Respecting her honesty didn’t mean I was okay with her answer. If she said she wanted to date us both until she decided who she liked more, that was cool. I could date her better, treather better, and eat her better. There wouldn’t be a competition. Shit. Unless she told me she was cutting me off completely, I could navigate anything else. I only needed one foot in the door and she was giving me that, whether she realized it or not. The hardest part was already out of the way for me.
“I’m not asking you to choose just yet, Jiselle,” I said.
“Yeah. I know. You couldn’t make me even if you wanted. I mean, you can choose to walk away and leave whenever you want, but that’s on you. You control what you do, not what I do.”
I nodded.
I liked this version of Jiselle more than the version I’d met when we were younger. She’d changed a lot and it was for the better. She had confidence and seemed sure of herself in a way a lot of women I met didn’t.
“I ain’t running from a lil friendly competition.”
“So you’re going to let me have my cake and eat it too is what you’re saying?” She lifted an eyebrow.
I nodded and leaned down to kiss her.
“Yeah. I could be down with that,” I said against her mouth and kissed her again.
She didn’t respond, just turned around and let the hot water run down her body before maneuvering out of the way to get caught in the spray. Jiselle washed my back and I ran my hand up and down her body before we climbed out.
We toweled off side by side and Jiselle provided me with a toothbrush so we could go through her bedtime routine together.
“I’m pretty sure I may have basketball shorts you can borrow,” she offered.
“So Stone keeps clothes at your house?” I asked.
“Nah. He keeps clothes in his truck.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Why? Y’all want to share a drawer while you share me?”
“Maybe,” I deadpanned.
She giggled. “Honestly, I think y’all may like each other if you hung out without his dick in your mouth.” She smacked my ass. “Come on.”
The way she’d breezed past that wasn’t lost on me but I was cool with it.
I liked that she didn’t seem to care about me liking men. Shit. It looked like she enjoyed it, the way she’d moved my head around and moaned above me.
I’d slept with men before. This wasn’t anything new, but I couldn’t lie, it was different being with Jiselle and Stone at the same time. It was better than anything I’d ever experienced.
When we walked out, Stone sat at the foot of her bed, texting.
“What do you want to eat?” Selle asked. “Fried rice and premade wontons?” she guessed without giving either of us a chance to answer. “I’m on it.”
I chuckled and shook my head while she sauntered out of the room.
“Don’t fight or fuck in my room!” she yelled after a few seconds.
This time Stone was the one to chuckle.
My eyes washed over him.
“And roll me a joint!” she screamed.
Stone tossed his phone onto the bed and stood. He walked over, grabbed her weed and everything he needed to break it down and roll it, and sat back on her bed. I watched while he worked.
We just existed in silence, and when he finished, he admired his work then exhaled and looked at me.
“You gon’ have to kill me if you want Selle to yourself,” he said simply.
“Likewise.”