The Arrangement - A Reverse Harem Romance, page 17
“Where?”
“Everywhere,” I shrugged. “Have you looked into it? There are lots of different platforms.”
Chase swallowed hard. He squinted at me before continuing.
“We’d need to pay for our own editors,” he said. “That’ll be a small fortune.”
“Not to mention cover art. Typesetting. Book jacket design…” Burke grunted. “We don’t know any of that stuff.”
“Then we’ll learn it,” I said. “It can’t be that hard.”
Burke laughed. Maybe not at me, but at least at my understanding of the process. I frowned at him.
“Look, if you don’t think you’re good enough—”
“Please,” he rolled his eyes. “You really think you’re gonna pull that reverse psychology crap on us?”
“Seriously,” I went on. “Lots of top-tier authors got their start publishing their own books. They pick up agents and publishers afterward, for their later works. Some of them make more money staying independent. Some lucky ones even get movie deals right off the bat.”
“And you really think we could do this?” asked Chase.
Now it was my turn to squeeze his hand. “Of course you can do it. You might not even need to do it.” I nodded toward the empty spot where Nathan had been sitting. “But if things aren’t going well with his phone call…”
“And they’re not,” Burke added quickly.
“Then yeah,” I said. “Putting the books out yourself might be your best and only option.”
Chase stood up and walked over to the window. He stared out into the nighttime desert, contemplating. His hands folded behind his back.
“Independent publishing, huh?”
Even his silhouette was beautiful. Broad, tapering shoulders. A perfect, V-shaped back.
And that ass… Goddamit. That ass.
“You know a place we can start with this?” he asked, still facing away.
“Yes.”
He turned to face Burke, who nodded.
“Let’s get started, then. We’ve got a fuck-ton of work to do.”
Forty-Four
NATHAN
I woke up with Kayleen curled up behind me, spooning me in my bed. I didn’t remember going to sleep with her. Actually, I didn’t remember all that much about last night at all.
And that’s because I was drunk.
Fuck…
My room no longer spun when I kept my eyes open. That was definitely progress. But the pounding in my head… well, that was something I had to take care of right away.
Prying myself from Kayleen’s body was tough enough, all warm, and soft and sleepy. If not for the hammering I would’ve stayed there forever. Instead, I made the cold, barefoot journey down the hall and into the kitchen.
Everything was impossibly bright, ridiculously illuminated. Chase and Burke had been there a while. The coffee pot was nearly empty.
“Welcome back,” one of them said.
I fumbled around trying to get the top off a bottle of aspirin. Eventually Chase took it out of my hand and did it for me.
“You alright?”
I looked at my friend and tried for force a smile. “Peachy.”
“You don’t smell peachy.”
I grunted and sat down across from Burke, who was already on his laptop. He wasn’t writing though. He had the mouse in one hand, and was scrolling away at the wheel.
“We’re screwed, huh?” he said without looking up.
“Yeah. Definitely.”
I took my first sip of coffee and almost sighed. Sighing wouldn’t do us any good, I decided right there and then. Sighing was for pussies.
“Let’s hear it,” said Chase.
“Hear what?”
“Your father,” he said. “Your phone call. Tell us how the conversation went.”
Memories I’d made intentionally fuzzy sharpened in my mind. I could picture my father’s scowl, on the other end of the line. His lips peeling back in a snarl, as he shouted me down. Scoffing at me. Berating me, for anything and everything.
God, if I hadn’t been so drunk I would’ve driven over there myself. Which was a good thing, because it would’ve come to blows.
“Well, my father’s under the impression we’re the assholes,” I said.
Burke raised an eyebrow. Chase raised both.
“Are you fucking kidding?”
“I wish I was. Apparently Jay called him first, before you guys had even gotten home.”
Burke frowned and shook his head. “Of course he did. To do damage control.”
“Oh,” I snorted, “he did way more than that.”
The tone my father had taken with me last night had destroyed something between us. It had chipped away an important piece of our already-fragile relationship. One I wasn’t sure we could ever get back.
“Jay told him Kayleen showed up late last night, out of the clear blue sky,” I said. “That he had no idea who she was. Or initially, what the hell she wanted.”
“He’s a fucking liar,” Chase snarled unnecessarily. I nodded before going on.
“He told my father he tried to reason with her, but she was drunk and crazy. Borderline violent. She wanted very badly to be a character in our story, and so she’d… she’d been…” I paused to see if there were a better way to word this. There really wasn’t.
“What?”
“Jay told my father she admitted to screwing all three of us, to get herself in the books.”
Chase’s face contorted into a look of fury I hadn’t seen since some asshole had gotten handsy with one of his sisters in the eleventh grade. Burke’s expression was just the opposite. His eyes were cold and crystal clear. Deadly calm.
I didn’t know which was scarier.
“He said what?”
