by Cee Smith
“I don’t think it’s a good time to go shutting out your family. They’re probably just as confused as the rest of the world. They’re going to want answers. Are you prepared to provide them? Inviting your sister out here would be a good start. That conversation isn’t one you really want to hold over the phone, is it? For both of our sakes.”
I knew what he was saying. The last thing he needed was for me to air any portion of the truth over the phone where anyone could be listening in, but I honestly couldn’t believe that he’d think I’d air any portion of the truth. Hard as it was, when we returned to San Luis Obispo, Dominic and I orchestrated a lie, painting a tale, which made him look like he rescued me at some ball that we had attended weeks earlier. Jessa made a remark, which had me questioning if she believed us, but for the most part, we’d given very few details about anything involving my kidnaping or “rescue.” My adoptive parents, who had raised Jessa and I since we were ten, stuck to a safe, non-invasive line of questioning, which only lasted for a couple months until they’d realized that was a subject that just wasn’t up for discussion.
When I talked to them lately, they would drop hints about me possibly seeing a therapist about what happened to me, but they still didn’t know the extent of my capture or captivity. Maybe they were too afraid to know the reality of what I faced. Maybe the details would make it all too real for them, when all they really wanted to do was forget. My adoptive brother, Adam, probably knew even less than they did. After I returned, things drastically changed between us. Even after the birth of Ellie, we didn’t talk nearly as much as we once did. I’d probably spoken with him three times since my return last June, and two of those times were at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“What am I supposed to say to them? They’ll want me to rehash the story, then they’ll probably insist we tell the tabloid the ‘truth,’ and God forbid they say it on our behalf. We can’t have people mapping out the timeline. They’ll know that I was actually at the ball with you.”
“Worry about that when she gets here.” He walked over to where the cordless phone rested on its base on the kitchen counter. With the phone in hand he walked back over to me. I stood with arms folded across my chest, while Dominic held the phone out across the island, willing me to take it.
“Jessa has a job now. It’s not like she can just up and leave because I call her to come running.” At this point it probably sounded like I was grasping at straws, coming up with any reason not to make the call. It’s not that I didn’t want to see my sister. I did. I just didn’t know what or how to tell her the reality of everything that had happened. Even though Jessa had her suspicions, I still didn’t want to disappoint her with the truth.
“I’m still in good with Robert. If she wants the experience, I can get her a job at Callas Enterprises, but it’s not like she’ll want for money. Plus, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind helping with Ellie. Call her. Now, Hailey.”
I looked at him warily, unsure as to his true motivation, but I couldn’t deny that I was itching to see my sister. It was the longest we’d gone without seeing each other in a long time. Even when Dominic took me, I was only gone for two months, and once we returned, we stayed near my family until after Ellie’s birth a couple weeks before Christmas—only leaving to return to the South Dakota home the week of Christmas.
Taking the phone from his hand, I looked at the numbers that I’d been avoiding the past few days. With each press of a button, a small beep signaled the closer I was to completing the series of numbers that would have me calling my sister. I hadn’t felt this nervous since the phone call that led to my return. It felt like there was just as much on the line.
I was facing Dominic, but it didn’t register that he was making breakfast until I smelled the meaty scent of bacon and sweet smell of vanilla extract. Mmmm.
“Oh my God, Hailey. What the hell? I’ve been calling you.” I guessed it was too much to ask for a simple hello when she answered the phone.
“I don’t want to get into it.” I blew out a breath laden with exhaustion—that mere second seemed to stretch into an eternity as I mustered up the energy to ask what I called for. “Look, Jessa, do you think…would you mind coming out here? We can talk when you’re here.”
“Is everything OK? I mean aside from all the shit they’re saying on TV? You’re not in any trouble, right?” I loved that my sister was devotedly protective of me. She always had been and I appreciated that. Even though she could never stand up to a man like Dominic, she would still do anything in her power to help me.
