Chapter 22
22
Amy
Updating the group chat meant going over a hell of a lot more than the night before. It also meant updating them on everything that had happened during the morning. Jeremy’s call. Kincaid’s defense. The fact that, apparently, Freddy was her lawyer.
She sat on the couch in her robe, the texts flying fast and furious, while Zach and Kincaid cleaned up in the kitchen behind her.
Morgan: Freddy will kick his ass.
Sam: Forget Freddy, I’m going to kick his ass if he calls you again.
Amy: I’m pretty sure Kincaid and Zach are going to kick his ass if he calls me again.
Carolyn: That’s so hot.
Carolyn was not wrong.
Once Zach had heard about Jeremy’s call, he’d gone on a pretty impressive rant, and she wasn’t entirely sure he wouldn’t have gone storming out to confront her ex if Kincaid hadn’t caught him.
It had been just as hot as Kincaid taking Jeremy on over the phone.
They were both really freaking hot. She still couldn’t believe she’d had sex with both of them last night.
If she wasn’t so sore, she would have had trouble convincing herself that she hadn’t just dreamed the whole thing.
Marissa: You should burn your wedding dress or something.
Sam: Oh my God, yes!
Sam: If YOU want to, that is
Sam: But I vote yes
Carolyn: I vote hell yes
Sam: Can we make s’mores?
She started to type out ‘we are not burning my dress’ when she paused. Why not? Kincaid had already ripped the back of it open. It wasn’t like she wanted to wear it ever again.
When—if—she ever got married, she would be getting a completely different dress. One that had a zipper instead of a million tiny buttons. And that was a big ‘if’ as far as she was concerned. Right now, she couldn’t imagine ever wanting to plan another wedding.
Ever.
Amy: Yeah, let’s burn it.
Marissa: Yay!
Carolyn: Yay!
Morgan: Yay!
Sam: Yay! But seriously… s’mores?
Snorting laughter, Amy leaned back against the couch.
“What’s so funny now?” Zach asked. Sauntering around the side of the couch, he leaned against the armrest rather than sitting on the couch with her. She didn’t mind that he didn’t sit down with her; he had the look of someone who was just stopping for a moment before heading back to take a shower. And put on some clothes. Amy took a brief moment to admire his upper torso before answering him.
“The girls and I are going to burn my wedding dress, and Sam wants to make s’mores.” She grinned as he laughed in response, shaking his head.
“Is it made out of natural materials?” he asked. “If there’s too much polyester and plastic, I wouldn’t want to eat something cooked over it.”
That was a good point.
“I have no idea,” she admitted.
“You should probably check on that,” Kincaid called from the kitchen. Amy twisted her head around to see him appear in the doorway behind her, wiping his hands dry on a dish towel. “You might not want to stand too close breathing in the fumes while it’s burning either.”
“Good point.” She texted that point to the chat.
When she looked up again, Kincaid was moving to sit in one of the armchairs to the right of her, having left the towel in the kitchen. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs as he looked at her, hands hanging between his knees.
“I think we should talk a little this morning,” he said. “We did things in a bit of a rush last night… not that I have any regrets.” A little glint of pleasure lit up his dark eyes as relief shot through Amy. “But there are some things we didn’t get a chance to talk about. Like, last night, when we got home, Zach and I got you undressed, then put you in a nightgown and joined you in your bed, which is what it seemed like you wanted at the time… but we never explicitly talked about it.”
Amy relaxed even more. For one awful moment, she’d thought he was going to say that they could never repeat last night again, and while she would have understood it, she would have been very sad.
But Kincaid just wanted to talk about the aftermath, which there would be no point in doing unless they were going to do it again… so this was a good sign.
Kincaid
As nervous as he’d been to bring up the night before, Kincaid had always believed in taking the bull by the horns, which was why he wanted to get right into it this morning. From the way both Amy and Zach relaxed as he brought up the subject, he knew it had been the right decision. Talking things out now would keep them from getting awkward in the future.
“I’m really grateful you put me in my nightgown instead of leaving me in my corset,” she said, smiling. “And also that you stayed with me. I woke up feeling pretty good this morning, but I think if I’d been alone, I might not have felt as good.”
“I was worried about sub drop. We both were.” Kincaid glanced at Zach, who was still perched on the couch arm, hands on the leg that he had crossed over his knee.
“I appreciate that. And it’s definitely a valid concern.” She sighed, wrinkling her nose. “You don’t have to do it every time, though. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t sleep in your own bed.”
He and Zach exchanged another look. They probably should have anticipated that response.
“We slept where we wanted to,” he replied evenly. “Zach and I talked about it, and, with your agreement, we’d like to establish a rule that on nights we scene together, we all sleep in the same bed, so we don’t have to worry about you sub dropping when we’re not there.”
Amy started to open her mouth, as if to protest, then stopped. This time, the look that he and Zach exchanged was amused. Kincaid had deliberately chosen to lay it out like she’d be doing them the favor. Instead of needing to be watched over, she was preventing them from worrying.
Since it was true, it was an easy perspective switch.
“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.” She nodded. “I would like that, too.”
“Good. Then we’re agreed.” Zach tilted his head at her, smiling. “I guess the next question is whether you’d like to scene again any time soon.”
