“Dominic,” I breathed before throwing myself into his arms. My forehead thumped against his chest as his arms quickly wrapped around me, holding me tightly against him. Unbidden tears leaked from my eyes. Why did I think it was a smart idea to not see him?
“You so owe me now,” Zevon said, amused.
“So unfair,” Sawyer whined.
“You’re really here,” I said, pulling back to meet Dominic’s eyes, ignoring the two behind me.
“Yep,” he smiled.
His black hair was in need of a haircut as it fell past his eyes now. He also had a dusting of facial hair from lack of shaving for a few days.
“How? Why? God, I missed you.” I fell back into his chest, not sure what to feel.
“Uh...can we go inside now?”
“Oh! Yeah, sorry,” I said, stepping back. I led him inside by his hand, afraid that if I let go, he’d disappear.
“Your two guards are good. Wouldn’t even let me step foot in here. Even when I had to pee,” Dominic said.
“Well, they could have let you in.YouI don’t mind,” I said, shooting the other two a glare.
“That would have been all me,” Sawyer spoke up. “With how you dealt with the other two, I wasn’t going to risk it. Plus, you’ve never once talked about this one here. So you so have to dish out the dirty.”
“There is no dirty,” Dominic said, not at all offended.
“For some reason, since they met, they got along fine,” Zevon said. “No one else was so lucky. Most of us have had to fight tooth and nail just to be friends.”
“Zev,” I sighed, giving him an apologetic look.
“You know, it’s all out of my control.”
“Look at us now, though.”
“Yeah,” he smiled, but he was still bothered. “You know I’m going to forever make it all up to you though.”
“And you will know you don’t have to.”
“This is a first to see you happy, Scarlett,” Dominic said, squeezing my hand.
“And the first for me to officially meet you. I’m Sawyer.”
“Showing up unannounced around here isn’t the best thing to do,” I said, sitting down on the couch with Dominic following. I wanted to curl up against him and soak up his warmth, but instead I pulled one knee up to my chest to give me a reason to keep space between us. “Butwhyare you here?”
“I overheard Ace talk about coming to visit you, worried you weren’t handling yourself well. He’s been worried about you but is too scared to really call you and find out. He’s gotten updates from Wyatt and Zevon this week, but that was really it. The guards following you around every day give him details, but that’s really not enough to go on. I may have put a tracker in his phone case.”
“That’s something I would have done,” Zevon said, seeming proud of that fact.
“Anyhow,” Dominic went on. “I couldn’t pass up the chance to come see you.”
Sawyer placed her mug on the counter. “I’m going to get my jogging in. I’ll let you out of it this one time. Next time, chica, don’t count on getting out of it. But you,” she pointed at Zevon, “get to go with me.”
“Why?” Zevon asked, seeming surprised.
“Well, first, a girl should never go running on her own. Second, these two need some time to talk.”
“Sure.Talk,” Zevon huffed. “You know neither one of them is too forthcoming.”
“Come on,” Sawyer said, pulling on Zevon’s arm and making him stumble after her.
