by Cee Smith
“Now that that’s out of the way,” he chuckled lightly as he tipped his head down to look at me, “tell me what happened with your phone call earlier.”
I knew he would bring it up, and I did say we would talk about it, but there was nothing that was more of a downer than talking about my backstabbing brother while I was still basking in my post-orgasmic glow.
“Ugh. Do we have to do this right now? We were doing so well before you brought that up.”
“We were only doing ‘well’ because you got a good fucking out of me. Consider that payment for this conversation.”
“That fucking was for you. I didn’t need it.”
“Oh really? Well maybe I should go away longer and see how long you can go without.”
“That’s fine,” I said moving to sit up.
He pushed me back down as he said, “And you wouldn’t be able to masturbate.”
“How would you know if I masturbated while you were gone?”
“That’s the thing about you, Hailey. Your face gives you away. I would know with one look. Shit, your voice would be a giveaway. You’re a fiend. You wouldn’t be able to last.”
“You’re a fiend,” I said defensively.
“True, but we’re getting off topic. I’m waiting.”
“It went fine. It was fine,” I said as if the topic were exhausting.
“It went fine? Really? Care to elaborate?”
“He’s an asshole. Fuck him!”
“I’m not going to argue with that, but why do you say that?”
“He didn’t even say anything. The spineless coward couldn’t even admit what he did.”
“Did you really expect him to?”
“I guess not really. I mean, I know why he did what he did, but maybe I just expected him to see how hurt I was and admit it was a mistake that he would take back if he could.”
“I’m assuming this was well thought out. He didn’t just wake up and decide to contact a reporter. It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision, so you can’t expect that he’s going to say it was a mistake. It wasn’t. I don’t want you worrying about any of this. I’ll take care of it.” He sounded resolved, like he already had a plan in place, and even though I was furious with my brother, I didn’t think Dominic and I shared the same level of “taking care” of things.
“What does that mean?”
“I’m working on it.”
“What does that mean? What specifically are you ‘working’ on? I’ll handle my brother,” I said so there was no miscommunication on what I meant.
“I was talking about the story. Jesus, Hailey, you still treat me like I’m capable of killing someone. Did Jessa say something to make you think that I’m still that man?”
“No, God no. I just know how you feel about Adam, and I’m sure it would be easier to ‘take care of him,’ but I know my brother, and I just think it’s going to take some time for him to get used to the idea of us.”
“I know you mean well, Hailey, but it’s been a year. Don’t be surprised if your timeline and his timeline don’t match up.”
***
I made my way to the kitchen, feeling lighter than I did yesterday. It’s amazing what good sex did to a troubled mind. I could have gone without the pillow talk, but Dominic didn’t like me to sit too long in feelings of pain or discomfort. Which was ironic because not too long ago it was him that made me feel that way, but even then he always tried to use sex to push aside any lingering pain. It was very manipulative of him and something that we still struggled with, but it did make it hard to stay mad when there was a hot man that got hard just at the sight of me.
As I thought about the kitchen blowjob I delivered earlier that week, I realized that Dominic was rubbing off on me. I, too, sexually manipulated to get what I wanted from him.
At 7 a.m. I was a bit surprised to see the kitchen full of activity. Dominic stood at the edge of the counter—closest to where Clema was sitting—shirtless, in only thin track pants. The sight was a welcome surprise. It was a reminder that our lives were moving on, moving forward, since his surgery. Oddly enough, maybe he decided to show off his scar as a reminder to my sister that he hadn’t forgotten all she did for him. My eyes followed the thickening patch of hair that stretched down the middle of his stomach. It looked like Dominic’s muscles were becoming more defined.
He munched on a granola bar while watching my sister take out ingredients from the fridge. It looked like she was making a full breakfast. Clema rocked Ellie’s bassinet, peering over the sides of the carrier. I couldn’t see my daughter, but I knew she was awake by how vocal she was being. She sounded happy as she made “ahhh” and high-squealed, gurgling sounds. It was this scene that reminded me how much I missed the sounds of a full house.
“Good morning,” Dominic said as he made his way across the kitchen toward me.
“Morning, Hailey.” My sister continued grabbing ingredients uninterrupted. Dominic wrapped me in his arms, pulling me tight to his chest as if we didn’t just spend all night in each other’s arms. I couldn’t complain. I liked the more affectionate side of him. It was a side that very few people saw.
“Are you off to the gym?” I felt his head nod as his lips kissed behind my ear. His hand came up to move my sweater off my shoulder to allow his lips access to kiss down my neck and atop my shoulder.
“Dominic,” I squealed in a hushed whisper as he dropped my sweater a little lower so my thin cami was visible to anyone in our direct line of sight. I wasn’t a prude, but I generally didn’t like my state of undress becoming common knowledge. I also didn’t much care for exposing our sex life to Clema any more than she’d already been exposed. Dominic’s penchant for fucking me on a whim was sexy so long as it didn’t end in me feeling crude. I pushed against his chest, creating distance between us, despite my damp panties suggesting I haul him back to the room and make use of the erection thickening against my thigh.
