“I hate to say I told you so,” Bailey said.She was curled up on Chloe’s couch, her blue-streaked hair pulled back in braids, her University of Indiana sweatshirt covered in crumbs from the breakfast biscuit she’d just devoured.
“But you’ll manage, I’m sure,” Chloe said drily from the other end of the sofa.
Bailey picked up her coffee.“This is why the sex worker was a better idea.”
“I’m not in love with them or anything,” Chloe protested.
“But you do have feelings for them.”
“Is that so bad?”Chloe contended.“I mean, shouldn’t you have feelings for the people you have sex with?”
“Ideally, sure,” Bailey conceded.“But there’s feelings and then there’sfeelings,and my guess is we’re not talking about the first kind, here.”
Chloe plucked at her breakfast sandwich, breaking off a piece of bacon.“I feel so good when I’m with them, you know?Like, really good.Safe and solid and just, I don’t know, right.Then I come back to the real world and remember how impossible it all is.”
“Why”
Chloe frowned.“Why, what?”
“Why is it impossible?Assuming they have feelings for you, too, that is.”
For her own sanity, Chloe shut that thought firmly out of her mind.“They’re married, Bailey.”
“To each other,” Bailey reminded her.“Nobody’s cheating on anybody.”
“I know, but…” Chloe shook her head.“Three people in a relationship?God, that just feels so complicated.”
“All relationships are complicated,” Bailey countered.“And you, me and Gwen are three people in a relationship.”
Chloe waved a dismissive hand.“That’s friendship, it’s different.”
“A little yeah, but not much.We still have to navigate needs and feelings, priorities and time.”
“But not sex,” Chloe pointed out.
“Doesn’t sound to me like sex is a problem with Knox and Jesse.”
“No,” Chloe admitted.“That part has never felt strange.”
“Do the non-sex parts feel strange?”
Chloe picked up her coffee, then set it down without drinking.“None of it feels strange.”
“Then why are you all twisted up in your underwear?”
Chloe fell back against the sofa cushions and closed her eyes.“Because I don’t know what to do.”
“Okay, let’s go over your options.One, stop having the sex in order to cut off the development of deeper feelings.”
Eyes still closed, Chloe frowned.“I don’t like that one.”
“Can’t blame you.Option two, decide that nothing can come from the feelings and any further sex will remain casual and non-feelings-related.”
Chloe wasn’t sure that was possible, but knew better than to say it out loud.“Okay.”
“And option three, tell Knox and Jesse you have feelings for them and want to keep having sex while exploring a romantic relationship with both of them.”
Chloe opened one eye to peer at her friend.“No offense, Bails, but all those options suck.”
