Dark Sand

19 - Submit to me...

Our date had finished on Portsdown hill with a shared bag of chips and the lights of Portsmouth spread out before us. We were just talking but I could already feel an obsession growing. I couldn't stop thinking about the effect Dominic had had on me all the next day. I cancelled my booking with a client, knowing they wouldn't have my full attention and I'd rather cancel than give them a bad experience.

I was glad I had when Sand messaged me early that evening.

[Have dinner with me tonight. Don't you dare say no to me this time.]

[Demanding, aren't you? I suppose I have nothing better to do. When?]

[Now. I'm outside.]

Christ, this man. I went to my bedroom window and peered out of the curtain. There was a black car waiting on the road.

[What would you have done if I had said no?]

[Wait, until you said yes.]

I rolled my eyes and hurried to the bathroom to wash and change out of my pyjamas which I'd been bumming around in all day.

[You won't mind waiting while I change then]

[I said I would wait, I didn't say I wouldn't mind.]

[Sorry, not sorry]

[You're very confident for someone who is about to get into a car with someone they barely know.]

I thought about that statement for a while. I suppose I wasn't being very careful. I would let the other three know where I was going before I left the house. They had quizzed me all morning about my date with Sand. I hadn't left anything out, except perhaps how forceful he had been in the soft play area. It would have been too hard to convey how sexy it was without it sounding rapey. They had to be on the receiving end of it to truly understand how the mild fear I had at being Dominic's prey, only served to fuel my desire for him.

[Says the man who carried a condom around with him on a first date]

I added the disapproving, monocled emoji to the end of the message.

[I like to be prepared. And I didn't hear you complaining.]

[Actually, I'm pretty sure you did]

[I think I know the difference by now.]

Not for the first time, I wondered if he would have stopped had I been insistent and tried to push him away. I had to believe that he would, otherwise I wouldn't be willing to get into the car with him, on his terms this time.

I came to realise - much too late - that it was the threat of Dominic's darkness going that far which had pushed me closer to him. I especially realised this when I remembered my reaction to his next message. Where I should have been locking my doors and windows and hiding under my bed, I instead opened them wide and trust fell from the second floor.

[You have five minutes more of my patience before I climb in through your window, fling you over my shoulder and drag you out kicking and screaming in front of your neighbours.]

***

"So, you're a dominant then?" I asked as we drove to dinner, being blunt and wanting it all out on the table before this went any further.

I had considered making Dominic wait ten minutes but sensed his threat was quite serious and didn't think Julie, Clarissa and Tianna would appreciate the police being called to the house after our nosy neighbour saw the commotion. The three of them had watched out of the window as I left, wanting to see what the fuss was about with this man.