by Sunniva Dee
“Yep! An hour and a half until we start the new year together,” Destiny tells Mica, only Mica, before she flicks a glance at me, realizing how alone I am. Leon cups my head in his palm and nudges me against his chest. For him, not for me, I wish I could respond to his silent agreement to Destiny’s declaration.
DOMINIC
I’m standing here like a jackass, breathing in the starlit night while Pandora is inside. I can’t get in—I can’t get to her. It’s not. Fucking. Working. What does it say about me if I can’t even reach the girl I love?
Everyone else is there too. Everyone except me. I try Christian again, but his phone goes straight to voicemail. Shannon’s number renders no response either, and I curse myself for not getting Mica’s and Destiny’s numbers.
In the end, I call Smother’s main line, hoping they’ll answer, and the tightness over my ribs slips, if even for an instant, as I recognize Arriane’s voice on the line.
“Arriane,” I breathe, relieved. Then, I’m happy when she doesn’t hear me; they’ve probably all been instructed not to let me in.
“Hello, you’ve reached Smother. This is Arriane?” she repeats herself.
“Yes, ma’am, I need to reach my daughter, Shannon Greene.” I change the pitch of my voice a little to be on the safe side. “It’s an emergency,” I add.
“Sir, we have a full house tonight due to our New Year’s Eve bash,” Arriane explains. “I wouldn’t know where to find your daughter.”
“I believe her boyfriend works at your bar? Christian… Christian,” I act like I don’t remember his last name.
“Malkievich?” Arriane suggests.
“Yes, exactly. Shannon should be celebrating with him tonight.”
“Sir, let me try to locate her,” Arriane says. “But as I mentioned, we’ve got a crowd on our hands, so this might take a while.”
“Sure, I understand, Miss,” I respond in my new, gravelly pitch, “let me leave a call-back number.”
While I wait, I head to the back alley that gives way to Smother’s patio. On my first night with Pandora, we snuck out through the ladies’ bathroom window. It’s high on the wall. I’ll need something to stand on. Shit.
In vain, I scour the surroundings for anything tall enough for my purpose. I could run home, but I might not get back before twelve. My heart is a concrete block that sinks into my stomach.
Shannon finally calls back.
“Shannon!”
“Dominic? Damn, you scared me! Are you in town?”
“Yes, and I’ve been trying to get into the club since six p.m.”
“No freaking way?”
“How is she?” I ask. A quick glance at my watch shows eleven-thirty.
“Can she leave?” I add before Shannon even answers. “Leon straight out banned me from Smother. Would she come out for me?”
“He’s… I don’t know, Dominic. Leon is with her nonstop tonight. He’s wearing an earpiece so he can shoot off instructions without leaving her side. She’s dying to see you, though. Should I tell her you’re here?”
Shannon’s information worries me. I do not want Pandora to end up in a confrontation with Leon.
“I’m coming in. Do me a favor, Shannon. Open the window in the ladies’ room downstairs for me in… fifteen minutes. I’ll text you when I’m ready, okay? Don’t tell Pandora yet. I want to make sure this is doable.”
“’Kay, got it. Are you planning to sweep her off her feet?” she teases me.
I laugh quietly. “I’ll do my best, Shannon. I—want her last kiss of the year. It’s been a long time.”
“How about the first kiss of the new year?” she asks softly.
Yeah. And that.
41. MIDNIGHT
PANDORA
The terrace swarms with Leon’s customers. Minute by minute, more and more people work their way upstairs as the clock ticks closer to midnight. Mica and Destiny somehow find a spot to dance, the music booming out over Deepsilver in a way that makes me understand why this section of the club is usually closed. Really, this must be noise pollution.
Shannon is back up from her phone call from somewhere quiet downstairs. She’s got a strange look on her face. “Is everything all right at home, Shannon?”
“Yeah, all’s cool. They’ve roped off the stairs now. Arriane just hung up a ‘Full’ sign at the bottom. Makes sense—I mean, look at this crowd.”
