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I smiled at his confession and leaned down to kiss his lips. It was just a peck, soft lips pressed against mine.

“Maybe we all can have each other and see how this goes,” I whispered against his lips.

But in the back of my mind, the strange robotic voice whispered,

Stay away from those men, Anna.

I’m watching you.

29

IT’S A THREESOME

CALEB

My muscles strained as I finished doing the kettlebell swings with the one-twenty pounds kettlebell. I exhaled through my mouth, sweat dripping from my face to the padded floor.

“Spot me.”

I went over to the bench-press as my dad rolled his shoulders and started his last set of five. I was glad he had inspired me to do strength training at an early age, and seeing him age, I knew my ancestors had good genes. I patted his shoulder when he sat up, drinking water from his bottle.

“You seem relaxed,” Cillian commented when I started doing my cool-down exercises with a deep runner’s lunge, stretching my tightened hams and hips.

I did a poor job hiding my wince when I felt the soreness in my right knee. I had torn my ACL just before the last match in my senior year, and even after the surgery, I still felt the sudden tightness sometimes. Especially after waking up.

“Still having a problem, kiddo?” Dad asked, sitting beside me on the mat and doing his stretches.

Emma, his wife and my ex, was on a business trip in Los Angeles for a couple of days and he had come over to workout with me on a weekday. I didn’t have a lot of work to do, and after a few days of ‘dating’ Kyle and Anna, I felt confident in taking things further with them.

“Sometimes it feels weird, that’s all.” I didn’t want him to worry about my knee of all things, but his stern gaze and the scar on the corner of his lips made me continue, “I’ve a great Pilates instructor, so I will ask her to check it.”

“Good. Since when you started doing Pilates?”

It was hard not to hold back my smile, and since my dad was an ex-veteran and ex-CIA, he noticed it and paused doing his stretches and raised his brow at me.

Damn. Busted.

“I am dating her.”

“That’s good to hear, son.”

“And a guy who’s tall and cute and works in finance.”

Cillian paused, tilting his head at me. His hair was still black, with silver peppered on the sides. Now that I thought about it, Anna was closer to his age than mine, and Emma was the same age as mine. Huh.

“You’re dating a man and a woman?” Dad asked, his eyes narrowing. “Are you stringing them along and hoping?—”

“Dad,” I interrupted him, knowing he was getting the wrong idea. “We’re all dating each other. We all like each other.”

“I’m too old for this.” He closed his eyes and opened them, shaking his head at me as he stood up. “Explain it to me in simple words, Caleb.”

I stood up, wiping sweat from my face, and said, “I like Anna. Anna likes Kyle, her widow neighbor. Kyle likes both of us. Anna was my celebrity crush, and me and Kyle had a bit of history, and it seems like Anna and Kyle had a crush on each other, so we all just… you know.”

“It’s a threesome,” my dad deadpanned.

My cheeks felt warm as I avoided his gaze, sipping water from my bottle, and nodded. “Yep.”

“And how did this threesome develop? How did you guys meet? In college?”