"Are we busy Saturday night?"
Beca watches from the other side of the dinner table as Chloe thinks about it and then consults her phone's calendar.
"Nope," Chloe says with a smile before setting down her phone in favor of her fork and the Thai-inspired stir fry they'd made together that evening. "What's going on?"
"I got invited to this thing." She knows she's being too vague. She should have been more specific to prevent further questioning.
"Ooh, what kind of thing?" Chloe asks with a curious waggle of her eyebrows before she takes a sip from her wine glass.
"A party. A birthday party," she amends.
Chloe perks up. (Not that she was un-perky before.) "Ooh, fun! Do you want to ask Aubrey if she wants to trade weekends?"
Beca glances at their daughter, oblivious to the conversation thanks to the joy of rice noodles. Sophie had commented more than once during their cooking adventure that the noodles looked like her own blonde waves and Beca knows they're still not clear of the possibility that one of them will be washing fish sauce out of her hair tonight.
"Uh, yeah, about that," she chuckles and nervously rubs at the back of her neck. "It's, uh...it's actually Aubrey's birthday party? So we'd need to find a sitter."
She sees the perkiness fade from Chloe's face. "You're going to Aubrey's birthday party?"
"You know we're trying our best to make this work," Beca says quickly and quietly, hoping to mend the tear before it frays out of control. "It's just a party. Amy rented out a whole club for the entire night. There's going to be a ton of people there. It could be fun. You know we have to try—" she glances at Sophie who smiles up at her just then with an enormous ball of noodles wrapped around her fork and chooses her words carefully. "It's for the best if we can all have a nice time together."
"Mommy's having a birthday party?"
Beca winces; she could have chosen a better venue to bridge this topic with Chloe, such as any venue where the daughter she had with her ex-wife wasn't in attendance. Her relationship with Aubrey had been sudden and a whirlwind, or more like a hurricane. She stormed into Beca's life and somehow they married, had a child, and divorced within five short years.
And now she has Chloe with whom, Beca realized way, way late but apparently not too late, she was always meant to be. She was dumb to not realize it earlier. Then again if she had, she wouldn't have married Aubrey, but then she wouldn't have Sophie, and she can't imagine life without her.
(The fact that Chloe and Aubrey had been best friends when they were all in college together had made for a lot of contentious conversations over the years.
Beca has always wondered if there was more to the contention than two best friends falling for the same person.)
"She is!" she answers. "But this one's for her grown-up friends. You're going to celebrate with her on her official birthday."
"Okay," Sophie says happily before refocusing on her noodles.
Beca's own focus shifts back to Chloe. The tension that had appeared in her features when Beca had explained the event has faded.
"I was just surprised I wasn't invited," she says, seemingly explaining herself. "What time on Saturday? I'll see if Abigail can stay with Soph."
Beca relaxes and offers a gentle smile. "She said you should come, too. I should have clarified. I don't think she intentionally didn't invite you personally; it came up when we were texting the other day. And she told me 9:00."
"So, 10:00?"
Beca can see the humor in Chloe's eyes and finds relief. "Yeah, make it 10:00." Chloe knows how Beca hates being first to any event whether a baby shower or a red carpet and something about that, as small as it is, makes her feel warm and fuzzy.
Inevitably, there are photographers waiting at all entrances to Aubrey's party venue when Beca and Chloe arrive; Beca even asks the driver to circle the block hoping to find a clear entrance to no avail.
Pushing through shouting photographers and blinding flashes, they walk hand-in-hand into the very upscale West Hollywood club Amy's commandeered for the festivities. They both take it with a grain of salt; after all, there's no such thing as bad press and Beca's been in the studio working on an album with a number one pop star and the sequel to Chloe's sleeper hit indie film is opening in a few months.
"Remember when we used to start our nights at midnight?" Beca asks over the music as they check out the lay of the land in the club. "It's barely 10:00 and I'd like being in bed right now just as much as this. Maybe more."
She means to be whining about how they're getting older; after all, they're at Aubrey's 35th birthday party. However, in classic Chloe fashion that makes Beca roll her eyes just as much as it makes her smile, Chloe leans close to whisper hotly in her ear, "I promise, you'd like being in bed right now a lot more than this."
"Keep it in your pants. We at least need to make an appearance before dragging me into a dark corner."
