Dom Wars - Round Four (9 page)

My legs pumped faster. Get as far away as I could. That was the immediate emergency. The more distance between me and him, the better.

Pain flooded my chest and I gasped as everything blurred.

"
Tara! Stop!"

He spun me to face him and I swung
at him. My fist connected with his chin and it suddenly became clear what I needed. I needed to beat his fucking ass.

I unloaded my fury, nailing him with punch after punch, aiming for his pretty fucking face. Kill that motherfucker.
Fucking bastard.

He held up his forearms, blocking my
strikes. I used my feet, forcing his guard down then nailed him in that face of his, that fucking smirking face he'd given the waitress. I landed another good lick right in his mouth before he returned to blocking me.

He
suddenly launched forward and tackled me to the ground, knocking about two percent of insanity loose from my brain.

"
Stop, just stop," he gasped, fighting to get control of my arms. Amazingly the bastard managed to pin me, bringing my anger back. "I love you," he gasped, "stop. I love you. I love you."

"
Get. Off." I strained to throw him but he successfully resisted again.

"
Don't fight me. Don't leave. Please."

I waited for several, no, many seconds for him to apologize and all I got was him staring down
at me like a dumb bastard. "I want to go to the car."

"
Tara."

I
glared at him hard and long, wishing I could make his eyeballs explode in his head.

"
I love you."

The desperate plea in his tone reached a part of me that seemed to turn the lights back on and shut the crazy movie off. Like a bad drama scene come to a close. I finally took notice of the crowd surrounding us and the murmuring.

Jesus. Christ. It was starting to look like a lynch mob. For just an instant, I felt a flash of fear for him. What if they thought he was attacking me and decided to stop him?

"
So much, baby. I love you. Tell me you know that."

Again the sound in his voice cut through my fury and tugged at my heart. It was…irresistible. Because it was true.
I
knew
he loved me. He'd proven it over and over. He'd gone to great lengths to earn my trust. So why was he suddenly being such a fucking jerk?

It really didn
't seem like it was his nerves. I'd understand if it was, of course. What else could it possibly be?

Chapter Nine

I stroked Tara
's head in my lap wanting to murder something. Anything. Take something the fuck apart for making me hurt Tara. Bastards. Some truly
sick
fuck was behind those texts. When this was all over with, I was going on a hunting trip. I was going to find the cruel bastard and take him apart bit by bit. Every single tear Tara had shed during this round was coming out of his hide.

My phone pinged with a call and I pulled it out, ready to vomit. It was just Steve.

"We're nearing the hotel. Do you want to stop anywhere first? Need anything? Does Tara?"

"
No, just get us there, Steve. Sick of this car, no offense." That was putting it mildly but I didn't have the energy to say more.

"
None taken," he said coolly. "We'll be arriving at our destination in approximately three minutes."

I sighed.
"Thank fuck."

Tara stirred with a soft moan and I hung up the phone. I didn
't want to give up this peaceful time with her, just holding her while she slept. But more than that, I wanted to run her a hot bath and give her a massage and make love to her. The chance of her letting me do anything like that was nightmarishly slim. I might not be able to say I was sorry, but I had to find a way to show it, to make her believe.

My gut tightened as I traced the shell of her ear with my finger. I fucking loved her ears. So fucking much. Look at them. So sweet and perfect. How could she believe that bullshit back there? I
'd picked the most obvious
lie,
praying she'd know it was just the fucking game. I'd never get her expression out of my head. The nightmare that evolved on her face. First confusion that she'd heard right. Then fear that it might be true. Then pain that it
was.
Then the worst of all. Betrayal. Like I'd lied to her all this time and that stupid bullshit had been the truth all along.

We made it to the room and Tara went straight into the bathroom without s
aying a word. The sound of the shower reached me and I sat on the bed with a thousand pounds of misery in my bones. She wouldn't accept any kindness from me at the moment.

Couldn
't fucking tell her I was sorry. Couldn't tell her why. So fucking stupid.

I got undressed and paced in only my briefs, my inner drive set to super-dread. Dread of the next text. Dread of what Tara was feeling. Dread of what was going to happen to us. Dread that they
'd killed the last shred of her love for me. Dread of the next demon domination.

