Page 31 of Split You Open

I freeze in surprise.

“I, huh,” I blink trying to process this. I’d completely forgotten that Santi wouldn’t have ever done this before he met Blair. A grin pulls at my lips. “I bet that was an interesting experience for the both of you.”

Blair stares at me, her eyes lingering on my mouth long enough that a wave of self-consciousness sweeps over me. She jerks her head away as my smile fades.

“Yeah… it was,” she admits.

Her eyes go distant, and I wonder what she’s thinking about. Are her thoughts on us? Her time with Santi? Or is it something else?

“You alright?” I ask.

“I’m more than ‘alright’,” she says on a sigh. Then she yawns. When she’s done, she adds, “Are you?”

I frown, not sure why she’s asking. She rolls to lay on her side, facing me, and props her elbow up so that she can rest her head in her hand.

“Rhett, you kissed me to make me feel better after my nightmare. But I… I pushed for more.” She frowns. “I don’t want you to regret this. We can pretend it never happened if that’ll make you feel better.”

I scoff. The idea that Blair flipped the script on me and coerced me into sex is so fucking ridiculous that my scoff turns into a tired, but full-bellied laugh.

“Trust me,” I tell her when my amusement dies down. “I don’t regret a damn thing.”

Blair’s smile is sweet, almost shy, before she rolls to lay on her back. I climb out of bed and grab a small washcloth by the mini sink and bring it over. As I sit on the bed and wipe the mess off Blair’s stomach, she doesn’t say anything. She simply closes her eyes with a sigh and lays there. It’s not until I’m done cleaning up and throwing the rag into the sink that she speaks again.

“You know what’s funny?”

I climb into bed, flick off the fairy lights, and throw the covers over us. As I pull her back into me, I take the bait. “What’s funny?”

“Santi said that you would be the one to remember things like condoms and stuff. Turns out, he’s right. Thanks for pulling out.” She scoots back to press harder against me. “I guess, between the three of us, you’re going to have to be the responsible one and make sure that stuff is covered.”

I grin against the back of her neck at the idea of ‘the three of us’. “I guess someone has to be.”

Blair’s body shakes as she giggles. The two of us grow silent after that. As tired as I am, though, sleep doesn’t drag me under right away. Something’s bugging me. Something important. After a short internal waffling, I decide to speak up.

“Hey…” I hedge in the darkness after a long stretch of silence.

“Hm?”

“I…” I swallow hard. “I like you a lot, too, Blair.”

Blair wraps her fingers around my wrist and pulls my hand up so that her lips can brush against the back of it.

“Will you still ‘like me’ even if I told you that the way I feel about you is the same way I feel about the Santi and Wes?” She whispers into the dark. “I know that’s… it’s a lot to hear.”

Our first day on the run, she admitted her love for Santi. If that’s what she’s implying, then I’m more than okay with being clumped into that.

I hold her closer to me.

“It would be hypocritical of me to be bothered by that, given my feelings toward Santi.”

She kisses the back of my hand again then lets out a relieved sigh. I let one out too, not sure why I was so anxious.

Silence falls over us again. This time, it’s not long before Blair drifts off to sleep. As I close my eyes to join her in dreamland, a lingering thought makes me smile.

Maybe one day, far off in the future, birth control won’t have to be something the three of us will have to consider at all.

Eight

Blair