AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Together.” Juliet reached out her hand towards Orlando. A moment later, he reached back and covered her hand with his own. The little pause made her chest clench, but he did it. “We didn’t want to tell you until it became more serious. If it got more serious.”
“Looked pretty serious to me already,” her dad muttered, and Mona smacked his bicep with the back of her hand. He cleared his throat again.
“We weren’t sure how you would take it, and we didn’t want to make family gatherings awkward,” Orlando said. She could hear the tension in his voice, and she squeezed his hand. None of this was easy, but it was less difficult if they were doing it together. “Especially when it’s very new.”
“Is this why you and London broke up?” Her dad frowned as he finally met her gaze for the first time since he’d entered the house. Yup. Awkward. But she made the effort to maintain the connection.
“No. London and I broke up because he became a total dick who thought I needed therapy when I suggested trying a little kink.” Both her dad and Mona sat up straighter at that, anger flaring in their expressions. Well, that couldn’t hurt her and Orlando’s case. “Orlando and I… we actually ran into each other at a club almost two years ago. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Black Light?” Two nods. “That’s how we discovered we were both kinky and well, to be perfectly honest I thought we were going to start something then, but someone got cold feet.”
Orlando squeezed her fingers in warning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She didn’t regret the jab.
“I was worried about how we would affect you.” He looked at his mom and Lawrence. “Cameron called me the morning after Juliet and I… met up.” Her dad made a pained expression but kept quiet. “He wanted money. Mom was leaning on you, things were good with you two, it reminded me that there was more at stake than just Juliet and me. And, well, after talking to mom and hearing again about how first marriages never work out, I just couldn’t take the risk.”
Okay, well that was the first Juliet was hearing about that. She turned toward him, giving him a look.
“First marriages never work out? So you’re saying that even if we got married, it would be doomed to failure unless we married someone else first?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Look at my parents. Look at your parents.” Orlando didn’t let go of her hand, but he didn’t back down either. “First marriages, didn’t work out. Second marriages, everyone’s happy. Well, except for Cameron, but I think that’s just because he’s not going to be good in a relationship with anyone.”
“Oh honey… I am so, so sorry,” Mona said, interrupting the glaring contest that Juliet and Orlando were having. She was fighting the urge to yank her fingers away from him and ask where that left them, since she wasn’t going to go marry someone else and then divorce them just to make Orlando feel better about being with her.
Like, what the hell was she supposed to do with that?
Mona’s interruption was welcome, because otherwise she and Orlando were probably going to be in a fight. What had he been thinking? Now, instead, she was curious why Mona was apologizing, her entire gaze and focus intent on her son.
“Why are you sorry?” Orlando asked, confused, echoing Juliet’s thoughts. He still hadn’t relinquished Juliet’s hand, if anything he was gripping it a little tighter, like he knew she’d been thinking about pulling it away.
“Because I know where you got that from. I vented to you more than I should have.” Mona shook her head, remorse heavy in her eyes. Immediately, Juliet’s dad reached out to take her hand in a gesture of support. It was interesting, because her dad had always seemed to lead Mona in life, so if she was going to guess who was in charge in their relationship, she would have guessed her dad. On the other hand, a lot of people who were take charge during the day needed a break from it at night — and yeah, she was so not going to think too hard about that. “I also know I’ve said things before about how happy I am that Lawrence was my second marriage, but that’s in large part because I wouldn’t haveyouwithout my first.”
Orlando’s grip on Juliet’s hand tightened, like he was holding onto her for much needed support.
* * *
Orlando
To be fair, he didn’t think his mom had ever said no first marriages ever worked out.
“You said you were happy you found Lawrence afterhisfirst marriage too,” he said, shooting an apologetic look at the man. He wasn’t blaming his mom, not really, because it wasn’t like he had to agree with her opinions, but he was just trying to understand. Because right now it felt like she was saying the opposite of what she’d always said in the past.
“And I am. Because I know what Juliet means to him. And, well, because we both learned a lot from our first marriages. But we also got married for the first time when we were younger than both of you are now.” She shook her head. “Not that people who are younger can’t make it work with their first spouse, but it wasn’t the best decision for me, personally.”
“Or me,” chimed in Lawrence. “I thought I knew what I wanted out of life and out of marriage and family, and I got parts of it right but I got a lot of it wrong. And, honestly, your mom and I joke a lot that we found each other at the right time because we both went through periods of discovery after our first marriages.” He coughed. “Discovery that it seems you two have already explored.” The pained expression on his face clued Orlando in.
Lawrence and his mom had both discovered they were kinky after their first marriages failed. Hell, that might have contributed to the failure. Or, at least, been a cause of dissatisfaction.
He could only imagine how Cameron would have reacted to his mostly quiet, non-pushy wife suddenly wanting to top him in the bedroom.
Orlando’s shoulders moved as a sudden spurt of nausea pulsed through him. Nope, not going to think about that. Bad enough that he knew it about his mom and Lawrence, and he was going to do his best to forget it.
“I think our main concern will be what it sounds like yours is — how this affects the family if you two don’t work out. Though, of course, we’d hope that it would, and not just because it could make things more difficult if it doesn’t.” His mom exchanged a glance with Lawrence, whose expression shifted again. He didn’t seem quite as willing to be coaxed into acceptance… but then, he had just walked in on his daughter being choked and fucked up against a wall.
It was probably affecting his state of mind. It sure as hell was Orlando’s.
“And if this is a good idea in the first place,” Lawrence muttered. Juliet’s hand tightened on Orlando’s. He knew she was pissed at what he’d said about first marriages, but she hadn’t let go of his hand which was a good sign.
“It’s probably a terrible idea, but it’s already done. And Orlando and I already avoided each other for close to two years. I’m not sure you even noticed. If something happens and we break up, we’ll just go back to that for a while,” Juliet retorted, not backing down an inch.
“Oh, we noticed.” The parents glanced at each other as Orlando’s mom spoke, clear unhappiness in her voice. “We just didn’t want to push you two when it was clear you didn’t like each other. We didn’t want to try to force family. Our therapist told us to let you two work things out on your own and come together in your own time.”
