CHAPTER THREE
Never before had I felt like such crap. When I awoke the next morning, the room was spinning and the sun was my enemy. I hissed at it as I pulled the covers up over my head, practically gagging at the smell of sweat and alcohol that permeated from my body. There was another scent too though, a scent that it took me a second to place. Dominick.
The moment I realized I could smell him was also the moment I realized I was only wearing my bra and underwear. In a panic, I threw the covers down and surveyed my surroundings. This was not my bedroom. Not my beige comforter. Not my bed. I was in Dominick's bed, and I was practically naked, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Had we? I squeezed my thighs together, then slipped a hand in my underwear to poke around my vagina. No, we hadn't. Part of me wanted to sigh in relief, but a deeper part of me was disappointed. Sure, I wanted to remember my first time, but I had also hoped my first time would be with him. If he hadn't taken advantage of me when I was drunk, then it was probably not going to happen.
I groaned and pulled myself out of bed, stumbling to the bathroom to pee. Then I rummaged through his chest of drawers for a T-shirt and pair of boxer shorts. What had happened? Why was I in Dominick's bed? What had we done? How I wish I would have remembered.
I opened the bedroom door to the tantalizing aroma of breakfast. Dominick was in the kitchen whipping up some eggs and bacon. It was the first time I had seen him cook since I'd been staying with him.
“Good morning,” I grumbled, pulling myself up onto the bar that looked out over the kitchen.
“Good morning,” he replied with a grin.
“I woke up in your bed,” I said stupidly, not sure how else to phrase it.
“Oh, yeah.” His eyes shifted nervously. “You threw up on yourself last night, so I took your clothes to wash them and put you in my bed. I hope you don't mind, but I didn't think you'd want to wake up in a puddle of vomit.”
“No, I would not have.”
Dominick turned off the burners before going to fetch me a glass of water and some Tylenol. He slid them both in front of me, smiling all the while, then he made me a plate of food.
“What are you so chipper about?” I asked, frowning.
“First hangover?”
“Yes.”
“Doesn't feel good, does it?” He wrinkled his nose as he shook his head.
The son of a bitch is mocking me. “No,” I replied dryly.
Dominick grabbed a plate of food and sat beside me. His appetite was hearty, while the very sight of eggs made my stomach turn. Still, he had gone out of the way to cook for me, so I wasn't going to let them go to waste. At least, not on my plate. If I threw them up later, that couldn't be helped.
Each bite was agonizing, making it feel like there were little men boxing in my stomach in a sea of stomach acid. The food itself didn't taste bad, but my tolerance for it just wasn't there. After the third bite, I found myself running to the bathroom to vomit. When I came back, Dominick was setting my plate on the stove.
“Maybe you could try again later,” he suggested.
“Oh God, how do I make this go away?” I groaned, throwing myself onto one of the loveseats in the living room.
“Eat, shower, sleep is how I usually do it.” He came around the corner and sat on the other loveseat.
“Eat obviously isn't going to happen.”
“No. In that case, it would be shower and lay in bed all day until you can sleep. Then when you wake up, eat.”
“And that will work?” I gave him a skeptical look.
“Well it won't make it go away immediately. Sleep is the most important part of the equation. Without sleep, you're in for a day of misery.”
“I'm never drinking again.”
“You say that now.” He smirked.
“I mean it. I'm never drinking again.”
“We'll see.”
“How is that you don't feel like crap?”
“Experience, my dear Kimlet.”
I decided to get the process started. A shower did work to make me feel better. When I was standing under the warm running water, it was like I wasn't hung over at all. But as soon as I turned off the faucet, the hangover came back full force, and I found myself vomiting stomach acid into the toilet. This was going to be a miserable day.
When I finished my shower and went to my bedroom, I found the bed unmade and with a putrid looking red stain all over where my head would have been. I touched the top of the mattress; it was still moist. Pressing my finger against it reminded me of spraying one of those aerosol air fresheners. Except, instead of a pleasant scent coming out, the smell of my vomit rose up to greet me, sending me running back to the bathroom to throw-up again.
“I hate you for doing this to me,” I told Dominick when I finally re-emerged. He looked as happy as a clam, sitting on the loveseat, watching television.
“I did nothing. You just need a better tolerance,” he replied, not even bothering to look at me.
