Chapter 28
Soren
G ail and Mickey step through the door, their shoulders brushing, their fingers intertwined. The sight tugs at something primal inside me—the possessive and dominant streak that wants to be part of what they’re sharing.
“Hey Soren,” Mickey calls out, his voice slick with a satisfaction that makes me smile. “We brought food.” He holds up a large red and white pizza box. The smells wafting from it are nothing short of divine and mouth watering.
“Can—” That’s all I manage to say before Gail interrupts me.
“If you were just about to ask if I can eat pizza, the answer is yes,” she beams, kicking off her boots.
“But what about the cheese? Dr. Patel said—”
She waves her free hand in the air, drawing my attention to the smaller box she’s carrying. “It’s fine in moderation as long as it’s properly cooked.” Narrowing her eyes, she continues. “I want pizza so badly I think it’ll be more of a health risk to deny me.”
Mickey chuckles, and I can’t help smiling at her display. “Then by all means,” I say.
Gail hands me the smaller box, she announces she’s going to change into something with less of a judgemental waistline—her words, not mine.
“Kitchen or living room?” Mickey asks, and I point at the living room. If Gail wants to be comfortable, that’s a lot better.
While Mickey moves things around to make it easier for all three of us to reach the table, I check the internet on my phone to make sure it really is okay for her to have pizza and a fizzy drink, which it is. It’s not that I don’t trust her when she said… wait, I don’t trust her, do I?
Shit, I don’t know anymore.
Spending the last week with her without Mick around, I’ve noticed new things. She talks to Fet when she thinks she’s alone, and she rubs her stomach a lot when she’s feeling… I don’t know how to describe it… like, when she’s feeling extra happy, sad, or even frustrated she rubs the skin, telling herself and Fet about it. It’s cute. So I guess when it comes to Fet, I do trust her to know what she’s doing.
It’s more than that, though. We’ve bonded through trivial and mundane tasks like cooking and watching TV. She told me about her family, her life, and confided about her friendship with Lucia, which is more like a sisterhood—one she misses terribly.
Now I also know that she’s not a morning person, she misses coffee, she snorts when she laughs heartily, and she pees more than she used to. Though I could go without her telling me that, I’m kinda glad she did.
On top of that, she’s restless when she sleeps alone. So most nights, I’ve crept into her bed, spooning the fuck out of her until I had to get up, and then I crept out again. I don’t think she knows I’ve slept with her, but if she does, we’ve both left it unmentioned.
When Gail rejoins us, she’s wearing a pair of black satin shorts and a tight, formfitting shirt that makes her tits look so fucking phenomenal I have to adjust myself. Noticing my movement, she smirks as she sits down on the cushion Mickey threw onto the floor, crossing her long, shapely legs under her. Following suit, I sit opposite her, while Mickey sits next to her.
I open the pizza box, and Gail’s eyes sparkle with satisfaction as she takes a slice, moaning when she takes a bite. “Damn, this is good.”
Chuckling, I dig in, abandoning my principles on healthy food for the night. The pizza is great, but it’s nothing compared to the sounds and satisfactory expressions Gail makes as she devours one slice after another. Seriously, she might be small, but when it comes to food, she isn’t holding back.
While Mickey and I are drinking beers, she’s enjoying soda and water, making jokes about double-fisting every now and then. They’re cheesy jokes, yet I can’t stop myself from laughing. Everything about this moment it’s easy; there’s no pretense or tension, we’re just three people having a great time.
“I have something to tell you,” Gail says, her gaze flitting between Mickey and me, blue eyes bright, searching. “We need to talk.” Her words are simple, yet they carry the weight of unspoken promises—or threats, depending on how you look at it.
So much for having a great time.
“I don’t really know how to say it,” she admits, nervously wringing her hands in front of her.
“From the beginning, sweetheart,” Mickey croons. “Always start at the beginning.” He takes one of her hands, gently caressing the skin on her wrist with his thumb.
She nods and looks down at their joined hands. “Right, right,” she mumbles to herself. Taking a deep breath, she looks straight at me. “You said you didn’t believe that I wasn’t at Cupid’s Court because of the two of you. And… umm… you’re right about that.”
