34. A Bite

Leonie

“Where are you going tonight?” Issy asked, huffing as she heaved her suitcase from her room. The wheels kept on getting caught over the door trim.

I put my earrings in, looking at myself in the hallway mirror. They were the same floral ones I had stolen back from Mia.

My favourites because they belonged to my mother.

“Jack said a fancy restaurant Mia picked out,” I said, trying not to cringe as I said her name.

“So probably overly expensive and snooty?” she asked with a laugh. “Because she’d be expecting Dom to pay.”

Around the wall, I could hear her fill up her water bottle in the sink.

“Probably.”

“Are you not going to boil in that?” she asked, popping her head in and nodding to my dress.

Still trying to hide the fading bruises, I wore a long-sleeve, black turtleneck under a silk burgundy dress.

It wasn’t what I wanted to wear, but it was dressed up enough for a fancy restaurant and some bars afterwards.

“I’ll be fine,” I said, clipping back the sides of my hair. “They’ll have air-con.”

She nodded and I turned to her, gesturing at my clothes. “Would red lipstick be too much?”

“It would be perfect,” she said and grinned, grabbing her car keys off the side. She was dressed for the long journey home in her loungewear. She always spent the night before her birthday at home, because her mum made the best birthday breakfasts. “Who knows, if tonight works out well, maybe he’ll be at my birthday party tomorrow.”

Shit. I covered my face with my hands and groaned, “Maybe if I didn’t invite Sam.”

She slammed down the handle of her suitcase. “Leonie! You have a date tonight! With a nice guy! And Sam and you… I didn’t think you two ever did anything in public.”

“I know, I know,” I said, peeking through my fingers. “I may have taken the ‘get back out there’ advice a little too seriously.”

“Dom will have a hissy fit.”

“I’m not sixteen anymore,” I grumbled as she followed me into my room. She perched on my bed as I sat at my dressing table and ran my hand over my lipsticks, turning them to see the colours.

“Well, there’s no judgement from me. You go get it, girl,” she said with a laugh that stopped as soon as I lifted a red to examine. “That one. That one always looks so good on you.”

“Thanks,” I said and pouted my lips to apply it.

As the phone rang to our flat, Issy jumped up to buzz Jack into the building. I’d already let security at the front desk know.

As my phone dinged.

SAMMY YUN X: Forget your plans. Come back to the coast tonight.

LEONIE: You can handle another night.

SAMMY YUN X: I’ve been waiting over two years, Leonie.

Not strictly true. He’d been engaged in that time.

The door went and I heard Issy and a male voice in the hallway. I paused putting on another coat of mascara, mouth slightly open. It couldn’t be… no, not his voice.

I rocked back in my chair to peer past my door, only to see Dom’s tall frame loitering in the living room, Issy passing him a glass of white wine.

Navy blue checked trousers and a light blue t-shirt. I nearly rocked too far, I was ogling so hard. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw him in anything other than monochrome.

“Where’s Leonie?” he asked and I crept to the door, listening eagerly.

“Just getting ready,” Issy said and I heard the wheels of her suitcase as she rolled it to the front door. “I’d much prefer it if you two hadn’t made these plans and would come home with me.”

“We’ll be there tomorrow, don’t you worry,” he said, and through the crack of the hinge, I saw him sit on the sofa, staring at my open door but not quite seeing me.

Tomorrow? What was he doing here if he wasn’t travelling down with her tonight?

“Yeah,” she moaned, “hungover.”

He drank some of the wine and lifted it up for her to refill. She did so dutifully. “Thanks, Is.”

“Wait,” she said, turning back. “Are you and Leo coming down together?”

I couldn’t tell his facial expression because he looked over his shoulder at his sister. “Probably.”

“Please don’t argue and ruin my birthday.”

“We won’t argue.”

The shrill sound of our phone rang again and, as Issy went to answer it, I decided it was time to stop hiding.

He watched my entrance, taking me in over his glass of wine as he sat back, resting an ankle over a knee.

I wanted to sink into his lap.