“No. It’s nothing like that. It’s just…it would be nice to see you.”
“OK.”
“OK,” I breathed back. “Dominic will take care of the reservations, and we’ll send you a confirmation. I know you just started your job, and I really am sorry about all of this, but Dominic says he can get you a position if you want one. I don’t want you to worry about money.”
“Don’t worry about that. I can get a job anywhere. I know you wouldn’t ask this of me unless you really needed me. Send me the info, and I’ll be on the first plane out of here. I love you, Hailey.”
“Love you too, Jess. Thanks again, for everything.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” she said, lightening the mood with her sing-song words. She hung up the phone, and it was at that point that Dominic stopped moving about the stove and fridge to redirect his attention to me.
“OK, now do you want to tell me what the hell is going on?”
“Hailey.” His voice took on an edge of warning that implied I better watch myself. Dominic wasn’t into torture in the literal sense, but he had other cruel methods that left me feeling just as disoriented. Most of them involved things meant to humiliate or some variation of orgasm denial—which, to me, was crueler than a simple smack across the ass, but then again, the grass is always greener…
I took a deep, fortifying breath before I continued. I could see that Dominic wasn’t going to part with this information easily, but I knew his weakness.
His eyes locked on mine, and I slipped from the chair, making my way around the island until I was standing so close to him I could feel his breath on my face. Those already peaked eyebrows were raised like a drawbridge while waiting for me to reveal my intentions. I didn’t make him wait long as I released the bottom of his crisp Oxford shirt from the confinement of his belt. It was an ocean blue color that brought out the deep olive tone of his skin, making him look truly delectable. When the shirt fell from his pants, I stopped at the bottom button, releasing it from the buttonhole before moving further up. With his shirt fully undone, I peeled it off his back as I moved behind him. My hands drew across the planes of his back, feeling the velvety softness of his skin before I tugged his shoulder. He turned to face me, and I took in the man that stood before me.
Dominic’s body before was athletic, displaying bricks of muscles that lay beneath his sun-kissed skin. He wasn’t able to work out for a while after his surgery, which resulted in a loss in stomach tone. But what was more noticeable was the inverted Y that carved down his sternum and flared out like a swing skirt mid-spin, following the arch of his ribcage. Thick, angry red lines marred his once-perfect skin with staples that left everything around the lines puckered. The scar wasn’t so angry anymore. It was still slightly red, which we assumed it would be for some time, but it didn’t have the same drunken patchwork that it once did. Now, it only served as a reminder as to how serious his illness was.
Those eyes of damp soil followed mine, tracing the lines stretched across his lower chest and stomach. We had made love plenty of times since his surgery so he knew that his new addition didn’t bother me, but he seemed to look at me with interest as my hands swiped along the contours of his stomach—starting with those lines. The cirrhosis robbed his chest and abdomen of the thick shiny strands that had grown back and were now long enough to ply between my fingers. My eyes lingered over the hair between the valley of his chest down to his belly button u
ntil the hairs were concealed by the top of his slacks.
“I think you may need some incentive,” I said with a smirk as my hands passed over the few inches of silky strands beneath his belly button.
“Is that what you’re doing? Let me help.”
He removed the pans from the stovetop and turned off the burners—safety first!—before his large hands moved to his belt buckle. The sound of his belt unbuckling and the sweep of leather passing across fabric was music to my ears, our breaths the metronome that measured our heightened desire. I helped him out of his pants until Dominic wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing. This had to have been a first. I was almost always the first one undressed, most of the time while he was still completely clothed. There was something intoxicating about having him naked before me, like he was beholden to me. Yet, despite my illusory power, Dominic still held the image of a man in complete control. It was ingrained in his DNA. Any way you sliced it, Dominic would never, could never, look inferior.
“Don’t act shy now, matakia mou.”
