Chapter 41
forty-one
GREER
Greer frowned at the plate in front of her as she leaned over the kitchen island in Abagail’s gigantic house. She hadn’t known where else to go, and all she knew was that she needed out for a few days. Abagail was the closest thing she had to a friend within driving distance, and Kam was out of state at some Speech competition, which left Greer here.
Sitting and staring at a plate of food that Abagail’s private chef had made her.
Because of course the woman would have a private chef.
Discomfort rolled down Greer’s spine as she stared at the pristine kitchen, everything put in its specific place, and the fact that nothing in the house was out of place. The bed had been turned down for her by a maid before she’d slept in it the night before, and someone had come in that morning to make it up.
It was like being in a damn hotel.
And it was weird.
Greer frowned at the food, knowing that she had to eat it or she’d risk offending the stunning woman who was the chef, with her long braids that were braided again down her back with gold bands around some of them, the nose piercing, and bright eyes. She’d had a slight French accent when she spoke, but Greer hadn’t had the courage to ask exactly how she’d ended up working for Abagail.
Or where the hell Abagail got this money.
Greer knew she worked hard, but holy hell, this was beyond just being a CEO at her own HR firm. Shoveling the delicious food into her mouth, Greer ate as quickly as she could so that she could disappear back into her room and hide out, like she’d planned to do until Monday when she knew she had to go back and finish out her last two weeks with the families.
“Still here?” Abagail asked as she sauntered into the kitchen.
“Uh… yes?” Greer faltered. Had Abagail expected her to leave?
Abagail hummed. But before she could say anything else, Nicola practically danced into the room, her bright blonde hair in waves down her back and her eyes bright with mischief.
“She’s staying there?” Greer pointed at Nicola, but she asked the question of Abagail.
“Don’t ask,” Abagail muttered.
“Oh, no, I’m asking, because she’s your nephew’s ex-fiancée, right? And she definitely didn’t seem to be making an impression on you the other night.” Greer was still gawking, she knew it, but Nicola was practically dancing through the kitchen in a tight white tank top, no bra so Greer could very clearly see her hardened nipples and dark areolas, and a miniskirt that really didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination. “Also where was she yesterday?”
“I was confined to my room,” Nicola answered leaning over the kitchen island and pushing her ass out behind her.
Abagail’s gaze definitely dropped to that ass and lingered there way too long.
Holy fucking God. Greer’s cheeks burned. She had walked into some kind of weird sexual arrangement, and she was willing to bet that Nicola was paying Abagail with sex to stay in this house. She faced her plate of food again, suddenly thinking it looked way more appetizing than it did before, and shoveled a couple more bites into her mouth.
She really needed to stop judging.
Or maybe it wasn’t that she was judging, just that she was shocked.
Yeah, that had to be it, right?
Abagail was so prim and proper, loud and aggressive—which if she was a man, no one would think twice about—but to stick her with this woman. Flirty, fun, energetic, and the polar opposite of Abagail?
Eh, Greer could see that working actually.
And again, who was she to judge?
“Now that we’ve had introductions, again,” Abagail droned before focusing back on Greer. “The weekend, right?”
“Yes, I’ll be gone on Monday morning. Promise.” She raised her hand in a scout’s honor move.
Abagail’s lips thinned into a line. “How did I end up being the rescue club for the wayward children in my life?”
“I’m not a child,” Greer said with a glare. “She” —she pointed at Nicola— “is.”
Abagail hummed and straightened her shoulders. “We’re not talking about her.”
“You were talking about both of us.” Greer scrunched her nose. She really needed to stop talking at all. Abagail had done her a favor by letting her stay there, even if it was probably out of guilt because Abagail had been the one to get her the job with Nathalie, Ivy, and Lachlan.
“Um… hi, am I interrupting something?” Ivy stood in the entryway to the kitchen, someone right next to her.
Abagail spun around, her face immediately moving from somewhat amused to annoyed now. Greer hadn’t been entirely sure that Abagail could actually look more annoyed than she typically did.
