Your ex's next.

You sit back down. It’s Gene Grey, April’s new boyfriend, talking loudly to someone. You know him slightly and have never had a high opinion of him. You don’t know if he would pay attention to you if he saw you, but if he did, you can’t imagine you’d enjoy his reaction.

You’re sitting with your back to the door, facing further in to the coffee shop; he and his companion sit right behind you. With a start, you register that he’s talking about April.

“. . . she’s a bitch, but at least she fucks like a bitch. Anything I suggest, anything I want to try, she’s up for it. Actually, half the time, she’s pushing it herself. She craves that stuff. I can’t tell you how many times she complained that her ex wouldn’t fuck her in the ass. I don’t know why. From the stories she told—”

“Wait,” an unfamiliar voice interrupts. “What stories?”

“The last six months, she’s been fucking us both full-time, you know? Her ex didn’t know that, but I certainly did.” Indeed you didn’t. If Amber hadn’t told you, you’d probably be furious right now; though six months is worse than you’d figured from what she said. Instead, you just feel glad to be done with the woman. “She’d come over to my place and tell me all about the last time they fucked. It got her really turned on. Actually, it turned me on, too. He was certainly doing her well. But she still kept complaining he wouldn’t do her ass.”

“She’s going to cheat on you, too, you know,” the other voice says.

“At some point, yeah, if I stay with her long enough. I don’t plan to give her the chance,” Gene says, with a certain grim note in his voice. “I don’t think I could put up with her that long—not out of bed.”

“Why are you staying with her?” his companion asks, apparently genuinely curious.

“Well, for one thing, like I said, she sure fucks like a bitch. Even when I was the other guy, I got more sex in six months than I had in I don’t know how long before that. The last week, I can barely keep her clothes on.

“For the long term, though, you should see her daughter. Better looking, better tits, better ass, and she doesn’t have a boyfriend.” You grin at that. “She’s never had a long-term relationship, actually. Her mom—you know, her mom has a thing. She complained about her ex not tapping her ass, and she’s convinced her daughter can’t keep a guy because she won’t take it in the ass. I don’t know how many guys actually like that—give me a nice pussy any day—but she’s stuck on it. She told me she actually told her daughter that, and that if she wanted a man, she’d have to learn to put out properly. She called her daughter ungrateful for getting mad at her.”

You’ll never tell Amber, but you overheard that conversation, and that’s about how it went. April seriously told her that the reason she couldn’t keep a man was because she wouldn’t let them fuck her in the ass. Amber thinks the whole idea is disgusting. She got so mad at that, she almost hit her mother. She barely managed to limit herself to just storming out of the house.

“So you’re banging the mom to get the daughter?” Voice 2 asks in disbelief.

“Eh, that’s not why I started fucking her,” Gene replies complacently. “But when I saw her daughter, I figured I ought to try for an upgrade. I haven’t gotten to know her well yet, but I’m working on it. I’ve got time.”

Suddenly, a cell phone rings. Gene answers it. “Yeah, babe? . . . What, now? . . . No, I’m— . . . But it’s— . . . OK, OK, OK. I’ll get there as soon as I can get there.” He hangs up and says, “That’s April. I gotta go.” He stands up and walks out without another word; his companion stays behind. You wait a few minutes, then stand up yourself. You buy a latté for Amber and head over to see her. You can’t help thinking—that’s not exactly the April you knew. She may have been ripping you behind your back, but she was a lot sweeter to your face than it sounds like she’s being to Gene. Maybe it’s the difference between your personality and his?