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I felt satisfied as I dried myself off afterward, but it was inadequate. I wanted more.
I wantedher.
When I went downstairs, Trish was smearing jam onto two pieces of toast at the table while Archer wolfed down a plate of runny eggs. The two of them were talking about a show on Netflix that I hadn’t heard of. Trish glanced up at me, then immediately cut her eyes away while blushing.
Fuck.
Guilt rose up inside me like a geyser. She was uncomfortable, now. And ultimately it was my fault. She had been nice enough to offer to share the bed so I could get some much-needed sleep… and thenthathappened. She probably thought I was a creep. Or worse—some sort of predator who had intended for that to happen all along.
After breakfast, we said our goodbyes to Kaylee and prepared to leave. I gave Trish an awkward smile but said nothing more as I walked out the door. I couldn’t decide if that was the right way to handle it, or if I should have just broken the ice about what happened.
We made it halfway to the peace conference before Harrison asked, “You two fuck, or what?”
If I’d been drinking something at that moment, I would have sprayed it all over the back of Archer’s seat. “What? Huh? What are you even talking about?”
Harrison twisted around to look at me directly. “Dude.”
“He heard you sprinting out of Trish’s room like a striker with a clear path to the goal,” Archer said. “I heard it, too. So did Kaylee, probably. It was loud.”
“I don’t like your stupid soccer metaphors,” I grumbled.
“Football,you knob. And stop avoiding the topic.”
“Of course we didn’t have sex! Nothing happened. She saw me sleeping on the couch and offered to share her bed. It was totally harmless. I even put up a pillow barrier between us.”
“Then why did you run out of there like—”
“Like whatever dumb English analogy you’re going to use?” Before he could reply with something biting, I went on. “When we woke up, we were… sort of cuddling. By accident.”
Harrison let out a loud scoff and turned away from me.
“You promised this wouldn’t happen,” Archer began scolding. “I was concerned about thisvery scenario, and you assured me in no uncertain terms that you would behave yourself.”
“Nothing happened! And besides, this is your fault for snoring!”
He glared at me through the rear-view mirror. “And it’s your fault we have to share a bed. We would have adequate bedrooms if you had not taken it upon yourself to hire this woman.”
“And now we have Kaylee with us. Which you haven’t complained about.”
That shut him up.
“I’ll share a bed with Trish,” Harrison said.
I turned to him. “Since when do you like Trish?”
He frowned at me. “Who said anything about liking her?”
“Can we all please try to avoid an awkward situation?” Archer said exasperatedly. “We have at least seven more weeks together, maybe longer. Once that’s done, you can play cuddle-time with the nanny all you want.”
“Again, it was an accident,” I said through gritted teeth. “I feel just as weird about the whole thing.” I glanced at Harrison. “Can I bunk with you tonight?”
“Fuck that,” he snarled as we pulled into the peace conference lot. “Keep your ass on the couch.”
The morning went on just like any other. Harrison and I patrolled a section of the perimeter while Archer covered us from above. There were a lot more security agents on the roofs today. If the guy from yesterday returned to try something, he would need to find another way into the conference.
It was hard to stay focused for hours and hours every day. I scanned the faces of pedestrians and checked-in with my teammates, but nothing exciting happened. Eventually, around lunch, my mind drifted back to the events of this morning.
Now that enough time had passed, I wanted to text Trish. To break the ice now, rather than wait until we got home and were face-to-face. It was easier to explain things in a text, too. I could get all of my thoughts in order without messing it up. The more I thought about it, the more I compulsively needed to do it.
