Elemental Fear (7 page)

“I didn’t know you’d accepted
,” I interrupted, almost panicked. I covered my mouth when everyone turned to look at me.

“I haven’t
,” Dominic said, looking directly at me.

“He will
,” stated Vanessa, looking at me with serious venom in her eyes. “And we want you to be chief bridesmaid. Don’t worry, you can help pick out your dress. I won’t make you look a fool, although I do think I maybe have better taste in formal wear. ”

Elliott chuckled
. “Under the thumb already, little brother?”

“Piss off
!” snapped Dominic.

Vanessa curled herself around Dominic like a feline wrapping itself around its owner’s legs. “We love each other, he’s mine and I’m his. It’s bound to happen
, and I can wait.” She lifted her leg and wrapped it around his thigh.

It looked completely suffocating from where I was sitting
, not a seductive move at all. I turned my attention toward the TV and asked what film we were watching. I sat staring at the TV as if my life depended on knowing the intricate details of the film. But in truth, I hadn’t a clue what happened. My mind was completely pre-occupied with what Vanessa had said and certainly Dominic’s outburst in the kitchen. What with Elliott acting all Jekyll and Hyde, Vanessa the vixen no man could live without and Dominic acting all bristly and moody, my head was in a tailspin. The film lasted an eternity. Okay, so in reality, it was probably a couple of hours, but it felt like forever.

From my peripheral vision
, I could see Vanessa make sensual movements towards Dominic. Her hands caressed his chest; she kept lifting her face to nuzzle his neck. She even at one point slid her hand up his thigh to cup him through his trousers. I wanted to scream at her to leave him alone and keep her dirty little hands to herself. But what claim did I have? None. I was simply his pathetic best friend with an even more pathetic crush on him. Okay, so a crush at my age was ridiculous.

My only peak of slight joy was watching Dominic discreetly push her advances away. I turned to glance at Elliott and saw he was fast asleep, head thrown back over the back of the chair, mouth wide open
, softly snoring. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the loud house shaking snores would start. Glancing around the room to Dominic, I turned, locking eyes with the very man himself. He watched me, his jaw clenched. I could see the muscle working, twitching with the force of his bite. I offered a small smile, and his jaw relaxed slightly. Then the most amazing sight – he smiled back at me, and everything in my world made sense again.

At 11.30pm
, I decided to call it a night and return home.

“I’ll walk you home
,” Dominic offered quietly.

“She lives next door
,” Vanessa said incredulously.

“It’s still dark.”

“I'm okay, really.” I nodded and started for the door. Elliott never even stirred, and as suspected, his snores had gotten louder.

As I reached for the door handle
, I felt Dominic close behind me. Feeling his heat was like standing next to a roaring bonfire. His hand pressed gently on the small of my back, exerting slight pressure to propel me forward. As the door closed behind us, he inhaled a deep breath. “I'm sorry for being a dick earlier. I wasn’t mad at you...not really. I just, she won’t stop with the wedding crap, and it’s driving me insane.”

“She loves you, and like any women would be, she’s getting swept away by the romance and excitement of it all
. It’s one of the biggest days of a woman’s life,” I offered quietly.

He shook his head
, walking a little further down the driveway. “Well, I should feel more excited, and that alone tells me this is all wrong.”

I looked up at him
. He had stopped walking and had his head tilted back, looking up at the stars as if they would magically give him the answers. I followed his gaze and stared up at the beautifully black sky, shinning with twinkling little stars. Not bad for large luminous spherical plasma.

“Do you remember when you were five
, and you said you would marry me when you were older?” he said up to the night sky.

I let out a shocked laugh
. “Yeah, I had an almighty fit, as I recall.” I smiled, remembering my obsession with being a princess and him being my prince charming.

Dominic didn’t laugh or smile as I expected
. When I turned to look up at him, he simply spoke to the sky. “Why him, when I was the one? I wish...if I could wish upon a star, I would wish – “

“Dominic! What the hell are you doing
? It’s bloody freezing. Get back in here,” interrupted Vanessa from his front door. He let out a frustrated breath and walked past me to the end of the drive, turning to walk back up our drive. Why Alan had never put a gate in at the top of the drive so we didn’t have to do this trek, I’ll never know.

