Chapter 7

 

“So…tell me the truth, how was Jared able to trick you into going out with him?” Laura asks, looking at the auburn-haired woman with a hint of a smirk. “I think you’re too pretty for him.”

 

Anna can’t help but tip the corners of her lips into a shy smile as she slightly shifts her head to the side and a bit downward to hide the blush on her face. She’s usually not super shy when it comes to talking and befriending other people, but she can’t help the star-struck feeling at seeing Laura Harmon, CEO of Love in the Net, standing before her and talking like they’re the best of friends.

 

“Uh…” It takes a while for Anna to reply. “Maybe, I’m the one tricking him…” Anna then says, shrugging her shoulders, and with that, Laura barks out a laugh.

 

“I like you already,” Laura says, and to Anna’s surprise, she brings her in for a one-armed hug. “I know we’re going to be good friends.”

 

“If Jared decides to keep me around…”

 

Laura lands a light slap on Anna’s shoulder before she shakes her head and lets out a ‘tsk’. “Of course he will. You do know you’re the first person he’s brought to meet me, right?”

 

Anna shakes her head at that. “I didn’t know.”

 

“Exactly,” Laura says with a proud smile, and when she looks out at a distance, she can see Jared, with Alex and Nate, walking towards them.

 

It’s a few minutes past midnight, and the bonfire party is in full swing. Right in the middle of the open campgrounds is a towering, commanding flame blazing its light up to a humanly-unreachable height. All around the stacks of logs and rocks sitting beneath the flame are people dancing to the music and playing a variety of drinking games. Sometimes, Jared, Alex, and Nate prefer the noise and the drunken nights, and tonight is one of those times. The icing on the cake is they have their women, Laura and Ana, with them.

 

“So what lies has she told you about me?” Jared asks, tipping his lips up in a sly smirk as he sidles up to Anna. Then, he casually wraps an arm around her waist as Anna settles more comfortably against him. In reply to his question, Laura opens her mouth into a surprising ‘o’.

 

“I swear, do all you ever think I do is badmouth you?” Laura asks with a light a chuckle before she rests a hand on her hip and cocks an eyebrow up at him.

 

“Of course,” is Jared’s response.

 

“Well…that’s true,” Laura says, still laughing. “You have to admit though it adds a little spice to your life.”

 

“Careful now,” Alex says, lifting the edge of his lips into a flirtatious smirk. Then, he plants a kiss upon the woman’s lips. “You’re turning me on, babe. Yo-”

 

“I think Anna doesn’t need to hear what you’re going to say.” Laura quickly covers Alex’s mouth, but the man starts mumbling incoherently. “Swear, you have to keep quiet. Show them you’re an introverted, respectable man.”

 

At that, Nate can’t help but bark out a laugh, and Jared quickly joins in. “’Introverted, respectable man’ my ass,” Jared says, shaking his head, before he turns to Anna. “Don’t worry, Nate and I will keep him behaved. We’re just going to take a walk around.”

 

“Maybe, get ourselves into trouble,” Alex teases, shifting his eyes from Anna and then to Laura. “We’ll be back right away. You ladies will be okay, right? Just give us a call if something comes up.”

 

“Of course!” replies Laura. Then, she turns to meet Jared’s hazel brown eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep your woman safe.”

 

“That’s what I like to hear,” is his reply. Then, he lands a kiss on Anna’s lips. “I’ll be right back.”

 

When the three men disappear from their line of sight, Anna turns to face Laura and asks, “Did they really just leave us?”

 

Laura tips the corners of her lips into a smile whilst she shakes her head. Then, she opens her mouth and says, “Why? Do you miss your boyfriend already?” To add, Laura nudges her shoulder repeatedly to tease her.

 

“No…it’s just that Jared’s usually protective,” Anna starts, as she shifts her head to side, deep in thought. “And he just left us here in the middle of the night…with a party full of strangers…”

 

In reply, Laura shrugs her shoulders before she sidles up to Anna and wraps an arm around her shoulders. “Trust me. There’s nothing to worry about. They’ll be back before we know it.” Then, Laura hooks an arm around Anna’s and pulls her in the direction of the mobile bar. “Come on. We can have fun without the guys. Let’s not waste a great party!”

 

And have fun they do – so much fun they’ve already lost count of how many drinks they’ve had. They’re definitely right in the boundary between being tipsy and drunk. They can still walk on their own, but they can’t hide the wobbly legs and turtle-like pace. Surprisingly though, Anna and Laura manage to get from the heart of the party and towards a more quiet closing a bit further away from all the people

 

Quiet. Anna can’t help but close her eyes and rub her temples together. The deafening hip-hop music blasting from the speakers is starting to give her a headache. She walks a few steps nearer the thicket of trees, and when she opens her eyes, she tries not to squeal at the sight before her.

 

Jared, Nate, and Alex – they’re all naked in front of her and Laura. They look very much out of breath and are panting and sweating heavily. Beads of sweat trickle down their chiseled exteriors. The moonlight eliciting a faint gleam makes their sweat-trickled bodies shine. She tries (and succeeds) to keep her eyes looking up instead of sneaking a peak at their gifts. She can’t think about how hot and tempting they all look, not when the sight before her is self-explanatory.

 

Anna tries and fails to keep in the tears threatening to slide down her eyes. She tries to ignore the punch to the gut she feels right at that moment. She’s been made a fool. She doesn’t need to ask what’s going on between the three Jared, Nate, and Alex. They’re naked, and they’re out of breath. Now, it’s not so surprising anymore why Jared is a god in the bedroom. The man has experience, both with women and men, and with groups of them. Anna can’t believe she caught the man she’s dating in a threesome with two other men.

 

“I think Laura and I will head out…” Anna says, choking with tears. In that moment, all she wants to do is run away – far, very far from Jared. “Let’s go…”

 

“But whyyy?” Laura whines. Anna takes a second glance at the woman beside her. Why does she seem so oblivious at the moment? Can’t she see that the men she’s dating are having a threesome with the one Anna’s going out with? “But we’re having so much fun!”

 

“What?!” Anna then shouts. She’s almost tempted to ask if all of them are high on drugs because she can’t possibly be the only one panicking at the current situation. How is Laura not losing her mind at seeing her supposed boyfriends sweaty and naked with Jared? How is Jared acting so passive as if this isn’t hurting her? They’ve talked about becoming exclusive, after a month and a half of dating, and Anna obviously expected that sex was automatically included in the agreement without having to talk about it in detail.

 

“So you just planned on ‘pumping and dumping’ me all along, huh?” Anna asks, in the middle of turning and walking away. There’s no missing the bitterness and acid in her tone. “Play and de-virginize the virgin, huh? Congratulations then, you win.”

 

And with that, she walks away and doesn’t look back. In the background, she hears Jared calling out to her, repeatedly shouting ‘I can explain’. Anna shakes her head. She saw what she saw. There really is no need to explain.