Page 12 of Dominic
“Now, that sounds exactly like Venus. What pushed you to make the move when you did? I mean, besides the obvious living conditions.”
“The Divine One told me he was tired of waiting for me to be reconditioned. He said he was going to use more extreme measures to bring me to heel. He was taking me as his next wife. And he was going to do the ceremony in front of the whole church.”
“I’m not even going to ask what that entails because I’m pretty sure I know. Tell me you escaped before he went through with that ritual.”
“I did. Thanks to Venus.”
I wasn’t sure she was doing it on purpose so much as it was a nervous habit, but Annie stroked and explored my hand absently while she relayed her experience to me. Almost like touching me was giving her some kind of comfort. Well, if that were the case, she could do whatever she needed because it sounded like this woman had been through a lot. The fact she could be around a man at all was surprising, let alone be able to touch one.
Before I could think too much about what to say to her next, I spoke. “I met Tina when I was a lot younger. My job meant I was in and out of her life more than a partner should be, because of that and other things, we never made our relationship permanent. In fact, we were only together a couple months before I left her. She knew why. My job, even when I first started in the military, was always very high risk. More than normal because of the type of work I did for the military and the CIA. I didn’t want to leave her widowed the first time I left and that was a very real possibility. She didn’t tell me she was pregnant when I explained to her why I had to leave, but I’m pretty sure she was. It was maybe eighteen months when she sent me the first baby picture with a letter explaining everything in detail.” I couldn’t help the smile tugging at my lips as I remembered the pictures and, sometimes, letters that followed. “She would write to me about milestones Calista passed, and describe to me everything she could remember as clearly and distinctly as she could. She understood why I stayed away, but wanted me to be part of Calista’s life the only way she could. It wasn’t until me and Calista talked about Tina after Calista came here that I realized how much I’d truly loved Tina. And I’d only known her for two months.”
“So she was your one true love.” Annie smiled and sniffed as she stood. “That’s a really sad, beautiful story, Dominic.”
“Just Dom, baby. It’s my road name and what everyone calls me.”
“Dom. Got it.” She shifted in her seat, toeing at the rug beneath the love seat a little before catching herself and sitting perfectly still for several seconds. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a proper shower. We didn’t have them at the camp, but it’s something I’ve grown to depend on. I like feeling clean. Also, I love shampoo that I didn’t have to make myself. And conditioner. It makes the tangles not as bad.”
I had the crazy urge to laugh, but simply nodded as solemnly as I could manage. “I could see how those would be things you’d get used to pretty fast.”
“I especially love the hot water part of the shower.”
There was no way to contain the chuckle that time. “Yeah, baby. I like that part too. A cold shower is not on my list of favorite things. Not sure I know anyone who particularly likes them.”
“Also, you should know that if I ramble or say or do the wrong thing sometimes, I’m not trying to make you look bad for associating with the weird girl, or to look deliberately stupid. Piston says I don’t understand social cues. I’m not really sure what that means, but if it’s a way of saying I sometimes make things really awkward or uncomfortable, he’s not wrong.” She gave me a pleading look. “Please be patient with me? Don’t kick me out or anything.” God, she sounded so fucking vulnerable. Like she fully expected I’d kick her out if she did or said the wrong thing. I think this was the moment I decided I was gonna kill someone. The only question was who and how many.
“Ain’t ever gonna kick you out, girl.” Emotion threatened to close my throat, making my words gruff and tight. My feelings were all over the fucking place. Probably a combination of telling this young woman about Tina and my own struggle to come to terms with how I felt about Tina. And the way my heart was trying to feel about Annie. And no. I didn’twantto feel anything other than possibly sympathy or the protectiveness I feel with all the women in the compound. This whole thing where I threw a bikini contest just to find out her first and last name wasn’t something I was ready to touch yet. Because something inside me had latched on to Annie Warren. I wasn’t certain I’d ever figure out how to unweave those invisible threads trying to bind us together. Worse? I wasn’t certain I wanted to.
Chapter Seven
Annie
The next month was what I would categorize as the absolute best time of my fucking life! And yes. I was allowed to swear if I wanted! Which should have been far less exciting than it was. They were just words, after all. What was even better? I could walk around the compound on my own. Sure, there were certain places I wasn’t allowed to go, but that went for anyone living in the compound who wasn’t actually what they called a patched member. All in all, I don’t think I’d ever smiled so much in the whole of my life as I did now. Especially the last couple of weeks as I grew comfortable here.
Living at the compound was a whole new world -- one where I could breathe, think, and just be without the oppressive weight of fear pushing down on my shoulders. I hadn’t even realized how anxious and fearful I’d been. Mainly because I hadn’t really known to feel any differently. Personal interaction outside of church never ended well. Here, people greeted me by name, asked how I was doing, and actually listened to my responses. It was surreal, like I’d stumbled into some sort of utopian bubble in a world that had shown me little kindness before.
Byte, one of the club’s intelligence and information officers, introduced me to computers. And, more importantly, video games and television. Mostly video games. Oh, my goodness,movies! There was so much I hadn’t known about, or had heard but had no frame of reference. Sure, I’d seen an actual television before Dom brought me to Grim Road, but I hadn’t sat down and watched a show. I was too busy just trying to survive. It was on the computer Byte had given me that I’d found I could learn any language I wanted to with a program that teaches those languages. It was the most fascinating thing I’d ever experienced. Which is when I found there were things like that about anything I could imagine. If I wanted to learn how to do something, I just “Googled” it. I loved Google, by the way. The Divine One might not know everything, but I was pretty sure Google did.
Dom was often busy, but he always seemed to have time to check on me. Sometimes he brought me books from the town library, knowing how much I loved to read but was too shy to ask for them myself. Other times, it was a cup of coffee with the perfect amount of cream and sugar. I’d made such a fuss about how wonderful it tasted the first time he’d brought me one that he’d made sure we had a coffee maker in the kitchen and everything I needed to make the perfect cup of coffee. Which, I’d discovered, was a fine art. All coffee was not created equal.
One afternoon, while taking a walk and enjoying the sunshine filtering down through the trees, I wandered down to the small, secluded garden. It was tucked away behind one of the less frequented grounds. There, on his hands and knees, Dom tended to a bed of colorful marigolds and sunflowers. All around him were various vegetables or flowers. His large, tattooed hands moved with surprising gentleness as he cared for the plants. I’d come here with him several times and had helped him. While I could grow fruits and vegetables, I found I loved growing flowers.
“You know, when we first met, I would have never guessed you were a gardener,” I said, leaning on the fence slightly amused by the sight.
Dom looked up, his face breaking into a wide grin. “Helps settle my mind. Call it therapy. Lemon does.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
He stopped what he was doing and turned his full attention on me. Other than when I’d done something wrong, no one had ever given me their full attention like Dom did every single day. “You can ask me anything, honey.” He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. Dirt streaked his shirt and his face in places, but he had the most beautiful smile on a man I’d ever seen.
“You talk about Lemon a lot. Everyone here does.”
He raised his hands, almost like he thought I was going to attack or something. “Look, Lemon gives as good as she gets. It’s kind of a game with some of the guys. See who can get one over on her. No one has yet. And she regularly busts their balls.”
“Theirs,” I jumped on quickly. “Not you.”
“Nope. Because I never give her a reason to. At least, I try really hard not to give her a reason.”
“It sounds like you’re actually afraid of her.”