𝑻 𝑯 𝑬 𝑵 𝑨 𝑵 𝑵 𝒀 (18+)

fifty-nine

A M A R A

Dominic's face softened in a way that made me think he felt bad for me. Actually, I didn't have to think it—I knew he felt bad for me but I didn't want sympathy. I just wanted to make things right. Looking past me he reached a hand out, "Come back home with me tonight."

Six words and every wall I'd built between us came crumbling down. He had a bad habit of making it sound like my name was on the deed to the house. Like I belonged there with him. It made me anxious, it made me sweaty and most of all it made me feel incredibly guilty.  

He knew it too which was why he insisted on calling his house our home and continued to call me baby as of late. He was all in and he'd always been all in. Everything else aside, he deserved my transparency because he'd never been anything but patient and honest with me.

I raised a brow and he spoke again before I could respond. "Not for any other reason than to talk to them. Do you really think now is a good time to hash all of this out? If you come back to the house with me we can work this out and put it behind us once and for all." His jaw tensed as his sentence ended with the same finality I'd spoken with last night. What we were putting behind us I wasn't sure. The mess we and his ex-wife created or this makeshift relationship as a whole?

I crossed my arms at my chest and nodded. It was a better option than what I had in mind and if I kept going back and forth with him I was afraid I'd scare him away for good and I didn't want that. "So what am I supposed to do? Pretend like I don't see them for the rest of the night?"

He laughed, "Josh will certainly pretend like he doesn't see you."

I punched him in the arm and his expression evened into a smile, "That isn't funny! I've been sick over this for weeks."

"Let me take your mind off of it then."

I narrowed my eyes.

"You're in the gutter tonight Mar," he flicked my chin before taking a step away from me. "Dan has a pool table in the basement, I'm thinking best two out of three?"

"I'm not very good at pool," I shrugged my shoulders. Luis tried to teach whenever we went out together but he wasn't the most patient so I couldn't be bothered. "I'll teach you how to play," He responded with a slight head tilt.

"You just want to give yourself a chance to beat me," I rolled my eyes.

"There's no stakes Amara, unless you want to make a wager?"

I shouldn't have agreed but the smirk on his face was too enticing to ignore. "I'm listening."

"If I win, you tell me what you told my parents."

"And if I win?" I raised a brow.

"That's up to you, Amara. What do you want?"

♥

Dominic beat me at pool.

An unsurprising victory but one that still bruised my ego no less. I knew he wouldn't make me say anything I didn't want to even if it was owed to him. That was why I wasn't surprised when he packed everything up and requested we go upstairs when the game was finished. Grabbing his wrist, I stopped him forcing him to turn to face me. He looked down at me with soft eyes making all the courage I'd gained in the last few seconds disappear. I swallowed and Dominic brought a hand to my chin, brushing his thumb back and forth against my heated skin.

"You want me to say it for you?" He leaned in closer brushing his thumb against my bottom lip, "I will if you want me to. As many times as you want until you believe me. Until you say it back."