All Mine

It’s Ingrid Harris’s first anniversary with her friends-turned-loves Ade Olatunji, Boyd “B. B.” Bigelow, and Choi Ye-Jun, but instead of being ecstatic, she’s drowning. How does Ingrid navigate what “having it all” truly means?  


Excerpt Chapter 2

*Trivia tonight?*

Ingrid truly wanted to decline. She was not in a place to pull up random facts while drinking beer and eating near the weight of her foot in fried foods. But that urge to be held by them, that came back with a mighty force, and that overruled whatever her dismay was about going out tonight.

*Be there in twenty.*

She brushed her teeth and changed her top just so she could feel a little cleaner before walking into the bar. The medicine hadn’t kicked in yet, but it felt as if it’d coalesced into a lead ball in the pit of her belly.

But she was about to get her hugs. That had to count for something. Many things. Everything.

She decided to use a ride-share service, not having the energy to hunt for parking. The smell of grease punched her in the gut, causing her to nearly bend over. She braced herself against the door, muttering an apology to a group of guys coming in behind her for blocking their way. Groaning, she shuffled inside and took the shallowest deep breaths to get her demeanor right. She didn’t need three overprotective mother hens hovering over her this evening.

Feeling as close to normal as she’d get within the next five minutes, transformed from a queasy-bellied zombie to a mostly human girlfriend for her lovers. She weaved through the myriad of bodies and tables until she spotted a familiar blond head toward the back corner of the restaurant. Ye-Jun spotted her first, his smile breaking his face wide open to the point she had no choice but to return it. He waved like a kid meeting his favorite theme park character for the first time, alerting B. B. and Ade she’d arrived. She suddenly felt like a spotlight had been put on her, making her belly flutter like butterflies with nerves, but the good kind. The welcomed kind. They became geese when Ade stood and walked to her, and only the bustle of the bar employees kept her moving forward instead of freezing in place at Ade’s intensity headed her way.

Jesus goodness, but her man was fine. They all were, but something about watching Ade approach had her knees growing week and saliva pooling in her mouth. She was ravenous, all right, just not for any kind of food. Ade was tall, his skin like ebony velvet, and a bone structure that wouldn’t look out of place on a billboard. The thick-framed glasses he wore made him look distinguished, like he could win Jeopardy based on looks alone. This sudden onslaught of lust was highly inconvenient, but welcome all the same. It kicked her exhaustion to the curb where she hoped it would stay for a while.

It took too long to reach him even though not even half a minute had passed. When his arms finally closed around her, Ingrid pressed her face hard into his neck so she wouldn’t burst into tears. He smelled like home, something a little chemical but also a lot like the woodsy-bergamot cologne he favored. She just managed not to nuzzle her face into his neck, but the kiss he placed against her temple had her sighing with relief.

“Hey, stranger.”

The sound that she made was reminiscent of a choking seal, but laughing and crying and the same time wasn’t an elegant enterprise. Nevertheless, she conceded his point by nodding her head and giving him a garbled, “Hi,” in response. For the past weeks, she’d awakened before her loves and went to sleep after they did, only able to see them via video chat or if they stopped by the laundromat with food during their respective lunch breaks to make sure she ate. This happened with much greater frequency when she was on the peninsula; but now that she was on James Island, it was a real, rare treat when she saw any of them in person during the day.

Well, clearly, at all.

This was the first time in a full month she’d attended a trivia night with them, the institution that had brought them together as friends in the first place. It was an important night, but this, like nearly everything else, had taken a backseat to her laundromat.

It was time to put her lovers in the shotgun seat again.

Author Savannah J. Frierson
Published February 2020
Publisher SJF Books
Story Length
Universe

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