22. Declan
The dinner cuisine was unusual for us, but it’d made Enslee happy.
She’d not only eaten every bite on her plate, which was also uncommon, but she was very talkative throughout the meal.
Brogan and I had exchanged a few looks during the course of it, but she was still in the dark as much as she’d been a few days ago.
I understood why Brogan was so paranoid.
That’d been another reason I’d been gone so late many nights this week.
After work, I kept busy with my team of private investigators to try to help Brogan.
My first priority was to fix the mess he was in because none of us could be happy and live a normal life until the Layla situation was resolved.
I didn't want to alarm Brogan, which was another reason I’d done my best not to talk too much about it.
Even I was starting to have my doubts that Layla would ever be found again.
There was so much guilt that flowed through me over that.
If only Brogan and I hadn't been together, then he would’ve never had to do this fake relationship.
Fuck that! Why should we have had to sacrifice our own happiness?
Layla wasn’t sacrificing hers, and she’d known the situation coming into it.
I refused to feel bad if she’d developed feelings that were not returned.
But then again, she was a heartless bitch, so I didn't think emotions were actually something she could realistically feel anyway.
We'd grown up around the Harte family. Her father ran a media empire, and the newspaper alone had made her family very wealthy.
The affluent in New York City usually frequented the Hamptons, owning houses up and down the coast. It was there that their children would often hang out together as they moved in the same circles.
Brogan and I had grown up building tree houses, playing sports together, riding bikes, swimming, boating, golfing, and skiing.
If there was something competitive to be done, we’d done it together.
The majority of our activities rarely involved girls, but when they did, there was normally a group that had included Layla.
We’d known her most of her life, and she’d never shown an interest in either of us, which was why I doubted she actually had a real attraction toward Brogan.
If she loved anything about him, it was his money.
When Stanley Sinclair retired from Sinclair Pharmaceuticals, Brogan took his rightful place at the helm as CEO.
His net worth quadrupled, and she couldn't resist the flashing dollar signs that had to resemble a neon fucking light to her. If it hadn’t been for his father, a raging homophobe who’d forced him into agreeing to a fake relationship, she wouldn’t have been back in our lives.
At the time, I’d told Brogan this was never going to work, and I’d been right.
Tonight at dinner, I barely had time to think about her at all.
In fact, I didn't even give Layla a second thought in my mind.
Enslee was so endearing, and I was beginning to like her more with every day that passed.
It still sucked that she had no recollection of her memories.
I couldn't imagine not knowing or remembering my life and what led me to the place I was at today.
She often stared at me as a fan while having no idea that she was, maybe, as famous as I was, at least in the influencer world on social media.
Her podcast was always ranked at the top, and this was the first week there’d been no episode.
I’d decided to scroll through her social media earlier, and I was glad I’d done so instead of Brogan because of the recent comments on her last few photographs.
People had definitely noticed her absence.
Hey, haven't seen you in a while.
Haven't heard from you. What’s up?
You haven't posted in a while, is everything okay?
When's the next episode? Eagerly awaiting it.
I can't wait to see what story you come up with next.
Brogan and I knew the story she’d come up with next if she’d gotten away that night. And maybe even once she recovered her memories. I’m sure it would’ve gone something similar to this…
I went to interview a possible murderer whose fiancée is missing, but he was a rude dick who wouldn't answer any of my questions. After leaving his office, I circled back to get my keys only to walk in to find him getting head by one of the most popular actors in America.
That’d be the worst story ever for us both.
While I honestly didn't care if anyone knew I was bisexual, Brogan had his reasons to care. And most were even before Layla had ever entered the picture. His father wasn’t happy about our continued relationship, just as he hadn’t been happy about our relationship back in high school.
Never had either of us ever thought when growing up that we’d one day become attracted to one another.
Shit happens, and we’d kissed. The next thing I knew, his father had dragged him out of the country.
Once Brogan came back, he’d been different.
He was dismissive and completely unaffected by me.
Most of the time, I’d felt invisible. While we’d hang out with others and do the same things we’d always done, it wasn’t the same.
