Rude Awakenings: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 2)

Chapter Fifty-One: Al, Thursday

Rachel closed the door behind Lauren and turned to face him. She didn't say anything for a moment, just stared at him.

He felt naked under her gaze, even though he was dressed. He squirmed and said, "I love you?" even though he wasn't sure that was what she wanted to hear at the moment. What the three of them had done might have been all well and good while it was happening, but the aftermath allowed for a lot of thinking, and those thoughts might not lead anywhere good for his wife.

She put a finger to her lips. "She might still be waiting at the elevator," she whispered. She took his hand and led him into the kitchen. At first he thought she wanted to eat dinner, but she ignored the pan on the stove and leaned against the counter.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I don't believe what she said about Joe."

He blinked in surprise. That wasn't what he'd expected her to say. "I'm sorry?"

She shook her head. "I can't believe he would just let Lauren and me continue seeing each other just because he once had a slip-up with me in a desperate moment. That seems to me like an unbalanced equation."

"You mean, because you've been at this about two years while that was one moment?"

She blushed and looked down at her feet. "Yeah. I guess Lauren told you how long it's been going on?"

"I believe she said two days after we first slept together."

She looked so wretched that Al felt he had to console her when he should rightfully have been angry. "I admit I was hurt," he said, "but I understand how much she loves you. Anyway, after tonight all notions of propriety have pretty much flown out the window, since she made love to both of us."

She snorted. "Made love. She pounded you in that Amazon position. Maybe we should try it sometime."

He chuckled and blushed. "You'd destroy me if we did. Little Lauren only made me her bitch."

"Ha!" She shrieked. "So, was she as good as you imagined?"

Now came the dangerous conversation. "Is there a safe way for me to answer that?"

"Yes. Complete honesty."

"Okay. Better than I imagined, but not better than you."

"Good answer."

"She was just as good, but in a different way."

She rolled her eyes. "Quit while you're ahead, Al."

"Sorry. What I was going to say was, after tonight, we could almost be a throuple, if she wasn't already married to Joe."

She shook her head and chuckled. "That's mighty ambitious talk, Al. Just because tonight happened doesn't mean we're inviting you in every time."

She didn't say it would never happen again, though. That was hopeful, at least. He cleared his throat and said, "Oh, right, no, of course not. I'm the third, I accept that."

"You're right about one thing, though. We are one big incestuous group, now that Joe's at least partly in on this. That brings me back to what I said before. Why is Joe allowing this? There has to be another reason."

Al cleared his throat and said, "I don't know if I should be telling you this..."

Her head snapped up. "What is it?"

"When Lauren and I came home from looking for you Monday night, after we dug up Charlie--"

"You guys came really close to finding where we got into trouble," Rachel interrupted. "That was some detective work on your part."