Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
“Please, Dom.” My lip trembled. “I’ve had a really, really long day.”
He stared at me for a long moment, and I swear I saw sadness flicker in those dark eyes. He glanced away and looked at the SUVs, which were now parked on this side of the street, a few steps away.
He was still looking at the SUVs when he cleared his throat and said, “Go on, then.”
I didn’t wait another second. I rushed over to Marco as he opened the door for me. I got in so quickly that I nearly sat on top of a bunch of sunflowers. I picked them up with both hands, the cellophane crinkling in my fists as I stared at the large brown anthers and long, beautiful yellow petals.
“He got those for you,” Marco said as he started the car and drove away from the theatre.
Tears instantly filled my eyes. I felt my heart crack a little more. The look on his face when he thought I was scared of him would haunt me forever. The worst part was that I could never be scared of him, but seeing him like that made me feel like I was looking at a stranger. I thought about my conversation with Gabe, which I hadn’t even had a chance to tell him about yet. He’d warned me. He’d told me what people said about him and Rocco. I knew, deep in my bones, what Dominic was capable of. He stood for everything I stood against, for everything he should stand against, and probably would if his mother was still alive and his father hadn’t gotten to him.
“You can drop me off at my place,” I said.
Even though the last place I wanted to be was the apartment where Anthony would surely know to find me, I couldn’t just go back to Dominic’s place. Not after this. What would I even say to him? What was there to say?
Marco met my eyes in the rearview. “Do I look like I have a death wish?”
I shivered, sinking back into my seat. Was everyone scared of this man? If so, I’d just seen a preview as to why.
He wasn’t home when we arrived. He didn’t have a vase, so I put the flowers in the largest glass jar I could find, my heart sinking deeper with each stem I cut. I got some water and a bowl of fruit he’d just had delivered today and went over to the couch. For a while, I flipped through previews before settling on Peaky Blinders. Fucking ironic. I must have fallen asleep because the next time I opened my eyes, it was 4:13 and I was lying in the guest bedroom.
22
ROSIE
I hadn’t seen him in two days. I wished I could say it didn’t hurt, but every waking second I felt the knife dig deeper into my gut. Every time I was in or out of the house, he was on my mind. When I danced, he was on my mind. When I worked out, he was on my mind. When I ate, he was on my mind. When I stepped into the guest bathroom, all I did was relive the things we’d done in there. I’d left him a detailed note of my conversation with his brother, leaving out the part about him and Rocco. I wanted to go home. I needed to go home. At least if I was home, I could pretend none of this had happened. I could pretend that I’d never even seen Dominic or Gabe or Rocco and never got sucked back into that life. It was a lie I told myself, of course. I’d been sucked back into that life the moment my father chose to do business with Tommy Costello. He was really to blame for a lot of this, but I didn’t choose my father. I chose to let Gabe back into my life and Dominic was a direct result of that.
I was stretching my feet before my performance when my phone buzzed on the chair next to me. It was Yari.
“I have a show tonight, so I can’t talk,” I said upon answering.
“Oh shit. I forgot. I’ll talk to you later. I just called to see how you were doing.”
“Fine.” Not fine.
“You want to go out for drinks tonight?”
I bit my lip. “I don’t know.”
“K. I’ll tell you where I end up and you can decide if you’re up for it when you finish.”
“Thanks.” I smiled.
“Break a leg,” she said. “I still think that’s a stupid thing to say to someone, but whatever.”
I laughed. “Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.”
“K love you.”
“Love you.” I hung up and shoved my phone in the pocket of my bag so I could focus.
After tonight’s show, I had five days off before I performed again during a Saturday matinee. The three previous shows these last two days had sucked. Well, I’d sucked. I knew the dance and could perform it in my sleep, but my movements felt stiff. Even if I hadn’t felt that way, Joshua sure as hell did. He pointed it out to me twice already. He told me the next time, he’d pinch my ass to wake me the fuck up. I hadn’t even laughed. How could I, when the only thing I wanted to do was cry? This was exactly the problem with the Dominic thing. If this was the way I felt now, I couldn’t even imagine how I’d feel if we started dating and broke up. I could barely stomach the thought. And we hadn’t even kissed. Or held hands. Or cuddled. We’d only had sex. Yet every time I looked at him, I felt my stomach flip.