for his pants on the floor. “So I’m gonna head out. Tell Bric I’m looking forward to tonight.”

“You are not moving another woman into my house, Smith Baldwin. I’m fucking serious.”

“Not jealous, huh?” he asks, looking at me sideways.

“It’s got nothing to do with jealousy,” I say, sitting up on the bed, kneeling. “It’s my house, not yours. You can have all the extra whores you want, but not at my house.”

Smith just smiles as he slips his shirt on, looking down at his fingers as they button it up.

“I’m serious. I better not get home tomorrow and find another woman in my house, Smith.”

He knots his tie, still smiling, staring straight at me as he tucks his shirt into his pants and zips them up.

“You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?”

“Not jealous?” he says. “No, you are. So why didn’t you get mad when you saw Bric and Quin with another woman?”

I huff out some air. “I don’t even know them.”

“How about I don’t move her into your house? How about I just bring her along during our time together? So I can fuck her. You know, since I can’t fuck you. Would that work for you?”

“You’re not going to do that.”

“I’m not?” Smith asks, sitting down on the chair to slip his shoes on. “Why wouldn’t I? You’re getting fucked by Quin when I’m not around.”

“It’s not the same. If you want her as part of our arrangement, then we should all agree. I’m not the one who made the rules for Quin.”

“OK,” Smith says, grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair and slipping it on. “I’m up for a renegotiation. I’ll call the meeting for Friday. We can all discuss.”

I just stare at him.

“Unless you’d rather not, Chella.”

“I’d rather not. If you’re serious, and I’m not sure you are. I think you’re playing with me because it makes you mad that I’m not the jealous type.”

He walks around the bed, fully dressed now, and stops in front of me, then leans down, takes my face in his hands, and kisses me. Not a long one or a passionate one. Just a kiss goodbye. “You’re the jealous type, Chella. And if you don’t admit it right now, I will be bringing that girl to your house tonight. She might even be there tomorrow when you get home. I might be fucking her when you get there.”

He’s such a liar.