“He said Kayleen met with him to make sure he wasn’t going to cut her out in the edits. That she showed up preemptively, knowing we had a meeting the next day.” I squeezed my coffee mug hard in both hands. “He said she told him everything about us. All of it.” I lowered my voice. “And then he said something else…”
Chase’s whole body was shaking with rage. Calmly, Burke closed his laptop.
“And what’s that?”
“Jay told him Kayleen had come on to him.”
There was a resounding bang, as Chase kicked the nearest kitchen cabinet. Pots and pans rattled around noisily inside. Burke however, hadn’t even flinched.
“So what did you tell him?”
“I told him the truth of course. That Kayleen had gone there to talk about the story, but only because he’d approached her once before.”
That part had been surprising — that our girlfriend had actually met Jay before last night. I was a little troubled she hadn’t told us about their first meeting. I think we all were.
“And what did you tell him about—”
“I told him the truth about that too,” I said. “That yes, I’m with her. That we’re all with her, but that us being with her had nothing to do with the story, or why she was even there last night, or—”
“Oh I think it has something to do with the story…”
I whirled and there was she was, standing in another one of my T-shirts. Listening to us from the doorway, squinting into the bright morning sun. I wondered how long she’d been standing there, how much she’d heard.
I didn’t have to wonder long.
“So what else did you tell your father?” Kayleen asked innocently.
She looked as she always did; pretty and perfect. One bare leg crossed over the other. Leaning against the door jamb the same way I’d seen her dozens of other times, leaning against her surfboard.
“I told him I loved you,” I said simply.
Time ground to a halt. For once, the kitchen was utterly and completely silent.
“Actually, I told him we all did.”
Forty-Five
KAYLEEN
They were staring at me, the three of them, almost like they were seeing me for the first time. Not as a person. Not as their personal chef, their roommate, or even their shared lover.
No, they were looking at me on a much deeper level.
They were looking at me with admission in their eyes.
“I—Is that true?” I somehow managed to ask.
My mouth was dry. My heart was pounding! To top it all off, I was having a conversation — probably one of the most important conversations of my life — before I’d even had a single drop of coffee.
But still…
“Yes,” said Chase, without hesitation. I smiled warmly. It was very moving to me, how quickly his expression had gone from anger to love.
The two of them turned toward Burke, who shrugged in the way only he could.
“Well if we’re all coming clean,” he said, slowly unfolding his arms. “Yes.” He threw me a secret, sideways smile. “Totally.”
I was overcome with emotion. Thrilled to bursting! But we couldn’t celebrate now. Not while everything was still so screwed up.
“I love you too,” I said, sweeping into the kitchen. “All of you. So fucking much.” I smiled. “But I’d—”
“Love a cup of coffee even more?”
Chase was already pouring me one, into my favorite mug no less. I laughed.
“I was going to say ‘also’, not ‘more’. But I like that you’re one step ahead.”
I sank into an empty chair, inhaling my first sip every bit as much as I drank it. Then I turned to Nathan. Of the three of them, I was most concerned about him.
“Are you alright?”
He nodded glumly. “Other than the jackhammer in my skull,” he said. “And not having a book deal. And my father thinking we beat his best friend up over some trampy girl who was ‘throwing herself’ at him…” He let out a little laugh. “My morning’s going just fine.”
My stomach growled audibly. I realized that in all the chaos, I hadn’t even had dinner last night.
“Alright, so we’re out a publisher,” Chase said, trying to polish a bright side into this whole tarnished situation. “So what?”
“We’re out a lot more than that,” Nathan said.
The others’ expressions went immediately grave. Something in Nathan’s tone told us his next words weren’t going to make us very happy.
“My father wants us out.”
Burke whistled. Chase put one hand to his head.
“Out?” I blinked.
He nodded.
“As in out out?”
“He pays a month-to-month lease on this place,” said Nathan. “He says he’s canceling it, effective immediately.”
“Well… damn.”
“Double-damn.”
“How much?” I asked.
Nathan laughed nervously. “Per month? Way more than we can afford.”
“You don’t know that,” I said. “I’ve got some savings.”
There goes culinary school.
The thought was sudden and intrusive, but I shoved it guiltily away. I’d been living here rent-free for months now, utility free as well. Hell, the guys were even paying for all the toiletries and food. They were the only reason I even had savings.
“I have a little money socked away too,” said Burke. “Not much, but enough to keep us here another month, maybe.”
“While we look for another place?”
“No,” said Burke. He glanced quickly to Chase and I, before finally shifting his gaze to Nathan. “While we self-publish our books.”
Nathan’s eyes went wide. Not with shock, or skepticism, or anything like that.
No, this time his expression was excitement.
“Really? You guys would be into that?”
Chase stood where he was, not giving an indication either way. But Burke slowly nodded.
“It’s not a bad choice,” he said. “I’ve been reading all about it since last night. And the more I go over it, the more I realize it’s right up our alley.”
He flipped open his laptop again, and Nathan eagerly pulled up a chair. By the time Burke was clicking the mouse again, even Chase and I had come over.
