Chapter 11
Charly
ONE WEEK LATER
“You’re not racing tonight?” I asked, walking into the living room and plopping down on the couch beside Dominic.
“Nah. I’m tired. It’s been a long week.”
“I’m surprised. You never miss an opportunity to race, or at least be out there for your brothers,” I declared, moving around to rest my head in his lap.
“Come on, bigheaded ass girl.” He mushed the side of my head.
“Why you tripping?”
“I’m trying to watch TV, and you’re just gonna plop your ass down right here, pull up your iPad, and start reading a book like you don’t see me trying to watch TV.”
I turned sideways and looked up at him. Dominic’s elbow rested on the arm of the couch, and his chin rested in his hand. Irritation marked the grooves on his face, but I knew Dom. He wasn’t really irritated, just trying to irritate me.
“Fine. I’m sorry. I’ll go sit somewhere else,” I replied and sat up. I swung my legs over the couch and stood.
“Get your spoiled ass back over here. Big ass baby,” he complained and tugged my hand.
“Nah. It’s all good. I don’t have to sit here if you don’t want me to.”
The look in his eyes as he looked up at me was my undoing.
I could no longer hold my feelings inside.
I needed to tell him what being here with him was doing to me.
If it drove a wedge between us, I would feel like crap, but I couldn’t keep holding it inside.
I couldn’t pretend like I didn’t care or that I didn’t want him.
I couldn’t act like every time he walked around here without a shirt on, that it didn’t do something to me.
“Sit ya ass down,” he grumbled and tugged so hard until I fell on his lap.
I lay there staring up at him for several seconds before I pushed up and sat beside him. I scratched the back of my head. “I don’t like this,” I mumbled.
“Like what?”
“This . . . strangeness between us,” I stated, waving a hand in the space between us.
Shrugging, he replied, “I don’t feel any strangeness.”
“The fact that you can say that, and I know you’re lying, is a problem for me, Dom.”
He dragged his hands over his head, leaned forward, and rested his elbows on his knees. “What do you want me to do, Charly? What is it that you want from me?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at me.
“For you to be honest with yourself and real with me.”
“When haven’t I ever been all that?”
“Since I moved in.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Do you remember all those years ago when I told you how I felt about you?”
“The night after your sixteenth birthday.”
“Yeah.”
“What about it?”
“You hurt me so badly back then. I felt like there was a whole vibe between us beyond being best friends. The way you used to look at me when you thought I wasn’t looking, how you flirted with me, and the things you’d say about my changing shape.
I mean, I thought you were attracted to me, but then you just shot me down like I wasn’t shit. ”
“I never said or insinuated that.”
“You definitely didn’t insinuate that I was attractive.”
“You’ve always been beautiful, Charly. I didn’t need to tell you that. And everyone found you attractive, including me.”
“Then why did you shoot me down and make me feel the way that you did? Why did you ghost me for almost a year before I chased you down at your grandmother’s house that weekend and forced you to talk to me?”
“Because you were asking for things that I couldn’t give you, Charly. You wanted shit that I wasn’t capable of giving you.”
“I wanted what I always wanted from you, Dom. I wanted your friendship, protection, love, and attention.”
“But you wanted it in a different way. I couldn’t do that back then, Char. I was heading down the wrong path, and I knew it. I knew that if I took you with me, I would fuck up your life, and you deserved better than that. I had just found out that same day that Ariana was pregnant.”
I lost my breath for a moment, and my stomach twisted tightly inside of me.
I wanted to throw up, and I felt like I was being pricked with a thousand tiny needles.
But I couldn’t let him know that. I needed to hear the whole story, and if Dom knew how screwed up I felt, he would stop, out of his need to protect me.
“What? Ariana who?”
“Ariana Suarez. That girl I’d been kicking it with that summer. Li’l mixed girl with the green eyes and brownish-blonde hair.”
“Dom! How come you never told me that? You’ve got a kid out here somewhere? Or did she have an abortion or something?” I punched him in the shoulder with each question.
Dominic had curled in on himself, trying to block my blows. His scrunched-up face told me that he didn’t like that, and finally, he reached out and grabbed my hands to stop me.
“Stop that shit! I didn’t tell you because I couldn’t.
My head was messed up with what she’d told me, and then you came and told me about your feelings.
