The Plan

Chapter 9: Distractions

Dominik adjusted the collar of his Palm Angels button up, it suddenly feeling like it was suffocating him. Or maybe it was just he himself who was feeling suffocated with Liv in the passenger seat who hadn't stopped talking since they got in the car.

He mastered the art of tuning her out by now, throwing in "mhm"'s and "oh yeah?"s every once in a while so she would think he was listening. She was telling him about a movie she wanted him to watch by telling the entire plot in excruciating detail.

God he couldn't wait to get the restaurant, leave it to him to pick somewhere damn near thirty minutes away.

Dominik let out a small sigh to himself as he gripped the steering wheel tighter, he knew he was in for a long night.

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Rhea felt like she was in high school again trying to hide a hickey from her parents as she sat crisscrossed on the floor with a bag of ice on her neck for the third time today to speed up the healing process of the, now, light purple bruise that adorned her skin.

She needed it gone by the next show, and ultimately to keep a low profile and keep people out of her business for a little bit after Dominik's blow up. Rhea was well aware that Liv and Finn had seen it, but that was the least of her worries.

Glancing at her phone, she checked the time again.

7:22

Rhea sighed to herself. Dominik was out on his date with Liv and it was making her mind restless. She wanted to know where he was taking her. Was he wearing his white button up he always wore when he wanted to look nice? Was he taking her somewhere fancy? What would they even talk about all night? Her?

"Ughhhhh!" She groaned, tossing the bag of ice beside her and flopping back against the carpet.

Bad Blood couldn't get here fast enough. Rhea was getting sick of this whole charade and her impatience was starting to get the best of her. Staring up at the ceiling, her thoughts began to race. Just trying to keep up with everything was getting exhausting; from making sure Liv was distracted and oblivious with Dominik, to ensuring Damian would have the upper hand over Finn, finding a way for Jey to pull off the heist of the century and somehow defeat Bron.

She wanted to pull her hair out.

It was like the more she tried to control everything, the less control she actually had, there were too many moving pieces, too many factors that could go drastically wrong.

Dominik went from being her ace in the hole to a wildcard. He was surprising her more and more each day as he became more assertive, more menacing and crafty, more meticulous. He was becoming her, and Rhea was no longer sure if that was a good or bad thing.

What if this date just pushes him right into Liv's arms?

Just the thought made her jump to her feet. She had to get out of this room before she drove herself crazy with her thoughts of Dominik and the stupid ass date he was on. So she did her makeup, making sure to cover up the faded purple mark, got dressed and left the room to find a distraction.

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Dominik had taken Liv to the nicest place in the city they were in that he could find that had chicken tenders on the menu. It was some overpriced gastropub that had award winning plant based burgers, which to him, sounded like a crime in itself.

Their drinks however were good, really good. Dominik was already on his second one as they waited for their food to arrive. He needed something to take the edge off so he wouldn't find Liv's presence so...grating. In all honesty, she wasn't that bad, she just wasn't the type of company he preferred to keep.