Seventeen
“HANNAH”
“So is it weird?” I asked, tracing a finger lightly up and down his fantastic arm. “Sharing a girlfriend with your friends?”
We were flat on the floor now, having dragged the mattress into the middle of Trey’s small living room. It was well past midnight. We’d been snuggling and screw
ing and slumbering, making love to each other for hours.
“Not really,” he said with a yawn. “We haven’t done it much — not seriously, anyway. But when we have, it’s been cooler than any relationship I’ve ever had.”
We’d done it sleepily, lazily, over and over again. Kissing. Touching. Smothering each other with one another’s bodies, sliding around beneath the hot blankets while the cold of the fast-coming winter raged just outside.
“And you’ve felt close with these women?” I ventured. “Even though—”
“Hannah, have you ever gotten into a serious relationship? And found you were spending all of your time with your new boyfriend?”
The question came out of left field. I wasn’t sure where he was going with it.
“Sure,” I shrugged.
“And your single girlfriends miss you, because you’re no longer around? And you miss them, but at the same time, you’d still rather be with this new guy?”
I nodded slowly. I’d remembered it happening to so many of my girlfriends. Jessica, disappearing almost completely when she met James. Corrine, barely even answering text-messages. One by one, as everyone fell into serious relationships, our circle of friends grew smaller. Even our once-a-month Girls’ Night thinned out, to the point where we started having it only once or twice a year.
“Now imagine getting a new boyfriend and not having to say goodbye to your friends. That’s what it’s like.” Trey shifted sideways, propping himself up on one elbow. “Adam, Dante and I have always been inseparable. Yet every time one of us would get into a new relationship, we’d virtually disappear. The things we did, the places we went… we couldn’t share them nearly as much anymore. It was either do something with your girlfriend or do something with your friends.”
His cowlick flopped into his eyes again. He went to flip it back, but I reached out gently and beat him to it. The gesture was sweet. Romantic. In the middle of doing it, our eyes locked.
God, he’s so beautiful.
“Sharing a woman is like the best of both worlds,” Trey went on. “Everything you do, you do together. Your friends, your girl… it’s all one big happy world. Everything’s more fun when its shared by everyone. It’s why everyone loves a party. It’s why people hang out in groups to begin with.”
I stared at Trey, illuminated in the dim light filtering through the cold windows. I’d just about memorized every curve of his handsome face. I’d traced it all lightly with my fingertips. Kissed his stubbled skin with my lips, as my lover sawed slowly in and out of my body.
“But you don’t get jealous?” I asked, getting back to business. God, it was hard to focus! “You don’t ever feel like—”
“No,” he said firmly and immediately. His mouth curled into a sly smile. “Look, I know it’s hard to believe. If you would’ve asked me a year or two ago, I would’ve thought you were crazy too. That something like this could never, ever work. That I’d be insanely jealous watching my girl… well… you know.”
“Oh I know,” I chuckled playfully.
“It’s just so fucking hot,” Trey explained. “Watching. Participating. Seeing someone the three of us care about so much, enjoying us all at the same time.” He shook his head vaguely. “There’s an incredible connection there. One I can’t totally put my finger on. I mean, just seeing the intensity of the pleasure we gave you. Looking up at my friends, knowing we’re connected at some invisible, intimate level…”
“Through me…” I said, my belly doing a sexy somersault. “Connected through me.”
“And not just physically either,” Trey added. “But emotionally too. I mean, I don’t want to jump the gun here. You hardly know us. But if you were to get to know us… get to really care about us?” He sighed happily. “Well that’s the best part of all. Sharing a woman who loves us. Who takes three times the attention, and gives it three times back.”
I pried my eyes away from my lover’s perfect body and forced myself to really examine him. The way his eyes lit up, the way he talked so animatedly about this… it all struck me as so passionate, so totally genuine. It was incredible insight, into a unique and beautiful mindset. It made me wish more than anything I had my notebook with me.
“What about the rules?” I asked.
“The what?”
“The rules. I hear you have rules you guys have to follow.”
Trey shifted a little, his eyes darting away. When they returned, I could see he’d decided something. Possibly in my favor.
“The rules are for you,” he admitted finally. “Not us.”