Rule 22 - Koi

Domino: This was a mistake. I"m sorry. I just want to be friends.

Istared at the text I"d read and reread all afternoon. I got it just as I was heading into work a few days after our make out session in the woods. Every time I had a break, I pulled my phone out to see if there was a second text, telling me that it was autocorrect or something, but nothing. Just the same, shitty breakup text.

I"d never gotten one of those before.

On my smoke break, I sat under a tree and pulled up the app that showed me her phone. She wasn"t nearly as active as I"d seen most girls with their phones. She only used her socials to post for the park, otherwise, a few texts here or there were all work-related. All except the one she sent me.

And Swayze. Right above my name was his, with the same message inside.

I huffed. So, she sent us a copy and paste breakup text. Way to kick a man when he was down. She hadn't even personalized it. I"d never been rejected. Even before I lost my eye. If anything, that made pussy more accessible. After I got out of the hospital and wore the eye patch, I couldn"t keep chicks off my dick. The thought of Domino bouncing on my cock right under this tree got me hard. I bit down, forcing the thoughts away. I only had ten minutes before I had to walk back into the park and act like her text message hadn"t torn my heart and stomach to shreds. I took a long drag of my cigarette and stubbed it into the grass, immediately lighting a new one. What the fuck was I thinking? My heart? She didn"t have my heart. I barely knew her.

The sound of footsteps caused me to turn my head. Swayze sauntered over, holding a cigarette in one hand and his phone in the other.

"You see this shit?"

"I saw it. We got friend zoned," I replied coolly.

"Friend zoned, my ass. I"m not friends with chicks." He sat beside me. "I don"t know what changed. Did she say anything to you? At camp or something?"

I shook my head. "You"re the last one who"s been with her. Maybe she didn"t like how you fingered her. You know where the clit is, right?"

"I know where the clit is, fucker. She came all over my hand. Whatever made her change her mind, it wasn"t me."

I finished my second smoke and left to finish out my shift of bossing ride operators around and giving them piss breaks. I was kind of glad this was our last summer at the park. I couldn"t do this shit forever. The emergency responder gear I kept in my truck called to me. I had a career, a real career, waiting for me the weekend after this place closed for the season, and that couldn"t come sooner. I was born to be a firefighter, not a fucking carnie. Especially now as I caught Domino out of the corner of my eye and my chest tightened.

There she was, walking with Chitra and Grace, laughing and eating a snow cone. Her smile was so wide as they passed through the park. I followed them with my eyes, watching and piecing things together. They"d gotten their claws into her and convinced her to stay away from Swayze and me. I was sure of it.

"Who pissed in your cereal?" Marisol appeared out of fucking nowhere like the banshee she was to cross her arms and glare at me.

"What game are you playing here?"

"There"s no game. Oh, you mean her making some new friends." A slow, diabolical smile slid across her face. "Grace and Chitra took her under their wing. I think she"s starting to like it here. Although who knows how long she"ll stay."

"You"re a real cunt, you know that? What did she ever do to you that was so bad?"

Marisol looked around and found a picnic table to climb onto and sit. "Exist. Our family was so happy before the state dropped her off on our doorstep claiming she was my dad"s kid. My mom made him get a DNA test, you know, since she"s so white." She snickered.

I clenched my fists. Domino wasn"t that pale. Sure, compared to her tanner siblings, she was, but Marisol"s shitty comment about the color of her skin, something beyond anyone"s control, pissed me off.

"Unfortunately for everyone, she was our blood. The day they got the results, hell rained down on our house. We were forced to give her a room, and our dad made my mom raise her right alongside us, pretending it was normal. It broke my mom, having to see the physical proof of the affair he"d had while she was pregnant with me and Mattias, in her house, eating her food, having to buy her clothes and gifts and treat her nice. It was fucked up, what my dad did."

"What was he supposed to do?" I was curious now, of how the Risky family was behind closed doors. They were all rich assholes, but hearing the dynamics of how things were piqued my curiosity. "Toss her out on the streets. Didn"t her mom die?"

"That"s what they say. And yes, I think he should have done exactly that. He should have found some distant relative and tossed her to them, sending a check every month or something. That"s what families like ours do. Do not try to raise the bastard as a blessing. That"s what he always called her. Blessing." She stuck out her tongue and made a gagging motion.

Blessing.

She was, compared to the other Risky kids. I was friends with Fabian and Mattias. They were spoiled assholes. In just the short amount of time I"d had with Domino, I knew she was anything but.

"Oh, I know that look." She scowled and hopped off the table, coming over to me. She reached for my face, pinching my cheeks between her thumb and pointer finger. "You"re falling for her innocent act. I promise you, Domino is no fucking blessing. She"s my living nightmare. Everything bad that"s ever happened to me is because of her." She let go of me and took a step back. "And that"s why when I realized you and Swayze were pussying out of our deal, I had to call in backup. Grace, Chitra, and Ruth will take care of it."

"I"m not going to let that happen."

"I don"t think you have a say in any of it, Koi. If you open your mouth, I"ll have you in jail faster than you can say her name." She stepped to me again, her chest bumping against mine. I flinched away. She was sandpaper compared to Domino"s silk of a body.

"Ha! Hardly. I know about your little secret in the woods. You think I won"t lead the police right to it if you try something?"

She stiffened. "What are you talking about?"

I looked closely at her. Her black eyes were hard, but my words had shaken her.

"Elliot Spencer. I found him the other night. Care to explain the slit throat?"

Marisol paled instantly, and her hands flew to her face. Tears filled her eyes, and she shook her head.

"I don"t know what you"re talking about."

"I think we both know that"s not what happened. Now, I don"t know the details, but I do know where he is. If you don"t call your friends off, then I may just have to lead some dogs to Elliott's spot."

"Fuck you." She turned, fleeing my very real threats. I went off in the other direction to finish my shift. Knowing now that it was the girls club that had warped Domino"s opinion of me and Swayze, I kept my ears to the ground and vision on alert, paying attention to anything that might clue me into what exactly they had planned.

It was toward the end of my shift, as I was heading to the time clock, that I was given something to work with. It was Blane, who stood in line with me and talked.

"We"re all going down to Milstead River for the blackout zipline this weekend. We need a few more bodies to handle catch and release. You and Swayze busy?"

I considered the invite. Ziplining over an ice-cold river in the middle of the night? We"d done it every summer. It was a terrifying rush that we all had fun with.

"We"ve already started clearing out the campsite for the afterparty. Wouldn"t be a party without you two."

"You just need help." I snickered. The ziplines we had, if no one caught you, you"d fly back or get stuck.

You didn't want to get stuck in the middle.

"Aw. come on, are you still moping because of Domino? Maybe if you two weren"t watching her all the time like creeps, she"d be into you. She"s coming to the party..."

I studied him. "Weren"t you supposed to..."

Blane shrugged. "Yeah, but Marisol had another meeting and called it off. I knew she would, which is why I agreed in the first place. She paid us a hundred dollars for that little bonfire meeting. It was quick cash. She"s just a little jealous. So, are you coming?"

I considered the invite as we moved closer to the time clock, and after we swiped our cards, I nodded.

"Sounds like fun."