Philippines

Trying my best to hold back my attitude, I answered. Part of me wished I just told her to hang up, but the other part was stuck in this emotional war fueled by sexual desire. The heat that radiated from his voice was hot enough to burn me through the phone.

“Adrian, what do you want?”, I scoffed.

“I am headed out of town for business this week, but I will be back Thursday.”, he informed me.

“And? I don’t care what you do Adrian. I didn’t ask you to come to New York anyway.”, I retorted.

“I am glad you found your voice since vacation, but I will see you at 9 pm… Thursday.”, he said before I thought he hung up.

“Cock-block.”, I whispered before hanging up.

I heard speaking on the one and when I put it up to my ear, I heard his warning.

Muffled sounds. “… what has gotten into you? I will make sure your punishment fits.”, then I heard him click the phone.

Ugh, maybe I can go back and finish what I started with Jared… I rested my head on the counter and let out a sigh. My mind was now on what Adrian will do with my body on Thursday.

I walked back into Jared’s room, and he was still alert, not needing time to calm down from what we were interrupted from.

“Where were we?”, I slowly walked toward his bed after making sure to close the door and the curtain.

“You wanted to talk to me about something?”, he said as he appeared to have trouble looking at me.

“Oh, yes! You see, I don’t want to date right now. I just want to have a mutual sexual relationship with you that follows some basic rules.”, I gauged his facial expressions.

He was silent for a few moments before speaking, “Ookayyyy. Is this so you can sleep with the guy who hit me and the guy from the bar?”.

“Well since one of the rules is honesty, yes. I want all of you.”, I shrugged.

“At once?”, he tilted his head.

“Well, that has crossed my mind.”, I giggled.

“But I don’t think Adrian will be up for that. He doesn’t like sharing.”, I added.

“Obviously. Look at my nose.”, he laughed.

The sexual mood was ruined between us.

“Give me a few days to think about it?”, he asked.

“Sure, just let me know.”, I kissed his cheek and headed for the door.

“What are the rules, by the way?”, he grabbed my hand before I got too far.

I turned around and sat down with a smile. Cameron and I had a good set of rules to start with, so I went with the basics for Jared.

The basic rules covered consent, condoms, jealousy, honesty, and feelings.

Consent was a must, especially with Jared since I planned to be the one ordering him around. I had interviewed too many women who were sexually harassed by their boss or ex-lover. To cover all my bases, I wanted him to fully understand what I was offering.

Condoms were required, or I wouldn’t have sex with him. Sleeping with three men and getting pregnant was not in my five-year plan. I had my IUD, but that is only so effective.

Jealousy was a huge factor, especially with Adrian. I didn’t want another emergency room visit because one of the three decided to get heated over whom I slept with the most. Part of me wishes they all got along.

I would love to see what could happen alone in a room with them.

Honesty was important to me, not just because it is supposed to be a fun friendship. I needed to be able to trust the men I was sleeping with. Introducing sex into a friendship could complicate things if I wanted to get serious with someone else down the road.

Feelings are my biggest worry for Jared because we used to be married. I couldn’t be with him if he was starting to have feelings for me. It would ruin the whole relationship.

With the rules laid out on the table, I inched closer to him.

“How does that sound?”, I whispered in his ear and kissed his cheek again.

“It sounds manageable if you can keep that angry boy toy of yours in check.”, he chuckled.

“Yeah, he is my next problem. I will deal with him later.”, I laughed as I walked closer to the door.

“Leah!”, he called out, “I don’t know what changed on vacation, but I like the new you... in a strictly sexual relationship kind of way.”, he smiled and waved as I left.

A few hours later I made it back to my apartment and was able to fill Jenny in on my life.

“Girl I am so proud of you!”, she squealed.

“You didn’t tell me it would be so stressful.”, I exclaimed.

“Well, I figured you’d keep them away from each other.”, she walked over to the couch.

I plopped down next to her, resting my head on her lap as she ran her fingers through my hair.

“I just need to get through the week, so I can talk to Adrian and get him on board.”, I sighed.

