Things were much different in recent weeks. He easily relaxed and drifted off normally. She let a finger rub the stubble on his chin. As tired as she was, she wanted to treasure the moment. His arms suddenly came around her, and she sighed. Her body went slack as she decided to give in. Thoughts of their beach house drifted in her mind as sleep finally took over.
Chapter 15
Noelle sat at the piano in the music room and sighed. She hated to ask Dominic to give her time alone with her band, but they had to see if the planned video calls would work. Hours before, a technician came in and installed a large flat screen monitor on a wall with everything they needed to do a video conference. She was impressed it had been done so quickly.
They bought the equipment the day before while out with Theresa and Anthony. Theresa had won a coin toss between her and Tony. Someone had to stay with the children. They purchased two cars and looked at houses as well. When they returned to the hotel, Dominic took Tony for a ride in the Jaguar. That day there was no argument; it was as if they had never been separated.
Dominic was in the living room. He watched a movie to relax. That morning, Anthony called Dominic about the package. He didn’t yell or shout as Dominic knew he wanted to. The kids excitedly cheered in the background. Anthony had thanked him, but he asked him not to buy anything more without a discussion. Dominic promised to do that.
With Dominic’s laptop in front of her, Noelle opened the Skype window. He had it all set up for her. All she had to do was click a button. Technology was mostly Greek to her. He understood that and automatically took over when she froze up. Nervously, she clicked the button.
“Hey!” Mitchell grinned widely when he answered. “Where are you?” He couldn’t see Noelle.
She bit her lip and stood. “I’m not sure where to go.” She walked toward the monitor. “Where’s the camera?”
“I see your arm,” Mitchell said. “Move to the right. No, wait—my right, your left.” When she appeared, his eyes lit up. She looked beautiful. “There you are. How you been?”
Noelle smiled. “I’m OK. How about you?”
“Miss you, but otherwise good. How’s New Jersey treating you?” Mitchell’s heart sank when she blushed and smiled.
She glanced at the open door. “Great. Dominic’s brother moved here the other day.” Her eyes flitted around the room. “So how do I connect everyone else?”
“We invite them.” Mitchell grabbed his mouse. “I’ll do it. Just sit tight.” He tried not to laugh since he knew she was not remotely tech-savvy. “You should see everyone soon.”
It took a few minutes, but all of her bandmates were eventually on the monitor. She dragged a chair over and sat. “OK. So will this work? There’s a piano. We have several guitars. The acoustics aren’t bad either.”
“Works for me,” Emilio responded. “Sing for us.”
Noelle took a few breaths and sang a few lines of the song she and Dominic wrote. They hadn’t come up with a title yet. “How was that?”
“Amazing!” Dominic shouted from the living room.
Emilio and Trevor heard him and laughed. Then Emilio nodded. “I agree with him. Amazing. This is perfect until we get there.” He glanced at all the faces on his laptop monitor. “Who’s got the biggest monitor?”
“I do,” Mitchell replied. “Thirty-inch, widescreen, surround sound, everything.”
Trevor laughed. “Mr. Technology. Party at Mitchell’s place. I’m bringing the rum.” The rest of the band joined the laughter. After it died down, Trevor asked, “Noelle, when’s your flight? I’ll pick you up.”
“Thursday about seven.” She looked down and softly replied, “Mitchell’s picking me up.”
Dominic’s head came up. Her voice had echoed down the hall. She had not mentioned that. He took several deep breaths. They were close, and he trusted her. She kept it from him because she knew he would overreact. He tended to do that when Mitchell was concerned. To hone in his jealousy and anger, he closed his eyes and clenched and unclenched his fists again and again.
* * *
“I’m sorry.” Noelle had rushed the rest of the meeting. She worried Dominic had heard her. Obviously, he had. “He offered this morning. You were talking to Anthony. Then the monitor guy was here. By the time he left, it slipped my mind. I can have Trevor come get me instead. If it would make you feel better.” He hadn’t moved. So she figured he was too furious to talk.
