Rule 20 - Swayze

"We kissed. Not just kissed. She had my tongue down her throat and loved it." Koi burst into our cabin, looking pretty fucking proud of himself. A pit dropped in my stomach as he walked around the room with his chest high and smile wide. "She told me not to tell you, but fuck if I don"t like a good brag."

I swallowed down my pride and forced nonchalance. "So? I kissed her too. I was her first kiss."

Koi went to the mini fridge and pulled out a beer. He offered one to me, but I refused. I just wanted to go to sleep. I thought we"d had a moment—Domino and I. She softened in my arms. Her lips and tongue were moving with mine. She felt something, I knew that. He tossed his Jason mask on the table and propped his feet up.

"So she"s safe in her cabin then?" I lay in bed. Despite wanting to sleep and get this night over with, I wasn"t even slightly tired. I was wired, full of energy and silent rage.

"That she is. I didn"t try to go in with her. I figured I should take the gentleman approach and thank her for the lovely evening and leave it at that."

"You"re no gentleman." I laughed dryly. "Did you really wear that thing into the woods?" I nodded to the mask.

"Nah, I mean, I did, but took it off way before I got close to her. If she knew it was me in the mask, she didn"t say anything. Maybe she liked it."

I huffed. What a fucking asshole.

"Why are you so pissed off? I thought we were sharing her." Koi grinned, knowing exactly why I was angry.

"Why doesn"t she want me to know?" I asked, but before I could get an answer, my phone dinged with a text, and then both of our phones went off at the same chime. Domino was using her cell phone. We stared at each other for a long moment before I pulled out my phone.

Domino: Are you still up? Can we talk?

"What are you going to do?" Koi asked, reading the message from the app on his phone. "Have you ever been shot down this fast before?" He teased.

"We"ll see about that." Knowing full well he would see anything I text her, I quickly responded.

Me: Somewhere private. I"ll be at your cabin in 5.

I shoved my phone in my pocket and started out the door.

"What does that even mean?" Koi called after me. I ignored him, storming out into camp and darting directly to her cabin. The light was on, and before I could knock, the door opened and Domino stood before me in a hoodie and loose sweat shorts. Even in lounge clothes, she was hot as fuck.

"Hey. You want to go for a walk?" She smiled at me. I studied her face. There was no guilt or shame, just... kindness. Fuck, I hated how nice she was. It was hard to hate her.She was going to let me down and I was about to thank her for the privilege.

"Sure, where to?" I offered her my arm, and she looped hers through mine.

"I don"t know." She motioned around us. Camp was still populated with people partying. It would be until morning. "Is there any place that isn"t within the prying eyes of park staff?"

"The park." I raised my shoulders. "You want to head over there?"

She jerked her head up in surprise. "This late?"

"I"ve got keys. Come on. Maybe I"ll turn some rides on or something."

"I don"t think my sister will like that." Despite that, she didn"t change courses. We reached the parking lot full of golf carts, and I helped her into mine. She fiddled with her camera as I drove.

"You wanted to do a night shoot? It might be difficult with no lighting." I teased.

"No, just... it"s a comfort thing."

"I"ve gathered that. I remember the camera back then. When you left." We"d never actually addressed that it was Koi and I who had watched her run away. "It"s kind of neat to see that you held on to it all these years."

"I capture a lot behind the camera," she said flatly. The sentence was short and quick, but I heard the words she wasn"t saying.

It"s easy to hide from the world that way.

We flew through the gates into the park and with every inch of this place memorized, I navigated us over to the rides and parked in front of the Ferris wheel.

I helped her out and pulled out my keys to turn the ride on.

"You picked the tallest ride in the park, and you don"t think people will notice it"s on?" She shook her head.

"It"s fine. Look, I"ll text Fabian now to tell him you are here with me."

"No!" She threw up her hands. "Don"t. I don"t want anyone to know..."

"That you"re here with me?" I unlocked the control cupboard and pulled out the hand controller. I let the ride cycle through before opening one of the passenger cars and motioning for her to climb inside.

She bowed her head to avoid the umbrella and sat. "Yeah, I should explain."

"I"m all ears," I said as I joined her, hooking the hand controller to my belt and pushing the button to start the wheel.

"I kissed Koi," she confessed, her head hanging low. "I don"t know how it happened, but..."

Of course, she"d want to tell me in person. My hand reached for hers, intertwining our fingers. I squeezed. "Did you like it?"

She didn"t speak for a long moment. We reached the top of the ride and started back down.

"I did."

My heart beat loudly in my ears. This next question would either crush me completely, or I"d end up falling harder.

"Did you like kissing me?"

"I did." She set her camera beside her.

My heart exploded. Without another thought, I reached for her, turning my body and planting my lips on hers. I wrapped my arms around her body as she kissed me back.

"Wait, you"re not mad?" She pulled back, and I chuckled.

"Hell no. I thought you liked him more and wanted to talk about cutting things off."

She shifted back and straightened her clothes. "I am. I kissed you both, and it was... nice. But... I can"t pursue anything. I"m sorry."

"What do you mean?" She had just kissed me back. Her back had arched and she"d pressed into me. She wanted me.

Domino pulled her legs up and hugged them to her chest.

"I haven"t been interested in anyone in... years. Childhood crushes, sure, but I never planned for... more than that."

"Domino, that"s the fun part of relationships. It"s not something that you plan. I never thought I"d have feelings for you."

"Thanks." She scoffed, resting her head on her knees.

"Not like that. Just... I"d vilified you in my head for the last seven years and then you came back and you"re nothing like I expected. You"re sweet and funny and pretty."

"I"m pretty?" She looked up from her knees.

I moved closer to her, urging her legs down. I placed my hand on her thigh and leaned in to kiss her again. "Domino, my broken little doll, you"re beautiful." I pressed my lips to hers and felt wetness on my face from a tear.

"What"s wrong?" I asked, pressing my forehead to hers.

She sniffled and pushed me back gently. She lifted her hoodie and shirt, revealing a simple red bra. Words littered her torso, just like her arms and legs. I realized then that most, if not all of her tattoos, were just various phrases. She was a living story created by piecing all of them together. Depending on what order you put them in, you"d get a different tale every time. My eyes raked down her perfect body. She pointed to words framing her breasts.

Faithful to my freedom

She straightened her shirt after I ran my hand along the words.

"I like being able to just grab my backpack, camera, and Georgie and go. I don"t look back. I don"t leave my heart anywhere, and I"m afraid?—"

"Don"t be," I said, leaning to kiss her once more. I"d never been into kissing before. For me, it was a formality. Something that you did to lead to more, but with Domino, I relished in the taste of her. She was soft and her lips tasted faintly of some kind of fruit. Blueberry maybe? I parted her lips with my tongue, wanting to explore her further. "There"s a lot of things in this world for you to be scared of, but I"m not one of them," I confessed.

"How can you be so sure?" She turned her head, looking out at the night sky. We"d gone at least two full circles on the Ferris wheel now. A single tear slid down her face, and I quickly brushed it away.

"Because, Little Doll, I"m the big baddie keeping them all away."