Cherie lifted her brows at Carmen’s retort and then Carmen heard Shane’s voice softened. “Cherie I just don’t want any trouble from Steve…you are right…I was being naïve and I should have known better….” Her voice trailed off and Carmen could detect a faint bitterness in Shane’s voice. Cherie looked at Shane for a moment as if deciding whether she meant what she said and then she finally reached for the door of her convertible. “Have fun with that girl,” she said as she buckled herself into her seat, with no trace of sincerity in her voice. When the convertible was gone, Carmen could feel the sweat on Shane’s hand that was now tight around her own like a vise. “Let’s go to the jeep,” Shane said and this time, her voice was like a stranger despite her hand holding hers.

Shane gripped the wheel under her fingers. She had been having a great time until she saw Cherie. The feelings for Cherie were no longer there, except that the wounds she had were still bleeding. When she looked at Cherie, she saw her own stupidity. How she had allowed herself to believe, for once, and how she had tried to reach for something that was beyond her grasp. When it ended, she had crashed down to earth, with her defenses torn and nothing to blunt the pain. Now she was numb. Sex dulls the pain, gradually. She looked at Carmen. She hadn’t spoken since the encounter with Cherie. One thing she noticed about Carmen was that the girl had an uncanny ability to read people. There was more to her than her sunny smile and pretty eyes. Like how she had spat that retort back at Cherie. Oddly enough, no one had ever tried to protect her like that. With that thought, Shane leaned over and placed her hand on Carmen’s cheek. Carmen gazed into her eyes and Shane was not sure what Carmen saw in hers. Sorrow? Bitterness? Or simply a cesspool of emptiness? “I’ve been wanting to do this since just now….” Shane leaned forward and brushed her lips against hers. For a moment, they stayed like this, lips inches away from each other. Then Carmen placed her hand behind her nape and pulled her forward into her kiss. Shane put both of her hands on Carmen’s face and kissed her hard, her tongue teasing and probing. When she separated from Carmen, both of them were breathing hard.

“Do you wanna come to my place?”

Carmen looked at Shane. There was something desperate in her eyes, as if she needed something from her. It had something to do with Cherie. She needed comfort, she needed to lose herself and sex was the easiest way. Carmen wanted to cradle her in her arms, to kiss the top of her head but she knew Shane would never let herself be babied in that way. She wondered if anyone had ever babied Shane, coo to her in a singsong voice and held her through her pain. Was she willing to give what Shane wanted and yet keep herself unscathed? She didn’t know….she only knew there was someone sitting beside her grasping at something to hold onto and she wanted to be the one who gave it to her.

“Okay…let’s go to your place…”

Whether or not she would emerge unscathed, she would find out later and for now, just for now, Carmen allowed herself to think with her heart and damn with the consequences.