My phone rang on the side table and I hurried to it.

Steve whispered, "Scores are up."

Add dread of the scores to that list.  I shot a glance behind me.
"Do I want to know?"

"
It's…not so bad."

"
Fffffuck. What room are you in? I'm coming."

"
215. Two doors to your left."

I went to the bathroom door and knocked.
"Hey, Steve needs to talk to me, I'll be back soon. You need anything?"

I waited in the silence, my gut tense.
"I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

I closed my eyes at hearing how very fine she wasn
't. She was scared, I could hear it behind all her wavery confidence. Fuckers. "Okay, love. I'll be back in a few." I stroked the door with my fingers, aching to hold her tight before tearing myself away. The temptation to go in there and tell her all of it was nearly more than I could bear.

Steve waited for me outside his room like a doorman, doing a poor job of hiding the oh fuck, constipating his expression. He opened his room door the second he saw me and I followed him in.

The deadbolt engaged and he turned and made a beeline into the living room part of the suite.

Making my way blindly behind him, I ran into him as he slid the laptop to the center of the table and opened a chair for me as he sat in the other one. With his middle finger, he pointed.
"It's not great, but it's not horrible. I think. See here?"

I sat and stared at the complicated format, trying to understand.

"These are the scores for the texts she's getting." He slid his finger to the numbers. "Total possible scores for each is one hundred. As you can see, you are doing fantastic there." He scrolled the page down. "Here are the scores for the texts you're getting. Again, total possible score being a hundred."

His tone dropped with the scores.
"Thirty fucking five for the diner scene? Really?" Steve sighed as I choked on the score for the piss Tara off assignment. "Sixty for that shit? She was about to
kill me.
How fucking angry did they want her?"

"
You made an eighty-five on that last one," he said, hopeful.

I choked on shock.
"Eighty five? Eighty...five? She nearly
did
fucking kill me on that! I brought my watch to my mouth needing them, burning for them to know. "This. Is so fucking stupid. So. Fucking. Very. Fucking. Stupid." I gritted my teeth before I named names, sure they'd penalize me.

"
And then there's the score for the first domination." Steve's tone dropped even more as he scrolled the page down.

I gasped and grabbed my hair.
"Fifty-five?" I rolled my eyes shut. "Amend. How the
fuck
?" I looked down, shaking my head, fighting to keep the remorse from my voice. "Did they expect me to raise her from the dead?"

A hard knock sounded on the hotel room door and Steve
's eyes went wide.

"
Go." I shut the laptop and sat down.

The door opened with a pleasant,
"Tara, hey come in."

Tara? That was fast. I stood and put my hands in my pockets, struggling to look normal. I think I did okay up to the odd wave I tossed at her.

"What's going on?" She looked from Steve back at me, her expression utterly suspicious.

Fuck.

"Going over the plan, come in. We were just wanting your input." Steve's perfect calm demeanor flooded me with relief.

"
Yeah. Demon domination number two next."

She looked at me, concern overtaking her suspicion, thank fuck.
"Do we get scores this time?"

"
Not yet," Steve said. "I've been keeping an eye though."

Tara sighed and looked at me, a mix of maybe fatigue and regret in her eyes.
"I feel like you didn't do well at the last one."

At least she was off our trail. I needed to keep it that way.
"Why do you think that?"

She stared at me for several seconds until the weight of her unspoken thoughts made me uncomfortable.
"Well," she looked up, "you…didn't exactly…"

"
Make amends? For getting her killed? How the fuck am I supposed to do that exactly?"

Her look dredged up a ton of emotional bullshit.
"Maybe…you need to…deal with it a little more?"

A wall of nothing encased me and I stared at her.
"Deal? Ah, I get it. Like emotionally." I threw my hands out. "Well, they won't believe me if I put on a show and right now, I got nothing."

She nodded a little, staring me down with those laser beam eyes, probing, seeking for cracks.

"I got nothing," I reassured.

She lowered her eyes, maybe to hide the unconvinced look in them.
"Well then? We'll just…have to keep on. Until something shows up." She met my gaze and crossed her arms with a smile that said
and
that time is sure to come
. "Anyway," she sighed and rocked on her heels. "So. What the fuck is up with you two?"

