I groan, stretching out on the other side of the bed. “Fuck you, man.”
“What, like you were sleeping? You were chilling with my cat and fondling my jewels.”
I stare at Jansen until he gets his accidental double entendre. Once he’s laughing, I shake my head. “Like I want fuck-all to do with your goddamn ‘jewels.’”
The cat stretches out between us, the thing so giant it can coax me into scratching under its chin while Jansen gets the ass end to pet. Lucky beast. He takes his time stroking the animal before holding out his hand for the tiara. I pass it over.
“Do you still have the dress?” he asks.
“Yeah. And the shoes.”
“Do you think we’ll ever get to see her in it?”
“Maybe it’ll be her wedding gown. It’d fit the event better than any white, fluffy thing my father would want for her.”
Jansen turns to me, anger showing in the crease of his brows, and I throw up my hands. “I'm not insulting her. Not at all. I was just thinking blood wouldn’t show on that thing nearly as much as it would on white.”
He takes a moment to determine if I’m telling the truth, then settles back against the pillows, the bed rumbling from Fluffington’s purrs. “Are you planning on blood?”
“You know we’re planning for everything, blood included.”
“True.”
The silence isn’t terrible with Jansen anymore. We’re not close, we’ve never been the closest of the group. And me almost killing Clara didn’t help. But even if he hasn’t forgiven or forgotten, he’s not furious anymore.
What would I give to have my anger disappear so easily? To go with the flow, to trust that the world and the people around me will keep the worst at bay? He and I, we don’t have the same story, not at all, but we both had shit childhoods. And here I am, a bomb waiting to explode, while he exudes a combination of chill yogi and manic pixie dream boy.
On second thought, maybe he’s a bomb too. It’s just that he’s handed Clara his trigger, keeping it out of his grasp.
“What’s it like, really, between you and Clara?” I ask, suddenly curious.
He stretches, the corner of his mouth lifting into not quite a smile. “It’s…I know it’s probably not healthy, not long-term, but for now? I don’t have to worry about losing control because it’s not my job tobein control. I just want her happy, and my only job is to keep her that way. It’s, I don’t know. Freeing. And man, the sex? Explosive.”
“Fuck. I didn’t want to know about that part of it.”
“Jealous?”
“Of your dick on a leash? No fucking way.”
He laughs, and I’m barely able to hear footsteps on the stairs. But I’m on my feet, trying to figure out how much of a fight I should put up while Jansen dives across the room, stashing the tiara in my closet. The gentle tap on the door has me releasing the tension strumming through my bones, its cadence so familiar that I know who it is before I open it.
On the other side, I find a mussed-up Clara, barefoot in RJ’s T-shirt, and I just know she’s not wearing much, if anything, under it.Fuck.
“Hi. I couldn’t sleep, and I thought I heard you and Jansen up here, so I figured…”
She trails off and I open the door all the way, ending her awkward attempt at an explanation. “Might as well join the insomniac party. It was getting weird anyway.”
“Beautiful,” Jansen practically sings, then slants his eyes in my direction. “Game?”
“What game?” she asks as I take a step away from them both, my thighs hitting the mattress behind me.
“Tickle war!” he shouts, tackling me across the mattress, Clara’s laugh devolving almost immediately to snorts as she pins my legs, her fingers dancing over my skin like ticklish, torturous spiders. I’m stronger, I’m better trained, but once I’m laughing, it’s like my arms are water balloons for all the muscle they seem to have.
“Fuck it, stop,” I yell.
“Safe word’s watermelon,” Jansen shouts, but I can’t say it. I can’t say anything at all, both of them keeping me captive and laughing uncontrollably, tears collecting in my eyes as I try to wrestle Jansen loose from my upper body.
Then, he yelps, dropping me, a whining, “Ow, Fluffington! Get off!” telling me exactly why I can finally take a full breath.
