The Edge's Book and Story
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Regret Cheaper Than Dust
Everyone in Seavelt knew that Dr. Ethan Caldwell, the city's top gynecologist, never got close to women. No matter how many youthful figures stood before him, he never so much as glanced their way. I always thought I was different, even after ten years together, when he wouldn't let me touch him. If my fingertips accidentally brushed his sleeve, he'd snap, "Don't touch me." After another failed attempt to climb into his bed, he sent ten men to sleep with me. Afterward, when I cried and lashed out at him, he said flatly, "I can't let you live like a nun forever." The eleventh time he arranged for someone to pin me to the bed, I lost it and swallowed two hundred sleeping pills. When I woke up, Ethan, for the first time ever, allowed me to touch him. I thought I could slowly win him over. But the next day, at his private villa, I caught him holding another woman in his arms. He kissed the top of her head, his eyes burning with a passion I'd never seen. When I confronted him, Ethan looked at me coldly. "Clara's not like you. She doesn't have those filthy thoughts or try to seduce men." I bit my lip until I tasted blood. "Fine, Ethan. Let's break up."