“Hello, Leonie.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked, crossing my ankles and arms as I leaned against the door frame.

“Come to pick you up for our double date,” he said, his eyes on the hem of my dress. It was very short.

I ground my teeth, glaring at him. “It became a single date. Who are you bringing? Not Mia—”

“No, not Mia.”

“Then who?” I asked, my arms tightening around myself.

He stood, emptied his glass down his throat and walked around the coffee table to hover beside me. “Are you jealous, little lion?”

“No.”

But he just grinned, both dimples clear, as he went to the fridge and topped up his drink again, pouring one for me.

I joined him to take it. I bloody needed one.

“I don’t want you here,” I hissed. “That’s not fair.”

“You had no problem with it when I was with Mia,” he whispered, leaning against the counter and running a fingertip along the edge of my dress, his touch along my thigh.

I leaned beside him, practically encouraging him to continue. “How do you know I didn’t?”

He straightened and cocked a brow, an amused look on his face. “Interesting.”

“Dom’s already here,” Issy was saying. “Oh, don’t worry about shoes. No, please, keep them on.”

Jack and Issy came through to the living room and my face heated on seeing Jack. He was tall, not quite as tall as Dom, and bearded. His neck was as wide as his square face and Issy and I had always whispered about how cute he was at social events.

He had a face you just wanted to sit on.

Or, I had wanted to.

Dom kept on stroking my thigh subtly, just under the crease of my ass where Jack couldn’t see.

“Leonie, wow,” Jack said and gestured to my clothes. “You look amazing.”

“Thank you,” I said, nodding to his black trousers and shirt. “You’re looking pretty good yourself.”

My blush upped a notch when Dom’s finger caressed the curve of my ass, closer to the apex of my thighs, and I bowed my head to look at my shoes. It must have looked like I was shamelessly flirting with my date.

I stepped forward, away from Dom’s touch and turned to the fridge as the two men exchanged greetings. The cold air was so refreshing against my covered skin. Screw Dom for giving me the hickey. “Do you want a drink, Jack?”

He shook his head. “We should probably head off soon—”

Issy rummaged through her bag on the sofa and said, “If you leave soon, I can drop you off on my way.”

“Perfect,” I said as Dom stood right at my side.

She groaned at something she’d forgotten to pack and walked to her room.

“What’s that?” Dom asked, his hand on my shoulder as he peered down at me.

“What’s what?” I snapped and pulled away to put the wine bottle back in the fridge.

“What’s this?” he asked again and pulled down the neck of my top to show the whole room the love bite he’d given me.

In front of my goddamn date.

I screamed internally at him, breathing heavily through my nose as I swatted his stupid fingers away and violently shut the fridge door. “It’s nothing.”

“Looks like something,” he said. “Who gave you that?”

“My friend, the curling tongs,” I said with a sarcastic smile and downed the rest of my wine.

“Hey,” Jack said, lifting his hands in surrender. “First date. Not worried if you’ve had something else going on.”

What a man.

Unlike Dom.

“Personally, I like to leave love bites in places more discreet,” Jack continued with a bashful grin. “Can’t blame your old flame for trying to be territorial.”

I couldn’t look at Dom, so I was glad when Issy came back having missed the interaction, her backpack over her shoulder. “Are we going?”

She hadn’t said how long she would stay at her mum and dad’s, but she always packed far too much, seeing as she also had a summer wardrobe stashed away there.

“Yeah,” Dom said, moving past me to grab her suitcase.

He was out of the apartment and down the stairs in seconds. Issy wouldn’t go in the lift since our kidnap.

“He’s keen on this new rebound,” Jack laughed and his hand grazed mine as we followed Issy out. He stayed with me at the door as I locked up.

A new girl. He was keen on her. I really was nothing to him.

“I’m glad we’re doing this,” he said, offering me his hand. I busied myself with the key. “I meant what I said; you look amazing.”

Sweet. He was just so sweet. Too sweet.

This would be absolutely fine if Dom was not out with us. It was one thing going on a date with his friend, another thing him being there for it. Or forcing me to see him with another woman.