by C. L. Parker
Dominic chuckled low and pulled away from her. “You wear a minuscule scrap of fabric hiding what I covet most, and you’re lecturing me on what’s fair? Admit it, Querida, you want it.”
Kerrigan gave him a sheepish grin, knowing his hand on her ass had given away the fact she wore a thong underneath her skirt. She loved to tease him just as much as he teased her. That little tidbit of knowledge would drive him crazy all night. It would make for one hell of a make-out session the following morning.
She slipped her hand into the front pocket of his snug jeans, and he tensed as she purposely grazed his hard-on and then fished deeper, pulling out the keys to his car. “Cock tease,” he said with a lopsided grin.
“Why, Dominic Grayson... I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She pushed on his chest, forcing him to take a reluctant step backward so she could walk around to the driver’s side.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into him. Her squeak of surprise was cut off abruptly when her mouth was covered by his in a hard kiss. “You’re going to pay for that later,” he warned before letting her go. She giggled and walked to the driver’s side of the car.
“Where are we going now?” Olivia situated herself behind the wheel of Tyson’s Mustang as he pawed at her with his big arm draped over her shoulders. Jesus, he really needed to learn how to hold his liquor.
“Panama Hattie’s!” Talon yelled from the passenger seat of Sydney’s car. Colton and Gabe were in the back seat and did a little party whoop like they had been there before. They hadn’t.
Dominic abruptly leaned over Kerrigan until he could see them through the driver’s side window. “No!”
“Why not? It’s just down the street, and we’ve got less than an hour until midnight.” Sydney stressed the last part, reminding him of the need to get him back before he went phantom.
Dominic sat back in his seat with a huff. “Fine. Panama Hattie’s it is.”
All three engines roared to life, the occupants of two of the vehicles in their caravan louder than the combined sound of all three motors. They backed out of the parking lot, heading north on A1A.
ZZ Top’s Tush blared through the custom stereo, and Kerrigan turned it down so she could be heard. “Why don’t you want to go to Panama Hattie’s?”
Dominic sighed and put his hand on the inside of her thigh, casually running his fingers along her smooth skin. “Because I don’t want to run into any of my past acquaintances.”
“The Cubans?”
“No, not them.” He pulled his hand back. “Look, Querida... I’ve lived here all my life and clearly I wasn’t a virgin before I slept with you. There might be some local women there who... know me.”
“In the Biblical sense.” She didn’t need further explanation.
Dominic watched her fingers tighten around the steering wheel. He followed the taut muscles of her arm up to her face. The tendons in her neck were pulled straight while the muscles in her jaw clenched and unclenched in a rhythmic pattern.
“It was before I knew you.”
“Well, no... technically, it wasn’t.” She looked at him for a brief moment before returning her eyes to the road. “But, it’s fine. I’m fine.”
Her tone indicated she was anything but. A memory of the day they spent playing on the old tree swing when they were kids flashed across his mind, and he knew she was recalling that very same thing.
“Jesus, Querida.” Dominic ran his hands over his face and tilted his head back on the headrest with a sigh. “We were seven. Like I knew we were going to end up together.”
“I said I’m fine.” She knew she was being irrational, but she just couldn’t stand the thought that someone else had touched him, felt him in a way that only she should have.
Kerrigan followed Sydney into the parking lot in front of Panama Hattie’s and parked the car. Just as she cut the engine and retrieved the key from the ignition, Dominic reached over and pulled her into his lap. She could feel the evidence of his arousal pressed against her as she straddled him.
He took her face in his hands, forcing her to look directly at him. “I’m yours. Only yours. And this,” he said, grinding himself against her, “belongs to only you. The others meant nothing to me. No one has ever made me feel the way you do. Te amo, Querida... I love you. Do you understand me? Only you.”
