by H. Q. Frost
"I already paid for her," Dom said pushing Boney's waiting hand away. "Go get the shit."
"What's up, Nyla? You ready to party?" Jesse looked around Dom, and as much as Dom wanted to block off his view, he sat still.
"Not really. I have to work tomorrow." She offered a smile but was nervous and uncomfortable from Boney's menacing presence, and he wasn't even in the car.
"Dom, did you tell her you went to the hospital?" Jeff turned in the front seat.
"You did?" When she looked at Dom, the liquor store lights illuminated his face enough that she finally noticed his battered appearance and gasped, cupping her hands over her mouth. "Oh my god! I didn't see that! What happened?"
"Him and Boney went at it. I told you it happens all the time." Jeff laughed in the front seat and Dom rolled his eyes.
"Just fucking around."
"It put you in the hospital!" she protested his claim.
"I got hit by a car. That's why I went to the hospital."
Jesse started to laugh and Dom nudged him.
"Dom! Are you okay though?" She wrapped her arm around his.
"Don't I look okay?" He gave her that same smile as he did in her bedroom and she chuckled with a worried shake of her head.
"No!"
"He's fine." Jesse punched his thigh twice and Dom gave him a shove.
When Boney got into the car he began to hand out beers and cracked one for himself before driving off. Nyla declined a beer and clamped her lips to hold back her protest then looked out the window hoping they'd arrive quickly.
As they got out of the car where the woods began, Nyla moved closer to Dom because the dark surrounding them made her uncomfortable while in Boney's presence. Heading into the woods, she glanced back toward the car and saw the dent in the hood, realizing that was the car Dom got hit by. Quietly gasping, she covered her mouth.
His hand grabbed hers and he pulled her closer. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Her feet apprehensively moved her forward and she began to regret her decision to go along.
Dom was supposed to be the good book. The book with a happy ending and a thousand laughs. But she didn't exactly know the guy and he could have been luring her into a trap.
"Watch, Myra," Jeff called out and ran toward a tree.
Dom sighed. "Sorry he calls you that. Jeff, call her… La or something if you can't say Nyla."
She giggled. "That's cute. I like that, but it's fine." She watched Jeff climb a few branches high then jump off and roll when impacting with the ground. "Are you okay?" she asked, rushing to him.
"You want to try?" he asked her, unscathed by the stupid stunt.
Laughing she told him, "No," and turned around to find Dom.
The path behind her was empty, and the surrounding area was dark. No Dom or Boney. Her eyes darted around as her heart rate picked up. When she turned back for Jeff, he had run a few feet ahead and caught up with Jesse. She almost took off into a run back toward the city before the brutal scene going through her head played out.
"Dom?" peeped from her lips as she turned in a full circle. "Jeff!" she called out, but before running after him, a hand grabbed her hip making her yelp with a jump and hit Dom's chest with balled fists. "You scared me!"
"Sorry." He grabbed her fists that were about to strike again. "Sorry. I thought they'd wait. I had to piss."
Shoving his hands off her, she groaned, "Ew," and he laughed.
"Come on." When he started to walk, she rushed to his side and grabbed his arm, immediately making him sense her discomfort. "You okay?"
"It's dark, you left me, I freaked."
"I was pissing." His arm went around her back. "I didn't leave you."
The eeriness of the night came only from her imagination, and she couldn't shake the discomfort. "I think I want to go home," she whispered thinking that might be when he attacked her.
When he stopped, she tensed and stepped out of his reach.
"Okay. Let me get keys from Boney. Or you want to walk instead?"
Seeing the indifference and solace on his easy face made her start to feel stupid for her rampant thoughts that he was going to harm her.
"Shit." Dropping her head, she chuckled uncomfortably. "I'm being high-strung. It's fine. Let's just go to the party."
"Hey." His gentle touch engulfed her hand. "If you want to go home, I'll get you home. You can meet my friends some other time."
Unable to make out much of his face, she stared hard. "I barely know you," she admitted. "And I'm trusting you, then I started letting my apprehensions get the better of me. I want to get to know you, Dom—"
"But you don't trust me." He wasn't offended, if anything he was relieved she was finally coming to her senses.