Leon’s hands have been on me the entire night. The way he’s conducted his business is by earpiece and messengers. The few times he’s been to the first floor, he’s insisted on my accompanying him. Destiny says I have misplaced pity for this man, which might be true, but after tonight, I won’t ever return to Smother. I won’t have a haunt in Deepsilver anymore, and I will not look for a new one. My gut says I’m strong enough to pull this off.
Shannon disappears behind the bar to kiss her boyfriend. Then, she’s out of his arms and on her way down the stairs again. “Stay put,” she tells me unnecessarily. Like I’m going anywhere with my untouched glass of champagne and Leon’s hand on my knee.
“Sorry I’m slammed, sugar,” Leon says for the fifteenth time between his in-ear conversations with staff. “I’ll make it up to you in a couple of hours.” He adds it as if I haven’t already told him I’m returning to my apartment tonight.
My heart speeds up. Like a week ago at home in Rockcastle, my luggage is packed and ready upstairs. Shannon and the girls won’t split without me; as soon as people start leaving the bar, we will too. If Leon throws a fit, that’s when the confrontation will happen.
DOMINIC
This is taking too fucking long. I went home and got a stepladder. Shannon replied to my last message five minutes ago, but the window’s still locked. Only ten minutes left. Shit.
If Pandora’s lips aren’t on me at midnight—
In a burst of music, the window swings open. Girls giggle and squeal, and Shannon’s face pokes out. “Hurry!” she shouts.
“Ya think?” I growl as I climb in.
“Oh, Romeo!” Some girl screams from inside, causing Shannon to perform one of Pandora’s patented eye rolls. Even that I miss from her.
“She’s upstairs,” Shannon says, dragging me out of the restroom. As soon as I’m out, I see Jason. What the hell kind of luck do I have tonight? This is a nightmare.
“Dominic! What do you think you’re doing? Come with me,” he booms over the music.
“Sorry, Jason. No can do,” I throw back his words from our phone conversation and bump my way through the throng in the direction of the stairs.
“Hey!” he shouts behind me, while Shannon screams, “Run, run!”
You can’t run when the entire floor is packed solid with bodies, so I use force, I piss people off, and by the time I reach the stairs, three meatheads have told me they’re going to beat my ass. “Later,” I promise them.
Jason is ten steps behind me. He’s bigger than me and has a harder time getting through. Dude’s on his in-ear, though, tattling to the boss, I’m sure.
Tiny and nimble, Shannon’s already holding the rope up for me to sneak under. I’m too tall for that. “Remember, Leon’s up there with her,” she says. I straddle the blockage and take the steps three at a time. Five fucking minutes.
Pandora’s New Year kiss will not be with that bastard.
PANDORA
The crowd presses in and bops around us. My barstool almost tips over twice, with Leon securing it in place after drunk patrons tumble into me. The light show has begun in the sky, preempting the big blowout starting in a few minutes, and for every explosion, people holler and whoop louder.
A slew of bartenders mill around with trays of champagne held high. Partiers wave bills at them to acquire the goodness. My eyes roam over the space, and from my post on the stool, ascending the stairs, I see…
Domi
nic?
He straightens at the top. On instinct, I brush Leon’s hand off my lap, climb up on the chair, and wave my arms in the air like he’s my lifeboat.
Dominic zooms in on me immediately. He squeezes through the mob, and for a second I catch Shannon’s frantic look over his shoulder.
Suddenly, Leon has me.
“Oh, no you don’t,” he clips out, lifts me off my seat, and shoves me in front of him behind the bar. Christian and a couple of bartenders I don’t know pause to watch.
“What are you doing?” I ask, not fathoming this development.
Then, I do. My thoughts go wild, race through my head. I’ve feared this since day one, and now it’s happening. Leon is losing it.
I was right. I was right!
“He wasn’t supposed to be here,” Leon shouts. “This is our night!”
“Let me go,” I shriek while his employees stare, slack-jawed. Where has the cool, controlled Leon who instills their trust gone? The music is deafening, and the explosions from the sky keep multiply, rolling into thunder. I land a smack on Leon’s face and twist to escape his hold, but Leon snatches my hand, jerking me with him.
