Title: Affection Multiplier App: The Boyfriend
By: BreaktheBar
Chapter 257
Cassidy’s question brought a long sigh out of me. “That conversation was… real,” I said. “She isn’t fully decided yet, and I—Look, Cass, don’t chase her down about this, OK? She pressed for the answer and I admitted that deep down I wanted her to be mine, but I also told her the truth—for all that I want her, I don’t know if she wants what a relationship with me would be. After JC, she wants loyalty and to feel special and wanted, and while I can try my best to give her the second two things, I can’t promise her loyalty. We left it at admitting we want each other, but she’s going to think about things more and talk to some of the others.”
“Robbie,” Cassidy grunted. “She’s completely smitten with you. How could you put questions in her head like that?”
“How could I not, Cass?” I asked. “We’re uprooting lives here. Two relationships are already trashed because I got involved—even if they were already going in that direction—and maybe I don’t want a third to go that way when there are real questions about if it makes sense for her.”
Cassidy sucked in a breath to argue with me, but Cattie stopped her. “He’s not wrong, babe,” she said. When I glanced over I could see Cattie had a hand on Cassidy’s knee and was looking at her intently. “Terra needs to go into things with eyes wide open. And Robbie is trying to do the right thing.” Then she turned to me and kicked me in the butt from her perch on the counter. “But that doesn’t mean you leave her hanging either, dummy. And I say that as your loving girlfriend. God, she must be absolutely mindfucked right now, Robbie!”
“She’s going to talk with Becca and Wanda,” I said. “And I think maybe she was comparing notes with Ami too during breakfast.”
“You need to tell her you love her,” Cattie said.
“I did,” I said. “I do.”
“Tell her again,” Cattie sighed. “Tiger, she needs you to reassure her that both sides of things are true. That you support her no matter what she decides.”
“Cattie, baby,” I said. “I know. That’s exactly what I did, and I think we would have left in a slightly closer space than we did if we hadn’t gotten interrupted by breakfast.” I sighed and shook my head. “It’s complicated.”
“But you do want her,” Cassidy said, not really asking. “You know she’s good for you in a way the rest of us aren’t.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“None of us are slouches, Tiger, but she’s an athlete. Like you. You’ll get lots of different things from all of us, and we’ll get things from each other, but if there’s one part of your life that I never really could be more than a cheerleader for you was your swimming,” Cassidy said. “Not to mention that you adore each other, and she’s totally my girl so having her around all the time would be almost as awesome as having Cattie around all the time.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I said. “Don’t worry. Let her have her time to process.”
“We will,” Cattie promised. “And I’ll make sure Cass doesn’t pressure her.”
“Hey!” Cassidy said, but after a look from me and Cattie, she sighed. “OK, fair.”
“Alright,” I said. “Change of topic—Cattie, my darling girlfriend, at some point Heather and your sister are going to emerge from their room over on the other boat. She can’t hide forever, and I don’t think anyone delivered them breakfast so at some point they’ll go feral or something if they keep hiding. When it comes down to it, what do you want me and Cassidy to do?”
Cattie grunted and looked away, taking a couple of breaths. “Cass and I talked about this a little bit too,” she said. “I think it’s best if you two don’t interfere, or maybe even are in view of it. And I know you want to support me and everything, but I don’t want it to be some big blowup. I don’t need to have a fight with her to get closure or anything. I’m just done with her, and giving her any extra fuel for the fire will cause more issues.”
“OK,” I agreed. “If that’s what you want.”
“I still think you should tear her a new one,” Cassidy said. “But I’ll hide myself away and only jump out if she puts her hands on you.”
“Is that something you’re worried about?” I asked.
Cattie frowned. “Like… two per cent chance of that happening? I really can’t see her doing that, but it’s not impossible. But if that happens then I’ll scream bloody murder and you guys will need to pull me off of her.”
“Good,” Cassidy grinned.
“Alright,” I said. “Anything else you need for that?”
“Just be available for after,” Cattie said. “I’ll probably need to cry.”
“Both of us, or just Robbie?” Cassidy asked.
“Both, please,” Cattie said. “My boyfriend and my best friend.”
“Done,” Cassidy promised, and I agreed.
With that out of the way, the heavy conversation melted into the girls commenting on how the lake looked—it wasn’t nearly as peaceful as it had been, with more boats out and the smooth-as-glass calm now gone for the day. Soon the girls were talking about catching some more sun, and I got a couple of deep kisses as they hopped down from the counter.
As soon as Cattie walked out of the cabin I had to stifle a snort and grin as I could only imagine her blushing when the girls started applauding her. Apparently, they had enjoyed the show.
I drove the boat in silence for a while after that, left to ruminate over things and start second-guessing all of my decisions. Thankfully Becca decided to trail closer to one edge of the winding lake and she found a small cove that looked like it would work for our purposes. I followed her in, and soon we were pulling the boats up close to a low, rocky beach and anchoring ourselves in the shallows.
If Cattie got into a real argument with Heather, I wanted to do what she asked and stay away. The problem, I knew, was that in my gut I didn’t want to do that. And now that we were more and more likely for her to make an appearance, I had to promise myself that I would do as Cattie asked.
* * *