10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Gianna

Tonight, I'm going out by myself. And not to Dom's club.

I have to try and stay away from him. Each time that we've had sex, he's left telling me not to expect it again. And I shouldn't be this upset about it. He's not good for me.

I have plenty to focus on now. There is no space for crushing on a member of the Chicago mafia.

The only problem is that the more I tell myself I need to forget about Dom, the more I remember…what he tastes like, how it feels when he's inside me, the sounds he makes as he's coming.

I show up at the bar and realize it's more like a seniors' spot than anything else. But that's fine. I just want to get out of my own head a bit. I order an iced tea and dance alone to hits from the seventies.

Maybe it's the Leo in me, stubborn and impulsive, seeking a temporary escape from the turmoil of my emotions. Or perhaps it's the stars aligning in some cosmic joke, pushing me toward reckless behavior just when I'm trying to regain control.

I start flirting with some of the old men, liking the attention but knowing that it's stupid to talk to people that I barely know.

One man asks if I have a boyfriend, and I tell him I don't. But then I bring up Dom and go off on a tangent. The poor man sits and listens quietly, giving me bits of his advice every now and then.

Excusing myself, I rush into the bathroom. Thankfully, there's no vomiting, but I do pee for longer than you'd think possible. Being pregnant is ridiculous. I often feel like my body doesn't belong to me anymore.

By the sinks, I take out my phone and see a message from my mother. I'm not calling her back right now. Then I scroll down to Dom's number that he gave me.

Being in the bathroom now, I have flashbacks of us at the fundraiser. The way he lifted me up onto the counter and bent me over so I could watch as he thrust into my core and tore me open. Turned me into Jello and made me come against the door. Fuck.

I came here to stop thinking about Dom, but now I'm not just thinking about him; I'm getting wet at the thought of him. I jump up onto the counter and turn on my selfie camera. Angling my phone from above my head, I snap a selfie and send it to Dom with the caption:

G: Remember when you had me just like this?

I can see that the message was delivered. I wait a few minutes to see if he'll reply to me, but he doesn't, so I go back out to have another drink. There's a nineties love song playing as I step into the bar area, and I give an uninvited karaoke session to the elder men sitting on their stools. They all clap for me when I'm done.

Sitting down to catch my breath and sip on my drink, I pull my phone out again and see that Dom has replied to me. My heart skips a beat, literally, as I squint my eyes to read it.

D: Where are you?

I smile. He wants me.

We can go back into that bathroom and repeat the scene from the fundraiser. That's what I need right now.

I quickly text back the address and then use my phone's camera to check my makeup.

The bartender comes up to ask if I'm okay, and I tell her I'm great and that a friend is about to join me.

I know already that I won't come back here, but that's okay. It'll be about forty years before I fit in with this crowd.

***

"Gianna." Dom's voice is loud over the music.

I turn around quickly. Too quickly. I lose my balance and end up falling over the bar stool behind me. He's faster, though, stepping forward to catch me and stop my face from hitting the floor.

He helps me stand up and I see him looking around the bar, confused. "What are you doing?"

"I just…came here to unwind." I hold up my iced tea.

"Unwind," Dom scoffs. "If that's what you call it. Let's go. Do you need to pay your tab?"

"I've paid it," I say. I'm sure I've paid, but I look at the bartender to be sure. She gives me a thumbs up and smiles at me. "It's paid." I confirm, more for myself than for Dom.

"I've got a car waiting outside," Dom says, and I laugh. The thought of his driver waiting outside for us seems ridiculous.

"Dom," I half-whisper to him. "You can't make the driver wait for us…"

"There's no waiting. We're leaving." He looks confused, which is a funny look on this huge hulk of a man.

"But the bathroom…" I wink at him, trying to be discreet, but from the chuckles around me, I failed that.

"Gianna, are you drunk? You need to get home. It's not safe for you to be hanging out alone in bars, even if you're not drinking." Something in his tone switches off my flirty side and turns on the stubborn side.

"Excuse me, but are you my father? I sent you a message so that you could join me, not so that you could boss me around." I fold my arms and stare at him.

"I'll go home when I'm ready to go home. I know how to call a cab, thanks."