I had no idea what was about to happen with my life, but I knew that I couldn’t do that to you.
I didn’t want you to find out, and I didn’t want to hurt you, so I just kinda disappeared.
I started hanging out in the streets more and staying with Abuela to avoid you. ”
“What happened to the baby?” I asked, pressing my fist against my mouth.
“It wasn’t mine. My daddy insisted that I get a DNA test when the baby was born, and the baby wasn’t mine.”
I pulled my feet up on the couch and hugged my knees to my chest. I rocked back and forth in a futile attempt to comfort myself over something that shouldn’t hurt anymore.
“I can’t believe this,” I mumbled.
“Do you see why I didn’t want you to fuck with me like that? You didn’t deserve that. You didn’t deserve to get caught up in my stupid decisions or to have to go through any unnecessary bullshit with me. You deserved better.”
“Better than what? You should’ve let me be the judge.”
“Problem with that is you don’t make the best decisions when it comes to me.”
“Whatever. I would’ve stuck by you.”
“And that’s the problem, Char. You deserved better than that shit.”
“Who decides what’s better? Was Ramon better?” I shouted.
“Nobody told your fast ass to get involved with my brother anyway.”
“You weren’t here, Dom. I needed you, and you weren’t fucking here.
My best friend was gone, my dad was dating, and my mother died.
I had no one. Do you hear me? I had no one, and you decided to sacrifice your life for your stupid brother and leave me here all alone!
So I turned to the only person who was here for me! ” I shouted.
“Bullshit!” he shouted back and jumped up. “You did that shit because your ass wanted to be with him anyway!”
I jumped up from the sofa and followed him out of the living room.
“No, I didn’t! I never paid Ramon a passing glance before that day! Don’t you dare tell me that. It was you who I loved, and you who I wanted to be with!”
“Then how the hell did you find yourself in his bed and being his girl?”
“Because he was the next best thing, and the man I wanted didn’t want me!”
“Get the fuck outta here with that shit!” he grumbled, heading down the hallway.
“Don’t you walk away from me, Dom, when I’m talking to you!” I grabbed his hand, and he spun around so quickly that it caused me to take a couple of steps back.
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
“Obviously, nobody. Nobody at all.” I turned away from him and headed back to the living room.
Dominic rushed after me and grabbed my hand. “What do you want from me, Charly?”
Tears streamed down my face, and I felt like such a fool for always being so transparent with him about my feelings. I hated that I couldn’t hide what I felt when it came to Dominic.
“You, damn it! I want you. All I’ve ever wanted was you, but you never wanted me back.” I sobbed.
Dominic shoved me against the wall and gripped my shoulders.
His hands moved up to my face, and he cradled it as he pushed my head back.
His full lips covered mine, and I was too stunned to do anything.
I wasn’t even sure what was happening until he licked my lips, and I found myself opening them for him.
I was nervous, scared, and desperate at the same time.
I was nervous that I wouldn’t be what he wanted me to be and that I might disappoint him.
I was scared that I was about to ruin our friendship, and we could never get that back.
But I was also desperate to prove to him that I was everything he needed, and I could be all that he wanted.
Dominic moved one hand from my face and placed it at my neck.
His thumb rubbed my pulse point as his tongue moved expertly inside of my mouth as if he already knew me and what I liked.
We both kissed like we’d been practicing for this moment all our lives.
I craved more of what he had to offer, but I didn’t have to speak those words.
In true Dominic style, my best friend knew me and always anticipated my needs. That hand moved from my pulse point down my shirt to finger my nipples through the fabric. They hardened and yearned to feel the warmth of his fingertips against their sensitive shell.
Dominic deepened the kiss as his fingers worked their way down my body, slipped into my shorts, and penetrated the barrier of my thighs and panties. I gasped and held my breath as the sweet feeling he stirred within me turned to an all-consuming heat.
“Ooohh,” I moaned as he nipped my shoulders and fucked me with his fingers.
His thumb worked my clitoris over while three of his fingers slid in and out of my pussy until I almost came.
When he pulled his fingers back, he sucked them into his mouth, cleaning them with his tongue, and opening his mouth wide enough for me to see.
“Does this look like I never wanted you?”
His voice was a deep, complicated growl.
“Why did you act like you didn’t?”
