Her Dom (Dominic Powers #1)

by A. D. Justice

  The whole ordeal with my wreck, the hospitalization, and the knowledge that someone intentionally planted that device to make me wreck has kept me on edge. I haven’t admitted this to anyone—including Tucker and Shadow—but I can’t shake the foreboding feeling I’ve had since then. I’ve tried to dismiss it as an after-effect of all these traumatic events, but the fact is, whoever is responsible is still out there.

  Keeping my movements as light and quiet as possible, I pace back and forth, trying to make square pegs fit into round holes. The gaps in my memory of the wreck are becoming narrower as bits and pieces of that morning come back to me. Leaning my head back in frustration, I look up at the ceiling and focus on the recessed lighting directly above me.

  Headlights. I remember headlights approaching way too fast and from out of nowhere that morning. Whoever was in that car must’ve been waiting for me to pass them and then they pulled out and floored it to catch up with me. The way Shadow described that device indicated they had to be close to use the remote control.

  Strolling over to my desk, I grab a pen and pad to make notes about everything before I forget a single detail. Maybe seeing it in writing will jog more details that could be useful. I scribble my questions on the paper. What kind of car was it? What color? How long were they close to me? What happened to them when I lost control? They sure didn’t call for help, so I have no doubt that was their sole purpose.

  Not that I had any doubt that my life was in danger, but the memory of this car speeding up from nowhere both infuriates and alarms me. If it was so easy to get to my car, they could do it to Sophia’s just as easily. I’m leaning over the front of my desk with my back to the door, busily making notes and writing more questions, when I feel a presence behind me. I quickly straighten my back to turn and face them, but before I can move, there’s a sharp pinch in the back of my neck and my vision instantly starts fading.

  “Dominic! Dominic!”

  I can hear Sophia frantically calling my name but I can’t respond. She sounds terrified and I struggle to fight against the heaviness that has engulfed my entire body. I’m having a difficult time moving my arms and my eyelids feel like they’ve been weighed down with cinder blocks. My mind is reeling, knowing something bad has happened, but I can’t make my body cooperate to help her, shelter her, and protect her.

  “Dominic! Open your eyes!” she cries. “Please, Dom, please open your eyes!”

  Despite being more than groggy, I finally win the battle and force my eyes to open. Everything is blurry, but there’s a bright light over my head, and those damn flashing blue and red lights everywhere. Shaking my head, I sit up more and put my head in my hands. Rubbing my eyes in an attempt to make them cooperate, I look at my surroundings again.

  Sophia, Tucker, and Shadow are all standing in the doorway, looking at me. I look down and see that I’m on a gurney. In the back of an ambulance. What the fuck is going on?

  As I start to get up off the gurney, the paramedic tries to stop me, “Whoa! Whoa! Where do you think you’re going?”

  “I’ve had about enough of this shit,” I say, madder than hell now. “What the hell is going on?”

  When I climb out of the back, it’s then that I realize Sophia is covered in soot and another medic has an oxygen mask on her face. She keeps taking it off to try to talk to me and he keeps putting it back up to cover her nose and mouth. “Ma’am, if you don’t wear this and get your oxygen saturation level back up, I will have to transport you the hospital,” he says decisively.

  “Keep it on, Sophia,” I agree with the medic. Tucker has his oxygen mask on and is also covered in black soot. “Shadow, what the hell is going on?”

  Shadow walks me around the side of the ambulance and I get a good look at my house. There are fire trucks all over the front yard. Hoses are stretched out across the lawn from the tanker and several men are holding the hose as they put out the last of the fire. There’s definitely no way the house is livable with all this damage.

  “What do you remember last?” Shadow asks.

  Taking my eyes off the disastrous scene in front of me, I focus instead on my last memories. “I couldn’t sleep so I got up and went to my study. I started writing down the events I was remembering from just before my wreck. I felt someone in the room with me, but before I could turn around, I felt a pinch in the back of my neck. That’s the last thing I remember,” I tell Shadow.

