Chapter 6 #2
“And then some. I know how to manage money. I just got hit with a few big unexpected expenses,” he tells me.
“Plus, I want to make this place nice again. Build something Ryder can be proud of his old man for one day. Something my brother won’t go nuts about when he sees you’re here,” he says, making a face as he takes a step, then two, backwards towards his customers.
“Speaking of, head on back to the office. You know where it is, right?”
“Yup.”
“I’ll watch you from here.” He leans against the bar, cocking his head towards the man he threatened earlier. “Hurry up before I have to break Joe’s neck here.”
With a little wave, I ignore the stares of the patrons lined up on stools like drunken ducks and make my way to the back.
A door is tucked away with a gold plate that has lost the lettering that once embellished it.
I knock gently, but can’t hear Dom’s voice on the other side over the sound of some classic rock song from the jukebox.
“Dom?” I say, twisting the knob and pushing the door open. “Oh. I’m sorry.”
My face burns in part embarrassment, part anger at the sight before me.
Dom is sitting with a pile of papers in his hand and his feet kicked up on a rickety wooden desk.
He’s not looking at the papers though. His attention is on a red-headed girl sitting on a love seat that’s looking at him like he just stepped out of the heavens.
“What are you doing here?” His head snaps to me as he sits up, the papers splashing across the desk. The lines that mar his forehead tell me everything I need to know.
This was, as I feared, counterproductive.
“I, um,” I stammer, clearing my throat, “I thought I’d drop by. I didn’t know you’d be busy.”
Glancing to my right, I see Red with the corner of her lips curling into a bitchy smirk. If I knew how to throw a punch, I’d land one in the middle of her too-pink pucker.
“I’m not busy.” Dominic leans forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “I just didn’t expect you. Here.”
He’s unhurried, like he doesn’t even realize Red’s here. Like it’s not bothering me at all that another woman was alone with him and I just walked in. That annoys me. Big time. But if there’s one thing I learned from my mother, it’s not to let them see you sweat.
Growing up, lots of girls weren’t nice to me and Sienna. Our sophomore year, in particular, was rough. We learned to say everything with a smile, to act unaffected. It takes the wind out of their sails. That or it makes them react and look like idiots.
“You know what, I should’ve called. How thoughtless of me,” I say, pasting on a grin. Turning to Red, I extend a hand. “I’m Camilla Landry. It’s nice to meet you.”
She pulls her drawn-on brows together and looks quickly at Dom before returning her gaze to me. “I’m Hannah. Nice to meet you?”
We shake in an awkward maneuver before I adjust my purse and look at Dom again. Plastering on as pleasant of a smile as I can, I turn away. “I have some errands to run. You can call me later if you want.”
“Cam.”
“Yeah?” I say, looking at him over my shoulder.
“Stay.” He looks at Hannah. “Wait for him out there.”
“Nate said I could wait in here.”
“And I just told you to wait out there.”
“But …”
He gives her a look I haven’t seen him give a woman before, just men that think they’re going to make him jump when he doesn’t want to jump. The blues in his irises darken, his lips pressing together. “Go on.”
“Fine.” She looks at me with a smirk before turning to Dom. “See you at the gym tomorrow.”
I keep the bored look on my face as she walks by and out the door. I don’t turn to look at Dominic for a moment, needing a few seconds to process this … that this girl can spend time with him here and while he trains. And I can’t.
I wait for him to say something, to tell me she wasn’t here for him, but he remains quiet. Finally, I turn around. “Should I have called?”
“No,” he growls. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Did I interrupt something between you and Red?”
The question eases some of the tension in his face. “‘Red’?” he asks, fighting a laugh.
“Yeah. Red.”
“Okay. Red it is.” He leans back in his chair and takes me in.
His dark hair is mussed from the gym, the front of his grey t-shirt stained from sweat.
It’s sexy as hell and if I wasn’t borderline angry, I’d straddle him.
