Page 14 of Where He Ended

- Chapter 6 -

Laiken

The next morning, Dominic's car is still gone.

I watch for it to appear for way too long as I linger in the front room of the house.Maybe he's busy with work.It's not impossible, probably even likely. But it's nearly dinner time before I quit finding excuses to peek at the driveway, and that's only because Mellie seeks me out. “Laiken!” she calls, shuffling towards me while holding a white cloth bag as tall as her.

Side-stepping the window, I fold my hands behind my back. “Hey, what's going on?”

She shoves the bag at me. “Annie told me, to relay to you, that you've got an hour to get ready for a special dinner tonight.”

Scrunching my mouth into a balloon-knot, I hold up the bag. There's a dress inside, I can see the glittering gold hem peeking from the open bottom. “Dinner with who?”

“The Steel Works partners.”

It's like a wave of heartburn rumbles up from my guts to my mouth. “Oh.”

She doesn't catch my disappointment. Or maybe she just ignores it. “Get to your room, clean up, and make yourself look as nice as you can. Sounds like it'll be a pretty formal get together.”

Fingering the bottom of the dress, I trace a few stitches that ruin the otherwise gorgeous hem. It's hard to see the damage, but I can feel it.Wait, is this . . .“Mellie, this is the dress I wore to the ballroom party.”

“Hmm?” She's writing something in a tiny notepad. Clicking the pen loudly, she begins to walk away, marching to her next destination. “Just wear it, be down here in an hour—why am I repeating myself? I know you heard me.”

I stare at her fading back. Something about this is strange.You're just upset because you have to see Franklin again.Who else will be there tonight?I should have asked if Dominic is attending, too.I grip the dress tighter.No. It's good I didn't.This mooning over Dominic is out of control.

Taking a deep breath, I walk until I reach my room. My goal is to stop thinking about that frustrating, possibly dangerous, man. But it's difficult when I'm about to put on the same dress he fingered me in.

Throwing the gown on the bed, I enter my bathroom, running scalding hot water in the shower. The steam fogs everything—I inhale it, imagining it's seeping into my cells and cleaning me from the inside out.

I need his claws out of my heart.

Every time I try, the barbs slice me, bleeding me dry. Removing Dominic from my existence might kill me in the process.

I shower until my skin shrivels up. I wish I could stay in there longer, but there's a timer hanging over my head. Twisting the metal knob, I step carefully over the tub's rim. My toes sink into the white circular rug. Directly across from me, I spot myself in the mirror.

Wavy and thick, my hair drips water as it hangs past my hips. It sticks to my spine. When I grab it to wrap it in a towel, I heft the weight of it. This glorious, beautiful, useless hair only reminds me that I kept my promise, and Kara didn't.

Istilldon't know what happened to her. If I hadn't talked to her the day she moved in, I might not know she was even living in the same house. As I weave my damp hair into a braid, counting the loops, I think about Kara's poise at the ballroom party.

She was a natural there. She belonged. Did she cut her hair herself, casually shrugging off our promise because it was something childish? Or had a person like Emma gone after her with scissors, and Kara had no one like Dominic to save her?

Dominic.

No, none of that.

I dress quickly, confirming this dress is definitely the one from the ballroom. Running my palm down the front, I stand before the lengthy mirror. It's easy to picture Dominic standing behind me, his hand tracing the zipper, his fingers questing for my virgin pussy under the dress.

Shivering with hot flashes, I fluff the hem and stand tall. The time for thinking about Dominic as someone who can get that close to me is over. It should have never begun.

****

WHEN I REACH THE FRONTroom, Silas and his wife are standing there, talking to a man in sunglasses and a black suit. I recognize Miles. He nods a few times, then slips out the door, leaving it open. Annie spots me coming. Her eyes skid off of me, like she doesn't want to look at me.

Silas motions for me to follow them out the door. “Hurry up,” he says gruffly, not waiting. I didn't think I was late—Mellie said an hour, it hasn't been longer than that. Lifting the hem of my dress, I run as fast as I can in my heels through the open door. The sun is dipping behind the trees, turning the leaves ember-red.

Two black town cars are lined up in the driveway. Each has a driver inside, their faces disguised by the tinted glass. Silas opens the backdoor of the last car for Annie.

Miles motions for me to follow him to the first vehicle. His sunglasses hide his eyes, disguising any emotion I could have gleaned from them. He yanks the backdoor open for me.

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