by L. A. Casey
"Stop tryin' to embarrass me," I muttered.
He kissed the side of my head. "I'm not trying to, I promise. I'm just telling you the truth."
I sighed, he was such a charmer.
"Well, thank you, you look good too," I murmured.
"Just good?" he scoffed making me snort.
"Okay, hot?"
"Better." He grinned down at me as he kissed my face again.
He pulled back after a moment then turned a little to talk to Damien, who was sitting in his seat at the back row, tapping on the screen of his phone. I took out my iTouch and was about to put on a song when I looked at the camera app.
I had the sudden urge to have a photo of Dominic or me and Dominic on my iTouch, and it embarrassed me because he probably would think I was a child wanting to get a picture with him. I forced myself not to care though; I mean, he was my boyfriend, and if I wanted a picture with him then I could damn well get one!
"Dominic?" I muttered as all traces of bravery left my body in one breath.
"Hmm?" he murmured, turning back to me.
"I want a picture of us so will you get in one with me?" I asked very fast and avoided all eye contact with him.
I could sense his smile though when he said, "I'm ready."
I looked up and couldn't help but smile, because he looked so happy. I leaned into him, flipped the camera on my iTouch and held in out in front of us. Dominic put his arm around my waist and pressed his cheek down to mine and smiled. Both his dimples popped up, and it made me sigh; he was so gorgeous!
I smiled as well, looking at the camera, and tapped on the screen. When the picture saved and showed up on the screen I wanted to gush because we actually looked like a normal teenage couple - only Dominic had stitches and a black eye - and it made me so happy.
"I love it!" I stated.
Dominic chuckled and kissed my cheek. "Me too, but I want one of just you."
I looked over at him and watched him take out his iPhone, unlock it, open the camera app, and aim it in my direction.
"Will I smile with or without showing my teeth?" I asked.
He laughed. "With your teeth showing, you have tiny dimples on your cheeks when you smile that way."
I rolled my eyes. "Yours are dimples, mine are just big pores."
He snorted. "Just smile, smartass."
I did, and I looked directly into the camera lens as he took the picture.
"Beautiful," he smiled when he looked at the picture then turned and showed it to me.
I grimaced. "My eyes are too big and my ears stick out."
Dominic looked at me blankly. "You're stupid."
"You are!" I retorted, angrily.
He laughed. "You look beautiful, stop picking out things that you think are flaws."
I mimicked him making him chuckle as he tapped on the screen of his phone then turned it to me. I blushed; he made me his wallpaper and lock screen photo.
I already did the same with our picture on my iTouch and smiled; I looked back to Damien then who was still messing on his phone.
"Damien?"
"Hmm?" He looked up at me.
"Want to get in a picture with me?" I asked, smiling.
"Only if you sit on my lap," he smirked.
"Bro," Dominic growled in warning.
I snorted at Dominic growling at his twin and got up. "Okay," I said and moved towards Damien.
"Bronagh!" Dominic snapped.
"He is your brother, your twin brother, he won't slip a hand to feel me arse."
"He would cop a feel; he is worse than me when it comes to that shit," Dominic snapped, still sat at my desk.
Damien grinned at me as he patted his left leg; I snorted and sat on him, then held my iTouch out and put my arm around his shoulder.
"Smile," I beamed, smiling then laughing when Damien hand found its way to my arse.
"Sorry, thought that was your hip," Damien snorted.
The picture I took was of Damien, smiling, and me laughing with my eyes closed. We took another one then another, because Damien said he wanted loads of them just to piss Dominic off.
"Okay, that's enough picture time. Get off my brother now, please," Dominic's voice cut through my and Damien's chuckling.
I laughed as I got up and moved back over to Dominic, who pulled me onto his lap and glared at his brother.
"Stop looking at me like that, she is practically my sis-in-law now. I'm not trying anything, now or ever, even though she is hot."
I gasped. "We just started goin' out, don't use the words 'in-law' around me!"
