Page 130 of Three Bossy Boyfriends
“The thing is, I want you to be happy, Finley. I want you to have all of your needs met. That’s important to me. But…”
“But you can’t see yourself doing this long term.”
Her voice is flat, and her arms are still across her chest.
“It’s not that I can’t see this.” He points between her and him. “I can’t see all of us. Not living together, having kids, beingin a permanent relationship. I wanted to make sure that there weren’t any assumptions that’s the direction we’re going in.”
Finley sits silent for a few seconds.
I’m trying to assess what she’s thinking, how she’s feeling. What comes out of my mouth is, “Can I get you a drink? Some wine? Club soda?”
It feels much more polite and inane than I intend. I was thinking more along the lines of, “Wecould have some wine to relax, take the tension down a notch.”
But Finley just says, “I’m fine.” She looks at Tucker. “There’s a whole lot of assumptions being made here.”
“That’s what we were trying to avoid.”
“Without including me.”
“It wasn’t meant to exclude you. It was meant to get on the same page.”
Finley turns to Evan. “What do you want? Since everyone seems to think this has gone beyond us just having fun. Or isconcernedit’s gone beyond fun. What is it that you want, Evan?”
Evan looks taken aback to be put on the spot, and while he normally doesn’t fumble with his words, he does a little here. “I want you and Christopher and Tucker to be comfortable.”
Whatever she’s looking for, that isn’t it.
“And you?” She levels a steady gaze at me. Her words are calm, but there’s fire in her eyes.
I’m still standing, and it feels too aggressive, so I take a seat in a club chair on the opposite side of the coffee table from her. “I want to make sure everyone’s needs are met.”
I’m trying to be cautious, tread lightly. Trying really damn hard to read her, but I’m not getting anything. She just looks annoyed, and I’m not sure what the right fucking thing to do here is. “Tell me what you want.”
“I think what I want is to go home. This is honestly a mood killer.”
That alarms me. “You don’t have to go home. Let’s have dinner and just relax.”
Evan takes a deep breath. “Let’s just see where the night goes.”
“See, that’s the problem. Now you want to see where the night goes. But you didn’t want to just see how this relationship, or relationships, could evolve naturally. This went from flirty and fun and filled with possibilities to structured and decisive and…contractual.”
Fuck.
I never should have drawn up a contract. But people do it all the time when they’re entering relationships. Pre-nups, kink contracts.
“Obviously, we should have consulted you, but that’s what tonight was intended to be.”
Finley makes a sound of exasperation. “I don’t want to be consulted. I just want to be with all of you. I want…passion andlove. A big, demanding, all-consuming love.”
I understand what she’s saying. I feel that for Evan. With Evan.
But my role in this relationship is not that for her. I care about Finley. I respect her, admire her, yes, even probably love her. But I’m not herperson.
That’s Tucker.
Possibly even Evan. God knows he loves her. He’s said it. I see it.
Yet I can’t speak for them.
