Chapter 61

Of course, ASN ran the segment with limited editing in its first run so the rest of the sporting world caught the harsh exchange.

Meredith got inundated with calls seeking comment and the team issued a statement that any deal with the Athletics had only reached preliminary stages and that Brock Miller wasn't the cause of its collapse.

That didn't keep the news outlets from calling. Brock gave a helpless shrug at his publicist-slash-girlfriend whenever her phone beeped with a new call. Finally she issued a terse statement to all TV, radio and newspaper outlets that covered the team in which she reiterated what Brock had said on television and what the Dodgers had stated.

Then she turned off her phone.

"I want a raise," she said as she plopped beside her boyfriend on the couch.

"You aren't being paid," Brock mentioned. He had offered to put her on the payroll but she had said she thought it would be silly since their finances were intertwined anyway.

"OK, I want a rise then," Meredith corrected, putting her head on Brock's shoulder and her hand between his legs. "Yep, I'll settle for that. Let's go upstairs and work off some of my nervous energy."

Meredith had her clothes off and was reclining on the bed when Brock managed to make his way up the stairs. After almost four weeks on crutches, he still wasn't used to them. The cast on his foot left few positional options in the lovemaking department. Meredith was left to ride him like a cowgirl or sit on his lap. She was happy with either and she often made sure to do both.

Meredith's body was absolutely flawless, Brock decided. He loved to look at her, and not only when she was undressed. It took him a moment to get his own clothes off as he sat on the edge of the bed. He felt Meredith's lips on his back and shoulders as he lifted his shirt over his head.

"Hurry, lover," she whispered in a sultry voice.

Brock didn't have to be told twice. He only wore a pair of shorts on the bottom half of his body and his underwear came down at the same time.

"Sit back where you were," Meredith told him. When he complied, she shifted her body around and settled down with him nestled inside her. She didn't need foreplay that afternoon. She had been sitting with Brock's arm around her most of the day. That was all the foreplay she needed.

"I get excited when I'm taking care of my man," Meredith remarked as she started to slide up and down on Brock's pole. She loved the feeling of her nipples scraping against his skin.

"You take care of me pretty well," Brock agreed, his hands gripping Meredith's bottom.

"Umm, you take care of me pretty well," she echoed. Meredith continued her movements until her legs got tired.

"We have to find another way to do this," she said. "My legs are going to look like a Ukrainian weightlifter by the time that cast comes off."

"I should be OK if I keep on my knees," Brock suggested.

"Let's try," Meredith urged. "Just don't bang your ankle on the footboard again."

Meredith lay on her back and Brock slid between her legs as she guided him back into her wet opening.

"I missed have you on top of me," she said, her hands wrapping around Brock's neck and pulling downward to kiss her as her legs wrapped around his. "That's the way, Baby. Oh, just like that."

The pair had barely finished their coupling when they heard the front door open and close.

"Randi's home," Brock remarked, reaching for a sheet to pull across their nude bodies in case she came upstairs looking for them – which she did a few moments later.

"Geez, you guys were fucking again?" she asked. "I seriously need to get laid."

"So did I," Meredith joked. "So I got laid. What's stopping you?"

Randi frowned.

"Time, lack of inclination, few choices," she said. "You name it. It's just sort of tough to be around such a sexually charged atmosphere like the set and have to settle for my fingers when I get home – especially when home is just as sexually charged as the set. God, you two must screw like bunnies. You were doing it when I left this morning and you're doing it again now."

"What makes you think we ever stopped?" Meredith asked. "Seriously, we'll tone it down some if you're bothered."

"Oh, I'm bothered but not in that way," Randi said, smiling a little. "I don't want you to tone things down. You're happy how you are."

"We want you to be happy, too," Brock pointed out.

Randi nodded. She knew her friends cared about her.

"Maybe you could snuggle in with us tonight," Meredith suggested. "Nothing funny. Just cuddle up and sleep with us like you used to."

"That sounds fun," Randi admitted. "I miss that sometimes. That's what's weird about all of this. Nothing has changed in our relationship except I don't sleep with you anymore. We still act like we always did. We joke and we talk and we hang out together. I still love you both and you still love me. We just stopped getting naked together."

Brock considered Randi's statement for a moment. He realized she was right.

"Maybe we can talk about that in the morning," Meredith offered after thinking about what Randi had said. "I think we should all shower and then convene back here for some snuggling."

Randi nodded and headed down to where her bedroom was located. Meredith helped Brock wrap his cast in plastic to keep the water out, stopping periodically to play with his middle appendage.