I quickly jogged to catch up to Dominic
, who was striding with purpose. “Dominic, what were you going to say?”

He shook his head
. “Doesn’t matter. Come on. Vanessa’s right, it is cold.”

I stopped walking, placing my hands on my hips and glared at him
. “No, tell me.”

“Oh
, fine. Stay out in the cold, then,” he snapped as he walked over to the dividing fence, placed his hands on top of it and quickly leapt over it as if it was a mere foot high instead of three feet high. He strode to his house, opened the door, went in and slammed it shut, leaving me in the dark cold night, praying I would eventually know the answer to his wish.

Elliott insisted on taking me to work to following day, saying it was part of him being a better boyfriend. He was beyond chipper this morning, mainly because he regaled me with the story of how Vanessa and Dominic had an almighty argument last night when I’d left the house. Apparently Vanessa didn’t like Dominic just abandoning her, and she thought he spoilt a fun night by being so grumpy. Elliott found it hilarious
. I found it...gut wrenching.

“Let’s go to The Beat tonight
. I hear it’s quite good there.”

I frowned
. “On a work night?”

“Yes
, on a work night, you big nerd.”

“But I thought...aren’t you expected back in Manchester?”

“For fuck’s sake, you always know how to kick a guy when he’s down. I’m trying to be romantic. I want to spend time with you. Stop trying to cause an argument.”

“Sorry
,” I whispered, turning to look out of the car window.

“So
, are we going or not?” he said impatiently.

I simply nodded; knowing only too well
that protesting was never a good option. I raced to the sanctuary of my office.

“Everything
okay, Eve?” Dominic said, walking through the door.

I smiled and nodded.

My day passed in a haze of strange happiness. Elliott didn’t come over to my house that night. I received a text from him saying he had to stay at the office late, which made me even happier****

The morning at work flew by
. Emily had called in sick, so I was manning Dominic’s desk for her as well as my own work. There were so many phone calls and appointments to check and make for Dominic that my head was spinning. I sat at her desk simply because my phone rang a lot less. As lunch approached, I wondered what delights I could look forward to from the deli. I hoped that tonight would be another night of freedom. My thoughts were interrupted by a text on my mobile.

Downstairs, come to take you to lunch. Hurry

My heart sank. I tapped my phone against my forehead. “Shit, Shit, Shit!”

“Eve?”

I’m sure I must have jumped a foot in the air at the sound of Dominic’s voice.

“Elliott’s downstairs. I’m going for my lunch
.” I brushed passed him, leaving him gawping at me from the office doorway.

I walked down the stairs into the foyer slowly. I felt like I was heading to the gallows. I caught
sight of him sitting proudly in a chair.

He stood and walked towards me, his sly grin spreading across his face. As he leant to kiss me
, he looked across at Lucinda and winked. He planted a cold kiss on my lips and stood to my side, wrapping his arm around my waist. I heard Lucinda’s heels clipping quickly away from her desk.

“What do you want for lunch
, Angel? Thai sound good?” His smile was sickening, and strangely, I felt angry at how he dared to humiliate me at my place of work.

“Why are you here?” I questioned. He squared himself up to me
, his face was millimeters from mine. I closed my eyes, waiting for the onslaught.

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing, I was just –“

“Watch your attitude. Are we going for lunch?”

I nodded. His resolution to try harder lasted less than forty eight hours, and I hadn’t even seen him during that time. I walked out of the foyer a little bemused at his attitude. Usually, I got a bit of a work up to his moods, but today he had arrived ready to battle.

“Good
. Now, make me happy for a change and stop being selfish.” He smiled again.

*****

I returned to my desk after a disastrous lunch. I hardly ate anything and I felt ravenous now, but it had come to the end of my lunch break, and I would look pretty strange walking into the office with a sub-roll after going to a Thai restaurant with Elliott. He had spent the entire hour criticising my weight, my clothes and admonishing me for my choice of food. The truth was I never had an appetite when he was around.