He took another breath. Then he looked her way. “I get it. We had a busy day. You don’t haveta change your plans. I trust you.”
She smiled and sat on his lap while she hugged his neck. “Thanks. I swear any time spent with him will be strictly platonic. He was already warned by me and Emilio.”
“Emilio’s good people.” Dominic had crossed paths many times with Emilio even before Dominic met Noelle. They were almost the same age and in the music world all of their adult life. “Glad he’s on my side.”
Noelle giggled then nuzzled his hair with her nose. “He respects you.” She leaned her weight on him. “Do you have any books? I love to read.”
“Yeah, there’s a shelf in the closet.” He patted her thigh. “I used to read in bed at night. Drove Claire crazy.” He pursed his lips. Guilt filled him. “Sorry.”
She lifted his chin and stared into his eyes. “Don’t be sorry. It’s OK to talk about her. Tell me more.”
He leaned his head on her breast. “You sure?”
“Yes.” She stroked his hair because she wanted to know more.
After a few cleansing breaths, he softly said, “I’d turn on the light and sit up, reading. She would turn away, punch her pillow and sigh until I gave up. Some nights, I’d tease her, by turning pages loudly. It helped me unwind, but the light kept her up. For my birthday one year, she gave me a reading light that lit up just the page. If they existed then, she would’ve bought me a Kindle.” He smiled as he imagined her asleep as he read with the new device.
“Do you still read when I’m not here?”
He wrapped his arms around her. “No. It reminds me of her. So I usually watch TV, fall asleep here, then eventually get up and fall into bed.”
“If I bought you a Kindle, would you use it?” She didn’t want him to give up books forever.
He grinned and pulled her down as he lay back. “Sure. You’re the greatest.”
When he let her go, she got to her feet. “I’ll be back.”
She wanted to bring a book for the plane ride. If he didn’t have one that interested her, then she’d go out and get one. She had driven the Jeep a few times. In the closet, she found the books in several piles. When she took the first one down, a sketchbook fell and hit her in her forehead.
“Ow.” She bent down to pick it up and was surprised when she saw the page it was open to. The design looked familiar. She took it into the bedroom. Then she sat down and flipped through the book. “Wow.” It was all tribal art. “Who drew these?” she called out loudly.
Dominic soon walked into the room. “Me. Sometimes I doodle.”
Her mouth had dropped as she saw the same tattoos all over Dominic’s body. “You created the tattoos yourself? Well, drew them?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Tommy helped. He’s a good artist, too. I have some I didn’t get tattooed.”
She got to the blank section of the book. “Could we draw something together?” She absently drew figures when she was deep in thought.
“That could be fun.” He searched the room for pencils and markers, then urged Noelle to the dining room, where there was more light. “You have an idea?”
“I like the tribal patterns.” Noelle sat next to Dominic. “Could we add color? Maybe some blue?”
Dominic dug through his box of markers and such. He came up with several blue markers. “Which shade?”
“This one.” Noelle chose a royal blue one.
She watched as he carefully sketched with the pencil first. The piece was different than most of his tattoos, which were
vine-like. As it developed, she realized it was a dragon in tribal style. While he drew, she could see where the blue should accent it.
When he stopped, he asked, “You like it?” He was glad when she smiled.
She nodded. “It’s beautiful. Can I add the color?”
“Sure.” He slid the book toward her, glad they shared something else.
Meticulously, she colored the upper scales then the belly. She paused and looked it over. One wing was visible. She added color to a few areas, then passed it back to him.
“Nice joint effort. How about I get this inked on my arm?’ He thrust his right arm out.
Noelle ran her hand up his light olive skin, covered in dark hair. “That would look amazing.”
“Yeah and everyone would see it.” He demonstrated playing his guitar. “It’s not like I’m going back into the medical field.” That was why he didn’t have tattoos below the mid bicep. “I think this music thing’s working for me.” He chuckled.
