Aubrey's Playground

:49:

"It's different with her, it makes me nervous because I haven't had this kind of feeling since Robyn. I haven't wanted to be next to a woman so much like this since Robyn." Aubrey said as he looked down at his phone then back over at Oliver. "I told myself I wasn't going to get like this ever again."

"Telling and feeling are two different things." Oliver said back. Aubrey went quiet and laid his head back. The hookah pipe still in his hand but no longer had an interest in it. "Speaking of. Where is she?"

"She's with her mother, she's in town visiting gave her the night off."

"But you didn't really want to."

"Is that selfish?..." Aubrey said looking over at Oliver.

He laughed and picked up his drink and took a long sip from it, he shrugged. "Like I said, the feeling is different than telling."

"I'm no longer interested in multiple women... flavors of the month... having subs... it's... it's not a thought anymore, it's about her and what she wants, she likes what I like, she enjoys what I enjoy, there's no second-guessing me." Aubrey stared off into space as he spoke his thoughts out loud for the first time, using Oliver for what he always used him for, a coming to terms situation. Oliver always had his best interest even when Aubrey didn't like what was for his best interest but Oliver was trusted beyond means.

"Not even with The Twins anymore?" Oliver questioned him out of curiosity.

Aubrey frowned. "No. Her and The Twins love one another. Her and Vic have this... thing going on."

"You allowed it?" Oliver asked.

"Absolutely, under my terms."

"They respect those terms?"

"They appreciate them." Aubrey replied.

Oliver nodded and took another sip from his glass. "And Liz?"

Aubrey frowned again, this time glancing over at Oliver. "Liz doesn't like women. She's a bit more... particular."

Oliver laughed. "She is. I forgot." He shook his head. "But does she like her?"

"She adores her."

"You think there could be potential jealousy?" Oliver asked out of concern, Aubrey could tell he was assessing the situation before giving his true thoughts on what was going on, he always did no matter the topic at hand. "I mean, you always had The Twins in a certain place and Lori seems to be taking over... everyone's place." He slowly said throwing out hints. Aubrey turned and looked at Oliver again, he was silent, his thick eyebrows creased downward in the center of his head.

"Jealousy has never been The Twins thing. They've always understood their position even when I was with Robyn they never showed jealousy. I wouldn't even know what it looked like on them." Aubrey said as he took another look off into space.

"How much does Lori know about Robyn?"

"Not much, she knows bits and pieces. She knows how important she was, how obsessed I was. I've told her stories here and there." Aubrey replied.

"And it's still different?" Oliver asked once again.

Aubrey chewed at the inside of his cheek as he thought to himself. "Very." He said looking down, holding his head low, he seemed to almost be ashamed as if he let Lori have the upper hand in a sense.

"You been hanging around Nessel too much." Oliver said laughing and shaking his head. "I didn't mean it in that sense. You seem to always forget that you and Chubbs are not the same person, you don't have the same outlook as he does... you try, but sadly you... yourself won't let you have it that mentality. You know Lori is different, you know your relationship with Lori is different but you try to talk yourself out of it, convince yourself that it's just like any other Dom/sub relationship you've had all because you don't want another Robyn situation and that right there leads into another problem, Robyn and Lori are two different people stop creating more problems out of past problems." Aubrey took a deep breath and slouched further down into the couch, he hated admitting when anyone other than himself was right but when the time came to give credit it had to be done. Oliver looked over at Aubrey and frowned. "That's not the problem. There's more." He said eyeing his best friend of over 10 years. Aubrey looked over at Oliver then looked down.

"For the first time in years, I had regular sex with a woman. I actually made love. Didn't tie her up, she wasn't tied to anything, no blindfolds, no direction, no force, pain. It was... just.... normal sex." Aubrey grew quiet, concerned covered his face, his expression grew nervous, he pinched his bottom lip between his thumb and index finger. "And I loved every minute of it, I loved it with HER."

Oliver smiled. "And there's the problem you created out of nothing. You found a woman that pays enough attention to you, the amount of attention you pay to everything and everybody, she pays it back to you! Enough so to give you vanilla sex and you love it. You don't understand, you don't get how it's possible..." Oliver went silent and continued to stare at Aubrey. "Now you understand why I married Nicole."

Aubrey went silent as he looked at Oliver. Everything about Lori made him nervous and everything about what Oliver was saying made him nervous. No woman had this kind of grasp over him, it had been years since dealing with Robyn and he told himself he'd never look back after their split, not because she was married and happy living a life that she always wanted a life that was the complete opposite of her supermodel lifestyle and the lifestyle Aubrey gave her but because the two of them weren't good for one another, instead of feeding off the positive traits they indulged in the negative aspects of one another. Something that Lori saw in Aubrey, a split second of his anger and she handled it and him properly, she never did things to trigger his anger demanding a response from him. She was easy to deal with without directions and that scared Aubrey, every woman that crossed his path needed some kind of direction, they needed some kind of outline, discipline. Lori, however, didn't need those things, yet on occasion she wanted him to give her those things.

"You telling me to marry Lori?" Audrey said chuckling trying to lighten the mood.

Oliver laughed with him. "I didn't say that. I said now you understand WHY I married Nicole. You understand where I was coming from when I confessed all that stuff to you and Nessel. You get it now. You have a Nicole."

"I'm not built for marriage. I'm not built for those kinds of commitment."

"You run a billion-dollar business! What do you mean!?" Oliver said laughing?

"Business prevails everything though, it's different."

"How is running and maintaining a business any different than running and maintaining a relationship?" Oliver asked.

Aubrey thought quietly to himself for a split second. "Shouldn't a relationship be effortless, it should come easy."

Oliver arched his right eyebrow. "You sure about that?" He asked. Aubrey began to second guess his reply. "If it was effortlessly and easy. Would you be ok with letting Lori go tonight? I mean letting her know none of this is working because you have hidden issues with past situations that are causing you to second guess yourself. Would you be ok with ending it at any moment?"

"No." Aubrey said quickly.

"You see how fast you said that. With all that said that means there's some maintenance that needs to be done in order for you to continue with your relationship with Lori." Oliver said and leaned back in his chair he swallowed the rest of his liquor and set the glass on the small table next to him. "Everything needs maintenance. Even things that are low maintenance."