The Dominator (51 page)

I wondered what would happen next, how Tommy would get to the truth. I also wondered how I’d cope with the fact that the man I was about to marry was the son of a man that might have been the reason my mother was taken from me.

When I got ready to go to bed I put on the blue and white checked shirt that was on the chair beside the bed. He’d worn that before I gave him the massage. I picked it up and put my nose to it. It smelled like fabric softener and it smelled like his aftershave and it was comforting to smell it. I fell asleep with the sleeve against my nose, absorbing the smell, wishing my nose was against him. I didn’t know if he’d gone out or if he was in another part of the house but he clearly wanted space so I just turned out the light and climbed under the thick fluffy duvet sniffing the sleeve and imagining he was beside me.

Just as I started to drift off, I heard him come in and then I heard the shower turn on.  When he got into bed a few minutes later he didn’t touch me, didn’t reach for me. I crawled over and put my head on his chest and my palm over his heart.   He still didn’t touch me. He just laid there. The tension in the air was so thick.

I rubbed my hand up and down his chest and touched his skin with my lips and snuggled in. He let out a sigh.

“Tommy?” I whispered.

He didn’t answer me.

“I’m here for you,” I said.

“Yeah?” he whispered.

“Yeah,” I draped a leg over his and rubbed the sole of my foot up and down his calf.

“Tia,” his voice was laced with warning.

“I’m yours, baby. Take what you need,” I said and trailed my hand down toward his waist. He caught my wrist before I reached my goal.

“Fuck, baby. You don’t know what you’re offering.” He shifted me off of him and put his hands over his face.

“I do. I can take it,” I said huskily, “Be your cock slave…” I moved back over and started to tongue his nipple.

“Athena, I’m good. Go to sleep.”

“Tommy, I can take it. If you don’t release it now it’ll get worse and it could be more than I can handle, I’m here for you, let’s play a game, I---”

He put his hand over my mouth, “I just spent 2 hours beating a punching bag to a pulp so that you don’t have to deal with it instead. I am fine. Go to sleep.”

He took his hand off my mouth.

“Tommy---”

His hand came back over my mouth and stayed there.

After a few minutes he lifted it.

I didn’t say anything.  He pulled me against him and I kissed his chest and eventually fell asleep with my nose against his skin.

Tommy

What has she become? Some armchair psychiatrist who thinks she knows how to keep me from going overboard? I could’ve shown her that she hasn’t a fucking clue how bad it could get, that it could get even worse than it did in Vegas, but I didn’t wanna hurt her,  don’t want her to think she’s in over her head with me --- especially after I’d already almost broken her. I had my head together enough that I wasn’t looking to inflict anything on anyone. What I
was
craving was finding out the answers I needed. Even if her offer did make me as hard as a fucking rock.

Did my father kill Carlita O’Connor? Did he kill Joe Trulia? What about Earl’s son Michael? What else was going on here?  And what the fuck should I do about it?

Tia

I was alone when I woke up. There was a text on the iPhone.

“Gone out for a bit to take care of some things. I’ll meet you at Pop’s for dinner. Jimmy will pick you up and drive you. Be ready @5. Say nothing about what we discussed last night to anyone. Xo”

Well duh.

I wrote back,

“Okay. <3 You. Xoxo”

Pop’s for Sunday dinner? Oh boy. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t getting us out of it with what was going on.

I stayed busy getting things done around the house. Sarah would be back either tonight or tomorrow and I didn’t want her to have to come back to dusting and vacuuming and laundry so I made sure that everything was done.

Nino was on the grounds with another guy, that Dex. I looked at the big biker-looking Nino and wondered about this cousin of mine, his wife. I wondered if they had kids. I wondered if I had other family. I wondered if they all knew about me or not. I pondered the things my father had said, about how losing my Mom hurt our connection. I knew it did. He was so broken after her. And did he blame me? Maybe he did. He was always so fascinated with the mafia, though. Surely that was odd under the circumstances. And he was still trying to get a job with Tommy. Clearly he wasn’t against the idea of living in that ‘life’. It was perplexing. He sold me out instead of trying to protect me. He was saving his own ass. And now he was trying to profit from my misery. Well, I guess it wasn’t misery anymore but it had been and he didn’t know if I was happy or if I was in my own personal hell and yet he was trying to get a job with Tommy!

