Loving Two, Maybe Four

"You're the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Master, I love you."

The words rang in his ears as if a bomb had just gone off. As he tasted her lips, his heart sang every word, every syllable. The poetry of her devotion devastated him, while at the same time filling him with a hunger, a need that he could not name.

Eliza.

Everything about her felt impossible. Her bare feet on the carpet. Her heaving chest in the crop-top that he had instructed her to wear. Her face—open, glowing, totally without fear. Loving.

Mere days ago she had been untouchable. An ice queen. The teacher who gave pop quizzes for fun and looked at him like he was a late paper. He used to fantasize about her just noticing him. Now she was kissing him like the world had narrowed to this room. This breath.

Joey leaned in, touched her cheek, and kissed her again—deeper this time. Slower. Her arms slid around his neck, her chest pressing against his bare skin. He wasn’t thinking anymore. He couldn’t. His whole body buzzed like it was waking up.

He could taste her adoration.

That was the word for it. Not lust. Not need. Adoration.

How could someone love him this much?

He hadn’t answered her text last night. The one where she said she loved him for the first time. It had popped up while he was tangled in Bianca’s sheets, far too busy to stare at his phone. In the morning, once he'd discovered it, of course he'd felt a flush of guilt—brief, sharp—and then pushed it down.

There was no need for guilt. He wasn’t cheating. Not really. Of course Joey knew that what was happening, having sex with Bianca while Eliza professed her love for him, was not normal in any sense. That didn't change the fact that he was resigned to his new life, a life where the women in his life encouraged him to sleep with them, with each other, any time he wanted.

Maybe resigned was the wrong word.

Nervous? Excited?

Now he was here, and Eliza had said it out loud.

“I love you.”

And what was he supposed to do with that?

Kiss her. That’s what he did.

She moaned softly into his mouth and grabbed his waist, pulling him closer. Her tongue was warm, her body already trembling. One of her hands slid down to the waistband of his jeans. His shirt was long gone, discarded in some feverish second he barely remembered.

He didn’t know if this was love. But it felt good. It felt right.

But there was more than that.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Bianca. The curve of her smile. The way she encouraged him to just take what he wanted. The way she let him take the lead but still made him feel like she was in control. And she was gorgeous. Unbelievably gorgeous. When he was with her, it was like someone had reached into his dreams and brought them to life.

He’d felt the same pull with her. The same heat. The same... love?

Yeah.

He swallowed hard.

He was in love with two women.

Not just attracted. Not just messing around.

In love.

His heart didn’t feel split. It felt like it had expanded. Like it had been small and scared and alone for so long, and now it was finally getting what it had always needed.

And maybe—maybe it wasn’t just the two.

Madison.

The way she looked at him, like she was something better because she'd found him. She was equal parts giddy to be his girlfriend and craving to be even more. The smartest, most driven, most popular girl in school. His.

Aynsley too. Gorgeous and sharp and suddenly not so mean anymore. Her edges had softened. Not dulled. Just... recalibrated. Focused.

Joey blinked hard, trying to ground himself. Because Eliza was kissing his throat now, hands flat on his chest, sliding down to his stomach, and it was getting harder and harder to stay present.

Why was he thinking about other girls when this one was giving him everything?

Because he loved her too.

And because he wanted it all.

He couldn’t admit it out loud—not yet. But he did. He wanted all of them. All of them. And more. The idea made his stomach flip. It should’ve scared him. But it didn’t.

His life had changed.

He had changed.

He wasn’t sure what kind of man he was becoming. But it felt good. Felt right.

Eliza pulled back just enough to meet his eyes. She was flushed, breathless, smiling softly.

"Can you take me to the bedroom, sir?" she said, voice low.

She took his hand and backed up, guiding him toward the hallway. He followed without hesitation. His hand in hers. His heart thudding.

"Are you sure?" he asked, his heart pounding, his breathing quickening.

As they reached the doorframe, she turned to him again, eyes shining.

"This is what I want," she said. "But you have to want it too. I won't **** you. I can't. You're in charge."

Joey leaned in, kissed her slow, and whispered:

"I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing."