All In: Double or Nothing (18 page)

Tyler

Jess leaned back against my chest, her small body relaxed and limp after riding me so hard I thought she'd broken my cock. Damn it had been good too. The woman was so fucking tight I'd almost swear she was a virgin. She was the first woman, other than Lauren, that I'd been with in months. I knew we were just fooling around, but she was so damn sexy with her long, curly dark hair, petite lean frame with perfect curves in all the right places, and fuck if she wasn't so eager to please with her mouth. But she wasn't Lauren.

I looked over to where she and Caleb had been wrapped up in each other for hours. Fuck. Looked like they were going at it again.

"Are they always so … intense?" Jess asked, her back still pressed against my chest. I pulled her up until she was sitting on my uninjured thigh, keeping my arms around her.

"Not usually like this, no."

"They fuck like the world is ending and they'll never get to do it again."

I laughed. "Yeah, they do."

"Are you alright?" she asked, looking up at me with her bright amber eyes.

"Yeah. I'm used to it."

"Aw, that's so sad. I'll keep you company whenever you need someone, as long as you keep giving me orgasms like the last one. Although, I don't think Lauren would want me playing with the three of you."

"She doesn't seem to mind you playing with me though, and this has been fun, even if it is the most expensive sex I've ever had."

Jess laughed, not the least bit offended. "Why exactly did you pay for this room for an entire night, when you get her at home for free?"

"Long story short, she wouldn't let us pay her tuition straight out, so Caleb decided to let her earn it here so she'd keep it."   

"That's really sweet. I'll make sure she keeps it all, so you didn’t pay to fuck me."

"Good to know. I'd lose my badge if anyone found out I paid for sex." 

"Oh yeah Officer…so when do you report back for duty?" she asked, wrapping her arms around my neck.                                    

"Hopefully in about two more weeks. I've had a nice vacation, but I'm ready to go back."

"From what Lauren has told me, it's been a fuck-ation."

"There has been a lot of that lately."

"So what time is it? Not that I'm in a hurry to leave you or anything," she said as she trailed a fingernail down my chest, all the way to my cock.

I reached down and pulled out my phone from the pants on the floor I'd lost a few hours earlier. "It's one forty-five."

"Almost closing time. We better get dressed before they send someone in here." She stood up and put her naughty nurse costume back on over her mouthwatering little body.

"Earth to Caleb and Lauren. Closing time so we need to get dressed and head home. I'll even leave you alone tonight."

"Oh, so does that mean I can go home with you?" Jess asked, and she looked too hopeful and excited to turn down. Not that I would have. I'd gotten hard again just watching her dress.  

"Hell yes, and keep the nurse outfit on."

"I'll be a naughty nurse if you'll be a naughty police officer," she said. "Let me go grab my things and I'll meet you out front."

After she left I looked back over and watched Caleb finally climb off of Lauren and the two of them start to redress. It bothered me that Lauren didn't mind me being with Jess, but she'd stuck with Caleb all night. I had a feeling this was the beginning of the end, and it hurt like a son of a bitch.

"Did you have fun tonight Tyler? Sounded like Jess did," Lauren remarked, with not even a hint of jealousy.

"Yeah, did you?"

"Yeah. Thank you both for doing this. You two are the best, and I'm sorry for being such a bitch earlier. I'll meet you at home, okay?"

"Okay. Jess is coming back to our place too," I told her as she headed out.

"Okay, good."

"So Caleb, don't you want to spend some time with Jess when we get home?" I asked, just to see Lauren's reaction. She froze with her hand on the door knob, and her shoulders tensed up. Caleb finished pulling his shirt over his head and his expression was one of equal surprise.

"No. I'm ah, good. She's cute and all but not really my type. That's all you," he said.

"Right."

…

Caleb

Something had changed between the three of us last night. Lauren was obviously jealous of the idea of me even looking at Jess, but she didn't give a shit that Tyler fucked her. She said she was ninety-eight percent sure she wanted me. I was so damn close to knowing I was it for her, which was why I was shocked as fuck when she came home after work tonight, drank several shots, then asked me to join her and Tyler in his room.

It took me several minutes to lose the anger and hurt her offer caused before I walked into his room. When I did, I found Lauren already riding Tyler, and well on her way to getting off by the sound of it. What the hell?

I couldn't watch them, or listen to them. I turned around and stormed back to my room. I was done being patient and I was done sharing. I'd dealt with it this long because I thought it was what she needed to figure things out, but now, now I was fucking pissed. She wasn't ever going to settle for just me, and I couldn't figure out why. I knew she loved me. She may love Tyler too, but it wasn't the same. It hadn't been for weeks now.  

I wanted answers, and since she was well on her way to getting good and drunk, now was as good a time as any to do it.

They'd finished when I went back into his room. Lauren laid sprawled out over Tyler, both of them still naked. Seeing them together like this bothered me more than any other time before.         

"Lauren, what the fuck are you doing?" I asked.

"What's your problem Caleb?" Tyler asked.

"Caleb? You gonna join us?" Lauren slurred without raising her head from his chest or opening her eyes.

