Under My Skin

21 | mile high club

Chapter Twenty-One:

Blaine awoke to the soft pattering of footsteps descending the staircase.

He immediately knew who they belonged to, for they were not the heavy stomps of Reid but not quite the light hops of Ria either. As she entered the lounge, she stood at the doorframe, seemingly transfixed upon the large portrait of her late husband, before she noticed Blaine's presence on the sofa.

Blaine thought she looked less like Ria than she had three years prior. Her face was much more oval, and the familiar chestnut-coloured hair had lost its pigment at the roots giving way to more than just a few strands of grey hairs. She shared Ria's naturally sun-kissed skin, except there were fewer imperfections; the residual scars from years of teenage acne had faded on the older woman.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" She whispered as she noticed the boy stirring beneath the blankets. Blaine was still not quite the focus of her attention as her eyes frequently found their way back to the picture that had haunted the house for the last three years.

It felt as though he was still there - his presence all-consuming, all-knowing, watching their every move. The man she'd loved from the tender age of seventeen. The man who had been snatched from her in a split second of mindless stupidity. The same man she had willed both her mind and body to forget for the last few years, finding herself under multiple strange men in the process.

She'd learnt first-hand that the best way to forget someone wasn't by getting under someone new.

"It's okay. I was already awake," Blaine replied.

She twirled away from the photo, finding residence on the sofa opposite Blaine, "I'm sorry you got demoted to the sofa because I came back. I can't imagine it's very comfortable down here."

"It's your house, Sihem," He reminded her, "It's okay. It's not like me being here is a permanent arrangement anyway." Since Sihem's unwelcome return four nights ago, she had taken Ria's bedroom - not quite ready to return to what had formerly been her and Rayhan's marital room, so Ria had remained in her parent's room.

Unbeknown to both Sihem and Reid, though, once Ria could hear the soft snores of both parties, she would sneak downstairs and call Blaine up to her bed every night.

He'd resisted the first night - or so, he told himself. The words of Indiya had replayed in his mind like a broken cassette player that he couldn't switch off. But the way Ria had pouted up at him, her lower lip protruding out, her eyes widening, and her hand stroking up and down his forearm, he didn't think there was a single heterosexual man on Earth who could've turned her away at that moment. And so, it started; from midnight to approximately six a.m., he'd remain in Ria's bed with her.

They were taking huge risks. But there was something so enticing about a girl who'd spent years avoiding risks finally allowing herself to let loose. He found himself going along with her every whim.

The inconvenient creaking of the bed had stopped them going the whole way. Instead, they'd used their hands and mouths to pleasure one another. He recalled how only an hour ago, he'd used his fingers against her eager moist opening and had to clamp his hand over her mouth to suppress her whimpers as Reid rose from his bed to use the bathroom. They'd held their breath as Reid halted his steps just outside their room for a moment too long, certain their cover was blown until they heard his bed creak under his weight again.

"Do you agree, with them, Blaine?" Sihem asked, pulling Blaine out of his unholy thoughts, "For the past three years, I've had people tell me I'm the worst type of mother. What kind of woman can abandon her children? And they're right. Maybe I am a terrible mother, but nobody knows...nobody knows that I had to make a choice that no woman should ever have to make. Nobody knows that I would do anything for my children."