Page 41 of Her Wicked Knights
"I was just explaining to Tripp here that you have to take what you want."
"Accurate." Rev agrees, though I notice the way his gaze washes over me slowly, somehow at odds with the simplicity of his statement.
"Even when it hurts someone else?" I challenge. "For example, Whit thinks you should take people like they're property."
That gives Rev enough pause to cock his head at Whit. "How so?"
"I simply suggested that he's been moping for nearly the year I've known him because he loves a girl who doesn't love him back. Instead of denying himself, why not just... make her love you back?"
"You pedaling love potion or something?" Rev chuckles.
A shrug is Whit's only response for a minute before he says, "If I was, would you be interested?"
That's as much of the loon as I can handle for one night; I start to rise to go, but it tips Rev off the side of the chair, and I reach out to snag him before he falls into the fire. I find my footing, and a moment later he finds his, with his hand on my chest. My throat tightens, suddenly feeling dry as he looks up at me with those dark eyes, which look somehow molten in the glow of the flames behind me.
It takes a moment before either of us looks away, and it's Rev who does, taking a step away and leaving me feeling surprisingly cold.
"Yeah." Rev says.
It takes me a moment to realize his word isn't for me, and another to remember what Whit even asked.
"And if you could have what you wanted... in this case, who you want..." Whit pauses, and my heart feels like it's going to beat of my chest as Rev glances at me from the corner of his eye. "Would you be willing to share her?"
"Her?" Rev repeats, and I wonder if I'm imagining the confusion in his tone.
"You all like the same girl, so you all suffer. Why don't you just... share her?"
"That's ridiculous." I snort. "You want us to treat her like a pair of sneakers we have shared custody of? Rev gets her on Mondays and Wednesdays and I take her on weekends?" It also ignores the obvious fact that Marley has shown zero interest in anyone other than Jake. And I'm not fucking sharing anything with Jake, much less Marley.
"Polyamory has roots deeper than anything in this city." Whit challenges. "In Ancient Mesopotamia, it wasn't uncommon for wealthy or powerful men to have multiple wives. But modern-day social constructs have led you to believe that love is meant to exist between two people, when in fact, it's actually stronger with more parties involved."
Rev looks intrigued.
I assume, fresh off his earlier threesome, it would be easy to start thinking that it's possible. Maybe there are people out there who make it work, but it could never beus. "You meet a lot of women who are into the idea of multiple boyfriends?"
"I've never cared for anyone enough to bring it up." Whit reasons. "But if you're asking if I think there are women whowould be into polyamory? Absolutely." He shrugs. "Once you get past the fact that society views these relationships as wrong for no reason other than because the church and government have beaten us over the head with marriage as a covenant for the last several hundred years, what's there not to love? Multiple partners means better need fulfillment... psychologically, emotionally, and sexually."
Rev hums in agreement, and I decide I've got to get him out of here before he subscribes to whatever weird ass cult Whit is running in the shadows.
Luckily for me, there's a commotion just beyond the bonfire. A girl who I recognize but can't place the name of stands, surrounded by people as she looks to be on the verge of a breakdown. She's breathing heavily, panting, with tears streaming down her cheeks as she tries to get out words to the people trying to close her in. Rev follows the direction of my gaze, and we go together to see what's going on. Rev walks faster as her sounds of distress increase, pulling another girl back to give her a chance to breathe.
"What's going on?" I ask whoever will answer.
"Jenny." Someone says, and I turn to see Eliza Ryan, who I recognize as friends with the girl who's currently freaking out, pulling at her hair. "It has to be."
I recognize the name. Jenny Clark is one of my only female friends, if you could call it that. We had the same lunch last year, both without our friends, and we ended up sitting together in silence for a few weeks. When I saw her reading a comic book, I finally decided to talk to her, and the floodgates opened. I actually looked forward to lunch with her, because it gave me a break from the rest of my friends and their ever-evolving drama.
Jenny is the only one I know of those three, but I do know they're all best friends, that they're always together except for that lunch class we shared.
I scan the crowd, looking for the girl I know will be capable of soothing over this meltdown, but I don't see her anywhere.
A cry splits the air, and I turn back to find the girl with her arm around Rev's neck. But this isn't like earlier, like the ones who clung to him in the hopes he'd take a peek at their cleavage or smell their perfume. She clings to Rev because he's all that keeps her up as her body slumps toward the ground.
"Jenny's missing." Someone explains, and I only assume that's for my benefit.
"What?" I turn to find whoever gave me that information and see Eliza, who has her hand over her mouth like she's trying not to be sick. "Since when? How? When was-" My next question is cut off by the chime of someone's phone, and another sob from the girl with Rev, who must be Misti, if I remember correctly.
"She's not missing anymore." Someone says flatly, and I swivel toward them, wondering how they know, if she showed up here.
