She didn’t realise she had a rapt audience of two sitting directly behind her. I glanced at Alicia, and she cast me a raised eyebrow.
A moment of silence elapsed before Rose placed her hand on Blake’s. “How are you doing with your programme anyway? Still good?”
He nodded, giving her a weak smile. “Yeah, still going strong. You might have been right about the loneliness, though. It’s crazy, the amount of people I can’t see anymore.”
“Well, there are lots of good people out there. I’m sure you’ll have no problem making new friends, Blake. You were always the life and soul of the party.”
“You’re forgetting one thing,” he said with a hint of self-deprecation. “I was on coke back then.”
Rose frowned. “Right. Well, it’s not like you’ve had a complete personality transplant. You don’t seem too different to me.”
“Is that a compliment?” he gave a small chuckle.
Her forehead crinkled as she started to smile. “I’m not sure. God, I always say the wrong thing.”
“It’s okay. I always found your foot-in-mouth disease endearing.”
She shook her head, still smiling, and pulled her hand away. I exhaled a breath in relief. I really couldn’t handle her touching him, even if she was only trying to be kind. And now I didn’t know how to feel about Blake anymore. If the bloke was battling an addiction, then I felt bad for him, but at the same time I couldn’t stand how he looked at Rose.
“Hey,” said Alicia, leaning forward to wiggle her fingers through the gap between our seats. “How about we all play a game of ‘Have You Ever’? Maybe it’ll help pass the time a little.”
Rose turned her head to Alicia, worrying her lip as she considered it.
“I’m game,” said Blake.
“Yeah, me too,” I added. Anything for the chance to interact with Rose.
Finally, she nodded and Alicia sat back, clasping her hands together as she told us how to play the game. “Okay, so I’ll start us off. Lift your hand in the air if your answer to the question is yes, or leave it down if it’s no, and from then on whoever answers no has to ask the next question. But, and this is only to avoid boredom, let’s keep the topic about sex. It’ll keep things interesting.” She grinned.
Both Rose and Blake turned fully around to face us, Rose appearing a little uncomfortable at Alicia’s topic suggestion. All I could do was stare at her. This was the closest we’d been in weeks, and the sunlight drifting through the windows cast her eyes in a glittering shade of pale blue. When she saw me admiring her, she began worrying her lip again, glancing downward.
“Have you ever,” Alicia began, pausing before finishing her sentence, “slept with someone whose name you didn’t know?”
Both she and Blake held their hands up while mine and Rose’s stayed down. The question provoked a memory I’d shoved to the back of my mind, and I grew tense as I tried to push it away once more.
“Never?” Alicia gasped, glancing between the two of us. “Oh, my God, you haven’t lived. It’s such a rush fucking a stranger.”
“I dunno. I’ve never really had it in me to do that sort of thing. I’d probably end up developing feelings for the person when all they’re out for is a quick shag,” said Rose self-consciously.
Blake stared at her, a frown on his face.
My heart thumped, because I was the exact same. I couldn’t have sex with someone I didn’t have feelings for. My cock just didn’t respond unless I both desired and cared for the woman.
Suddenly everyone was looking at me, waiting for an explanation as to why I’d never been with someone whose name I didn’t know. I threw my head back against the seat, noticing Rose’s eyes wandering over the fitted long-sleeved T-shirt I wore. Her attention made my pulse race and my body fill with heat.
“I lived on an island of only 10,000 people for nine years. It’s hard to find someone whose entire family history you don’t know, never mind their first name.”
Alicia patted me briefly on the shoulder. “That’s sort of adorable, Damon.”
When I looked at Rose, I saw her eyes levelled on the spot Alicia had touched. Perhaps she found it just as maddening to see another woman with her hands on me as I found it seeing her being touched by another man, by Blake.