Below Deck Dom
By Sydney Aaliyah Michelle
Prologue
Lucinda
* * *
I checked the time on my phone a hundred times. My birthday was almost over, and he hadn’t shown up. Hadn’t called.
Uncle Zach never missed my birthday.
He wasn’t really my uncle, but he and my father had been friends all my life. Uncle Zach would appear in and out of my life over the years. He used to babysit me when I was little and my dad needed a night out. He read me books and did all the voices to my favorite characters. He took me down my first water slide. On my first roller coaster. He’d take me on day trips to Vegas when I was thirteen and Colorado when I was sixteen. He always showed up when I needed him. Especially when I was about to get myself in trouble.
Like when I got drunk and someone stole my car. I actually forgot where it was parked and it was towed, but Uncle Zach was the one I called to come pick me up. He held my hair when I threw up on the side of the road and again in the bushes in front of my house.
He was there to comfort me when my first boyfriend called me a frigid bitch. He went ballistic when I told him the insult generated from a confrontation where I wouldn’t let him finger me at the movies.
He dried my tears and told me I was precious and beautiful, and no one had the right to touch me without permission. Then the same boy showed up to school on Monday with all the fingers on his right hand broken and wouldn’t look me in the eyes.
Uncle Zach didn’t share and I didn’t ask, but I knew he had something to do with it. He was always there to protect me. Not only from others but from myself. And, he always showed up.
“Sweetheart.” My dad, Jack Simmons, stood up and buttoned his suit jacket. My dad only had two types of clothing, business suits and workout gear. He raised a glass. “Come stand by me.”
I stood and smoothed down my purple cocktail dress. It draped over my curves and had little metal straps across the shoulder and back. It was mine and Zach’s favorite color.
“I’d like to wish my favorite child all the happiness in the world on her eighteenth birthday.” He grinned.
“I’m your only child.” I shook my head but raised my glass and clinked with his.
“Happy birthday, Lucinda.” My friends all toasted me.
“Thanks for dinner, Mr. Simmons,” my best friend Kara yelled across the table.
More thank yous followed.
It was a great birthday, but something was missing.
Zach had been my first crush. He walked into a room and drew everyone’s attention. He was strong and dominating like the men in my favorite books. He was the Alpha and the hero. He seemed serious to the rest of the world, most people were afraid of him, but he had a sweet silly side. His imitations or funny inside jokes would make us both laugh. He reserved those moments just for me. He’d always kept our relationship strictly rated G, but I knew it got harder for him the more I grew up.
“I thought Zach was coming?” Kara hugged me and whispered in my ear. “He wouldn’t miss your big night.” She wiggled her eyebrows. She was the only one who knew about my infatuation with Zach. Heck, all my friends had a crush on him, too. But he was mine.
The last year alone had been torture. Zach never brought woman around me. In my fantasy, he was saving himself. Not that he lived like a monk. I imagined Zach had mastered the art of knowing what a woman wanted. He exuded sex appeal and lately when I was around him, I hung on his every word. Made excuses to be near him. The sound of his voice made me melt. Without fail, I would be so worked up and by the time he left, I had to rush to my room to touch myself. It was never enough. I had actually saved myself for him, but tonight was the night.
I was giving myself to Zach, if he ever showed the fuck up.
“Can I get anyone anything else?” The waiter handed the bill to my dad.
“No, we are—” His phone rang. He looked at the screen, frowned and set the phone back down. He scrutinized the receipt like it was a million-dollar business deal. Calling people on their mistakes was my father’s favorite game.
“Dad.” I pulled on his arm as he signed the bill. For my eighteenth birthday I’d settled for a dinner out with eight of my closest friends. My mother had wanted a grand party and my dad wanted to take me on a trip. Neither of them could agree. Not a surprise, they had been arguing over me since they split up when I was four years old. They fought as a way to stay in each other’s lives. I felt sorry for them. Now that I was eighteen, they would have nothing more to fight about.
“Yes, Lucinda?” My dad scribbled his name on the bill and slid a few hundred dollars in the leather-bound check holder before sliding it away. “Did you enjoy your birthday dinner?” The sexy asian-fusion restaurant in downtown Dallas was my favorite. It was Uncle Zach who had brought me to the lounge upstairs last year. He knew people everywhere.
Our table had cleared, and the small truffles spread out on a tray spelling out my name had been picked over. The waiter carefully picked the remaining pieces up with chopsticks to put in a box for me to take home.
“It was great.” I leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
