Chapter 27 #2
“I finished it.” Naomi’s smile didn’t reach her eyes, and she looked more tired than usual.
Yasmine’s heart went out to her. Naomi and Drew had been trying to conceive for a while, and it was taking its toll on Naomi’s body and heart.
She yawned, as if proving Yasmine’s thoughts.
“Sorry. I liked it a lot. I’m just tired. ”
“Have you been home alone a lot?” Cassidy asked, frowning. “David said Drew is always the first one in at the office and the last one to leave. Even on days when he doesn’t have to be there.”
“He has been working a lot.” Naomi covered up another yawn. “I think he’s freaking out about the idea of someone else getting hurt on his watch. I know he took it hard when David got shot.”
“He was the one to get hurt more recently,” Claudia pointed out.
“Which he also took hard.” Noami grimaced, reaching up to rub the back of her neck. “I get why he’s working so much. It’s not so bad. I always have things I need to do at the shelter, so now we’re just both working a lot.”
As much as Yasmine wanted to ask if they were still trying for a baby, this was not the time.
She didn’t want to throw Naomi’s business out in front of everyone, and she also wasn’t sure if Naomi would want to talk about it at all right now.
Usually, when she wanted to say something, she would bring it up herself.
Brenda leaned over and patted the top of Naomi’s knee.
“Don’t work too much, dear. No one’s last words have ever been ‘man, I wish I had worked more’.”
Both Karen and Angela snorted, but they were nodding their heads in agreement.
“I’d rather be working than sitting at home by myself,” Naomi retorted.
“Valid,” Jennifer muttered in a way that had everyone looking at her. Her complexion was too dark to show a blush, but Yasmine had the feeling that’s exactly what she was doing as everyone’s head swung in her direction.
“Something you want to tell us?” Audrey asked, amused.
Jennifer huffed, then sighed, running her fingers through her braids and making the beads click against each other as she made a face.
“Jensen and Richard are at a soccer game together right now. Richard’s team was down a player, and somehow, Jensen and he got to talking, and all of the sudden, they’re exchanging phone numbers… ”
“So, why didn’t you go to the game?” Naomi asked.
“Because I already had book club.” Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest. “Besides, I’m not sure how I feel about the guys I’m dating getting this friendly with each other. Wouldn’t it be weird to be there cheering on both of them? What would people think? Who do I kiss at the end?”
Everyone paused for a moment to think about her questions. Yasmine felt for her. Jennifer was the youngest of this group of women, and she didn’t yet have the confidence that grew with age. She was sure of herself in a lot of ways but not as experienced with the world.
Even though she’d been going to house parties and was familiar with the kink scene, she was still newer to it. Polyamory wasn’t always looked well upon outside of kink circles. Heck, even within them, sometimes people didn’t understand.
“You’re dating both of them, and you’re having trouble choosing between them. Would it be so bad to just be with both of them?” Cassidy asked hesitantly. “We wouldn’t think anything about it or judge you.”
“Nope. Nope, nope, nope.” Jennifer shook her head with each word. “My dad would murder them. And possibly me.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” Claudia said immediately. “Your parents are kinky. They’re open-minded. They know that you’re kinky, even if you avoid the club.”
“You know you don’t have to avoid the club either. I don’t avoid the club even though my brother is a member, and vice versa,” Audrey chimed in. “And David is almost as protective as a dad. He’s more protective than my actual dad for that matter.”
“What would you do if your brother was kinky?” Cassidy asked Claudia. “Would you still go to the same club?”
Claudia made a face. “No, because there’s no way Miguel would go to the club without Ian. I don’t need to watch the two most obnoxious men I know rip through the club submissives. They’re not allowed anyway. I need one space that’s completely safe from them.”
“And Ian’s not even related to her,” Yasmine whispered to Karen and Mary, who wouldn’t know Claudia’s brother or his best friend.
“What if they were the subs?” Brenda asked, brightening up with the idea. “You know, Mick is-“
“Stop it!” Audrey covered her ears with her hands. “Okay, never mind, I see Jen’s point, because if Grandma over here came to the club, I would be out so fast…”
“I don’t just avoid the club because of them, but also because of their friends, who are basically my aunties and uncles.
” Jennifer made a face. “But it’s one thing not to care when it’s someone else getting involved with two men.
My dad struggles enough with knowing I’m kinky, and he mostly deals with it by pretending he doesn’t know.
I’m pretty sure bringing home two actual boyfriends would close his mind real fast.” She snapped her fingers to demonstrate.
Poor Jen. Yasmine felt for her. In comparison, her own situation didn’t feel quite so fraught.
She had just agreed to regularly bang a guy a bunch of her friends wouldn’t approve of if they knew, so she was keeping it a secret from them and their significant others… who all happened to be Zeus’ co-workers. And chances were, everyone was going to be pissed if they ever found out.
Okay. Maybe it was a little more fraught than she wanted to admit.
That didn’t stop her from calling him when she got home and talking to him on the phone until she fell asleep that night. Just because it made her feel a little safer, now that she was back in her own home, even with Hope at her side and the security system on. That’s all. It didn’t mean anything.