Page 14 of Double Take

“I’m sure she would’ve. I think she’s excited to be independent, but I don’t think after a little cajoling, that she’ll be opposed to it. It’s very thoughtful.”

“Cajoling?” I roll my eyes and tap my fingertips on the steering wheel. “And how exactly do we do this coaxing?”

“Don’t be facetious.”

“What did you do, get a dictionary word of the day calendar? Why don’t you just say, beg her nicely to accept a gift, and don’t be a smartass so we know what you’re saying.”

“Don’t be an idiot.” Axel smacks me on the arm. “Some of us know how to use big words.”

I glare at him. “And I don’t? I’m fairly certain I dumbed the word down quite nicely. I don’t see the need to practice my 5th-grade vocabulary on a Saturday morning.”

“Touche.” Sage laughs as Axel joins in with her.

“Guys, I love you. Now for the important reason that I called. I convinced Rylee to go to the masquerade party at Club N9ne, and Jace is securing her invitation.”

“Sage….” Axel’s jaw tightens as his face explodes with color. “What are you doing?”

“Helping Rylee regain the self-confidence she lost by marrying a jerk. She deserves to find sexual pleasure and eventually a man who’ll worship her as she deserves. Don’t you think?”

“Son of a bitch, Sage, that’s wrong on so many levels. She doesn’t need to find some random guy to have sex with at the club.” For fuck’s sake, that’s all I think about, but not if she’s discovering it with someone else. We’re going about this slowly to give her time to adjust, and Sage tosses out a sex club on their first girl’s night. My teeth grind together. And she agreed? What in the fuck?

“Absolutely. She needs someone who cares about her and knows what she’s been through.” Axel’s knuckles are white under the pressure of his fist.

“And who is volunteering for this experiment? One of the two of you?” Her voice is questioning with a hint of humor. “Who’s going to win? Are you doing Rock, Paper, Scissors, or is it time to men up and go for what you want? A woman that would adore the love and attention of two men that are selfless enough to let her daughter hang out at work and spend their Saturday delivering furniture?”

“How far do you think she’d run if we made that offer?” My heart skips a beat as I wait for her answer.

The phone is silent for a couple of beats, and Axel’s face matches how my insides feel–anxious with an overwhelming dread. That’s what we thought. She’s no more likely than any other woman to jump at the chance to be in a relationship with two men at the same time.

Sure, they might dream about it while reading a book. But reality? That’s a hard no. She doesn’t want people talking behind her back, and I get it. Rationally. But in my heart and in my ego, it stings. The truck turns on its blinker and pulls down Rylee’s street.

This was a bad idea. “Forget I asked.”

“No, Oliver. Listen, I think Rylee is the kind of person who would thrive on your attention, but she’ll question your sincerity. She’s been gaslit by her husband and his parents, so she’s not going to believe she’s got the attention of one man, let alone two. But you’re persuasive. And the party is a masquerade party. It’s a perfect opportunity to invite her to do something she might be intimidated over without pressure and see what happens. Just give it some thought. Because she agreed to go, and if one or both of you don’t make a move, someone else will.”

The phone is silent as we park on the street in front of her house. Leave it to Sage to force our hand.

I glance at Axel out of the corner of my eye. “I say we do it. And if it goes badly, she never has to know it’s us.”

“You don’t think she’d figure it out.” He raises his eyebrows and stares back at me. “She’s not stupid.”

“Jackass, I didn’t say that she was. However, the point of the masquerade party is to do something you wouldn’t typically do under the cloak of secrecy, and you can pretend you don’t know what anyone is talking about if you hated it.” Why else do people get drunk and wear masks? But there’s little chance we’d hate it.

He chuckles at my words. “Fine. We’ll go and proposition her. If she’s not open to two random guys, then we know she’d never agree to a relationship with the two of us.”

“Deal.” I inhale slowly and exhale. This has epic failure written all over it. Or the start of something beautiful.

Rylee’s door swings open as she answers the delivery man’s knock. I climb out of my pickup and jog down the sidewalk.

“I didn’t order anything.” She jostles Sunny on her hip. Sunny’s eyes are half closed, and her cheeks are rosy with an almost chapped look to them.

The man glances down at the handheld device for orders. “It says here the furniture is for this address.”

“But I didn’t order anything.” She shakes her head, making the high bun shift from side to side. Her perfect complexion is marred by dark circles under her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

Her head snaps around, and horror covers her face. She pats her hair and tightens her hold on Sunny.

---