Here we are at the beginning of the third Our Own Way novel.
Chapter Two can be found here for 1$/month Patrons.
Future chapters will be posted here for 3$/month Patrons.
I hope you enjoy!
“Don’t say it,” Gabe murmured as he finished clipping his nails.
“Say what? And how did you even know I was here?” Ellen replied, stepping into the doorway behind him.
“I can hear you. Both in general and your thoughts,” he said, studying his nails, then replacing the clipper. He stepped in front of the mirror again and studied himself. “You know I never used to do anywhere near this level of prep before,” he added quietly.
“I believe it. Most men don’t,” Ellen replied, stepping into the bathroom and putting her hands on his shoulders. “Trust me, it’s appreciated. And I wasn’t thinking anything.”
“Right. You weren’t thinking ‘he really needs to relax’ or anything like that.”
She laughed softly, then grew a little more serious. “Actually, I genuinely was not thinking that. You’re pretty relaxed. Or, maybe relaxed isn’t the right word. Confident. Calm. You don’t seem worried.”
“Well, I am,” he said, “although admittedly not as much as I’d be if this was a week or two ago.”
“Four days ago you were doing this exact same thing to go take a cougar on a date. You were more nervous then.”
“It’s not quite the same,” he murmured. Finally, he looked up at her reflection. “So what were you thinking, then?”
“That I was right. When we first started talking, my assessment of you ultimately ended up being that beneath your...cautious exterior was a mostly untapped reservoir of confidence.”
“And you tapped it, huh?”
“Oh yes. I very much tapped it. And Holly has helped a lot. You are more confident now, Gabe.”
“I guess it’s finally catching up.” He looked down at himself once more. “Should I do more?”
Ellen opened her mouth, then paused, closed it for a moment, and smiled. “What do you think?”
“I think...no. I think I’m good.”
“Why?”
“Anymore and it starts heading into try hard territory, I think, for Chloe. Any less and I worry about heading into ‘I’m too good for you’ territory, which isn’t the message I want to send for obvious reasons.”
Ellen’s smile grew and she looked very satisfied. “That’s basically what I was going to say.”
“Interesting.” He turned around and looked up at her, settling his hands on her broad hips. “That being said, I would like to know if I’m missing anything obvious.”
“Hmm.” She looked him up and down. “No. Wait! Yes. One thing. Put on your cologne.”
“For real?”
“Yes. Trust me. You want to give her a scent to associate you with, a good one. And that cologne is just...oh my. So good,” she replied.
He thought about it, then nodded. “Yeah, that tracks. Although what if she’s already been around someone who uses this?”
“That’s just a thing we’ll have to risk, and this seems kind of obscure.”
“It had better be,” he muttered as he sprayed some on. “After spending two damn hours hunting it down.”
“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad. And it was...ah, mmm. Yeah. So very worth it. That is actually making me horny right now. Because I smell it and I think of you.”
“Well...good for me then.”
“Very good for you. Now...I do have one piece of advice.”
“I’m listening.”
“Chloe is a ten out of ten. She’s kind of the definition of a big titty goth girl and she is a gamer. She’s a smoke show. She is obviously, to some extent, aware of this fact. And you feel like she is out of your league. Stop me if I’m wrong.”
“You aren’t wrong,” Gabe replied.
“So then, I advise that you...put this out of your mind. Which I know sounds like advice I always give, but this time it’s a little different. I think Chloe wants to go on a date with a guy who won’t worship at her feet, but also won’t make her feel like she should be lucky for the opportunity...pretty much, what you were saying earlier, but applied to the whole thing.” She paused, then sighed and shook her head.
“Okay, I’m a little high right now so it’s a little harder to hold onto my thoughts. Um. Okay. Don’t laugh at me!”
“I’m not!”
“You’re smirking. That’s like laughing. Anyway. Basically, be yourself, treat her like you treat us, and uh...fuck it. You know what to do. Go treat that girl to a good date. She needs it,” Ellen said.
“I can do that,” Gabe replied.
Ellen looked at him for a moment, then hugged him. “I’d make some quip about how you’re all grown up but I think that’d be kinda weird given our relationship...unless you’re into that.”
“Uh...no comment,” he replied.
Her eyes flashed. “Wait what?”
“What’s going on?” Holly called from the bedroom. “What’s Gabe into?”
“Nothing that I feel like discussing,” he replied firmly.
“Boo! I wanna do weird, freaky shit with you!”
“Oh believe me,” he said as he and Ellen stepped out of the bathroom and he poked his head into the bedroom, “you will. Now that things are finally settling down a little, we are going to start experimenting with the part of you that enjoys being held down.”
“Really?” she asked, setting her laptop aside and sitting up.
“Oh yes,” Ellen agreed. “We’re going to do a bit more than hold you down.”
“When!?”
“Soon,” Gabe replied. He began to say something else and then Holly shifted and the blanket fell away from her, revealing her considerable and bare breasts. He stared at her for a moment before sighing. “I have to get out of here or I’m never going to leave.”
“Oh really?” Holly asked, grinning at him. “You want little old me over your shiny new goth girlfriend?”
“First of all, I love you. A lot. Second of all, she’s not my girlfriend and you are. Third...um…”
“Third is that he’s distracted by whatever tits are in his face,” Ellen said. “And you’re right, Gabe. You should go because if you don’t you’re going to pull us into a threesome because we have such a hard time saying no to you and you’ll make Chloe very grumpy.”
“I wouldn’t want her grumpy at me,” Holly murmured.
