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“Honey, please. You should have figured out by now that you can’t hide anything from your ol’ Aunt Lynette. I was almost recruited by the CIA, you know.”
“What? No, I didnotknow that!”
“That’s a story for another day.” She waved a hand to dismiss that topic even though I was dying to change the subject. “Do these boys treat you well?”
I thought about their apologies first, and even the honesty of Dane’s non-apology, which had something admirable to it. Again, I respected it so much more than the artifice Owen had maintained for so much of our relationship. And then, of course, there was the way the three of them practically worshiped me in bed. If making sure I had multiple orgasms wasn’t considered “treating me well,” what was?
“Well, yeah. If they were terrible to me, I’d run away.” And I was finding it harder and harder to even conceptualize doing that at this point.
“Alright. Good. We don’t want another Osmond in the picture, do we?”
“Owen,” I laughed, correcting her again, but she waved me off. “They’re… really great about the Owen stuff, too. They’re completely on my side, and I think if I asked them to, like, blow up his car or something, they’d totally do it. Not that I’d ask!” I hurried to add.
“I know, hon. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, so I trust you not to make any big dumb decisions, especially withcollege right around the corner. And hell, these days, there are all kinds of new-fangled modern relationship dynamics. Why not have three boyfriends?” She laughed, a little incredulous.
“They’re not my boyfriends,” I said, but there was a little flicker of something like hope in my heart just hearing her refer to them in that way. But before I could get too dreamy and silly about that, a different thought occurred to me, and I felt myself turn a little shy. I reached for my rapidly-cooling mug of tea, drinking half of it in one big, nervous gulp.
“What’s on your mind?” Aunt Lynette asked. You really couldn’t get anything past her.
“I just… I’m a little worried that… well, we’re not dating, butseeingthree guys at once… does it make me just as bad as?—?”
“Orin? Your lying ex? Absolutely not,” she said with enough conviction to actually take some worry off my shoulders. “Because he was aliar,Jade. He told you the two of you were exclusive, he made a commitment, and he didn’t follow through with it. Are you lying to these… suitors of yours?”
“No. They know everything. They… they know all about each other, and they’re all totally cool with it.”
“There you go,” Lynette said, dusting off her hands as if her job was done here. “You’ve got enthusiastic consent, and you’re all over eighteen, right?”
“Right,” I agreed.
“So you’re adults. As far as I’m concerned, you can make your own decisions, and so can these boys. You’re nothing like that spoiled idiot who broke your heart, sweet girl. First of all, you’re a whole lot prettier.” She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear like she used to do when I was little, and I gave her a weak smile. She was more serious when she spoke again, though. “But you’ve also got integrity, and that’s something that kid will never have.”
Our tea time finished, I helped Aunt Lynette clean up, and then we both headed upstairs to bed. I replayed the conversationwith her in my head as I brushed my teeth, did some skincare, and put on a podcast about the history of horse riding that I’d been quietly obsessed with, settling in for a good night’s sleep.
It was nice of Aunt Lynette to be so supportive, and she had a fair point about honesty. There were no more lies between me, Xander, Dane, and Bryce any longer—except for the part where I was letting her think this thing was casual. Somehow, that didn’t feel true to me after the mind-blowing sexual encounter we’d all shared, much less the sweet cuddling they surprised me with afterward.
But I couldn’t entertain the idea of having an actual relationship with three guys at once, no matter how cool and accepting of the idea my aunt had been. It wasn’t done, especially not by me, normal little Jade Wells. I could never have a four-way prom date, introduce my three boyfriends to my parents, marry three men at once someday. There would never be a scenario where it was me and three handsome, vastly different men, all grown up and still together in a beautiful house we bought, a roomy SUV, and a California King-sized bed to share.
I wasn’t dishonest like Owen, and I knew that for a fact, but it didn’t feel much different lying to myself. Still, I told myself that I was just fine having no future with the guys as I drifted off to sleep, visions of unconventional domestic bliss playing out in my head.
21
DANE
If I cared enough to lie to myself, I would be pretending that I was actually showing up for homeroom today because I wanted to turn over a new leaf. That I was deciding to actually give a shit about school and rules and arbitrary things like that, no reason, just self-improvement. But despite my pretty advanced lying skills, I wasn’t a particularly good target for being lied to, always able to see through bullshit. So I knew I was really here to see Jade again.
When she showed up and I was already in my usually-neglected seat, she had to do a double-take, like she didn’t believe I was really here. I smirked, gestured for her to sit beside me, and I took her mirroring half-smile as a positive sign. We were allies now, after all, scheming together for Owen Prescott’s downfall and having great sex to boot.
Not a bad way to spend my last year of high school.
Jade slid into her seat a little clumsily, her thick ass honestly not the ideal size for the tiny school desks. It was the ideal size for squeezing, biting, and spanking, though, so I took that as a win.
“Nice to see you again, Jade,” I told her, looking her over so that she’d know I was picturing her naked.
“You too, Dane,” she said back coolly. “Did you have a nice evening? Sleep okay?”
“Like a rock,” I said. “Woke up like one, too. Rock hard, that is.”
Jade let out a surprised laugh, glancing quickly around to make sure none of our classmates heard me. They weren’t paying any attention, and I wouldn’t care if they were. “That issocheesy. I thought you were supposed to be cool.”
