Page 23 of Bliss: Part 2
I nodded, looking down at our fingers laced together. I stayed quiet for a moment. My mind felt crowded. Too many thoughts pressing in from different angles, making it hard to pull a single one into focus. It’s been a long fucking couple of days.
“You wanna tell me where you went today?”
I turned my head toward him, met his eyes, and gave a slow nod. “Yeah. I went to the police station. They got him.”
It took him a second to process. “They found him? Shit…why didn’t you tell us?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t want to make a big thing out of it. For Bliss’ sake. Didn’t want the whole house buzzing with it, didn’t want it to overwhelm her.”
He understood, but there was still a flicker of disappointment there. He wished I had told him when I found out.
“Is it worth knowing who the bastard is?” he asked after a moment.
I shook my head quickly. “No. Not worth it. He’s a sad, lonely asshole. Did that shit to six girls in total.”
Odin’s disbelief was immediate. “And he’s never been caught before now?”
“No.”
“Shit…” He sat back, exhaling hard through his nose. “Glad they got him now.”
I nodded again. “He’s being held in a police station over in Darly.”
“Mm.”
We both went quiet after that.
Then he asked something that caught me off guard. “You think things will ever happen naturally between Bliss and us?”
I turned to look at him, unsure why that question would come now of all times. “Do you want it to?” I asked instead of answering.
He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
“Right…” I looked back down at our hands, my thumb brushing absently over the back of his.
“You?” he asked.
This time I was the one to shrug. “To be honest…I don’t think it will. She has the boys. They’re enough for her. And we’ve got each other, which, honestly, is already a lot for me to take in too.”
“Why, do you regret going there with me after all these years? Was the sex bad?” His tone was serious but with just enough teasing to make it feel like he was testing me.
I laughed, shaking my head. “Shit, no…the sex wasn’t bad. And I don’t regret it. You know I don’t. It’s just…everything’s coming back lately, you know? I’m not sure how to process it. Back then…we did all that because we had to. Because we were all we had, and it was what we needed to survive. But now…” I drew in a long breath. “Now we’re doing it because…hell, I don’t even know why.”
“Because we love each other. Because we have this bond.” His voice was steady. He wasn’t afraid to speak the truth.
“Yeah…” I inhaled again. “And you think it’s okay?”
He studied me, his gaze unflinching. “Yeah, I think it is. It’s just love. We’re not hurting anyone. Why shouldn’t we be allowed to have what we want when we’re not hurting anyone?”
His words made sense, even if I wasn’t ready to admit that out loud. I needed time to sit with it.
“We raised them right,” I said finally. “That’s what matters.”
“Yeah, we did. They’re beautiful people. All five of them. And that’s something we can be proud of, Owen.”
Yeah…we fucking can.
***
