Page 269 of Better When Shared
Kiaan
Are we going to game?
Sure, but that’s not my surprise.
Is it your cock?
I was still grinning as I climbed into my truck, lost in a daydream on the short drive to my building, about what it would be like to be going home to them after a long shift, instead of to my empty apartment.
I sighed and unlocked my door, hanging my bag and jacket on the hook, and walked toward the bedroom, ready to get naked.
“You don’t have havarti, do you?” My sister’s voice startled me out of my daydreams.
“Jesus, Aims,” I sighed, pressing a hand to my heart, as I looked for the source of the voice, finally finding her in the kitchen, head in my fridge. “What have I told you about letting yourself into my apartment?”
“That it’s acceptable in an emergency, and that’s why I have emergency spare keys,” she replied cheerfully, popping up with a block of cheese. “I had a cheese emergency.”
“Cheese emergency?”
“Yes. There was no cheese in my fridge. Emergency!”
She crossed the room and flopped onto my couch, opening her phone with a flourish. “Anyway, I have a surprise for you.”
I approached cautiously, recognizing the manic gleam in her eyes. My sister was many things—brilliant, outspoken, occasionally overwhelming—but subtle had never made the list. “What did you do?”
“Me? Nothing!” She patted the couch beside her. “But your polyamorous paramours, on the other hand...”
Something cold slithered down my spine. “What are you talking about?”
“Sit. Listen. Be amazed.” She tapped a few keys, then turned the volume up. Her familiar podcast intro music filled the apartment, followed by her professional voice welcoming listeners to The Aimee Position.
I sat heavily beside her, a sense of impending doom settling in my stomach. “Aimee, what is—”
“Shh!” She slapped my arm. “This is the good part.”
“Welcome back to The Aimee Position, where no relationship question is too awkward to answer! I’m your host, Aimee Hale, and we’ve got a very interesting caller on the line. Caller, you’re live—what’s your relationship dilemma today?”
A pause, then a voice that made my heart stop dead in my chest.
I cleared my throat, suddenly nervous. “Hi, Aimee. I’m, um. Kitten, calling from Washington State.”
“Hi Kitten! And you’re in a polyamorous relationship?”
“Yeah. I we’re a triad, as in, we would love to live together you know. All three of us. But I’m not sure what to do about boyfriend being an idiot hero in Denver when he should be home with us.”
It was unmistakably Kiaan, and my heart leapt into my throat. “What the hell? Did you set this up?”
Aimee shook her head. “Of course not. I think they were just having fun. And possibly making sure you knew how they felt. Listen.”
Through the phone’s speaker, Kiaan was answering a question about our relationship. “Both, I guess. We’ve only been together physically for two weeks, but we’ve known each other online for years. Everything clicked so perfectly when we were all together, and now... I’m worried about what happens when we’re not.”
“And Duchess, thoughts?”
Skylar’s voice sounded nervous and a little shaky. “I’m scared he won’t come back. That real life will get in the way. That he’ll realize this whole thing is too complicated and not worth the effort.”
The naked vulnerability in her voice hit me like a physical blow. I stared at Aimee’s phone, a lump forming in my throat. Beside me, Aimee had stopped grinning, her expression softening as she watched my reaction.
“First of all,” Podcast-Aimee replied, “I can tell you with absolute certainty that he has been head over heels for both of you for years. Literally years.”
