[6] Avoidance
1629 Words
~TROY~
Wifey ♡: Don’t wait up. I have a business dinner. Love you.
The moment I picked up my phone and read the message from Caroline, my stomach sank with a nauseating thud. A business dinner. Which meant she’d wouldn’t be home until around midnight, leaving me with...Jenna.
Replying with a simple ‘OK, love you too,’ I slipped my phone back in my pocket, sulking at the thought of being alone with Jenna. Those smoldering emotions of love and lust would consume me the moment she entered my line of sight. And she knew the spell she had over me, deliberately teasing and flirting—even when Caroline was around. Not that she minded. Being Caroline, she just saw her little sister as being cute and playful. Jenna knew the exact buttons to push and when to push them, making me melt at just a brush of her fingers along my bicep.
Why was this?
Why had she become so aggressively bold lately?
Why did she change? Was it my fault? Did she change because I kissed her?
Chime.
Figuring it was Caroline again, I looked at the screen and felt the blood in my veins freeze at the sight.
Dia: I’ll be at the Monarch Hotel tonight if you want to come through.
Taking an abrasive breath, I immediately glowered at the message as though a beam of lasers would fry the aluminum material. No. I thought I blocked her. Quickly, I swiped the message away only for another message to take its place.
Dia: We can get a drink.
And another.
Dia: One drink. I’d like to see you.
Dia: Please.
Scrolling to the caller ID, I decided to block her number before stuffing it back into my pocket. I returned my attention to my draft table, determined to drown myself in the architecture of a modernized strip mall. A broiling migraine sizzled in the back of my skull at the thought of not only one woman—but three.
Caroline, wishing she wouldn’t leave me alone with her sister, the devil on my shoulder whispering forbidden desires in my ear. Jenna, wondering why the timid, joyful woman I once knew turned into such a seductress, constantly seeking out my affection. And Dia, continuing to find her way back into my life after all she’d done.
“Hey, brah,” Marcus greeted, patting me on the shoulder. I flinched at his touch, snapping myself out of my deep, dark thoughts. “How’s the design goin’?”
Eliciting a dramatic sigh, I laid my pencil on the draft table, turning to him. Although we were the same height of over six feet, he towered over me while I sat in my drafting stool. “Honestly, poorly. I might have to scrap all this and stay the night.”
Marcus rolled his eyes with a deep chuckle. “Are you having problems at home?”
I glowered at him, always finding it annoying he knew when something was wrong with me without me saying it. “Why do you always do that?” I grumbled.
Marcus shrugged although we both knew he had an uncanny ability to detect when I or the rest of our siblings were dealing with something. I suspected he inherited it from Harriet, his mother, my adoptive mother, who had a more subtle, soothing approach while Marcus just threw subtly out the door.
“Because I care,” he smirked.
I rolled my eyes. “No, you’re just nosy. And I know you tell my business to Kendall when you get home.”
The downward curvature of his lips and the immediate crossing of his meaty arms hinted at my accuracy. “You know Kendall doesn’t get that much ‘adult interactions’ since having the twins. This office gossip is the highlight of her days. So admit that you have a problem so my wife will continue to believe there’s still life beyond dirty diapers.”
“How are my niece and nephew?”
“Adorable and loud.” With a conniving smile, he pulled up a chair next to me. “Now tell me...when’s the next installment of...Jenna: To Do or Not To Do? That has been the question...since high school. And we’re still waiting for answers.”
Giving him a side-eye, I picked up my pencil to get back to work, not wanting to give into him.
He’s known of my unyielding feelings for both Caroline and Jenna since high school, always teasing me that I should just date them both and see which one I liked better. But I love them equally and, although I eventually settled for Caroline, there’s always been a piece that wondered what it’d be like if I pursued a relationship with Jenna. And he knew it, knew of Jenna’s latest advances, hinting that I might bring my dream into reality.
Damn it, what have I done?
“A lot of couples have open marriages nowadays.”
“Do you and Kendall have an open marriage?” I asked smugly, already knowing the answer.
He pursed his lips disgruntled, absentmindedly spinning his wedding band. “The closest thing is our celebrity hall pass and neither of us are ever going to meet John Legend and Chrissy Teigen like that.” He shook his head in defeat. “Damn, my wife is smart. We will never have the opportunity but you, on the other hand, just might...”
That brought a smile to my face, shaking my head and chuckling at the idea. “Caroline is a very open person, especially sexually, but with her favorite sister? Never.”
Marcus and I have always been close since his family welcomed me into their home and adopted me as an Adler at thirteen. Admittedly, I wasn’t the most openhearted to them when I first arrived but gradually, Marcus and the rest made me feel like I belonged, and I never turned back. They chiseled down the wall I’d built and Marcus especially had made sure I never tried to build one around myself again.
“I’m just sayin’. Caroline might be open to it if it’s for family.” A loud voice outside my office called for Marcus who rolled his eyes before standing. “One time couldn’t hurt, get it out of your system, go on with your life and make me some nieces and nephews. Or Jenna’s gonna be in the back of your mind forever.”
And with that, he left me feeling even more disgruntled and confused about having to go home to her. To admit that I still wanted her and how easy it would be to give in to the woman I had an orgasm to this morning.
*~*~*~*~*
Jen: What should we have for dinner? It’ll be just the two of us...so dessert might be included
I’d read the text after finally convincing myself that I couldn’t avoid her forever and decided to head home. I ignored the last part and kiss emoji, just texting that I’d pick something up on my way home. Nothing romantic. I didn’t want her to make anything that would give her ideas of us together. I could imagine a nice dinner for two, she’d wear something sexy. Her foot would touch mine beneath the table and she’d lean closer to me, her sultry lips pleading to be smothered, our bodies yearning for the other’s embrace. There’d be times I thought about it but the only difference was that Caroline would be with us and I could sweep away those thoughts at the sight of my magnificent wife.
After picking up dinner, I pulled up into the driveway where I could see Jenna setting the table by the window.
“Ooooh, God,” I sighed at the sight of her.
A tight black dress embraced the sensual curves of her body, the hem of the dress barely over her bubble ass as she leaned over to place the dishes on the table. My mouth watered at the thought of wrapping my arms around her, placing her on the edge of the table, spreading her legs, and lapping my tongue against her womanhood. The idea soared through my mind, a phantom of her touch as she’d curl her fingers in my hair and release a delighted moan.
No, Troy! I chide myself, shaking the image out. When you said ‘I do’ to Caroline, you knew you were saying ‘I don’t’ to Jenna as a result.
Exactly. Jenna and I will be nothing more than in-laws. I hadn’t even told Caroline that I kissed her before our wedding. I didn’t want to hurt her, to cause a rift between us. But internally, I knew as my finger wrapped around the handle of the restaurant bag that if I stepped in there, I’d do something unforgivable. I couldn’t go inside.
But where was I supposed to go?
My fingers slowly let go of the bag, slipping into my pocket to take out my cell phone. And before I knew it, I could hear the ringing of a call in my ear and her familiar voice. “Troy…”
“Hey. I think I might take you up on that offer. Monarch Hotel, right?”
- Writer