“Leon! What the hell are you doing?”
The door to the storage room crashes open from the impact of our bodies. Over Leon’s shoulder, I glimpse Jason blocking Dominic with his looming linebacker form, and Dominic fighting to break through.
“Remember what I said? You can’t blame a guy for trying. I’ll fix this, Pandora—I’ll be right back,” Leon hisses.
I don’t have time to answer. Before I register what’s happening, Leon pushes me into the storage room and slams the door closed on me. The click as he locks it saturates my body and thuds in my head.
It’s black in here—so black. How can it be so black when there are fireworks outside? Stay cool. Stay cool. Stay cool.
All rooms have electricity—this one too, I think, and then the icy witch claws of my dread have me. They burrow steel-deep into my sanity and shake for me to pound on the door, scream, shriek, yell, and I do—I do!
“Leon, get me the fuck out of here!”
He pays no attention to me. He’s not there. He has locked me in, deserted me, and I’m going insane. Knees Jell-O soft to the ground, I shrink against the exit to freedom.
Please, let there be a light switch!
The doorknob. I find it.
When it offers no mercy, I just cradle it in my hand. Its unrelenting coolness is the only thing my body can fathom.
I sob.
“Pandora!”
Shannon’s on the other side like she always is—or maybe not—I don’t know because my brain has iced over.
My brain.
“Christian!” she roars at her boyfriend. “Don’t be a fucking pussy! Can’t you see how crazy your boss is? Open the damn door!”
She pounds back to me, communicating, trying to keep me from breaking into tiny, irreparable pieces while the fireworks thunder into a crescendo outside. “Do you have light, Pan?”
“No,” I cry. “No, no, no. No light!”
“Find the switch. This is not your walk-in closet—this switch works.”
“It’s on the left side of the door,” her boyfriend yells next, “right by the jamb.” My hand trembles, and even if I understand, I can’t follow—
Christian breaks the door open, letting life back in and flooding me with oxygen. They heave me off the floor—I breathe, breathe the deepest I have ever breathed.
Jason has let go of Dominic. Stunned, he watches his employer, the way his face twists in rage, but I search past him with swimming eyes until I find my Dominic.
“No,” I whimper, voice shivering in my throat as I shove against the customers keeping us apart. Sweet Jesus—he’s on his knees, blood seeping from his mouth. People are so drunk, not budging. They stare at the spectacle on the sky. At Dominic on the floor.
I catch how he gets up in time to block Leon’s next blow with an arm, and finally Jason reacts. He wedges his wall of a body in between Leon and Dominic, and this time it’s not to support his boss. He’s facing Leon, his posture telling me that he’s trying to talk him down.
Leon curses, his flawless features almost unrecognizable in their fury. Me, I’m not interested in Leon’s response. I can’t even look at him anymore.
I meet Dominic’s gaze. One of his eyes is swelling shut, but the relief in them when he discovers me fills me with weightless happiness. It contrasts eerily with the adrenaline that still makes my legs weak. I take another step toward him.
“TEN, NINE, EIGHT,” people shout around us. From within Jason’s hold, Leon’s stare burns into me, but all of my focus remains on Dominic.
Dominic.
He pushes past a tall, wobbly girl on his way to me.
We’re so close to each other. Almost there.
I need to kiss the blood off your mouth.
“SEVEN, SIX, FIVE!” The roar I’m not a part of vibrates through my body. A new year is coming. My new life… it’s going to start out right.
Shannon embraces me, and next thing I know, Mica and Destiny are there too. “Are you okay?” they ask in different ways, but all I can think of is how now my friends are blocking me from him.
“FOUR, THREE, TWO!”
“Dominic!” I manage, pointing stupidly. As always, Destiny understands first.
“ONE!”
And then he’s there, in front of me, right next to me—into me. Dominic doesn’t speak. He just breathes against my skin as his arms go around me and tighten, folding me to him.
