Beth woke up in Rio's arms, both of them on their sides, facing each other, sheets twisted around them. She felt raw in the best way possible. Her body responded to him in a way that it had never had before with Dean, reaching for something, needing it desperately, even thought she didn't know what it was. And Rio gave it to her.
Rio was only the second person Beth ever slept with. The third person she ever kissed. Her first kiss was a boy named Jake Long during a game of truth or dare in eighth grade. Her first kiss had been a small, sweet shudder. Being with Rio was like breaking apart into a million pieces of light, floating away then settling back into place.
Beth looked at him as she slept. The afternoon sun slanted through the glass door, light puddling around them. She tried to memorize everything about his face, body, how relaxed he looked in sleep. She was so used to seeing him alert, anticipating. She traced the outline of ink on his neck until he stirred awake. A hint of a smile played at the edges of his lips, his eyes. He sleepily stroked her hair.
"Truth or dare?" she asked.
"What?" his voice gravelly confusion.
"Truth or dare?"
"Are we back in high school?" he opened his eyes and drew back to look at her.
Beth might as well have been. The courage she felt at the bar dissolved into hundreds of butterflies inside her stomach and chest, turning her into a giggly schoolgirl the instant she stepped into her kitchen. She had no idea what to do next. She should get up, he should leave. She wanted to be indifferent so they could go their separate ways. But now that she knew what it felt like to be wrapped in his arms, kissed by him, touched by him, she felt an overwhelming wave of longing. Just one more minute.
"You're not scared of a harmless game, are you?"
Rio arched an eyebrow. This was unexpected, but he was willing to let it play out. Just as he had earlier when she said she didn't have his cut with her. When she offered to make him a sandwich. When she let him into her bedroom, into her body.
"Okay. Truth." He was too tired to for anything else.
"What's your biggest fear?"
When she played this game as a teen, they usually warmed up with some softball questions before things turned naughty. But there was no time. Sand was speeding through the hourglass.
"Losing Marcus. Losing anyone I care about." He brushed a piece of hair from her face as he said the second part. His answer was the truth, but incomplete. It was only a couple of hours ago that he allowed himself to imagine anything other than business with Beth. To imagine something bigger, more. He needed to keep some cards to his chest still, at least until his footing was back under him.
"My turn," he said, fully awake now. "Truth or dare."
"Truth." Beth's go-to was always dare. It was easier, safer, than revealing anything about herself. But being coy wasn't the point anymore.
"Do you hate me for shooting Dean?" He looked directly into her eyes as he asked.
"No." Beth looked down with the immediacy of her answer. Hate was a strong word, but she knew what he meant. Dean didn't deserve to get shot. But didn't he deserve…something? Some consequence for all the lies, deceit. Guilt consumed her so overwhelmingly about him getting shot that she shoved it all aside, never confronted him about the fake cancer.
Rio tilted her chin up with a finger, pressed a feather kiss to her lips.
"Why did you shoot him?" she whispered.
"You didn't ask me if I wanted truth or dare."
"Truth or dare?"
"Truth. I shot him because I was furious. Because that's what justice looks like in my world. So that you would know what you were doing by getting me arrested."
"What do you mean?"
"If I went to jail, Marcus loses a father. If I killed Dean, so would your kids. We're more alike than you realize."
Beth closed her eyes, inhaled. Putting words to their strange silent tango was forcing her to process a lot at once, everything she has been avoiding. She was playing with fire, but she had nothing to lose anymore.
"Truth or dare?" Rio's question broke her thoughts.
"Truth."
"Do you still love him?"
"I don't know if I ever did." Beth grinned in an attempt to bring lightheartedness to such a heavy reply. "Were you going to kill me that night outside my house?"
Rio immediately knew the night she was asking about. Bizarrely, she put up a stop sign before noticing him standing across the street. And then she broke down in front of him, taking off her mask of bravado, revealing a sensitive pained woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders.
"No." The feelings attached to his answer were deeper and more confusing than he could explain so he didn't elaborate. Besides, she asked 'if' not 'why'.
"Your turn." His eyes were lost somewhere far away. Beth ran a finger down his chest with her prompt.
"Truth or dare."
"Truth."
"I was hoping you'd pick dare." His hand slid down her side, under the sheets, settling on her hip as his body started to react to their physical closeness again. "What was the bathroom all about?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"I want to hear you say it." Rio says it gently, but firmly.
"I don't think you're going to like my answer."
"Say it."
"I wanted to get you out of my system. I wanted to feel…" Dizzied by their back and forth, words fail her. She's slipping back into him, into his vortex of arousal, power, respect. She closed her eyes, shielding herself against his pull, reminding herself this is the end.
"Did you get me out of your system?"
"No."
"Hmmm. I like that answer. I thought about what it would be like with you too. Your turn."
"Who was the girl in the parking lot?"
"What girl?"
"When I dropped off that first car. There was a girl with you." Butterflies flitted about Beth's stomach as she waited for his answer.
"You saw that? A friend." Rio paused, surprised by her suspicion. "We've worked together a long time."
"Do you hug and kiss all your co-workers like that?"
"You jealous?"
"You want a truth?"
"Yes."
"A little."
"Nothing to be jealous about. I come from a family of huggers. I'm actually a touchy-feely guy believe it or not." Rio rubbed her back as proof. "Her name is Dylan and we've known each other a long time."
"Okay." She believed him. "Truth or dare."
"Truth."
"When did you commit your first crime?"
"Eight years old. I stole a CD from the mall. My mom whooped me good." Rio smiled at the memory.
"I meant serious crime. How did you get started in all this."
"Not that different from you. I needed to take care of my family. An opportunity presented itself. One thing led to another."
He made it sound so normal, so simple. If only it was.
"Why are you so hard on me?"
"That's how you learn."
"Why do you do so much for me?"
"You just said I was too hard." Rio's eye squinted in confusion.
"You got Jane's dubby back. You took care of Boomer's body."
"Don't forget Eddie bringing your van back."
"What? That was you?"
"Of course." He laughed at her surprise.
"So who's the real Rio?"
He still wasn't used to hearing his name fall from her lips. She'd moaned it in pleasure while they were making love and it vibrated through his core.
"They both are." He smiled. "Last one, truth or dare."
"Truth."
"How did you get so dangerous?"
"What? You keep telling me to be harder."
"That's not what I mean."
"What do you mean then?"
Instead of answering he leaned forward to kiss her. When Beth broke away he pulled her into another kiss, and then another and another, deeper and more urgent until he's back on top of her, inside her. He meant Beth was the type of woman who a man could fall hard far. Dangerously hard.