Page 7 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part Two
Tobias snorted. “Not unless you want to charge every CEO in the Upper East Side with solicitation every time he takes a pretty model out for dinner, Cuthbert. It was consenting, no money exchanged hands, and she wasn’t advertising her services in exchange for funds. So you’ll have a hard time making that stick.” Tobias was beginning to sound pissed. “I suggest you drop this farce of a case and tell your boss to drag his lips from the senator's dick, so we can move on with our lives before we sue you for harassment.”
Rolling his eyes, the cop closed the case file in front of him. “Get offmydick, Lecter. I’m just doing my job.”
Tobias all but vibrated with laughter. “Is the recording off?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not what you were saying last night, Officer.” My mouth fell open, and the cop gave Tobias a secretive smile. Tobias grinned, the expression somehow making his jaw sharper and his cheekbones higher, before turning back to me. “Let’s go, Aviva. I must deliver you back to Evan and work on the greater problem we have.”
The cop leaned back in his chair. “And what would that be?”
Tobias quirked an eyebrow at him. “That’s confidential.” He winked. “I’ll be seeing you, Officer Cuthbert.” He pushed me ahead of him out the door. As soon as we stepped into the hallway, he was back to being a calm, professional lawyer again.
I stared at him, wide-eyed and thoroughly impressed. “That was like magic.”
The lawyer just harrumphed, and we power walked our way to the station lobby. Evan was there, pacing back and forth, his phone pressed to his ear. When he saw us, he hung up and ate up the distance between us in a few short strides. He wrapped me in his arms, squeezing me quickly, but then stepped away.
“How did it go?”
Tobias cast his eyes around the busy police precinct. “We’ll talk about it in the car.”
I walked between them, back out to Tobias’s very legally parked BMW, and Evan pulled open the back door. He held it as I slid in, then when I was safely ensconced in the backseat, leaned over and kissed me softly. He didn’t say anything, but it still made me smile.
Tobias sighed. “If you two are done, we can get out of here now. We’ve been here too long for my liking.”
Evan muttered something under his breath, but gave me another quick kiss. “Put your seatbelt on.” Then he shut my door and hopped into the front seat.
“I’ll take you to the St. Regis,” Tobias told Evan, pulling onto the main road.
“Sampson fired me.”
I watched Tobias roll his eyes in the rearview mirror. “Ridiculous. You’re family to that kid. Though how you thought that screwing his pretty little girlfriend wasn’t going to end in disaster…” He met my eyes. “No offense, Aviva. But honestly, it is completely beyond me. Yet like all dysfunctional families, you’ll get the fuck over it, because he needs you now more than ever. They all do.”
“My team—”
“Your team is good, but they aren’t you. They can be bought, but you’d slit your own throat before letting anyone harm Sampson. That's why you’re marching that tight ass over there, you’re looking him in the eye, apologizing for thinking with only your dick, and making up.”
Evan turned to Tobias and gave him an unblinking stare. “I’m not giving her up. Not for Sampson and definitely not for you.”
“You’ve known her three weeks—”
“Doesn’t matter. I get to be happy—”
“She’s like ten—”
Well, now I'd had enough too. “Excuse me?If you’re done up there, do I get a say?” They both immediately shut up. “Look, I get that this is… unconventional. But it’s also the twenty-first century, so I can fuck whoever I like, whenever I like. Plus, monogamy should be a choice, not a mandate. So I think—if it’s okay with me, and okay with everyone else—why should I give any of them up?”
Tobias snorted, but Evan was silent. Maybe I should have talked this over with him first, but I mean, it wasn’t like it wasn’t obvious to all of us. If they forced me to choose, I wouldn’t choose any of them. The idea of leaving them all behind was like a punch to the gut, but I knew, deep down, that I wouldn’t be happy with half of them either. They were like the full experience, and if I only got the lite version, I’d never be satisfied.
Yeah, it had been a while since lunch.
Tobias shook his head. “It's a utopian ideal, but it doesn't work in practice, Miss Robinson. There are emotions, jealousy being the primary one. Maybe it could work with Hendrick and Otto, who are closer than most friends, but the idea of polyamory with all of them? Just a dream.”
I set my jaw. He might be right, but I was stubborn as fuck. It was one of my more endearing qualities. “We’ll see. Take us to St. Regis. You were right; Sampson needs Evan.” I paused. “I’d like to see them too.”
I was glad I was sitting behind Evan so I didn’t have to see his face, but when his hand appeared between the seat and the door, gripping my calf muscle, I relaxed into the hold. I was dreaming too much, but until one of them said no with any finality, I was going to hang on.
He squeezed my leg. “Fine, take us to the St. Regis. Probably better to get this out of the way early.”
