Three Grumpy Groomsmen

15. Liam

CHAPTER 15

Liam

“Welcome to South Carolina,” I tell Ivy as we pass the big sign on the side of the highway.

“Thank fucking God,” she declares.

That makes me laugh. “What, you’re not having fun driving endlessly in your ridiculously small car with me?”

I’m driving and it’s late afternoon. Most of today has been an oxymoron of both the amazing haze of intoxicating pheromones hovering between us and then just endless fucking pavement stretching out in front of us.

“I love spending time with you,” she says, her knees up on the glove box of the passenger seat. “It’s using public toilets that I object to. I’m ready to be in the same hotel for multiple nights, too.”

I’m a little worried about how we’re going to pay for this extended stay but I am not leaving Ivy alone to handle getting the house listed for sale. Now that we’re officially together, I don’t want to spend even one day away from her and I need to help her clean up Brad’s mess.

“Me too. It will be a good opportunity to plan what comes next, too.”

She has her phone in her hand and she waggles it at me as I drive. “I’m already looking at job postings in L.A. Even if I hadn’t quit Southern Charm , I wouldn’t be able to work with Brad, anyway. That’s so gross and awkward. And why would I stay in South Carolina when I never wanted to move here in the first place?” She gives me a smile. “Especially with you back home.”

I smile back. “Why did Brad want to move? I never understood that.”

“Honestly? I have no idea. He said it was to help his mom now that she’s older, but they never struck me as all that close and she doesn’t have any health issues that I’m aware of. Also, she’s all of sixty-five. Now I have to wonder if he has a secret girlfriend in L.A. or something.”

That’s my fear too. “On set?” That would definitely make sense, but what a painful revelation for Ivy. “Have I mentioned today that Brad is a total prick?”

“That’s actually the first time today. You’re slipping.”

“And here I thought my rage would never abate. Turns out there is one thing that makes me feel better.”

“Tacos?” she asks with a grin, referencing our lunch choice.

“Yes. Obviously tacos. But more importantly, you,” I say simply.

“Aw, you’re so cute when you’re being romantic.”

“Was that romantic to you? Damn, the bar is set low. I can work with this.”

She smacks my thigh. “Hey!”

I laugh. I glance over at her. She’s back on her phone, typing. “Any promising job leads?”

Ivy makes a face. “I actually just texted Ford. I wanted to make sure he and Harrison got home safely. Is that weird?”

“No.” My own thoughts have been jumbled and confused surrounding Harrison and his sudden departure with Ford. “I don’t like the way all of that went down. It doesn’t take away from you and me to feel bad about that.”

She sighs in relief. “Oh my God, I’m so glad you feel that way. I can’t stop thinking about Ford and yet feeling guilty that I am.”

“It’s unfinished business.” I wish I wasn’t driving so I could be looking directly at her while we’re having this conversation because I want to be able to reassure her with eye contact, but we’re already in it, so I have to just roll with it. “I’m attracted to Harrison. You’re attracted to Ford.”

Ivy sighs again. “Yes, I am. What do we do about that?”

“I don’t know right now. That’s a separate thing from what you and I have. What we’ve always had. I want you to move in with me when we get back to Los Angeles.”

A glance over shows she is just nodding. “I assumed I would be.”

I give a crack of surprised laughter. “Why, because you don’t have a place to live?”

“Yes, there’s that. But also, we’ve been friends for years. Why would we just, I don’t know, date ? That doesn’t seem like enough for us. We’re already beyond that.”

My heart feels like it’s about to burst out of my damn chest. “I agree. I just want to be with you. Always.”

“Same.” Ivy leans over and kisses my cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Besides, you already offered to let me stay with you.” She gives me a sassy smile. “Now it’s just permanent.”

“ Permanent . God, I love the sound of that.”

We drive another couple of hours, our vibe relaxed and easy and comfortable with each other.