"Behave," Brock said. "Otherwise Randi is going to finish her shower and come back her to find us at it again."

Meredith winked at him but pressed the last of the tape around the top of the plastic bag and stood.

"Race you to the shower," she said. Instead of running off, she leisurely walked into the bathroom and turned on the water while Brock was still getting his crutches under his arms.

"You seriously suck at that game," she joked when he appeared. She helped him hop into the shower and joined him under the spray.

"What do you think of what Randi just said?" she asked hesitantly. She didn't want Brock to think she wasn't completely committed to him but she also wanted to get his opinion on the subject.

"I think she's right," Brock replied.

"Do you think we should?" Meredith asked.

"Should what?" Brock wondered.

"Get naked with her from time to time," Meredith answered.

"What do you think?" Brock tried. He found Randi to be a very sexual being and he had enjoyed the times they had been together. But he had the same fears as Meredith.

"I don't know," Meredith replied. "I had fun with her. Well, you know that. You had fun with her, too. But at the same time, we know it won't work long-term."

"No," Brock agreed with a frown. "I also don't want to include her in our whole lives."

"She's already included in almost all of them anyway," Meredith pointed out. "We own the house here and the one in Arizona together. We're investors in her recording studio. She's a minority investor in the housing complex behind us. She eats dinner with us almost any time she's home and watches TV with us afterward. The only portion of our life that she isn't a part of us is the bedroom portion. And she used to be a part of that."

"So you want to try to add her to our relationship again?" Brock asked. He tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

"No," Meredith said instantly. "I don't want that. But it might be OK for us to have sex with her from time to time. I mean, us together, not one of us at a time. You and me with her. I'm just not sure. I want to help her out. I want her to be able to relieve her frustrations without getting into trouble but I just don't know if it's the right thing to do. I know for certain I don't want to risk what you and I have. Still, I don't want to see her get to the point where she picks up some random loser for a night or hooks up with a guy just because she needs to get off."

"True," Brock admitted. "Do you think that's what she was hinting at? You know, wanting to be in bed with us again?"

"Oh, yeah," Meredith said. "She's been hinting at it for a few days. I can understand her point. I went to visit her on the set last week. She's right. It's a sexual atmosphere."

"And you and I are always touching or playing with the other," Brock added. "Well, let's talk about it more tomorrow. For tonight, I think it's probably best if we try to keep our hands to ourselves."

"Yeah," Meredith agreed. "Let's get up early enough in the morning to all talk about this."

"Sounds like a workable plan," Brock said.

The night with Randi went far better than Brock had anticipated – as did the next morning's conversation.

Meredith broached the subject as tactfully as the situation permitted.

"Uh, we were sort of wondering where you might be looking for this whole thing to go," she told her friend as the three of them shared an early morning breakfast before Randi went to the studio for her seven a.m. call.

"As in: 'Do I think it's possible to go back to where we used to be?'" Randi asked.

"Pretty much," Meredith agreed.

"I don't think that's possible," Randi answered sadly. "I'm not sure we could have survived it much longer if I hadn't gone bonkers for a little while. I'm really not sure where I think it should go but I doubt we can go there."

"So you'd be content to just, I guess, have sex with us once in a while?" Meredith wondered. "I mean, without the emotional commitment."

"We already have the emotional commitment," Randi said. "That's what I meant last night. We're best friends. Not just you and me but all of us. We share a house. We share ideals. We share almost everything – except a bed at night."

"So you want it all?" Brock cut in. "I mean, you want the security of having us but the freedom to walk away when it suits you without causing hard feelings."

"God, when you say it like that, I sound like a total bitch," Randi replied. "The sad part is, I think you're right. The dynamics were always a little weird with us. I agreed to have Meredith along because I thought I wanted to be with you. You permitted me along because you wanted to be with Meredith. That's why it didn't work. I wasn't the only one who wasn't completely committed. In fact, I think Meredith might have been the only person who was completely committed."

"But that was when I was 16," Meredith said with a laugh. Neither Brock nor Randi joined her. "You get it? I went to the loony bin. I was committed. Ha, ha."

"Yeah, we got it," Randi said. "It just wasn't very funny."

"Well, I was trying to ease the tension a little bit," Meredith replied. "I had to use what I had."

"I'm not feeling tension," Randi said. "I understand where Brock is coming from. I saw it from his perspective a while ago."

"And I understand what Randi's saying," Brock added. "I agree with her assessment. I wasn't trying to be nasty or anything. I just wanted to know where everyone stands."