  He walks me back over to the ambulance and motions for me to get in. He climbs in behind me, effectively taking up all the space left in the back, and meticulously examines my neck. “Here,” he says to the medic when he puts his finger on a specific spot. “Make sure to note this in your trip report. Mr. Powers was injected with a drug, most likely a benzo since it was so fast acting.”

  Sophia is listening to the conversation and quickly removes her oxygen mask, “Someone drugged you? You need to go to the hospital!”

  “I’m fine, Sophia. There are other things I need to take care of right now,” I say distractedly as I climb out of the ambulance again. Sitting down beside her, I take her hand in mine and kiss the back of it. “Are you okay, love? Are you hurt?”

  “No, Dom, I’m not hurt,” she replies, “just coughing a little, but they said that’s normal.”

  Lacing our fingers together, feeling so grateful she wasn’t hurt, I ask Tucker the same thing. He waves me off as if this was an everyday, run of the mill occurrence. Typical Tucker. “Someone fill me in on what happened after I was knocked out,” I state to my motley crew.

  Tucker’s eyes cut to Sophia and she immediately lowers her eyes to stare at her lap. Tucker won’t look at me and Shadow has the biggest shit-eating grin on his face I’ve ever seen. “Someone better start talking.”

  “Well, Mr. Powers, while you were napping in the study, someone set fire to the house. Since your fire alarms are all wired together as one unit, when the first one goes off, it sets the rest of them off, too. Tucker ran upstairs and bypassed the first floor, thinking you and Miss Vasco were both in your bedroom. The alarm woke her up and she ran into the hall just as Tucker arrived at your room.

  “Tucker got her outside and met me here in the front yard. It was then that Miss Vasco realized you weren’t already out here. Tucker confirmed he hadn’t seen or heard from you, so Miss Vasco ran back into the burning house to find you,” Shadow paused for effect and let his words sink in.

  “YOU. DID. WHAT?” I bellow. Sophia shrinks away and doesn’t dare to look at me. I immediately remember to watch my temper, especially given her past. I’m still beyond pissed off, but I lower my voice and try again. “You ran back in the burning house, Sophia?”

  Huge tears well up in her eyes and she swallows hard. “I couldn’t leave you in there!” she points at the house that’s now in shambles. “How could I not go back for you, Dom?”

  Tucker speaks up, “She found you, Mr. Powers. I grabbed a fire extinguisher and Shadow and I ran inside right behind her. We picked you up while Miss Vasco used the extinguisher to make a path for us to escape.”

  I know that Tucker is purposely only giving me the bare minimum details. He knows that I know, too, since he’s using his stoic face with me right now. Shadow is the only one of us who looks even the least bit amused about how this is all playing out. There is so much more to this rescue story that they’re not telling me.

  “I see,” I purposely hide behind my cool façade. “So, let me get this straight. Sophia just strolled back in the front door of a burning house, and somehow she walked straight to me in the midst of all the thick, black smoke. Then, Tucker, you and Shadow came in immediately behind her, picked me up and we all just miraculously escaped unscathed? Did I miss anything?”

  Sophia and Tucker quickly look away, avoiding looking at each other and at me. Shadow quickly puts his hand over his mouth. But even as big as his hand is, it can’t hide the huge smile that’s still on his face. I’m impressed that he has actually kept from laughing out loud at this point.
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  “That’s about it, Mr. Powers,” Tucker responds cryptically. And then Shadow does laugh, turns his back, and tries to cover it up with a fake cough. Tucker glares at the back of Shadow’s head, throwing daggers with his eyes, before meeting my gaze again.

  “Well. That’s just fucking amazing. Why do we even need the fire department then?” I ask sardonically.

  “They have the big water trucks,” Sophia replies and Shadow completely loses his cool composure. He walks off, his laughter echoing across the still dark morning, even over the noise of all the emergency personnel. I look at Sophia, momentarily at a loss for words, as she sulks, “Well, they do.”

  “Try again,” I state.

