Page 67 of Bloom

He half sat up. “What’s wrong? Did you break my arsehole?”

I didn’t laugh. I just shook my head and pulled the torn condom off. “No. I broke the condom.”

Chapter Eight

Linden

Broken condom.

I heard the words, and logically I knew what that meant.

But it was the look on Keats’ face that scared me.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” he said. “I must have been too rough or too much. I did something wrong. Did I hurt you? Oh god, Linden, did I hurt you?”

He was pale and his eyes were wide, like he was about to have a full-blown panic attack. “No, you didn’t hurt me. You, uh,” I gestured to the smear of jizz on my belly. “You made me come without touching my dick.”

But he really was freaking out, so maybe joking wasn’t the right approach.

Broken condom.

I could see the condom. It had torn almost up the entire length of it and his come was leaking out onto his hand. Which meant it was inside me.

And I knew what that meant.

But the look on his face. He was horrified.

“Keats,” I tried. “Are you . . . are you . . . ?”

He shook his head. “I’m so sorry.”

I grabbed his arm. “Are you... are you positive? What’s your status?” Oh god. Why hadn’t we discussed this before?

His eyes met mine, wide as saucers. “What? Oh god, no. No, I’m negative. I mean, I was in my last test. And there’s only been one other time in the last coupla months. It was a random hook-up about three or four months ago, and I wore a condom, of course.”

Relief flooded through me. “Okay.”

He was now looking at me, waiting . . . “Are you . . . ?”

“I’m negative. I got tested straight after I found out Jason cheated on me.”

He sagged back on his haunches, and he let out a breath. “God. I’m still... I’m so sorry. I didn’t feel it break. I should have. It was just so intense, I...”

I sat up properly. “I don’t expect you to have known, Keats.”

Then I realised... what I could feel. “Oh,” I said, getting off the bed. “I should probably get cleaned up.”

His eyes popped open, and he scrambled off the bed too. “Oh god, yes, shit. Is there something I should do?”

Uh. You could stop panicking. That’d be a great start.

“I’ll just have a shower,” I said. “Gimme a few minutes.”

He nodded quickly. “Yes, of course.”

He was standing there as naked as me, with his cock hanging heavy, with his palm out still holding the offending condom in a pool of jizz on his hand.

“Maybe you should get cleaned up too,” I suggested.