"I'm sorry. I trust you, I just… don't know you."
"Dragging you through the woods in the dark for a party is probably a shitty first date when we don't know each other." He chuckled. "But I swear I won't let anything happen to you. I'm just trying to hang with you, get to know you better."
"Let's do that." She grabbed his hand but he didn't move.
"You sure?"
"Positive. Can we just get somewhere where there's more light. I think the dark is creeping me out more than usual."
"You afraid of the dark?" He grinned, pulling her next to him.
"No. Shut up."
As they got closer to the hill she could hear the sounds of a partying crowd and her anxiety began to lessen.
"I don't think that Boney guy likes me."
"He's a dick at first. Just stick by me," he said as they exited the woods to the bottom of the hill.
"Did he hit you with his car?" she quietly asked.
"Don't worry about that shit, okay?"
"Don't worry about your friend trying to kill you? Sure." She rolled her eyes.
"He wasn't trying to kill me." He chuckled.
As they got to the top of the hill, she saw the party was more massive than expected. There were several fires going and a large enough crowd, she was worried about losing Dom, so she grabbed his hand tighter.
"You sure you're alright?" he asked when she moved closer as they headed toward one of the fires.
"Fine," she lied.
Realizing it wasn't him that scared her, she mentally acknowledged his group of friends didn't seem like the type she wanted to get caught up with.
"Dom!" A female squeal made Nyla look left just in time to move before she was trampled by a girl running for him and jumping into his unprepared arms.
After her was a group of four girls waiting for his attention, and they all seemed to push Nyla farther away. He fought the first girl off and dodged around them, grabbing Nyla's hip and pulling her against him, warding off anymore unwanted attacks.
"This your girlfriend?"
"This is Nyla. Kaitlyn, Lauren, Amber, Claire, and Renee," he quickly introduced the girls, to make Nyla more comfortable.
Fake 'hi's' were giggled from the group as the girls played nice, but Nyla wasn't dense.
"You want a drink?" A redhead grabbed Nyla's arm and started pulling her away from Dom.
When he tried to follow, two of the girls stepped in his way.
"Have any pot, Dom?" the one that attacked him with a hug cooed, as her fingers played at his stomach.
"No." He pushed her hand down and tried to walk around them, but they stopped him again.
"Boney said to see you."
"I don't have shit, Renee," he snapped, and before he could get around her, she was pressed against him and cupping his dick just as Nyla looked back for him.
He managed to get out of Renee's possessive grip and jogged ahead.
"Amber, where's Nyla?" he blurted, looking for Kaitlyn, the redhead that stole her away.
"Kait took her to get a beer." She pointed toward a cooler, where too many people stood around to spot anyone familiar.
"Nyla," he called out when he got closer, not willing to lose her in that crowd.
"Dom," Kaitlyn
yelled, getting his attention. "Your girlfriend's safe." She giggled wrapping her arm with Nyla's.
"Keep your sister away from me," Dom growled, then took Nyla's hand, pulling her toward him.
"Ew." Kaitlyn cattily groaned as a disgusted curl of her lip was directed toward Nyla. "I'd never let my boyfriend act like that."
"He's not my boyfriend, and I'm fine, Dom." She pulled her hand away and he sighed, knowing Kaitlyn was the only reason she was putting distance between them.
Kaitlyn smirked then looked at Dom. "I was gonna say, I thought you were fucking Renee."
"All night, baby," Renee's voice came from behind him before her hands slid into the waist of his jeans.
Dom shook her off then grabbed Nyla's hand and pulled her out of the crowd of giggling girls.
"Fuck," he grunted. "Stay away from them. They're all bitches."
"I think I want to go," she mumbled.
"That won't happen again," he promised, pulling her toward his brother. "Just stay away from them."
Nyla glanced back at the girls that were huddled, whispering amongst themselves.
"Dom, Boney said I can go camping with them." Jeff's happy grin was one Dom was going to feel guilty for disappointing.
"We'll talk about it later," he muttered, accepting two beers from Boney and opened them before giving one to Nyla.