The fervor of his words melted her jealousy like wax from a burning candle, and she nodded as much as his hands on her face would allow. He leaned up to give her a hungry kiss. Lips, teeth, and tongues meshed together—stroking, searching, finding. His taste was icy cool, mixed with the bitter aftertaste of the liquor he consumed. She inhaled his scent, mint and Abercrombie Fierce cologne. It was all she needed to find her way through the foggy green haze of her insecurities and back home to him.
An impatient knock on the window startled them, and they broke their kiss, annoyed by the unwanted intrusion.
“What!?” Dominic snapped, and Kerrigan giggled at his overanxious frustration.
“Don’t you snap at me, Dominatrix!” Gabe answered in a warning tone. “I will smash through this damn window and go Wolverine on your ass, and you know this! Now, are y’all just going to stay down here making out all night, or are you coming?”
“Don’t the two go hand in hand?” Kerrigan smiled, proud of her witty retort. Then she rotated her hips above Dominic and leaned down to kiss him again.
“Ain’t this a bitch?” Gabe mumbled to the rest of their friends. “These two have done lost their damn minds and are going to make me have to snap up in here.”
Kerrigan groaned and sat up. “We’re coming.” She opened the door and maneuvered out of Dominic’s lap so he could get out as well.
She glared at Gabe. “I really hate you sometimes.”
Gabe threw his arm around her shoulders, ignoring the one Dominic had around her waist, and they started toward the side of the building to the stairs that led up to the bar. “No you don’t. You heart me hard and you know it.”
Kerrigan couldn’t argue with him. She knew it was true, and so did anyone else who had ever been around them for more than a minute. Olivia squealed as Tyson swept her up into his arms and followed after them.
Once they paid their cover charges and climbed up to the top deck, Kerrigan noticed Dominic scanning the crowd, his features rigid and on high alert. He must not have seen anyone he knew because he relaxed instantly and guided her toward the table Talon and Sydney had secured next to a palm tree that stretched from the ground to their height.
“We’re going to go get some drinks. Want anything?”
“Maybe just some water. I’m still not feeling very well.” She rubbed her stomach.
“You sure you don’t need to go to the doctor or something?” He studied her face, waiting for her reply.
As genuine as she knew he was trying to be, she rolled her eyes. “It’s just a stomach ache, Dominic. Probably something I ate. I’ll be fine.”
Gabe crowded them, checking her out with his eyebrows furrowed in concern. He put the back of his hand to her forehead, and then her cheek. “She doesn’t have a fever. We’ll stop and get her some Beano on the way home. Probably just gassy. Let it rip. You’ll feel better. I’m going to get my drink on. Later, bitches!” Gabe picked up his murse and trotted off after Colton to the bar.
They had become pretty close over the few weeks Colton had been there. Dominic didn’t want his little brother to be alone at any time, worried that Sinclair might somehow figure out a way to trick him. Since he had been so busy with Kerrigan all the time, and the twins had their hands full with their rental shack on the beach—as well as with Sydney and Olivia—that left Gabe. He was a near-constant companion and they both seemed to really enjoy the other’s company, which was more than Kerrigan could have ever hoped for.
Gabe could be a lot to handle at times. It took a special kind of person to be able to look through his flamboyant exterior and see the endearing charm that lay beneath. He was a true fr
iend, through and through. If he was yours, you knew he had your back. He guarded his friends like a momma bear guards her cubs, and he was just as ferocious if you pissed him off.
It wasn’t long before everyone was having a raucously good time. Cheap drinks, good friends, and decent music had a tendency to make a person forget about things that normally kept them on edge. Panama Hattie’s didn’t serve bubbletinis either, but the bartender decided to make an exception, allowing Gabe to give him the directions and mixing up the concoction flawlessly. Before long, several women had stepped up to the bar to request the same drink. It seemed bubbletinis were going to be the new specialty drink at Panama Hattie’s.