“There aren't any sheets on my bed.”
“You're free to use mine.”
That was all the invitation I needed. I dragged myself back into his room and practically threw myself on the bed, cuddling up around one of his pillows and praying that sleep would come. Dominick's scent was surprisingly calming instead of nauseating. He smelled like grapefruits and shampoo and man. It was different from how I remembered him smelling in the past. Back then, his scent was more a mix of fabric softener and Axe and sweat. The way he smelled now was definitely an improvement. Perhaps not all changes were bad.
No matter how hard I tried to sleep, my mind swam with thought. At first, I was consumed with warm feelings of how Dominick was being more like he was before. It was sweet of him to let me sleep in his bed. That must have meant he spent the night on one of the loveseats, since there wasn't a bed in his office. I could only imagine how uncomfortable that must have been.
On top of that, he had made me breakfast and pretty much tended to my needs since I woke up. This was the considerate Dominick I remembered, the Dominick who doctored my knee when I had fallen off of my bike, the Dominick who kissed my ouches better. Just the thought of him returning to some resemblance of that man made me swoon.
But then I remembered the night before, and all happiness faded away. I made a complete idiot of myself. Never would I have said something like that if I was sober. Everything had just poured out of me. He knew it all now.
Hopefully, he had forgotten, but I doubted it. Judging by the way that he was acting, he had probably been almost sober when I went running my mouth. Yeah, he definitely remembered it. If I was lucky, he'd never bring it up. Just the thought of how badly I had embarrassed myself made me want to crawl under a rock and die. Things were going to be awkward for a while.
As much as I wanted to go to sleep, as hard as I tried, it just wouldn't happen. I had slept a full eight hours that night, and I had only been awake for about two hours. There was no way I was going to be able to force myself to sleep.
Disgusted, I crawled out of bed and went back into the living room. Dominick was in the kitchen doing dishes, so I took his spot on the loveseat and grabbed the remote. He had been watching something on the news, but I hated the news, so I turned it to Nickelodeon to watch some Sponge Bob. My head felt like pain as I tried to concentrate on his nonsensical capers. Still, watching it made me feel like I was home, and that was comforting enough to keep me on the loveseat.
Dominick eventually returned, sitting across from me. For a moment, I thought he was going to take the remote and change it back to the news, but he just watched the television absentmindedly.
“I'm cold,” I complained, pulling my feet up onto the loveseat to hug my knees.
“I'm hot.” He looked over at me.
Yes, you are. My cheeks grew warm from the thought, and I silently chastised myself. I couldn't have sex now if I wanted to. I would probably vomit all over him.
Dominick stood up and crossed the distance between us, sitting beside me. Then he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me to him. My eyes grew wide as the back of my head rested against his chest.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“You're cold. I'm hot. I figured I could warm you up if we sat together.”
“Oh.”
My heart was beating rapidly. What he had done was completely non-sexual, but my body didn't seem to get that. Warmth rushed through me, but not the kind that reached my extremities. My feet were still as cold as ice, but other parts of me were working on overdrive, heating up for something that wasn't going to happen.
It took a few minutes for me to relax, but when I did, it seemed like the two of us were meant to fit together. He was ridiculously comfortable, and being next to him just felt so right. The television was drowned out with all the hopeful scenarios playing in my brain. It wasn't long before I exhausted myself thinking, and my eyes grew heavy with sleep.
When I woke up several hours later, Dominick was gone, and I was laying on the loveseat in the most uncomfortable position with a blanket wrapped around me. I groaned as I pulled myself into a sitting position, my neck throbbing in pain. At least, my headache was almost gone, though I did feel a strange lingering nastiness from the alcohol. From what I could tell by looking through the sliding glass door, the sun was fading over the horizon, so I must have slept for a while.
Instead of searching for Dominick, I went to the kitchen to nuke my leftover breakfast and drink another glass of water. This time, my stomach didn't give as much resistance, and I was able to get some nourishment into my body. He was right, I did feel a lot better now. It seemed that with every step of his process, there was an improvement. As soon as I was finished eating, I felt almost like new.
Dominick had retreated to his office to do some work, so I decided not to bother him. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the loveseat in the living room watching television, thinking about how amazing Dominick had been all day. He had even cleaned my mattress and made up my bed.