“Good luck with that babe, it sounds like that man is working through some emotional trauma and he has you in his crosshairs.”, she wasn’t wrong.

I decided to pull out my phone and text Cameron, “Hey, thanks for last night.”, I sent with a winking emoji.

“Can’t wait to do it again, beautiful.”, he was quick to reply.

“You left before I woke up to tell you.”, it was a leading statement.

“I went for a run, and I headed out on a trip to see a Cavern in Virginia. I will be back this weekend.”, he sent a kiss emoji.

“Can’t wait to feel you again.”, I was starting to tease.

“I will be back this weekend, but we do have our phones.”, he could tease back I see.

I let out a sigh and tossed my phone, “Ughhh, Jen I just need to make it through this week.”.

**********

POV: Adrian

I got the information from her that I needed to investigate this asshole. Jared deserved to be punched in the face. I don’t have to ask; I know he cheated on her, and he looks like the type to play games.

I just couldn’t control my anger when I found out he put his hands on her. She was testing me, and I failed, but there was no competition. I would fight the whole city for her and that pissed me off even more.

“Hendrix, keep your eyes on her.”, I ordered before getting in my car.

I wanted to head home and run a search on this Cameron kid. I had enough information on him to pull something.

Deciding to expand my search, I ran an international search since he was supposedly a travel blogger. Once I found his Instagram and was able to gather some basic information from his profile, I wasn't left with much to go on.

He was an only child, and his mother was never married. Born in Colorado and he seems to be well-traveled for a kid growing up broke. His mom was a nurse at a local hospital and only worked part-time. They lived in Denver for 23 years, never moving.

I didn’t pull much of anything on her, but it was interesting to see that her home was bought with cash and that she owned 2 luxury cars. Her home was too big for her salary, and she seems to live outside of her means.

Things were not adding up and I know that I have seen her face before, but I wanted to dig a little deeper.

I was pulled from my search.

“Boss, the target is on the move.”, Hendrix notified me.

“Where is he?”, I said with authority.

“Flight is to the Philippines, boss. He is boarding a plane in 20 minutes.”.

“Get me the next ticket out, first class.”, I ordered.

I couldn’t let him slip through my fingers and we had a resort in the Philippines. I wanted to know what this kid was mixed up in and what he was doing fucking around with Leah.

I got a trace alert while packing my bag.

My trace revealed that he was not living in her apartment building in any compacity. He was staying at the Daybreak – Downtown, which was one of the hotels that I ran and frequented often. I didn't bring women back to my apartment.

I decided to call Leah to let her know I was leaving town, not that I was following a lead. She didn’t seem happy to hear from me and insinuated that I pulled her away from sleeping with that other asshole again.

She had a sexual appetite that I was going to fill, just as soon as I got back.

“She’s leaving the hospital boss.”, Hendrix texted me.

“Alone?”, I replied.

“Yes, we will continue to tail her.”, he said before I hung up.

I caught my flight to the Philippines a few hours later, checked into my room, and decided to get to work. I had some reports to audit in the office anyway, but what I didn’t expect to see was Monica coming out of Mr. Cooper’s office.

“Hey there stud.”, she swayed her way over to me.

“Not now, what are you doing here?”, I demanded.

“You gave me the week off, so I decided to come and relax here.”, I noticed a slight pitch change.

She was lying about something.

“Is Cooper here?”, I asked.

“No, he is still in Guam.”, she replied truthfully this time.

I watched as she made her way to my office.

I followed her to try and pull out of her whatever she was lying about.

“Here handsome, have a drink.”, she poured me a bourbon neat.

She knew how I liked my drink, and I needed it after the last few days.

No amount of alcohol would make me fuck her, so she needed to stop trying so hard.

I sat on the couch in my office as she walked around the room admiring the photos on the walls. I started to feel lightheaded, but I felt Monica as she walked over and knelt in front of me.

“Did you put something in my drink?”, I asked.

“Shhhh. Just lay back and relax, tomorrow you won’t remember a thing.”, she said as she guided my head down on the pillow.

This was all connected somehow and drugged or not I would figure it out. For now, I closed my eyes and hoped I would wake up still in the Philippines.