Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot line. All characters, settings, and anything known to have taken place in the novels or looks familiar belongs to Tamora Pierce.
Flirting With Consequence
Kel woke to a pounding headache. She buried her head deeper into her pillow and groaned. This is why I don't drink, she thought as a warm hand rubbed her back. Shifting slightly in bed, she curled herself into the warm embrace Dom's body offered.
"Morning, Little Miss Sunshine" Dom's voice said softly in her ear. She could hear the teasing in his voice and groaned again.
"Do not say a thing. Not a word" she mumbled into his chest.
"Wouldn't dream of it" he answered sarcastically, grinning to himself.
The silence of the room stretched on for what seemed like hours. Yet it only lasted five minutes before Kel ripped herself away from Dom and the covers, stumbling towards the privy in the other room. Dom grimaced as he heard her empty the contents of her stomach.
Propping himself on his elbow, he took in her appearance when she reappeared in the doorway. Using one hand to hold herself up and the other to push her hair out of her face, she looked at him. He raised an eyebrow in question.
"Perhaps you should find Neal" she suggested in a hoarse voice before sliding to the floor and resting her cheek against the cool plaster of the wall.
"Mithros and Goddess above!" Dom swore when he remembered his cousin's comment from the night before. "Kel, I need to get out of here" he said, rolling out of bed to search for his shirt amongst the clothes strewn across the floor. She looked up sharply, wincing at the movement.
"What's wrong" she asked warily. Clutching the doorframe to pull herself up, she reached for his tunic which was tossed over the back of her chair. He took it from her and slid it over his head.
"Neal said he would stop by this morning to help with the hangover. It's past the eleventh bell. Unless you feel like explaining why I'm partially naked in your room, I need you help me find my…..thank you" he said as she handed him his belt and a boot that matched the one he was already pulling on.
"Hurry up" she hissed. Dom was right. She was not up to explaining to her best friend how she had spent the last eleven months sleeping with his cousin. He's going to kill us, she thought as a knock on the door caused them to freeze.
"Damn" Dom hissed, looking around for an escape route. Finding none he resorted to his second option as his cousin knocked again.
"Kel, open the door or I'm going to think you died" Neal called. Kel muttered some unpleasant words that made Dom regret teaching them to her on Progress.
"Kel, go throw up" Dom told her as he walked towards the door, now fully clothed. She looked confused. "Trust me."
He waited until he heard the door to her privy close before grasping the doorknob in his hand and wrenching the door open. Neal almost fell through the entryway.
"Morning, Meathead. Took you long enough to get here" Dom said lightly as Neal crossed his arms and looked suspicious.
"Why are you here?" Neal asked slowly, looking around for Kel. Dom didn't miss a beat.
"I arrived after breakfast, thinking you would have already been here and I could check up on her. Refresh her memory of our lovely stroll last night. She puked on my boots." Dom shook his head like he was an older brother about to reprimand a younger sibling. "Instead I get puked on again when she opened the door. She's in the privy awaiting your services" he told Neal who headed to where the sound of more vomiting could be heard.
Dom let out the breath he had been holding and when Kel opened the door to admit Neal, he slipped out of her room unnoticed. The next time he won't believe me, Dom told himself. The next time we are going to need to consider excuses ahead of time.