With the exception of Kerrigan and Dominic, everyone else was out on the dance floor, dancing like their lives depended on it. It was unclear exactly what dance Talon was attempting, but he looked to be pulling off a pretty close rendition of the African anteater ritual à la Ronald Miller from Can’t Buy Me Love, while Tyson showed some moves that caught the eye of just about every female in the joint. Big and goofy could do sultry and seductive when set to the right kind of music. And he did it very well.
Colton apparently felt the need to protect Kerrigan’s best friend from any other patrons that might have felt the need to do some gay bashing. He played the hero, Gabe’s shadow of sorts. It was funny how quickly the roles had reversed, but they were having a good time and that was all that mattered—even if Colton did look like he might fall over from exhaustion at any moment. One might have chalked up his lethargy to his inebriation, but the dark rings under his eyes told another story.
Not feeling well herself, Kerrigan went to the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face, leaving Dominic to guard their table and drinks. On her way back, she saw a very scantily clad blonde bending over their table in an attempt to entice Dominic with her ample cleavage. The hussy was foaming at the mouth and way too zoned in on her target to simply be an interested party who decided to take a chance that he was single. Kerrigan stopped dead in her tracks, surveying the situation to find out what Dominic’s reaction would be, even though every irrational female bone in her body was screaming at her to go raging bitchaholic on the slut.
Said slut put her hand on Dominic’s arm in a way that said she was far too familiar with him, and the hackles on the back of Kerrigan’s neck stood even taller than they were already. Dominic shook his head and smiled at her, but it was obvious that he was nervous and uncomfortable by the unwanted attention. He removed her hand from his arm and placed it on the table.
Satisfied with his reaction, Kerrigan put the little green-eyed monster in check. Then she pushed her shoulders back and headed toward her man, intent on letting the flirtatious hussy know that Dominic Grayson was no longer on the market.
Dominic saw Kerrigan coming, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. It was nothing new. Whenever she was in the vicinity, her presence demanded his attention. He was drawn to her like a magnet, his only interest forever faithful to her. He had almost forgotten Amber was standing next to him until Kerrigan wedged herself between them.
He stifled his laughter when his girl pulled a page right out of Gabe’s book and turned on Amber. “Excuse me, but I believe you’re just a little too close to my future baby daddy, and that just doesn’t sit well with me.”
She perched herself in his lap and draped her arms around his neck, giving Dominic’s aggressive suitor a smug look.
Dominic nuzzled Kerrigan’s ear. “Yours, remember?”
He had never slept with Amber because he had known she was a local, but it had never stopped her from trying. Apparently she still hadn’t given up the hope that he might change his mind—which he had absolutely no intention of doing. He was drunk, but not that drunk. Plus, he had everything he ever wanted in the woman who was sitting in his lap and staking her claim.
“Oh shit, Kerr! Don’t zap her!” Tyson yelled as he ran over to where they were with his hands raised in a defensive position.
Kerrigan’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open, aghast. The thought had never even crossed her mind. Her gift was supposed to be used for good, not revenge on someone who got a little too close for comfort to her boyfriend. She was insulted that Tyson would jump to that conclusion, not to mention that he made that kind of announcement in a public place.
“Tyson, I had no intention of—”
“Um, guys?” Olivia looked down at her watch with a flustered look on her face. “I think it’s time to go.”
Dominic looked down at his own watch and noticed it was ten minutes until midnight. “Fuck!”
Kerrigan hopped down out of his lap, neither noticing nor caring that Amber had melted into the crowd and disappeared. Her only thought was of getting Dominic home before he transformed. Colton still didn’t know what he was, and she was going to do everything she could to get him out of sight before the clock struck twelve.
That was the problem with keeping secrets. It was like a life preserver in the middle of a sea of uncertainty. You held onto it tight, afraid to let it go, and then a huge wave you didn’t expect comes crashing down and yanks it out from underneath you. That’s when you find yourself sucked into a riptide, struggling to keep your head above water, reaching for that secret and trying to hold on to it as if your life depends on it because somewhere in the back of your mind, it does. When all you had to do in the first place was let it go and swim toward the shore of truth.