“Apparently my house is an open house. Leave me out of the family drama.” She threw her hands up into the air and then walked out past Ivy. “Nicola!”
“Coming, lover!” Nicola crooned the word as she followed Abagail out of the kitchen, Greer unfortunately catching the sight of her ass, and the fact that she definitely did not have any underwear on.
She shuddered and closed her eyes. Yeah, she couldn’t stay here a long time. But she was so fucking grateful that her room was nowhere near their rooms. Greer nodded at the butler—that was what he was, right?—she couldn’t remember, and she wasn’t sure she really cared to figure out.
And then before she knew it, it was just her and Ivy in the kitchen together.
Greer pushed the plate of food away from her, her appetite completely gone now. “She’s going to be mad that you showed up here.”
“Who are we talking about?” Ivy asked, coming in closer and leaning against the kitchen island. “Nathalie or Abagail?”
“Well, both, actually. But I meant Abagail.”
“She’ll get over it.”
Would she, though? Abagail seemed like an intensely private person, and having her employee in her home really didn’t seem like something that Abagail would be okay with. But Greer wasn’t going to mention that again. Ivy could figure out her own work-life problems.
“Why are you here?” Greer asked, squaring her shoulders and looking Ivy over. She was dressed down today, leggings and a loose shirt. Almost akin to that first night they’d made out on the couch, when Greer had wanted nothing more than to rip her clothes off, take her upstairs, and show her just how much she deserved to be loved.
“That.” Ivy pointed at her. “What are you thinking?”
“Nothing.” Greer’s cheeks burned again, and she pulled the plate back over to give her some kind of distraction. “Answer my question first.”
“I’m here to talk to you.” Ivy sighed. “To listen to you if that’s what you want or need.”
“No one else came with you?” Greer asked, looking back toward the entryway.
“No, just me. We didn’t think that the three of us coming was a good idea. Thought it might be a bit overwhelming for you.”
Greer hummed her agreement with that. She really struggled to think straight when all three of them were so focused on her. “So what did you want to talk about?”
“You know why I’m here, Greer. Stop playing the fool. It really doesn’t suit you.”
Greer dropped her fork onto the plate. Since when could Ivy be that sharp with her? She wasn’t used to this side of her. She was used to that from Nathalie. Greer’s back and shoulders tightened, and she turned on the stool to look Ivy over. “I came here to get away from all of you for a few days, to think about what decisions I’ve made and how they’re going to affect me. You agreed to that time, and now you’re here.”
“I know.” Ivy put her hands up in the air, defensively. “I shouldn’t have come, and I should have given you the full weekend.”
“So why didn’t you?” Greer asked.
“I’m worried about you.”
“About me?” Greer frowned. The only person who ever worried about her was Kam. No one else could ever spare the time to think about her or what she might be struggling with.
“Yes, you.” Ivy kept her distance, although it looked like she wanted to step in even closer. “I’m not sure that you left with the best understanding of what’s happening, and I wanted to make sure to clear the air a bit, maybe explain some things.”
“There isn’t much to explain.” Greer shook her head. “I think it’s all been talked out.”
“It hasn’t. I promise you.” Ivy wrapped her hands together, twisting them nervously. Greer had seen her do that before, and she knew that Ivy was trying to hold back and choose her words carefully. “We don’t want you to quit.”
“I can’t work for you and not have this be an issue.”
“What is this ?” Ivy asked.
“Our relationship.” Greer pointed between them. “And not just my relationship with you, but my relationship with them. It’s going to come up, and it’s going to take all of us down. Penny won’t?—”
“Penny can fuck a duck for all I care.” Ivy’s voice rang through the kitchen, echoing off the appliances. “I’m not talking about Penny tonight. I’m sick and tired of talking about her, of stepping around the stones she throws into my path. I’m talking about you and me and Nathalie and Lachlan. That’s it.”
“You can’t excise Penny from this situation. She’s at the center of what’s going to tear us apart.”