"Like I'd really have to drag you," Chloe says before pressing a kiss to Beca's cheek, followed by her neck. "And I'm wearing a dress, not pants."
Beca smirks to herself and slips her arm around Chloe's waist. They're still making up for a decade of lost time together and Beca is as wildly attracted to her now as she was when she was 18.
Dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Well, not that dumb. She was wildly attracted to Aubrey when she was 18, too. Aubrey was just the one that was brave enough to make a move. Beca can still remember the vitriol laced with sadness seeping from Chloe when she walked in on them kissing in Aubrey's hotel room in New York while traveling for a competition.
When she spots a few members of the cast of her current favorite TV show, Beca muses to herself how absurd it is that the three of them found the success they did. The indie movie about dragons (with questionable special effects) Chloe had booked to help ends meet in grad school had blown up far past the core audience of the readers of the book it was adapted from. She now has three more films lined up—more adaptations of books in the series (with better special effects). It had almost been a joke when she auditioned and now she was one of the biggest movie stars in the world.
Aubrey started with Lighthouse Television as an intern on their legal team. Seven years later, she had a corner office on the top floor. Four more years and a massive corruption scandal that she blew the whistle on, and she was running the entire network.
Of the three, Beca's the only one who planned to end up with the career she has today. But the fact that any of them have the careers they have at all is, she knows, more than a little unlikely. She remembers a journalist once asked Chloe what was in the water back at quaint Barden University.
When they finally find Aubrey, she's talking to several people Beca doesn't recognize but she can tell they all recognize her and/or Chloe by the looks on their faces as they approach.
"You guys came!" Aubrey says, interrupting her own conversation to leave the group and rush over to hug them, first Chloe, then Beca. She's wearing a sparkly black dress, fitted at the bust with a free-flowing skirt that stops a few inches above her knees. Her hair is down, save for the bit that's clipped back above her left ear, and for a moment, Beca remembers the things that made her fall for the woman all those years ago.
Beca feels her linger a second or two too long and eases out of their embrace. "Happy Birthday!" she says. "This party is amazing!"
"Oh, you know how Amy is," Aubrey says with a wave of her hand. "The word 'understated' doesn't exist in her vocabulary. Where are your drinks?" she continues, barely stopping to breathe. She's already tipsy; Beca can see it in the color of her cheeks and the way her shoulders aren't holding their perfect posture. "Let me get you a drink." Her hand is up and snapping before either of them can politely offer to fetch one themselves. "These two are my best friends," she says to the waitress who appears from seemingly nowhere. "Get them anything they want."
She and Chloe exchange a look at Aubrey labeling them as her best friends. They've been little more than strained acquaintances since Beca and Chloe got married, keeping up the bare minimum of civility required when co-parenting a child of divorce.
"What can I get you?" they're asked.
"Bourbon," Beca answers. "On the rocks."
Chloe eyes her and Beca knows what she's thinking: that she hasn't anything stronger than wine in a long time. They've both been so busy with work and family that nights out have been few and far between. "Vodka soda with a splash of cranberry," Chloe orders for herself and Beca gives her the same look.
Maybe they're both in dire need of a fun night.
Chloe shrugs in response and threads her fingers with Beca's.
"I don't mean to be rude, but I'm actually in the middle of a business conversation," Aubrey says with a glance over her shoulder at the group she abandoned. "Go enjoy the party. I'll find you guys later, okay?"
"Working at your own birthday party?" Chloe asks. Beca thinks there's more than a hint of judgment laced with the comment but Aubrey just nods in response before returning to her presumed colleagues.
"Come on," Beca says to distract Chloe from whatever weirdness is happening. "Dance with me." She gives her hand a tug to lead them toward the dance floor.
"But our drinks," Chloe says with a glance over her shoulder even though her feet are following Beca.
"She'll find us." Beca reels Chloe in close when they hit the polished black dance floor; she's determined to have a good time tonight. "Dance with me," she repeats and watches Chloe's distraction disappear.
Chloe's arms slip around Beca's waist to hold her just as closely. "It's been a while."
"Exactly," Beca says as she leans in to touch her lips to Chloe's as they fall into an easy rhythm together.
The waitress definitely found them.
Beca's hanging on to Chloe to keep herself upright as they laugh. She doesn't even know what they're laughing about but it's so hilarious she can barely catch her breath and Chloe's laughter in her ear sounds prettier than any song Beca's ever heard. Chloe runs a hand through her fiery curls and it stirs up her perfume. It draws Beca in like a magnet and her lips are on her neck while Chloe continues to laugh.
