AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Have you got time to talk?” Austin asks.
“Of course.”
“You want to go get a beer?”
It's midday, but if that's what Austin wants, then I'm up for it. “Let me get my wallet.”
***
“So, sounds like my little sister blackmailed you into being with her.”
“Don't let her fool you. She's wily, Claire is, but she never put a gun to my head. When she first propositioned me, all I could think about was how much you'd hate me agreeing to her terms, but she was determined to ‘have fun’, something the girls have been giving her a hard time about.”
“Bet Kara is behind that, huh?”
I can't help smiling at the subtle way my friend just brought Kara up.
“Yeah. She and the rest of the girls told Claire she needed to take a timeout from her list for the sake of her sanity.”
“For the sake of her sanity?”
“I didn't see it at the time, but your mum did, and so did her friends. Claire hasn't been living. She's been...”
“Trying to turn her life into the ordered structure she's always wished for.”
I nod. “And in the process, I think she lost part of herself.”
“I told her I don't like it – the two of you sleeping together. I'm never going to like you messing around with my little sister.”
“I'm not messing around with her.”
“What would you call it when you're sleeping with her and then leaving in close to a month?”
I keep my mouth shut. It might look one way to Austin, and I myself have been concerned about how Claire might handle this kind of relationship, but Claire has surprised me every step of the way. She's easily gone along for the ride, proving I worried needlessly.
The only thing I was right to worry about was Austin's response to the two of us together. But I dealt with it differently today than I might have even a month ago. Today I'm confidentI did the right thing diving into something with the one woman who has always appealed to me above all others.
“I can't take it back, and I wouldn't if I could.”
When I said those words earlier, it fired my friend up. Now the words seem to have the opposite effect. Austin sits there, studying me across the table.
“At least tell me you're not fucking other chicks on the side.”
“How can you even ask me that?”
“You've never been a one-woman man.”
“Well, Claire's changed that.”
“Really?”
Austin looks shocked, but it's nothing compared to what I am. I test the words out in my head.
Yes, it's the truth. I can't remember the last time I even seriously looked at another woman. Sure, I flirt with the ladies who come into the bar, but it's nothing serious.
Claire has my undivided attention.
“I mean, it's easy to be with her and not be with other women. She's hardly the first girl I've had sex with more than once. I've had regular girlfriends.”
