Faking the Play (Hot Mess Harems #2)

14. Ethan

Chapter fourteen

Ethan

A fter the movie ended, I managed to ease Amelia down onto the couch without waking her and then started cleaning up, going back to check on her every few minutes. We’d all done it the other times she’d fallen asleep here, and we’d all pretended not to notice the other ones doing it. While I was alone with her, I didn’t have to pretend that I wasn’t watching her all the time, wanting to make sure she was all right.

Wanting to simply watch her.

When the hell did she go from that girl who climbed trees and played with us to this beautiful, intelligent woman? And why did it take me this long to notice?

The questions still circled in my head when Logan and Ryan came in, looking tired and hungry. When I signaled for them to be quiet and gestured toward the couch, their eyes lit up. Both went to check on her, and the looks on their faces when they turned around told me that we needed to talk.

I motioned for them to come with me and we made our way back to my room. Both looked completely confused, but I waited until I closed the door before explaining. Or at least, attempting to.

“I don’t want to go on a fake date with Amelia.”

Two sets of eyebrows shot up.

“You’re backing out of our deal with Amelia?” Logan still looked confused, but Ryan looked pissed.

“It’s not that I’m backing out,” I tried to explain. “I just don’t want a fake date.” I looked at them, took a deep breath, and told them the truth. “I want a real one.”

Ryan barked out a laugh and shook his head. “I’ve been trying to figure out all day how to tell you guys that I can’t fake it. I want her for real.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “And we kind of had sex yesterday.”

Well, damn. I hadn’t seen that coming. The first part, yes. I’d known that Ryan had feelings for Amelia. I just wouldn’t have guessed that the two of them would—

“Wait, didn’t you guys go on a picnic in the mountains?” I asked. “Where did you…?” I made a general gesture.

Ryan didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to, not when Logan decided to join in the conversation.

“I want her too.” He sighed. “Dammit. At first, I told myself it’s just that she’s attractive, that I was just comparing the woman she’s become to the girl she was, but the more time we spend with her…”

“She’s amazing,” Ryan said quietly.

“She is,” I agreed.

“Maybe we should use our fake dates to pursue her for real,” Logan suggested.

Ryan and I exchanged glances and I saw my own question in his eyes. I was the one who spoke.

“You said we . Does that mean you think we should all three date her and let her choose who she wants?”

“That’s one solution,” Logan said. “But I’ve seen the way she looks at all three of us. And she kissed me back. And Ethan. And she slept with Ryan.”

What he was saying hit me then. “You think she might want all of us.”

And as I remembered the way she’d been all day, absent-minded and worried, it made me wonder if that was the problem. If she felt about us the way we felt about her. That would have to be a hell of a lot more confusing for her than it was for us. Especially since she didn’t know that being attracted to all three of us wouldn’t hurt our friendship.

“I think we should stick with each of us taking her on a couple dates and seeing if all those signals we’re getting are accurate,” Logan said. “She’s dated too many assholes for us to just hit her with a poly relationship.”

“She’d probably think we just want sex and figured that the rumors about her mean she’d be open to fucking all three of us,” I said.

“We need to show her that we all respect her as much as we care about her,” Ryan added. “These bastards she’s dated definitely haven’t.”

“How do you think we should approach this whole thing?” I asked, motioning to the three of us.

“I think we need her to bring up that she has feelings for us,” Logan said. “If she’s thinking that the physical stuff is just a way to have some fun while we’re fake dating, then we let her have that, but if she really cares about us, I think she’ll want to talk to one of us about it. When she does, that’s when we bring it up. We let her lead.”

“Pretty sure Ryan’s got a head start,” I said.

He shrugged. “You try to say no while she’s grabbing your dick. I try to be a good guy, but no one’s that fucking good. Not when she’s stone-cold sober and standing there in these fucking little panties and telling you…” His mouth snapped shut and he shook his head. “Nope. If she tells you, that’s fine, but I ain’t giving the details without her okay.”

“Well, I’m claiming the next date,” I said.

“That’s fine with me,” Logan said. “As long as it’s my turn eventually.”

“You seem pretty confident that she’s going to go for it,” I said. “Other than kissing us, has she said or done something that makes you think she’ll be open to something like this?”

“Not exactly,” he admitted. “But ever since we kissed, I’ve been thinking about the first time we all kissed her.”

I hadn’t thought about it in years, but the memory came rushing back now. “The treehouse.”

“Yeah, that last weekend before football camp,” Ryan said.

“The last time the four of us hung out together,” Logan added. “Because we turned into jerks and basically ignored her after we got back.”

We were barely teens at the time, but we were old enough to want to kiss girls instead of ignoring most of them. Amelia was the only girl we’d been around much, and she seemed just as curious as the three of us. So that last evening, we were up in the treehouse one of Logan’s parents had bought for him, and Logan had started talking about kissing and how we should practice.

“She was my first kiss,” I said.

“Mine too,” Logan said.

We looked at Ryan who just nodded.

“First time I ever touched a boob too,” I admitted. “Hell, it was the only one I touched for years.”

“By the time Irene McTavish let me feel her up after the homecoming dance when we were sophomores, I was convinced I was gonna die a virgin.” Logan chuckled. “She had some great breasts.”

“You think that because Amelia let us all kiss her when we were like thirteen, fourteen, that means she’s going to want to have a relationship with the three of us?” Ryan asked. “We were barely kids fooling around.”

“I don’t know,” Logan said. “But she didn’t act like it was weird back then, so I guess I’m hoping she’ll think of this the same way.”

“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” I said. “We gotta take that leap of faith.”

“As long as we’re all agreed that this won’t ruin our friendships with her or each other, no matter what happens,” Logan said.

The three of us agreed, and then Logan and Ryan headed out to the kitchen to make themselves something to eat. I followed a little slower, wondering if we were going to be able to keep our promises to each other or if we’d just made a huge mistake.