Not that Beca minds. A happy Chloe is the most attractive Chloe there is and Chloe's hands are moving over Beca with possessive purpose. Parties like this, full of "industry people," are the only places they're safe to act like themselves. They can't go to a regular bar on a normal night without causing an uproar, let alone feel each other up on the dance floor without angering their publicists with tabloid photos and trending on Twitter or becoming a meme.
She never got that freedom with Chloe; Beca was already walking red carpets when they finally found each other. Their entire relationship, they've had to do their best to be "appropriate" (whatever that means) in public.
Tonight, though, Beca's teeth nip at Chloe's neck playfully when she feels Chloe's fingertips slipping under the waistband of her black pants to tease her.
"What are you doing?" Beca asks before lifting her head to kiss Chloe instead of letting her respond.
"What does it feel like?" Chloe mumbles against her lips before cutting off any follow-up questions by giving Beca's tongue something better to do.
She loses track of time after that. She can feel the edge of the bar digging into her back as Chloe presses against her like she can't get close enough. They haven't stopped kissing except for the brief moments needed to breathe or down their very, very strong drinks that keep appearing on the bar behind Beca without anyone asking for another. Chloe's managed to undo at least three buttons on Beca's white blouse and Beca is grateful that she isn't wearing a front-clasping bra because if she was, she knows Chloe would undo it and people would really get a show.
Even so, Chloe knows exactly what she's doing and how to touch Beca to have her teetering on the sharp edge of climax without having to unbutton her pants and Beca's having to fight off the orgasm Chloe's managed to drive her to. Not because she doesn't want to come, but because she doesn't want to come in a room full of people. At least, not tonight.
Her eyes flutter open when Chloe shifts her attention back to Beca's neck and in the strobing, flashing lights of the club, Beca notices Aubrey a few yards away. She's not sure why she noticed her of all the people in the club in the two seconds her eyes were open. Maybe it was because Aubrey's eyes were already on her. Or them? Watching.
Maybe it's the bourbon, but something about that manages to turn Beca on further. The hint of jealousy she can read. The memories of the times she and Aubrey were all over each other in a club under the shield of anonymity. The way she was always able to crack Aubrey's resistance to risky behavior and have a lot of fun together over the course of their hot, heavy, and tumultuous relationship.
And it's not like the divorce magically made Beca's attraction to her disappear overnight. Sure, it has waned over the years. It's hard to notice anyone else when Chloe's in the room.
She still notices Aubrey, though, and makes a point of guiding Chloe away from her neck to give hers the same treatment. Aubrey doesn't look away; in fact, a hint of a smile touches her lips when Beca holds her gaze while her tongue glides along Chloe's skin.
Beca's too slow to react when Chloe pulls away, intent on kissing her again, when she notices Beca's eyes aren't closed. Or even trained on Chloe.
"Who are you looking at?" Chloe asks, slurring a little as she turns to follow Beca's gaze.
"No one," Beca says. She knows she maybe should panic when Chloe spots Aubrey, at least a little, but the bourbon and lust are sitting so warm in her belly and brain that she just kind of smiles as she says it.
When Chloe turns back to her, she looks a little sympathetic. "She's really beautiful."
"You're beautifuller," Beca says as she tries to lean in for another kiss.
"Wait, wait," Chloe giggles, though her question is serious. "Is there a tiny part of you that still wants her? You can tell me, you know. I trust you." Her hands are still moving, caressing Beca's face and neck and the bare skin of her chest where her shirt is open.
"I want you." Beca grins and pulls her close, words spilling out without thinking. "I want you...and her."
It's the bourbon. It's definitely the bourbon. And the arousal throbbing between her legs. A flash of regret zips through her when she realizes what she said. It wasn't something she'd ever thought about until 30 seconds ago.
"Right?" Chloe says after a surprised silence. Her smile looks devilish before it's kissing Beca again. Then she's turning to wave at Aubrey. "Hey! Come here! We need you!"
Beca doesn't know if Aubrey can hear Chloe but she crosses the room anyway, tottering a little on her heels with a drink in her hand.
Beca can't help it. She can't help but stare at her ex-wife and remember how every inch of her skin tastes and feels and the way her voice sounds when she—
"Hi," Aubrey says with an easy smile.