She smiled. “Yeah. I think you’re right.” She stared at the drawing. I can get it put between my shoulder blades.”
“That’s gonna hurt.” Dominic had many tattoos on his back, which included a tribal style cross between his shoulder blades. “The spine area is sensitive. How are you with pain?” He had never seen her physically hurt.
Noelle thought back. “Piercings barely pinch. So I’d say I have a high tolerance.”
He imagined the design where she wanted it. If her hair were up, it would be very visible on stage, since she tended to wear bustiers. “It would look great there or your lower back. Mmmm, sexy.”
“I’m not getting a tramp stamp.” She wriggled her nose. “That would be hypocritical. I shake my head at groupies with them.”
His eyes opened wide. “You think they’re slutty?” She had never expressed anything like that to him.
“Well…” She closed her eyes. “I used to find them sexy. Kinda. But aren’t they so the guy has something to look at during sex?”
He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her toward him. “That’s what they say, but it looks good on some women. I like looking at you while we make love. So it wouldn’t be like that for me. Either spot, you’d look beautiful. You can’t be slutty in my eyes.”
“Thanks.” She bit her lip and leaned her head on his. “He wanted my skin perfect. Told me only whores had tattoos.”
Silently, Dominic seethed. He knew there was more to why she stayed with Stephen so long. When he cheated, she should have dropped him. However, she continually took him back. He also knew very little about her family. Only that she had a brother, Noah, who was a year older. She smiled when she had talked to him.
“Why did you let him rule your life?” he asked softly. He hoped she could answer. “If it’s too much, I understand.” He ran a hand down her back, soothingly. “I’m here, and he can’t do that to you again.”
She shivered, sniffled and tried not to cry. Memories flashed before her eyes, none good. “In Seattle, he took me in.” Her lips quivered. “I was homeless. He offered me a place to stay if he could fuck me.” She had never admitted that to anyone. “It was cold outside. So I agreed. I was 17, a virgin and so naïve. It was awful, but he didn’t leave me when I cried. He took care of me and apologized for hurting me.”
Furious but shocked, Dominic stayed silent. He knew anything he would say at the moment, would be said in anger and could scare her. When she started to sob, he turned his chair and held her closer. He was sure there was a lot more to the story.
“I’ll listen if you wanna tell me more.” His tone was as gentle as he could manage.
She nodded and wondered if she should explain why she would agree to something so awful. “My parents were abusive,” she whispered. “I tried to protect my brother. He was smart. I wanted him to go to college and get away. I took the blame for some things and let my father beat me until I couldn’t move.” She sniffled and tried not to see it in her head. “It worked. He got a scholarship and left. I couldn’t stay. That’s why I went to Seattle.”
“I’m here,” Dominic whispered when she shuddered. “I’m right here.”
She took a deep breath and continued. It was time to get it out finally. “Stephen gave me food and place to sleep. I had to let him fuck me every night, but he didn’t hit me. He saw the fading bruises every night that first week. I pretended I got in a fight. His eyes told me he knew. He promised to never hurt me physically, as long as I followed his rules. I was a scared kid. I didn’t know he was manipulating me. He didn’t let me contact Noah for the first two years…” She broke down again when she realized she went from one abusive relationship to another.
When she was quiet again, Dominic lifted her chin. “No one will ever abuse you or take advantage of you again. I promise.” He placed a soft kiss on her lips. “What we have is 50-50. If you think I’m pushing you into something, tell me to back the hell off, and I’ll understand.” He finally understood why it was so hard for her to trust him. Her whole life she had been lied to. “If moving in with me is too much for you, I get it.”
“No.” She steeled herself. She didn’t want him to think she was scared of him of living with him. “I want to live with you. I never had this. I thought love had strings. You showed me. You opened my eyes to how things should be. I’m sorry I pushed you away so much in the beginning. I was terrified.”