Fuck!
My eyes immediately fly to Mickey, worried he’s going to leave again. To my surprise, he just furrows his eyebrows. “I thought you said you didn’t know it was us,” he says, and despite the guarded look in his eyes, he sounds calm.
“No, no, wait,” she rushes out. “I’m not explaining this well.”
There’s something in her eyes, something I can’t quite explain, but something that tells me she’s right; she’s botching what it is she really wants to say, making her words come out all wrong. I get up from the floor, moving closer before sitting down closer to her. “Try again,” I implore. “Just get it out.”
Closing her eyes, she nods. “When I first joined Cupid’s Court I didn’t sign up for threesomes, can’t say I ever considered it. But then the night at O’Jackie’s, when you said… when you wanted… I had to say no because I’d already joined Cupid’s. But I wanted to go home with you that night. I…” Trailing off, she licks her lips.
“Open your eyes,” I croon, wanting her to watch us as she explains this.
She shakes her head, continuing her admission like she never stopped. “But I couldn’t because of the contract. That’s why I had to say no. After that, I was curious. Really fucking curious. So I… err, updated my preferences to include threesomes—”
“Because of us?” Mickey rasps, finally getting it.
“Yes,” she squeaks. “I wanted it because of you. Not just anyone—specifically you two.”
Her confession hangs heavy in the air. My mind races, piecing together every moan and touch, each moment under the dim lights of Cupid’s Court. The realization that it was always us she was searching for ignites something possessive inside me.
“Jesus, Gail,” Mickey breathes out, his voice strained with what sounds like relief or maybe hunger. I can never fucking tell with him.
I know she’s talking to me when she says, “Aren’t you going to say something?”
“Open your eyes.”
“Just say something… anything.”
“Open. Your. Fucking. Eyes.”
She finally does as I say, and the second she opens her beautifully blue eyes, I shift closer. “Is that the truth?” I ask, rubbing my nose against hers.
“Y-yes,” she stutters.
I bring my hand to her cheek, cupping it shortly before letting it fall down to her throat, closing it around her neck. I can feel her pulse flutter beneath my thumb, it’s a steady rhythm. “Was it everything you wanted? Were we everything you’d fantasized about?” I rasp.
Defiance sparkles in her eyes. “You were, ” she sniffs, emphasizing the past tense. “But then you ruined everything just because… just because I…” She averts her gaze and chews on her bottom lip.
Mickey moves closer, plastering his front to her back as he lifts her hair away from her shoulders. He moves her shirt out of the way so he can kiss the bare skin. “ Just because we found out you were someone we already knew—”
“And just because you got knocked up,” I finish.
Her breath falters. “Okay, I get it. It wasn’t… good.” Sighing, she amends, “I know it looked bad, I’ll own that. But I didn’t know it was you, only that I kinda wanted it to be. But I never thought… and the pregnancy, shit. That definitely wasn’t on purpose.” There’s so much sincerity in her words it’s impossible not to believe her.
I look at Mickey over her shoulder, and I’m surprised to see I’m not the only one believing what she’s saying. “We know, sweetheart,” he croons.
Tears gather in her eyes, but she swipes them away before they can fall. “What you did to me is fucked up,” she hisses, balling her hands into fists. “You locked me up. You—”
“We know,” I say, interrupting her from spelling it out.
“So what now?” Mickey asks after a lengthy silence.
Gail inhales sharply. “Now I want that damn pie,” she says, jerking her head in the direction of the smaller box.
With a chuckle, I let go of her and get up so I can get some forks from the kitchen. Once I return, I sit down next to her again. When she tries to take one of the forks from me, I hold them out of reach. “Nuh-uhh,” I say with a smirk. Opening the box, I use the fork to slice through the pie, before holding it up to her mouth. “Open up.”
She opens her mouth willingly, and I feed her the small piece of the chocolate pie she’s all but salivating for. I continue feeding her, only occasionally taking a bite for myself since every time I do, she looks like she’s being robbed.
