Chapter Twenty-Nine

Tessa “Hello sweetie, Archie showed you a good time last night?” Kim chimed as I headed to the kitchen, ready to eat.

“He was charming last night.” I smiled as I thought about Ron and the triplets. It took me a while, but the reason why I was into all of them became apparent to me. I even got up a little later than usual this morning, I was tired, not from sex. But just from thinking about the night that I had with Archie and the words that Ron said to me yesterday.

“I don’t feel pressured to be some kind of girl who knows everything, that has to put out every time that we’re together and I don’t feel guilty about having seven men I feel…”

“Shit! Fucking shit!” Cheryl blurted out as she sat at the breakfast table.

“That’s rude. I was talking…”

I was going to say what was on my mind until I saw what she was cursing about. She handed me her phone. It was him.

Carter.

Ron thought that he heard someone in the classroom, and I wished that I’d paid attention to him. I wished that I'd looked to see if someone else was in the room. I didn’t because I was too busy feeling sorry for myself. Too busy worrying about what people thought if they knew the truth.

Now, everyone knew, thanks to Carter, he had posted it on every social media known to man. He didn’t reveal about the boys, only about me.

“He made sure that my time with the guys was as sleazy as it could be, he made it sound as if I used my love life to get publicity. He made me out to be this horrible person, and I knew that Jenny wouldn’t want me to work on the paper anymore. Everything that I wanted to do to save the paper had resulted in me figuring out that I was doing it to save myself,” I said as the tears automatically started to fill my eyes. I couldn’t read any more about what he was saying about me.

I wanted to come out of the closet and tell CU, including my parents, what I was writing about, and how I managed to save the paper. Ron made me realize that I should be proud to have seven men on their knees, willing to do anything to make me happy. I felt as if I had some power over them, something that I never thought was possible.

My phone started to ring, and I had thoughts of everyone sending me hate mail, wanting me to get as far away from the paper as possible.

It was Jenny. I took a deep breath as I picked up the phone, “Hi,” I whispered as I felt as if I was holding my breath, waiting for her to reply.

“Tessa! You’re a heroine. I thought that it was you, I mean some of the stuff you put in the article, was too personal and sometimes I wondered but I wasn’t sure. This is amazing.”

“What?”

Wondering if this was all a dream and if I heard her correctly, did she say that I was a heroine?

“I read what Carter posted, and I must admit that I feel sorry confessing this.”

She had me on eggshells, “What?”

I sat down, and I saw both Kim and Cheryl staring at me, they were probably worried that Jenny was going to fire me from the paper. So, I gave them a thumbs up to let them know that everything was okay.

“Since my divorce, I haven’t been dating. I’ve never been able to trust any man, and the whole idea of letting someone in after my divorce was never an option. Before I got married, I had this idea like all you kids. I thought that I would get married, have kids and none of that materialized, if anything it was the complete opposite.”

She stopped to take a breath, and for a split second, I didn't feel bad about being me. If anything, I was feeling good as I had a feeling that she was going to tell me something that I didn’t expect to hear.

“Since reading your article. It has been great for the sales but even better for me. You’ve got a real talent, Tessa. One that I thought portrayed your writing abilities, but now I know that it was because you were writing from the heart, and you’re amazing, Tessa. You made me want to go out there, but I’m not as young as you are, and I could never handle seven men.”

Was she telling me something that I wasn’t expecting to hear?

“How many?”

She said, “Only two. They’re friends, not brothers, but they know about each other, and it has been going on for a few weeks, but it makes me feel good and …” she started to laugh again.

“I can’t believe that they’re into me. One’s a little older than me, but the other’s a couple of years younger, and they make me feel as if I’m eighteen again. They’re both so different in and out of bed. Anyway, I just wanted to call to tell you. Don’t you mind one word of what Carter said, none of it is true. You’re my heroine, and if you scroll through the comments on social media. You’ll see that I’m not the only one.

“I’ll see you later, Tessa.”

“Sure.”

I hung up as curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to see what everyone was saying about me. Was it true? Did I make women feel good about themselves, and they didn’t think that I was a whore? I’d received some private messages about the articles in the past, women saying that they were too shy, and they would love to know who I was interviewing, I smiled at the idea that no more did they have to want to know. Now, they knew it was me.

As I scrolled through social media and read the comments from Carter’s post. I started to feel better, no more did I feel like the whore that Carter had said I was in his posts.

“Are you going to keep us in suspense?” Kim asked as she sat facing me, waiting for me to speak.

“Jenny has herself not only one man, but two!”

“No fucking way!” Cheryl screamed as she jumped up and down with excitement.

Kim purred, “Maybe I need to step up my game.”

The whole idea of everyone I know going out and being in a polygamous relationship made me feel good; I started to feel like a heroine. I gave the girls the low down on Jenny and her divorce and her new love interests, even though I didn’t have all the details. I looked at the time, and I was late. Pete usually walked me to class at this time; I had to hurry. I didn’t want to be late.