Page 55 of Taking Turns

He shrinks in that moment. Folding into himself. Trying to escape reality.

“We can be friends though, Quin. I’m not trying to take her place.”

He reaches over for me. His large hand comes down on my ass cheek and he pulls me on top of him until I’m straddling his legs, my hands on his shoulders.

“If I don’t fuck you… who will?”

I laugh a little, thinking… Bric? But I don’t say it. It seems impolite to say it.

“You know what I just figured out?” Quin asks.

“What?” I say, looking down at him.

He stares straight past my shoulder. Looking at some apparition of the girl he loves and lost. “We’re gonna be spending the most time together. Your days off work belong to me.”

“Hmm.”

“I’m sure Smith planned it that way to make me stop thinking about Rochelle.”

I try to fit this new information into my current world-view of what’s happening in this… relationship. But there’s missing information, or I’m not quite understanding, or whatever. Because I have to ask, “What do you mean?”

“You know. Smith can’t touch you unless…” But he stops. “You didn’t get that far yet, so I can’t say. But I can fuck you. Any way I want, any time I want, because I’m Number Two this time. I get all of you, you get all of me. We have to talk, and build a real relationship by getting to know each other. He did it on purpose. Because I was Number One last time and things…”

He stops. But I’m dying to know more. “Things… what, Quin?”

“It’s just so easy to get attached to Number One, you know?”

“Sorta,” I say. “I can see it a little bit. It was so confusing on Friday night and then Smith took me home and took over. Took control, I guess.” Quin laughs. I even get a small smile at that assessment. So I keep going. “He made a house key. And he changed my alarm code. It’s like, he moved himself in.”

“We’re not supposed to talk about what you do with them,” Quin says. “But tell me what happened next. I really need this distraction and I’ve always wondered how the other guys handled being Number One. Because obviously, I fucked it all up.”

“What do you mean?” I’m so confused.

“What did he do then?”

“He had champagne ready. He kissed me. Fingered me.”

“He got you all wound up and then he told you the rule, didn’t he?”

“Yeah. But we took a shower together and he shaved my legs. That was… interesting. And then we… masturbated in front of each other.”

“Classic Smith.” Quin lets out a small laugh that has nothing to do with happiness. “The reason he’s not allowed to touch you is because if he did, he’d have this claim on you as Number One. And we try to avoid things like that. It makes it hard to have a real plural relationship.”

“So that’s what you’re all after? The four of us as one… unit, I guess.”

“Yeah.” Quin looks at me. Finally. His hands start rubbing my thighs and I’m so fucking horny after being neglected by Smith this weekend. “We don’t find that very often. And obviously we never had a real one with Rochelle. I liked her a lot. Bric liked her OK. But Smith never liked her. That’s why he was Number Two last time.”

Ah-ha! I got that answer anyway, so fuck you, Smith Baldwin.

“Next week I’ll tell you more if you’re still confused after Bric explains the rest of it.”

I’m dying to know what Bric’s rule is. In fact, everything about this new life I’ve started with the three of them is fascinating.

“How old are you?” I ask.

“Thirty-four. You?” He’s still looking at me. His hands are still rubbing my thighs. Every now and then, one will creep up my ass cheek.

“Thirty,” I say. “But I’ll be thirty-one in February.”