The crowd whoops and cheers, but I—
I am in Dominic’s arms. I stare up into his beautiful, beautiful eyes, and I can’t distinguish his features through my tears.
“Happy New Year, babe,” he whispers with his lips on my ear. His voice, the one I’ve missed like crazy, strums and plays with my eardrum. He cups my face with his hands, thumbs stroking half circles from my nose to my cheeks, rediscovering me.
“Happy New Year,” I sob out. He draws back, frowning instead of being happy like me. The green of his irises are darkening.
“Did he hurt you?” he asks, worried for me, and I—
“I’m fine now. I should be asking you that. He hit you,” I explain unnecessarily before I do what I want to do: I clean him like a cat, the swollen, broken texture of his lip coating my tongue with copper.
“Yeah, he didn’t want me here.” He smiles around the understatement of the year, smiles under my ministrations. Dominic’s hands move into my hair on both sides, weaving through it and steadying me. His lips are soft, warm in the cool air. When he coaxes my mouth open, sucks my bottom lip into his own, I pull in a quick breath.
It’s been so long. I always missed him, but with him here, real and tangible and focused on me, the sensation overwhelms me. I’m not used to his kisses anymore. The scent of Dominic. This taste—he’s so…
Everything.
I am drowning in the bliss of this kiss. The fear in my body ebbs into a quiver in my legs. I think of how easily I could drop to the ground, but Dominic holds me. He has me now. With him, I will not fall.
“I love you. There. Whatever.” My declaration bursts free, maybe because the new year has arrived and I am finally brave, true to myself and to Dominic. I’m straightening my life out. Starting on the long road of becoming my potential. My plans changed, and here I am, moving forward. Telling him what he means to me.
“I love you, Dominic.”
Dominic hoists me up, knees crooking around his waist. The noise from the party abates as the fireworks disperse and the patrons flow down the stairs. Someone muscles off with Leon, Lord knows who, because I? I can’t absorb anything but us.
My heart jackhammers.
I blush.
I worry about my perfect Dominic.
This fresh, new year could break my heart so easily, become a tired, shattered year, a twin to the former one. Even so, I need to know.
Please, Dominic. Say something.
He touches my chin, guiding me up the tiniest bit, enough for me to see him. His mouth finds mine again, and I drink in what he offers. Hope pulsates through me at this, at what he chooses to do after my confession. Still, in the seconds he takes to reply, my brain rambles, warning me not to believe. After all, I am me—not someone who deserves a man like Dominic.
“Babe, you have no idea how happy I am,” he whispers against my mouth.
“You are?”
“Yes, that’s what I came here to tell you.”
I don’t understand. I don’t, because I am scatterbrained, a girl with wobbly legs who’s overdosed on adrenaline. “What… what did you want to say?”
“That I’m in love with you. You, Pandora, are so hard to chase. You—ah.” He shakes his head, nuzzling my nose with his as he does. “Are you going to quit running from me? I won’t give up if you change your mind tomorrow. I’m here to stay, all right?”
To hear this from Dominic is surreal. I’m so light I could fly. I latch on to his lips again, and he groans, fine with my way of shutting him up. “You were the one leaving,” I mumble.
“Babe, I never really left.” His hands press me closer. “You cut me off, remember?”
I remember.
I need to change the subject, but what I say, I regret immediately. “Are you back to working for Gross Spa Lady tomorrow?” Hell, I can’t even fathom what I’ll do if he says “yes.”
“Geraldine?”
“I hate her.”
Dominic doesn’t laugh or comment on my blurt-out. “No. No more Elysium Spa for me. My uncle insists on paying for my last semester. Says it’s long overdue.”
“What? Uncle Dickwad? Or is this another uncle?”
An amused snort puffs from him between the smacks of our lips. “Yes, Alan. Turns out he’s not so bad.”
“Wow.”
I’m bursting with need. I still miss him even though we’re together. I want him to keep saying stuff I love to hear, keep holding me, touching me. I want to go home with my Dominic and stay in bed with him all day.
