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“She’s got the reflexes of a hockey goalie,” Adam laughed.
“And the ass of a porn star,” winked Trey.
I blew each of them a kiss. It was a lot of fun, kidding around like this. But there was still an underlying tension at the table. Not between us… no, we’d worked that out already in more ways than one. The elephant in the room had to do more with our current situation, and how best to handle it.
This little rendezvous was supposed to be a brainstorm session. Partially to figure out how to get Trey out of hot water, and partially to come up with ideas on plausible deniability for when the article came out. So far though, all we’d done was eat pizza and throw the boxes at each other.
“Are you sure we can’t crush him?” Trey asked for the third time.
“No.”
“I mean, just a little bit?” asked Adam. “Smack him around enough so that he never even dreams of messing with us again?”
“Coming after him is exactly what he wants,” I said simply. “If there’s anything Chris is good at, it’s playing the victim card.”
Both men groaned and sank back in their seats. They meant well, at least. And when it came to Chris, I could share their frustration.
“Plus, it would lead to more legal problems,” I pointed out. “Which we definitely do not need.”
We. I loved the word. I loved even more that all four of us had started using it, when talking about our wants, our needs, our desires. Our overall relationship goals, for when this whole stupid article and Chris thing was finally over.
“I get what you’re saying,” said Adam. “But some people need to be scared. People like this guy Chris… he grows up without fear. He never gets the asskicking he so sorely deserves, so he grows up believing he can do whatever he wants to people.”
“Chris grew up with more fear than you might think,” I said off-handedly.
My two lovers stared back at me with incredulous looks. “You’re not defending him,” said Trey. “Are you?”
“Shit no. I’m just saying, Chris didn’t exactly have it easy. His parents split early, his father took off. His mom was physically there, but mentally and emotionally checked out for most of his childhood. And he had a stepfather who wasn’t exactly the
best role model. He showed Chris a lot of things he really shouldn’t have, and never taught him much in the way of respect for others.”
I knew these things because Chris had told me them, one way or another. Some he’d outright said. Others, I’d derived from my time together with him. I’d also had conversations with Chloe. At our more candid meetings, I’d learned a lot.
“You sound like you almost feel sorry for him,” said Adam.
“I do. Or rather, I did.” I shook my head. “Not anymore, though. Not after this.”
I’d gone easy on Chris for far too long. I’d let him down way too easy, and maybe that’s why he entertained such fantasies about getting me back. In a way, that part was my fault. I’d set Chris up for an even greater fall, once I did find someone new.
Or someones new, rather.
“I just wish I could talk some sense into Chloe,” I said. “Make her withdraw the article altogether. Get her to realize she’s losing a good writer—”
“Her best writer,” Trey corrected me.
“Yeah, that,” I giggled. “Get her to realize she’s losing her best writer, all for a possible crack at something bigger. I really don’t get it. She was always the logical one.”
“The whole thing just seems desperate,” said Adam.
“It is,” I agreed. “The more we talked about it, the more I realized she’d do anything to get what she wanted with this Cosmo thing.”
“Including sell you out.”
I nodded somberly. “Yeah. Sucks.”
It really did suck. Especially since I liked Chloe. At one time, anyway.
“It’s almost as if—”
