The Dominator (35 page)

I gave him a little almost imperceptible nod, suspecting I knew what was about to come out of his mouth but not sure that it was at all possible he was about to say what I suspected was about to come out of his mouth. But then he said it.

“I’m in love with you.”

I think my mouth dropped open. His eyes took on a fierceness, “Right here, right now, decide to give me a chance. Forget, for a second, everything on the bad side of the scales you’ve been weighing out and think only about the possibilities. Will you wear this ring voluntarily? Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” I said without even pausing first. This beautiful, powerful, rich man who could have almost any girl in the world wanted me. Me. The foster kid with the fucked up life, the lowlife father, no money, nothing all that special about me. He wanted me. How could I say No? I didn’t even factor in the consequences of saying No because right then, I wanted him, too. I wanted this beautiful moment to be real. I wanted my life to be a life, not a life sentence. I wanted this man who would not hesitate to be a human shield to keep me safe from gunfire; I wanted this big strong beautiful man who would fight a pile of scary dudes with big guns because they tried to hurt me. I wanted to feel the safety of his arms, the insane pleasure his body was capable of giving me. I wanted to dance in the moonlight with fireflies; I wanted him to be mine.

I fell down into his arms and wrapped my limbs around him. He pulled me close to him, so close it felt like he was trying to absorb me.

His hands went under the shirt and gripped my bare back and he buried his head into my chest and just held me and let me hold him for what felt like a really long time. I rested my cheek on the top of his head and melted into him. After what felt like a long time, he lifted me up as he stood, like I weighed nothing, and I was about to wrap my legs tighter around his waist but he hoisted me over his shoulder and I squealed in surprise. He tossed me onto the bed and then playfully pounced on me.

Then, he made love to me, tenderly, sweetly, his eyes liquid with unshed tears, and when he brought me to climax, I held onto him for dear life, wanting to freeze the beauty of that moment in time. I cried afterwards, a different kind of crying. A big cathartic release and he held me tight, caressing me. We were both shaking. It felt so real and so right.

Flickering light in the dim loft, twinkling lights outside amid the sounds of crickets and frogs, plus the way he looked at me. He looked at me and touched me like I was the most precious thing to him. It was beautiful and I fell asleep wrapped around him, ready for possibilities, because feeling like this felt like a priceless gift.

** ** **

I woke up alone. I sat up and looked around. Birds were chirping. The doors were still opened and the screen was still down but the sky seemed alive with noisy birds, butterflies, and the sun was beating through the screen with intensity. I got up to go to the bathroom. The door was closed but it was empty and the mirror was steamed up so he must’ve recently had a shower.  I was still wearing his shirt. I got out of it, got into the shower, showered using a men’s all in one hair and body wash on myself as that was all that was there. I used his damp towel as that was the only one there and then I put yesterday’s clothes back on, minus the underwear, which had a large rip right up the back of them. They were pretty much assless now. I thought I’d grab my pj bag out of the Jeep from yesterday and put on those little sleeping shorts as undies for now but when I got down the stairs and out into the middle of the barn the jeep was gone.  The door was closed but I wasn’t locked in. I frowned. Then I remembered that the iPhone was in my jean skirt pocket.

I lifted it out and saw that it was 9:25 am. I swiped over to contacts and there were just Tommy and his brother listed there. I dialed Tommy and it rang once but then went to voicemail so I went back upstairs and sat down on the sofa, which was facing the doors, and watched out the back. The phone only had 19% power remaining and I didn’t have a charger so it wouldn’t last for long.

I needed caffeine. And underwear! There was a fridge here and a sink and microwave but no stove, no coffee maker. No coffee supplies. I looked in the armoire and fridge. The fridge had the remnants of last night’s dinner, our untouched fruit salad, and 7 bottles of beer, 4 bottles of water, a sports drink and a vitamin water. The cupboard had some odds and ends, mostly. Some tools, a flashlight, lantern, lamp oil, bug repellant, guitar strings and picks, and a box of bullets. Nice. (Not!) No coffee or tea or sugar (or extra underwear). There were a few t-shirts of Tommy’s and a pair of jeans. There was also a half-eaten but not closed properly box of Sugar Crisp. The clothes were all folded and clean-looking but no underwear. I’d have even settled for a pair of his right now.

