The Foster Girls #2: Finland

Chapter 11: Finland

"Don!" Michael greeted as Dominic walked in the door, sounding surprised to see the angry beast when he was anything but surprised.

"Get out," Dominic snapped at Michael, and without another word, Dominic came over to me, took my hand and dragged me off the couch and toward my bedroom.

He slammed the door shut behind us and leaned into my face.

"Finland. What. The. Fuck. Was. That?"

"What was what? You're going to need to be more specific."

I realized I'd never seen Dominic this mad and I'd seen him pretty angry. "You know what the fuck I'm talking about."

Cocking my head at him, I pretended to think. "Was it someone uninvited joining us for a date and making you feel like a third wheel? Was it someone drinking from my glass and feeding me from his plate with his fingers? Or was it the inside jokes and constantly referring to shared memories that you weren't a part of?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, I know! Maybe it was him touching me, kissing my head, playing with my hair or wiping my lips with his finger? Or calling me pet names? Maybe it was him totally keeping my attention on him and cutting you out of the conversation? Although, now that I think about it, maybe it's the thought of him staying with me and walking around here in next to nothing and me being oblivious to all of it or dismissing it as unimportant? Is that it, Dominic? Did I answer your question as to what this is?"

His narrowed eyes focused on me in a way I didn't like, so I kept at him. "Everything he did tonight was exactly what Camille's been doing to me – things that you've allowed and written off as being unimportant because she's like a sister to you or I'm being paranoid. Every single thing he did she's done to you or to me at least once. So I really don't see that you can have any objection to how this evening went."

"I don't like other men touching you," he growled, completely missing the point.

"I don't like other women touching you, but you don't put a stop to it."

"I've told you she's like a sister."

"But she's not. And she doesn't feel sisterly toward you, I guarantee that. She was your sister-in-law, but your wife's been dead for eight years, Dominic. That makes her not your sister-in-law, and yet she continues to live with you and treat you like you're her property and I'm an interloper."

"It's just the familiarity of so many years, Finland. That's all it is."

"Gah! You're so freaking blind to her. You need to start hearing me, Dominic! She's in love with you! She wants you! If nothing else, the very fact that it bothers me so much should make you tell her to back off regardless of how you view the relationship. But you don't and you won't."

"I made my wife a promise I'd look after her."

"Does that mean she has to live in your house and come on dates with us? That she can touch you however she wants in front of me? For god's sake, Dominic, she's thirty years old , doesn't have a job and lives off of you. She's like your de facto wife."

"I don't feel that way toward her. It doesn't matter how she acts toward me if I don't return those feelings."

"It matters to me," I said softly and dammit! I could feel my eyes getting teary. "How you felt tonight is how I always feel around her. And you don't do anything about it. How do you think I feel when you drop me off after we go out and you go home with her?"

"Finland, you're asking me to choose between the two of you and that's not going to happen because it doesn't need to happen. You can both be in my life. It's strictly platonic with her, but I made my wife a promise on her deathbed that I'd always take care of Cami. I'm all the family she has. You need to stop being so jealous of her."