Beca's not sure who brought whom to the club manager's office but Chloe's closing and locking the door behind them when Beca feels Aubrey's hand on her lower back.
She also doesn't remember a discussion happening. She remembers replying to Aubrey's, "Hi," with a "Hey," of her own and now she's standing by while Chloe and Aubrey seem to size one another up with a level of heat and intensity that shouldn't exist between two former best friends.
Chloe glances at Beca who just nods, because whatever this is, whatever is happening, she wants it to continue.
And then her current wife is leaning in to kiss her ex-wife.
It shouldn't be hot; she ought to be angry or jealous but instead, she bites her lip to stop the moan that wants to escape just from watching Aubrey tilt Chloe's head to slip her tongue into her mouth. If Beca's underwear weren't already ruined from Chloe's advances earlier, witnessing that would have done it.
And Beca thinks Chloe would have every right to be angry or jealous when the kiss ends and Aubrey turns toward Beca, but instead, Chloe's hand is on the back of Beca's neck, guiding her right into Aubrey's kiss with a look of excitement.
She'd almost forgotten what it felt like to kiss Aubrey. She was a precision kisser, calculated even in their wildest moments, always working to make Beca's toes curl and this is no different. Her tongue teases over Beca's with skill and familiarity that makes it easy for Beca to shake off the last vestiges of hesitation about what's about to happen.
What is already happening.
She's barely getting used to it when the hand at her neck guides her away from Aubrey and pulls her into Chloe.
Unlike Aubrey's precision, Chloe's kisses are wild and barely contained, always walking the line of passionate sloppiness without crossing it (well, sometimes she crosses it when they really get going). She feels a third hand on her back, and then just two again, as a third tongue slips its way somehow into their kiss.
It's not like Beca's never done this before. She and Chloe have what Beca feels is a very active, adventurous, healthy sex life. They've taken a woman on a date, intentions and possibilities known and agreed to by all, and brought her back to a luxury hotel room (because they would never bring a stranger into their home) for sex. Not because they were bored with each other, but to the contrary: they wanted to see how wild and daring they were comfortable getting.
She thinks, foggily as she bows out of the triple-kiss to re-introduce herself to the way Aubrey's neck feels under her tongue to let Chloe and her get used to each other, that having a ménage à trois with her former and current wives is pretty damn wild and daring.
There are hands on her, out of synch in their missions but familiar in their confidence. There's one on her ass and she knows it's Aubrey's. There's another in her shirt, somehow fully unbuttoned now, holding her breast and she knows it's Chloe's.
Her own hands are roaming and long to touch Aubrey in places she hasn't in so many years. It's automatic to reach for and find the zipper at the back of her dress and, to her surprise, there's already a hand there.
The fact that it's Chloe, and that Chloe is on the same page, makes her dip her other hand right between Chloe's legs, under her dress, to press against her.
She hears Chloe's soft moan and feels Aubrey react to it (or to the fact that they're both unzipping her dress), the hand on her ass gripping harder. Beca has to look because there's no way this is happening (right?) and she eases back from sucking on Aubrey's neck long enough to see that she's found her wife's chest and is quite actively toying with Chloe's nipple, which is so hard Beca can see the details through her dress even in the dark of the room. It makes her mouth water.
She needs four hands and two mouths. That's the only way this night isn't going to be a constant battle of satisfaction versus frustration.
At the very least, they need to not be standing in the middle of the room. She's about to push them toward the large sectional couch along the far wall when Aubrey starts to pull both of them in that very direction.
Aubrey lands first and she pulls Chloe down with her to resume a kiss that Beca knows, from first-hand experience, is surely melting both of them. Beca follows, everyone shifting further backward, and molds herself to Chloe's back, chin hooked over her shoulder to watch them.
She lets her hands move over Chloe, over her chest to feel for herself how hard her nipples are, down to her waist and hips and thighs to notice that Chloe's landed with her knee between Aubrey's, straddling her thigh as she kneels.
It's quite a show, Beca thinks, watching them kiss. They kiss like they've been waiting to kiss for years.
Beca would know. She's been that person.
And she has a front-row seat to it as she clings to Chloe's back, chin on her shoulder as her arms frame Chloe's hips as her hands rest on Aubrey's thighs. She can feel Chloe's restlessness, shifting and twisting every few seconds that is a clear tell that she is starting to get desperate for touch. Chloe getting turned on by Aubrey turns Beca on even more. She can't help but bite at Chloe's shoulder, bare next to the strap of her dress.
