“What is it?” I reached out and put my hand over his own.
“Do you think dad’s going to find us?”
My blood ran cold at the fear in his voice. How long would the memory of the things Jeff had done, haunt my little boy?
He’d never hit Dominic. I made sure of that. If he’d seemed like he might try, I always redirected his anger to me. It was worth it, but it didn’t protect Dominic from seeing me be slapped around. I was sure that he’d also heard some pretty terrible arguing, with horrible things being said.
“I don’t know,” I told him honestly. “But I will always do whatever I can to keep you safe.”
“Who’s going to keep you safe?”
His question made me grimace. I didn’t want him to worry about me, but what could I say?
Absurdly, I thought of Trainer. Big and strong, he’d be able to fill the role of protector, but there was no reason to think that he’d want to. There was something between us, a sexual attraction, maybe even more, but that didn’t mean he would want to take on my baggage.
I had to depend on myself.
“Don’t worry about me,” I told him. “Things are different now. We don’t live with him.”
Dominic looked thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe we should get a dog.”
“Oh, you do?” I smiled. He’d asked for one before, but Jeff would never allow an animal into his house.
“Not for a pet,” he clarified. “A guard dog.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that we didn’t need a guard dog, but the hopeful expression on his face stopped me. If it would make him feel safer, why not? I knew that the landlord would allow it, he’d had the property listed as pet-friendly.
“Okay,” I said, and Dominic’s entire face lit up. “We’ll go get one tomorrow.”
After dinner, we went to a movie at the theater located inside the mall. It was billed as a kid’s movie, and it was animated, but I enjoyed it. The company was the best part. Between the two of us, we demolished a large bucket of popcorn, and I felt like I was going to explode by the time we left the theater.
As we walked across the mall, heading to the entrance, I spotted Trainer coming out of a store with a man that I didn’t recognize but knew to be an Outlaw Soul by the patch on the back of his jacket. I wanted to call out to him, but the sight of another person stopped me. Unfortunately, Dominic didn’t feel the same.
“Hey, isn’t that your friend Trainer?” he said loudly, pointing.
Trainer’s head whipped around. Seeing us, he mumbled something I couldn’t hear to the man beside him and headed our way.
“Hey, little man,” he said, ruffling Dominic’s hair. “What are you guys up to?”
“What just saw a movie-” I started, but Dominic cut me off excitedly.
“Mom said we could get a dog!”
“Yeah, that too.” I chuckled. “I’m thinking we’ll go to the shelter tomorrow after I get off work.”
“I have to wait all day?” Dominic whined.
“‘Fraid so.”
“It’ll be worth it,” Trainer assured him. “Actually, I was going to see if you wanted to have dinner together tomorrow night. How about I come with you guys to the shelter, and we can pick up some takeout afterward?”
He wanted to spend time with meandDominic. This felt big, like a significant step in this relationship. We’d never talked about where things were going between us, but his suggestion made it seem that we were moving forward.
A small voice in the back of my mind told me not to do this, not to get attached. Wasn’t that the plan? I was going to lay low here for now and figure out my next move when I thought that Jeff had probably given up finding us.
But I found that I wanted to say yes despite all of that. It shifted things to a more serious level, and I wanted to see how far it would go. I wanted him to be mine. Maybe Dominic and I wouldn’t have to move on at all.
“Okay,” I said. “How about I pick you up after I get off work?”
