{ stonefield } and she won't tell a soul 'cause she knows what they would say

[andsmolder]

The following morning, Martel sleeps longer than he usually would - and longer than he'd intended to. A late night, the stress, a warm body next to him...the point is that he's still asleep, curled mostly against Candice, when a sharp knock on the bedroom door precedes Belinda's entrance

Comments

[burningtrue]

"I'll--be right there, Belinda," says the mortified young woman next to Martel in bed. Once the door is hurriedly closed again, Candice covers her entire face with the blanket, as though she can hide underneath the covers.

[andsmolder]

Martel tugs on the blanket - a little, first, then harder. "Oops," he says, unrepentant.

[burningtrue]

"Martel."

She covers her face with her hands instead. "I cannot imagine what she is going to think of me."

[andsmolder]

"She'll think that you're being led astray by an amoral man of wealth she's fond of mostly against her will, and that I've made significantly worse mistakes than this," he says, both pragmatic and incredibly cynical.