“No, you weren’t interrupting anything. She was waiting on Nate because he’s fucking around with her. ”
“But not you.”
“No, not me,” he grins. “Does that bother you?”
“What?”
“The thought of me fucking around with her?”
“No,” I lie, fidgeting with my purse on my shoulder again. “You can do whatever you want.” He just sits there, leaning back in his chair, his muscled thighs tensing beneath the jersey of his red gym shorts, and doesn’t say a word. “You can do whatever you want, just like I can.”
This gets his attention.
His eyes swirl ferociously, his jaw pulsing as he works it back and forth. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s not supposed to mean anything. Just stating facts. We’re free to do whatever we want.”
He nods, uncrossing his arms from over his chest. “Come here.”
Tossing my purse where Red was sitting, I take the few steps to him. He spreads his feet wider, allowing me to stand between his knees. As soon as I’m in his personal space, I breathe a sigh of relief. This is what I wanted. What I needed. To feel the comfort that I only find when I’m with him.
My shoulders sag, the expectations I’ve faced all day to be me, Camilla Jane Landry, are gone.
I’m here, with him, and that’s enough. There’s no need to remember exquisite table manners or to choose my words thoughtfully.
No need to remember the impact of my behavior on my family’s business or my brother’s campaigns.
Dom doesn’t care about all that. If anything, he tries to provoke me to act out, which I resist but find entertaining.
He looks up, assessing me. “You know I don’t like you coming down here,” he says, his gaze narrowed.
“Why?”
“You know why, Cam. This is no place for a girl like you.”
“Red is here,” I point out, narrowing my own gaze. “Apparently she gets to be with you everywhere I don’t. You don’t have a problem with that.”
“Let me reiterate what I just said: this is no place for a girl like you. And Red is in all these places because she’s fucking everyone … but me.”
He has to notice the way my shoulders fall just slightly at his statement. He sits up, his knees pulling together and resting against the outside of my thighs. I can smell the sweet sweat on his skin and notice a small cut just above his eye that I want to inspect, but don’t.
“I’m a big girl, Dominic,” I say, letting the last syllable click on my tongue. “I’ve been here before and nothing bad has happened to me. Hell, nothing bad has ever even happened in front of me here. It makes me wonder if there are ulterior motives for you not wanting me around.”
“Damn it.” His palms rest against the backs of my legs, his hands splaying out against my skin.
They’re extra coarse from the boxing gloves he’s undoubtedly been wearing and make me break out into goosebumps as he strokes up and down my thighs.
“There is no ulterior motive. The reason I’m asking you not to show up here is self-explanatory.
Look around,” he chuckles. “Why in the hell would you even want to come to this shit hole?”
“I wanted to see you,” I say softly, draping my arms over his shoulders. “And you were here.”
His face rests against my stomach. He nudges me towards him, pulling me tight against him.
Leaning down, I press a kiss to the top of his head.
My heart swells in this moment, in a way that I haven’t gotten to experience too many times with him.
He doesn’t give in often. He’s not one for showing too much softness, and when it happens, it strikes some instinct in me to want to protect him from the world.
“I thought about you today,” he says, still tucked against me. “I wondered how your lunching went.”
“My luncheon went well.” I smile as I enunciate the proper word. “Too much food, but it was nice being with my family.”
He squeezes me. “I want to spend some time with you tonight.”
“I’m here.”
“But not here.” He pulls away and looks me in the eye. “Nate’s working for a while, I think. Meet me at my place?”
“Or we can go to mine,” I offer.
“I need to go to mine anyway, and I don’t want to spend an extra thirty minutes going back and forth. I need to glance at this one more time, and then I’ll meet you there.”
“Have you eaten?” I ask, brushing a damp lock of hair off his forehead.
He smiles. “No.”
“I’ll get you some food and then meet you at your place in a little bit.” Bending down, I cup his face in my hands and press a kiss against his swollen lips. “And I’m icing you down when we get there.”
He rolls his eyes, but I can tell he likes it. “Get outta here.”