by CATT
“Now come here Dominick’s gone, and I have only spent two hours with you in the last two months, and I’m dying to kiss you.” Case said as he pulls me by the arm into his lap. Using his hands, he starts taking the clips out of my hair. When all the clips gone he threads his fingers through my hair as he talks. “God I’ve missed you. I’ve missed touching you, talking to you, kissing you.”
Using my hair, he pulls my lips to his and kisses me. I can feel the love he has for me in his kiss. I can almost taste it. I deepen the kiss letting him know I’m feeling everything he is feeling.
CHAPTER 30
A week later I am walking to the gym we have in the house when I run into Dominick. I have managed to avoid him the whole week since him, and Case’s return. Living in a house bigger than FORT KNOTS HELP'S TOO! I have the feeling Dominick had been doing the same thing.
“Are you heading to the gym too?” I asked.
“Thought I would get some workout time in” Dominick answered.
“Yeah same here.”
Neither one of us speak again. We continue walking to the gym. I hate how awkward things have become between us. But for the life of me, I don’t know how to fix it. Walking in the gym, I go straight to the treadmill put my head buds in my ears and blast the music. I manage to run three miles, before looking up and seeing what Dominick is doing. He is lifting free weights and my God, he has muscles bulging everywhere on his six foot seven body, he is wearing a black muscle shirt that fits him like a glove. Even his black sweat pants looks good on him. His black, blue hair is tied back as it always is. He truly is magnificent. Looking at him my mind goes back to the night we had sex and how I had touched all those muscles. How I had given myself to him without a second thought. My body grows hot just thinking about it. I think I’m close to foaming at the mouth as I watch him.
Dominick must have felt my eyes on him. He turns toward me looking me in the eyes. We stare at one another. I can’t take my eyes off him. Still holding eye contact, he sets the weights back on the table and starts walking toward me. Goose bumps run up my arms. However, before Dominick has time to reach me Case walks in the gym. Dominick stops in his tracks. Turns toward Case and asked, “Hey man what’s up?” I step off the treadmill knowing Case would think I’m breathless due to my workout not because of Dominick. Case tells Dominick that they have to go back to the Angels council for a couple of hours. It seems Dominick is going to have to have the same kind of transfusion I did.
When Case reaches me he wraps his arms around my waist, and says, “there's my girl” then he bends his head down and kisses my lips. When he lifts his head, he tells me how much he loves to see me all sweaty. I laugh at him unable to help myself. I know Dominick heard every word Case was saying. I also know he doesn’t like it. I see his body tense. His muscles tighten and anger shows on his face. I want to pull away from Case, so I won’t hurt Dominick. At the same time I don’t want to hurt Case by pulling away from him. Once again, I don’t know what to do.
Dominick and Case left for the Angel council a short while later leaving me confused and frustrated. I had a cold shower and was lying on my bed when Lisa, knocks on the door. She comes in and jumps on my bed. In the last eleven months Lisa and I had become closer than ever. She always has that I’m sexy as hell but will kick your ass thing going on. However, she has calmed down on the hair thing. It used to be we never knew from one day to the next if she would show up with purple, orange, or rainbow-colored hair but over the last few months she's changed. Now she keeps it a beautiful color of red.
“What’s going on?” She asked.
"Just laying here, what about you?"
"Bored I want to do something, but I don't know what.”
That’s when it hits me. I need to get away. I need to leave, take some time to clear my head. Figure out how to stop these feeling I have for Dominick. “You know I’m bored too. What do you say about you and me going on a little vacation together?
"Yeah right like Case would ever just let us do something like that without him.”
"He can’t stop us if I block him. I mean I will tell Summer where we are going, so they wouldn’t be worried about us.”
“What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing is going on with me I just thought maybe you would like to do something together. I’ve always wanted to do the whole girl vacation thing. On TV, the girls have the time of their lives and besides. We need some time away from fighting demons. Now that Case and Dominick are back they can do it for a while." I hope I sounded convincing I just couldn’t tell Lisa the real reason I need to get away.
“Look I know something is bothering you Lana, but if you don't want to talk about it that’s cool. However, I'm here if you change your mind. Now with that said let's decide where we’re going!”
It took another forty-five minutes to figure out we wanted to go to Cape Cod. I’ve never been to the Cape, but it's a place I’ve always wanted to go. You see pictures of it all the time, and of course. You see it in a lot of romance movies and the girl always runs off to Cape Cod to mend her broken heart. I left my bedroom and went in search of Summer. I found her in her garden with her flowers. She loves flowers, but she doesn’t have a green thumb, and everything always dies on her. She’ll just plant new ones and start all over again. I think it’s funny here she is the Queen and a World Keeper; she can kick ass with the best of them but let her have a flower, and she doesn’t know what to do. “Hey Summer, killing more innocent flowers?"