  Shadow walks back over to us, and while his eyes still hold laughter, he has controlled his outburst. “Tucker tried to stop Sophia, but there was no way in hell she would have left you in that house, Mr. Powers. She jerked out of his grasp and took off running into the house. We both tried to catch her, but I have to admit, she’s fast,” Shadow looks at Sophia with well-founded admiration.

  “Tucker ran to the garage to get the fire extinguisher and we both rushed in to find Sophia and you. She had already found you and was dragging you out as best she could. She’s the reason you don’t have more smoke inhalation than you do. She kept you low to the ground, but she was breathing in and out heavily from the exertion, so that’s why she had to keep the oxygen on longer.

  “Tucker and I grabbed you from her and carried you the rest of the way out as she sprayed the extinguisher to help clear a path. We barely make it out the front door before the top floor caved in over where she found you,” Shadow finished.

  Like an idiot, I stand motionless and gape at all of them. Once again, I’ve found myself searching for what to say and do next. Should I be mad that Sophia put herself in danger? If she hadn’t, would I even be alive? Should I be mad at Tucker for covering for Sophia? They all three saved my life, but Sophia led the charge.

  As if she can read my thoughts, Sophia puts herself on the line again. “Please don’t be mad at Tucker, Dom. He was only trying to help me. This was all my fault. If you’re mad at anyone, be mad at me. If you want me to leave, I will go,” she sounds so sorrowful and despondent.

  Her bottom lip is quivering and she’s fighting hard to hold back the tears. Somewhere in her mind, she believes this will make me send her away from me. She should know this only makes me love her more. I pull her up from her sitting position and wrap my arms around her. Lovingly whispering into her ear, I reassure her, “I love you, Sophia. You’re not going anywhere without me.”

  “I thought I had lost you,” her voice cracks and her arms tighten around me.

  “Never,” I promise. “You’ll never lose me, baby.” While holding her and looking at what remains of my house, something occurs to me. “You know what?”

  “What?”

  “You are My Angel—my guardian angel, in fact,” I smile against her hair. Tilting her chin up with my thumb and index finger, I hold her eyes captive with mine as I reiterate, “I love you, My Angel.”

  Looking at Tucker, I mumble, “You’re forgiven, too.”

  Tucker smiles and chuckles at my sarcastic humor. “I’m so glad. I was so worried about that,” he deadpans.

  Somberly, I look at my three saviors and tell them, “Thank you. Every one of you—I owe you my life. I mean that.”

  “Can we have the day off?” Tucker responds, breaking the serious moment with his brand of levity.

  “Someone just tried to kill me again. Sure, why not let my security have the day off? Sounds reasonable to me,” I reply in my own sardonic tone.

  “Damn. The man has a point,” Shadow chimes in, teasing. “I guess we better get to back to work.”

  Somewhere in all the commotion, the Fire Chief, Greg Floyd, arrived on the scene and started gathering information for his investigation. He makes his way over to our group and questions each of us about the details of the fire. He’s a short, stocky man with white hair, a thick, white mustache, and a keen eye.

  “Mr. Powers, I can’t tell you anything official until I can conduct a full investigation, but just from how hot and fast the fire burned, I do highly suspect arson. It usually takes a well-placed accelerant to make a house blaze like yours did. I’m sure the police and my department will have questions for you once this has cooled off enough for us to conduct the tests we need to make a final determination,” Chief Floyd advises.

  Tucker, Shadow, Sophia, and I give him all the information we have about the fire itself. For some reason, Shadow keeps the information about the wreck out of the conversation. I follow his lead, knowing with his background and expertise, he has a good reason for it. Floyd makes his rounds to every firefighter and policeman before he leaves the scene.

  The police are instructed to not let anyone in until Floyd comes back to investigate. Since the house is considered structurally unsound, we’re not allowed to go back in to get our personal belongings that don’t have fire, water, or smoke damage. Currently, we are all in our pajamas and only Shadow has access to his clothes since he’s been staying in the guesthouse.

  “Looks like Christine gets to have some fun shopping and spending my money again,” I quip.

