Page 44 of Faking the Play

“I’m not going to be able to concentrate until I know what’s going on with you, so you might as well tell me.”

“People have been talking about us.” She twisted her fingers together on her lap, staring at them instead of looking at me. “When we were at the party the other night, after the game, I overheard a few people talking about how I was wearing your jacket but holding Logan’s hand, and how I kissed Ethan during that game and went on dates with you.”

“We probably could’ve—should’ve—been better about separating your time with us,” I admitted. “It’s just hard to be near you and not touch you or try to take care of you.”

“Aren’t you guys worried that if we do this for real, it’s going to mess up your reputations?”

Her question made me realize something I hadn’t before. Maybe the other guys had already figured it out, but it hadn’toccurred to me until just now. “That’s what’s holding you back, isn’t it? You’re worried about us?”

She finally looked at me. “Having my reputation go to shit these past couple months hasn’t been fun, but I’ll be able to get away from it. When I apply to jobs, those pictures may come up, but people are a lot more understanding when it comes to revenge porn and I won’t have a problem telling prospective employers the truth about what Jason did. But I’m not going into a career that’s going to put me in the public eye like you three.”

“Male celebrities tend to get away with a lot,” I pointed out. “I mean, look at how many actors have affairs or have these huge age gaps. And athletes do it too.”

“But it depends on what those things are,” she said. “It’s one thing for you guys to have a new girl on your arm every night, but the three of you sharing one woman? You know a lot of people are going to think you guys are sleeping together too, right? There will be reporters who are going to want to know if you and Logan have sex, or what sort of physical contact there is between you guys if all of us are together at once.”

I shrugged. “I don’t care. And neither will Logan and Ethan. This isn’t something we just came up with on the spur of the moment. We’ve talked about this kind of thing.”

“And what if what happened to me happens to you guys?” She reached out and lightly touched my hand, tension vibrating off of her. “If someone decides to take private things and reveal them to the world before you’re ready, or out of context? What if someone starts spreading rumors that I’m using you guys, making you look foolish?”

My eyes narrowed. “That’s oddly specific.”

She sighed. “Jason cornered me at the party and said he was going to tell everyone that I was some sort of gold digger and latched onto you guys because of your careers. Hell, I wouldn’tput it past him to accuse me of being an escort or probably just your average prostitute because I wouldn’t be high class enough to be an escort and—”

“Stop.” I squeezed her hand hard. “Don’t get all worked up over that asshole running his mouth.”

“He’s not just talking,” she said. “He said he’s going to text me with a list of demands and that if I don’t give him what he wants, he’s going to destroy me and all three of you.”

I was quiet for a moment, gathering my thoughts, and she let me be. The fact that she knew me well enough to know that I wasn’t freaking out, just thinking, only solidified for me how much I wanted her.

“Do you want to try to have a relationship with the three of us? A poly relationship?” I asked. “Because if you don’t, that’s okay. We’ll still stand by you and we’ll stop Jason’s blackmail.”

“But if I do?” She whispered the question.

A flare of hope lit me up. “Then let’s give it a shot. Let’s see if it can work for us. And we’ll take care of that bastard then too. No way is he going to get away with blackmailing us.”

For the space of a couple heartbeats, she said nothing, but then she smiled and it was like watching the sun break through storm clouds.

“Yes,” she said. “I want to try.”

Chapter twenty-four

Amelia

Ididn’t know what, exactly, I had expected when I told Ryan yesterday that I wanted to try this poly thing with him, Ethan, and Logan, but it hadn’t been to go back to my dorm after working with him so he could talk to the guys. And I hadn’t expected a text a little while later asking me to come over tonight for dinner and a movie. Our first date for the four of us.

I thought maybe we’d have to sit down and talk over things, come up with schedules and plans, decide what we were going to tell people. This all seemed too casual, especially since we were just going to be hanging out at their apartment together.

But then Logan opened the door before I could even knock, and I saw the fire in his eyes and knew that nothing about this was going to be casual. None of us needed to have the awkward getting-to-know-you stage, and we’d already been progressing past friendship into the physical part of things. We just needed to move from one-on-one dates to a date with all four of us at once.

I needed a drink.

“We got wine,” Ethan called from the kitchen as I came into the apartment. “We didn’t know if you preferred red or white, so we got both. And if you don’t like wine, that’s fine too. We have beer, water, soda, juice…”

“We might have gone a little overboard,” Logan confessed, a slightly sheepish expression on his face.

“I’m just glad to know I’m not the only one a little nervous about tonight,” I confessed as I shrugged out of my jacket.

“You look amazing,” Ryan said as he came over to give me a kiss on the cheek.

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