“Because I didn’t want to ruin your life, but I always wanted you, Charlyse.”
“You did?” I asked in a soft voice, searching his gaze. His answer was to cover my mouth again in a deep, sensual kiss and reach down and grab me around the ass. I lifted my legs and wrapped them around him.
Dominic headed straight to his room with me and gently placed me on the bed. I spread my legs and welcomed him between them as we kissed again. I indulged in the feeling, dragging my hands over his head, down his neck, and across his back.
I had held him in my arms before, but never like this. My fingers caressed the planes of his back, dawdling over the sinewy, ropy muscles there to memorize them.
His soft lips pressed into my skin, leaving indelible memories of his touch on my shoulder, neck, jaw, and cheeks.
“Please, Dom. I need you now.”
“You sure?” he asked as he pulled back and stared into my eyes.
How could he not know? How could he not see the truth? I stared back into his hooded, russet-brown eyes and nodded. “I’ve always been sure of what I wanted from you.”
He moved back and undressed as he stared at me.
Worried that he might change his mind, I wasted no time removing my shorts and tank top.
Dominic turned away and walked to his drawer.
My eyes drifted over broad shoulders, a well-defined V-shape narrowing to his hips, a tight ass, and muscular thighs and calves.
The tattoos on his body appeared to come alive with every step he took.
When he turned back to me, he had already covered his long, thick, slightly crooked erection with a condom. I pushed up on my elbows as he returned, and I licked my lips as his dick bounced against his leg.
“In time,” he muttered. He pushed me back on the bed, grabbed my legs, and wrapped them around himself.
It seemed to take forever between the time he kissed my lips, sucked my breasts, and licked inside of my pierced navel before he slid inside of me.
“Dominic!” I cried out.
“Yes, baby girl?”
“This . . . right here. That’s all I needed. Oh, God! Dom! You feel so . . . ohhh!”
His thrusts were powerful, yet tender and caring. With every stroke, he circled the circumference of my walls, leaving no surface untouched.
Dominic placed his hand on my neck and squeezed as he looked into my eyes.
“Gahdamn, girl. I had a feeling that your shit was sweet, but if I had an inkling this nectar was like this, I never would’ve pushed ya li’l ass away. So juicy, hot, and tight.”
His hips swiveled as he continued to infiltrate my body.
Looking at him make love was very much like watching Dominic dance.
He employed the use of his legs, hips, abs, shoulders, chest, and arms as he fucked.
Every part of his body moved in synchronicity with his dick.
When I looked down, he was only halfway inside of me, but it felt like he filled me up.
“Gimme more, Dom. I want more,” I cried out as my hips and butt pushed away from the bed and rocked up to meet him.
“Greedy li’l ass. You’d better hope you can handle what you asked for.”
He pushed my legs back and toward my head. With power, he drove deep inside of me, expelling the breath from my lungs.
“Dom!” I screamed when the breath returned. I thought he had filled me before, but he truly filled me now. His entire length had disappeared inside of me, and there wasn’t enough room for him and my organs at the same time. Not only did that shit hurt, but I could barely breathe.
I always knew that he was big because I’d seen him whenever he undressed in front of me, but I thought that I could handle it.
“Dom, what?”
“Ease up . . . I can hardly breathe. And it hurts,” I moaned, but it also felt good.
“Nah, don’t start complaining now. Ya ass said you wanted more. Take more.” He spanked my ass and sped up.
“Ohhh shit!” I cried out as my head swiveled from side to side. I was hot, I could barely breathe, and yet, I didn’t want him to stop. Everything felt so good from my hair follicles to my toenails.
Dominic pushed my legs back further and shoved deeper inside of me. With my legs splayed over my shoulders, he rocked up into me and kissed my lips. Slowly, he ground against me.
“How you feeling, baby?”
“Like . . . like I just came alive again.”
“That’s what I’m talking ’bout.”
Dominic lowered my legs, but he remained between them.
Rolling onto his side, he pulled me onto mine and dragged my leg over his hip.
We rocked back and forth harmoniously, our lips sealed together, our pelvises locked so tightly that they were impenetrable, and our hands caressed one another as we discovered each other in an entirely new way.
And when we climaxed, it was earth-shattering.
I never wanted to lose what we had unearthed in each other’s arms.