I opened a vitamin water and then made the bed and then laid there on it, deciding to wait for him. What else could I do?

Two hours later he still hadn’t come back and I’d spent enough time in my own head. I was about to wander outside just out of boredom but then I heard a car pull in and heard voices.  I walked down the stairs and peeked outside through a window in one of the stalls and saw that an older couple were standing in the gravel driveway right up beside the barn (despite it being a few hundred feet from the road) looking at a map and discussing the right way to get to some town I hadn’t heard of.

I listened for a minute and then saw the woman wave at me. How she’d spotted me in the shadows peeking out the window I hadn’t a clue but she had seen me. She started walking toward the barn and the husband followed.

Shit.

I stepped out of the barn.

“Hello,” I smiled.

The lady looked to be in her late 60’s or even her 70’s, maybe, “I’m sorry to disturb you dear, but we’re trying to get to highway ten. It’s a big confusing on the map.”

I looked at the map, “I’m sorry, I’m just visiting and I don’t know the area very well.”             

“Well, if you’ll just look---” The wife started and the husband interrupted, “Millie, she obviously doesn’t know where highway ten is so let’s not waste her time.”

“We’re here…” the wife ignored the crotchety old guy and put a bright pink pointy fingernail on the map and I saw that it said line 10.

“Oh,” I said, “If this is where we are, this is line 10. That’s not the same as highway ten. That’s over there.” I pointed a few inches over to the left.

“It looks like if you take this road twenty four over you can then get to highway 9 and that’ll easily get you to highway 10. It looks pretty straightforward. I don’t know the area, though, so not sure I’m the best judge.”

“Line 10,” the husband said with a eureka look on his face, “That’s the last time I let you navigate, Mill!” Something about his demeanor wasn’t sitting right with me. I frowned.

She waved her hand looking mildly embarrassed, “Well thank you so much, dear. You’ve been a huge help.” She looked at me smiling.

I smiled and started to back away, expecting them to head off.  The old woman stared for a moment,

“Are you alright, dear?” she asked.

“I’m fine.” I said, “Have a nice day.”

She looked at me for another beat and the husband just stood there, looking out at the fields in a way that made it seem phony. My spidey senses were suddenly on even higher alert. Tommy said no one knew about this place. Surely these old people weren’t here to kidnap me or kill me or something, right? Why wouldn’t the husband have looked at the map himself? It was pretty obvious that they were on line 10 and not highway 10.

“If you’re sure,” she said in a way that seemed like she was urging me to say I wasn’t.

“Yes, Ma’am. I need to get back to my, uh, chores, so have a safe drive.”

She nodded, looking a little frazzled suddenly, and then they headed back to the car and started pulling out of the end of the driveway. I started walking back to the barn but as I did, I felt an eerie feeling so I glanced over my shoulder and there was Millie, on her cell phone looking right at me and with a very serious look on her face as the car pulled away.

I got back into the barn and went to a different stall and looked out the window carefully to ensure they were gone. They were.  Thankfully. I decided to wait and make sure nothing was ‘off’. I couldn’t see the driveway as well from the loft so I waited. The whole time I was plotting, thinking of ways to defend myself. There was a big cop-sized flashlight upstairs that would be good for knocking someone over the head. Above the door in the barn was a horseshoe that I could bash someone with. Beyond that, I didn’t know what I’d do other than run or hide. Maybe there were tools or something in another stall. Tommy had bullets upstairs. Did that mean there was a gun somewhere? Maybe there was one strapped under the bed like back at his house. I wanted to look but decided to keep watch out the window instead. I must’ve stayed there twenty or thirty minutes. When I was half way up the stairs I heard another vehicle pull in. My heart started racing. I peered out the window carefully and saw the silver jeep and I was so relieved I must’ve sounded like a tire that’d sprung a leak with the long breath I’d let out.

