Shane woke up feeling Carmen’s arms around her. She kissed the tanned arms up till Carmen’s neck. She sucked on the piece of flesh right under her chin making Carmen squirm. She opened her eyes looking down on Shane.

Carmen: Hey.

Shane pushed herself up on her hands, nuzzling their noses together.

Shane: Wanna get out of bed?

Carmen yawned and stretched.

Carmen: Not really.

She reached for Shane’s hands wanting to get her back down on top of her. She didn’t know that using the belt last night was a mistake. Shane’s wrists were bruised and some parts a little bloody. She winced when Carmen grabbed them. Carmen picked up Shane’s wincing.

Carmen: What’s wrong?

Shane balanced on one hand and showed Carmen her right wrist.

Shane: We were pretty rough.

Carmen: I’m so sorry.

Carmen kissed Shane’s wrists and pulled Shane into her arms again.

Carmen: Helena told me everything about your therapy. She said you did really well through it that she ended it early. Are you feeling okay?

Shane: I’m okay, just more tired than usual. I still have to go once a month for some checkups.

Carmen: That’s good. Maybe that’s because you don’t sleep enough.

Shane: No, it’s because I didn’t have you with me.

Carmen laughed.

Carmen: What about Molly?

Shane: We’re friends. Just friends.

Shane propped up on her elbow.

Carmen: You want to know about Sofie right?

Shane: You know me so well.

Carmen: I haven’t seen her since that day.

Shane: I probably scared her off.

Carmen hit Shane playfully. It was Carmen’s turn to snuggle into Shane. She tucked her head right under Shane’s chin and took a big whiff of Shane’s scent. Shane was in a place better than heaven with Carmen in her arms.

Carmen: Dana told me about the pictures.

Shane didn’t say anything. She knew Dana would tell them, it wasn’t hard to guess that Dana would tell them all that was going on. She had come to see how Shane was doing too.

Carmen: No more secrets?