Sins of Dominion

Chapter 16: A Dangerous Dance

Evelyn

The days following that intense encounter with Dominic were a blur. I tried to focus on my classes, on anything that wasn’t him, but it was impossible. His presence lingered in my mind, a constant reminder of the dangerous dance we were caught in. Each night, I replayed our moments together, and I couldn’t help but crave more, even though I knew the risk.

The fog that had settled over the campus finally lifted, but the clarity it brought only served to amplify the confusion in my heart. I felt like I was teetering on the edge of a precipice, and one wrong move would send me plummeting into an abyss I wasn’t sure I could escape from.

And then there was Isabella. Her warnings echoed in my mind, cold and sharp, reminding me of the danger I was in. But I couldn’t heed them, couldn’t turn away from Dominic. There was something about him, something magnetic and irresistible, that kept pulling me back in, no matter how hard I tried to resist.

The days passed in a haze of tension, my emotions a tangled mess of desire, fear, and confusion. I barely spoke to anyone, even Carter, who kept checking in on me, concerned about the distance I had put between us. I wanted to talk to him, to let him in on what was happening, but I knew it was too dangerous. The less he knew, the safer he would be.

It wasn’t until the end of the week that I saw Dominic again.

It was late afternoon, the sun low in the sky, casting a golden glow over the campus. I had just finished my last class of the day and was heading back to my dorm when I spotted him leaning against a tree near the courtyard, his arms crossed over his chest, his expression unreadable.

My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him, and I froze, my breath catching in my throat. He was watching me with that same intense gaze, the one that made me feel like he could see right through me.

For a moment, I considered turning around, pretending I hadn’t seen him, but something in his eyes held me in place. There was a darkness there, but also something else—something that made my pulse quicken and my stomach twist with anticipation.

Slowly, I made my way over to him, my heart pounding in my chest with each step. The air between us seemed to thrum with tension, a palpable energy that only grew stronger the closer I got.

When I finally reached him, I stopped a few feet away, my hands trembling slightly at my sides. “Dominic,” I said softly, my voice betraying the mix of emotions swirling inside me—fear, desire, uncertainty.

He didn’t move, didn’t speak for a moment, just watched me with those dark, unreadable eyes. Then, finally, he pushed off the tree and closed the distance between us, his presence overwhelming, suffocating.

“Evelyn,” he murmured, his voice low and roughened by some emotion I couldn’t quite place. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

I opened my mouth to deny it, but the words caught in my throat. The truth was, I had been avoiding him, trying to put some distance between us, trying to make sense of the chaos he had stirred within me. But now that he was here, so close, all those defenses I had tried to build crumbled away, leaving me exposed and vulnerable.

“I needed time to think,” I admitted, my voice trembling. “I needed to figure out what this is.”

Dominic’s lips curled into a faint smile, but there was no humor in it. “And have you?”

I hesitated, unsure of what to say. The truth was, I hadn’t figured anything out. If anything, I was more confused than ever. I wanted him, needed him, but I was also terrified of what that meant, of what I might lose if I gave in completely.