Page 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Mikah

We reach the mall, and Dominic pulls into the parking garage, which is huge. I’ve never been here before. Malls aren’t my thing. I’ve been to some over the years, mostly when I was younger to hang out with friends, but I’ve never been to this one. Malls are places to blow money aimlessly, and that’s my least favorite thing to do.

It takes five minutes of driving up a bunch of levels in the lot to find an open spot. He pulls in and we get out, rounding the car to head inside. His hand is on my throat, shoving me against the car before I get too far. I’m bent backwards over the trunk, which isn’t very comfortable.

Dominic leans in close and says, “What’s wrong, Mikah? Not so cocky when I can fight back?”

I roll my lips between my teeth to hide my smile.

“You like being a brat, don’t you? You really enjoy getting a rise out of me. Getting punished? ”

I nod slowly, my dick getting hard.

“Good,” is all he says before leaning in to kiss me.

Then he’s off me and offering me his hand. I take it and we walk into the mall like we just had the most normal trip here. Like I don’t have a belly full of his cum, and my throat isn’t tingling where he was just choking me. We step into the mall, walking down a wide hallway until we reach the main area.

“Holy shit,” I mutter, looking around.

Ahead of us is a railing. I walk to it, making sure I don’t crash into anyone, since this place is packed. With my hands on the cool metal, I look down.

“Whoa,” I breathe out. “We’re, what? Five stories up?”

“Yeah,” Dominic says from behind me. I look at him over my shoulder, narrowing my eyes. He’s a good five feet away—maybe more.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of heights.”

“Fine. I won’t,” he says nonchalantly.

“You’re afraid of heights,” I comment, turning around and resting my butt against the railing.

He lunges toward me, stopping short. “You really shouldn’t lean on that like that. What if it breaks?”

I look over my shoulder, down to the bottom floor, then back at him.

“I’d die for sure.”

He grits his teeth, snatching my arm and pulling me away. We nearly bump into a group of teenagers, but they don’t even notice. They’re too busy looking at their phones and laughing with each other.

“Don’t fuck around like that,” Dominic growls under his breath, his hand sweaty as he grips my arm tighter.

“It’s cute that you care,” I say, sliding my hand free of his grip so we can link our fingers.

“What’s going to be cute is you begging me to let you come later—and me telling you no.”

My stomach does a flip and my lips part. The look on his face tells me he isn’t joking, and I’m really in for it later. After getting myself all worked up in the car, even he won’t be able to stop me from coming quickly. I came hands free just from him massaging my prostate that first time. Wouldn’t doubt it to happen again today after all this.

We walk through the mall, dodging running children and teenagers paying attention to their phones instead of where they’re going.

The mall is way too busy for my liking, not a single area free of people. The stores are as swamped, as are the walkways. The noise level is outrageous with screaming, laughing, chattering, phones ringing, and mixes of music that don’t go together. Don’t get me started on the scents—some of the stores overdo it to the point my eyes water when I pass by.

“God, that’s awful,” I say as we walk by a candle store.

“So glad you’re not one of those people,” Dominic says.

“Same. ”

When we get to the end of the building, Dominic turns into a small store that is not as busy as the others. It doesn’t smell awful, and the soft instrumental music playing is nice on my ears.

“Dominic Blake, is that you?” A short, pudgy man with grey hair and a mustache waddles over, holding his arms out. Dominic slips his hand free of mine to go to the man and hug him. “ E’ passato troppo tempo. ”

“I know, I’m sorry.” The man pulls away from the hug, but keeps his hands on Dominic’s arms, smiling up at him. “Edward, this is Mikah, my boyfriend.”

He turns to face me, so I walk to him and offer my hand. Edward brings his gaze to me, his smile not faltering even a little.

“Boyfriend, huh?” He chuckles, pushing my hand aside and pulling me in for a hug. My eyes widen, finding Dominic. He gives me a shrug and an apologetic look. “What can I do for you boys? You’re looking for a suit? You getting married?”

I bark out a disbelieving sound, causing Dominic to frown.

“No, not getting married,” he says flatly, keeping his eyes on me. He blinks, then looks at Edward. “We do need suits for a special occasion, though. I’m up for an award.”

“ Veramente? è vero? Che emozione! ”

Dominic chuckles at Edward’s excitement. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s get to work.”

Edward stares at Dominic the way a proud father would look at his child.

Who is this guy ?

Edward moves to the back of the store, waving for us to follow.

“You speak Italian and didn’t tell me?” I whisper to him as we go.

