by Ursula Dukes
“Hey what gives?” said Brandon once they were alone and out of ear shot.
“You know good and well what gives,” said his brother through gritted teeth. I am interested in Dominique so I'm gonna need you to back off okay?”
“Oh and I suppose you're already sure that she's interested in you right?” He said in his brother's face. “That's just like you Adam, you think that all the woman want you. Well this time what if you're wrong little brother?”
“Brandon, listen to me and listen good, there is someone out there for you, it’s just not her, so I’m asking you to please back off and don’t go down that road. You do this for me and I’ll make sure that payroll gets you that advance that you were asking dad about last night. So what do you say? Deal?”
Brandon wanted a shot at Dominique, but he wanted the cash even more.
“You'll have it for me today bro?”
Adam nodded emphatically, “Consider it done.”
By lunchtime Dominique found that she was more than capable with keeping up with the large volume of incoming file requests, and unless they were marked urgent, she was allowed until five the following day to get the files pulled, checked and placed in the proper bin. So far, none were marked urgent and she found herself more than caught up by one o'clock. While sitting at her desk, her computer chimed notifying her of an incoming email, this one was marked urgent. Dominique smiled when she opened the e-mail and read the message.
From the desk of Adam Caruso,
File clerks have to eat too. Please allow me to help you with that and take you to lunch, my treat.
Dominique was hungry and it was lunchtime. Well it’s certainly better than eating alone, she thought to herself as she replied back.
Dear Adam,
Don’t need help with the eating part, but would be more than willing to accept your offer to pay part. It being my first day and all.
Dominique.
Five minutes later Adam was leaning against the doorway of Dominique's office.
“You ready to go?” He said smiling as he stood aside and let her lead the way.
Jonathan Caruso sat at his desk with the door open, he was about to head to a lunch meeting when he saw his son Adam and Dominique walk by. He moved hastily from behind his desk while he called out to his son. Adam stopped in his tracks, turned and faced his father.
“What's up dad? Was about to head out to lunch,” he said glancing at Dominique who stood patiently waiting.
“Yeah, I need to talk to you for a minute son.”
“Well can it wait until after lunch dad?”
“No it can't son, I’m gonna need you to come into my office. Dominique?” He said as he made his way towards her, hand out stretched.
“Yes sir, nice to meet you,” she said giving him a firm hand shake.
“Dominique I hate to do this to you but I’m going to have to steal your lunch partner away from you but if you need any suggestions of where to go, I’m sure Molly will be more than happy to help you out. Again, I apologize but I have a pressing matter that cannot wait.”
“No need to explain sir I understand completely.”
“I knew you would, thank you.” And with that he took his son by the arm and closed the door behind them.
Well that wasn’t awkward, thought Dominique as she headed towards Molly's desk. Molly was more than happy to accept Dominique's invitation to lunch as not many employees took the time to befriend her. Over lunch Dominique couldn’t help but ask Molly what she knew about Adam and his brother Brandon. Molly was more than happy to divulge as much information as she could. Although she told Dominique it was just office gossip, she explained that Adam was the golden child of Jonathan and Muriel Caruso, and that Brandon was obviously the black sheep of the family. He was always getting into trouble but his dad always got him out of it either with money or clout. When she asked Molly if Adam was married, Molly let out a giggle.
“What’s so funny?” Dominique asked, “Is he gay? Is that why you’re laughing? It would certainly explain his impeccable good looks and sense of style,” Dominique said shaking her head.
“Adam, gay? No, of course not.” Molly could not stop giggling.
“Alright, so he's not gay, is he married?”
“No, it’s nothing like that she said giggle down to a smile. I was laughing because this is the kind of stuff that friends talk about Dominique and since I'm seriously lagging in that department, it made me happy that’s all,” she said to Dominique.
“Well you have one now Molly,” said Dominique, glad because she too felt like she made a new friend.
