Chapter 65: Aaron

I pretended to be asleep when Renee woke up in the middle of the night and snuck out of my bedroom. I assumed briefly that she was going to use the bathroom, but surprise overtook me as she pulled on her nightgown and walked out the door. I held my breath, wondering where she was going, and a pang of green-eyed jealousy hit me when I heard her knock on a door. A second later Matt’s bedroom door squealed open, and I cringed, betrayal clawing its way up my throat.

But despite my annoyance, I trusted Renee. I knew she wasn’t over there fucking him because tonight was my night, but that jealousy hovered anyway. It always would, I knew, and that was a problem in itself.

I lay there in bed for about five minutes facing the wall, waiting for Renee to come back. When she finally did, I didn’t bother pretending to be asleep, but I said nothing as she stripped off her nightgown and climbed back into bed with me.

“Where did you go?” I asked innocently, knowing I was walking on thin ice with my question. Just as expected, Renee didn’t answer right away. She did, however, scoot closer to me, casting a naked leg over my waist as she cuddled into my chest.

“Aaron,” she said softly, running a hand through my hair. Her touch sent electric pulses through my body, and it took everything in me not to ravage her right there.

“Renee,” I whispered, closing my eyes as her cool fingertips ran up and down my jawline, relaxing me into oblivion. She sighed, a hitch catching in her throat.

“I love you, Aaron.”

“I love you, too, Ren.”

“What are we going to do?”

Her question caught me off guard. I opened my eyes, meeting her beautiful emerald ones with curiosity. “What do you mean?” I asked. “What are we going to do about what?”

“About this.” She withdrew her hand and sat up, pulling her knees up and against her chest as she stared straight ahead, at the wall, unblinking. I sat up next to her as a pang of worry traveled through me.

“Ren, baby, you’re going to have to be more specific,” I teased, trying not to let the worry overcome me. “What’s going on?”

She sighed, biting her lip, and then looked at me.

“This dynamic isn’t working anymore,” she said, running a hand through unruly red hair. “The three of you and me. It’s just–it’s not.”

“Who said that?”

“No one has to say it,” she muttered. “It’s evident in the way we all act towards each other. The jealousy alone is unreal.”

I didn’t say anything immediately because I didn’t know what to say. Renee was right. I just couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.

“So,” I murmured, reaching out to touch her cheek. “What do we do?” A small part of me was terrified that she’d end things with me. Maybe even with all of us. After all, could one woman really, truly love three different men?

“I’m not sure,” she said. “I don’t know what to do that will fix everything.”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. It was happening. She was going to end it.

“You don’t have any ideas?” I asked, frightened to hear the answer. I know I didn’t. And once we were all out of ideas, where was there to go?

Nowhere.

“Aaron,” Renee said again, turning her face to look at me. “Do you–do you remember the night, right before graduation, where we were all together?”

Chewing on my lip, I nodded. Yeah, I remembered. That night had been nothing short of perfect.

“Sure,” I said. “I remember.”

“What if …” she trailed off, as if uncomfortable saying it.

“What if what?”

She sighed. “What if we all did that again? What if we were all–together?”

I didn’t have to ask her to clarify. I knew what she was asking, and the truth was, I didn’t know how to feel. But it wasn’t that I was against the idea; I mainly wondered how Matt and Jake would feel about it.

“O–kay,” I said slowly. “I hear you.”

“How would you feel about that?”

She sounded more confident now since I hadn’t shut her down immediately, and I looked into her eyes for a long moment before shrugging.

“I think the real question is, how would the other two feel about it?”

Renee swallowed, looking back at the wall to compose herself. “I don’t know,” she said softly. “They might not be on board.” She looked back at me. “But are you?”

I sighed and rubbed a hand over my face, feeling a headache coming on. Renee’s idea was not outrageous; it had happened before. But we’d barely been adults then, hovering on the line between socially acceptable and downright inappropriate.

Then again, not a single part of this dynamic really was socially acceptable, was it? At this point, we could do what we wanted. People already knew we were together. They didn’t have to know how together we really were.

I pushed a breath of air between my teeth and nodded my head, turning to meet Renee’s gaze. “Let’s talk to Jake and Matt,” I said. “Only they’ll be able to make the final decision.”

Excitement lit in Renee’s eyes as she searched my face, probably looking for any sort of hesitation. But I knew there was none. I would do anything for Renee. I loved her. We all did. So wouldn’t we all do everything in our power to keep her with us? It seemed like a no-brainer to me.

“Thank you, Aaron,” she said softly, leaning over to trail kisses down my neck. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” I said, my hand creeping up beneath her undies. “But since this might very well be my last night with you alone, I think we should make the most of it.”