“Ha, ha…you think you’re funny.”
Laughing I said, “Yeah actually I do.”
“Well you’re not” Summer said laughing.
“Yes I am and you know it.” I state with a smirk on my face.
Walking over I pick up a pot of daises Summer was getting ready to plant. I know when I tell Summer, Lisa and I are going away for a couple of weeks she is going to start asking a lot of questions that I don’t want to answer. I may as well tell her and get it over with, if I want to be out of here before Case, and Dominick get back. “Summer, Lisa and I are fixing to leave and go to Cape Cod for a couple of weeks”. I watch as Summer stands up from we’re she’s digging and dusts her hands off on her jeans right before she asked me.
“What made you decide this?”
“Lisa and I we're talking and thought it would be fun to have a girl’s vacation.”
“You’re going to leave with Case just getting back? Don’t you think he’s going to be a little upset?”
“I guess so, I mean, I really haven’t thought about that. I was just excited about getting away.”
“Does this have anything to do with Dominick being here?”
“It has nothing to do with him”, I lied. “Why should it matter to me if he's here or not?”
“Alright come on its time you and I sit down and have a talk” Summer said.
I follow her over to the table and chairs she loves to sit at and look at her flowers and sit down. I so didn’t want to talk about this. Summer knew something had happened between me and Dominick matter fact she thinks we’re in love with each other. Just because she has the power to see into people’s souls doesn't mean she’s right all the time. I know I have strong feelings for Dominick, but I don’t know about being in love with him. I mean I love Case, and I find it really hard to believe that a person can be in love with two people at the same time.
“You know” Summer began; “we haven’t spoken anymore about what happened between you and Dominick a couple of months back when Raymond, and Kristie, we’re taken. I have been waiting for you to come and talk to me about it. However, I think I may have made a mistake by doing so. Now I’m getting the feeling you’re running away from it.”
“I’m not running away; I'm going on vacation with a friend.”
“No I think you're using going on a vacation with a friend as an excuse to run away from Case, and Dominick, because you don’t know what else to do.”
I drop my head knowing eve
rything she was saying was true. I was running away, but I had to. I couldn’t take being around Dominick. I thought two months ago we had said our goodbyes. Sure I still have dreams about him, but I had been glad he wasn’t here that I could go back to it being just me and Case, the way it should be. Then he shows up here a month ago and has been granted the rights to being a Keeper by the Angel council, and my life turned upside down again. Looking back up at Summer, I asked her the question I had been wondering about for the last month, but had been too afraid to ask.
“Why did you help Dominick become a Keeper?”
“Ah…you had rather I left him the way he was, lost without a purpose, without acceptance never belonging anywhere?”
“Well yeah…. I mean no…I don’t know... I’m happy he has finally been able to become a Keeper. That should have happened a long time ago, the council did him wrong, but does he have to live here with us?”
“We’re else could he live?” Summer asked.
“Why not with the Angle council, there're a lot of Keepers who live there.”
“True, but there are also a lot of keepers there that feel Dominick shouldn’t be a Keeper.”
“I didn’t know that”, I said feeling guilty, after all it wasn’t Dominick’s fault that I was a slut.
“You know the more I’m talking with you; the more I'm thinking your right you do need to get away. Honey, listen to me. I wish I could say I know how you feel and what you’re going through, but I can’t. I don’t want to make things worse on you, but I want to give you something to think about. A couple of months ago I told you, you couldn’t have a relationship with Dominick because he wasn’t a Keeper. That’s changed now. Don’t get me wrong I love Case like he’s my own son, and I don’t want to see him hurt. However, he also deserves to be loved by you the same way he loves you, and if you can’t give him that you’re not being fair to him. Don’t you think he would be hurt right now if he knew you had feelings for another guy?”
“Yeah I know he would be hurt, don’t you think this is killing me? I can’t stand the thought of ever hurting him” I cried.
“I know it’s killing you honey” Summer said putting her arm around me and pulling me into a hug. “You don’t deserve to be going through any of this, and I’m going to make sure it stops but, for now you go with Lisa and try to have some fun and don’t worry I’ll keep Case and Dominick from bothering you. Hopefully, by the time you get back, things will have worked them self out.”
CHAPTER 31
Relaxing on the beach with a glass of tea and the sun bearing down on me I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It is beautiful. The water is clear today and calm. Its quiet all the sounds I hear are the gentle waves coming in and sea gulls talking to each other. Lisa and I have been here a week now. We spend our days lying in the sun and swimming in the ocean. In the evening, we go to the board walk to eat dinner. At one of the little maw and paw restaurants then get ice cream and sit and watch the ships go by. The house Lisa had manifested for us to stay in while we're here is incredible. It has three very large bedrooms. Furnished with antique furniture, the beds are all king size with tall post. The head on my bed board has engravings like I have never seen. It’s the prettiest color of cherry wood in the world. An area rug is in the middle of the floor. It has natural colors in it. Green, tan, and whit squares about four inches in size. The pillows are big and fluffy. I just sink in when I lay down. I love it and want to take it home with me. The bath room in my room is huge. The shower has glass walls. The water comes out in two different shower heads. It’s perfect. I can spend hours in here. The tile walls and floors are marble. The floor is a dark brown color. The walls are tan with red outlines.