Molly smiled again as she told her everything she knew about Adam. By the time their lunch hour was over, Dominique had found out quite a bit about him. Although he was bit of a flirt, as far as Molly knew he was single. His last serious relationship was over a year ago and supposedly he ended it when he found out that while he was away visiting family in Italy, she cheated on him. Dominique almost didn’t believe what Molly had told her, it amazed her that someone as good looking and seemingly kind hearted as Adam could be cheated on but Molly had told her that his girlfriend had turned out to be a goldigger, so much so that it didn’t matter how good looking Adam was, she was solely in it for the money.
Dominique felt sorry for Adam, she knew that it was very rare to find someone who you could really connect with and when that person doesn’t feel the same, it can be gut retching. It seemed that not only was he a kind man, he was the complete polar opposite of his hideous brother. When Molly and Dominique returned back from lunch, Dominique couldn’t help but notice that Mr. Caruso's door was closed, she wondered if Adam was still inside.
“Dad, can I ask why you summoned me then barely said a word to me this whole time?”
“Son I don’t want you to get involved with the new girl.”
Adam let out a sarcastic chuckle, he reminded his father of the many indiscretions that he was currently involved in.
“Adam, that's none of your business and besides, whoever I see, is no one that is employed here. I don’t want you getting hurt Adam, I can already tell by the way that you look at her son, that you're interested. I want you to put a stop to it before things get out of hand son.”
“With all due respect dad, I’m a grown man and it's really none of your business who I am or am not interested in, I’m single dad and as long as it doesn’t interfere with my work or hers I don’t see a problem. Now if there is nothing else, I’ll be going to lunch, alone now thanks to you,” he said as he opened the door and slammed it behind him. Jonathan Caruso knew that if he pressed the subject with his son, it would drive him to defy him, and he already had a son who loved doing that, he did not need another. Maybe it’s not such a bad idea after all. If Dominique gets close to Adam and falls for him, becomes part of the family, she'll have a much harder time punishing the brother of the man she loves if she ever found out what he did to her family. “Yes, this could work out for us all,” he murmured to himself.
Chapter Eight
After Brandon had collected his advance from payroll, he was easily able to skip out of his new job and head over to Mickey's bar and grille. The lunch time crowd had emptied, leaving only the usual customers behind, included in that was Nick Kilarmo.
Nick Kilarmo still ran with the DiNunzio crew, and even though he was forty pounds heavier and smoked like a chimney, he still was the most sought after hit man used by DiNunzio. That’s where his allegiance has always been. So it was no surprise to Brandon to find his friend sitting at the bar. Nick turned to face his friend before he had a chance to surprise him.
He could not help but frown at Brandon who seemed far too relaxed. Two years or not, when you murder a child, it definitely does something to you. And Brandon showed no signs of it ever having any effect on him; the kids got no heart, thought Nick. Not like him, oh sure he hurt people for a living, even killed some, but they had done something to deserve it. That poor guy and his son didn't do a goddamn
thing and they still ended up dead. Nick was punished by nightmares every night while Brandon got a round trip ticket to Italy.
“I thought I heard you were back in town,” grumbled Nick.
“Hey buddy, well it’s nice to see you too!” Brandon said sarcastically. “What crawled up your butt and died?”
Nick had to look at him again, he had to make sure that it was Brandon and ask himself if the kid was as stupid as he remembered.
“Do you really have to ask Brandon?” Nick said who was now, more than annoyed at his nonchalant attitude.
Brandon shrugged his shoulder; he really didn’t know why his friend had not put out the warm welcome mat like he deserved.
“Let’s step outside and I’ll refresh your memory.” Nick shoved Brandon towards the back door. As they stepped into the small alleyway, both lit a cigarette.
“Now,” said Nick, “Do I really have to inform you as to why I did not put out the welcome mat upon your return buddy or are you just pretending to be a dumb fuck?”