By the next day, things returned to normal. There was no breakfast waiting for me in the morning, but I didn't mind. I was happy to tend to Dominick, knowing that he would be there for me if I really needed him. Maybe he had gotten lazy over the years, but the man whom I knew and loved was still in there somewhere, even if he only came out on rare occasions.
The school week started, and I felt a renewed sense of energy as I tackled my classes. I did end up asking Dominick if I could start taking the bus to school, since it annoyed me getting stared at everyday when he dropped me off, but he still insisted on driving me, and I didn't argue beyond that.
Thankfully, even after our group project was over, Carmen and Victor still hung around me. We had lunch together everyday, talking about our classes and trivial stuff. Things couldn't have been going any better.
The following weekend, Dominick had to go out of state to talk to the producers about the movie. He made me promise I wouldn't bring anyone over, and I agreed, though I worried it would make for a boring weekend. I didn't feel like being alone, so I asked if Victor and Carmen wanted to go do something. Victor was busy, but Carmen was more than happy to go to the movies with me on Saturday. We had lunch and then saw a sappy chick flick, which I wasn't much of a fan of. I preferred action movies, but she wasn't interested in anything like that, and our friendship was still too new for me to chance risking it by being selfish. Maybe next time we could see what I wanted to see.
On Sunday, I decided to do something nice for Dominick to pay him back for everything he had done for me. Since I didn't have any money, and he wasn't at home for me to cook him a special meal, I thought that giving his condo a thorough cleaning from top to bottom would do the trick. He probably wouldn't even notice, but I'd make sure he knew what I had done. Hopefully, he'd appreciate it.
I started the day early, putting on some clothes I didn't mind if they got filthy and tying back my long curly brown hair. It was wild as usual, but it didn't really matter today. Not like anyone was going to see me.
I spent the day scrubbing the floors and counters and toilets until everything was sparkling clean. Then I washed all the windows that I could reach and vacuumed. When I was finished, I was absolutely exhausted.
I took a shower and settled down to watch television, though there wasn't anything good on. Being alone was boring, and I found myself getting curious. This was the first time I had ever really been alone in Dominick's condo. Sure, he went to the gym from time to time, but I never knew when he would return, and I didn't want to get caught in his business. This time was different though. He was going to be gone until Tuesday, so I could snoop around without the fear of being caught.
With a devious grin, I turned off the television and went into his office. It felt like such a forbidden room. Dominick's workplace and man cave. I had even been nervous vacuuming in there, though in truth, the space was harmless. There was nothing inside but a desk with a computer and a floor to ceiling bookcase full of books.
Part of me wanted to turn on his computer and see what he was writing, but I was too afraid he'd be able to tell if I did. He probably had some type of security set up to see if someone was messing with his files. While I considered myself computer savvy, there was still a lot I didn't know, and I imagined that Dominick's work was important enough that he would safeguard it from prying eyes some way.
Instead, I looked on the bookshelf for one of his books. Behind Her Green Eyes. There it was. I pulled the book from the shelf and groaned. The spine must have been at least three inches thick. A tedious read. There was no way I was going to invest so much time in a book that wasn't for school. I decided to look at the cover instead. A man and woman embraced in a heated kiss beneath the title. It looks like Tammy and Dominick. I couldn't help but wonder if that was purposeful, though I decided not to think about it too much. Tammy had read the book, and I knew she would have brought it up to me if she thought the heroine was her.
With my curiosity satiated, I put the book back where I found it and paced around the room, looking for anything interesting. When I realized it was a lost cause, that Dominick's office was as boring as the rest of him, I decided to go to his bedroom instead. I did some major snooping in there, lifting up the mattress to see if he had any naughty magazines stored away. Did men still buy dirty magazines? Thanks to the Internet, that stuff is mostly free, but it never hurts to look. Dominick seemed like the type that liked his literature. I wouldn't put it past him to have a naughty magazine or two stashed away somewhere.
After the space between the mattresses came up empty, I checked under his bed. It was surprisingly clean under there. Then I looked in his bedside table drawers. The most interesting thing I found was a box of condoms that had been opened and was missing a few. A tremor of jealousy rolled through me as a scowled at the box. That meant he had been having sex. I wasn't completely sure why that bothered me so much. He was a grown man. Of course, he had sex now and then. I had heard no mention of a girlfriend though. Maybe he didn't have one. Perhaps he just liked sleeping around. That thought pleased me even less.
