Page 14 of Play Dirty

“Are you fucking serious? But he gets hard. His cock is fucking huge.”

“I know. There’s no problem in that area. He just… I just…” She winces and sighs. Like she knows what she needs to say, she’s just unwilling to say it.

“You don’t turn him on?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “No. That’s not it.”

“Then what?”

“I dunno. He’s just…” She looks me in the eyes. “He wants more than me. He won’t leave me. I don’t want to leave him. But… he wants you. Here with us.”

I laugh. So loud. “Come on.”

“I mean it.”

“No. Whatever your problem is, that’s not it. He can’t even kiss me without wanting to walk out, Augustine. This makes no sense.”

“I’ve asked him about that. Why he doesn’t just… you know. With you.”

“What’s he say?”

“He says… he says you don’t want him the same way so he… can’t. He’s fucking weird, OK? I dunno. He’s just fucking weird.”

“But you love him.”

“He’s the only guy for me, Jordan.”

Which, I’m not going to lie, fucking hurts to hear. Even if it can’t be true. I mean, she is here with me, right? Asking me to join them. But I keep my mouth shut because it’s not the time or the place for that kind of self-absorbed bullshit. She’s asking me for help. She wants me to save her marriage. And I want her to sell me that stupid building.

This is a game.

She wants me to put together a game for her, only I’m the one of the playing pieces.

“Three weeks,” she says. “We didn’t finish our negotiation. But three weeks, OK? And if we can’t fix this in three weeks I’ll sell you the building and Alex and I will get out of your life.” She takes a deep breath and extends her hand. “Deal?”

But there’s something behind her words. Something I recognize, just barely. Something nagging at the back of my mind. A little itch that says… Pay attention. This contract has small print somewhere. Print so tiny you can’t even see it.

It’s the lawyer in me. The instincts I’ve honed over the last several years in court. The thing inside that recognizes the details not being negotiated.

I shake her hand anyway.

Partly because OK, I can handle three weeks of kink with two people I’ve already shared a shitload of kink with. And partly because that building is as good as mine.

But mostly because this wasn’t how it was.

We used to be good together. They used to be good together.

“What happened?” I ask her.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean back when we were all together. You, me, Ixion, Alexander… it was fun, right?”

She looks sad for a moment. Like we’re remembering two completely different things.

But it was good. It was good…

CHAPTER FOUR