Page 79 of Neighbors With Benefits

I reached out andtookit.

“You don’t understand…” Aiden tried to argue.

“What don’t I understand?” she asked. “How you sent me a text meant for some other woman? Or the fact that youlied about itfor nearly two months?”

“Think about it from my perspective,” Aiden insisted. “I had just met you, and had accidentally sent you somethingverypersonal. I wanted to die from embarrassment, Jazz. And I was terrified that I would freak out our nice new neighbor.”

I had no idea what text message they were talking about, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the show.

“Somethingpersonal?”she shot back. “That doesn’t even begin to describe what you sent!” She began reading from her phone. “Just to confirm the basics before you come over: you’ll be dating all three of us. You get to choose who, and how often. You also get to decide what level of relationship with each of us: emotional, intellectual, sexual. And if it is sexual, you get to decide whether you hook up with us individually, all together, or any combination in between. Basically, you’re the woman running the show. We’re comfortable with anything. If this sounds good, then come on over so we can discuss further!”

Oh, shit. Aiden had accidentally sent herthat?Shit was getting good.

“What kind of a proposition is that?” Jazz demanded. “You were trying to find some girl to be your fuck-toy? A walking Fleshlight you can use whenever you want?”

“Our jobs make it tough to hold down a normal relationship,” Aiden said, trying to get a word in while he had a chance. He held his palms out like he was about to defuse a bomb. “We travel too much. Sometimes at the drop of a hat. After so many failures, we decided to try something different. The three of us usually don’t travel at the same time, so if we’re sharing a woman…”

“The three of you?” She suddenly remembered that I was in the room, glancing sideways at me like I was a rabid dog. “You just expect me to fuck him, too? Is that it?”

“That’s not it at all!” Aiden replied.

I spoke up and said: “Hard pass.”

Jazz flinched and gave me an offended look. As if it were a given that I would want to fuck her. But that wasn’t how I rolled, and she wasn’t really my type. Especially with all this drama.

“You can do whatever you want. There are no expectations,” Aiden explained. “And it’s not just sex. We wantsomekind of relationship. An emotional one, or friends-with-benefits, or maybe even something long-term.”

“Long-term? How is this supposed to last long-term?”

I had never heard of polyamory before Aiden discovered it a few years back. It seemed like a joke. Normal, one-on-one relationships were hard as fuck. Adding more people would ramp up the difficulty a fuckload.

But over time, I had come around. All my life, I’d never felt like I could give enough of myself to my partner. I was too independent. I always held back, which eventually led to the relationship blowing up. Add Aiden and Bash to the mix, and we were one of the weird situations where polyamory made things easier, not harder.

If we could ever find the right woman. Which Jazz clearly wasn’t.

“You know what?” Jazz said. “I don’t care about the details. It doesn’t matter. You should have told me sooner. Definitely before allowing me to sleep with Bash.”

“I know,” Aiden admitted. “It’s all I’ve been able to think about since we hooked up. I’ve tried to find a way to bring it up, but…”

“I need to think about this,” Jazz said, shaking her head. “I… I have to go.”

Aiden was the kind of guy to chase after a woman, to throw himself to his knees and beg her to reconsider. Thankfully, he had the presence of mind to hold himself back. He stood by the table and watched Jazz leave the house.

“Looks like there’s enough food for me after all,” I said.

Aiden gave me an exhausted look. “Come on, man.”

“Just trying to lighten the mood.” I laughed. “Looks like I missed a lot while I was gone. Want to get drunk and tell me about it?”

“Yeah,” Aiden said, lifting the wine bottle. “I do.”

29

Jazz

I fled from my neighbor’s house and hurried home, not caring that two of the neighbors across the street were staring. They could gossip all they wanted. Right now, I didn’t care.

The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end, though. And it wasn’t because of Karen and Ms. Porter chatting on the sidewalk. I glanced at the house with the faded white paint. The guys called the owner Voldemort, and said that everyone is afraid of him. There was a flicker of movement by the blinds. Had someone been peering through them, watching me?

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