Sookie Stackhouse Boxed Set (Books 1-8) - Charlaine Harris [540]
After Bill and Eric finished their temporary repair, they both watched me mopping up the water and blood on the linoleum. The silence began to weigh heavily on all three of us: at least, on my third of the three of us. Bill’s tenderness in caring for me the night before had touched me. But Eric’s just acquired knowledge of our intimacy raised my self-consciousness to a whole new level. I was in the same room with two guys who both knew I’d slept with the other.
I wanted to dig a hole and lie down in it and pull the opening inside with me, like a character in a cartoon. I couldn’t look either of them in the face.
If I rescinded both their invitations, they’d have to walk outside without a word; but in view of the fact that they’d both just helped me, such a procedure would be rude. I’d solved my problems with them before in exactly that way. Though I was tempted to repeat it to ease my personal embarrassment, I simply couldn’t. So what did we do next?
Should I pick a fight? Yelling at one another might clear the air. Or maybe a frank acknowledgment of the situation . . . no.
I had a sudden mental picture of us all three climbing in the double bed in the little bedroom. Instead of duking out our conflicts, or talking out our problems, we could . . . no. I could feel my face flame red, as I was torn between semi-hysterical amusement and a big dash of shame at even thinking the thought. Jason and his buddy Hoyt had often discussed (in my hearing) that every male’s fantasy was to be in bed with two women. And men who came into the bar echoed that idea, as I knew from checking Jason’s theory by reading a random sample of male minds. Surely I was allowed to entertain the same kind of fantasy? I gave a hysterical kind of giggle, which definitely startled both vampires.
“This is amusing?” Bill asked. He gestured from the plywood, to the recumbent Tara, to the bandage on my shoulder. He omitted pointing from Eric to himself. I laughed out loud.
Eric cocked a blond eyebrow. “We are amusing?”
I nodded wordlessly. I thought, Instead of a cook-off, we could have a cock-off. Instead of a fishing derby, we could have a . . .
At least in part because I was tired, and strained, and blood depleted, I went way into the silly zone. I laughed even harder when I looked at Eric’s and Bill’s faces. They wore almost identical expressions of exasperation.
Eric said, “Sookie, we haven’t finished our discussion.”
“Oh yes, we have,” I said, though I was still smiling. “I asked you for a favor: releasing Tara from her bondage to Mickey. You asked me for payment for that favor: telling you what happened when you lost your memory. You performed your side of the bargain, and so did I. Bought and paid for. The end.”
Bill looked from Eric to me. Now he knew that Eric knew what I knew. . . . I giggled again. Then the giddiness just poofed out of me. I was a deflated balloon, for sure. “Good night, both of you,” I said. “Thanks, Eric, for taking that rock in the head, and for sticking to your phone throughout the evening. Thanks, Bill, for turning out so late with window-repair supplies. I appreciate it, even if you got volunteered by Eric.” Under ordinary circumstances—if there were such things as ordinary circumstances with vampires around—I would’ve given them each a hug, but that just seemed too weird. “Shoo,” I said. “I have to go to bed. I’m all worn out.”
“Shouldn’t one of us stay here with you tonight?” Bill asked.
If I’d had to say yes to that, had to pick one of them to stay with me that night, it would have been Bill—if I could have counted on him to be as undemanding and gentle as he’d been the night before. When you’re down and hurting, the most wonderful thing in the world is to feel cherished. But that was too big a bunch of if ’s for tonight.
“I think