Under My Skin

22 | the bro code

Chapter Twenty-Two:

"I can't believe we just did that." Ria breathed out the words, still perched on the edge of the sink, struggling to tug her jeans over her thighs and hips against the plane's turbulence.

"Yeah, neither can I." He murmured in return, buckling his belt as he kissed gently over her temple, a large toothy grin on his face as though he were the cat that got the cream.

"You know how to make a girl feel special, huh?" She giggled, the hint of sarcasm dripping from her words as she grabbed onto his forearms, using him as a lever to lower herself onto the floor again.

"You want me to make you feel special?" He gazed down at her, his hand flicking away a couple of strands of hair that had escaped from behind her ear during their intense activity, "let me take you out on a date, Ria."

"What?" She was first to break their eye contact, hauling herself away from him as she prepared to unlock the door.

He positioned his hand on the door to stop her exit, "Let me take you on a date." He repeated, his finger curving under her jaw to make her meet his gaze, "Please?"

"No," she said sternly.

"No?"

"No, Blaine." She reasserted. "This was supposed to be fun and easy. I don't need this," she gestured between the two of them, "complicating things. I already have so much on my plate with mum and Reid, and..." she broke off her words, choosing not to mention her secret investigation with Rocco regarding her father's murder.

"Isn't it so exhausting worrying about other people all the time?"

"I don't know, Blaine, is it? It's rich coming from you as though you don't have Benji and your parents to worry about." She retaliated, "you don't need this extra burden either."

"I don't think of you as a burden, Ria." He chuckled, but there was a hint of something else in the sound, hurt? Disappointment? Ria wasn't sure, "It's quite the opposite. I don't think I'm ever more at ease than when I'm with you."

She gaped up at him as the implications of his words dawned upon her. He cared about her; she knew that. She knew that the moment he'd confronted Rocco after he harassed her in the workplace, even if it hadn't been what she wanted. But, this was more than just caring for her. She didn't think she was ready for what his words really meant.

"Fine," he moved to the side, his hands gesturing her to open the door, "but at least think about it. Don't say no just yet."

"Okay."

Ria unlocked the door and was startled to come face-to-face with a short black-haired air-hostess.

"Oh, um. I was just about to knock." The woman spoke, her eyes rapidly moving between Ria and Blaine; her eyes widened with surprise.

"We were just talking in there," Ria blurted out, "I swear, we were literally just talking. Nothing else."

A soft flush was evident on the air-hostesses face, "it's part of the protocol to report whenever this happens." Ria noticed that Blaine was the focus of her gaze, "whenever passengers use the toilets for...intimate reasons, we have to report it."

Ria gulped audibly. This was it. This was when she would get her first caution, a tainted mark on her criminal record. And once Ms McQueen got wind of this, Ria would lose her job. The job she'd worked so hard for years would be gone because she and Blaine couldn't control their arousal for twenty minutes. She wondered if her dad looked down upon her with shame, and then she shuddered at the thought that her dad had seen what she'd just done in the bathroom with Blaine.