“I understand it. Well, some. I do not speak it.” He raises a brow. “Why? Would that be hot?”

“Hell yes,” I say.

He grins, taking my hand.

Edward shows us a few different styles of suits and different colors that pair well together. We go back and forth but eventually decide on something we both like. We go with a black and burgundy color theme. Dominic’s is all black, while mine is burgundy. Both have satin peak lapels. To keep things casual but elegant, we go with an open jacket and a vest—both black—with white shirts, and black ties and shoes.

The only bit of color he goes with is the burgundy pocket square. I, of course, go with a black one, and we look pretty damn amazing—separately and together.

Edward takes his time getting our measurements, ensuring the suits will be perfect and fit exactly how we want. This was after he asked us how we like our fit, of course. Both of us wear them similarly, tailored snug, which is more the style nowadays. Especially for people in our line of work. Showing off everything is sort of an expectation.

Dominic refuses to let me pay for anything, but I get a glimpse of what it costs and almost pass out. Four digits? !

“So, how do you know Edward?” I ask as we leave the store, taking his hand again. I don’t miss the looks we get from people. Most are curious, a few have looked disgusted, and then there was the one couple who looked intrigued.

“He was my neighbor when I was a kid. Great guy. His wife died a few years before my mother, and he didn’t have any kids. Just kept to himself. My mother invited him over for the holidays and he became like an uncle or something. Back then, he was doing this out of his house. Now look at him.”

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

“He always wants to give me discounts and shit for free, but I refuse. He needs the money more than I do, I’m sure.” Dominic leads the way back the way we came, dodging people with practiced ease. “It’s not fair, you know?”

“What’s not fair?” I ask as we step onto the escalator, going down. I guess we’re going somewhere else in this giant mall before leaving.

“How I hardly have to work to make so much money, and he works his ass off just to make ends meet.”

“Tell me about it,” I comment. “Thought about that so much when I was a kid. It was never fair. It made me angry and resentful.”

“I felt that way for a long time, too. Angry at the world and everything I was dealt.”

We step off the escalator, go around the railing and step onto another. We’re going down again.

“How did you get over it?” I ask .

I trust Dominic’s opinion. We’re very different, though complimentary in a way, I suppose. Our upbringings have enough similarities that we can understand the other. We struggled with some of the same things. The biggest difference is that he had someone to lean on, someone to make things better, while I had someone who made it all worse.

“I just… woke up one day and realized my mother wouldn’t want me to be angry my whole life. She’d want me to make the best of what I had. So, I took a good hard look at what I did have, and it turns out, it wasn’t so bad. My foster family was great. Emmet was always accepting of me, even though I was a pain in the ass. And his parents took me in when they didn’t have to. Foster parents, the good ones, are a special breed of people. I appreciate the hell out of them for what they did for me. I know a lot of people out there don’t get as lucky as I did, which… is still unfair. I know that. But I’m doing what I think is best for me, and that’s choosing to be grateful for my life and what I have.”

“Mind over matter,” I mutter.

“Basically.”

“As weird as it sounds, I struggle to control my mind. My thoughts. They’re overbearing at times.” I glance at him, holding his gaze as we step off the moving stairs and move down the walkway. Though there are hundreds of people here, the noise still crazy, it’s only him and I and this conversation. “But you somehow quiet that voice. You make my mind calm. I don’t have to think. Mostly during sex, but it’s… starting to bleed over. You make doing things, scary things, things that I thought I ha ted, easy . And that is…” I blow out a breath, not knowing what to say.

Dominic brings our joined hands to his mouth, kissing my knuckles.

“That’s a good thing.” He says it like he’s trying to convince me, but I already know it’s a good thing. That voice in my head? Maybe not so much. So maybe that’s what he’s trying to convince.

“Yeah, it is,” I say as we come upon a food court. It’s huge, with at least thirty different options. There are a ton of different cuisines, fast food, junk food… everything. This place is overwhelming, but it’s pretty damn cool. The best part is I won’t have to decide what to eat from all these choices. Dominic already knows where we’re going, and likely what we’re going to eat. He’s amazing like that.

“Italian?” I ask when we get in line.

“Thought it was fitting.” He kisses my cheek, his lips lingering for a moment. “Go find us a table. I’ll be there shortly.”

Biting my lip, I smile at him and turn toward all the tables and chairs. It’s early for lunch in my opinion, but suitable for some people. Besides, pizza sounds great.