I smiled at Dominic as I settled behind my desk. It was a sight I had seen every weekday for the past year or so
, but he still managed to take my breath away. This was my sanctuary, being near him, knowing a few feet away was the love of my life. I powered my desktop up and looked through the paperwork I needed to sort through. Dominic threw the pen he had been chewing across the desk and put his hands behind his head and leant back into his chair. He looked away from his laptop screen and straight at me. I flushed with colour at being caught staring at him. A playful grin spread across his face, and I couldn’t help but smile back at him. He jumped to his feet and walked towards his door, his hands in his pockets as he sauntered across the hall, into my office, and perched himself on the edge of my desk.

“Did you enjoy your lunch
?” he asked, his voice laced with mischief.

“Erm...yeah, it was
okay.” I couldn’t tell him the truth. Never would he know the truth.

“I’m starving
.” He glanced at his watch. “Should be here any minute. Liam has done the chippy run.” He patted his firm stomach. “I can always work it off in the gym.”

My stomach groaned loudly
, and I swear he must have heard it. He tapped his hands on the side of my desk, smiled and left the office before I could say anything in reply. I sifted through my rucksack to see if I had a chocolate bar or anything in there. Nothing. I threw it to the floor in frustration. This was going to be torture.

Dominic sauntered back into the office, with a plate, cutlery and two steaming mugs balanced on it. “Made you a tea
,” he said and nodded to the cups.

I lifted my hand to take it
, but he smiled, turned and walked over to his office. “Hey, Evelyn,” Liam said as he walked past and into Dominic’s office.

“Hi
.” I smiled, staring at the white paper parcels under his arm. He passed them onto Dominic and walked back out with a nod in my direction.

I felt like a stray dog
, waiting to see if there would be any scraps. Get a grip.

“Eve, get in here
,” Dominic shouted rather harshly. I looked over at his office, frowning.

“Now!” his said impatiently.

I swallowed hard and meekly wandered towards his door. When I looked through the door, I smiled, a broad grin spread uncontrollably across my face.

“Sit
. You’re wasting away before my eyes.” He smiled, gesturing to the chair beside him before popping a chip into his mouth.

“But – “

“I could tell when you got back you hadn’t had enough to eat. So when I made our drinks I phoned Liam to bring you some.” He sat down and put another chip into his mouth.

He had put mine onto a plate with a knife and folk
while he ate his from the paper with his fingers. No wonder he had made me tea. It was my preferred drink with fish and chips. My stomach growled in recognition of the gorgeous smell.

“They
’re getting cold,” he teased.

I sat beside him
, grinning. I couldn’t help it. How did he know me so well? He nudged me with his elbow. I gave him a sideways glance and couldn’t help a little giggle.

“Was I right
?” He asked, smirking.

“About what?”

“This little thing was empty.” He tickled my stomach, and I jerked away, laughing.

“Quit it
.” I tapped his hand. “There wasn’t much on the lunch menu I fancied,” I said, laughing.

“Where did the lovely Elliott take you anyway
?” He asked sarcastically.

“Lana Thai.”

“It was never your favourite...Thai food, I mean,” his voice quipped.

“Still not
,” I said, nodding.

“He’s a dick
,” Dominic said before filling his mouth.

I laughed
. “Yeah, he is.” I laughed again, leaning over to grab one of his chips.

“You deserve better
, you know,” he said sincerely

“Well
, give me your fish then,” I said, knowing full well he wasn’t referring to our lunch, but I didn’t want that conversation again. And I never wanted Elliott spoiling my heavenly time with Dominic.

He simply smiled and shook his head “You know that isn’t going to happen”. He smiled and looked at me from the corner of his eye
. “But I will let you go downstairs and put them in the bin outside so the office doesn’t smell.”

“Pff, I don’t think so
.”

Once again
, Dominic became my saviour, and truthfully, I loved him even more for it. The rest of the day I remained on a Dominic high.

When I got home
, the happy buzz I felt from the latter part of the day was still zipping through my body. I entered an empty house, I’d got home before mum and dad again, but this time, I had no idea where they were. I sent mum a quick message,