“Oh… um…”
Yes. The answer was all over her expression, yet she hesitated. They were going to have to work on her ability to advocate for herself and to ask for what she wanted. Kincaid made a little mental note in his head.
“We have a table for Friday at Marquis, and we’d like you to join us.” There. Not asking what she wanted—telling her what they wanted. And from the way she lit up, it was what she wanted, too. He was going to have to watch her carefully to ensure she didn’t say ‘yes’ when what she really meant was ‘no.’ But how she felt about this invitation was easy to see.
“Yes, please. I’m doing the whole dress-burning party on Saturday.”
“Perfect. Zach and I will go over your limits this week unless there’s something you want to change, and we can talk through any fantasies you might have.”
“Oh… whatever you guys want to do is fine. I mean, great. Not fine. Whatever you want is more than fine. It’s great.” A blush was rising in her cheeks. Yeah, they were definitely going to be working on having Amy ask for what she wanted. They could start on Friday.
At some point, he was sure she and Zach had talked about her needs while they were negotiating. He’d talk to Zach first, and they’d start there.
“Great.”
“So, for today…” Zach said. “Are we all still down for watching some more movies and continuing Amy’s Marvel journey?”
“Yes!” Amy lit up again, this time with something like hope. Surprise. Even though they’d talked about it before, it was as though she’d thought they would change their minds. Which was crazy, especially considering what they’d done together the night before.
He wondered how often her ex had said he’d spend time with her or do something with her, then not followed through. She shouldn’t be this surprised and excited that they were going to do what they’d said they were going to do.
Having heard the jerk demanding she help pay the electric bill, after he’d kicked her out of the house, he was betting the asshole let her down a lot. Well, the least he and Zach could do was help raise the bar for her next boyfriend… and not just inside the bedroom. She might only be having rebound sex with them right now, but they could show her how she should be treated when she decided to move on from them.
It was silly to already feel a pang at the thought of her moving on from them, but… well, he cared about her, and he’d taken her under his protection. It was only natural to feel protective.
“Great.” Kincaid slapped his hands against his knees and got to his feet. “I’m going to go get dressed, and we can get started once we’re all ready.”
Did he miss the way Amy’s gaze slid over his body, exactly the same way Zach’s did, once he was standing?
No, he did not.
Had he worn his grey sweatpants on purpose?
Maybe.
But he wasn’t alone. Zach was wearing them, too. And as far as he was concerned, Amy’s blue robe was the female equivalent. It was short enough to show off most of her legs and looked soft and fluffy enough to touch. Maybe she didn’t mean to have him fantasizing about pulling the tie free and using it to bind her hands together while he and Zach laid her back on the fluffy bulk of the robe and touched her all over… or maybe she did.
He'd never had these kinds of thoughts about other women they’d scened with, but it might just be because he wasn’t used to having their third come home with them.
Normally, they came home, and he didn’t think about the sub again until they were back at the club, if they scened with her again. Obviously, everything was already different with Amy.
Part of him was already wondering if she’d be amenable to scening at home too, but… one step at a time. He didn’t want to spring too much on her while she was in a vulnerable state. They’d see how things went keeping it to the club, then maybe if she was in a good headspace but not ready to move on yet, they’d talk about doing some scenes at the house, too.
He had a tendency to get ahead of himself, so he needed to pull back hard on his plans until he had a better idea of where everyone was emotionally. So, he just smiled at them and headed to the bedroom. It didn’t surprise him when he heard both of them following, and Zach joined him a moment later.
Seeing Zach smiling so broadly made Kincaid feel happy. He’d realized that Zach had felt a little left out with him and Amy hanging out together this morning before he was awake. There hadn’t been anything Kincaid could really do about that, but it seemed to have resolved itself.
“That went well,” he said.
“It did.” Zach’s smile slipped. “I can’t believe fucking Jeremy wants her to pay the electric bill.”
Kincaid didn’t have words, but a growling noise escaped from his throat, rumbling through his chest as he picked out a pair of jeans and closed the dresser drawer. Sadly, he could believe it, but he’d also seen a lot more fucked up shit than Zach had. Some of which he’d told his boyfriend about, some of which he hadn’t because he hadn’t wanted to burden him with it.
Still, when it came to mind games and mental and emotional abuse, Jeremy was definitely up there. Cheating on her, humiliating her at her wedding, kicking her out of his house, and now calling to tell her she owed on the electric bill?
Kincaid couldn’t do anything about the first three things, but there was no way in hell he was going to let Jeremy continue his bullshit. Not under his watch.
“We could always go pay him a visit…” he murmured. When he was met with silence, he glanced over at Zach, who was now standing, holding a shirt in his hands, head tilted to the side, as if he was thinking about it.
After a long moment, he seemed to realize Kincaid was looking at him and met his gaze.
“I don’t think she’d like that.” Zach sighed. “As tempting as it is.”
Zach was probably right. She might even be upset with them. Amy was a peacemaker, from what he could tell, and she wasn’t going to want to be responsible for creating more conflict. It would likely do more harm than help.
He was still going to keep it in mind for the future. If Jeremy was smart, he wouldn’t try to reach out again.