I shoved the condoms back in the drawer and decided to rummage through his closet instead. There was a box on the top shelf that was full of old pictures of my sister and times from the better days when our parents were still alive. Though the pictures brought back a sense of nostalgia, I noticed there were very few pictures with me in them, which only made me more depressed. With a sigh, I closed the box and returned it to its place before thumbing through Dominick's clothes. He seemed to have an equal mix of business suits and casual wear. I shoved my face between two jackets and inhaled deeply. They smelled fresh and clean with a hint of leather and Dominick. Of course, the leather came from all the shoes in the closet.
With the fun of snooping at its end, I reached up and found the box of pictures again, then rummaged through it for the only picture I had seen of me and Dominick together. I was so young at the time, no older than six. He had me up on his shoulders, and I was clinging to his head. My sister had obviously taken the picture. Somehow, it made me feel like home.
I took the picture out of the box and set the box back on the shelf. Then I did a running leap onto Dominick's bed with the picture in hand and rolled onto my back to look at it. He had been so handsome back then. Hell, he had always been handsome—was still handsome. Years had changed a lot about him, but not that.
I traced my fingertip around his jawline. It was a lot more defined now, not as youthful and soft as it had been before. His shoulders were broader now, his eyes not as bright, though they still had a kindness about them. Just the thought of him made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside . . . and something else.
A mischievous grin crossed my lips as I got a devilish idea. We'd never have sex together, but it never hurt for a girl to dream. With naughty thoughts playing in my head, I rolled out of bed and went back to his closet to retrieve a tie. The first one my hand landed on was burgundy with blue stripes. I pulled it off of the hanger and rubbed the silk material against my face, moaning softly. Then I went to the laundry hamper and found one of Dominick's T-shirts. I quickly shimmied out of my clothes, stripping down to just my underwear and socks before I pulled his T-shirt over my head, inhaling his scent.
This is so wrong, I thought as I pulled down the covers of his bed before crawling inside with tie in hand. I reached over to the nightstand and picked up the picture, soaking in the sight of Dominick in his more youthful days. Ignoring the child on his shoulders, I undressed him with my eyes. The memory of him in that muscle shirt when we were drinking gave me something to work with. In all honesty, he seemed to be in better physical shape now than when I had known him before. I let me mind fill in the gaps of what I thought was under that shirt. Then my thoughts drifted lower.
It felt somewhat dirty thinking of Dominick's penis, but in that moment, I was all about dirty. I imagined him standing before me, naked and wanting. Almost involuntarily, I moaned, slipping the tie up under the shirt and caressing my skin. His hands would never feel as smooth against me, but it was arousing just to know that something Dominick wore was touching me. It was like somehow a small part of him was pleasuring me.
My pussy throbbed as I imagined him taking me in his strong arms. We'd embrace and kiss, and then his hands would start wandering. They'd wrap around my sides, roam over my stomach, travel up to my breasts to tease my nipples. Then they'd go down, down, down. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as the silk brushed over the sensitive bundle of nerves between my legs. How greedy his hand was, forcing its way inside my panties and going straight for the goal. Would he move as fast if this was real? I wasn't sure. My body felt oh so desperate suddenly.
“Dominick,” I breathed softly. His name sounded better when I gave voice to every single syllable of it. It rolled naturally off of my tongue, as if my mouth had been created to say it.
The soft material of the tie swirled between my legs, petting and rubbing and bringing delicious waves of need and impatience. I pictured his mouth, his tongue, his fingers. So many parts of him on my body. They couldn't all be there at once, but somehow, my mind made it happen, placing a sensation with an appendage, as if he could magically work me on overdrive with everything he had at the same time.
All that mattered was that it was him touching me, loving me, wanting me. I imagined him on top of me, gazing down at me with those intense gray eyes. His cock was so close to the heat between my legs. If he entered me, I might burn him. And then I pictured him going inside, and my entire body melted into orgasm. My toes curled so tightly that I could feel them gripping at the sheets. A quiver ran up my thighs as contractions rolled between my legs, shaking me and making me gasp. The feeling was absolutely exquisite.
