But I wasn’t a little kid, and I knew there weren’t any monsters hiding in the shadows. So why did it all feel so real?
A shiver ran down my spine, but I shook it off.The cake.
The cake would be a good distraction.
Settling on a chocolate lava cake from the back of the book, I propped the pages open against the coffee machine and started gathering ingredients. Butter, chocolate chips, salt, sugar, flour and eggs:this should be easy.
Resting a tub of sugar from the low pantry on my hip, I swung open the fridge door and reached for the carton of eggs. A precarious dance for sure, but worth it to save the extra trip across the kitchen.
Slamming the fridge shut with my hip, I pecked my way over to the counter and started to measure out the ingredients. “Butter, chocolate chips, salt, sugar, and…ugh.”
I forgot the flour.
Throwing my hair up in a loose ponytail, I doubled back to the low cabinet, grabbing another hefty white tub.Feels stupid to haul this whole thing when the recipe only needs a few tablespoons. And the utensil drawer is right there…
Popping off the lid, I rested the container against my thigh as I fished through the drawer for a measuring spoon. “Come on, come on….Aha!” My fingers closed around the small metal handle of a tablespoon, just as…
Slam!
The front door banged shut with enough force to shake the house. Enough force to make me jump and drop the container, loosing a snowstorm of powder in the middle of the kitchen.
“Shit,” I coughed. The powder was everywhere: up my nose, in my hair, and covering seemingly every inch of the pristine kitchen counters. “You’re home early.”
I wondered what had brought them back so soon. Leo told me not to expect her until well past sunset, and Spencer was always working until ungodly hours.
But before I could find a dustpan to clean the mess up, my worst nightmare appeared in the doorway: not Spencer or Leo, ready to tease me for the slip up, but Dom. Seething, hateful Dom, who could find the worst in every little thing I did. Dom, whose face was already crumpling in rage as she took in the carnage.
“All you know how to do is cause a fucking mess.”
I knew getting defensive would only make it worse, but the scoff pushed past my lips before I could help it. “Wouldn’t have caused a mess if you weren’t having a perpetual tantrum.”
“Tantrum?” She growled, “You’re the petulant child galavanting aroundmy houselike it's some fairytale castle. News flash: you’re not Cinderella, and there’s no Prince Charming on his way to save you.”
I rolled my eyes as I turned away from her. “Oh, hon, don’t get it twisted. I’veneverwaited on a man to save me.” Marching toward the closet for a broom, I called back over my shoulder. “Could have had me fooled about the fairytale thing though. You’ve been quite the fucking beast.”
“Bold words for someone living off my generosity.”
“Generosity?” At that, a genuine laugh bubbled up from my chest. “Dom, we don’t have to be friends, but let’s not fool ourselves, either. If it were up to you, you’d be sitting here alone atop your pile of gold, and I’d be on a bus out of here to god knows where. If I’m here on anyone’s generosity, it’s the two saints that handle you.”
“No one ‘handles’ me.”
“Is that why you’re so alone?” I turned my attention to the floor, using the broom to kick up little storms of powder across the floor.
But Dom didn’t like to be ignored. She stalked across the room, circling me like I was prey, making it impossible to look away. Every inch of her tattooed body was tensed. And despite my best attempts to keep my eyes to myself, there was a curiosity thrumming beneath my pounding heartbeat.
Did she bear the same mark as her roommates?
I let my eyes flick over her just once before she locked eyes with me. “Watch yourself, Kiera…” Her voice dripped of venom and her jaw set like she was ready to bite, but I didn’t care.
My hackles were up, and after the bitchy way she’d treated me these past few weeks, I was ready for a fight. “Whatever you say, your majesty. Why don’t you make yourself useful and grab me a vacuum? Or is dirtying your hands beneath your station?”
In an instant, Dom’s frown shifted into a full-on bared teeth. The broom clattered to the ground before I could process her hand in my hair, yanking me face down over the counter as she towered behind me.
Her hand alone would have been enough to pin me, but Dom pressed the full weight of her hips against me, letting the countertop bite sharp against my bones. Her free hand was pressed wide against the counter, right beside my head, and her torso was hot against my back as she breathed in my ear. “Speak to me like that again, and I’ll show you just how dirty I’m willing to get.”
A pained whimper was all the response I could manage. My pulse was pounding in my ears, and I could barely draw a full breath under Dom’s crushing force.
Her voice rumbled right through me, somewhere between a hum and a dark chuckle. “What’s the matter? You were so talkative before. Do I make you nervous?”