"Thanks." Her eyes stayed on the can to avoid Boney's intimidating gaze.
"You got attacked by the cats." Boney smirked and she glanced at Dom in confusion. "The group of pussy." He then gestured his beer toward Renee and the other girls.
"They were nice," she uttered, making the eight guys start to laugh.
"You don't have to lie." Dom smiled at her and she chuckled taking a big gulp of warm beer.
"You smoke?" Boney asked, seeming to have warmed up to her.
She looked at the joint in his hand and declined, taking another gulp of beer.
"Get up so Dom's chick can sit." He pushed Jeff from the crate he was sitting on.
"I'm fine," she insisted, but when Boney patted his hand to the crate that was next to him, she sat with intimidation.
Dom stood next to her, close enough that his leg touched her arm because it was obvious she was as timid as a kitten in a pack of wolves.
"So. Pretty fucked up way you and Dom met," Boney spoke.
"Boney," Dom said in warning, but Boney lifted his hand.
"Let her talk. I want to hear what she thinks about it." Boney's dark eyes landed on her face. "You watch him shoot a dude then you start to date him. You like dangerous men?"
"Shut up, Boney," Dom griped.
"I never said we were dating." Again, the beer can was meeting her lips for liquid courage that wasn't reacting fast enough, but she wasn't going to let him bully her anymore. "And you don't know much about me or what I've done in my life." Her eyes landed on his to back her false confidence, and when he chuckled, she was grateful he didn't seem to notice how scared she was.
"If you're here with him and you guys been hanging out, you're pretty much his bitch."
"Boney." Dom stepped forward until she stood up between them.
"I'm no-one's bitch, asshole."
When the group started to laugh, she held her ground, glaring at Boney, unsure what she'd do to counter his next move but she was grateful Dom stood at her back with his hand on her hip.
"You want to take off?" he quickly asked her.
"Chill out. I'm just fuckin' with ya." Boney stood and put his arm around her shoulders. Before Dom could grab her, he pulled her to the other side of the circle they were sitting in. "Let's do a shot." He snatched a bottle of gin from one of the other guys and pushed it into her hand.
Dom was going to object for her, but she was already lifting the bottle to her lips, taking down a big enough gulp it made her cough. When he headed toward her, one of the other guys grabbed his arm, holding him back, only because he knew if Dom pissed Boney off, they'd go at it again.
"Well damn." Impressed by the stupid gulp she immediately regretted, Boney took the bottle and matched it. "No chaser or nothin'. You're a tough bitch."
"Stop calling her a bitch," Dom spoke up, still being held back.
Remembering she was there with Dom and not for Boney's approval, Nyla headed toward him. "It's fine. He can call me a bitch and I'll call him an asshole."
The circle of guys started to laugh, except for Boney and Dom, because they were in a silent stare down until Boney said, "You want another shot, bitch?" keeping his eyes on Dom's.
"No, asshole." Sitting next to Jeff on a van bench, it teetered but he steadied them before it toppled back.
Dom sat on the grass at her side, and already feeling the alcohol, she smoothed her knuckle down his soft cheek, finally relishing over the skin she'd wanted to touch since she got close enough to visually study the smooth texture. Dom took her hand and rested his arm on the bench casually while the group carried on like usual. Boney was content with her initiation into their group so he left her alone for the most part. The other guys weren't as hard on her so she relaxed after finishing her beer and accepting another. Over an hour of usual banter ensued, until the same girls from before made their way into the circle. Noticing Renee first, Nyla scooted closer to Dom who was still at her side next to the bench. When Renee straddled Boney, Nyla looked at Dom to see if he was effected, but he hadn't even looked at the clan of girls. As Jeff scooted toward her to make room for Kaitlyn, Nyla was hanging half off the bench and decided to move to the ground next to Dom. She wanted to sit in his lap, claim her stake, but Dom wasn't her steak to claim.
"Whenever you want to leave, I'll get you home," he quietly told her, but not quietly enough, and Lauren snickered.
"Don't run away on our account, Dom, you pussy." Her eyes rolled.
