Chapter 36 THE MORNING AFTER
Ava's POV
I woke up with someone's arm across my chest and someone else's leg over mine and for a second I forgot where I was. Then everything came rushing back.
I opened my eyes slowly and Dominic was on my right, still asleep. Isabella was on my left, with her her dark hair spread across the pillow.
What did we do?
My phone buzzed on the nightstand and I reached for it carefully, trying not to wake anyone. It was Maya.
"Where are you? I've been calling all night." She asked.
I typed back quietly. "Long story. I'll explain later." I replied her
"Are you okay?" She asked again
"Yeah. I think so."
I put the phone down and tried to slide out of bed without waking them. But as soon as I moved, Dominic's eyes opened.
"Where are you going?" he asked, his voice rough from sleep.
"Bathroom. Go back to sleep."I replied.
"Come back to bed after."
I nodded and went to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was a mess, my lips were swollen, and I had marks all over my neck and chest.
I splashed water on my face and tried to process everything. Last night was amazing, but now in the morning light, I felt confused.
What did this mean for us? For me and Dominic? Was Isabella part of our relationship now? Really funny
When I came back to the bedroom, both of them were awake. Isabella was sitting up with the sheet pulled around her.
"Morning," she said with a small smile.
"Morning." I siad and it felt awkward suddenly. Like we didn't know what to say to each other.
"I should probably go," Isabella said, starting to get up.
"Let you two talk."
"Wait," Dominic said, sitting up.
"We should all talk. About what happened and about what this means."
Isabella sat back down.
"Okay. What does it mean?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Ava and I decided to try being more open. To explore. But I don't know what the rules are for this."
"Do you want there to be rules?" I asked.
"Yes. No. Maybe." He ran his hand through his hair. "I just don't want this to get messy."
"Too late for that," Isabella said. "We already made it messy."
She was right. We'd crossed a line and now we had to figure out where we stood.
"Can I be honest?" Isabella asked, looking at both of us.
"Please," I said.
"I liked last night. A lot. But I don't want to be the third wheel in your relationship. I don't want to be the girl you call when you're bored or want to spice things up."
"That's not what this is," Dominic said quickly.
"Isn't it though? You two are in love. I'm just the other woman you both happened to fuck." She said.
"You're not just anything," I said, surprising myself.
"Last night was incredible. And I don't regret it. But you're right that we need to figure out what this is."
We all sat there in silence for a minute and then Dominic's phone rang. He looked at the screen and sighed.
"It's Marcus. We have that team meeting in an hour."
"Shit, I forgot about that," I said.
"Me too," Isabella added.
"Okay, so we all get dressed and go to this meeting. Then afterward we can talk more about this. Figure out what we want." Dominic looked at both of us. "Sound good?"
We both nodded.
Isabella got up and started gathering her clothes from around the room. I watched her get dressed and felt really strange,like jealousy.
"Ava, you coming?" Dominic asked from the bathroom where he was brushing his teeth.
"Yeah, one second." I said abd got dressed quickly in yesterday's clothes. When I came out, Isabella was at the door.
"I'll see you at the meeting," she said.
"Isabella, wait," I called out before she could leave.
She turned back. "Yeah?"
"Thank you. For last night. It was... really good."
She smiled. "It was. We should do it again sometime."
After she left, I went to join Dominic in the bathroom. He was in the shower and I could see his shape through the glass.
"Can I join you?" I asked.
"Always."
I stripped and got in with him. The hot water felt amazing on my sore muscles and he pulled me close and kissed my forehead.
We later had our bathe and went to the meeting which was in one of the resort conference rooms. Everyone was already there when we walked in. Marcus gave us a knowing look but didn't say anything.
Isabella was sitting in the back and she didn't look at us when we came in.
The meeting was about the schedule for the rest of the trip. Team building activities, beach time, a formal dinner tomorrow night.
I tried to pay attention but my mind kept wandering back to last night. To this morning to everything.
After the meeting, people started breaking off into groups. Some were going to the beach, others to the pool.