Dominic and Damien laughed while I grunted and scrambled back to my seat.
"Do you have a Facebook profile?" Dominic randomly asked when I settled into my seat.
"No, why?" I asked, curiously.
He shrugged. "I was going to add you as a friend if you did."
I snorted. "I'll make one later, and you can add me, okay?"
He grinned. "You can put that picture of us as your profile picture."
I rolled my eyes playfully. "Okay, sure."
"And you can mark yourself as being in a relationship with me."
I looked to him with a raised eyebrow. "When did you turn into a bitch?"
Dominic cocked an eyebrow in question.
"You're actin' like a girl, wanting to add me on Facebook and change your relationship status," I snorted.
"Whatever, fuck you," he muttered making me laugh just as some of our classmates entered the class.
Alannah was among them and when she spotted Dominic sitting next to me, she beamed and quickly moved to take his old seat next to his brother.
"Hey, good-looking." Damien grinned when she sat down; he pocketed his phone and gave her his full attention.
"Hey," she smiled, her cheeks flushing red.
I snorted at her blushing cheeks and how she played with her hair as they talked. She did that a lot around him.
"What are you snorting at, Miss Piggy?" Dominic asked me poking my sides with his finger.
"The fact that girls act like complete and total fools when they talk to you or your brother."
He put his arm around me and kissed my temple. "We're the heartthrobs of this school. I'd be offended if girls didn't have a crush on me or Dame."
I scoffed. "You're a vain piece of-"
"I'm kidding!" Dominic cut me off, laughing.
I rolled my eyes and folded my arms across my chest and turned forward.
"Want to go see a movie later?" Dominic asked as more students came into the room.
I didn't look at him as I asked, "On a date?"
"Yeah."
"To see what?" I questioned, turning to look at him.
If he said The Mortal Instruments, I was going to cringe.
He shrugged, uncaring. "As long as it's not a romance or chick flick type of thing, I don't care."
I thought about what films were out and then gasped. "The new Fast & Furious film, definitely that one!"
Dominic chuckled. "Good choice, baby."
I smiled proudly but stopped when I noticed students in my class were looking at me.
"She can smile," I heard someone say.
"Nico, did you break Bronagh? 'Cause she is laughin' and lettin' someone sit beside her, and that for her, is just… weird." Robert Moore, fellow classmate, said to Dominic.
Dominic snorted, and I wanted to punch him badly. I know no one was making fun of me, but seeing them so shocked that I could actually be social was embarrassing.
"I didn't break her, she is perfectly fine. She is allowed to sit next to her boyfriend, right?"
"Boyfriend?" the class chorused.
Damien's laugh stuck out like a sore thumb down the back of the class, and it made me was to slap the eejit.
"Oh, my God," I grumbled and looked down.
"You deserve a medal, man. You did the impossible, you cracked Bronagh Murphy," Robert said in awe.
I scoffed, now he was just being ridiculous. I wasn't
like some sort of safe that no one could get into - wait, crap, for a time that's exactly what I was. Dominic was the only guy to ever get an attempt at unlocking me! The fact that I just realised Robert was right, and Dominic did the impossible of getting through to me, made me feel sick. I've never cared for anyone other than Branna and my parents but now… now I felt like Dominic was climbing his way up the ladder and onto the list.
Fuck, I even liked being around Damien and Alec and Kane and Ryder when I saw them. It wouldn't be long before I got used to having them in my life and then I would obviously start caring for each of them more than I already did. This was unknown territory for me, and I wasn't going to lie, it was scaring the bejesus out of me.
"Thanks… I think," Dominic's voice pulled me from my thoughts so I turned my attention to him. He then snorted when he looked at me and saw my face.
"Why do you look you've seen a ghost?" he asked me.
I moved into him, put my face into his neck and my arms around his waist. We had only started officially dating yesterday so this was the first time I ever freely did this. Even when we weren't going out he was the one who would touch me first, so this was one for the record books.