He ignored the girl, but when he saw Nyla lock on her and her lips part to tell her off, he quickly leaned in and pecked her open mouth. To move past the stupid move, he grabbed two more beers and opened hers before handing it over.
He wanted to kiss her. He'd wanted to kiss her since the morning they shared breakfast. But the pathetic peck he hit her open mouth with, ruined his fantasy-inducing kiss he thought they'd possibly share one day.
"You kissed me," she whispered, still shocked by the offhanded kiss that also ruined her dreams of their first kiss.
There were too many traps amongst his group of friends that could scare her away and he didn't want to risk it anymore.
"Sorry. Just ignore her," he insisted before gulping down half his beer then got to his feet. "I'll take you home now."
"Where ya goin'?" Boney spoke up, removing Renee from his leg.
"To get Nyla home."
"So soon?" Renee's grin could freeze hell but Nyla stood taller, clasping her hand with Dom's. "You want me to come or you want to come back for me, Dom?"
"Shut up, Renee," Jeff spoke up. "You're being a little bitch."
"Shut up, Jeff," she snapped back. "Dom, you gonna finish what Boney started?" Her legs spread in her short jumper. "I'm wet."
"You're such a little slut." Kaitlyn started to giggle.
"I can come to your house like I did last night and fuck you until you fall asleep again."
Dom started to walk around his friends, pulling Nyla behind him.
"Shut up, Renee," Jeff said again. "You weren't at our house last night. Dom doesn't want your fishy pussy around."
"Fuck you, Jeff, you retard!"
Dom took a step toward Renee but halted and glared at the antagonizing girl.
"What're you gonna do, Dom?" She stood up to taunt him further.
"I'm not a retard, Renee," Jeff said with the obvious indication that her words cut him down.
"Yeah you are, retard," Renee got out just before Nyla slapped her across the face.
The unexpected move made the guys in the group boast in excitement and the girls gasp. When Renee lunged, Dom grabbed Nyla and pulled her behind him. He wasn't sure how she go
t around him so quickly to hit Renee before he expected it, but he knew a cat fight would ensue with five against one. Unable to get to Nyla, Renee clawed at Dom's face until Boney grabbed her.
"Chill out, you bitch!" He shoved her into Kaitlyn. "Get the fuck out of here!" His demanding yell sent the girls hightailing, pulling Renee along with them while she fought and cursed to get back at Nyla. "She get you?" he asked Nyla who was trying to tend to Dom's face but couldn't make out what was a new wound amongst the other bruises.
"No," she barked, still trying to look over his face but he pulled away.
"Let's get out of here."
"You want to take my car?" Boney offered, feeling bad Nyla's introduction to their crowd was tainted by the girls they kept around because they were easy.
"I've been drinking," he declined before looking at Jeff.
"He's cool. I'll get him home in the morning," Boney promised, and seeing the pleading across Jeff's face, Dom didn't make him leave.
"Mark and Leo, go with them to the street 'cause if Renee decides to be a bitch, she'll jump them in the woods. Nyla can't take them all on and Dom won't hit a girl," Boney instructed two guys who got to their feet.
Dom didn't decline because it was something Renee would pull.
"Dom," Boney called out. "You packin'?" He lifted his shirt to flash his own gun.
"Yeah." Dom lifted his hoodie to show the gun holstered into the side of his jeans.
"Come around more, Nyla. I'll make sure them bitches ain't around." Boney smirked at her but she didn't even offer a smile.
She started heading down the hill, making Dom roll his eyes, expecting that to be the last night he saw the girl.
"Wait up." When he caught up to her, he brushed his hand with hers to see if she'd take his, and when she did, a small amount of relief filled him.
"They ain't usually that stupid," Leo said as they headed down the hill. "I'm sure you know how girls are though."
Nyla ignored them and heightened her senses before they stepped into the woods. The only reason she slapped Renee was because she knew Dom wouldn't do anything about what she said to Jeff, and it was obvious Jeff's feelings were hurt. She didn't want to fight. She'd never been in a fight a day in her life, but she was prepared if Renee jumped them. And the alcohol in her system made her think she'd stand a chance.
