Page 19 of Bliss: Part 1
I felt the same initially, but I chose not to worry too much. I was scared of the consequences. The things my brothers, Dad, and Uncle Odin would do if they found out. Surely, they couldn’t all be okay with what we did.
Maybe Ashby and Dash were just different. Like me.
Maybe we didn’t fully understand that being intimate with each other was wrong. It didn’t feel wrong. Not really.
But if I didn’t understand, I wouldn’t be thinking so hard about it.
I heard footsteps behind me on the wooden planks. Without looking, I knew it was Dash.
“You didn’t come back to the house after work,” he said quietly.
I glanced over my shoulder, he was barefoot, wearing a faded shirt and low-hanging sweatpants, hair hidden under a maroon baseball cap. His eyes were soft, guarded. He looked as uncertain as I felt.
“I didn’t feel like it. I wanted to come here and think,” I said, turning back toward the lake.
He sat down beside me without saying anything for a while. The silence between us wasn’t uncomfortable, just heavy with things neither of us knew how to name.
“Do you regret it?” he finally asked.
My stomach tightened. I didn’t want to lie, but I didn’t want to hurt him, either.
“No,” I said truthfully. “Do you?”
Dash exhaled slowly and leaned back on his hands. “No. but I keep thinking…about what happens now.”
I turned to look at him. His face was tilted toward the sun, jaw set, eyes shadowed by thought. “You’re scared,” I said softly.
He didn’t deny it. “Not for me,” he said. “For you. If anyone finds out...Rhys and Tripp. Hell, Owen…I don’t know what they’d do.”
I offered a faint smile. “They’d probably send me off to some reform camp.”
He chuckled without humor. “Not sure there’s reform camps for what we did.”
I pursed my lips and shrugged. “They’d be so disappointed and angry.”
“Yeah. Or worse.”
I took a deep breath and tilted my head so my cheek was now resting on my knee. My eyes were on him, taking in the side of his face. The warmth of his body made my heart ache a little.
“Do you still think Ashby will tell?” I asked.
“Eventually,” he said. “He likes to stir things up. I don’t think he’d mean harm, but…” He trailed off, then looked at me. “You’re not just some girl, Bliss. You’reourgirl. Their little sister. You matter to us.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying…maybe it won’t be so bad. Maybe we’re worrying for nothing.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “Maybe.”
“Let’s push this aside for now. It’s taking up too much space in our minds, and I don’t want you to hurt.”
I didn’t want to hurt, either. And as hard as I tried to ignore it, it would still stay at the back of my mind. I took another deep breath and turned more toward him, folding one leg under me while keeping the other dangling over the water.
“I want to say one more thing. It didn’t feel wrong. It felt right. You were gentle. You made me feel safe.”
He gave me a tight smile and placed his hand on my thigh, squeezing gently. “I just don’t want to mess you up.”
“You didn’t mess me up, Dash. You made me feel wanted. And so did Ashby.”
