Magic of Three (23 page)

Lisa smiled remembering the flighty young college student in the room next to hers. Definitely not somber and closed off, something Lisa’s husband had accused her of being before hitting her the first and last time.

“Okay, I give the guys a second chance.” Wasn’t like it was the first time she’d swallowed her pride. “I just don’t trust myself alone with them. I get near them and my hormones shoot out of control. I can’t think straight.”

“No problem,” Janice said, one of her evil, mischievous, I’m-going-to-get-you-into-so-much-trouble smiles spreading across her face. “You can take me with you.”

A familiar sinking feeling weighted down Lisa’s guts. God, what would Janice do? What would she say? Was she really serious? “Take you with me?”

“Yeah. I want a chance to get to know this other guy. I got a good feel for Julian at the gym. Nice enough guy at first glance, old-fashioned in a weird but charming way. All I got to see of Tim was his hot sweaty body. Not that I’m complaining. Nice to look at but not much to go on with giving my friend relationship advice. Sex advice yes. But not relationship.”

Lisa cast a quick look around, making sure no one was listening in. “You expect me to take you to their place to give you a chance to gawk at them? How crazy do you think I am?”

“No, I expect you to take me for moral support, to help you say what you want without tripping over your tongue. You know, someone to make sure you go. Someone to poke and prod you,” Janice smirked, “and not the same way they did. Sheesh, get that look off your face, girl.”

“What look?” Lisa asked, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.

“That cat-ate-the-canary look,” Janice teased. “You’ve already got their neighbor woman jealous. Now you’re working on giving me the green-eyed monster. Totally unfair. Gotta be a breach of the girlfriend code of honor.”

Lisa appreciated Janice’s attempt to cheer her up and calm her nerves. “I do not look like that. This isn’t my well-pleasured look. This is my dreading-facing-the-men-I-slept-with look. This is the my-friend-is-going-to-embarrass-me-horribly look.”

“Hmm. Well-pleasured. I like the sound of that.” Janice leaned forward, tapping her fingers against her lips. “Now that you’re done moping are you ready to share some well-pleasured stories?”

Blood rushed to Lisa’s cheeks. Rough skin. Sweat. Moans. Orgasm after orgasm, no breaks between. Shit. “I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Come on. Guys do it all the time. Take it as proving you’re a liberated woman. Tell all.”

“Nope,” Lisa answered, crossing her arms and looking at the sky through the draped patio cover.

“Oh come on. Don’t be like that,” Janice pouted. “You promised to educate me, now spill.”

“Nope.”

“At least tell me some technical stuff. Did you try them one at a time, with the other watching? Both at once? What?”

With a Mona Lisa smile, she stared her best friend down. “You mean I had to choose one way or the other?”

“Now that’s just plain cruel.”

Chapter Twenty

Who’d have thought that a place once so filled with life and happiness could feel so empty and barren? No music. No teasing. No laughter. No moans of pleasure. Nothing he expected after a night in Lisa’s and Tim’s arms. Instead Julian paced. If it weren’t for Tim he’d have charged right out, broken into Lisa’s house and made her listen after she refused to answer his third call. But during the night Tim had developed a tie to Lisa as strong as the one he had with Julian.

He felt her emotional pain, anguish ripping at her heart. It was Tim who’d rushed upstairs to find her gone, Tim who’d told him something was wrong.

So much for the so-called Visionary. He hadn’t seen this coming and couldn’t see any reason for it. Everything had been going so well, better than he imagined.

“She was happy when she stepped outside,” he muttered, eyes pleading with Tim for some sort of explanation, something he hadn’t thought of. “She looked forward to riding with you in the Corvette. She said she had a thing for cars and couldn’t wait to try to talk you into letting her drive. She was excited. What could’ve happened in less than five minutes to change that?”

Tim stared down at his hands, unable to meet Julian’s disillusioned gaze. “I don’t know. I just have her feelings to go on. They’re in a maelstrom. Heavy on the pain, a taste of betrayal, a whole lot of confusion.”

“But nothing physical?” Julian asked, grabbing at what reassurance he could find as he floundered in the depths. “She’s not in that kind of pain?”

“No. Alex told us she looked fine when he got to her condo to setup her security system. She left right after he started working. Nothing’s changed.”

“Something sure as hell changed,” Julian growled.

“Why don’t you look and see again?” Tim urged, Lisa’s emotional turmoil and Julian’s eating away at him. “Maybe there’s some trace.”

Julian glared at Tim, throwing his hands in the air and snapping, “I can’t see her at all. Not anymore. Our lives, my life, is too tangled with hers to see it clearly. I can’t see my own present life that way.”

“Not even now, after being with her?”

“I have more control but some rules can’t be broken.” Julian stared down at clenched hands, mentally cursing his own limitations. “A person can’t know too much about his own future. And some past events are too closely tied to personal future to be allowed to view them either.”

Tim sat next to Julian, wrapping his arm around his shoulder, giving Julian what comfort he could. “Has Alex called back yet?”

“Not yet,” Julian replied, looking up at Tim with bleak, defeated eyes. “He’s not close enough to being done to call her back in.”

“Do you want to go looking for her?” Tim asked, giving options. Julian appreciated the support but couldn’t see how anything could help. It was up to Lisa now, completely out of his control. They couldn’t force her to them. That would add to the negativity causing the tear in dimensions, not heal it.

