Page 6 of Exile
“Yes, sir,” I respond with a mocking seriousness to my voice as my hands finally snag the keys in the bottom of my bag.
“Watch your tone, Serena, or I’ll give you a reason to call me sir.” The gravel in Dominick’s voice causes me to clinch my thighs together as it shoots straight to my pussy. Holy shit, his cop voice is hot.
“Yes, sir,” I respond automatically. A car door slams behind me, and the crunch of shoes on gravel reminds me I’m still in the middle of a dark parking lot, alone. I hoist my backpack back over my shoulder and resume walking, keys threaded between my fingers like Dominick instructed.
“So, what class did you have tonight?” Dominick’s soft, friendly tone, the one he used today at the coffee shop, is back.
“Creative writing. It’s a class I take for fun. We were reading our latest assignments, and class time went over.” I finally see my car in the back corner of the lot. Parking here in the student lot is a nightmare on most days if you don’t have an 8 a.m. class. Which I don’t most days since I work the early shift.
“Anyway, we were going over some short stories we wrote last week…” The sound of footsteps close by causes me to trail off as I turn and look behind me. I don’t see anyone, but the feeling of being watched slowly creeps over me, causing goosebumps to raise all over my skin.
“Everything okay over there? You got quiet.” Concern laces Dominick’s voice, drawing me back to our conversation.
“Um, yeah, I thought I heard something. But I’m almost at my car.” I start moving again, half jogging the rest of the way. I’ve never felt unsafe walking through the school lot before, but maybe I was just oblivious to how dangerous it is. Dominick has me looking over my shoulder, feeling paranoid now.
Once I’m safely tucked inside my car, with the doors locked, I focus back on my call with Dominick. “Okay, I’m in my car, heading home. Since it’s not a fancy new one with the Bluetooth speakers, I’ll have to hang up so I won’t get pulled over for talking while driving.” I let some humor slide into my voice as I start up the car, and I melt at the sound of Dominick’s husky chuckle from the other end.
“Okay, Kitten. Drive safe, text me when you get home, and for the love of God, buy some mace and keep your keys in hand when you are walking in a parking lot.”
“Yes, sir,” I say with a smirk before hanging up the call. It might be the lack of a father figure in my life, but Dominick’s protectiveness has me feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside.
CHAPTER FOUR
SERENA
After getting home, I sent Dominick a text that I arrived safely, and that turned into another phone call that lasted until almost midnight. We talked a little about everything but kept the conversation light. He asked about my classes; I asked him how he decided to go into law enforcement. He told me more about his partners, Eric and Dane, and I told him about my favorite drinks at the coffee shop. We talked about movies too—his favorite (Fight Club) and my favorite (Shaun of the Dead)—and what our date would be like on Thursday. He didn’t go into much detail other than he would be picking me up at my house at seven, and the rest would be a surprise. I tried to argue and say I’d meet him somewhere so he wouldn’t have to go out of his way to pick me up, but he insisted.
Now I’m sitting in psych class, head bobbing from tiredness. Professor Stein’s droning voice is a struggle to pay attention to on the best of days, but today, running on only four hours of sleep, it has me fighting to stay awake.
A pinch on my thigh has me jerking my head up from where I had it resting on my hand. “Ouch. What the fuck,” I angry whisper at Kai.
“You were drooling,” he responds, not taking his eyes from the white board up front where Professor Stein is writing up the traits of narcissistic personality disorder.
“Was not,” I huff indignantly, folding my arms across my chest. His only response is to tap his pen on my notebook page where there is a noticeable wet spot smearing the ink on my notes. My cheeks flush in embarrassment, and I see his lips quirk up in a smirk out of the corner of my eye.
“Keep your mouth shut,” I mutter as I go back to taking notes. He just presses his full lips into a flat line, trying his best to contain the chuckle trying to escape.
“So where is Dudley taking you on your date?” Kai asks as he shoves a huge bite of pizza into his mouth. We have a long break between classes right now, so we are eating lunch and working on our outlines for our psych papers.
“Dunno.” I pop a shoulder as I take a sip of my Cherry Coke. “He won’t tell me. I just know he’s picking me up at seven.”
“Do you need me to hang out with your mom or anything while you’re out?” Kai’s offer surprises me. He’s stayed with Mom before when Mrs. G couldn’t be there, but it’s usually only when I have no other options. He’s busy himself with work and class so I try not to intrude on his free time when he gets to work on his photography.
“Nah, Mrs. G is staying. She won’t miss the opportunity to embarrass me in front of Dominick, I’m sure. Did I tell you about her cabana boy story?”
“No, and I really don’t need to hear it either.” Kai grimaces as he puts his large hand over my mouth in an attempt to hush me. He should know by now that move doesn’t work on me. I stick out my tongue and lick his palm, causing him to pull away.
“Dude.” He shakes his head in disgust when I giggle at him.
“But she said his tally whacker was as big as one of those giant zucchinis!” I do my best impersonation of Mrs. G while Kai tries covering his ears to block me out. “They don’t make them like they used to, ReRe! That boy damn near split me in half!” I double over in a fit of laughter as Kai starts singing loudly, trying to drown me out. Kai just rolls his eyes at me, familiar with the kind of stories Mrs. G likes to tell. She has regaled him with a few when she has cornered him at my house.
We draw a few curious looks from other students nearby, so I cool it on the zucchini talk and focus back on our work. “What are you writing your paper about?” I lean over, trying to sort out the mess that is Kai’s notes. Kai is brilliant but disorganized. He always struggles with getting his thoughts in order, so that’s usually where I come in when we work on assignments together.
“I dunno. I think borderline personality disorder or maybe the narcissistic one he was talking about today. Seemed interesting. You?”
I shrug, unsure of which one I want to write about. “I’m leaning towards the dependent one. It reminds me a lot of you, needing someone to take care of them all the time.” My lips quirk up in a grin, and Kai gives me a playful shove.
“Yeah, fuck you too.” He laughs as he goes back to sorting through his notes. We resume our work as we finish off the pizza that Kai bought us. He thinks he’s subtle about how he takes care of me, but I notice. I always notice how he always buys me lunch, always tips on his free coffee in the morning and all the ways he looks out for me, like making sure he’s available on my dad’s birthday and anniversary of his death. Kai is my best friend, and I don’t know how I would’ve made it through the last two years without him.