  “I have most of my clothes at the condo, Dom. We can go by there and get my things,” Sophia reminds me. “You’re welcome to stay there with me.”

  “We should all go stay at the lake house. It’s a little farther out from work for us, but it has plenty of space and is in a more secure location. Plus, not many people know about it,” I decide.

  Shadow and Tucker agree while Sophia looks concerned. “What is it, Sophia?” I ask.

  “That house is in a more remote location if it’s that far out from Dallas. Won’t that be more dangerous?”

  “Not necessarily,” Shadow says. “There’s an advantage to it being a little known asset of Mr. Powers’. We will drive the two of you back and forth to work and can spot a tail in a second. It may actually draw this person out and make them more desperate to find Mr. Powers. When he gets desperate, he’ll get sloppy.”

  Tucker agrees with Shadow and that solidifies my resolve. Once Shadow has collected his belongings, we all congregate at Sophia’s condo until Christine can get clothes for Tucker and me. Sophia is in her bedroom, packing all her belongings, when I walk in to check on her.

  “The lake house has cable, too, so you won’t miss The Walking Dead,” I tease her.

  “I’m glad. I was worried about that for a minute there,” she laughs.

  “Are you really okay? All of this is really a lot of stress on you.”

  She suddenly stops folding clothes and looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. It’s entirely possible, but not about this. “Dom, this is incredibly stressful on you. I’m fine, physically, but I am so worried about you.”

  “You did an incredible thing this morning, rushing back into a burning building, Sophia. What if you’d been hurt? The smoke could’ve overcome you—should’ve overcome you, really.” I still can’t believe she did that—she put herself in danger but she saved me. As her Dom, I’m really having a hard time with this one.

  “I covered my nose and mouth with my shirt, so that filtered some of the smoke out. Plus, I was bent over, so it wasn’t like I was standing straight up where the hottest air was. I never had a second thought, Dom. When I realized you were still in there, my only instinct was to get to you.”

  Two hours later, our new clothes have been delivered, we’ve all showered and dressed, and we’re now on our way to the lake house. Dana had our cell phones replaced and delivered first thing this morning and she is sending all my urgent work calls directly to me. She’s handling the ones that she’s able to and Sophia is busy on her phone, conducting her scheduled conference calls.

  Another normal day on the job.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Settled in at the lake house, it’s obvious that the four of us living together will take some g
etting used to. It’s a necessity, however, so I will just have to deal with it for now. It’s already been such a long day that I decide Sophia and I will not go into the office at all. It would be a wasted trip for the small amount of time that we would actually be there.

  “Tucker will drive you to work tomorrow,” Shadow informs us. “One of my guys thinks he has hit some solid leads, so I’m joining him tomorrow to gather more information. Apparently, one of his informants needs more motivation to talk and I’ll be glad to oblige him.”

  “That’s great news,” I reply. “Maybe this will all be over soon.”

  “Don’t get your hopes up. This guy is a low-level informant, but every little bit helps and brings us one step closer to the truth,” Shadow replies.

  We are all beyond tired, stressed, and frazzled after whoever this bastard is tried to kill every one of us this morning. Food preparation is just too much to ask of us at this point, so I call the local pizza place and have several large pizzas delivered. The poor kid just trying to earn a few bucks was scared to death by Tucker and Shadow’s inquisition and inspection of every box before they would accept the food.

  After our stomachs are full and we’ve all crashed from the emotional and physical drain of the day, I announce that Sophia and I are going to bed. This time, it’s really to sleep since we have to get up even earlier in the morning to get to work. The executive condos would have been much more convenient for work, but they would also be much too convenient for whoever is doing all this. The DPS executive perk package is well known and I’m not inviting any psychopaths to dinner tonight.

  Sophia and I settle into bed and I pull her close to me. Nuzzling into her hair, I whisper softly to her, “Don’t ever put yourself in danger like that again. You are far too important to me, love.”

  “I won’t, Dom,” she whispers back, “unless you’re in danger. I’m not making any promises if that’s the case.”

  “Sophia,” I warn in hushed tones.