"When are you going to choose Lauren?" I asked her.

"I don't wanna choose."

"Last night you said you wanted me, so why won't you just tell Tyler and ends this?"

"She told you that?" Tyler asked, his arms still wrapped around Lauren.

"Yeah, she said she was ninety-eight percent sure."

"I'm down to two percent now? Wow. I should have known when she didn't give a shit about Jess."

"Yeah, but for some reason I can't quite figure out, she's still in here fucking you."

"Tyler won't leave me."

"But you think I will?" I asked her.

"You already have."

"I had to.
Fuck
! You know that. I signed up for the Reserves before we met. Do you think I wanted to? I regret leaving you every fucking day because you gave up on me, gave up on us, for him."

"Then she went back to you after I was shot because she was scared of losing me. Sort of makes sense now," Tyler interjected calmly.

"Lauren, last night the man that you're so sure won't leave you fucked another woman right in front of you. What the hell does that right there tell you?" 

"She gave us permission," Tyler said defensively.

"For a blow job, not for you to fuck someone else. But I wouldn't ever ask her permission, and even if she gave it I'd never do that to her."

"Holy shit. Did you put Jess up to it? Tell her to try and fuck me so you could convince Lauren that I don't care about her as much as you?" Tyler asked angrily. If Lauren hadn't been on him he'd probably have nailed me in the face with his fist again.

"Fuck no. And don't you even
try
and blame your bad decisions on me. My point is that you don't respect her enough not to screw other people, and she doesn't give a fuck if you screw other people. I would never cheat on her the way you did because I love her, and I know that if I did that to her it would destroy her because she loves me too."

"Motherfucker," Tyler muttered.

"Lauren, you're going to have to learn to trust me, and believe that I love you and I'm not going to leave you or hurt you. But I'm fucking done with this. So it's either all in with me or you can just keep fucking around with him, because that's
all
he is to you and
you both know it
!"

"See, you're giving up," she said, looking like she was almost asleep on him.      

"I'm not giving up. I'm refusing to keep going along with this bullshit. You can't keep screwing us both because you're scared. You know I love you, so if or when you decide you're ready to give us a real chance, let me know. If I'm wrong and I'm not the one you want then just fucking say so and I'm gone." Then I did one of the toughest, most painful things I'd ever done - walked away and left her in his arms.

Lauren

I woke up feeling like someone was driving an ax down the center of my head. Damn it, I drank too much last night, and boy was I paying for it this morning. Why did I drink so much? Oh yeah, because I'm scared of how much I love Caleb, and I'm not ready to take a chance to be with just him. I don't want to end up getting hurt. I'm such a coward that I'm using Tyler to keep distance between us. I was taking advantage of his feelings for me, feelings that I couldn't reciprocate and hadn't been able to for a while now. I'd been trying to play it safe with them both, but last night when I was drunk and had just fucked Tyler, Caleb gave me an ultimatum. It was all coming back to me now, and it made me feel even shittier.

My head was still on Tyler's bare chest, and I had no idea how the man could sleep flat on his back. He probably did it just to avoid disturbing me. God, I was such a bitch. Tears fell down my cheeks and onto him. I wasn't being fair to Tyler or Caleb, or even myself anymore.

The arm around me moved, caressing gently and lovingly down my back, which only made it worse. The tears turned to sobs causing my entire body to shake.

"Shhh. It's okay."

I shook my head because it was anything but okay.

"I knew this was coming, so don’t worry about me. I'm going to be fine. You deserve to be happy, and you will be with him. You just have to trust him enough to give him a real chance."

"I still love you," I told him. The unnecessary addendum “but just not the way I love him” was left unsaid.

"I know, and I love you too. I'm going to miss what we have, but it's not what either of us needs anymore."

"Do you want us to move out?" I asked him.

"No. You and Caleb stay. I'll move."

"I'm going to miss you."

"I'm not going to disappear. I still want to see you and Caleb both. Only with clothes on from here on out."

I sniffled out a laugh and leaned up to kiss him one last time. When our lips pulled apart, Tyler eased out from under me, then walked over and pulled a thin rectangular box from one of his dresser drawers.

"Here," he said, handing it to me. "Happy birthday a day early."

I smiled up at him, accepting my first ever birthday present, and wiped the moisture from my eyes. "Thank you."

"Go ahead and open it."

I sat up and tore off the silver wrapping paper, then pulled off the top of the long white box. Inside it lay a round glass charm with a sunflower inside, hanging from a brown leather necklace.

"Oh, it's beautiful Tyler. Thank you so much." I reached and pulled him down to me, giving him another hug.

"I'll never see a sunflower again without thinking of you," he said against my ear. "So I hope you'll think of me every once in a while."

I pulled away from him and wiped the tears away before fastening it around my neck. "I promise I'll think about you every time I wear it."

Caleb

I waited until Lauren left for work before I came home with her birthday present. When I walked in the door I pulled up short when I found Tyler in the kitchen, filling up boxes.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Packing."

"Why?"

"I'm moving out. And you know why."

Panic hit me like a brick wall, and I had to clear my throat to speak. "Is Lauren…is she going with you?"