I baked a glazed lemon Bundt cake to bring to the dinner and had it ready when James knocked on the front door. No one had been wandering around inside the house since we’d been back from Vegas. I knew they used the staff quarters but the hall door off the kitchen was left locked. Tommy had said they had keys for emergencies but had been instructed to give us our privacy. Earlier that day I’d gotten James to get me the ingredients at the store per Tommy’s instructions if I needed anything.

He carried the cake to the car and drove me the short drive to Tom and Lisa’s. It was a short drive, thankfully, so our awkward efforts at small talk didn’t have to last too long.

I plastered a smile on my face as I went inside because the first person I laid my eyes on was Tommy’s father. He was standing in the doorway ready to greet us,

“What’s this?” He smiled at me but his smile twitched almost nervously as he eyed the cake in my hands.

“Lemon Bundt cake,” I said with a sweet smile.

His expression dropped. This was my mother’s recipe. Clearly by his reaction he’d had it before. It was the only thing she cooked that didn’t make the person eating it look for the nearest dog or potted plant (some dogs had even looked for potted plants!) and she’d made it for every occasion. It was a just a store-bought lemon cake mix with lemon Jell-O pudding added into the box recipe. Then it was glazed with icing sugar mixed with lemon juice. 

“You don’t like lemon cake?” I asked innocently, a mask firmly in place.

He was pale for a split second and then seemed to recover, “Can’t wait to try it. Sounds great. Take it to the kitchen, girls are in there.” He kissed my cheek as I passed him.

The girls were in fine form. Luc was the size of a ranch style bungalow and eating cheese as Tessa shredded it on top of garlic bread.  Lisa was chopping cucumbers.

“How can I help?” I asked as I stepped in.

They all looked genuinely pleased to see me and bombarded me with,

• “How was Vegas?”
  
• “What have you two been hiding out or something?”
  
• “We have to get on with planning this wedding.”
  

I helped Lisa with the salad and then helped Tessa set the table. We (except Luc) drank a bottle and a half of wine together before Tommy and Dario arrived, which I was thinking was a good idea since I was in need of some liquid courage being around Tom. Tom, James, and Eddy sat in the family room with all four kids. There was a debate over what they’d all watch. Disney movie or some rugby game.

Luc’s girls were adorable, Katrina and Serena (Luc joked that when she wanted them to come she’d just holler “Rina!”) and they were dressed exactly the same in little white with red polka dot sundresses with their dark curly ringlets up in pigtails. They sat on the floor playing with the boys’ toy cars. They were so cute. Tessa’s boys, Antonio and Lucas, were cute, too. Both of them sat on James’ lap like angels. Finally Tom settled the “big kids” down by putting the Disney video on the big screen and giving the Dads a tablet to watch together for their game.

Tommy and Dario turned up together, just as the food was being put out. Tommy swept me into his arms and gave me a very amorous hello with an old Hollywood style dip and a long wet kiss in front of his whole family. They all looked a bit gob smacked so I guessed they hadn’t seen this type of behavior out of him before.  Truthfully, I was, too. Last night he didn’t want to even touch me as we went to sleep.

He was sweet, attentive, and affectionate with me during the meal. The meal was nice. Everything was light and happy, and it was a nice meal. Tommy didn’t seem at all awkward with his father.
I
felt awkward but tried to push it away.