"Hey," Dominic murmured into my hair when he lowered his head to mine. "Are you okay?"
I nodded and turned my head to look up at him. "Robert is right, you're the first person to ever get this far with me and to be honest, the reality that you managed to set up camp with me is freakin' me out!"
Dominic's body vibrated as he chuckled. "Baby, this is only the beginning for us. Give it time, and once you're used to all this, you will just accept that you're mine and you will be happy. I guarantee it."
I licked my now dry lips making Dominic lowly growl at me, which I still found odd that he could make noises like that seem so hot.
"I'm yours?" I mumbled, still in awe that this beautiful person wanted me when he could have any girl he wanted.
Dominic smiled at me and kissed the tip of my nose then winked as he said, "You've always been mine, pretty girl. You just didn't know it."
"The last time I saw you in this house was when you were stating that you were picturing Damien when you were kissing on Dominic in his room," Alec said to me, teasing playfully.
I flushed and murmured, "I was here at the party after Dominic's fight a few weeks ago."
Alec smiled at me, his eyes gleaming. "That's right, I actually forgot about that. So the last time you were here you were rejecting my little brother when he asked you to be his girlfriend?"
I flushed a deeper shade of red which made Alec laugh.
"Leave her alone," Dominic snorted and put his arm around my shoulders giving me a squeeze before he went back to eating his dinner.
I was currently sitting at Dominic's kitchen table with all his brothers and Branna while we ate dinner. It was a little surreal; they were all huge, and it made me feel like Branna and I were dining with giants.
I was pretty much toying with the steak and potatoes on my plate. I was hungry before I got here, but now that I was here, I just couldn't stomach the food. Dominic and I had only been dating a few days; we went on our first date to the cinema a few days ago and now, all of a sudden, we're having family dinner. It was all happening extremely fast and to be honest, it was really freaking me out.
I licked my lips and sat back a little, looking around the table with wild eyes until my eyes landed on Branna's. She was looking directly at me.
"Bronagh, come talk with me for a minute in the hall."
I practically jumped up from the chair, and all but ran out into the hall where I automatically moved towards the hall door. Now that I saw an exit I just wanted to bail.
"Alec, you upset her!" I heard Damien's voice growl.
He didn't upset me; I knew he was only teasing me. I wasn't upset at all; I was just feeling a little overwhelmed with all the new things that dating Dominic introduced into my life.
"Look at me," I heard Branna's voice say from behind me.
I turned around and looked at her and blew out a breath. "I'm sorry, I'm tryin', I swear that I am, but it just feels weird. All of us havin' dinner and actin' like a big happy family; it's hard to break from the habit of just being with you all the time. I… I don't know if I like sharin' you and being social, and that makes me a horrible sister and a loser."
I didn't realise I was crying until I felt Branna's arm around me and her voice softly shushing me.
"To be honest with you, Bee, this is takin' some gettin' used to for me, as well. There are times when I just want to be with you after I get home from work or school, and that's normal. For a long time it was just me and you, but I do think we're tryin' to break from that habit too fast. So what do you say we go out tomorrow, just the two of us, for a girls' day? We can go see a film, get some new clothes and get dinner, then go home and just chill."
I felt the weight of the world drop off my shoulders as she finished speaking, she was feeling this too. The new people in our lives were changing things, and I wasn't a freak for thinking it was weird that I felt like I was living someone else's life all of a sudden.
"That sounds perfect." I nodded.
Branna gave me another hug, and when we separated Dominic was next to us.
"Let's go up to my room, we can relax," he said as took my hand.
Branna smiled as I went up the stairs with him before heading back into the kitchen to the rest of the brothers.
"I hate stairs," I grumbled breathlessly when we reached the top floor making Dominic snort.
When we entered his bedroom I suddenly became extremely shy and self-conscious as I folded my arms across my chest. The last time I was here was at the party, and we were kissing on his bed.
