Young Retribution

III

I'd never felt so much disdain in a single room. After the unintended meet and greet between Paisley and Dominick, my roommate decided to skip her afternoon classes and stay home. She's been going out of her way to never allow Dominick to be in the room alone with me, let alone even sit next to me. I'm honestly surprised he hasn't snapped yet, but from the tenseness in his shoulders, she was starting to get to him.

The sudden sound of a ringtone shattered the awkward silence. Dominick grabbed his phone from his back pocket, looked at the screen, and then politely excused himself from the room. I waited till I heard the front door close and then faced my roommate.

"You don't need to babysit me, Paisley."

"I'm not babysitting you. I'm babysitting him."

"You're pissing him off."

"If he doesn't like it, he can leave."

"Why are you being so rude?"

"Cause I don't like him."

"You don't know him."

"He comes to our home in the middle of the night, sleeps in your room, and then makes you breakfast, which he did shirtless for some reason. That man is trying to get back into your life. I like Tanner. A lot. He treats you like you're his whole world. He's one of the kindest men I've ever met. Sometimes I'm even jealous that you found a man like him. That man," she paused for effect, "Is bad news. Since I first walked into the kitchen and saw you, you've been tense. I know it's not because you got caught cheating.You're body was practically screaming for distance between you and him. You don't want him near me. Hell, you don't even want him near you. I'm also going to go ahead and guess that you not telling him about Tanner was because you don't want him to go near him either. All of that alone tells me one thing, Cali: that man needs to get the hell out of our home.

"Paisley, I really wish-" The front door opened and closed bringing my words to a halt. Dominick stopped in the doorway of the living room and gave us both a soft smile.

"You don't have any plans today, do you Cal?"

I shook my head no. Not like it mattered though. I'd tell him I was free even if I did.

"Apparently one of my old buddies is in town. He wanted to meet up. Wanna join?"

"Sure." I said a little too quickly. Paisley gave me a look but I ignored it. "Just let me grab my purse." I ran upstairs and grabbed my cashmere colored Kate Spade Laurel Way Reese handbag. Knowing that the man he was meeting was not going to be a normal buddy, I grabbed the pepper spray that my mom had sent me from my desk drawer and dropped it into the bottom of the bag. I also made the decision to swap out my leggings for a pair of tight, black, high waisted jeans, and added a pair of dangling opal earrings. Dominick always liked me dressed on the better end. Might as well please the bastard in the sake of him not making me sit through something I find uncomfortable.

By the time I made it back downstairs, the car was started and Dominick was waiting by the front door texting someone on his cell phone. Paisley was leaning against the kitchen doorway, an unhappy look being clearly shown. I gave her my own apologetic look, but quickly changed it into a smile when Dominick looked up.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

I nodded my head and then followed him outside and into the black Cadillac that was sitting silently on the street. Like before, he opened my door for me and then closed it once I was seated comfortably. He moved quickly around the front and climbed in himself as I put my seatbelt on. Once he was situated, we pulled out onto the road and headed towards the highway.

We'd just hit the ramp when I felt a familiar pressure on my inner left thigh. My eyes naturally dropped down to my legs, and sure enough his hand was right where it would always go whenever we would drive somewhere.