I’m very aware we didn’t really resolve the dilemma of Harrison and Ford. I’ve been trying to decipher what my feelings are and what they mean. All I can land on is that I’m still very much attracted to Harrison, and not just sexually. The way he approaches life is so confident, so carefree. I admire that about him and I don’t like that he basically blew me off. Again.

I want him to admit that we have a connection that goes beyond sex.

That he felt it, and got scared, and ran.

Would I have enjoyed seeing him kissing someone else? No. But I would have talked to him about it. Or tried to anyway. He just…left.

That doesn’t stop me from thinking about him, though.

Ivy keeps looking at her phone. I suspect she’s checking to see if she’s gotten a response from Ford. I had zero expectation of hearing from Harrison and yet I still want to. The frown and the wrinkle of her nose suggest Ford hasn’t answered her. It’s a bizarre feeling that I’m one hundred percent in love with her and yet I’m sad for her that she’s not getting the attention she wants from another guy.

I honestly don’t know what the fuck that even means.

Or what to do about it.

“Are we there yet?” I joke to Ivy to distract her.

She looks at her GPS. “We actually are. ETA only fifteen minutes, woo-hoo!”

“Excellent.” Even with good company, I’m more than a little sick of being in the car.

Ivy rolls down her window and sticks her head out a little. “I smell the ocean!”

“It’s very…quaint here.”

We’re driving through a town that looks like a retro movie set. Colorful shops, an ice cream parlor, a barber with the spiral pole, and people leisurely riding bikes with woven baskets perched on the front of them. Back home, biking is a fitness lifestyle, not a sightseeing excursion. They’ll run your ass over if you’re walking too slow.

“Liam, this is actually so cute. A little touristy, but everyone looks…happy.”

“That’s because there’s no traffic.”

She laughs. “Right? Does that mean you could actually run a quick errand here and it would actually be, you know, quick ?”

It seems that way, which is a foreign concept to me. “Do you want to eat dinner or check out your house first?”

I still can’t figure out why Brad gave Ivy a house. Or why he bought it in the first place.

“The house. I need reassurance that it is real and not a figment of my imagination, like my relationship with Brad.”

Ivy puts the address in her phone and we’re only two minutes out.

Then we’re parked in front of the infamous wedding-that-wasn’t-gift.

“Huh,” I say, staring at it. “It’s bigger than I expected.”

“It’s really big.” Ivy blinks. “Twenty of my first apartment in L.A. could fit in here. Thirty even.”

It’s a cool fucking house. It’s on the water, so it’s up on stilts, with a porch that wraps entirely around it. The siding is mint green, and there are white shutters on all the windows and ferns hanging from the porch roof. It’s exactly what I would picture for a Carolina beach house. The peek of the beach behind it is a visual reminder that we just traversed the entire country in Ivy’s tiny car.

“Coast to coast,” I murmur as we open our car doors. “Delivered right to your door.”

“Let’s make out in it,” she says, jogging up the steps to the front deck.

That makes me grin. “We’re going to do a whole lot more than make out. There has to be a kitchen island that I can spread you out on.”

“Oh.” Ivy glances back at me over her shoulder. “You have such good ideas.”

“Do you have a key?” I ask once we’re at the door. I peer through the windows and see a fireplace and soaring ceilings. The movers delivered everything yesterday, and it’s just furniture and boxes everywhere with no rhyme or reason.

That is going to pose a logistical problem, since Ivy doesn’t plan to unpack. Though maybe she will have to stage the house for sale. I have concerns over how much work this will be and the timeframe we’re dealing with. I can work on the road for a week, but much beyond that and I’ll need to be back in the writer’s room.

I don’t want to overwhelm Ivy, though, so I keep my mouth shut for now.

“No key.” Ivy tries the doorknob. “But there’s a keypad with a code. Who let the movers in? Brad?”

“I think the code was in the paperwork.”

“Where is that?”

“I have no idea. The trunk? Ford’s bag?”

Ivy groans. “Ford hasn't even answered me. Let’s look in the trunk. If it’s not there, then you can call Ford. I don’t think he’s going to answer me.”

