Ask Me to Stay

Chapter Nine

DOMINIC'S POV
——
"I'm getting ready for dinner with Kate and Beck, they're doing full spa routine." Kara laughed out as she passed me in the hallway.
"I thought it was just gonna be family for dinner?" I asked, almost offended for Vera if her sister was implying that her two best friends were invited.
"It is, they have their own reservations somewhere else." She corrected, a hint of attitude in her voice.
"Mkay, probably just gonna relax for a a few more hours until it's time to get ready." I sighed, trying to exit the chit chat conversation.
"Have at it, luxuries of a man." She shook her head with amusement before heading down the hall to one of the guest wings of the house.
It was a little before two in the afternoon, Vera had her cake and presents and I was hoping she was in her room looking at them.
I padded down the hallway towards the wing of the house where Vera and Blaines friends roomed. When I had left the patio a few minutes ago everyone but Vera was out there so I was hoping I could catch her while she was alone.
I stood outside her door, fixing my hair and letting my swim trunks fall looser on my hips. Oddly enough, Vera made me insecure. She made me worry about my body more than anyone else has, even Kara.
Sex was always easy for, so were relationships. I was completely aware that I was attractive, and it went to my head sometimes. But Vera made me aim for perfection in every way. I wanted to work harder, look better, and try harder all for her. I wanted to be responsible while also being young and wild. I wanted to be equals yet dominate her in every way. She also made me feel proud of all my successes and strive for more. She gave me a relationship that felt unconditional even though all it was was conditions.
After fixing myself up, I gently and quietly turned the door knob and opened the door. I stepped in, seeing Vera sitting on the floor with a pile of new things around her.
"Dominic-"
"Your sister is doing a spa thing with Kate and Beck, so I thought it would be the best time to see you before dinner. Last night left me quite literally high and dry." I explained with a grin, while she looked up at me with wide eyes and a shocked mouth. Had I done something wrong?
"Oh lord I hope you're saying the two of you got high last night because the other option is a far bigger deal and will need a lot more explaining." Maddy walked out from Vera's personal bathroom, her hands on her hips and a raised brow.
"Dominic...Maddy is in here." Vera finished the sentence she was going to say before I so rudely interrupted her. Fuck...
"I see that. Well...uhm, so, Maddy," I gulped, rubbing the back of neck. "I feel like something could be worked out so that uhm...this doesn't leave this room." I licked my lips and pulled out my wallet. "I can't buy you a car but uhm...smaller payments could be made, ya know uhm, say like-" I rambled, struggling to come up with a reasonable approach to the situation.
"We aren't paying off my best friend. She's not going to tell anyone." Vera huffed. She's mad. "Okay, Maddy, Dominic saw my boob and now we do stuff." Vera vaguely summarized.
"That's not quite how I would say it but yeah...sorta." I corrected.
"Well I'm not giving her the whole run down while you're in here." Vera snapped, but tried to soften it with a gentle look.
"Well you are." Maddy stated. "I want the story from both sides, remember...I'm the one with the upper hand here." Maddy sent Vera dangerous look, returned with an eye roll and huff.
"Fine." Vera grumbled.
"Great. From the beginning please."
———
"From my point of view both of you were in the wrong." Maddy sang out after Vera finished telling her about our fight after she came home drunk.
"How so?" Vera shouted.
"Dominic, you never had the exclusivity talk...and you are fucking her sister, so you really had no right to be upset by Vera doing things with someone else. Vera, you came home drunk with hickeys...thats just not a good place to be. But you are right...this is going to end with hell fire, meteors, and stump trucks of shit. But...In a weird way...you two seem really, really good together." My heart pounded as Maddy gave us her verbal notes on us.
Maddy sat on Vera's bed while I Sat relaxed on the floor with Vera sitting above me on the small loveseat. I felt a lot younger than I was by the whole dynamic of the situation. It was more than weird but...not unwelcomed.
Vera continued telling our story, getting up to last night when neither of us felt comfortable talking about that glorious time. My mind flipped back to last night, we were sprawled on on the dock, my head between her bare thighs while she moaned and screamed and raked her fingers through my hair. I had to wrap my arms around her thighs to steady her while I continued to lick, and suck, and nip. What surprised me the most was the gush of liquid that sprung out of her when I pushed her over the edge. Legs shaking, body convulsing, her screaming my name with my hand over her mouth. When she finally came down from her orgasmic high she realized how tightly wound I was. Of course I told her I could take care of it on my own and that she didn't need to reward me for what I did to her. I wanted her to understand that what we were doing didn't involved privileges and rewards that could be ripped away whenever I saw fit. She doesn't need to give me head because she was thankful for me eating her out, I want her to give me head because she wants to.