“There’s a lot to do, a lot to know. And it’s definitely going to take some capital. But once we’ve gotten past the initial setup, the rest is all marketing.”
He clicked on a very long checklist, one he’d apparently come up with while the rest of us had slept. I nudged him with my knee in encouragement.
“We each have our own following, not to mention solid associates from our previous successes,” Burke went on. “And the social media aspect we can definitely handle. Especially since there are three of us—”
“Four,” I interrupted soundly.
“Sorry, four,” he corrected himself with a smile. “Even better.”
Forty-Six
KAYLEEN
For the next hour and a half, Burke went over everything he knew about what they were about to do. He talked about release schedules. Social media strategies. Cross-promotional ideas, and how best to squeeze their past marketing contacts for greatest overall impact. Nathan took over sourcing out the more visual creatives, such as cover and jacket design. Chase ran with everything else.
I on the other hand, whipped up some of the creamiest, most magnificent eggs Benedict I’d ever pushed onto a plate. Immediately following that I ate two helpings of it… while the guys pretty much ignored their own food.
By the time they scattered in different directions, I was full and sated. Thrilled to see the guys so pumped and excited and full of ambition, even in the face of grim disaster.
At about the same time though, the guilt flooded in.
This is your fault, Kayleen.
I’d been avoiding it. Dreading it. But now it was here.
If you hadn’t insisted on meeting with Jay…
I scraped the plates and utensils. Rinsed them completely of Hollandaise sauce. Already, my smile had faded.
Technically, this was all my fault. If only I’d listened to myself! If only I’d spoken up sooner, at the cabin, or even before.
I was in the middle of sliding a plate into the dishwasher when a hand closed abruptly over mine.
“Hey…”
Like a ninja, Chase had materialized beside me. He guided me into putting the plate down, then turned my face toward his.
“You’re not upset about any of this, are you?”
I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t hide it. Instead, I tried to look away.
“Kayleen, stop.”
His voice was surprisingly gentle. I’d expected him to be mad, or at the very least disappointed. Chase had always been the most excited about the books. The most thrilled about having the publishing and marketing part of the process all set up.
“I… I just fucked everything all up for you,” I said.
“No way.”
“Yes, Chase. I did.” I really wasn’t into this right now. I didn’t want to be patronized. “If I hadn’t stuck my nose where it didn’t—”
“No one blames you for this any more than we blame Nathan’s dad,” he jumped in. “Who the jury’s still out on, but may or may not be a stubborn asshole.”
He smirked, but it was lost on me.
“The point is, this was going to happen no matter what,” said Chase. “Jay was going to see the chapters anyway. And when he saw we hadn’t stripped Juliana out of the book… he was going to ditch us.”
I felt a tiny bit lighter. That part was definitely true. The asshole had actually said it himself.
“Still, I’m the only reason you have Juliana in the book,” I said. “Not that I’m bragging or anything, but that character is obviously based on me.”
“She’s based on our relationship with you, yes,” Chase allowed. “But she’s still just a fictional character.”
“Her personality, her mannerisms — they’re a lot like mine,” I argued. “Aside from her dyed purple hair, she’s me.”
Chase scratched at his chin and sighed. In the end he shrugged. “So what? You like the story, right?”
“I love the story! That’s not the point.”
“But that is the point,” Chase said. “Juliana makes the whole story better. Just like you make us better.”
He reached out, slipping both arms snugly around my waist. Leaning back against the counter, he pulled me to him.
“Jay was right about the story needing a feminine element. A strong heroine. Someone to round out the grit and machismo of all those swinging dicks.”
He was smiling down at me now. Hooking his hands beneath the hem of my shirt — or rather, Nathan’s shirt — until they were on my bare, thong-covered ass.
“The only thing we did was choose one female instead of several. One love interest, rather than three. It’s unorthodox. It’s taboo. And yeah it’s probably going to turn more than a few heads…”
Our thighs were touching now. Our crotches too.
“But it works for us, right?”
I nodded slowly. The warmth between our bodies was distracting, but wonderful.
“Yes.”
“Well it’s going to work in the books, too.”
He squeezed hard, and I swooned into him. Chase’s first kiss melted away my guilt and anger. His second and third were even more sensual, more passionate. They completely wiped away any last trace of rational thought.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” he murmured.
I was light as feather. Reveling in the feel of his hard, coiled muscles, flexing around me.
“That the others are gonna kill us if we don’t get to work?” I said, hating myself for the words.
Chase laughed into my mouth and slapped me hard on the ass. “Yes!”
The slap stung! But it made my ass feel warm and naughty, hot and delicious. Especially as he squeezed it in his palm again.
“I’ll take a raincheck on this any day,” he said.
I turned, grinding my ass hard into his crotch as I twisted away.
“As long as I get a raincheck on the rest of that spanking,” I winked over my shoulder.
Forty-Seven