“Yes. I just came in here for this,” he said raising his hand to show off the now empty wrapper. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
He placed a chaste kiss on my cheek as he moved past me to the elevator. The gym was on a higher floor only accessed by this penthouse and the one in the adjacent tower. Dominic said the other man rarely used it though, as he’d only seen him twice in the five years since he’d bought the place.
“How’s my little angel this morning?” I asked of no one in particular.
“A dream,” Jessa said in between whisking some concoction in a large metal bowl.
“How can you say that? You’re not even watching her. You’re cooking.”
“Because my niece is always a dream. I know it’s surprising, with you two for parents.” She sounded amused when she said that, but that didn’t stop from me shooting her a contemptuous look for her obvious dig about Dominic and me. A smug smile split her face before she turned back toward the stove to continue whisking.
“Morning, Clema,” I said, kissing her cheek before lifting Ellie from the bassinet. Clema had a doting smile on her face as she watched Ellie in my arms. Dominic didn’t tell me too much about her past, but I wondered that if she loved children so much—and it was obvious that she did—why didn’t she have children of her own?
“How long before breakfast is ready?” I asked Jessa on my way to the living room.
“You’ve got about twenty minutes. I’ll call you when it’s done.”
“Thanks,” I beamed. I wasn’t exactly happy as to the reason why Jessa was in New York with me, but I couldn’t deny how much happier having her there did for my peace of mind.
I settled into the couch, getting in a comfortable position to feed my daughter. Without any real thought, I turned on the TV to fill the silence of the room. Dominic told me to stay clear of any news, so I wouldn’t be assaulted with the stories surrounding us. He said it could be weeks before something more fascinating came along to make us yesterday’s news. I understood his rationale for not watching TV, but that didn’t stop me
from turning the volume up when I saw a picture of him flash across the screen.
I glanced back toward the direction of the hallway to make sure I was still alone with the news that was frozen in still frame. Besides the headline brandishing my husband’s name, there was no doubt that the man on the screen with his lush dark hair and brooding black eyes was my Dominic.
Dominic’s former flame a victim too?
The words were gut-wrenching, like a literal knife stabbing my chest only to pull out and repeat. I didn’t know whether to clutch the pain in my chest or run to the bathroom to vomit. Aside from the words was a crystal clear picture of my husband in a tight embrace with a woman. Her face was porcelain, with lush red lips, flaming red hair, and clearly defined eyelashes. I hated her. I didn’t know her, but I hated her with a searing fire that threatened to set this whole house ablaze. Her lips were dangerously close to his mouth, and I couldn’t tell if the picture was before or after a possible kiss.
It was obvious the photo was taken yesterday. I didn’t want to believe it, but that was the same outfit he came home in—a long gray peacoat, dark gray trousers, and a crisp white shirt and black tie.
I sat there stunned.
“Jinni, what do you have to say to the allegations that Dominic kidnapped his now wife?” The reporter rushed the microphone into her face and followed her as she walked—hanging on her every word.
Jinni. Jinni. What kind of fucking name was Jinni? She was outside the opening of some restaurant, full of flickering flashbulbs and people milling around. Some were following the line of questioning as if that was what they’d come for—to watch what Jinni had to say. Who the fuck is Jinni? I already had my mind made up that as soon as I was done feeding Ellie, I would be googling the shit out of this perfectly made-up bitch that looked like a real-life version of Jessica Rabbit.
She said something in those few minutes the reporters followed her before she’d escaped into the restaurant, but I couldn’t hear her voice above the sound of my blood rushing through my ears. She could have called him a fucking monster for all I knew—it didn’t matter. I just stared at the image they continued to flash of my husband enfolded in another woman’s arms.
“Breakfast is ready!” Jessa shouted from the kitchen.
I didn’t know how long I sat there listening to the replay of her interview. The snippet was short, but I swear the news station played the shit on repeat, knowing that I would be watching. Every word dug the knife deeper.
The remote felt heavy as I went to turn off the TV. I entered the kitchen and it was like that feeling you got when your mind tuned out something so routine. Auto-pilot. That’s what it was. I was in the kitchen, sitting at the table holding Ellie, but I had no idea how I got there or when. I only snapped out of it for the few moments that Jessa waved her hand in my face before she asked to take Ellie.
“Hi, Elliana. Hi, baby,” she cooed as she rubbed Ellie’s cheek.
“Hey, what’s going on with you? Hailey!”
“What?” I said, focusing my attention on my sister. I crunched the bacon slice between my teeth and felt the shock of teeth snapping against each other.
“What’s going on with you? Is this about the call yesterday?”
“No. Nothing.”
The word barely left my mouth before I heard the elevator chiming its arrival.
“Hey, would you mind watching Ellie for a bit?” I absently handed Jessa the baby and left the kitchen to confront my husband.
I circled around the vestibule, hoping to cut Dominic off before he was able to make any move inside the house. The burn of my anger taunted me with every step in his direction. My breath felt hot, my muscles tense. I felt like at any moment the raging fire would propel me into the air, like a witch on her broomstick ready to wreak havoc on the man who made love to me last night, who kissed me this morning, who consoled me as if he wasn’t just off having fucking lunch with a bitch name Jinni.