"What happened?" Maddy snapped as Vera tried to brush over last nights events. Vera shrugged and shook her head no. "Dominic?"
"Do you really need to know, it wasn't sex but it also wasn't just talking." I tried hoping my answer would suffice. She stared me down with a glare forcing me to yield. "Fine." I grumbled. "I gave her head."
"Finally!" Maddy shouted. "Jesus I thought this was gonna take all day."
"You could be a little nicer about this!" Vera snapped at Maddy. "I am messing around with my sisters boyfriend, the subject deserves a bit of delicacy." She added. A shiver ran through me knowing the reason why I came into this room and the repercussions of that information getting out.
"You're right, Vera, you are messing around with the exact opposite of the someone who you should be. But it should not be handled delicately. You two need to do this is such an over the top but also covert way that even if it ends in shit, which it will, at least you made the most out of it." My eyes widened at the view Maddy was taking with this. Similar to Vera's words when we kissed for the first time.
"Maddy...we can treat it like that-" Vera started before I decided to step in.
"She's right, Vera." I sighed. "We are already passed the fact that this is going to end horribly for both of us. Why not do the most we can while we can still do it." I reasoned, nudging her with my head. Our eyes met for the first time since the beginning of this conversation and instantly my whole body softened. A smile formed on her lips and the dangerous shade of her eyes disappeared. Unknowingly a large dorky grin formed on my face, making hers deepen too. I reached up and squeezed her hand before releasing her and letting her decide if she wanted to hold my hand or not.
"Jesus you two are gross. Bryce and I are the epitome of young love...but some how my teenage best friend and her sisters thirty something boyfriend are out shining me." Maddy groaned before flinging herself onto my pillows dramatically. I rolled my eyes, still looking up at Vera. Her much smaller hand clasped into mine, intertwining our fingers. Out of nowhere she ducked down to me, landing a soft and gentle kiss on my lips for me to reciprocate. Which, of course, I did without hesitation.
"Having someone else in on it will help in some cases." Vera whispered after pulling away, leaving our faces only inches apart.
"How so?" I asked curiously, wanted to hear her input.
"Well now...I can tell Kara I'm with Maddy...but..." She bit her lip and looked down at my lips and then back to my eyes.
"But?" I questioned, even more curios.
"But...I'll be with you. You'll have to tell her you had to run into work or went for a doctors appointment." She elaborated with a sneaky smirk. Secretly I loved hearing her rebellious plans.
"You have it all planned out dont ya?" I said with a flirtatious smile.
"Oh my god! Stop. It." Maddy groaned, letting both Vera and I know that she's still in the room. Immediately Vera and I returned to our distanced positions but now wearing blushed smiles.
"Dominic," Maddy called. "Leave. Maddy has to get ready for dinner and we've already wasted too much time."
"You're the one who wanted the whole story in every single detail!" Vera hissed playfully, glaring at Maddy with bright clear golden eyes.
"It's fine..." I sighed dramatically. "She's right, we should be getting ready." Reluctantly I stood, stretching before I walked over to the door.
"Be glad I didn't ask for precise measurements while you were still in the room!" Maddy called as I closed the door behind her.
My eyes shot open, realizing what she meant. I decided to stand by the door for a few moments, waiting for Vera's answer.
"Move along, Dom!" Maddy yelled. From inside the door. Shit...
———
"I'm sure she would have been okay with some more...low key?" I grumbled while I rolled the sleeves of my crisp white button up.
"We've always gone somewhere fancy..." Kara returned with attitude laced in her voice.
"Yeah...but now she's old enough for you to stop overcompensating for your parents. She isn't a little kid anymore, a year from now she'll be an actual adult." I reminded her and myself. Like everything else in the world, a piece of me still had a tiny, tiny amount of hope for Vera and I. She was going to be eighteen in a year exactly, it wouldn't be that hard to keep with charade up until then. That same part of me wished to run away with her, ride into the sunset on a white stallion to a better and brighter future. That's when I have to remind myself that I'm half a decade away from being forty. Which is way too old for Vera by any standard.
