Chapter 271

“We need to talk about something else,” I said.

Things had calmed down after a few minutes. Not that we’d gotten wild or were sobbing or anything. And thank God I didn’t have another panic attack or anything. Now we were lying snuggled up and holding hands under the covers.

“Anything, Tiger,” Cassidy sighed. We hadn’t exactly come to a conclusion on the topic of how she felt about all of the relationship stuff deep down, but there wasn’t really a way to do that.

“Cattie is in it with us now, and I know you want her to move down with us,” I said. “And I think it would be amazing if that’s what she wants. There are logistics to figure out, but that’s small stuff. But we’re about to have a date with Becca, and she wants in too. We all know it. So what does that look like?”

“Well, you tell me,” Cassidy said, squeezing my fingers. “Do you want her to move in with us as well? Or is stuff with her going to be more slow-going, like long distance?”

“Well, that’s a question for her,” I said. “If I had my way though...”

“You’d want her with us too,” Cassidy guessed, and I nodded. “Same with Wanda. And I know, it’s the subject we’re not supposed to talk about because she’s not broken up with her asshole husband. But if we’re talking about planning for the future, we need to plan for her too. Wanda is going to want to move in with us. Long distance won’t be enough for her. That’s at least four of us, maybe five, and doesn’t even account for Ami or Leia.” She lowered her voice, getting a little closer to me so she was whispering. “Or Terra.”

“Cass,” I said.

“I know, I know,” she said. “But it’s another variable. Hell, we could include Zenya in that too even if it might not happen at all. Though the difference of planning for four and eight is a lot bigger than seven and eight.”

It was, quite honestly, a little disconcerting to consider that it would be easier to manage a poly relationship with over half a dozen women than it would be with three.

“So at least four of us together, almost certainly five, and maybe up to eight ... or nine,” Cassidy said.

“We’re gonna need a bigger bed,” I groaned.

“We’re going to need a bigger house,” Cassidy countered.

We had savings, but not savings like that. I made decent money at the Hotel, especially after my last promotion and raise, and Cassidy made about three-quarters of what I was right now. It would have been more - probably a lot more - if she dressed in more scandalous costumes but she’d always played it safe with that. We couldn’t afford a bigger place at the moment, just the two of us, and-

“Tiger,” Cassidy said, interrupting my thoughts. “Stop stewing and brewing. It’s logistics, we’ll figure it out.”

“OK,” I said.

“I don’t think we can talk any more about what the greater relationship looks like without others here,” she said. “Or knowing who wants what. I’ll just say that I’m excited to have Cattie with us because it’ll be like having a sister who I love in the house, and adding more than that is OK with me. We’ll figure the rest out.”

“Alright,” I agreed, thinking of the feeling of waking up with Cattie, Cassidy and Wanda in bed with me that morning. Of seeing Wanda in the dark of the room at the same time. God, I wanted that. “Then there’s one last thing before Cattie gets here,” I said.