Page 42 of Playing By Their Rules

He cuts a look to Chance—a meaningful look that I don’t miss.

And Chance looks miserable.

“What…what’s going on?” I ask.

Chance scrubs a hand over his whiskers. “We were with someone years ago. It’s not important.”

“Fuck if it’s not important,” Ethan says. “You’re still kicking yourself over it. Maisie, that other woman cheated on us, then blamed it on us, said we were abusers.”

I can tell, from the way he’s talking, that he didn’t give her accusation a second thought. But Chance—he looks wrecked.

“What we did was far from abuse,” I say. “I’m inexperienced, sure, but trust me, I wanted everything—everything—that you two did with me.”

“I know that,” Chance says. “On a logical level, I know it. But that whole sordid affair is part of the reason we have such strict rules. Safe words, only partners who are over twenty-five, enthusiastic consent, all of it.”

“And you picked age twenty-five because…” I have a guess based on what I learned in Ethan’s class, but I need to hear them say it.

“Because the frontal lobes have usually finished developing by that point,” Ethan says. “We didn’t want a young partner who could be swayed by impulsivity or do something she’d later regret.”

“I wouldn’t have regretted it five years ago,” I say quietly, cupping Chance’s scruffy cheek in my palm and turning his face toward me for a sweet kiss, “and I don’t regret it now.”

“You’re a miracle, Maisie,” he says, kissing me back and staring into my eyes with his deep brown ones.

Before the moment can get even more tender, the door unlocks and opens, and Mina steps in. “Hey, Mais—oh. Hi?”

“Mina,” I say, struggling to get out of my Chance-and-Ethan nest. “I’d like you to meet Chance and Ethan.”

She raises a single eyebrow.

I clear my throat. “They’re my boyfriends.”

Both of her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Boyfriends? Plural?”

I nod.

Ethan stands, and then Chance. They look so big in this tiny living room.

Chance holds out a hand toward Mina. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Smooth of him, to make it sound like he’s heard about her before. I feel bad for blindsiding them with this.

“Nice to meet you too,” she says, shaking his hand, then Ethan’s. “Haven’t I seen you around SEU?”

“Yes,” Ethan says. “We’re professors there.”

Oh, crappity-crap-crap. I hadn’t thought of this. I was just worried about her crushing on my crushes…not the fact that I wanted to be dating freaking professors at SEU while I’m a student. This is going to look bad if it gets out.

“Interesting,” she says. “Let me guess… psychology?”

The men exchange a look. They aren’t stupid, and they know what Mina is getting at.

“It isn’t against school policy,” I say quickly.

“You’ve already looked it up,” she says in a quiet voice.

“Well, yeah. I didn’t want Chance and Ethan to get in trouble.” I turn to the men. “I think Mina and I should talk alone. I hate to send you off, but—”

“We don’t mind,” Chance says, leaning down to kiss my cheek. Against my ear, he whispers, “But are you truly all right, mentally and emotionally?”

---