Our eyes stayed locked as I kneeled in front of him, his impressive cock mere inches away from my lips. The slit at the tip of him was already moist with desire for my tongue to taste him. I craned my neck higher and let my lips pass over the silky skin that was hard as metal against my soft lips. His body rippled waves of need that reverberated through my body, making my knees slide across the wood floor. With a strong hand, he gripped my shoulder holding me in place as I used one hand to grip the base of him. I lifted his shaft close to his body, revealing thick veins that ran from his balls to the tapered head of his cock. My tongue snaked the course of his veins until I reached his slit, pushing the tip of my tongue in to taste the salty tang of him.
“God damn, Hailey.”
My lips smiled around him. Dominic had a way of making every time feel like the first time—as if he were just discovering me. There was something reassuring about knowing that I could do no wrong when it came to pleasuring him.
“You like that? How about this?”
I gripped him tighter and plunged down his engorged length until my lips touched my fist. Hollowing out my cheeks, I bobbed up and down his length, loving the way he filled my mouth. He groaned as my other hand lifted to cup his sack in my palm, tugging and twirling his balls until I could feel his legs shake from the pleasure-pain that brought him to his knees.
“I love fucking these lips.” He reached underneath his cock, still between my lips to tug my bottom lip between his fingers. The loosening suction of my mouth created a loud pop in the silence of the room.
“Who do these lips belong to?” he growled.
I croaked out, “you” before sucking him into my mouth again, relishing the solid heat that made chills course down my body.
“You like sucking my cock, don’t you, Hailey?” His hand fisted in my hair, rolling down from the roots until his fist rested on my shoulder. My head smarted with the swift pull of his hands, and once again, I was extricated from him.
“Yes. I love sucking your cock, Dominic,” I said in a rushed whisper before continuing, “Now shut the fuck up so we can both get what we want—you coming down my throat.”
His eyes glowed with a renewed fire sparked by my words and he pushed his shaft past my lips until I could feel him in the back of my throat. A rush of warmth seeped from my core as his control slipped. I knew by the way my panties clung between my folds that I was soaking wet. Dominic continued pushing and pulling my head from root to tip, and I gripped him harder in my hand. Dominic watched the roll of my hips, mimicking the movement of my head snaking up and down his member. I closed my eyes and imagined the feel of his fingers twirling through the moisture that blossomed between my legs. It could have been the desperation he saw as I writhed against the tiled floor, shimmying my need with every crook of my hips, or maybe it was the scent of my desperation, but his words were the reprieve I longed for.
“Touch yourself.”
My fingers speared straight for my nub, eager to relieve the ache that mirrored the pulsing of my heart, radiating from my womb, throughout my stomach and down to my knees. The space between my legs tingled, foreshadowing a cyclone that threatened to touch down. I rubbed hard and fast, equally desperate and fearful of the orgasm that felt powerful enough to expunge the blood from my veins.
“I can hear how fucking wet you are…so sexy. You want to come for me, don’t you, baby?”
With a frantic shake of my head, I continued strumming myself while sucking him so hard I thought the suction would blow a blood vessel in my eye. Dominic started thrusting his hips as his cock grew between my lips. My other hand fell away from his base and gripped his ass, pulling him harder into me until I felt the first taste of him across my tongue. Dominic erupted with a roar that shook the floor beneath my feet.
“Shit! Swallow my come, baby.” With those words my orgasm crashed through me like a torpedo, swirling through my body, making my muscles spasm and shake. I struggled to tamp down the tremors shaking my body so I could continue taking the assault of come shooting across my tongue and down my throat. I always loved the taste of Dominic—a salty, tangy taste that lingered like one of those hard candies from my youth.
His hand in my hair relaxed with the last drippings of him. He swiped the strands away from my face and brushed them gently across my shoulders. Dominic standing above me with my hair slipping through his fingers was the gentle Dominic that I had come to love—the one that was full of adoration of me. Our eyes met and I took one last lick of him before he was pulling me to my feet.
