Page 122 of The Dominator

“Yeah?” he whispered.

“Yeah,” I draped a leg over his and rubbed the sole of my foot up and down his calf.

“Tia.” His voice was laced with warning.

“I’m yours, baby. Take what you need,” I offered, trailing my hand down toward his waist.

He caught my wrist before I reached my goal.

“Fuck, baby. You don’t know what you’re offering.” He shifted me off of him and put his hands over his face.

“I do. I can take it,” I said huskily. “Be your cock slave…” I moved back over and started to tongue his nipple.

“Athena, I’m good. Go to sleep.”

“Tommy, I can take it. If you don’t release it now it’ll get worse and it could be more than I can handle, I’m here for you, let’s play a game, I –”

He put his hand over my mouth. “I just spent two hours beating a punching bag to a pulp so that you don’t have to deal with it instead. I am fine. Go to sleep.”

He took his hand off my mouth.

“Tommy–”

His hand came back over my mouth and stayed there.

After a few minutes, he lifted it.

I didn’t say anything. He pulled me against him and I kissed his chest and eventually fell asleep with my nose against his skin.

What has she become? Some armchair psychiatrist who thinks she knows how to keep me from going overboard?

I could’ve shown her that she hasn’t a fucking clue how bad it could get, that it could get even worse than it did in Vegas, but I didn’t wanna hurt her, don’t want her to think she’s in over her head with me – especially after I’d already almost broken her. I had my head together enough that I wasn’t looking to inflict anything on anyone. What I was craving was finding out the answers I needed. Even if her offer did make me as hard as a fucking rock.

Did my father kill Carlita O’Connor? Did he kill Joe Trulia? What about Earl’s son Michael? What else was going on here? And what the fuck should I do about it?

13

I was alone when I woke up. There was a text on the iPhone.

Gone out for a bit to take care of some things. I’ll meet you at Pop’s for dinner. Jimmy will pick you up and drive you. Be ready @5. Say nothing about what we discussed last night to anyone.

Well duh.

I wrote back:

Okay. <3 You. Xoxo

Pop’s for Sunday dinner? Oh boy. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t getting us out of it with what was going on.

I stayed busy getting things done around the house. Sarah would be back either tonight or tomorrow and I didn’t want her to have to come back to dusting, vacuuming, and laundry.

Nino was on the grounds with the blond guy, Dex. I looked at the big biker-looking Nino and wondered about this cousin of mine, his wife. I wondered if they had kids. I wondered if I had other family. I wondered if they all knew about me or not. I pondered the things my father had said, about how losing my mom hurt our connection. I knew it did. He was so broken after her. And did he blame me? Maybe he did.

He was always so fascinated with the mafia, though. Surely that was odd under the circumstances. And he was still trying to get a job with Tommy. Clearly, he wasn’t against the idea of living in that ‘life’. It was perplexing. He sold me out instead of trying to protect me. He was saving his own ass. And now he was trying to profit from my misery. Well, I guess it wasn’t misery anymore, but it had been and he didn’t know if I was happy or if I was in my own personal hell and yet he was trying to get a job with Tommy.

I baked a glazed lemon Bundt cake to bring to dinner and had it ready when James knocked on the front door. No one had been wandering around inside the house since we’d been back from Vegas and I knew they used the staff quarters but the hall door off the kitchen was left locked. Tommy had said they had keys for emergencies but had been instructed to give us our privacy. Earlier that day I’d gotten James to get me the ingredients at the store per Tommy’s instructions if I needed anything.

He carried the cake to the car and drove me the short drive to Tom and Lisa’s. I was thankful that it was a short drive because our awkward efforts at small talk didn’t have to last too long.

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