Page 63 of Theirs

Luke looked between us, and he shook his head. “We got Camila trapped.”

“No, I didn't ask you to come here,” I said with a smile. “You did that all on your own.”

“I’m not mad that I get to see you,” Genevieve said.

Luke sighed as he walked into the room. “It’s good to see you too.”

His eyes looked at her up and down appreciatively. Genevieve was casual in jeans and a sweater, but she would be gorgeous in anything. She smiled as he sat down next to me.

“I take it this is supposed to change my mind,” he said, looking between us.

“I just thought?—”

“I respect your decision,” Genevieve interrupted me. “I don’t understand it, but that doesn’t matter. I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

Luke raised his brow at me. “So, if that is her intention, why did you do this?”

“Well, I missed her, and I figured we could be friends,” I said, trying not to get defensive. “I just wanted to hang out and yes, I thought if you showed up maybe we could talk. I feel like we haven’t been communicating and since this involves her, she should be here.”

“Look, I don’t want to cause trouble and I’m sorry, but I will go,” Genevieve said, giving me a small smile.

I glanced over at Luke who was staring at Genevieve as she stood up and grabbed her purse.

“You don’t have to go,” he sighed.

Genevieve and I looked at Luke, seeing him looking awfully uncomfortable.

“I’m lying, I do want to continue this, but I’m scared,” he said softly. “We started this because of me. What if it implodes on us? What if you hate me after this?”

Luke looked down at his hand, biting his lip.

“Cariño,” I said, standing up and pushing his chin up to look at me.

“If this went bad, why would I blame you? I’m consenting to this as much as you are,” I said, cupping his cheek. “You aren’t making me do anything and I would never blame you.”

He swallowed roughly, still looking conflicted.

“I proposed a contract for this reason.” Genevieve walked over to Luke. “That way we are all on the same page. There are no surprises, and we all agree to the terms.”

She stood next to me, cupping his other cheek.

“We would never put you in a position you aren’t comfortable in, but this won’t work if you keep your issues to yourself, Luke,” Genevieve said leaning forward. “Do you not remember anything I have taught you?”

“I’m scared,” he said softly, looking at us. “I like this arrangement, maybe a little too much.”

I knew the fear he had, it sometimes made me worry that we might be hurting our marriage after all the effort we had put in to make us stronger. On the other hand, a part of me thought we couldn’t be worse than when we had started. Another part of me wondered if we had gone through everything to end up exactly where we were before all this. If we ended up with shattered hearts, then so be it, because all of us together felt good, so, fucking good.

“There is nothing to be afraid of, because we can overcome anything together,” I said, kissing his lips softly. “We need to trust the contract.”

“We also need to talk, I can’t reassure you if I don’t know what's wrong,” Genevieve said, leaning down and kissing his lips. “I know I failed you, but I promise to work?—”

“You didn’t fail us,” I snapped.

Genevieve glared at me as I glared back. The promise of being reprimanded made my spine tingle.

“She’s right, you didn’t fail us,” Luke said, cutting the tension between us. “It was lack of communication on my part and?—”

“And I knew something was wrong,” she clipped. “Look, you won’t change my mind about this. I've been doing this long enough that I know what I should have done. There is no excuse.”

---