In a open relationship

Chapter 22

Sarah and I are pacing up and down in the living room whilst Ethan is sitting on the couch with his face buried between his legs, we are all certain about one thing and that is by the time tomorrow comes we are toast .

none of us is saying anything , Ethan keeps clicking his tongue , " we need to come up with a solution there is no use pacing up and down like that is going to help us " Sarah says .

" isn't that what we are doing ? " Ethan glares at her from the corner of his eyes .

" don't you dare try to take your anger out on me , I didn't ask you to beat the poor guy up " she snaps back at him .

" why did you let him touch you like that ?! , what did you expect me to do sit around and pretend like I don't see anything ?!".

"I watched you hold Lauren's hand right before my very eyes , I didn't beat her up did I ?, just so you know I allowed him to touch me on purpose I wanted you to know how it felt being in my shoes for even just a second - acting to be in love with another woman right before my very eyes. how stupid of you " she folds her arms sneering .

" do you have any idea how hard I worked to get where I am today ?, to be respected and held at such a high esteem ?"

" maybe what happened tonight was a good thing , lying is never a good thing , I feel suffocated being the third wheel, being hidden like I'm some sort of embarrassment,I can't tell anyone about you ,I can't even post on my Instagram about us ,  this woman is literally living my life and honestly I couldn't care less about your fake reputation , if that's what you care about more than maybe I am in the wrong place !" she shouts .

" what did you just say ?" Ethan lifts his head slowly to look at her .

" I said I don't care about your image or whether you are the richest man in the country or the world if you don't value me enough I will find someone who will and you already know that won't be too hard for me , I can just date the surgeon at the hospital or pick poor Hendry ,you better stop trying to blame me for your rubbish , I thought you have grown up by now , 5  years is a long time " she turns on her heels and heads upstairs , each step is as loud as a nail being hammered into steel .

'What the heck was that ?', Sarah knows the kind of hold she has on Ethan that's why she is the way that she is.

Ethan watches her as she disappears ,  burying his head in his hands .

I'm not getting involved, I watched him as he groans in frustration, he is torn between his family's reputation and his obsessive love , I don't know which one he cares about the most , I also turn to leave to my room without saying goodnight because I doubt he will respond .

" and where are you going ?" his tone is stale .

I stop in my tracks , " to sleep " 

" you are also going to turn on me ?" he huffs , " should've figured " he nods to himself.

" no I am not turning on you I just .... don't know what to say , Mrs Dandy said it herself she is not a highschooler , a lot of people were there , they witnessed everything , you cannot go back in time and reverse everything or make them unsee what they saw , the news is already spreading as we speak so " I shrug .

" stating the obvious ,how helpful " he says .

My eyes linger on him for a bit longer," goodnight " 

" even when we were still friends I was always there for you and never have you once been there for me , five years later its still the same , you are never of any help ,you brought Sarah back into my life and look at what happened " .

I pause ," shouldn't I have brought her back then ?".

" no you shouldn't have married me, none of this would've happened , I stand to lose everything my family worked hard for and it is all because  of you , that's not all , you know just how much this company means to me .... I guess you brought her back on purpose , just so something like this would happen and that way you can have your revenge on me for punishing you all these years , no wonder you endured it without complaint , you were waiting for a moment like this you conniving woman , I curse the day I met you  " he stands from the couch and strides out the house.

 my phone rings just as he closes the door behind him , its Austin , " hello" I pick up 

" yoh , I just got a call from my friend , there are rumors circulating about your husband cheating on you with your Cousin , is Sarah that cousin ?" he whispers.

" mhmm " I agree .

" no kidding , why did you go there with her , that was a terrible plan , even an elemantary school kid could've seen that one coming from a mile away , whose idea was that ?" 

I sigh heavily  " I don't know , I think Sarah convinced Ethan , the worst part about all of this is that now I am being blamed for their mistakes , I wasn't there when they were pillow talking each other about bringing her along " .

Ethan had the guts to pin this all on me and letting Sarah play the victim in all this .

" the moment I heard the news I already knew they'd  blame you for it " .

I don't know why but I find myself crying , " I'm tired , I am really tired , Ethan called me conniving , he even cursed the day he met me , I feel like the most horrible person in the whole planet and the worst part is that he is not wrong , if I hadn't married him he wouldn't have gone to extreme lenghts by building the perfect husband image to punish me , and now because of me they have to act like relatives and hide their real feelings before people " I fall to my knees sobing .

I can feel his sadness it's almost as if he feels the way I feel  " calm down please , okay, you are not a terrible person " he tries convincing me .

he realises that his words aren't getting to me as I cry even louder , " okay okay , I have a solution ".

I stop to listen to him , " what will you give me as a reward first?" 

I'm in no mood for his games , " I'm hanging up ".

" no no no , okay fine , I won't charge you this time , I'll call the morning show for you and set up an interview , you can go with Ethan if you want but I think it will be better to go there alone , mind you people are furious at Ethan and they might question him to a point where he flips again , these days I just don't trust the guy "

" I'm listening " .