I take a step toward the large windows but then change my mind when I remember Dominic is afraid of heights. We’re still pretty high up. I find a table not too far, sit, and wait for him to find me. When he gets to the table, he has one of those buzzer things with a small blinking blue light .

“When we’re done here, we’re going down another floor for dessert. Then we can head home.”

“Dessert, huh?” I ask.

He scoots his chair closer to me, so we’re sitting on the same side of the table. He grasps my chin and pulls me in for a kiss.

“Only the best for my baby.”

“You’re…” I breathe out a sigh, unsure of what I want to say. It’s hard to put these emotions into words. I’m feeling them way too much. Right in my chest. I’m terrified of what that means.

The device buzzes, causing me to jolt.

With a lingering smile, Dominic gets to his feet to get our food. I’m unable to tear my eyes from him as he goes. Until I spot two guys, maybe a little younger than me, standing close to him and pointing, whispering to one another.

Do they…

Before I can ask myself the question, one of them goes up to Dominic and taps him on the shoulder. His eyes are slightly narrowed, and there’s a small smile on his lips. The guy asks Dominic something, who smiles and nods, running his hand through his hair.

The younger guy laughs, then says something to his friend, who says something to Dominic. He nods and the first guy pulls his phone from his pocket, and they both get close to him. He puts his arms around them.

He puts his arms around them.

That doesn’t feel so good. It’s innocent, and right in front of me, but I don’t like it. Don’t like that they’re touching him, so close they can smell him. They’re feeling him, and they’re probably going to tell everyone all about it. How firm his body is, how good he smelled, how tall and hot he is.

He’s mine.

They take a selfie, or five, then they each hug him. It’s quick, and nothing to be mad about… so why are my hands clenched so hard my nails are digging into my palms? Why is the blood rushing in my ears?

The younger guys walk off, and Dominic moves to the counter, handing over the buzzer. A moment later, he’s given a pizza box with two 20 oz bottles of soda. He gets back to the table and sits, like that whole thing didn’t just happen.

I blink at him, watching as he slides a bottle toward me. He hands me a few napkins, then spins the box so he can open it.

He groans happily, inhaling the scent of cheese, tomato sauce, and fresh herbs.

“I love pizza.” He looks up at me, smiling, but that smile quickly falls. “What’s wrong?”

I don’t know what to say. I know what’s wrong, but I don’t know why. I know what I’m feeling, but it’s embarrassing because it shouldn’t be happening.

Why the hell am I feeling so possessive of him? Over an innocent thing that happened with two fans. People who possibly pay him, who make it so he makes money. Who keeps his business alive.

Two people who have probably seen his dick and all the guys he’s fucked .

The guys who aren’t you.

“Mikah, what is wrong?” Dominic asks again, this time more firmly.

I blink, my eyes burning.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

We just had a threesome, and I’m over here nearly crying over something so stupid?

I reach for the soda, twisting the cap off and bringing it to my lips. He grabs my wrist, stopping me.

“Baby, tell me what is wrong before I start to freak out.” His tone is gentler now, soothing.

I shake my head. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I just…” My gaze drifts back to where he was standing when those guys were all over him. “I don’t know why that bothered me.”

He sighs an understanding sound. “What is bothering you about it?” he asks, taking my hand.

“All of it, but I don’t know why. It was nothing, and this is stupid, but I… can’t help but feel like I want to murder those guys.” I pitch my voice up a bit toward the end, so he knows I’m kidding. I mean, I kind of am. I wouldn’t actually kill them.

Dominic grips my face, forcing me to look at him.

“Your jealousy is sexy, Mikah. You already know I like it, but I promise you, that wasn’t what it was about. Not this time. Not without your consent. ”

“I know that,” I admit.

“Are you sure?”

I nod. “Definitely.”

“Then why are you so upset?”

“Because I don’t understand why it bothered me so much. Especially after everything with Storm.”

He nods. “I get that. It’s okay. I’m not mad, and I promise you have nothing to worry about with those guys or any other guys. You do know that, right?”

“Yeah.”

He searches my face. “Well, just to be on the safe side, we’re going to talk about this later. Right now, we’re going to eat. Then I’m going to get us the best brownies you’ve ever eaten in your life.”

I smile at the thought of chocolate, and him taking care of me.

“That sounds great.”

He smirks, letting go of my face and pulling off a slice of pizza that he hands me.

It’s the best pizza I’ve ever had. We demolish the entire thing, and with full bellies, go down to stuff ourselves with some brownies.