Rule 17 - Domino

Itossed and turned all night so badly that Georgie climbed out of bed and slept on the floor instead. Eventually, I gave up trying to sleep and took him for an early morning walk.

Some campers were still partying from the night before. I remembered hearing stories about what went on here when I was little but seeing people in real life having sex in the woods or snorting cocaine right before their shifts at the park was jarring. If I stayed here long enough, would that be me? I laughed to myself at the thought. It"d be much more likely that I develop a cocaine addiction over the other thing. I mean... probably?

As Georgie and I walked, I ran through the events of yesterday. It felt like two separate days altogether; one where I shopped and joked with Swayze, and one where I got in that bath with Koi and he"d... touched me.

I"d never let anyone do that before.

I wasn"t sure how I felt about it.

That was a lie. I liked it.

They probably talked. What did Swayze think of me now? Or Koi?

I was dreading being stuck in a car with Swayze today, but I needed to see Johnny Blue before he had his surgery. I couldn"t miss it. I found Swayze leaning against my cabin when we returned, and we walked to the truck and started off in silence. I stared out the window, focusing on seeing my friend today. Soon, we arrived at the plastic surgeon's building.

"You can stay here. Or drop me off. I'm going to go visit my friend and then I'm staying until he's out of surgery." I opened the door and climbed out. Despite my protests, Swayze got out and followed me inside. He sat down in the waiting room while I went with the nurse to Johnny Blue's room.

"Hey, beautiful, wow, you look hot!" Johnny laughed when I entered.

"I see the drugs are starting to take effect," I teased, going to his side. I took his hand and sat beside him for the next half hour. He wouldn"t show it, but Johnny was terrified. This was something huge for him, and there were lots of things that could go wrong.

"Will you be here when I get back?" he asked, as he glanced at the clock, knowing it was almost time.

"Of course." I squeezed his hand. "I"ll stay as long as you need me. Hours, days, weeks. Whatever you need, Johnny."

"You"re a good friend, Domino. You know that, right? This has nothing to do with this." He motioned to his torso. "But this." He pointed to his heart. "You"ve always had a good heart."

My chin trembled, and a solitary tear slid down my cheek. "Don"t give me a goodbye speech. There"s no reason to."

"I know, but my heart aches for you. You went back to that hellhole for me and all the others you want to help. I"m sure you already have a list." He chuckled.

I grinned. I did.

"You"re the only person I know who would do that for someone. I hope you don"t lose your beautiful heart by going back."

"I won"t," I promised. "I"m not going to let them change me. And who knows, maybe after this summer, I"ll have had my fill and go back out onto the road."

"You won"t." He shook his head. "I can see it already. Your hair, your makeup. Your clothes! You are gorgeous, honey, and you deserve that rich bitch life more than anyone."

A pair of nurses came in and smiled politely at us. "Are we ready, Johnny?"

Johnny wasn"t his legal name yet, and I appreciated that they didn"t use his dead name. Johnny was beaming too, having caught that too. "Yes. I am." He squeezed my hand one last time before I stepped back to let them unlock the wheels and push him out of the room. Reflexively, I lifted my camera and snapped a photo of him with his hands in the air and the largest smile on his face.

"Don"t lose your beauty, baby!" he called to me right before being wheeled into the operating room.

I returned to the waiting room, where Swayze sat, buried in his phone. "You okay?" He looked up curiously.

I wiped my eyes and looked the other way. "I"m fine. It"s gonna be awhile."

He held up his watch. "You want to grab lunch then?"

I wasn"t hungry, but I knew I had to do something.

"Let"s walk," I suggested.

Swayze stood, still looking at his phone, and we left the building. The energy between us was tense and uncomfortable.

"Did I do something to make you mad at me?" I blurted. I needed to figure this out. Yesterday, he was friendly and flirty. And then, like a light switch, he was mean again, but he"d ramped it up. It was almost like he and Koi were determined to run me off.

"Mad? No. Jealous, on the other hand…"

"Jealous?" I looked up at him.

"Don"t play innocent. I know Koi felt you up under the ice water. Can"t say I wouldn"t have done the same thing had it been me."

I raised my camera and looked for something to distract me.

"I didn"t tell him to do that." I snapped a photo of a man playing the guitar on the street corner.

"You didn"t push him away either."

"You"re jealous?" I smirked as we walked right past all the food places and started down a path through a park.

"You have no fucking clue. Watching you two together had my dick insanely hard."

"Swayze!" I screeched.

"What? I figured if I"m going to shoot my shot, I gotta do it while he"s not around. He"s got more game than I do." His eyes raised to the sky.

"It doesn"t matter who's "got game" or not. I"m not interested," I lied, stepping away from him.

"You don"t date?"

"Nope." I shrugged.

"Bullshit. Why not?"

Because I"d been pining after my childhood crushes for seven years? Because I"d been convinced I was utterly unlovable? Because I was scared of being hurt?

"It"s not my thing. I"m just friendly."

"I don"t believe the way you talk and smile at us is just friendly."

We were close to the woods. Swayze took my wrist and pulled me into the trees. He pressed me against one. I panted, and my heart raced wildly. "Tell me, Little Doll, how wet were you after that ice bath with Koi?"

He raised his hand to my face, running it along my jaw. I shivered and licked my dry lips. "I—Why did you call me that?"

"Because you"re beautiful, a little scary, and if I"m not careful when I touch you, you might break."

My heart pitter-pattered.

"What are you afraid of? We won"t hurt you."

We?

We?

He saw the look of panic on my face and chuckled. "What, did you think we"d make you choose? Koi and I have shared a lot over the years, and you"re no different. All you have to do is say the word." His other hand dipped between my legs, and reflexively, I pushed him back. No. Both men were far too mean, huge, and... hot. Clearing my head, I moved around him, stepping out of the trees.

"Well, don"t plan on me saying anything." I stormed off, walking as fast as I could. I left the park and ducked into a cafe. Swayze joined me a beat later as if he hadn"t just tried trapping and forcing me into something I didn"t want.

Or did I?

"Did I offend you?" he asked as the waitress brought us coffee.

"You did," I said sternly.

"Because I want you."

"You want to have sex with me." I kept my gaze on my cup. "You don"t want the real me."

"And who is the real you? I"ve asked around. You haven"t told anyone anything about you. What you did while you were gone. Where you went, who you met. But I can tell, from your tattoos to your eyes. You"ve got a story to tell. Why don"t you?"

"I was a runaway. Homeless. I've seen some dark shit."

"So have I."

"I"m broken." I was exhausted and wanted to return to camp. Actually, no. I wanted to return to my life before this. I"d give anything for me and Georgie to be walking down the highway with my thumb out.

"I"m not trying to fix you, Little Doll."