Aubrey's eyes flutter and their eyes meet before they're closed again, Aubrey whimpering as Chloe's entire body shifts forward to press closer. It makes Beca reach for Chloe to flatten her palm and run it under the hem of the top of her two-piece dress. She feels Aubrey's hand skate over her own to run up Chloe's body until it's shifting to reach for Beca. Her hand finds Beca's face and cradles it as Beca's mouth shifts to Chloe's neck.
She can feel Aubrey's fingertips as they trace her hairline, the edge of her ear, the line of her jaw, the softness of Beca's bottom lip until her finger is slipping into Beca's mouth.
It makes Beca moan and she takes Aubrey into her mouth, lips traveling to her knuckle before she pulls back, sucking as she goes. Her hands move up over Chloe's ribs until Beca's hands are over her breasts. She squeezes and Chloe's reaction is to kiss Aubrey more deeply, the two of them moaning.
But Aubrey retreats, pulling back from Chloe's kiss enough to get her attention and turn it toward Beca with a tilt of her chin. Chloe turns to look just as Aubrey's finger slips from Beca's lips. Beca feels the tip of it under her chin, guiding her up to kiss Chloe—not that she needed guidance—who kisses her hungrily.
Aubrey's hands are on Chloe and Beca knows it. Their hands are crossing paths as they both reach for her, grazing at her chest and bumping at her hips.
"Please," Chloe whispers against Beca's lips as they kiss. She doesn't say what she wants, but she doesn't need to. Beca pulls and pushes at her hips until she gets the hint and turns, falling back against Aubrey whose arms immediately encircle her. Beca takes a step back for a second, just to watch as Aubrey's hands push Chloe's top higher and higher until her bra is exposed, as Chloe tilts her head back so she can find Aubrey's mouth, how Aubrey's legs part so Chloe can sit between them.
Chloe's hands reach out toward Beca and Beca makes her wait, just for a moment or two, until Chloe whines and drops her hands, one to Aubrey's thigh and the other two her own. It quickly moves up Chloe's thigh and Beca's about to reach for it and stop her from getting too far when Aubrey does it for her.
She looks up to find Aubrey watching her, still kissing Chloe as she pulls Chloe's hand away from herself with audible protest. It makes Beca reach for Chloe, hands skating up her thighs to hook her fingers into the waistband of her thong and pull it down her legs and past the heels Chloe is still wearing.
It takes the last ounce of self-control Beca has to not immediately reach between Chloe's legs. Instead, she moves up, dropping kisses over Chloe's bare stomach and the swells of her breasts where Aubrey's hands are, to Chloe's throat and chin until her mouth is on Beca's instead of Aubrey's.
Chloe's entire body rolls with their reconnection, or maybe it's because Aubrey's hands are at her back unhooking her bra. She feels Chloe's repeated plea against her lips more than she hears it, but Aubrey definitely hears it. Chloe's suddenly being pushed toward Beca, guided until they're both upright and on their knees. Beca blindly pulls Chloe's loosened bra away and the top of her dress being removed interrupts their kiss for a second only to resume with even more fervor.
Beca can feel Aubrey moving and with a brief glance, sees her on her knees as well, behind Chloe so close as she kisses Chloe's neck just inches from Beca. She can feel Aubrey's hands moving between them; they're on Chloe, on her stomach and on her breasts, but Beca's so close that they're touching her, too, and her impatience gets the best of her.
She stops drawing out the foreplay and skates her hand up Chloe's thigh under her skirt until it's between her legs.
Chloe's mouth slips away from Beca's with a startlingly loud moan and Beca can feel just why that is. Chloe's so wet that it actually takes Beca a second to feel more than just slick wetness beneath her fingers.
"Fuck," Beca exhales. She savors it, her own breath catching when she feels how swollen Chloe is. When she opens her eyes she's expecting to see Chloe's face but instead, it's Aubrey's. Her eyes are dark and fixated on Beca's. Beca's compelled to lean forward and kiss her and she knows Aubrey wants the same. They try, but with Chloe between them, they can't quite reach one another. Instead, they stare until Aubrey's eyes fall closed and there's another, this time surprised, moan spilling from Chloe's lips.