“Alright, alright, I understand Nick but it's been almost two years buddy and the police ain’t working the case no more. Besides, I couldn’t tell you then but I can tell you now, my old man took care of everything, he got rid of the Escalade man, he took care of it all. He's even been keeping tabs on the wife. That’s why he made us get the driver’s license info pal; it was so he could cover our asses.”
“How the hell does he know that she won't find out exactly who we are and what we did and fucking come after us Brandon? Huh? You killed her husband and son and I was the fucking accomplice! Answer me that, you stupid fuck!”
“Nick, Nick, calm down! You’re gonna make yourself crazy and besides, if she knew who we was she would have gone to the police already man, chill.
I told you my old man's got his own investigator, and the guy gets paid to follow her everywhere she goes, there isn’t one thing that she does that my old man don’t know about so calm the fuck down, everything is under control buddy. Why do you think I came back? Because my old man said it was safe. Don’t you see? So you’re worrying for nothing Okay buddy. It's all in the past and the old man's got her in check, so CALM down.”
“And why is it your old man don’t tell us who she is so we know who to look out for Brandon? Don’t you think that would be the smart thing to do Brandon? So we know who is coming after us?”
“Nick man, my old man says it’s better that we don’t know who she is see? That way we ain't so involved anymore, it's all on him he told me. Nick man you gotta listen to me, my old man ain't gonna let nothing happen to us, his entire career is on the line and he ain't gonna do nothing to jeopardize that Nick, nothing. So calm down, everything is gonna be Okay buddy you'll see.”
Nick wasn’t sure if things were going to be okay, ever since the accident he's tried to keep tabs through the internet but working for DiNunzio was a 24 hour job, one that couldn’t be put on hold to surf the web. Once when he was able, he found news footage of the accident showing pictures of Stephen along with his wife and son.
The images of Stephen's wife were blurry and her head was partially obscured by a smiling Teddy sitting upon his father’s shoulders. He wanted to make sure there had been no surprise witnesses and so far, there weren't, thank god.
He kept on checking the internet for two years, and for two years he found less and less about the accident, until finally the police announced that it was cold. It hadn’t stopped the nightmares though, seeing that little boy’s body lying so still would haunt him for the rest of his life, of that he was sure.
There was also another thing he was sure of, Brandon's father had far too much to lose were he or his son ever found out and for Nick that meant he had the upper hand. He was pretty sure that Jonathan Caruso would pay just about anything to keep his secret safe. But for now he would need to appease Jonathan’s son.
“Yeah, you better be right buddy, you better be right,” said Nick as he straightened out his friend’s jacket and put on his most believable smile. It was the same smile he used to convince his victims that he was going to let them live, right before he killed them.
“Come on back inside buddy, and welcome home. Let me buy you a drink and maybe a little something to take the edge off huh?” He said to Brandon as he handed him a small vial.
It was the end of her work day when Adam once again stood in her office door. My, he is sexy, Dominique grinned to herself. It wasn’t just his eyes, it seemed to be everything. It was his thick, dark, wavy hair which she imagined caused him to be late some mornings. It was the way he leaned against the door jab, the way his slacks seemed to outline the wonderful thickness of his thighs, his well-defined jaw line and how he arched his eyebrows whenever anyone seemed to question him.
God maybe Pam is right; maybe I do need some hot sex. I wouldn’t last two seconds with this guy but it would be worth the try, she thought to herself. What in god's name am I doing? She scolded herself, here I am thinking naughty thoughts about the man whose brother I absolutely loathe, it's gotta be my hormones making me think such thoughts, she told herself. Not having sex in almost two years will do that to you, she sighed in frustration.
“Dominique I am so sorry about lunch,” Adam said, sounding very apologetic to her as she cleared her desk.
“Adam, it’s really alright, I understand completely.”
“Well I’d like to offer you a rain check if that’s alright with you.”
“Of course Adam, anytime.”
Dominique was quite surprised at how bold she was being she knew her hormones had taken over and were forcing her to make such suggestive statements.
