The Ruckus

“Never,” Micah answered. “But...”

“But it felt right when we were with you,” I answered for him. “It wasn’t something we’d discussed at all, but now I can’t imagine it happening any differently.” I leaned forward to make eye contact with Micah. “Can you?”

He shook his head. “Not even a little bit.”

Micah and I were always on the same page. We always had been. That was why I’d been able to speak for him as easily as I’d spoken for myself.

We wanted the same things in life. Always. And we both wanted Jasmine Bailey, even if it had taken us a while to admit it out loud.

“See?” I grinned at Jasmine. “We might not have a lot of experience with sharing, but we did a pretty damn good job for our first time.”

The light pink flush in her cheeks deepened slightly. “A really good job, yeah. I was just curious because, well... it was really good. I guess I was a little surprised because you hadn’t seemed as interested as Micah earlier.”

My face fell before I stopped myself. “If I didn’t seem interested, then I was doing something wrong.”

Micah snorted, and Jasmine’s lips twitched. “No,” she said. “You were definitely interested in the sex. I saw the evidence, and I don’t have any complaints about that. I meant... you know, the way Micah said he how he felt.”

“I didn’t want to interrupt the conversation the two of you were having,” I said. “And please trust me when I say I’d never want to lose my friendship with Micah over anything, so I’d never compete with him like that. He and I still want the same thing, though. We both want you.”

I hadn’t planned on saying all of that, but I felt better knowing it was all out in the open.

Jasmine still looked conflicted, though, especially when she glanced back at Micah and then met my gaze again.

“I’m not sure I understand,” she began, nibbling at her lip and making me want to take her into my arms and kiss all of that confusion away. Not right then, though. I needed to make her understand with my words just as much as with my actions. “You don’t want to compete with each other, but you both want the same thing?”

My eyes flicked over to Micah, but he hadn’t said a word. Although that wasn’t exactly helpful, at least he hadn’t disagreed with anything I’d said.

“You felt how right it was when we were together,” I said. “We all felt that, right?”

Micah nodded.

Jasmine hesitated a second longer, but she also nodded. “Yeah, I felt it, too.”

“We could have that all the time,” I said, smiling again as the possibility bubbled up inside me. “I think that what we have—what the three of us have together—is so much better than anything we could do separately.”

“A business partnership making a movie?” She sat back a little as a look of understanding crossed her beautiful features. “A threesome? Or a... a throuple? Is that what we’re talking about?”

“More than a hookup, though,” I clarified. “We might not have seen each other for a while, but I promise this is more than a passing crush.”

“It’s more than that for me, too,” Micah added. “It’s a lot more than that. I think Axel’s right; we could make this work.”

“But the long-distance thing...” She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “That would be hard on any relationship. But especially a brand new relationship? Between three people? I don’t know if I’m ready for that. Not to mention that I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that we don’t hate each other anymore. I’m getting there but...”

I nodded. “I know. It’s all new to you. And I want to give you time and space to think it through. I’m just worried that we don’t have a lot of time before you have to leave again, and I—well, I’ll leave it at that for now. I do want to give you the time and space you need.”

The truth was there wasn’t a lot of time or space to give if she didn’t want to stay in Covington for a while. The long-distance thing wasn’t impossible, of course, but it wasn’t ever going to be easy.

And if she was still undecided by the time she got on a plane back to L.A., Micah and I probably wouldn’t get another chance to be as open and honest as we had been, face to face on the sofa.

“I’ll definitely need some more time,” she said quietly. “I... I’m not sure how I feel right now, but I can’t commit to anything more than one night without seriously considering what it might mean for my future—and for the three of us together in the future.”

“We respect that,” Micah said, and I nodded in agreement. “We’ll give you the time you need.”