Chloe's head lolls back to rest against Aubrey's shoulder and she looks down her nose at Beca, nothing but wild lust in her eyes before her hips rock forward. It pushes Beca's hand further between her legs and it's Beca's turn to moan. Her fingers bump into something she hasn't felt between Chloe's legs before: Aubrey's hand.
Specifically, she can feel where Aubrey's fingers disappear into Chloe as Aubrey reaches her from behind.
It's an out-of-body experience, really. To be sharing her wife with the woman with whom she used to share so much. With whom she still shares so much.
She and Aubrey had never done something like this, not with a third person. They'd been young and wild but in a different way than she and Chloe are.
"Oh, my God," Chloe says through another moan as Beca feels Aubrey's fingers start to slip in and out. Her hips follow and the motion spurs Beca's own fingers into proper action.
Her fingertips press against Chloe and move in the way she knows can drive Chloe over the edge in a few short minutes. It isn't that she wants it to end quickly, but she's overwhelmed by the need to make Chloe feel good, to help Aubrey blow Chloe's mind.
Hands grab at and touch Beca all over; she can't keep track of whose hands they are and she doesn't care to try. She's too busy fucking Chloe with Aubrey,
She loses herself in it, the cadence the three of them fall into, fingers and hips moving in a coordinated, if frantic, rhythm. Hands clutch at her hips and she knows Chloe's close and fighting it. Beca opens her eyes to watch it happen and she meets Aubrey's gaze first as Aubrey's lips and tongue move across Chloe's shoulder to her neck to her ear.
Beca sees the words Aubrey whispers in Chloe's ear more than she hears them; it's difficult to hear over Chloe's voice and their empathetic answering moans.
Chloe comes with a wanton cry, one hand gripping Beca's wrist between her legs, the other clutching the back of Aubrey's neck.
It's a beautiful sight and for a moment, Beca thinks she could come, too, right there, from watching Chloe's experience and sharing in it with Aubrey.
Aubrey, who's staring at Beca with a look she hasn't born witness to in years. A look that Beca's never forgotten and neither has her body if the way the ache between her legs spikes in intensity because she knows what it means.
Chloe's still coming down from her high, half-collapsed against Aubrey when Chloe mumbles a breathless, "That was so hot," followed by a whimper. A few seconds later, Beca notices Aubrey has her own fingers in her mouth and Beca knows they're the same fingers she's just withdrawn from Chloe.
Chloe, in her uber-relaxed state, slumps to the side and Beca and Aubrey help to slow her collapse. They've barely finished getting her situated when Aubrey's surging forward to kiss Beca.
It makes Beca's head spin. Aubrey tastes like Chloe and she moans into the kiss as Aubrey's hands start to undress her. Her shirt, already unbuttoned, is pulled down her arms, followed by her bra.
She doesn't remember when her pants had been unbuttoned but they're already loose around her hips when Aubrey's pushing them down. They don't make it far, still on her knees as she is, but Aubrey's solution to that is to grab Beca's hips and turn her to trade places.
"Up," Aubrey says against Beca's lips and she doesn't understand until her ass hits the back of the couch. It's deep enough that Beca is able to slide onto it to sit and as soon as she's seated, Aubrey's working her pants past her knees.
At the same time, Beca feels her heels be slipped off though Aubrey's hands are definitely on her pants and she glances down to see Chloe, though still dreamy-eyed, has come back to herself and is helping Aubrey undress Beca.
Two different hands pull at her underwear and Beca knows she's about to find out just how hot it was for Chloe to have the two of them fucking her. She feels dizzy and digs her nails into the edge of the couch and leans back against the wall, almost fearful of passing out because her heart is beating so quickly.
She already knows what Aubrey is going to do; the look she'd given Beca was her warning and she watches as Aubrey guides her thighs apart and gets onto her own hands and knees to be able to put her tongue on Beca.
It feels like it's in slow-motion as Aubrey's pointed, purposeful tongue draws a line between her legs, moaning as she does so.
It makes Beca's jaw drop and her hand fly to the back of Aubrey's head, fingers twisting into soft blond hair she hasn't held this way in so many years. She's sure she makes some kind of sound, probably a sound she'd be ashamed of in any other scenario. It hasn't even finished escaping her lips when Chloe's mouth is on hers.
