“Aren’t you coming?” I frown.
He shakes his head. “I, uh, I won’t be going to school,” he tells me. “I’m doing it online.” He’s doing school online? Permanently?
“How come?” I ask him.
Someone coughs in the car pointedly at Luc. My eyes flick to the ground, realising I’ve pushed the boundaries.
Luc sighs and pulls me in for a brief hug. “I’ll explain everything later, Butterfly,” he whispers in my ear.
He smiles and shoos me along. “Go on. Alec will freak if he’s late.”
I slowly lift myself into the tall ass RAM, trying not to strain my ribs. I put the window down when Luc knocks on it. He looks at Dominic in the driver's seat.
“Take another car next time,” he says dryly.
Dominic turns around like he’s remembered that I’m here. He winces slightly. “Will do.”
“See you, Luci,” I murmur.
“Bye, Butterfly.” Luc smiles.
Dominic reverses out and fiddles with his phone while he turns onto the road.
“Dom,” Alec scolds, taking the phone from his hands.
“Hit play,” Dom tells him, keeping his eyes on the road. Alec plays around with Dom’s phone before music plays through the car’s speakers.
A grin slowly overtakes my face. Dominic looks in the mirror and grins back. George Strait sings about a honky tonk bar as we travel to school.
“What are you two smiling about?” Maverick asks. Dominic shrugs his broad shoulders and I look out the window.
I take a deep breath, readying myself as we approach the school. A hand slips into mine and my gaze meets Mason’s. I draw on the comfort he lends me to get through today.
“What class do you have first, Sweetheart?” Dominic asks me, as we park as close to the front of the lot as he could possibly get us.
I think for a moment. “English.”
“I’ve got English period one too,” Maverick tells me.
“Ok, no class switching guys. Someone needs to be with Rory at all times,” Dominic demands.
I bristle slightly. “I don’t need a babysitter,” flies out harshly before I can stop it.
Dominic’s eyes widen in shock, his mouth popping open.
The car goes silent.
I flinch back and pull my hand from Mason’s.
“S-sorry,” I stutter, my mind going cloudy. I put a hand on my chest when it gets hard to breathe. I gasp for air.
“Shit, she’s panicking,” Mason says.
A car door opens and slams. I look up, my vision blurred. Dominic’s features come into focus.
“Sweetheart, listen to me. I need you to breathe, okay?” I don’t hear the rest of his words but I see his mouth moving. He turns me to face him and he takes deep breaths. I copy his overexaggerated breathing until it comes in on its own.
It's not him. It's Dominic. He won’t hurt me.
