Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
We talk, but it’s not real talk. We talk about feed, and hay, and watering schedules. We talk about what she stocks in her store, and we smell soaps, and flowers.
We touch each other a lot. We kiss a little. She never could resist my kisses. Even now, when she knows that my kisses all came from Mercer, she won’t refuse them.
“Why is it so easy when we’re alone, but so hard with other people?” I ask.
She turns to me. We’re done with chores and I’m in her bedroom, watching her naked body in the en suite bathroom. She’s running the water for the shower because we’re dirty. “What?”
“It’s all so easy when it’s just me and you. And so hard with other people.”
She lets out a long breath that comes with a chuckle. “Locke, you’re so twisted.”
“What do you mean?”
“The reason it’s hard is because you want a threesome. That’s not how the real world works. If you would just… get on board with us being a couple, it would be easy all the time.” She must read the look on my face at this suggestion, because she laughs. “That’s so out of the ordinary for you, isn’t it? You can’t even imagine a life without him, can you?”
“He’s my best friend. We’ve known each other since we were children. We work together. We live together. We love each other.”
“See, this is my problem with you, Locke. You’re a couple with him. But you refuse to be a couple with me.”
“We’re not a couple. We sleep together every once in a while. We’re not a couple. We’re friends who kiss and touch each other.”
She points at me. “That’s weird, ya know.”
“It’s not weird.”
She rolls her eyes, then closes them, like she’s asking God for patience. I study her naked body for a moment. She’s not as lean as she was back at the Institute. But she’s still very beautiful. And her breasts just got better after breastfeeding.
She opens her eyes again. “Don’t you ever want more?”
I throw up my hands. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Not from me, Locke. From him.”
My automatic answer is no. She’s asked me this question many times, so I actually do have an automatic answer. I just say no. I’m satisfied. And mostly, I am.
But would I like Mercer to touch me the way I touch him?
Yes. And because doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is said to be the definition of insanity, I decide to just admit it and see where that gets us.
“Fine. I would like more from him. Are you happy now?”
“At least you admitted it. So. Yes.”
I wait for her to say more, but she stays quiet. “That’s it? Nothing else to add?”
Her eyes go soft. Her face changes a little. She turns into… a mother. Someone careful. Someone who cares. “Ya know, if he treated you better, I might consider forgiving him. But he treats you like shit, Locke. Shit. And you just take it. You accept his meager… whatever he’s offering, and you take it. There is no way in hell I will be one-third of that.”
My mind spins a little. “This is your problem with him? Not what he did to you, but how he treats me?”
“Of course I hate what he did to me. This is why I can’t put up with him doing it to you.”
“You have to stop blaming him for that. You know the truth.”
“Oh, I’m fully aware of the part I played in everything. And I’m fully aware that you know what you’re doing as well. But why is Mercer untouchable? Why does he get to do these things? Why does he get to torture you? Why are there no consequences?”
“No consequences? Are you fucking serious? He lost everything, Nova.”
She guffaws so loud, it echoes off the bathroom ceiling. “He lost nothing, Locke. Nothing. He’s still working there. He’s still living there. You’re still with him.”
I walk over to her and place both my hands on her cheeks. She looks up at me, defiant. “He lost you, Nova. You don’t think that affects him?”
“He never loved me—”
“Don’t fucking start. You know he loved you. You’re the one—”
“It’s my fault? All this is my fault?”
“Not all of it, but we were all adults. We all made choices. Me, Mercer, Olsen, and you. So we are all responsible for how it ended.”
She pushes away from me and walks to the shower. “This is not going how I expected.”
“Maybe you should give up on those expectations.”
“Maybe you should leave.”
“Maybe I should,” I say. She looks over her shoulder at me. “Maybe I should go home, get Mercer, put him on a plane, and bring him here so we can get this all out in the open once and for all.”
She swallows hard. Her face changes again. Only now, she looks… sad.