Page 6 of It's Complicated

Isaac was a master at conversation. He was charismatic and witty and radiated confidence. And he had a unique talent for making someone feel like the most important person in the world when he focused on you, like there was no one he’d rather be talking with and you were the center of his universe.

To some, he came across as fake or even manipulative, but that was only because they didn’t understandwhyhe was like that. Isaac didn’t turn on the charm to get his way or because he was covering up his real emotions or anything like that. It was just the way he was and how he’d been raised.

Isaac could hide his emotions and feelings when he wanted, but he only did that with people he didn’t know well or people he didn’t trust.

I knew him better than I knew myself most days, and this morning was the first time he’d ever hidden himself from me.

And the first time he lied to me.

I knew he hadn’t been drunk last night. I’d spent hours watching him babysit our impromptu guests, and the only thing he’d had to drink in all that time was some water and a sports drink I’d shoved into his hand soon after we’d gotten home.

I’d also stopped drinking when he did, not feeling the party vibe as a bunch of strangers converged on our apartment and treated it like an Airbnb they’d rented out.

Isaac was very particular about his personal space. He didn’t like when people he didn’t know were in the apartment, and he hated it when people messed with his things. Part of it was growing up an only child and not having to deal with siblings fucking with his stuff, but it also stemmed from his need to be in control of his environment so he felt safe enough to relax.

Watching him spiral for hours, knowing that any attempt on my part to mitigate things would only lead to more tension, had been hell. I’d wanted to kick everyone out within five minutes of getting home, but I wasn’t like Isaac.

I’d always had trouble standing up to people, especially my friends. And they exploited that whenever it suited them. Telling people to get out of our house or stop eating all our food gave me anxiety and letting myself get worked up would have just made Isaac’s mood—and stress levels—worse.

The night had already been a clusterfuck when April and a few of her girlfriends showed up. I still didn’t know who invited them and had no idea she was even in town.

I liked April, and we’d known each other since we were kids, but we’d barely talked in the past three years. Catching up with her was fine, but her obvious attempts at trying to start up our old arrangement had made me more than a little uncomfortable, especially since she also kept hinting that she wanted to hook up with Isaac again in the same breath.

But because of my inability to confront people and not wanting to hurt her feelings by rebuffing her too harshly, I’d spent most of our conversation only half-listening and wishing everyone would just get the fuck out and leave us alone.

Just as I was about to lose my mind and cause a scene, Isaac declared the party over and kicked everyone out.

April didn’t leave with her friends, and I was too frazzled to do anything other than keep sitting with her and hoping she’d get bored now that everyone else was gone and I wasn’t making any moves to reciprocate her advances.

That was when things went off the rails, setting in motion the threesome that never should have happened.

The whole April situation was complicated as fuck. We’d had a thing for a bit in high school, and we hooked up a few times when I came home for visits during college, but it had been about sex andonlysex. April was like me in that sense. She didn’t do relationships and never shied away from going after what she wanted.

Her confidence—and the fact that she was one of the only girls who’d ever pursued me instead of waiting for me to be the aggressor and chase her—was the reason we’d hooked up in the first place. Our compatibility and agreement that neither of us wanted more than sex was why it lasted as long as it did.

Finding out she’d hooked up with Isaac had been enough to sour me on our arrangement, and I’d been relieved when she announced she was moving a few months later.

Knowing that she’d fucked Isaac bothered me, and I wasn’t really sure why.

Dating multiple people within my friend’s group wasn’t uncommon, so it wasn’t even the first time a friend of mine had hooked up with the same girl as me. It never bothered me in the past, but it sure as hell bothered me when that friend was Isaac.

Maybe because he was one of the few friends I had who was just mine and wasn’t someone I’d grown up with or spent years playing hockey with.

He was my friend because he wanted to be, and he wasn’t close to anyone in my friend group. He was friendly with them, but he only knew them because of me, and sharing him with anyone, even with April, who I respected and liked as a person, made me feel stabby.

When she suggested the threesome, I’d been so shocked that I looked to Isaac for guidance instead of shutting her down immediately.

He must have been as conflicted as me because he just stared at me, his expression unreadable. That worried me, and I’d gotten distracted trying to break through his stony facade and figure out what he really thought of everything.

I saw a flicker of interest in his gaze, and April started teasing us and issuing challenges about our skills in bed, using our innate competitiveness against us until we agreed.

Most of the actual threesome was a blur, even though I’d been sober for hours at that point. I’d done my best to act like I was into it so I didn’t ruin things for Isaac and April, but I spent the majority of the time feeling awkward and waiting to be told what to do.

Then we ended up facing each other, and everything from that moment on was crystal clear and burned into my mind like a core memory. And it had nothing to do with the threesome and everything to do with Isaac.

I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off him.

I’d seen him naked plenty of times, and I’d accidentally interrupted him having sex or enjoying some solo time on multiple occasions, so it wasn’t like I’d never seen him hard, but last night was completely different than getting a few accidental peeps of him having sex or sharing some casual nudity.

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