Chapter 44
IMPROVISATION
Ivy
My outfit looks good, but I’m still not feeling it. I study myself in the mirror, trying to get dressed for game night. It’s not the jeans or the floral top. They match. Maybe I need an extra necklace?
I open the jewelry box on my bureau and take out a chain with a moon pendant, adding it to the star necklace I’m already wearing.
As I clasp it on, Jackson pops into my room, whistling his outfit approval. “Don’t you look gorgeous, girlie? Where are you going, and why are you never available for me anymore?”
I check him out. He’s dressed up and looking fine. “You’re busy all the time, too, with the new man in your life.”
“And you with your men.”
I smile, but it doesn’t reach my eyes.
Jackson knows what’s going on behind the scenes.
He has ever since my Vegas wedding. He’s my roommate, and I wouldn’t keep that from him as my friend, anyway.
But it doesn’t feel right to put on my best jeans, some cute shoes, these twin necklaces, and then to head out with Hayes to see the other wives and girlfriends, husbands and boyfriends.
Just like it felt wrong yesterday to show up at the golf event as Mrs. Armstrong when I’m not that person.
“I’m going to a game night with Hayes,” I answer at last. Yep. Sounds as wrong as it feels.
“Let me adjust those necklaces for you.” Jackson straightens them out, and then gives me a kiss on the cheek before looking me up and down with some concern. “Are you okay?”
He noticed. My stomach churns. “I have some things on my mind,” I admit, a little relieved to voice it.
“I can tell. Anything I can help you with?”
That’s a good question. But I think the answer’s coming into view. It’s sharpening by the minute. “Thanks, but I think there’s something I need to do tonight.” I’m nervous, but mostly, I’m certain.
“Can’t wait for all the details,” he tells me. Then he heads out on his own date, and I return to my bedroom, where Roxy is sound asleep on my bed, lying on her back with all four little legs sticking up in the air. She looks so content with her life. She is who she is, without question.
I move around, and she opens one eye.
“What do you think? Should I do it?” I ask her.
She unleashes a huge yawn then curls into a ball, returning to the land of dog nod.
But really, I know the answer. Yesterday I felt it deep in my soul. Soon, I’ll say it out loud.
I finish getting ready, and I’m about to head upstairs to gather Hayes and tell him about a change of plans when there’s one loud knock at my door.
Then another.
This knock sounds demanding.
* * *
I’m shaking with rage as I read the email in my living room.
I stare at this stupid note, my thumb cramping, my blood boiling. “I can’t believe he sent you this,” I say, gripping the phone to keep from chucking it at the wall.
Or, better, at Xander’s stupid face. I’m more livid than I was when I learned he was marrying my ex-boss. Than when he dumped me for an upgrade. Than when I discovered he’d been cheating.
This is ten million times worse.
Next to me, Hayes clenches his fists, fuming. He and Stefan had arrived at my door almost simultaneously. “I’m going to find him right now,” he grits out.
As much as I relish the thought, I won’t let Hayes do that. I grab his arm, trying to settle him with touch. “You’re not.”
“I want to,” he hisses.
“Same here. But it’s pointless,” Stefan says heavily. There’s darkness in his light blue eyes, like looming thunderclouds. But there’s fire roaring in me, enough for both of us. All of us.
I read the email again as Stefan walks away from the center of the living room, toward the window streaked with rain.
I thought you might be interested in this pic. It probably wouldn’t look good for someone who’s getting the Sportsman of the Year award to be sleeping with his teammate’s wife. Let me know by Tuesday if you want to reconsider that investment opportunity.
He’s attached a photo of Stefan and me walking into his apartment building with my dog this morning.
That’s it. That’s all. But it’s clear—Stefan has forty-eight hours to pony up or else Xander’s going to claim Stefan’s screwing his teammate’s wife. That he’s not a good sportsman. That he’s not worthy of an award he deserves and his family is flying over to see him receive.
I march over to Stefan at the window and shove the phone back at him like it’s infected.
From her sentry point on the couch, Roxy barks at me with obvious canine concern.
I’m concerned too. This is my ex, and I need to fix this, but my god, how many ways can an ex go bad?
Is he the worst ex-apple in the ex-bushel?
I wheel around, pacing, dragging my hands through my hair, hunting through options. “We can’t let him get away with this.”
But maybe he won’t get away with anything.
This is a perfectly innocent photo. Only his insinuation is salacious.
Xander didn’t send shots of us on the rooftop.
Not that those would have proved anything either.
I was with both of them. Xander’s completely misunderstanding our arrangement if he's insinuating infidelity.
There’s no infidelity when we’ve all consented.
Yet I’m tired of people underestimating me. I’m tired of people thinking they know who I am. I’m tired of shenanigans.
Fueled by this storm of emotion, I turn to the two men in my life and in my heart and say, “Let’s tell our own story.”
Stefan leans against the window, a little listless. “You’re going to need to elaborate.”
With sparkling eyes, Hayes pumps a fist. “Yes, fucking yes.”
I haven’t discussed a thing with Hayes, but he crosses over to Stefan too, curling a hand around his teammate’s shoulder. “What I think she’s saying is get dressed. You’re fucking coming with us tonight.”
But Stefan’s not buying what Hayes and I are selling. His eyes are hard. “As your third wheel?” Stefan shakes his head, waves a dismissive hand as he stares back at the city below, dreary from the day’s rain. “No thanks.”
My heart hurts for my man. He sounds weary and over it.
Hayes and I didn’t plan this, but I’m giddy that we’re on the same page. The anger I felt over the blackmail note washes away, replaced by the fizzy sense of possibility. I stride over to them, stand between them.
I’m more than ready. I want them both, even if it’s temporary.
I’m already with Hayes publicly, so why not expand this so they’re both my acknowledged partners?
I’m not worried how it’ll look. Trina paved the way with my brother and Chase.
Jessie stands behind them. Their teammates support them.
My grandma’s firmly in my camp, and so is my mother.
My sister too. While the world hasn’t shifted, my world has.
“If we’re doing this publicly, we’re all doing this.
We’re together. The three of us.” It’s a declaration, one that’ll echo beyond these four walls.
“What we are in my home and in your homes is who we are.” I point to the window and the city beyond.
“No one is going to go out there and say there’s any cheating. We’re all a part of this.”
The distance in Stefan’s eyes burns off, leaving curiosity. “What are you saying exactly, Ivy?”
A thrill rushes through me. “The three of us will go to game night together. We’re going to go to the Sportsman of the Year awards together.”
I can’t make any promises beyond that. Too much has changed in my life over the last several weeks. Too much has changed at work. But for now I’m going to take control.
I curl one hand around Hayes’s strong arm, then the other around Stefan’s. “I have a husband and a boyfriend,” I say. “We are not a secret. And we’re not fake.”
Hayes lets out a huge sigh of relief, chased by laughter, and it’s so welcome to hear.
But the bigger thrill? When Stefan’s smile returns.
When the clouds drift away. When he becomes my upbeat, happy-go-lucky guy again.
“So it’s not just a marriage of convenience.
It’s a…throuple of convenience?” Stefan asks with a curve of his lips and a tease in his tone.
I’m electric at the thought. “Yes.”
“Then I need to text Ledger and Carter to cancel our plans for tonight.”
After Stefan sends his messages and changes his clothes, we leave the building. Outside on the steps, I set a hand on Stefan’s cheek and then kiss him possessively in front of the city. I turn and do the same to Hayes.
We are all dating—at least for now.