Page 39 of Damnation
Thomas cocks his head at me with a sly smile. “You’ve done it once already, and it didn’t seem to bother you then.”
I give his shoulder a playful slap. “Well, that’s because I was drunk, and I had other stuff on my mind. I’m clearheaded right now, and you can bet your fine behind that I’m not getting into that bed knowing what you did there with me and God knows how many others.”
Thomas takes off his shoes, and with his typical cocky self-assurance, he also whips off his shirt. My lips fall open when I see his sculpted chest. Suddenly my throat feels very dry and very, very hot.
His face, Vanessa, look at his face!
I shake myself, meeting his eyes again, and see him snickering at me. Caught red-handed.
“None of the women I brought here ever used my bed, didn’t even sleep with me,” he admits, and I can’t help laughing.
“Uh, I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. You said so yourself, remember? That this room is your personal harem?”
“And it was, but we just used the sofa. Once the festivities were over, they would leave, or I would leave if they ended up falling asleep here.”
I immediately turn to the scene of the crime with a disgusted grimace on my face. I look back at him silently for a few seconds, with an expression that screams,Just how stupid do you think I am?
“No lie, Ness,” he adds, as though reading my mind. “My sister ended up here most of the time, when she didn’t want to be alone in the other room. I can assure you, she would have beat my ass if I tried to make her sleep in the same bed where I got it on with the other girls.”
The other girls.
You’ve got to take your medicine, Vanessa: the past is the past, and you can’t change it.
“You let me sleep there, though,” I point out, moving closer to him.
“For you, I made an exception.”
“Why?” I whisper, just a breath away from his lips.
“Because you were the only one I wanted in my bed.”
My heart beats wildly in my chest as Thomas wraps his arms around my waist and kisses me.
“Mm-hmm, tell me the truth: You prepare these lines in advance, don’t you?”
“Fuck, you got me.”
We both laugh, and when we break apart, I take a moment to look more carefully at the room. “To be honest…it feels strange being here with you,” I say in a low voice. I glide my fingers along the smooth surface of the desk as I approach the window with slow steps. I fixate on a streetlamp in the distance, dimly illuminating the dark night. “So much has changed since the last time we were here together…”
I trace meandering lines on the wet glass with my index finger. “When I woke up beside you that morning, I swore to myself that I’d never set foot in this room again. And now…” I sigh, thinking back on all the fights with my mother and their disastrous consequences, which have led me here. “I’m going to live here.”
I turn to face Thomas. He’s leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. I meet his eyes, and in those emerald depths I see nothing but melancholy and regret. I give him a tight smile, trying to lighten the mood, and sit down on the edge of the bed. “Life’s funny sometimes, huh?”
He joins me, sitting down next to me with his elbows on his knees. He stares at the floor, and I get the feeling he’d like to tell me something, but he remains locked in his silence.
I lie back on the mattress. “She came looking for me at the Marsy today,” I murmur.
Thomas turns, his brow furrowed. “Your mother?”
I nod silently, staring up at the ceiling.
Thomas falls back as well, sliding his arm under my neck and tugging me closer to him. I nestle into his shoulder. “Did you two talk?”
I throw my leg over his and rest my arm on his chest. I slide the pad of my finger over his pectoral muscles, tracing the contours of his tattoos. “No, she came by when I wasn’t there.”
He strokes my hair, giving me a sense of peace and tranquility that is beyond value. “Maybe she thought she’d find you there?”
I shake my head. “She knows my shifts. She’s playing games with me now, don’t you see?”