When dessert was served, Tessa, Lisa, and Eddy were all going on and on about my cake. When Tommy’s father was served a piece he stared at it for a long time before taking a bite. I tried not to look at him while he tasted it. I tried. But I couldn’t help it. His eyes, as he chewed, went far away for a second. Then he caught me looking and our eyes locked and fuck but I think he knew. I think he knew right then and there that I’d made that cake knowing something about their past. I saw something dark and sinister pass over his expression and I knew I had to switch gears pretty darn quick to make sure I didn’t give myself away, “Do you like it?” I asked, giving him a big smile.

He licked his lips, “It’s very good.” He said this softly. He was assessing me, trying to see through my act. I wasn’t about to let him; I couldn’t mess this up. I nonchalantly leaned over and put a forkful up to Tommy’s mouth. Tommy had been talking to Eddy across the table about a restaurant Eddy managed for the family. He stopped mid-sentence and made eye contact with me and then accepted the bite and then I kissed him on the mouth and totally ignored his father. My heart hammered in my chest; I prayed he bought it. I didn’t look back to him for a good 20-30 seconds, just fixed my eyes on Tommy’s eyes and Tommy seemed to totally
get
that I needed to keep eyes locked with him for as long as possible. When I did, Tommy’s father was talking to Lisa animatedly with his hands and paying no attention to me.

I settled down and Tommy must’ve read me. Tommy’s lips brushed mine and then he whispered in my ear, “What is it?”

I whispered, “Can we go soon? I can’t get into it now but I’m having trouble keeping it together.”

“We’ll finish the coffee and then I’ll get us out of here,” he whispered back and kissed me on the lips again and pulled me closer.

“Fuck, you two; get a room!” That was Luc.

“Oh, jealous bitch,” Tessa told her, then explained, “She’s got placenta praevia so orders of no sex from her doc. She’s getting a bit bitchy.”

Eddy started to laugh, “Yeah, and she’s like a big horny cat in heat walking around clawing at everyone who’s getting any. The only thing I can do to calm her down is keep feeding her.”

Everyone started to laugh, including Luciana, and then Luc swatted her husband, “Watch out or this cat’ll act like a praying mantis and gnaw your head off after the next time you get lucky, especially if this isn’t a boy!”

“Notice she said ‘after’ the next time I get lucky? Hey, at least she wants it one more time before she whacks me,” Eddy laughed and that got the room roaring with laugher.

A few minutes later, Tommy looked at his phone and then put his napkin on the table and took my hand and stood, “Sorry kids, but something’s come up. We gotta fly.”

“Oh, I wanted to help clean up,” I said innocently. Tommy winked at me, “Sorry, baby girl. Duty calls.”

Lisa waved her hand, “Don’t worry. It’s covered. You were a great help setting up. But when can we talk about your wedding?”

“We’re postponing it a bit,” Tommy said nonchalantly, swiping his phone as he pulled me along, “Plenty of time for that.” He started to make his way around the table, kissing all the girls on their cheeks and shaking hands with back slaps or fist bumping with each of the guys.

I tried not to show my surprise.  Everyone else seemed surprised, too, especially Tommy’s father.

“Thank you guys so much for dinner and the great company,” I said cheerily.

One by one I got kisses and hugs as we got out of there.  Tommy’s father whispered to Tommy for a second before letting go of him. Tommy seemed like he was trying to wave whatever the discussion was off as if it was no big deal. I accepted an awkward hug from him and then when Tommy grabbed my hand I was happy to be getting out of there.

When we got in his jeep I tried to explain the Bundt cake snafu. Tommy was a little pissed, told me I had to be careful not to tip our hand while he figured things out, but seemed like he understood.

“Why are we postponing the wedding?” I asked.

He smiled at me, “I’d have thought you’d be relieved at that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tia, you’ve made no secret of the fact that you thought we were moving too fast. I don’t want that all in the midst of everything I’m trying to sort out. We’ll figure that out after. When I get married I want to be focused 100% on my bride and nothing else.”

I don’t know if my heart sank or soared right there. It sounded sweet but maybe he was having second thoughts about us amid everything he was figuring out. It sounded silly of me because of all the worries I had but the idea he might be unsure about us was unsettling.