Dom sighs. "Gianna please. I've had a long, bloody day. I don't have the energy to try and convince you to do anything, but I'm not here to join you." I hear the "long bloody day" and wonder if he means long and bloody . I bury the thought as fast as it comes up.

I tone down my stubbornness for a minute and brush his arm. He doesn't have a jacket on tonight, I can see more of his tattoos. There's one of a grim reaper with a cloud above its head. There's also one of an animal paw, which seems out of place.

Looking up at his face, I no longer feel horny. I'm starting to feel tired and sick, which seems to be a daily thing now that I'm pregnant.

"I'm sorry. We can go home." Grabbing my bag, I start walking toward the door, hearing his steps behind me.

Outside, Dom swears. "Ugh. My driver must have pulled around to the other side of the building. Let me call him." He pulls out his phone.

"Sorry," I say to him. I don't know why I'm apologizing. Maybe I'm saying sorry for getting pregnant. Maybe I'm just sorry I reached out to him.

"What exactly were you thinking tonight, Gianna? You're the daughter of a rich businessman. Does your father usually allow you to go out and go to bars all by yourself? No friends, no bodyguards, no one to at least report it when you go missing or get murdered?" His voice is raised, and my mind is confused about how to feel.

"My father doesn't know I'm out," is all I can say. No one knows where I am tonight. They all went to their own events, so there was no one to question me before I left.

It's those rare moments of freedom that make me feel like myself again. I have to admit that my family really doesn't pay that much attention to me, not really. It hurts a little to discover that they probably haven't really even noticed that I'm back home.

Maybe I should have stayed in the UK.

"Do you understand how dangerous this was? Luckily you chose a bar frequented by retired old men and women, but do you get how badly tonight could have gone?"

Dom is pacing as he types into his phone, running his hands through his dark hair as he looks at me. He's making plenty of sense, and now I feel bad for making him worry.

He didn't rush down here to have sex with me in the bathroom. He came because he thought I was in trouble.

But why does he care if I'm in trouble? Surely his friendship with Will doesn't dictate that he also takes care of me?

"I do." I walk up to him and stroke his arm again. "I'm sorry, I wasn't being smart." He looks down at me, his eyes still angry.

I reach up and stroke his cheek, brushing over the scar. He brings his hand up to mine and holds it still.

"Don't just tell me what I want to hear." His voice is low, and it tingles my ears just right. He holds onto my hand, his grip getting tighter as he speaks.

"This isn't London, Gianna. People here know who you are. They know where you come from. You need to be aware of that."

"I'm not. Telling you what you want to hear, I mean." My voice is barely a whisper. "I know. You're right. I wasn't thinking about how different things would be once I was back home."

There's heat everywhere. His skin is touching mine, and I can hardly breathe near him.

With his eyes glaring down into mine, I reach both of my hands up behind his head, stand on my tiptoes, and bring his head down to meet mine.

For a moment, our lips blend into each other. Dom slips his fingers into my hair, and we both eagerly part our lips.

I can feel my body craving his, even though we're not close enough. His mouth feels delicious on mine, exploring me as he twists strands of my hair in his fingers.

A small moan escapes my lips, but then a feeling in my stomach makes me freeze. I pull away from Dom, and he reluctantly releases me.

There's a burning in my stomach, and it's not the kind that Dom's cock caused. I take a deep breath, trying to calm the panic rising in my chest.

Dom opens his mouth to speak, but before he can get any words out, the vomit wins the fight, and I bend over, throwing up all over Dom's shoes.

"Shit. Shit! Shit-shit-shit. I'm sorry, Dominic." I look up at him, horrified at myself. I look back down at his shoes to see the damage, and I grimace, seeing his perfectly shiny shoes covered in my vomit.

I've never been this humiliated before, and I would have given my left kidney for it not to happen with Dom.

"I thought you didn't drink tonight," he says to me, staring at his ruined shoes.

I swallow hard, closing my eyes against a new wave of nausea. "I didn't." I want to tell him why I've just thrown up on his shoes, but I just can't. I'm so embarrassed that coherent thought is escaping me.

"It's fine," he says, his jaw clenched.

I dig into my bag and pull out some tissues, trying to help Dom clean his shoes. "I've got it. Just sit there." He points to a bench, and I obey immediately.

My head in my hands, I wait for his driver to come pick us up, wishing that this was nothing but a dream.