“Well in that case, I’d love to cash in my rain check and take you out to dinner tonight.”
Even her hormones weren’t ready for that, but they soon recovered and answered for her.
“I'd like that Adam,” she said giving him a smile. “But I’d like to go home and change first.”
“That's no problem Dominique, how about you give me your address, go home, get freshened up and I’ll pick you up let's say around seven?”
“Sounds good,” she said quickly jotting down her address and handing it to him with nervous hands.
Adam took the piece of paper and while taking a hold of both her hands, replied, “I look forward to it Dominique. May I walk you to your car?”
“Oh I already told Molly that I’d walk with her, I'm sorry.”
“It's no problem, I’d be happy to walk you both if you don’t mind.”
Smiling, “No I don’t think we'd mind at all,” said Dominique while she watched her new friend Molly walk towards them.
Adam was the perfect gentleman and walked Dominique and Molly to their cars. Although the walk was short, Molly did tell Dominique that the parking garage could be a dangerous place and it would be a good idea to always walk with someone, especially if security was not around. Adam had agreed stating that there had been a couple of attacks in the area and there was always safety in numbers he told the two women. Once they made sure that Molly was safely in her car and had driven away, Adam opened the car door for Dominique and waited until she was safely inside with the engine running before he walked to his own car and drove home.
Adam made reservations at Mistral's for seven thirty, he hoped that Dominique liked French cuisine, because Mistral's was definitely the best place for it and he wanted to impress her. Although he had a feeling that Dominique did not care where he took her for dinner just as long as he impressed her with sparkling conversation, and that was something he loved to do and it was so rare that anyone wanted to listen, especially one as beautiful as Dominique. She was so different than the woman he's dated in the past.
It wasn’t because she was African-American and mixed with something else that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Maybe she was part creole, he thought to himself. That would certainly explain the exotic looks and the soft warm color of her skin.
He'd dated woman of all nationalities
and cultures, no it wasn’t that. It was the feeling that he felt the instant he was near her; it was a feeling of warmth and hope. She isn’t shallow like the others; she isn’t fake and materialistic either.
Adam knew that he had made some incredibly bad dating decisions and hoped that since he was nearly 33, he would now chose his dates by using the head on top of his shoulders, and not the one between his legs. But he had to admit, Dominique certainly stimulated both.
“Pam am I doing the right thing?” asked Dominique who had called her friend the moment she pulled out of the parking garage.
“Dominique of course you are, you're young, you still got your whole life in front of you, I told you the men were gonna swarm all over you like bees to honey! Oh I’m so happy for you Dom. so go and enjoy yourself and don’t over think everything, just enjoy his company and take it from there.”
“I'm nervous Pam, you realize this is the first time I’ve gone out on a date ever since Stephen, and well I don’t have to say any more, you already know,” she said stopping herself before the tears came.
“Yes I do know Dominique and I also know that he would want you to be happy, you’re not forgetting about them Dominique, your simply moving forward with your life that's all. Dominique, Stephen and Teddy are together, now don’t you think it’s time that you found someone to be together with so that you can find that happiness once again? I do, so hang up the phone, go get ready and enjoy your evening, and get laid already will ya! That’s an order, do you hear me?” she said chuckling with delight.
“I hear you and I’ll try. Listen, thanks for listening Pam, I can’t wait for you guys to come and visit. Talk soon, love you.”
Dominique felt better after she finished talking to her friend. Time to get ready for my date she said to herself as she turned on the shower.
By a quarter to seven Dominique was dressed and ready for her dinner date. The night was chilly and she chose a long sleeved Liz Claiborne black, wrap dress that was very low cut and clung in all the right places. She had bought it months ago during a shopping spree that she and Pam had made to the outlet stores. Grabbing her wrap and purse, she decided to wait for Adam outside. Once outside Dominique let the crisp fall air fill her lungs as she closed her eyes and took some deep rejuvenating breaths. Sensing someone watching her she quickly opened her eyes.