"Ava, can we talk?" Marcus asked, appearing next to me.
"Sure."
We walked outside away from everyone else and he looked serious.
"I saw you leave with Dominic and Isabella last night," he said carefully.
"From the restaurant."
My face got hot. "Oh."
"Look, I'm not judging. I just want to make sure you're okay. That you know what you're doing." He said.
"I'm fine. Really."
"Are you though? Because a few days ago you were kissing me. Now you're with both of them?" He said
"It's complicated."
"Clearly." He sighed. "I just don't want to see you get hurt."
"Yeah. Thanks" I replied, already feeling awkward.
He looked like he wanted to say more but held back.
"Okay. But if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."
"Thanks, Marcus."
He walked away and I stood there feeling weird. Marcus was right to be concerned and this whole thing was messy and complicated.
I found Maya at the pool and she was lying on a chair reading a book.
"There you are," she said when she saw me.
"I was starting to think you died."
"Sorry. It was a crazy night."
"How crazy?" She asked and i sat down next to her and told her everything. About the agreement with Dominic, Adrian and about the threesome with Isabella.
Her eyes got wider and wider as I talked. Maya has to ask if I was fine, considering the kind of person I used to be.
I spent the rest of the day at the pool with Maya. We swam and drank and talked about everything except last night.
Around sunset, my phone buzzed. A text from Dominic saying we should meet at the villa to talk thing out with Isabella.
My stomach flipped as this was yhe moment we figured out what we were doing.
I said goodbye to Maya and went back to my room to change. I put on a sundress and fixed my hair, also applied some lipstick.
Why was I nervous? We'd already done everything together. Talking should be the easy part.
But talking meant defining things. And I wasn't sure I was ready for that.
At Dominic's villa, I knocked and he answered right away. He'd changed too. Wearing jeans and a white shirt .
"Come in," he said, kissing my cheek.
Isabella was already there, sitting on the couch with a glass of wine and I could tell that se looked nervous too.
"Want a drink?" Dominic asked me.
"Please."
He poured me wine and we all sat down and nobody spoke for a minute.
Finally Isabella said,
"This is weird, right? Like we're all feeling weird?"
"So weird," I agreed.
"Okay good. Not just me." I said too.
Dominic leaned forward.
"Let's just be honest. All of us. About what we want."
"I'll start," Isabella said.
"I like you both and i like what we did last night. And I want to do it again. But I also don't want to fuck up what you two have."
"You're not fucking it up," I said. "We invited you in."
"I know. But I've been the other woman before. It never ends well." She responded.
"This is different," Dominic said. "We're all choosing this. All agreeing to it."
"So what are we agreeing to exactly?" Isabella asked.
"Are we dating? All three of us? Or is this just sex?"
"What do you want it to be?" I asked her.
"Honestly? I don't know. I've never done anything like this before."
"Neither have we," Dominic said.
We all looked at each other. Then I started laughing as they both looked at me confused.
"What's funny?" Isabella asked.
"We're all sitting here trying to define something that doesn't need to be defined yet. Why don't we just see what happens? No labels. No pressure. Just us figuring it out together."
"That could work," Dominic said slowly.
"I'm okay with that," Isabella agreed.
"So we just... keep doing what we're doing?" I asked.
"Yeah. And we communicate. About what we like, what we don't like, what we need."
"And we're exclusive? The three of us?" Isabella asked and Dominic looked at me. "What do you think?"
I thought about Adrian. About Marcus and also about the freedom we'd just agreed to.
"I think we should be open. All of us. We can explore with other people too. As long as we're honest about it." I said.
"Really?" Dominic asked, surprised.
"Why not? We're already breaking all the rules. Might as well break them all."
Isabella smiled. "I like that. No rules except honesty."
"And we still prioritize each other," Dominic added. "What we have, the three of us, comes first."
"Agreed," Isabella said.
"Agreed," I echoed.
We all sat back, the tension finally broken. This was happening and we were really doing this.
"So now what?" Isabella asked and we all looked at each other at once.