My Mother's Boss (BoyxBoy) [Polyamory]

Chapter Twenty-Four

{Chapter Twenty-Four}

The waitress drops off the drinks and asks if I want to order yet but I tell her to give me a minute so Jer and Ian can order too. After a few minutes, no sign of either of them, I start to get more nervous. What if Ian is freaking out? Or if they're fighting. I want to go in to see if they're okay, and I'm about to. I pocket my phone and grab Jer's wallet in case someone tries to take it, and start to stand until the bathroom door opens. I sit back down, putting Jer's wallet back while the two emerge from the bathroom.

I scan both of them for any signs that something is wrong, but I can't find anything out of the ordinary. In fact, Ian looks more relaxed than he has been since we got here. I relax at that, sighing in relief. They both take their seats and the waitress comes back to take our orders.

"Is everything okay?" I ask, not really aiming it at either one of them in particular, just hoping one of them will answer. Jer's eyes move to Ian whose eyes find mine.

"Yeah." Ian replies with a smile, his gray eyes bright with that familiar light. My eyes move to Jer who lifts his two fingers to his lips in a motion one would do to take a drag off a cigarette, making me realize he probably wants one.

The waitress comes back to get our orders and we all give her our individual orders. When she skips away my eyes move to Ian, still worried about him. What I said at the park was completely true, I don't want him to feel forced into anything. I want him to trust us, and hopefully over time we can build that trust if he really wants this.

"This can be dangerous." I blurt, moving my eyes from Ian to Jer, addressing both of them. Ian arcs his brow in confusion while Jer drops his eyes to inspect his tattoo.

"I know," Jer is the first to speak, lifting his fingers to his lips again but keeping his golden eyes on his thick black cross poking out of his leather jacket on his right hand.

"What do you mean?" Ian asks seriously and I look into his near-white gray eyes. Images of us coming out to just the town flash through my mind; they would be sickened, I know it. It's not that the town isn't open to new things, but I don't know if everyone-or even the majority of everyone-would be open to this kind of relationship. Almost everyone has it set in their minds that monogamy is the only correct relationship, the only type of relationship that's real.

They would be sickened. They could hurt us; Jer, Ian. Images of Ian coming to me with bruises, especially considering he's in a private Catholic school, flash through my mind. What if they get hurt? It would be my fault, I'm the one who's bringing us together. If they get hurt because of this I would never forgive myself.

"You could get hurt," I reply to Ian's question. "You could get hurt because of me. This isn't just a matter of some people not thinking this is right, this is a matter of God only knows how many people thinking this is wrong. We'd be shunned, harassed, loose friends. Are you ready for that? Are you ready to possibly loose all your friends? Get hurt?" I ask near hysteria because the weight of all this is beginning to weigh down on me.

"Levy," Jer starts in a calm voice.

"And you, my mom might hate you. You could go out of business. Get hurt." I add, biting my lip hard to stay in this moment and not get lost in all the possible outcomes. Jer reaches out and takes my hand in his gently, making my eyes snap from the table to him then to Ian when his hand takes my free one.

"Calm down," Jer soothes, running his thumb against the top of my hand in soothing circles. Ian locks our fingers and offers me a smile.

"I know people may disapprove, but I'm not as fragile as you think I am. If someone tries to hurt me, I can and will defend myself. I won't be a victim again." He adds the last part lowly. My heart clenches at that and I squeeze his fingers comfortingly. Jer's eyes look to me in confusion, no doubt wondering what Ian meant because I haven't told anyone what happened to Ian. It's his choice to tell people, I have no right to tell anyone about his past. He'll tell Jer in due time if he wants to.