I sighed contently, relaxing against the pillow. When I brought the tie up from under the covers, I could smell the scent of my sex heavy upon it. It would need to be washed before he returned. That and the shirt I was wearing. They could wait though. My fantasy wasn't over yet. The soft cotton of the shirt became Dominick's warm arms around me as we shared his bed. I kissed the picture of him gently and set it back on the bedside table. Then I curled up to sleep, hoping my dreams were every bit as naughty as my waking fantasies.
I slept in Dominick's bed the following night as well. He wasn't there to know about it, so how could he possibly mind. Besides, I made sure everything was in perfect order before he returned. He would never know what I had done.
Dominick picked me up from college on Tuesday afternoon looking weary. I had told him he didn't have to, since I knew he would be tired from his flight, but he insisted anyway.
“How was your trip?” I asked when I climbed into the car beside him.
“Long.”
“Did you have fun at least?”
“It was all business. There wasn't much time for fun.”
“That's unfortunate.”
“Not really. I'd rather be home anyway.”
“You don't like traveling?”
“It's not that I don't like traveling. It's just not a lot of fun when you don't have someone to go with you.”
“Oh.”
“Maybe you could come with me some time if I ever have to go somewhere on a weekend when you're not in school.”
“I'd like that.” I brushed a strand of hair away from my face and blushed. He was doing enough for me as it was. Letting me tag along on a business trip with him was an unnecessary expense.
“Was everything alright while I was gone?”
“Oh. Yeah. Everything was fine.”
“You didn't bring anyone over, did you?” He eyed my suspiciously.
“No.”
“Good. I hope you're not lying to me, because I'll find out if you are.”
“I can't believe you don't trust me, Dom.” I crossed my arms over my chest, scowling.
“I trust you. At least, I think I do.”
That night, I made meatloaf for dinner. Dominick barely ate anything before he retired to his room. I had thought he would go into his office to work, but he seemed absolutely exhausted.
The rest of the week went on as normal. When Dominick picked me up from school on Friday, he had an amused smirk on his face, and I couldn't help but wonder if he'd gotten more good news.
“What's up?” I asked as I crawled into the car. “You look awfully happy.”
“I just had an interesting day is all,” he replied, turning his attention to the road.
“What made it so interesting?”
“A video I watched a little while ago.”
“Was it a movie or something you saw on YouTube?”
“More like a movie. It's called Sunday Night, and it's about the core of human desire. It was a rather educational watch. I was hoping you'd want to watch it with me later tonight.”
“It sounds sexy. I'm not usually into that type of stuff.”
“Oh really?” He sounded genuinely surprised.
“Yeah. Stuff like that tends to make me uncomfortable.”
“Well, this is a video you'll definitely want to see.”
“If you say so.” I shrugged. “Since you want to watch it twice, it must be pretty good.”
“I found it most entertaining.”
“What do you want for dinner tonight?”
“Anything that's not greasy. Do you want to go out? I have a craving for fish.”
“Sure. Whatever you want. I'm broke, and you're buying so I'm kind of at your whim.”
He laughed softly.
We went out to eat at the Seafood Market Restaurant and then headed home. When we got back, Dominick left again to go to the gym for a few hours, and I took a shower. While I waited for him to return, I decided to do some research on the movie he wanted to watch. I couldn't find anything about a movie called Sunday Night. Even if it was just an independent film, I figured I'd be able to find something.
I shrugged it off, settling on the loveseat to watch television until he finished his shower. I had just started watching an animated movie when he came out, toweling off his hair and looking absolutely delicious in another muscle shirt and pair of pajama pants, this time all black. Tiny beads of water dotted his shoulders, and I briefly wondered what he'd think if I licked them off. I bet he tastes like soap right now, or like nothing at all.
To my surprise, Dominick sat down right beside me instead of on the other loveseat. While I didn't particularly mind, it did make my heart race faster. Perhaps he was feeling more comfortable around me than before. Or maybe he was trying to make me feel more comfortable around him. It didn't matter. I was just happy he wasn't keeping his distance any longer.
“Are you ready?” he asked, picking up the remote from the coffee table.
“I guess,” I replied, wondering what I was about to see. If it was about sex, I really wasn't sure I wanted to watch it. Still, Dominick said it was a good show, and I had already told him I would.