“It’s OK.” He smiled and rubbed her nose with his. “It hurt, but now we’re together. I’m not gonna look back, just forward.” He looked into her eyes. “I love you with all my heart and soul.” He took a deep breath to squash the anger within. “Your body is yours, not mine. If you want a tattoo, you put it where you want it. I’ll love it no matter what. Please don’t ever think I’ll judge you, degrade you or force you to do anything. I could never do that.”
She nodded. “I know.” Tears still ran down her cheeks. “I love you, like I’ve never loved anyone. Well, guess I never have.” Her eyes drifted down. “Those feelings scared the shit out of me. Now I embrace them, though.” She tilted her head a bit and kissed his lips. “Can we please stop talking about this? I don’t want to relive it. Please.”
“Yes.” He slid a hand up to her head. “We can talk about anything you want.”
Noelle forced a smile to lighten the mood. “Your birthday is New Year’s Eve, right?”
“Uh-huh. Why?”
She rarely thought about their age difference. “You’ll be 39?”
He sighed and hoped she wasn’t about to say their almost nine year age difference was a bigger deal than he thought. “Yeah. I know I’m getting old.”
“You are not.” She lightly tapped his chest. “I didn’t mean that. What I was gonna ask is, do you have a bucket list or something? Emilio has a list of stuff he wants to do before he’s 40. You have a year on him. So I thought maybe you did, too.”
He thought about it for a few seconds. “I don’t have a list, but there’s some things I’d like to do by then.”
“Like what?” She sat back, excited.
Dominic shrugged and took her hands in his. “Um, well… having another child for one.” He felt Noelle shrink back a bit. “We don’t have to rush. I don’t think it’s smart to have a child before we’re truly settled in our relationship. It puts a strain on things. We need to think of us first.” His eyebrows rose, and he gave her a slight smile. “You OK?”
“Yeah. What else?”
His eyes flitted around as he weighed the importance of things he had not done. “I wanna learn to ride a bike.”
“You don’t know how?” She thought he had a normal childhood.
He laughed. “I meant a motorcycle. Sorry. I know too many who ride. Maybe Jon or Giovanni’ll teach me.”
“I’m not watching.” She worried he would get hurt.
He squeezed her hands. “We’ll do it in a field or something. I’ll be fine.” It took him almost a minute to think of the next thing. “Skinny-dipping.”
&nb
sp; “Wait.” Her eyebrows scrunched up. “You never went skinny-dipping? With Tommy for a best friend, I thought that would’ve happened hundreds of times.”
“Um, I don’t remember doing it.” He shrugged and hoped she didn’t want him to elaborate.
She watched his body language. “There’s a lot you don’t remember, huh?”
“Some. I was high a lot after I lost the girls. Tommy set me straight. He was the only one of us who didn’t get hooked on something. Except sex. He’s definitely addicted to chicks.” He closed his eyes. “I wanna experience it with you and remember it.”
“Then we will. When it’s warmer out, though.” She lifted his hands and held them to her chest. “Anything else?”
He met her eyes. “Just what we already have planned. Like buying a house and letting the girls go. Guess I needed to find you first. I have all I’ll ever need now.”
“Me, too.” Noelle leaned forward and kissed his lips. “You changed everything for me.”
Chapter 16
“I’m in the terminal now,” Noelle told Dominic as she walked toward the arrival ramp. She didn’t want Mitchell to get out of the car. So they wouldn’t be seen together. “I’ll call you from my place later.”
Dominic was at Demonfire. He hoped it would keep him busy. “Glad you got there safely. I miss you already.” It was painful to drop her off that morning. “Not sure what to do with myself.” He had come to the studio from the Newark airport.
“You can hang out with your brother,” she suggested. “Take him out or something.”
An eyebrow cocked, he thought about Tommy’s offer to go with him and Shane to look at bands. Anthony might like that. “Good idea. I’ll ask him.” He felt lost without her. “Text me if you’re running late. So I don’t freak out. Love you.”
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