He looked up from his box of kitchen items.

"You haven't talked to her today?" he asked in a tone that said I should have.

"No."

"She's made her decision."

Oh shit. If it was me, she would have called me, right? I sat down on the couch with the box I forgot I was holding to try and get air in my lungs.

"Would you quit fucking with me and just tell me what the hell that means?" I asked.

"Are you seriously asking that? You're a fucking idiot. She chose you, dumbass."

"Oh fuck!" I exhaled, falling back on the couch and holding my aching chest. "I was having a fucking panic attack."

He laughed and shook his head. "She's scared to death you're going to hurt her, so I hope to fuck you're serious and won't leave her."

"I won't."      

"Good. So, we're still going to get together for her birthday tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Did your box just meow?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah. This is Lauren's birthday present. You wanna see it?"

"Why the hell not," he responded, leaving the kitchen to come peek in the box.

I pulled up one of the flaps, and the tiny, white, blue-eyed fur-ball looked up at me and meowed again.

Tyler peeked in and smiled. "It's a cute little bastard. She'll love it."

"I hope so. I've got its food and all the other shit in the car to bring in before she comes home. Well, I hope she'll come home."

"She will. So, ah, I'm going over to Jess's when she gets off work, and I'll see you both at Shooter's tomorrow, if not before."            

"Jess's huh?" I asked with a grin.

"Yeah, we're just screwing around."

"Sure. And the chance to 'just screw around' with her was so tempting you made the decision to jeopardize what you had with Lauren."

"Fuck you. I'm still not convinced this wasn't all part of your evil plan."

"I swear it wasn't. You and Jess screwed each other for no other reasons but your own."

"Whatever. You better take care of her or I'll kick your ass again."

"I will," I told him.

…

Lauren

I came home from work around three a.m. to a quiet house. Tyler's SUV was gone, and I had a feeling I knew where he was. I waited again to see if the jealousy would come, but nope, no jealousy. Thank goodness. Caleb was right, Tyler hadn't been enough for me, and Tyler screwing Jess proved that I wasn't enough for him either.

I was a little disappointed that Caleb wasn't in the living room waiting up for me, but at least he was here. I hadn't actually seen him since I was drunk and with Tyler last night. I hung my purse up on the coat rack and took a few deep breaths before heading to Caleb's room. The door was shut and I almost decided to leave him alone, but I needed to see him and talk to him.

I turned the knob, pushed open the door and froze.

Caleb was sitting up awake in the glow of the bedside lamp. There he was, a big, muscly guy, playing with a tiny white ball of fuzz. He, the man, looked up and smiled at me.

"Happy birthday sweetheart."

I covered my face when my emotions threatened to flow from my eyes.

"Y-you got me a kitten?"

Caleb's face started to fall. Shit, I'm messing this all up.

"He's adorable. Or is it a she?"

Caleb grinned again. "It's a he. He's a six week old Persian."

I sat beside him on the bed and reached for the furry guy.

His little smushed face and ice blue eyes were adorable, and he was so small he fit in my palm. When I rubbed his head with my finger he looked up at me and gave a tiny meow.

"Thank you. He's so freaking cute. I used to sit outside our apartment and play with the stray cats. I'd feed them whenever we had any leftovers, but my mom wouldn't let me bring any inside."

"You said you'd never had a pet before, and he is pretty cute. He even knows how to use the litter pan and all. I've already got his food and everything he'll need if you want to keep him."

"Of course I want to keep him."

The kitten seemed to understand my words, because that's when he decided to climb my shirt and curl up against my neck.

"He likes you," Caleb said, reaching up to rub him. I grabbed his face, pulling him to me, and kissed him.

"Thank you," I pulled back to tell him again.

"You're welcome."

"Tyler's moving out," I blurted quickly.

"I know, we talked earlier."

"So he told you that we ended things?" I asked, reaching down to feel the charm of his necklace.

"Yeah," he said in an exhale. "Did he give you that for your birthday? It looks perfect on you," he said, and I let the charm fall back against my neck.

"Yeah, he did. It's my first birthday present. But my second one is even better."

He nodded but didn't say anything.

"Tonight was my last night at Infinity's."

"What? You quit? Why?"

"Because I want to be with you, and only you. I can't do it anymore. I feel like I'm not being fair to you or to us. You're the only one that should see me naked. Thanks to your and Tyler's generous contribution, I can afford to find another job until I finish school."

"Thank you, but you know I just want you to do whatever you think is best," he said before kissing me again. "So what are you going to name him?" he pulled back and asked, looking up at the kitten again.                                     

I grabbed the fluffy kitten who'd almost fallen asleep on my shoulder and held him up, rubbing between his little ears while I thought it over.

"How about Cue?"

"Yeah, that fits the little guy."

I sat the kitten over on the other side of the bed then reached to pull Caleb's shirt over his head before pushing him back on the mattress.  

"I love you so much Caleb Thomas, and I don't deserve you."

"You deserve so much more than me sweetheart. I love you, and I'm not going anywhere, well except one weekend a month to serve our country. You know that right?"

"I know," I told him with a smile.