I leaned into him and he wrapped his thick arms around me, rubbing my back as I took a moment to catch my breath and settle my nerves from the orgasm that seemed to rattle us both.
He lifted the hand that was just stuffed between my folds and brought it to his mouth, swirling his tongue around my fingers and absorbing the proof of my orgasm.
With my legs once again feeling sturdy, I took a step back, my hand falling from his lips.
“Tell me.”
From the expression on his face I could tell he wasn’t expecting me to say that, let alone for me to remember the conversation we were even having before I dropped to my knees in the middle of the kitchen.
“Did you just suck my dick for information?”
“Did it work?”
“Well, it didn’t hurt.” His eyes twinkled with something that could only be described as surprise and wonder before he took my elbow in his hand and guided me to the kitchen table. The small rectangle, settled in the nook of the kitchen, was hardly used though it sat five comfortably. The fact that he guided me to this table versus the kitchen island had my senses on high alert. I had no idea what he was going to say, but whatever it was felt big.
“Hailey, I had Scout look into who leaked the info about your abduction…” I couldn’t understand why he looked pained to continue. His lips were pulled tight and his eyes were squinted as if his next words would physically hurt him to say. Dominic wasn’t easily rattled, so seeing him that way made my palms sweat and pulse race with the unknown.
“And…” I urged him on.
“The leak was Adam.” He looked pensive with his square jaw and face void of expression. Dominic only sat across the table, but the distance between us felt immeasurable. I was still processing his words. I thought he said “Adam,” but maybe I’d misheard. Maybe it was another Adam because he couldn’t have meant my Adam, my brother, my family. Someone I trusted to never betray me in such a way as to go running to the fucking tabloids about something as vile as my husband kidnapping me. That would be betrayal. There was no way that he could even know that was true, and even if he suspected it was true, how could he tell the news before he even asked me about it? Did he have no respect for me or for my daughter? Did he think about what it would do to her if she were to read the articles when she got older? My chest felt awash with a new sense of panic, one that even the news of Dominic taking me going viral couldn’t compete wit
h. There was only one other time I felt a betrayal as earth shattering as this one.
Funny, they both involved Dominic.
Hailey stared out of the window with an ashen face, slack with disbelief. I could see her working through my words, trying to find a way to refute what I just told her, but I could tell even in her own mind it wasn’t that hard to believe. There was a laundry list of pretty awful things I’d done to my wife, but I’d never outright lied to her. So when I told her that it was her brother who leaked the information of her abduction, I knew she believed me wholeheartedly. Even if she had reason to doubt me, she knew Scout was looking into it, and Scout was one of the best at sourcing information. If he said someone did something, he or she did it.
“Stay. I’ll get you more tea.” I’m not one for filling silences just to hear the sound of my own voice, but I knew she needed a distraction, something else to focus on besides the words that I was sure still echoed through her ears.
I had already set down her refilled cup when she responded with a frantic shake of her head.
“Drink, Hailey. Please,” I said with patience wearing thin. It was hard to see Hailey like this, to know I was powerless in helping her. Her jaw shifted with the clenching of her teeth, and delicate hands moved to lift the porcelain mug to her lips.
She placed the mug back on the table and her body relaxed—the tea working through her body like WD-40 to her stiffened limbs. I pulled out the chair tucked under the table in front of me and took a seat. Hailey just needed a moment to process it all. My girl was so strong, so brave. Compared to everything else she’d been through, this was nothing. Maybe she was worried about how I would respond to this, but frankly, I was more concerned about how this would affect her. Of course, I never cared for her adoptive brother, but that mostly had to do with the fact that he had some false sense of love for her. Hailey was irrevocably mine now. There was no one who could come between us. It was just a bonus that after we returned to San Luis Obispo, he fell off the face of the earth. It took her a while to get over the distance he’d put between them, and I wasn’t so sure that she was over it. But, this just solidified the wall that had been building since her return.