A moment later he opened the doors and then I heard him get back in and pull into the barn and then get out and shut the doors.  I emerged from the stall to see him getting out of the jeep with a tall paper coffee cup in one hand, another coffee cup held between his teeth at the rim, and in his other hand he had a bouquet of flowers and two big paper bags with rope handles. He had on jeans with a black t-shirt and his hair pushed away from his face with sunglasses. He gave me a little smile and a sexy wink as I walked up and then he handed me the cup in his hand and then took the cup from his teeth into that now free hand. He leaned forward and kissed me quickly on the lips and then motioned, with his chin, for me to follow him up the stairs. His eyes were sparkling. He looked happy.

I followed him to the little table where he put everything down and gathered me tight against him.

“Hi,” he whispered softly into my hair, “What were you doing in there?”

“Hi, I, uh…I’ll explain. You should’ve left me a note or something?”

He made a face that I couldn’t get a read on, “Oh. Never thought of that. Needed coffee.” He handed me the bouquet, “For you.”

“Thank you,” I looked at the bundle and realized they were from the fields. He must’ve picked them and brought them with him when he left. They were tied into a bouquet with a long yellow ribbon. I took a sip of the coffee, “Liquid gold…” I murmured, then said, “These are gorgeous. Uh, there was this old couple that were just here that wanted directions but then when they left I got this sort of weird spidey sense and thought I’d tell you in case they were, uh…I mean at first they didn’t seem like anything but an old couple who were lost but the more I think about it the more---”

He shook his head, “Don’t worry, baby. No one knows about this place.” He started rummaging through the bags and lifted out a take-out bag, “Breakfast sandwiches,” he announced and put them on the table. Then he passed another bag from inside the large bag, “I picked you up something else to wear. I hope it’s alright. I should’ve gotten a bag packed for us last night but with everything yesterday morning...” He shook his head then he reached in the other bag and pulled out new clothes for himself. Jeans, a blue shirt, a black zippered hoodie, a package of socks, a tank top, and 3 pack of boxer briefs, pink toothbrush. I glanced in the bag he’d handed me and there was a short yellow sundress, a pink long sundress, white lacy bra, white thong, pink thong, pink bra, black boy short panties, black bra, and a pair of simple black flat t-strap sandals as well as a pair of baby blue & white Converse high tops. Sizes all checked out and he evidently knew my taste, in addition to my size, “I borrowed the ribbon from your new dress,” he motioned with his chin at the bouquet.

I put the bag down and took another sip of my coffee.  He was acting a little sketchy.

“You were gone quite a while,” I said. “And you’ve been busy.”

He turned around and faced me with his brows raised.

“What’s going on, Tommy?”

He shook his head and shrugged, “The dresses okay?”

I nodded, “Perfect.” Something wasn’t right.

“Tommy?”

He pulled me close to him, “Did you miss me?” he asked huskily and kissed the top of my head. His hands trailed down and he cupped my backside.

“Yeah; I wondered where you went. I called but your phone went to voicemail. Maybe next time you could leave a note or a text.”

“Sure, babe. And I’m officially off the radar today,” he said and lifted one hand to tuck my hair behind my ear with his fingertips.

“And you were gone a long time. I felt a bit stuck, a bit trapped here.”

“But you didn’t run away,” he said softly into my hair and then started walking me backwards toward the bed while nibbling on my ear.

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. I was processing the course of events. He unbuttoned my skirt and then started to pull it down but before it was over my hips I stumbled as the backs of my legs hit the bed and fell backwards and he was right on top of me.

I stiffened, “Was that…was that a test?”

He made an mmmm sound and started to kiss my neck.

“Tommy?”

“Mmmm, you taste so good, baby. Even if you do smell like a man.” He laughed.