Page 113 of The Dominator

“Tia, this is getting a little like fishing.”

“I’m not catching anything, though.”

“No, but remember what I had to do to get you away from that pond?”

“You’d seriously carry me out of this casino over your shoulder?”

“What do you think?”

He was serious.

“This machine is lucky. It’s pink, like my fishing rod. I’m gonna win.” I reached up and pulled the tall chrome lever again and stuck my tongue out at him and it started dinging and lights started flashing. I won five thousand dollars. Not five thousand quarters, dollars!

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed, “Told ya so, told ya so!”

He shook his head and laughed simultaneously while I jumped up and down. There was a guy, early twenties, beside me and he raised his hand up for a high five. I gave him a smack of my palm and looked to Tommy.

“Lost Wages my ass!” I declared and did a little twirly dance, probably looked ridiculous, but did not care. He shook his head in astonishment and then leaned over and kissed me.

“Sticking your tongue out at me is a spankable offence, Missy. Watch it.” He said against my lips and then winked.

“Why do you think I did it?” I winked back and his face split into a huge grin.

* * *

He slept on the flight home, holding my hand the entire time. I watched the in-flight movie. We travelled without James and Nino as Tommy had said they had an errand to run for him locally and would be flying back tomorrow.

I tried to give him the five grand, but he looked at me like I’d lost the plot. I was actually surprised they never asked for my ID in the casino.

“But you paid for everything on the trip,” I reasoned.

“So what? I’m not taking your money, Tia.”

“You’re too old-fashioned for your own good,” I told him.

He rolled his eyes at me. “Well, a leopard can’t change his spots, babe. Put it in your underwear drawer when we get home; save it for a rainy day.”

“Well maybe I’ll just buy you a present with it then,” I challenged, thinking that he’d dropped the leopard and spots cliché for a reason far beyond the five-thousand, but I was trying to avoid focusing on that statement. Was letting me hold onto enough money to get away from him another test? Or was he trying to show me trust?

“Yeah, well, I won’t stop you.” He shrugged.

I gave him a big hug. It felt so light and jovial that day and I was deeply grateful for that as it was helping me cope. Denial was helping me cope, too, but I figured I’d take whatever help I could get!

12

When we got back, his convertible was waiting for us at airport parking, and he drove us home. It was nice to not have security. It felt almost normal. Almost.

When we got home there were two security guards outside, but there was no Sarah as Tommy revealed he had sent her on a surprise holiday to see her family and she’d be a few more days. I thought that was very sweet of him.

She left me a note telling me that she’d prepared some meals in advance and froze them for us to get us through the next few days, if needed. I surveyed the refrigerator, pantry, and freezer and she’d stocked everything up well and there were plenty of ingredients for if I wanted to cook from scratch instead of simply defrosting and heating food up. She’d made a few casseroles, some batches of soup, had multiple groups of marinated meats in zippered freezer bags, a few batches of pasta sauces, and a few lasagnas.

Tommy had gone to his office right after putting our luggage upstairs, telling me he’d be taking care of a few things and that he’d be a few hours. I went upstairs to unpack and found a gift box beautifully wrapped in silver paper with a big pink bow on it on the bed with my name on it. I opened it and it was a shiny new laptop. It was metallic pink, just like my fishing rod, and when I booted it up the screen wallpaper was a photo of the pond at the farm from the view of the hayloft doors at sunset. My heart swelled.

This man wanted me and said he loved me. I so wanted this to work. I wanted the emotion I felt at the moment to be real, not just another brief reprieve from pain.

I spent a few minutes playing with it, did a few quick personalization things, a few Google searches, and then went downstairs to his office. The door was open a few inches, so I pushed it open. He was in his office chair, but had the chair swiveled away from the desk to face the window, which had a view of the pool. He was on the phone.

“I don’t care how difficult; I need you find out the truth about Carlita and Greg O’Connor and you get me answers within the next two or three days. Got me?”

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