“It's going to be a bit confusing at first, but you'll understand what's going on after a few minutes.”
“Alright,” I replied hesitantly, resting against the loveseat as the television flicked on.
“You already committed to this, so I want you to sit and watch the entire thing with me. You're not to get up until it's over.”
He was right about the beginning of the movie being confusing. All I saw was a room. First, it showed one angle, then it flipped around. The room looked awfully familiar. When I realized what I was actually watching, I thought my heart was going to stop. It was Dominick's bedroom, a set of cameras panning around to different angles every few seconds.
Everything in me hoped I was wrong about what I was about to see. I held my breath, confused and afraid. Then a girl walked into the room. Not just any girl. Me.
In the video, I checked under his mattress, then under the bed. Next I opened up all of his bedside table drawers and pulled out the box of condoms. I emptied the box and counted them, scowling. After sitting there for a moment, I placed the condoms in the box and put them back where I found them. Then I went into his closet.
The room was silent except for our breathing and the sounds I made as I rummaged through Dominick's closet on the video. I was too afraid to look at him—too scared of what he might say. This was bad, me going through his things, but what was coming next was far worse. He had to hate me for it—had to be seething furious. I had invaded his privacy to the worst degree. There was no doubt in my mind that he would be calling my sister the moment the video was over, if he hadn't done so already.
Fear poisoned me, and by the time we got to the part where I crawled into his bed with the tie, I was shaking. It was taking everything in me not to get up and run to my room and lock the door and cry. Somehow though, I knew this was part of my punishment. I knew he would be pissed if I left. I had to watch, even if it killed me.
Shamelessly, I masturbated on his bed. The sound of his name had been so sweet on my lips at the time, but now when I heard it, I just cringed. It sounded completely magnified, like it couldn't have been any louder if I had screamed it. Then my body gave way to pleasure and I lay there in a satisfied heap, curling up like I hadn't a care in the world.
I stared at the screen, watching myself sleep. My heart was in my throat, and I was terrified that if I swallowed, I would choke on it. Maybe that was for the best. Dying was surely better than facing Dominick.
Tears welled up in my eyes, blistering hot. I couldn't remember the last time I felt so flooded with negative emotion. It was drowning me, suffocating me, destroying me from the inside out. What was I supposed to say? What could I do to make up for this? Surely, I had shattered whatever trust Dominick had in me. This was far worse than if he caught me inviting someone over.
Dominick shifted on the loveseat beside me, and the touch of his hand as it caressed my cheek startled me so much that I jerked away. When I turned to look at him, his face was dangerously close, and I barely had a chance to breath before our lips met. The kiss caught me completely off-guard, though as soon as I realized what was going on, my entire body relaxed, my mouth melting against his.
His lips were soft yet strong. He tasted like mint, and I found myself sucking on his tongue, wanting to devour him completely. When he pulled away, I was at a loss for words.
Apparently, no words needed to be spoken. He stood and offered me his hand, and I took it, absent thought or question of his intentions. He led me toward his bedroom but stopped at the door, pressing me against the wall, restraining my wrists above my head. I gave no resistance, though I was afraid, not that he was going to hurt me, but of what we were about to do. In all of my wildest dreams, I never thought this would actually happen.
Dominick pushed himself against me, purring into my ear, “Is this what you want?”
His lips didn't wait for a response. They gently nibbled on my earlobe, and then he nuzzled my cheek with his nose. All I could do was moan. Everything in me wanted it—wanted him. I was never more ready to crawl into bed with a man.
He held my wrists above my head with one hand, using the other to crawl up my shirt, feeling the soft skin of my stomach. Electricity shot through me at this touch. It felt so foreign, but so good at the same time. My body was on sensation overdrive; my mind was reeling in disbelief of what was happening.
Dominick's hand explored my body, and I found myself sucking in as he came closer and closer to my breast. His thumb grazed the soft under-swell of it, and then his hand left my shirt, and he released me from his grasp.
“This is your only chance to escape me,” he said. “If you step inside my bedroom, there will be no going back.”
I gulped as he gave me a seductive look before disappearing around the doorway. My heart was beating like a hundred wild horses stampeding. This was it, my chance to have what I had always wanted. But what would be the consequences?