“Me?”
“No, the show on Netflix.”
“What’s that about?”
“A serial killer.”
I almost choked on my pasta. “I expected you to say a gun is your favorite weapon, since that was your murder weapon.”
“Back to that again.”
“Are you going to tell me why you shot him?”
He leaned back in his chair and dabbed his chin with his napkin.
“I feel like I’m betraying my parents being here with you. I feel even worse that I’m enjoying myself in your company. Who does that?” I pointed to my temple. “I must have a screw loose.”
His eyes softened with warmth and sympathy. The color I described as sludge was slowly becoming a nice hue of hazel as my feelings deepen for him. It’s funny how perceptions change. “Don’t we all have a screw loose?”
“You’re avoiding answering the question again.”
“Alright,” he sighed. “He threatened me.”
“So you shot him.”
“It was self defense in a way.”
“You know I was there, Dom. I didn’t see you arguing or him hurting you.”
“Oh…he was hurting me alright. Just not in the way you’re thinking.”
“Dom, please. Give me something. And why do we have to use these silly names? Why can’t I call you by your real name?”
“Cattus isn’t a silly name.”
“You’re not a fan of the name Gretta?”
“Not particularly. It makes me think of a yodeling milk maid.”
“Sexy.”
A devilish smile slid across his face as his hand found my thigh.
“No,” I bit spanking it off. “Tell me. Or I’m leaving right now.”
“Fine. He was threatening me to stay away from you.”
“So, you shot him?”
“There’s more to it than that, but yes, I shot him. I didn’t mean to kill him I was just mad.”
I fell quiet, staring at the meal on my plate as a surge of unwanted emotions stormed through my body. A stray tear fell down my cheek and he wiped it with his thumb.
He added, “He went to my father and told him I was doing inappropriate things to his daughter.”
“You were doing inappropriate things to me.”
“That’s not how I saw it. And you seemed to enjoy it. We were just kids playing around and experimenting.”