Chapter 10

I was slow to wake but when I did I felt amazing. I couldn't remember the last time I had slept so well.

Opening my eyes I was surprised by the fact that it was still dark out. Given the level of exhaustion I had felt when I passed out, I hadn't expected to wake before noon. I turned my head to check my bedside clock only to find Karen's pretty face in the way. Just beyond Karen I could see light starting to leak in from the window giving me the ability to see my surroundings. It wasn't nearly as early as I feared. I was surprised to find myself on my back with both Karen and Megan resting their heads on my shoulders and my arms around their waists.

Honestly I wasn't that surprised by the pair of beautiful women snuggled into me, not after going to bed together, I was more surprised that I was able to sleep on my back. Seriously I was only able to sleep on my side.

Letting the thought pass I studied Karen's sleeping face. It had been two years and she had matured over that time, but it was hard to see any of that now. She looked just like the girl who had been my closest friend for all those years. Despite all of the emotional pain I had never blamed her for leaving, I had known for a long time that what she was looking for in life wasn't here with me. Didn't stop the hurt, but it would have been selfish of me to cling onto her.

Now she was back, but I wasn't sure how long that would be for. With the recent chaos, it could be a while before things got back to normal. Unless what Enya said was correct. I pushed that thought from my mind, I was seriously praying she was exaggerating. Instead I wondered how long Karen was staying with me.

I couldn't be the only one she was here to visit. Her parents… no they had gone on vacation to Hawaii. There were her other friends… no, she never had very many true friends and all of them had gone elsewhere for college. As I was friends with them too, I knew none of them had come back for the summer, some had internships, others had gone on vacation with other friends or family, and one stayed behind for summer classes. Of the small pool of people she would come back for, I was literally the only one here.

Karen had told me not to be so dense, this must have been what she meant. My mind raced at the implications, but I throttled it back. Rushing to conclusions was exactly how I had hurt myself so many times. Despite that, I was hopeful.

A groan from my other side drew my attention to my other problem. Megan was just as pretty as Karen, maybe even more so, and her sleeping face seemed almost angelic. I had no idea what our relationship was. She seemed interested but at the same time… I didn't know, she seemed confused about what it was she wanted. Then there was Micheal, he wouldn't mind if we got together, but only if we were serious. He didn't want to be in a situation where he had to choose between his friend and his cousin.

Megan shifted against me and snuggled her head into my shoulder as she shifted farther up onto me until she was almost lay on top of me while straddling one of my legs. Her large breasts pressed into my chest like a pair of firm pillows. The stimulation was a bit more than I was ready for.

Karen sighed. "Be nice to her." she whispered to me revealing the fact that she was awake.

Megan stiffening on top of me at the sound of Karen's voice told me she wasn't sleeping either.

"I always am." I replied softly.

"I know." Karen replied. "It's how I know you haven't changed much." she said snuggling my shoulder then grabbing my arm and wrapping it tighter around her waist.

I thought it was a bit funny that she was using me like a blanket, but then again I wasn't sure how much the attacks by the twisted had messed with her.

"Were you worried I had?" I asked curiously.

"Of course." Karen replied. "No matter what everyone says, people change, it's just rarely for the good. Don't get me wrong, people can change for the good too, but it usually takes something life altering to cause it." she said, opening her eyes to stare into mine.

"Like what happened to you?" I asked.

Karen sighed. "Yeah, though I wouldn't call it life altering." then she was quiet for a few moments. "I don't want to go into detail, not yet, but things happened that convinced me that my goals weren't what I really wanted. Once I could accept that, it wasn't hard to realize what I did want. Who it was I missed being with." she told me.

I was a bit surprised, but I shouldn't have been. Karen had always been pretty straightforward, one of the reasons why I knew my heartbreak was my own fault. She had spelled it out and I just didn't want to accept it. Even with that though I needed to know more if I was going to be okay with this. I couldn't put myself out there again unless she was serious. It would hurt me far too much if she wasn't.

"So you realized you set the bar too high, and lowered it enough that I was good enough?" I asked, frowning.

Karen reached up and flicked my nose. "Stop that!" she said harshly with a serious look in her eyes. "You and your low self esteem." she grumbled. "I didn't lower the bar." she told me then continued in a much quieter, meeker, totally not Karen like voice. "I just realized I was using the wrong bar."

It was so totally unlike the Karen that I knew that I was shocked for a few moments before I could piece it all together. With our history she had come back to try things out with me, which by itself was a risk if I had changed or moved on, but she also found Megan hanging out close to me. For the overly confident woman that she was this had to be a rather humbling situation.

I sighed and closed my eyes unsure what to do. Megan and I weren't anything officially, but I knew it would hurt her if I suddenly started dating Karen, and I really didn't want to hurt her.

"I know Megan has a crush on you. Kind of obvious, with the three of us sleeping together practically naked." Karen told me, hitting on the biggest of my concerns. "Just keep being nice to her, and I am sure things will be fine. Kind of feels like fate or something." she said then leaned closer and kissed my lips.

I enjoyed the soft warm feeling until she pulled away and shifted around a bit to get comfortable again. It was only after she stopped kissing me that I was able to process her words, and how unlike Karen they were.

"Huh?" I asked startled.

"Damn." she grumbled to herself as she realized that she said more than she should.

"Karen?" I asked her cautiously. I wouldn't force her to say anything, but Karen was not a believer of fate, quite the opposite actually.

Karen groaned and buried her head into my shoulder.

"Now I am curious." Megan said revealing the fact that she was awake.

Karen groaned again seeming mortified that Megan had heard her too.

"Is she usually like this?" Megan asked.

I shook my head. "Nope, this is a first for me." I replied.

Karen smacked my chest but it didn't even sting.

"Come on, you can tell us. It might even make this whole weird situation easier." Megan told the other woman.

It was an odd situation, neither was the kind of woman who was willing to share. Karen had dumped guys just for suggesting a threesome, and Megan had chased off several other girls who acted interested. Not that I had minded, none of them had been interested in me, they just wanted to use me to get closer to Micheal.

"Fine." Karen said, turning her face to look at Megan and I. "Let's just say my realization of who I wanted to be with and my trip here were so close together I didn't have a chance to really think it through. I only had a chance to think about it after I was on the plane. I don't regret my choice, but I did wonder if I was rushing. Despite that I came to see you as soon as my plane landed. Seeing the news I felt like it had to be fate intervening, and you know how I feel about fate Daryl." she told me.

"Why?" I asked knowing full well how she felt about fate.

"One of the attacks was at a restaurant I go to for lunch. They have an incredible subs that they sell at half off during the lunch hour." she told us.

"Okay?" I said, still confused.

"The attack happened when I would have been there." Karen replied.

I frowned then opened my mouth to retort but Karen put a finger on my lips stopping me. "I know what you are going to say Daryl, but you don't understand. I went every single day, and I was always there at the same time, even after classes were over. If I hadn't come to see you, I would have been there when that thing attacked." she told me.

I wanted to argue with her that there were any number of things that could have happened so that she wasn't there at the time, but there was no point. She was sure she would have been there, and while there were all sorts of things that could have come up to keep her from being there at the time, there was also no way to know she wouldn't have been there.

"Then, as soon as I arrived I met Megan, and well…" Karen said then blushed.

I looked at her skeptically.

Megan giggled. "Oh really?" she asked teasingly.

Karen shrugged. "We had this talk already." she her face a deep red.

It seemed I had missed a lot. Unfortunately as interesting as this conversation and position were, the call of nature couldn't be ignored.