Painless

Chapter Seventeen

“I can’t believe this kid grew up less than an hour away from you and you never knew it,” Benji said.

            The three of us sat around a plastic table at an In-N-Out Burger, noshing on greasy fast-food. I’d wanted to drive straight through to our destination, but the guys had complained so much about being hungry that eventually we’d pulled over. The fact that Benji was technically still healing, which meant he needed to keep up his strength, forced me to give in too. If food helped him feel better, than bring on the burgers.

            As I chewed, I looked over at Carson and studied him as he ate, still unsure of where we stood. While we’d been waiting for Benji to be released, Carson had pulled me aside and forced me to have the conversation I’d been dreading since our kiss. I’d tried my best to avoid it, but he pulled me into an empty hospital room and closed the door behind us. Blocking me from leaving, he made it clear that I wasn’t getting out of talking to him. The best I could hope for was that it would be quick and painless: like ripping off a Band-aid.

            “We need to talk,” he said, leaning back against the door and crossing his arms over his chest.

            I sighed and sat down on the bed, propping my feet up on the clean sheets before leaning back onto my elbows. Despite my demeanor, I was not comfortable with the situation one bit and wished I were anywhere but in that room alone with Carson.

“What’s there to talk about?” I asked blankly.

            He gave me a look. “Don’t play dumb, Bliss. We both know you’re not,” he said. “The kiss. In the parking lot?”

            Just hearing him say it made me want to hide under the covers. I wasn’t used to actually dealing with my conquests the day after. Now I knew why: it was like torture.

This is why God invented the one night stand.

            “Oh, that,” I said, flatly. I started to inspect my nails. “What about it?”

            Carson’s mouth dropped open slightly. “Bliss, your parents hired me to watch you and keep you safe…and we ended up kissing,” he said, looking as freaked out as he sounded. “Not to mention that you’re only seventeen.”

            “I’ll be eighteen next month. But now that you mention it, it really sounds like you were taking advantage of me,” I said, trying to put the focus back on him. Maybe this would be enough to shame him into never talking about it again, thus relieving me of having to deal with the consequences of our actions.

            “I know,” he said, quietly, looking guilty. “And I feel awful about it.”

            And then he had to go and say that.

Because as much as I didn’t want to have to think about what I might be feeling about him, I didn’t want him thinking it was all his fault. Couldn’t we just ignore it and hope it went away like normal people?

            “It’s not a big deal,” I said, sitting back up. “Look, these things happen. So, we kissed…so what? Nobody else has to know and we can just forget about the whole thing, okay? Besides, I’m sure this isn’t the first time things have gotten heated up during one of your assignments. I mean, at Junior Agents, you were always hanging around that one girl, Cassie.”

            Carson blinked in surprise. “Bliss, this kind of thing doesn’t happen to me. Cassie and I were just friends.”