A Free Relationship

The doorbell rang, and Ethan answered the door. "Took you long enough, Seth."

Seth had already changed into a clean suit. His gold-rimmed glasses had been wiped clean, too. Last night, he'd pushed it into Maisie's body.

Seth smiled. "I got caught in some traffic on the way."

Maisie was still rooted to the spot when he entered the house. He nodded at her in greeting. "Hi, Maisie."

She was briefly taken aback but soon smiled. "Seth."

Ethan led Seth to the couch and told Maisie, "Mais, make Seth a cup of coffee."

Maisie felt disgusted when she heard him call her that. It was an affectionate nickname he'd used when they were madly in love, but it now made her feel like a snake had slithered all over her. She felt cold, icky, and uncomfortable.

"Mais?"

She scowled. "Can you mind your words? Don't call me that."

Ethan chuckled. "Fine. Could you please make Seth a cup of coffee, Ms. Stone?"

Maisie didn't want to spare either of the men another glance. She was no match for one of them when it came to being shameless and was no match for the other when it came to acting. Neither of them was better than the other.

She went to the kitchen, but it wasn't to make coffee. She just wanted some peace. The kitchen was the furthest from the living room, after all.

…

In the living room, Seth watched as Maisie left. He asked Ethan, "Did you two get into a fight again?"

Ethan chuckled. "Nah. She's just throwing a tantrum."

"I think Maisie's a great woman. Are you sure you want to go through with the divorce?"

"That's why I asked you to come, Seth. Can you help me draft a divorce agreement?"

Seth said, "You'd better think this through. With Maisie's looks and figure, plenty of people will fight to be with her once she's single. You'd better not regret it."

"No matter how delicious a dish is, you'll get sick of it after eating it for a long time," Ethan said breezily.

"Has she agreed?" Seth asked.

"She probably won't. She's on the traditional side and won't easily agree to a divorce if she's set on being with me. You've got to help me with this, Seth."

"How do you expect me to help?"

Ethan snickered. "How about you pursue her?"

Seth raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"

"I'm joking, of course!" Ethan laughed. "You're Gramps' only grandson, though. Stop being so focused on work and get married so you can give him a great-grandchild."

"Yeah."

Ethan suddenly narrowed his eyes at a spot on Seth's neck. "What is this?"

Seth pulled his collar tighter.

Ethan cried, "You weren't caught in traffic, were you? You were caught up with a woman! Come on! How could you not tell me you were involved with someone?"

Seth said, "It's not convenient now. I'll introduce you guys when the time is right."

"Alright, then. I'll introduce Felicia to you, too."

"Don't."

"Why?"

Seth cleared his throat."I should keep my distance."

Ethan chuckled. "She's your new cousin-in-law. What's there to be shy about?"

"It'd be inappropriate for us to be together."

"Tsk! Why should it bother you if it doesn't bother me?"

"Wouldn't you be bothered if Maisie and I were to be alone in the same room?" Seth asked.

Ethan looked like he'd heard a joke. "You know, you and Maisie are quite in sync when it comes to these things."

"What do you mean?"

"You're both so conservative, yet you like to make these jokes," Ethan said.

Seth smiled. "I can help you draft the divorce agreement, but you'll still need Maisie to agree to it. In other words, you have to make her give up on you."

"Yeah, I know. She was just bragging to me about having slept with another man last night. How's that even possible? You know how innocent and naive she is. She'd rather die than sleep with a stranger."

Seth rubbed the hickey on his neck and smiled without saying anything.

Ethan teased, "What's with the touching? Didn't you have enough fun last night?"

"Yeah, I didn't. She had to leave halfway to attend to something."

"Man, what a wildcat! She bites hard, doesn't she? I can see the bite marks."

Seth leaned back and said indifferently, "She's usually quite gentle, actually. Maybe it's because… the man she was with before never made her orgasm."