“Speaking of Ford…” I sit down in a rocking chair on the porch. “Come sit down with me.” I pat my lap.

“You want me to sit on your lap? I never knew you were a girl-on-your-lap guy. This is a whole new side of you.”

But she gives me a sweet smile and slips her arms around my neck and perches on my thighs. The feel of her tight ass resting on my cock gives me an instant hard on. I wrap an arm around her back and kiss her.

“We need to get a hotel tonight. This house isn’t habitable right now, and I need you naked, Ivy. Now that I’ve seen you and tasted you, I want you naked all the fucking time.”

“That can be arranged.” She wiggles a little under the guise of balancing herself.

I groan a little. “But first, let’s talk about Ford and Harrison.”

“What about them?” Ivy flicks her tongue over my ear, which is very distracting.

I’ve been thinking about this all day. “We need to fuck them. Together.”

Ivy freezes. “What?” she asks, and her voice has dropped two octaves. Her chest is rising and falling rapidly, but otherwise she’s completely still.

“The four of us, in one bed together, having sex. I know you want Ford to fuck you and I want to watch him get you off, see how you scream when his cock is inside you.”

She’s staring at me.

“What?”

“Isn’t that…complicated?” she asks. “We’re in love. In a relationship. It’s new. But you want me to sleep with someone else. While you watch. Does that mean that what we’re feeling maybe isn’t what we think it is?”

I lift a hand and push her hair away from her face. “Do you think it means I don’t really love you? Trust you? Know you? Respect you and like you and would choose to spend time with you whenever I’m given the chance?”

She sits, thinking, her bottom lip between her teeth. Finally she answers, “No.”

“And why do you believe that?”

“Because I want to see you with Harrison, and I still feel all those things for you. I love you, trust you, consider you my best friend. I just…want you to be happy. Fully, completely happy. And I want you to have everything you want. All the pleasure. All the love.”

I nod. “Exactly.”

“So…you think the four of us could have sex together?”

“I really do.”

“With no jealousy?”

“I didn’t feel jealous that night in the motel. Did you?”

She shakes her head. “I was just really turned on. You and Harrison being there just made it even hotter. But I also loved being with Ford.”

“I loved that he was good to you. That you had all of that pleasure. That he could make you feel like that,” I tell her honestly. “I’ve never had this before, Ivy. I think I would typically feel jealous. But I think it’s because we’re already so close. Because of our friendship, I want everything for you, and I also completely trust you and believe it when you say you love me.”

She nods. “Yeah. I get that. It’s how I feel too.” She takes a breath. “But I have to be honest. I think I could fall for Ford.”

I smile. “I think you already have.”

She laughs. “And that’s okay with you?”

“That my favorite person in the world is getting all the love she deserves? Absolutely. Ford is different from me. He’s not a replacement for me. He’s…additional.”

Again she nods. “You’re different with Harrison than you are with me. But it’s like, together we help you be your full self.”

I pull her close, hugging her. “Exactly.”

She hugs me back. Then says, “So…the four of us together. And you would fuck Harrison? And I would be there too.”

“Yes.” I nuzzle her neck. “And I’d fuck you. I can’t get enough of your sweet cunt, beautiful. What do you think?”

“I mean…I don’t know. It could get messy.”

“Not if we all are on the same page.”

“What page is that?”

“That we’re adults who want to fuck each other.”

Ivy gives a soft moan.

“Are your nipples hard right now thinking about it?”

“Yes.”

I run my hand down over her thigh and between her legs, teasing over the center of her panties. “Is your pussy wet imagining both Ford and I touching you, kissing you, fucking you?” I can already feel that it is.

She gives a soft moan and leans into me. “ Yes .”

Now that the idea has formed in my head, I can’t get rid of it. Seeing Ivy getting fucked by Ford is a hot as hell visual that is going to make it impossible to sleep tonight.

“Then you do know what you want. Let’s do this. Let’s go get our guys.”

“ Yes .”