"Jesus, Dom! The two of you go from hating each other to being okay like the day of week changes. I'm getting whiplash here. We're going to dinner...that's final." She barked while calmly putting in a set of pearl earrings I bought her for our first anniversary.
"Do not treat me like a toddler! 'That's final'? No it's not. We're adults and I've been around Vera longer than everyone but you and Blaine. Maybe you should rethink what your sister wants for her fucking birthday!" I shouted, slamming my hand into the trim of the bathroom door.
"Because you know her so well?" Kara scoffed, shaking her head.
"Yeah...I actually do. Her favorite food breakfast, meaning she would have been okay with just this morning. She hates the cold, that's why you're constantly yelling at me for turning up the thermostat. I also know that your fathers death doesn't affect her as much as you would like to think. Hell she doesn't even remember his death date, she asked me when it was so she could save it in her phone, and when it came up that year I watched her go from completely fine to grieving as soon as you walked into the room. She grieves for you. Not with you." I argued, turning towards her with my arms crossed. I knew I was wrong, Kara knew Vera better than anyone, but I also knew that Kara ignored certain things about Vera that she didn't want to deal with because it reminded her of things she would rather not.
"Excuse me?" She seethed, stepping towards me. "Vera is my fucking sister! I raised her since she was still in diapers. You know nothing about the life we lived before I met you! You were raised in country clubs and vacation homes, you have no experience being under privileged!" Her pointer finger prodded at my chest with each point she made. I stood my ground, no budging as I stared down at her.
"This has nothing to do with how I grew up. You know just as much as I do that I was not raised in a functional and healthy home. Money wasn't able to fix that." I returned, letting my arms fall to my sides so I could stuff my hands into the pockets of my slim black slacks. "I wasn't trying to challenge your relationship with you're sister. I have no interest trying to be her brother-in-law or her father figure." I spat before leaving the room with long strides.
I waited in the kitchen, keys and wallet ready to go, as always. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, I had no intention of ruining the stunning young woman's birthday dinner...even if I know she hates dressing up and being in high society places.
"Dominic?" A small voice asked from behind me. I turned seeing Vera's small frame dressed in a silky dark green dress that reached her mid thigh, the matching black diamond earrings and necklace that she got today—Kara picked them out but I paid for them—and thick heeled strappy black heels.
I looked her up and down, my jaw resting on the floor. Her hair was done in a loose bun on her head with curled tendrils framing her face. She wore light makeup, lipgloss and some muted eyeshadow. All in all she was beautiful...more than I thought anyone could ever be.
"I know...Maddy over did it. I should have done something simple and more conservative." She groaned looking down at herself, clearly self conscious.
"No..." I breathed out, stepping closer to her. "You look...wow? Stunning. Beautiful. Amazing." I fumbled with my words when her eyes met mine. I bit my lip, restraining from kissing her in the middle of kitchen. Instead I let my hands find her hips, small enough of a gesture to be excused. "Vera...you have my heart racing, along with other things," I joked, giving her a reassuring smile. "You look unbelievably beautiful, I think it's actually too much for me to handle." I chuckled, squeezing her hips gently before letting my arms fall to my sides.
"I see that..." she giggled, tilting her head downwards. "You're going to make dinner impossible..." she sighed, looking up at me again.
"No...you're the one who's making it impossible. But you could be dressed in a trash bag and I would still be distracted." I confessed, my whole body and mind fighting to drag her into an empty room, lock the door, and do everything and anything she would let me.
"You're looking rather handsome yourself..." she commented, trying to divert my attention off of her.
"Nothing you haven't seen before, though. This..." I motioned to her body. "Is entirely foreign to me."
"Well there is something I would like to try that involves a dress...or a skirt." She mumbled, looking at the floor.
"And what would that be?" I asked, lifting her chin with my hand.
"Well...something along the lines of-"
"Is Blaine ready? I haven't seen him." Kara interrogated, strutting into the room with her face in her phone. I dropped my hand and stepped away from Vera, my heat twisting with discomfort.
"No...haven't seen him." Vera said weakly, biting her lip with her eyes focused on her feet.
"Ugh...men." She scoffed before turning towards the hallway. "Blaine Adams! Get your ass out here." She shouted, fists clenched at her sides.
"She's mad at me..." I whispered, ducking my head down to Vera's ear.
"I see that..." she chuckled. "Why?"
"I'll tell you tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Docks, midnight."