“What’s the big hurry?” Colton asked. While the rest of their party flew down the stairs, he and Gabe were busy trying to hold each other up. It was a wonder they didn’t both fall over the wooden railing and break their necks, but they managed to make it down safely.
“Um, I’m not feeling very well,” Kerrigan called over her shoulder. It wasn’t a complete lie.
When they made it to the cars, Colton stopped and crossed his arms over his chest in defiance. “Well, can’t the rest of us just stay here and meet you back at the house later?”
Talon covered for them. “Sorry, bro, but Tyson and I have to open up the hut in the morning, and that’s just not cool when we’ve got a hangover and no sleep.”
“Me and Livi have to be at work early, too,” Sydney added.
“Y’all work?” Gabe asked, taken aback.
“Duh. How do you think we pay the bills?”
“We’re realtors,” Olivia told him matter-of-factly.
“Shutthefuckup...” Gabe was completely missing the point as to why they needed to get home so quickly.
Colton ignored them and uncrossed his arms sloppily. “Fine, but I want it to go on record that you all suck.”
“Just get in the fucking car, Colt!” Dominic shut the car door without waiting for a response. “Dammit! I should’ve known something like this would happen.” He fisted his hair and pulled hard.
Kerrigan already had the engine started and backed out onto the street. “Calm down, Dom. We’re going to get you home. Besides, he’s too drunk to notice anything anyway.”
“That’s not the point.”
“No, the point is that you need to tell him the truth.”
She wasn’t being sarcastic or even mean. She was stating fact, and he knew she was right. He had put it off for far too long, but he would fix it. No more holding out, waiting for some sort of miracle that wasn’t going to happen.
The traffic was unusually thick for that time of night. College kids had descended upon their small town for spring break partying, and it was interfering with their mad dash to seclusion. Kerrigan did her best to weave in and out of the vehicles, but it still took far too long. They weren’t going to make it. Dominic felt the tingling sensation creep up on him and looked down at his black leather cuff watch. The digital alarm went off. Midnight.
Knowing what that sound meant, Kerrigan reached over and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him toward her. Her eyes never left the road, but her lips still managed to find his before she let him go.
As he began to f
ade from sight, Dominic looked out of his window in time to see Olivia pass them in the Mustang. She was holding onto the steering wheel tight, trying to keep the car on the road while slapping at Tyson. And then there was Colton. He was looking at Dominic with wild-eyed wonderment, and his mouth dropped open just as the last of his brother’s physical form dissipated with tiny gold and white sparks.
There are times in our lives when no matter what we do to protect the ones we love from the evil we perceive to be buried inside of us, the truth rears its ugly head and slams into our face, forcing us to show our hand. At that point all we can do is batten down the hatches and prepare to ride out the storm.
Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, best friends—they all want to believe the very best in us. They overlook our flaws, explain them away, hype up all the good deeds we have done. For the most part, it’s the right thing to do.
They say two wrongs don’t make a right, but two rights can’t undo a wrong either, now can they?
When you’re a person as deeply affected by your own conscience as Dominic, no matter how hard they try, your family can’t pardon you from your crimes. You have become your very own judge, jury, and executioner, and you’re not about to let yourself get off that easily. No slap on the wrist for you. Nope. You deserve life without the possibility of parole, and you’ll imprison yourself in that truth for the duration of your miserable existence.
We, more than anyone else, see the dark spot within ourselves, and it’s magnified tenfold just because we let it be. What starts out as a minuscule speck of something not quite right—say, a tiny white lie—we let grow and fester until we have made it into a pitch-black cloud that shrouds our soul. It becomes bigger than us, by our own design, because it eats away at our conscience. Some of us refuse to let it go, even when it becomes a moot point, believing that we’re not really as good as our loved ones believed us to be because, well, how is that possible when we did something wrong? But there’s not one single person on the face of the planet who can say they have led a perfect life. That they haven’t gotten away with some harmless lie or a little cheat here and there.
