Page 5 of Exile

Dominick lets out a sultry low chuckle that causes me to clench my thighs together. “I asked if I could call you tonight. I get off shift at six.”

I smile, nod, and shake my head all at the same time. “Yes, no. I mean yes, you can call, but not at six. I have a late class tonight. I’ll be home around eight.” At this point Marie reappears, placing the three coffees on the counter.

“Alright boys, wrap it up. The line is getting long. You can continue with your flirting tonight. We have other customers to serve.”

With that, they pay and head out, Dom tossing me one of those sexy head nods in goodbye, and I’m fairly certain I’m making heart eyes at him while he walks out. Marie shoves me back to the kitchen so I can compose myself while she takes care of the next customer in line.

After a silent freakout session and a few box breathing exercises, I make my way to the front and see that Kai is next in line. I go to help him while Marie works on the previous order.

“Hey! What’s up?” I start working on my latest creation, a maple-pecan latte with a dash of nutmeg that I’m debating naming Sweater Weather. Kai is my official guinea pig, and I make him try any new drinks before we put them on the menu. He’s never afraid to tell me what he really thinks, and he’s the main reason why the passion fruit latte didn’t make it on the menu during the summer. He wasn’t wrong about that one; it wasn’t my greatest idea. I blame my binge watch of the Great British Baking Show and the copious amounts of passion fruit the contestants use in their recipes for that particular bout of inspiration.

“Hey, you wanna get together tonight after class to work on that assignment for psych? You’re better at the outlining part of paper writing, and I’m stuck,” Kai asks, throwing a five on the counter that I ignore in favor of making his drink. It’s on the tip of my tongue to say yes before I remember I agreed to talk to Dominick tonight after class.

“Um, I can’t tonight. Plans. How about we work on it tomorrow? We’ve got until next week to turn in the outline. I haven’t even started mine yet.” A flash of something that looks like surprise crosses Kai’s face. He’s not used to me not being available outside of work and school hours. He knows I usually stay home with Mom once I’m done for the day.

“Plans? What kinda plans? I know it can’t be anything good because they’re not with me.” He leans down on the counter on his elbows, leveling his cocksure grin at me.

“None of your business, you ass. Here, try this.” I plunk the coffee creation down in front of him and quirk a brow at him, waiting for his judgment. I know this one is good. It’s got maple in it, and it’s almost as basic as a PSL. The college girls will go nuts for it.

Kai takes a sip, closes his eyes and makes a humming noise as he savors the flavors of the drink. “It tastes like you need to spend more time with your best friend and help him get his outline done.”

“Ha-fucking-ha.” I roll my eyes and shove the five back across the counter at him. We do this dance every time he comes in. He slaps a five-dollar bill down, I ignore it, he ignores me ignoring it, and eventually he stuffs it into the tip jar.

“Seriously, what are you doing tonight?” He takes another long drink of the latte, sucking half of it down in one go. I made his iced because Kai doesn’t believe in drinking hot coffee.

I ignore his question, still feeling weird about his reaction from the previous day about the news of my date with a cop. I’d rather not step back into that hornet’s nest if I can avoid it.

“Better than the passion fruit?”

“Much. Very Basic. The white girls are gonna love it. Is it Dudley? I thought your date wasn’t until Thursday?”

Rolling my eyes, I huff out a sigh. “If you must know, yes. He’s going to call me tonight. I would like to get to know him better before our date. And his name is Dominick.”

Kai doesn’t say anything for a long moment before nodding once, backing away to make his exit. “Alright, just be careful with him, ok? It’s been a while since you’ve put yourself out there. I don’t want to see you get hurt. Or fall for a cop and get all lame.”

“Fuck you. You wish you were as cool as me.” I reach across the counter and punch him in the shoulder.

Kai grins wide, showing off his perfect white teeth before saying, “Every day, baby.” With that, he walks out, slinging his backpack over his shoulder while putting his headphones over his ears.

Later that night, I’m walking in the parking lot on campus after class when my phone rings. Glancing at the screen I see it’s Dominick calling. I answer, slightly out of breath from the long trek across campus to the student parking lot.

“Hey! What’s shakin’ bacon?” I cringe when I hear the words come out of my mouth. What the hell did I just say?

“Bacon? Is that some sort of cop joke?” Dominick chuckles while I stop dead in my tracks, desperately hoping a hole will open up in the ground and swallow me whole.

“No. It’s just me being a colossal dork. If you want to hang up and lose my number, I completely understand.”

“And miss more zingers like that one? Not a chance.” The amusement in Dominick’s voice washes over me like a warm blanket. I continue on my trek across the dark parking lot to my car while we talk.

“How was class?” he asks as I start digging through my backpack looking for my keys.

“Long. Just got out so I’m walking to my car. Prof held us over by like twenty minutes. I’m dead on my feet right now.”

“You’re walking across campus right now? Do you have anything for protection?” Dominick’s voice is suddenly less warm, colder and more serious. It must be hard to turn off that kind of vigilance at the end of the day, or ever, for that matter.

“I’ve got a rape whistle somewhere,” I mutter as I drop my backpack on the ground to crouch down and dig through the pockets looking for my keys. “Damnit, why do they always go to the bottom?”

“You’re walking alone in the dark, without your keys in hand? Serena, you need to be more aware of your surroundings. I want you to stay on the phone with me until you get to your car.” I’m simultaneously annoyed by his lecture and thrilled he cares about my safety. It’s been so long since I’ve felt looked after—it’s nice hearing the concern in his voice.

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