“What the fuck, Dominic?” I growled as I met him just outside the elevator. Surprisingly, the trail of sweat that dripped down his neck and onto his chest did nothing for my libido. Good. I need to remain focused.
“Am I missing something? Or is there a reason for your antics?” His words were as dismissive as his body that sidestepped me to head in the direction of our bedroom. I followed him through the hallways, hot on his trail, eager to have it out in a place a little less public than the hallway.
He stepped into our room and I followed. The room rang out as I shut the door with a little extra gusto. Dominic was already facing me when I turned to face him. He looked intimidating with his brows drawn low across his eyes and the way the corners of his mouth dropped their usual quirk. Even his nose looked impossibly straight and formidable, like a Spartan readying for battle.
“Now, let’s try this again. And watch the way you talk to me, Hailey,” he said in that threatening tone. The one that said he was two seconds from losing control. I wasn’t especially frightened, but sometimes when he looked at me a certain way, it would drudge up memories of some of our less than loving times, specifically that plane ride. He was explosive then and it took some superb oral skills to talk my way out of that one. Dominic kept the dragon at bay, but I could see in the tension vining up his arms and across his shoulders that I was straddling a thin line. That was OK because he was riding a thin line too, as far as I was concerned.
“Does the name ‘Jinni’ sound familiar? How about the lunch you two had yesterday? Or the fact that it looked like you were fucking kissing her?”
“Sit down,” he ordered.
His chest looked turgid as he tried to contain the rage threatening to break free. I almost wanted him to burst, to lose control, so I wasn’t the only one feeling irrational with harried emotions.
I glared beyond narrowed eyes as I sat on the edge of the bed. No matter my position, I wouldn’t allow him to make me feel inferior. I knew most of his tactics. There was very little about him that could surprise me, Jinni notwithstanding.
“Do I need to remind you how you speak to me?”
“Fuck you, Dominic. I saw the pictu—”
His touch broke through my heated anger, his fingers grasped my chin, wrapping from one ear to the other and nudging me so his eyes were transfixed on mine. The hand that held me in place was gentle but insistent—a reminder of the many times I was at his mercy yet treated like his most prized possession. Dark pits of coal reflected the image of eyes wide in fear—my eyes. Fear for a truth I would never be ready to hear or a lie that I wouldn’t be able to stand, I wasn’t sure. Time seemed to slow down in this moment, our lives hinging on this one truth. My life was like glass splintering before my eyes—Dominic, the news, his job, my brother. I felt like all I needed was one more thing to break. Maybe that’s what Jinni was? Maybe she was the final nick needed to shatter me completely.
“How could you do that?” I croaked out through the clenching of my jaw. He released my face and took a step back, still watching my face. I forced back the tears that hung on the rims of my eyes, waiting for a blink to set things in motion.
Dominic dropped down to his knee, evening the playing field, a move I didn’t expect and would’ve found endearing if I weren’t so angry and heartbroken.
“I would never. Look at me,” he said tilting my face back to look him in the eyes, “I would never cheat on you. The fact that you think that…” he shook his head before continuing, “My lawyers suggested I start rallying people I know, for support. Already I’m hearing reports that other women I’ve dated are saying things. It’s not necessarily bad, but it isn’t good either. I needed someone on my side. That’s all Jinni was.”
“And what did you have to do to ‘get her’ on your side?”
“Are you listening to me? What did I just say?”
“The picture was pretty fucking telling Dominic. You didn’t see it.”
“I don’t need to see it. I was there, Hailey. I can tell you in minute detail everything tha
t happened, or you can just fucking believe me when I say there will never be anyone else.”
“I don’t like her,” I said. I didn’t want the details. I believed Dominic, but I still didn’t like how I felt watching another woman touch him, or the way her cheek brushed his. If Dominic felt proprietary of me, then I was definitely territorial of him.
“I told you I was taking care of this, and that’s what I’m doing. Believe me, that lunch wasn’t a social call, but you can’t buy PR like that. Jinni is a well-known socialite. We need something good right now, Hailey.”
“You sound defeated.” I whispered the word because I hated the way it tasted on my tongue. Defeated. It was a word I never wanted to associate with Dominic.
“I’m not, but this is exactly why I didn’t want you watching the news because there is nothing on there that will make you happy. Believe me. The only way we’re going to get through this is if we don’t let that shit ruin what we have here.” He pointed to the floor, but I knew what he meant. He meant this home, this marriage, this family. Us.
As if sensing my understanding and acceptance of his words, he leaned up and kissed my forehead. When he pulled back, his eyes met mine, asking for more. I didn’t move, and his lips came down on mine, tasting sweet with a burst of tangy sweat. My lips were stiff as he pressed harder. His hand came to my neck, his thumb pressing hard against my pulse. The feel of his tongue swiping against my lips sparked another kind of flame in me, and I tried to stomp out the kindling, but his hands swept me away in an inferno of ecstasy, and I allowed myself to get lost in him. If only for a little while.