She moans again, senses quickly overwhelmed by the dormant memories of how Aubrey used to make love to her roaring back to real life and Chloe's wild, passionate kisses that seem to be as reassuring as they are purely sexual.
There are hands at her breasts and they aren't moving in sync. One caresses while the other squeezes. One pinches while the other pulls.
She has to tear her mouth from Chloe's to try to catch her breath but it offers little reprieve; Chloe's lips drop to Beca's chest instead to suck hard. She glances down and regrets it instantly because Aubrey's hand is tangled in Chloe's hair, pushing her mouth to Beca's breast just as Chloe's hand covers Beca's to push Aubrey closer.
It sends her over the edge without warning, gasping for breath as she shudders. She can hear Aubrey moaning; she'd always gotten off on making Beca come, and she wonders if she's touching herself and coming. Or if Chloe's touching her. Or if she's coming just from the intensity of the moment like Beca nearly did.
It's the last coherent thought she has before she can't think any longer.
She's still trying to recover when she feels Aubrey disappear from between her legs. She whines at the loss and starts to protest when she sees the reason for her absence: Chloe's pulled Aubrey away by her hair and is pulling her—not gently—back up to her knees until she's claiming her mouth.
All Beca can do is watch; she's too spent to do anything but watch as Chloe kisses Aubrey deeply. As Chloe's hand disappears between Aubrey's legs. As Aubrey's head tips back with a groan.
They quickly lose themselves in each other but they don't forget about Beca. Aubrey's hand, the one not holding on to Chloe, roams Beca's body. Chloe's hand is on her thigh, just holding on as though she's keeping Chloe from floating away.
Maybe she is, Beca thinks as, mind still hazy, she notices her hand is between her own legs.
She notices it almost distractedly, like an afterthought, that she's touching herself while her wife and her ex fuck right next to her.
There's no room to care about modesty or feel ashamed. She's still so turned on that she has to press hard to get any friction against herself. Soaked in the same way Chloe was—and probably still is.
Aubrey and Chloe's voices sound so good together, she does manage to note, and she focuses on them. It's too difficult to keep her eyes open to watch so she listens. She listens to Aubrey's increasingly desperate moans, to Chloe's sighs and words of encouragement, to the unmistakable sounds of wetness—her own and Aubrey's. She feels Aubrey's fingers tugging on her nipple and Chloe's nails on her inner thigh. Feels her own fingers on her clit.
She hears how close Aubrey is and, unexpectedly, how close Chloe is as well.
Chloe had been the sole giver when Beca had closed her eyes and she has to open them to see what's happening, to see the way Aubrey's hand moves between Chloe's legs and how their hips buck as they ride each other's fingers.
It yanks Beca right to the edge just as they climax and her own rushes through her in tandem with theirs.
All she can register beside her ecstasy is how good they all sound together. Just like they used to.
Beca is still drunk.
It's the first thing she notices when she wakes up. She's also thirsty and feels like she needs a shower.
It's also far too early to be awake—it's still dark—and she turns over to move in closer to Chloe, warm and soft next to her.
She's just drifting off again when there's movement behind her and an arm slipping around her waist followed by lips on the back of her shoulder.
Her mind is foggy and it takes a few seconds to register that it isn't Chloe because Chloe is in front of her, not behind. Then she catches a whiff of familiar perfume.
The memories of last night surface and though Beca thinks she should probably be horrified or embarrassed, she's instead filled with a kind of warmth and she moves her foot backward to slip between Aubrey's.
The next time she wakes up, the bedroom is alight with the orange glow of dawn. She's no longer drunk and she's awake and is alone with her thoughts and memories until she feels Chloe stir.
She's awake, too, and wiggles until she's turned over to face Beca. "Morning," Chloe says with a sleepy smile. For a moment, Beca wonders if Chloe remembers what transpired the night before until Chloe asks, "How are you?"
"I'm good," she replies. And she is, Beca thinks. She's okay with what happened. It was a wild, drunken encounter between three consenting adults, all of whom trust and care for the others. "Are you?"
Chloe beams at her, even through her hangover, and nods.
"Oh, my God, my head is pounding."
The voice startles Beca as it breaks their whispered conversation. She cranes her neck to look over her shoulder at Aubrey sitting up next to her, one hand holding the sheet to her chest, the other clutching her forehead.
"I can make coffee," Chloe says helpfully and starts to move but Beca touches her hip to tell her to stay.