"Why are you blushing?" Dominic smiled down when he rounded on me after closing his bedroom door.
I looked down and murmured, "I'm not."
He laughed. "You're adorable, pretty girl."
I inwardly rolled my eyes.
He unfolded my arms and led me across the room to his bed. "What movie do you want to watch? I have Netflix, so we have a lot of options."
I watched Dominic switch on his television and his Xbox before he closed the curtains, covering the room in darkness. The only light was that of the television so when I stepped forward, I stumbled over something and crashed into Dominic, which sent us to the bed; I was fuming.
"Someone is eager to get me into bed," Dominic teased as I sat upwards.
I was half on his body and was pressed against his face, and I couldn't push up and support myself 'cause my bad hand was under me so when I looked at Dominic's smiling face, I glared. "This is your fault, I tripped-"
"-and fell for me? Awe, babe!"
I snapped my teeth at him and tried to bite him, which made him screech like a girl. Which, of course, sent me into a fit of laughter. Dominic smiled at me for a few moments, watching me laugh before grabbing my shoulders and flipping me over.
I gasped when he straddled my hips and pinned my good arm above my head.
"I like you like this." He smiled.
I raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
"At my mercy." He grinned devilishly.
I gave him a warning look. "Don't even think of tryin' to seduce me, you aren't gettin' into me knickers."
He groaned, as he leaned forward, pressing his body weight down on me.
"Dominic," I rasped, "can't… breathe."
He sat up off me and glared down on me. "I weigh one hundred eighty-eight pounds not four hundred, bitch."
I laughed as I tried to get my breath back. "I'm one forty-eight, so you just added forty extra pounds than I'm used too; that's all."
His gaze travelled down my body and stopped at my belly where he was straddling me. "You don't look like you weigh in the one forties."
I shrugged. "I'm pear shaped, carrying the majority of me weight below my belly. I'm sure you've heard Jason call me lard arse or thunder thighs since you started school."
<
br /> Dominic's lips straightened in a tight, grim line. "That dick wouldn't know a woman's body from a girls, so his opinion is irrelevant."
I snorted. "I do have a big arse though-"
"A sexy phat ass is what you have," he cut me off.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm not gettin' into this argument with you again. I still have a headache from that day in Dunnes Stores where we engaged in a battle of words, verbal assault if you wish to say-"
"And physical. You hit me, remember?"
I growled. "You put your arms around me and tried to take my cookies! A judge would understand that, and thank me for not doin' further damage!"
Dominic started laughing, and it lightened my mood almost instantly.
"I really like you, pretty girl," Dominic beamed as he rolled off me making me instantly miss the feel of his body on mine.
I sat up, kicked off my shoes, crossed my legs, and glared at him as he leaned back on his pillow with his hands laced together across the back of his head, making his biceps stand at attention.
I swallowed and avoided looking directly at them.
"I would hope you like me, being a couple wouldn't work otherwise."
Dominic grinned. "No, I mean I really like you. I need you to be a part of my daily routine for me to feel good now. Everything I do centres around you."
I felt my heart constrict. "Dominic, we're only goin' out a few days-"
"So? I don't believe in all the bullshit about it taking a lot of time to build a connection. I already connect with you on a deep level, pretty girl."
I let his words sink in, and I smiled. "You know I might be the last girl you ever kiss or have sex with, when we get to the sex part I mean."
Dominic winked. "You will be the last girl I kiss and have sex with."
I snorted. "Because you know I will murder you if you stray away?"
Dominic playfully rolled his eyes shoved me a little with his leg and muttered, "Smartass."
I snorted again. "It's smartarse, not smartass."
Dominic smirked. "Babe, do you really want to get into what words should be pronounced what way? Because you don't even pronounce half of your words correctly. The 'th' sound doesn't exist over here!"
I gasped. "It does too!"
It didn't, but I wasn't about to bow down and say Dominic was right.