Gail doesn’t like to share, noted.
While I feed her, Mickey’s hugging her from behind, his hands splayed across her stomach. It’s a sight I honestly wasn’t ever sure I’d see; him embracing what’s inside her. The way he looks at her is almost like she hung the damn moon, which is… surprising. Don’t get me wrong, I knew we were both attracted to her, but this is so much more than that.
Leaning in, I use my tongue to lick up the small piece of chocolate sitting at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes widen, her breathing hitches. “You never answered the question,” I remind her, referencing what Mickey asked earlier.
“I did,” she says, stubbornly. “I said I wanted pie.”
Chuckling, he says, “And now you have it. So let’s try again; what now?”
Sighing, she gives the rest of the pie a longing stare before closing the box in my hand and moving it to the table. “Now, I’ll save the rest for tomorrow.”
“Sweetheart!”
“No,” she snaps. “Don’t ‘sweetheart’ me. You don’t get to play head games, be massive dicks—”
“We have massive dicks to match,” Mickey quips.
Gail carries on, ignoring his quip. “I’ve told you my story, that I wanted to break free this year. I wanted to stop being so safe and try new experiences. I never imagined that would lead to me becoming a mom, but now that I’m here, that’s all I want.”
She shrugs out of Mickey’s hold and gets to her feet. When he looks like he’s about to follow, I discreetly shake my head, wanting her to have this.
“The thing is, while you were all I dreamed of, all I wanted, that’s changed. You’ve shown me a side I never knew existed.” She paces the part of the living room we’re occupying, barely looking at us as she talks. “But that was then. Now,” pausing, she squares her shoulders, “Now I know that you don’t deserve me. I might have made mistakes and unknowingly fucked you over. But you willingly did it to me.”
Damn, she’s not pulling her verbal punches, and it’s kinda hot.
“You don’t deserve me!” She’s almost shouting now, making sure to meet both our gazes. “But Fet is going to need a daddy or two, so I guess we’ll always be in each other’s lives.”
“Gail…” Mickey cuts himself off when she shakes her head.
“I understand where you were coming from, Mickey. Just as I understand why Soren’s the way he is. So, thank you for leaving me the laptop.”
Arching an eyebrow, I look at my friend, silently asking if he knew she’d looked into me, and when he shrugs, I have my answer. I should have known, though. Or maybe I should have asked during the week we’ve been alone, but I never did.
“But that doesn’t excuse what you did. I won’t ever try to keep you from Fet, and I’ll play house until I’ve given birth. But after that, I’m taking the money I’ve earned and finding a place for me and Fet—”
Mickey and I abruptly stand at the same time. “You’re what?” we ask in unison.
She folds her arms over her chest and cocks her hip. “We’ll stay close by,” she clarifies. “I’m not trying to keep you out of any of it. I want you in Fet’s life. But kids should have a yard, which I don’t have.”
“There’s a yard here,” I say.
“My house has a garden,” Mickey adds.
Rolling her eyes, she stomps her foot—literally fucking stomps it. “That’s not the point,” she hisses. “I’m not staying here. Not after what you did. You’ve been so busy focusing on the fact you don’t feel like you can trust me that you never realized that you made sure I can’t trust you. Either. Of. You.”
I don’t know why her words shock me as much as they do. Her reaction is beyond fucking reasonable, and she’s right about every accusation she throws our way. Do I feel bad for what we’ve done? I do… kinda… a little—but not as much as I probably should. This is why, away from the ice, the games, the treacherous fame, we’re just two broken guys who paid for pussy. It’s not like it can be a shocker we’re not the type to hold the door open and bring home flowers, is it?
“What about this afternoon?” Mickey asks, his eyes glinting with betrayal. “I thought we—”
“Oh, stop it,” Gail scoffs. “The orgasms were great, and I’m glad it happened. But it’s just sex. We can totally keep having sex.”
“And you want us to continue paying?” I ask, needing the clarification.
“Yep,” she nods. “But this afternoon was a freebie, and to even the score, I’ll sleep in Soren’s room tonight and that’ll also be free.”