Gabe laughed. “Yes you would.”
Holly crossed her arms. “No, I wouldn’t. She’s not into girls. Which is fine, just...disappointing. She’s so fucking hot. I’m kinda jealous.”
“Same,” Ellen agreed.
“Okay, okay, you both are right.” He marched over to the bed, leaned down, and kissed her on the mouth. Then hesitated and cupped one of her big, pale breasts.
Holly giggled and rolled her eyes. “Gabe. Come on,” she murmured. “Don’t start what you can’t finish.”
“Dammit,” he whispered. “I love you.”
She smiled and touched his cheek. “I love you too, Gabe. Now go have fun.”
“Yes, dear.”
Holly laughed and shook her head, then picked up her laptop as he straightened back up. He could tell from a glance at her screen that she was working on her pictures again. She hadn’t just gotten into the world of photography, she’d dived in headfirst and happily, and he couldn’t be happier for her. She was obviously enjoying herself immensely.
Gabe rejoined Ellen and they walked into the living room. He started getting into his shoes.
“What are you gonna do?” he asked.
“I am going to get a little more baked, and then I am going to marathon a cartoon from the nineties that I used to be very, very into it, completely forgot about, and just recently rediscovered. Now that it’s official and I no longer have a job and I have actual time for myself, I’m catching up on a lot of media that I had to abandon or ignore. So I’m making a pizza and bingeing that shit,” she replied.
Gabe pulled his hoodie into place and gave her a hug and a kiss. “Okay then. Have fun and I love you. Let me know if you need or want anything.”
She smiled that smile of hers. “So if I want a foot massage or something…”
He sighed. “You know what I mean. And you know better.”
“Do I?”
“Yes, you do.”
She laughed. “Yeah, don’t worry, I’m not going to fuck with you. Go pound a hot goth girl.”
“Hopefully. I’m not sure if she wants sex or not.”
“I’m pretty confident she wants it, but yes, that is a possibility to keep in mind. I love you too, babe. Have fun.”
Gabe kissed her once more and then headed out to his car. As he did, he glanced at the sky and sighed heavily. He could see his breath on the air. It was already pitch dark now, the stars coming out. It was five in the afternoon.
Shaking off the bad feelings that were trying to worm their way into his skull, he got behind the wheel, set his GPS to Chloe’s apartment, and started driving.
Although it had been ten days since he’d last seen Chloe, (and first made love with her), it felt like longer. He knew some of that came from the fact that it had snowed lightly a few more times, prompting them to pretty much just chill out in their house.
Besides hanging out with Ellen and Holly, and working on his next project, the biggest thing of note he’d done was go on a date with Isabella a few days ago. Spending the night with a recently divorced cougar who was amazing with her mouth had been a study in unusual but blissful wonder.
The whole experience had been odd, but in a good way. For being very smart, very accomplished, and very attractive, Isabella had been surprisingly lacking in confidence. But Ellen had made a really good point when she’d told him: Imagine being with the same person for twenty five years and then suddenly breaking up and trying to date again, even casually.
Overall, it had been a great time, and he was hoping that she would ask him on another date. He was reluctant to ask mostly because she was so busy, between being a surgeon and dealing with the aftermath of her divorce as she tried to get her life rearranged.
In truth, Chloe had been on his mind more than anyone or anything else. (Outside of his relationship.)
He hadn’t seen her once since they’d had sex and they’d been texting a little. Mostly he’d been giving her space, because that’s what she wanted. He was also wondering if maybe they’d gone too far too fast. Not even just that they’d fucked, (twice), but that they had fucked in front of about half a dozen people, all of them mostly strangers to Chloe.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time, and so far nothing she’d said or done had actually strongly indicated that she was freaked out by what had happened, but he was still paranoid. He was a lot less so right now, though, and he felt a bit of weight lifting as he drove through the dark, frigid city.
Chloe had called him up half an hour ago and pretty much out of the blue said she wanted a relaxing date night with him because she was incredibly stressed out. Given he’d been practicing a lot lately in helping women manage their stress levels, and the fact that he wanted to see her again, he’d immediately agreed to come over.
He found himself thinking back to Ellen’s assessment as he pulled into the apartment’s parking lot. It felt...off.
It didn’t seem possible that he could have had this level of confidence back when they’d first met, let alone before that.
There was a parking spot. He supposed this was something he was going to have to wrestle internally with later.
He began to pull out his phone but as soon as he parked, the front door to Chloe’s building opened up and she started walking over. She was wearing a long, dark coat and a dark beanie and what looked like heavy dark boots. As she approached, she paused once and squinted into the window, then walked over and got into the passenger’s seat.
“Hey...how you doing?” Gabe asked, because he could tell immediately she was in a sour mood still.
Her text had been: Come save me from my anger before I break something. Or someone.
“I’ll just warn you right now that I’m feeling extra bitchy and not in a fun way,” she replied, staring out the front windshield as she dug around in one pocket. Finally, her hand came out with a USB stick. “Can we listen to this? It will calm me down.”
“Sure,” he replied, pulling his own out of the radio.
“Thank you. Seriously,” she muttered, reaching forward, then hesitating. “Don’t make fun of me for this.”
“I won’t,” he replied.
“...thanks.”
She put the USB in and then fiddled with it for a moment. Instrumental music soon began playing. It struck him as very fantasy sounding.
“Where are we going?” he asked, his phone out.
“There’s a place called Slices I would really like to go to right now,” she replied.
He punched it into his GPS and then showed her the most likely result. “This?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then.” He set it up and then started backing out.