“No, she’s not.” Ivy straightened up and put her hands on her hips. “And if you think that my soon-to-be ex-wife has the power to determine who I can and will have in my life now and going forward, then you don’t give me enough credit when fighting her.”
Greer’s jaw dropped. She hadn’t realized that she was doing that. She hadn’t put it together that she was making a mountain out of a molehill and that she wasn’t giving Ivy credit for the very fact that she was the one who had left, and she was the one who had filed for divorce, and she was the one who was pushing through day after day and slowly trudging her way toward finalizing that divorce.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Greer sighed heavily, guilt washing over her. She hated that she was like this.
“So ignore Penny. Why did you leave?”
Greer didn’t have an answer to that, because everything had been about what Penny was going to do and what she wasn’t going to do. “Because I won’t ruin the family that you have.”
“ You are a part of that family, Greer.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Is that because you don’t want to be? Or is it because you think we don’t want you to be?”
Greer paused again. Ivy wasn’t holding back tonight, and she hated it. She was pulling out everything she had to make Greer think about everything she’d avoided thinking about since she’d shown up at Abagail’s on Friday night.
“Here’s the thing,” Ivy continued, not waiting for an answer. “We want you to be part of our family. We want you to be with us every day and every night that you want to be there. We want a relationship with you, a closed open relationship thing. I don’t know, Nathalie knows way better than I do.” Ivy waved her hands around in frustration. “We want you to be part of who we are and the family that we’re making. And we thought that we were doing a good job and showing you that up until this past week.”
“You were…” Greer whispered. She remembered every time they touched her, kissed her, shared with her. The way they had opened up to her and the changes they had made in their lives in the last few months. It had all changed, hadn’t it? And that was damn scary.
“All right, so what happened?”
“I’m not allowed to say her name.” Greer rolled her eyes. “But I know how this goes, and I know the judgment that’ll come with it. Nathalie gets it too. She reamed me for it once, and I know she understands the judgment that comes with not being in a normal monogamous relationship.”
“Are you scared of Penny’s judgment or are you scared of your own?”
“What?”
“What’s really holding you back, Greer? Is it the fact that you think Penny is going to keep coming after us because of you? Because I’ll tell you, she’s going to keep after us despite you. Penny isn’t going to give up easily, and she is going to make the next sixteen years of my life a living hell. I own that. But it’s not because of you. And she’ll do it regardless of whether you’re with us or not.”
Greer shifted on her stool.
“Or is it because you’re scared that the three of us might actually love you, and that we’re not willing to give you up or let you walk away without properly fighting for that love.”
“You don’t love me.” Greer shook her head, her lips pulling down into a frown.
“Bullshit, Greer. We do. All three of us.”
Greer sucked in a sharp breath, still shaking her head. “No, not all of you. I can maybe believe that you and Lachlan love some things about me, but not Nathalie.”
“I talked to her, Greer. And she loves you. It’s not something that’s easy for her to admit, for very similar reasons why it’s not easy for you to admit. But we do love you.” Ivy moved in, taking Greer’s hand in her own and stepping between her legs. Greer had to tilt her head down to look into Ivy’s eyes. “I love you.”
The words were on the tip of her tongue. She’d figured it out when she was with Kam for that weekend, that she was head over heels in love with all of them, but she hadn’t been able to say it then, and she certainly couldn’t say it now.
“Lachlan loves you.”
The slow admittance wasn’t helping her. The honesty and sweetness in Ivy’s eyes, the truthfulness of her words.
“Nathalie loves you.”
“I can’t do this,” Greer whispered. “I can’t…”
“Then take until Monday.” Ivy stepped away, giving Greer the space that she desperately needed. “But when you come back to us on Monday, know that we’re going to talk about this. I’m done waiting for life to find me, Greer. And I’m done letting people walk all over me and living in fear. It’s time we make our lives exactly the way we want them to be.”
And Ivy left.
Greer stared at the spot where she’d been standing, her brain spinning in circles that she didn’t think she could control. What the hell was she supposed to do now? What was she supposed to say or tell them?
Because she couldn’t tell them that she was in love with them.
Could she?