Our bond with each other as friends was mostly gone.
I’d figured with the time away that he realized he wasn't into guys.
Hell, I didn't think I was into guys, and I’m still not. I'm only into him.
Despite that, I’d started to question myself.
When he’d returned to dating girls, I did as well.
We still hung out in the same circles, but everything was different until college.
Maybe it’d been the forced proximity of sharing a dorm room.
Or maybe it’d been the porn we’d been stupidly watching, but the air had crackled between us, and there was a pull to him that I couldn't ignore. Surprisingly, he’d been the one to kiss me first, and once he did, that same spark from high school reignited, and that flame had never gone out since.
The longer I stared at Enslee, I knew what we needed to do. Keeping her content, keeping her happy, keeping her devoid of all memories was the way to ensure that Brogan’s and my flame would continue to burn despite the forces trying to extinguish it.
“I’ll be back,” Brogan said as he stood up.
I knew where he’d gone, and ordinarily I might’ve even joined him. It’d been several nights since I’d been in his arms.
“We looked so happy in this picture,” she remarked as she thrust one in my direction.
“We were as happy then as we are now,” I replied, telling her the lie Brogan and I had rehearsed to make sure we could keep the same story up. “You were very flushed in that one,” I said, pointing to another in her hand.
“Why?” she asked me, and I didn’t miss the hitch in her throat, or the way her voice dropped to a near whisper.
“We could show you better than we could tell you,” I said, then looked up as Brogan exited from the bedroom. “I’m going to take a shower now,” I declared.
I wasn't gone that long, maybe ten or fifteen minutes at the most. And when I returned to the living room, Enslee was now sitting in Brogan’s lap as he ran his hands through her hair. Her lips were swollen, as if he’d just kissed her senseless. I knew exactly what that felt like with him.
I should’ve been resentful, but like Layla had been all this time, this playing house with Enslee was a means to an end.
And speaking of her, my gaze dropped from her lips to her breasts, and my cock hardened as I took in the hard nipples behind her tank top.
That’d been another thing I’d observed lately.
She’d been wearing them a lot more, instead of the loose T-shirts she’d initially started wearing.
Enslee was finding her confidence, often even parading around us in the shortest shorts and the tightest of shirts, as if to entice us enough to throw her down and ravish her.
I had to admit that more than once, I’d been tempted.
While Brogan and I knew there were going to be times when we’d have to be with her individually, we’d still decided, for the most part, to do them together.
Tonight was different, though. We needed to intensify things with her, and thankfully she was already aroused. I needed nothing more than the sight of Brogan to arouse me, and I knew he’d say the same about me. I moved over to them, and Enslee flashed me a megawatt smile.
“We were just talking about you, Declan,” she confessed and I arched a brow.
“You were? What were you saying?”
Brogan cleared his throat before answering. “I was telling her how much I wanted to get the both of you into bed.”
“I’m not tired, so we don’t have—”
I winked at her. “Sleeping isn't what we plan to do.”
“Oh.” She blushed, and damn if the crimson creeping up her cheeks didn't make her that much more fucking adorable.
“Should we go to bed?” I asked them.
“You don't have to ask me twice,” Brogan replied before he looked over at Enslee.
I looked toward her as well. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
She looked between us before speaking. “To be honest, I haven't been able to stop thinking about the last time, so yes, I want to go to bed with you both.”
Brogan swept her up in his arms, and as he carried her into the room, I followed behind them. While he got her situated on the bed, I flicked on the small camera we’d previously hidden before collecting the lube and a condom before moving over to join them.
By the time I turned around, Brogan had already removed his pants, so I did the same.
Enslee’s shirt and shorts were on the floor beside our clothing, and she was now wearing nothing but a cute little thong.
Brogan flipped her over onto her stomach, then tugged on the thong, pulling it between her luscious ass cheeks.
Thwack!
He delivered a hard smack to one of those tempting cheeks, and she moaned. I was closest to the other and delivered two more smacks to it.