"Oh, sorry," Meredith said. "I'm usually the cranky one of the mornings. I thought I saw an argument brewing and I wanted to head it off."

"No argument from me," Randi said with a shrug.

"Nor from me," Brock added. "So, I was right in what you're looking for?"

"Pretty much," Randi said. "Although I wouldn't have phrased it that way. What I'm looking for is a way to relieve the frustration I feel from being around sex 20 hours a day. But I don't want to interfere in what's building here with you two. I don't want anything to get in the way of that – let alone me. I guess the question is if you two think you're strong enough together to add an occasional bed partner."

"That is the big question," Meredith admitted. "I think we are. I mean, so long as we understand the ground rules."

"What did you have in mind?" Brock asked.

"Well, like we talked about last night," Meredith answered. "You and I together at all times. We don't sneak off alone with Randi for a quickie – or even for a not-so-quickie."

"Yeah, I agree with that," Brock said.

"I think it can't be any other way," Randi put in. "I don't think I'd agree if that rule wasn't in place. What else?"

"Well, I know this is stupid, but I want it understood that Randi is the only one we do this for," Meredith said. "I mean, I don't want Melanie or Jennifer or Susan or Tara or anyone else showing up here and thinking it's cool for them to hop into bed with us."

"I hope that would be obvious," Brock said.

"I think it is but I thought I should be sure," Meredith told him. "It's probably stupid of me to even bring it up."

"You're not jealous of me," Randi stated. It was a statement, not a question.

"I'm not jealous of them either," Meredith replied.

"Well, maybe 'jealous' is the wrong word," Randi rejoined. "I guess 'threatened' might work better. You're not threatened by me. The others, I think you worry that someday one of them might decide to make a full run at Brock. At least one of them might try to use a threesome situation to eventually exclude you. I can see that."

"I can't," Brock declared. "That portion of my life is over with them. They're all moving on. I'm happy for them. None of them is going to come back and try to make a move on anything."

"Believe what you want," Randi said with a shrug. "You might be right. But it doesn't change the fact that all of them have at one point viewed you as an ideal partner for them."

"But that would include you, too," Meredith said. "So it really is moot. They've all lived within a few hundred yards of us for months and none of them have tried to sneak in. But in three or four years, if one of them finds herself single, I don't want her to expect the Randi treatment because she's horny. I wasn't speaking in the near future. I was more worried about down the road."

"Well, whenever, I agree totally," Brock concluded. "I have a rule I think we should consider."

"Sure," Meredith said. Randi nodded her agreement. She was amazed that the conversation had gone this far. She had believed that it would never even get started.

"Once Randi becomes intimate with anyone else, it has to end," Brock said. "I mean even casual intimacy – a hookup or whatever."

"I sort of thought this was to tide me over while I looked for someone I was compatible with," Randi remarked. "I mean, that's how I looked at it."

Brock shook his head.

"There is too much risk to me and Meredith," he said.

"Risk?" Randi wondered. "Like how?"

"Like STDs or something," Brock said.

"You think I'd bring something home with me?" Randi asked angrily.

"Not on purpose," Meredith interjected. "But I can see it happening before you realize it. No, I have to agree with Brock. I hope you do look for someone you like. I want you to be happy. But at the same time, I think we have to be extremely careful of how we handle this. If you were to meet someone you like and he might have something without telling you, it could create a host of problems for all of us. I'm not trying to be mean. But I have seen some of the people who are out there. Something like that could happen and we could all have it before you even realize that you do. Additionally, I hope you're looking for something more than just a sex partner. If you aren't, well, you could get laid in about a minute anytime you wanted."

"A minute is how long it would last, too," Randi said. "I guess I see your point. I know a couple of people who've contracted gonorrhea. I'll tell you if it looks like I've found someone I can transfer my affection to."

"Fair enough," Brock said. "One other thing I want on the record. This has to be an occasional thing. It's not every night or even every other night. There will be nights when it is fine for you to sleep with us like you did last night. There will be nights when it is OK for all of us to be naked together, as Randi puts it. But there are also going to be nights – the majority of nights – when it's just the two of us. Are you going to be OK if we tell you no?"

"I think so," she said. "I've been coping for the past couple of weeks. We're going to break for a month in late August, after the first 12 episodes are in the can. I think the network wants to make sure of the ratings and with the advertisers before they fully commit to a whole season. That will help because I'm going to work on my next album then. We'll shut down again in December then wrap up the season in February and March. I'll have time away from it periodically. But I hope you both will be receptive if I absolutely need something."