“No, until we know what happened, what set her running, I don’t want to risk doing more harm.”

“So we wait,” Tim replied, sinking his hands in his pockets and slouching.

Julian growled, hopped up and started pacing again. The nerve-jarring shriek of the phone set his heart racing.
Don
’
t get your hopes up
.
Probably Alex
. Tim got up to answer, leaving Julian to his dark thoughts.
How could I have been so stupid
,
so confident
,
when the past has taught me just how easy it was to lose her trust
,
her love
?

Tim came back with a hopeful grin lighting his face and brightening the room. “You up for some coffee? One of the mom-and-pop joints near CM?”

“Want to spy on her?” Julian asked, holding his breath. So much relief and joy came off Tim.

“Nope, she wants us to meet with her and a friend for coffee. Wants to talk,” he said with a smirk and a wink. “Sound good?”

Julian’s stomach clenched, hope and fear at war. “I don’t know about good but better than complete silence any day.”

* * * * *

Once more coffee seemed to be the great equalizer. The dark rich scent perfumed the air, calming tight nerves as two women sat waiting for the coming confrontation. Janice leaned forward in anticipation with each chime of the door. Lisa tried to become one with the wall behind her. They sat at a far table, both facing the door, a steaming mug in front of each. Neither spoke a word, their silent concentration locked on the glass door.

A rattling chime sounded one last time as Julian and Tim marched in, drawing attention from every female in the place. But they didn’t immediately join Lisa and Janice, getting their own orders after spotting them.

They took their seats, Julian opposite Lisa and Tim opposite Janice.

“So?” Julian asked, sipping his coffee black, no sugar, and collecting his thoughts before looking up at Lisa. “Are you going to tell us what happened?”

Lisa stared at him, wordless.

Seeing and feeling her confusion and insecurities warring with her need for them, Tim went for a different tactic. “You had me worried. After your attack, when you didn’t show up downstairs and we couldn’t find you I was sick thinking of what could have happened to you. You wouldn’t answer your phone or anything. If Alex hadn’t told us you were at home when he went in for installation we would’ve called the police.”

Janice stayed quiet but anger snapped in her eyes. Tim ignored her, difficult though it was with so much pent-up emotion flowing from her, focusing his attention and the force of his emotions on Lisa. “What did we do wrong?” he asked, projecting contriteness as well as concern. “I thought we had a good time, that you were comfortable with us and what happened between us. We didn’t rush you. What changed?”

Lisa didn’t meet his eyes, focusing on her mug, spinning it ‘round and ‘round, the scraping sound her only reply.

“Second thoughts,” Julian murmured.

Lisa shrugged.

Julian’s face hardened, the first time he’d showed any of the anger simmering below the surface since walking in the door. “You called us here, Lisa. If you want to talk then talk. Otherwise we’re all wasting our time.”

Lisa glanced at Janice, who gave her an encouraging nudge under the table. “I need to know some things,” she whispered.

“So ask,” Julian urged. “We’ve never denied you an explanation.”

Lisa frowned at Julian’s ready answer. But his face remained impassive, impossible to read. She had to explain on her own, no help from him. “I ran into someone as I left the apartment. She told me some things about you, things that hurt to hear. I admit I panicked. I shouldn’t have run off like that. I should’ve talked to you first.”

Julian reached for her hand. She leaned away, shaking her head, ashamed of herself and her reaction. “No, Julian, please. You know I can’t think straight when either one of you touch me. I need to say this before I chicken out and Janice has to smack me.”

Julian and Tim both glared lasers at Janice. She held her hands above her head. “Hey now, down boys. She’s exaggerating. I’m just here to prod her when she needs it, keep the words coming so we have no misunderstandings. No hitting, I swear.”

Lisa slammed her mug down. “Stop being idiots and listen to me.”

They both turned, their gazes smashing into her.

“You said something to me last night,” she blurted, trying to get the words out before she had second thoughts. “I took it at face value but if you were exaggerating I’ll understand. I just need to know where I stand in everything. If what your neighbor told me is true then I need to know. I don’t like being lied to and I won’t see you again if it continues.”

Julian and Tim looked at each other in confusion. Tim shrugged first. “I can’t think of a single lie we told last night, exaggeration, white or outright.”

“What did this person tell you?” Julian asked, reaching for her hand. “Because I can’t think of a single lie we told either.”

Lisa pulled her mug toward her, studiously avoiding Julian’s grasp. “You said I was the only woman you’d brought in to create your ménage, that I was special to you both.”

Julian leaned back, crossing his hands behind his head and rocking his chair back on its hind legs. Back and forth, back and forth. “I still don’t understand. Yes, we said that. Many times over. What’s the problem?”

“Problem is,” Janice piped in, propping herself on her elbows and staring intently at a confused Tim. “Neighbor lady disagreed. She spent a good deal of time letting Lisa here know how many women she’d seen with you and how long, or not long, they tended to last.”

Tim snorted in disbelief but Julian’s face remained impassive. Tim craned his neck at Janice and Lisa. “You can’t tell me you bought that?” he laughed.

“Why not?” she asked, face red with anger as he laughed off the fears and worries that had plagued her all day, slicing small rips in her aching heart. “You have to admit things happened real fast between us. Why should I believe I was the first?”

“Because we said so,” Julian stated matter-of-factly. “Because you are the first and only.”