"It's okay, I'll do it." She's been awake long enough that the threat of physical movement causing instant nausea has lessened.
She detangles herself from the sheets to crawl off the foot of the bed; there's a familiar graze of fingertips across her shoulder and it stirs bittersweet nostalgia within her. It's only when she's on her feet and turning back while she tugs a T-shirt over her head to face what's in her bed that the gravity genuinely sets in. She's out of bed, out of the bubble, and she feels it pop.
She slept with her ex-wife last night.
So did her wife.
Nausea rushes her and she thinks she might gag but her reaction to the stress is interrupted by the pounding of a tiny fist on the door.
"Mama!"
"Shit," Aubrey hisses, suddenly coming back to life as she scrambles out of bed.
"Just a minute, sweetie!" Chloe sing-songs and Beca can hear the panic in her voice.
Beca feels stuck and her brain is struggling to process; she doesn't know what will happen if Sophie walks in to find her Mom, Mama, and Mommy having a sleepover together.
"Can I lock the door?!" Aubrey whisper-shouts as she frantically searches for items of her clothing to get dressed.
"Yes, you can lock the door!" Beca manages to say, brain beginning to work and feet starting to move to find shorts to put on.
"It wasn't already locked?" Chloe asks from the bed she's making while she's still in it.
Aubrey's running around so quickly, Beca's not sure she won't set the floor on fire. "Aubrey, she can't see you; slow down."
"I'm supposed to pick her up for our trip to the aquarium in—" she looks at a phone she finds on the floor—"five minutes!"
"In your dress from the party?" Chloe asks as she crawls out from under the covers and to the end of the bed.
"Walk of shame, I guess," Aubrey says she tries to shove her arms into the sleeves of her dress that's on backward.
"Oh, my God, here," Beca says as she finds and hands Aubrey another of her tees.
Aubrey looks at it and frowns. "Budweiser? Really?"
"Turn it inside out."
"You know, there's no shame in—" Beca starts but Aubrey cuts her off.
"I'm going to go around the back and ring the doorbell, okay?" she says, already heading for the sliding glass door. "Crush some aspirin and put it in my coffee? I'm dying."
"Yeah, sure," Chloe says from her spot on the bed. She's eating a piece of cake and Beca does a double-take. She has no idea where she got cake from.
"Savior," Aubrey says before she disappears, still holding her heels instead of wearing them.
"Mom!" Sophie shouts again.
"Just a sec, sweetheart!" Beca calls in response as she starts toward the door, only to stop and look at Chloe, naked in bed eating mystery cake with a smile. "Are we...fine?"
Chloe shrugs and sucks the frosting off the tines of her fork. "Why wouldn't we be?"
Beca makes a mental note to circle back on this situation once they're both clear-headed and pulls open the bedroom door just as the doorbell rings. "Good morning, my big girl!" she says as she reaches down to lift her daughter and hug her good morning. "Did you hear the doorbell? Mommy's here! Let's go say 'hi'!"
Aubrey looks impossibly flustered when Beca opens the front door and, she realizes, the morning panic was unnecessary. It's not as though Sophie is old enough to understand what a Walk of Shame looks like or what it even meant for Aubrey to spend the night with Beca and Chloe.
"Morning," she says with a smirk as she hands her wiggling-with-excitement daughter to Aubrey who immediately showers her face with kisses.
Aubrey doesn't quite make eye contact, instead choosing to stay focused on making Sophie giggle.
"I'm making coffee." The words drift past them as Chloe makes her way to the kitchen. "You're welcome to join us for a cup," she adds.
Aubrey does meet Beca's eyes then as if questioning the invitation, or maybe asking for permission.
"Come on in," Beca says after a beat, stepping aside to let Aubrey [back] into their home.
She doesn't understand what transpired between them. Maybe she isn't supposed to. She doesn't regret it, at least not yet. It was fun. It was hot. And Chloe actually inviting Aubrey [back] into their home this morning and not being upset is a relief. Their long-held and only-somewhat thinly veiled contempt for one another has been exhausting for Beca to navigate and, at least for the moment, seems to have evaporated.
Beca can't say she minds as she closes the door to join them in the kitchen.
It would be kind of nice to have Aubrey around more without the tension.
And if there was tension...Beca thinks as she watches Chloe tease Aubrey by tickling at her lower back...they have a pretty good way to relieve it.
The End