Steve and I looked at each other.
"What?" I asked.

She chuckled and lowered her head then lifted her wrist to her mouth.
"Somebody…thinks I'm stupid." She wagged her finger between us, "You two…have been acting…weird. So what's going on?"

I raised my brows, trying not to panic. If she figured it out, we
'd lose for sure. "What's going on, I think you know that, we're all together at all times."

She nodded at me, then squinted her eyes.
"You know…I just realized."

Shit.

"Why haven't you…been getting texts?" She cocked her head to the side. "And why have you been…doing all of this weird stuff."

Jesus. Panic threatened to overtake me.
"Fine, you want to know?" I paced and raked a hand through my hair, not looking at her. "This is just who I am. When I'm…"

"
Would you like me to explain it?" Steve asked.

I looked at him and he wore that weird smile, his brows raised extremely high. I sighed and lowered my head, tossing a hand of approval at him, wondering what in the world he
'd say.

"
See, I've been shown what the dominations are going to be…this time. And…I… well I warned him they're going to be hard." He shot up his pointer finger. "Nothing that would get a penalty, just…a sort of…"

"
Enough to freak me the fuck out, okay?" I jumped in. "I'm nervous, alright? I do…weird shit when I'm nervous. This is all riding on me." I gestured to her. "And you saying I scored badly is not helping. Neither is your behavior. Against me. When I'm…"

"
Being an ass?" She widened her eyes and held up both hands. "Soooo sorry, but I'm so not good at taking that!" Like if she needed to be able to, we were in deep shit.

"
Look, I get it. I do. I don't blame you for…reacting. I'd do the same thing…I think. God, stop looking at me like the little boy who let his red balloon go."

She hurried to me with her arms out and hugged me.
"No. You wouldn't respond to me that way, you'd love me anyway. God, I'm such a brat."

I met the crazy psycho smiling eyes of Steve before rolling mine shut. Thank fuck.
"You're not a brat."

"
Yes, I am. Oh my God, you must be freaking out!" She put her hair behind her ears. "I mean you are acting
so weird!"
She choked on a gasp and slapped my chest. "Why didn't you
tell me?
"

"
Tell you what?"

"
That you do this, handle your fears this way, if I had known I would have
helped
you."

"
Well…I've never been in this type of situation before."

"
So what happened at the diner, and the restaurant, was just you being scared!" She smiled, extremely relieved. As if her every prayer had been answered.

I panicked. Fuck. We might lose the few fucking points we had.
"No, that was not…. The diner? What did I do at the diner that was weird? Or the restaurant? I…" Steve nodded his head behind her. "I was just…being…me. That wasn't what I meant. I'm talking about just…I'm pacing a lot and…worried. A fucking
lot
."

Like a deflating balloon, her relief slowly crumpled until her shoulders sagged a little.
"I see." She pulled the hair from behind her ears then as though remembering I thought they were big. Wow. She pointed a thumb behind her, keeping her eyes on the floor. "I'm going to order pizza. See you whenever."

She hurried to the door and opened it.
"By the way, I forgot that I came to tell you I got another assignment. As soon as you can manage, we need to do it and get those points." Her shoulders drooped in a mixture of hurt and exhaustion as she very precisely closed the door behind her.

The enthusiasm she always had in her voice when she played was gone and the pain that took its place stabbed at my every nerve. I repeated my vow to punish the motherfucker behind those assignments.

I pointed at the door as soon as I could breathe through the devastation. "She. Is going to fucking
hate me
before this is over. Did you
see her?"
I paced like a madman wanting to kill. Of course I wanted to kill. All I needed was a target. "I have to do something. I have to save us. And then I have to find the fucking deviant cruel bastard that only allows me to hurt her this time." I stood, shaking, trying to hold myself together. "God they're trying to use her to break me."

Steve sighed long.
"Seems to be working."

I spun to him.
"Fucking right it's working!" I went back to pacing. "Loving her is my weakness and they know it, and they're destroying it!"

"
Hey!" Steve snapped his fingers. "I have an idea."

"
Well you better tell me before I go nuts." I sat on the bed and put my head in my hands.

His eyes widened for a second then he hurried to the table grabbing a pen and the little hotel pad.
"First, maybe we should take notes on what has happened so far."