Lisa’s bed room is different from mine. Of course hers is designed to fit her. She has more flamboyant colors and designs. The guest room is more-plain in design. The living room has big puffy couches and chairs. It is decorated with both of our styles mixed together. The big windows are great for the view. We can see the water from the ocean out every window. It also lets the sunlight in we sit in here in the mornings to watch the sun rise. The hard wood floors look like they have never been walked on. The planks are different colors. For the most part the color is cherry. Then she put some different types of wood with it.
There is a large island in the middle of the kitchen. All of the appliances are all stainless. The cabinets have doors are glass showing the contents of what is inside. The stove is gas and looks like it’s for a great chef. (Like we would be using it since neither one of us can cook.) The walls are painted a beautiful yellow reminds me of springtime. There’s a covered porch that wraps all the way around the house. There is a porch swing with black cushions. The five rocking chairs have matching cushions. The house it’s self is gray and sits right on the beach. When I asked Lisa how she had come up with the concept for the house, she told me she had seen it in a magazine once, and thought how beautiful it had been, so she had replicated it in every detail.
Even though I’m no closer to deciding how to handle my feelings for Dominick, I am glad I don’t have to see him every day. The bad part is I may be happy, about not seeing Dominick, but that also means I’m not getting to see Case at the same time, and I really miss him. Sitting up, I take a sip of my tea, when Lisa comes out of the house and plops down in the lounge beside me. She is wearing a white two piece that looks great on her. It’s a bit more revealing than my two piece pink and white polka dotted bathing suit, but she has more up top than I do, so she can get by with wearing sexier things.
“So bitch when we were on the boardwalk last night, I heard some people talking about a place on down the road that has some of the best oysters around. You think you’re up for trying some tonight?” She asked.
“Yeah sounds great I’ve never eaten oysters before, but I’ll try anything once.”
“Great you’ll love them trust me.” She said as she laid back in the lounge.
We joke for a while before we grow quiet and let the sun put us both in a sleepy haze. By the time we went back in the house my skin has turned a rosy red which I know will tan easily, but I may still have to wear sunscreen tomorrow while I’m on the beach. After we shower and get dressed we blink ourselves to the oyster bar Lisa wanted to eat at.
Walking in the restaurant we have to wait to be seated. It doesn’t take long for the receptionist to show us to our table. Lisa orders two dozens of oysters and two beers. While we're waiting for the food, Lisa takes the time to explain to me the best way to eat oysters. I laugh at her as she holds a fork up and demonstrates everything she is saying. She always acts so much like a teacher. I really think she missed her calling by being a Keeper.
I see a girl with black pants and white button up shirt coming with a tray. She is young but she is handling her job very well. She is smiling and talking to the customers as she passes each table. Sure enough she is coming towards our table. Lisa also sees her. Getting excited she tells me to get ready to try the oysters for the first time. Also she can’t wait to see the look on my face when I eat my first one. The waitress arrives to our table with our oysters and beer. Lisa swears that beer is the only thing to drink with our meal. As I sit there looking down at the dozen of oysters sitting before me, I thought I understood why beer was the only drink to have with them.
Anybody would have to intoxicate their brains in order to eat them. Lisa noticed the look I had on my face and started laughing. She told me to trust her and try one, and if I didn’t like it, I could always order something else. I pour the hot sauce onto one of the oysters and use my fork to pull it away from the shell I hold my head back and let it slide down my throat like Lisa had told me. I gagged and put my hand over my mouth hoping that was all I did. Lisa laughs at me again as she ate another.
I give Lisa, my oysters and order me a large cheese burger and fries, deciding that I would stick to foods I have to chew. We finish eating, and we’re sitting back talking about what we want to do with the rest of the eve
ning when I notice a girl, about our age sitting along at another table, she keeps watching us. She reminds me of my friend Liz or I should say the friend I use to have. Like Liz, this girl has blonde hair that is cut into a bob. She is short with just the right body build for her size. She has that really cute girl next door look going on. The girl stands up puts money on the table gives us one last look and walks out the door.
We spend the rest of the evening out on the beach watching street performers before heading back to the beach house. We watch a little TV before deciding to go to bed. Lying in bed, I did the same thing I did every night, I think about Case and wonder how he is doing and how upset he must be with me for the way I left while he had been gone. Then I fall asleep and dream about Dominick.