I blinked, seeing Kiera and Leo already bundled and booted up by the door.
“Yeah, sorry…” I murmured, grabbing my worn leather jacket from the coat rack.
But before I could slip it on, a door slammed upstairs, followed by an exhausted sigh.
I rammed my arm through the sleeve, hopping on one foot to slip on my boots before Leo could hear Dom’s approach. But it was too late. Her thundering steps were unmissable as she descended the stone steps.
“Girlfriend still dodging your calls?” Leo teased, leaning against the front doorframe.
“Not quite.” Dom scrubbed a palm over her face, and all I wanted to do was smack the frown off of her. “They’re granting us a meeting, but not for a few more weeks.”
“How many weeks?” Kiera tilted her head.
“A few,” Dom rolled her eyes, parroting The Oracle’s typical opaque answers.
Clearly, she was pissed. But I had enough rage of my own, and not enough space to deal with hers.
“Alright, well you tried your best,” I clapped my hands together before turning toward the door. “Shall we?”
Unimpressed, Leo shot me a glare before returning her gaze to Dom. “Why don’t you come with us to the shelter?”
“What?” My jaw dropped. But before I could voice my protest, Dom kicked up her own.
“Why would I want to spend time at a stupid dog pound?”
“Might help you get your mind off The Oracle,” Leo shrugged.
“Might help you develop some empathy,” Kiera needled.
Dom crossed her arms over her chest with a childish pout. “Not interested in getting fleas.”
“Come on,” Leo tried again. “You’ve been talking about getting a guard dog for weeks.”
“Yeah,” Dom scoffed. “A certified one. Not some shelter mutt.”
Kiera’s expression crumpled at that. “That’s such stupid, elitist bullshit. The dogs at the shelter are perfect. Just ‘cause you don’t have to pay some asshole for a fancy piece of paper doesn’t make them any less qualified.”
“It literally does.” Dom narrowed her eyes. “The shelter dogs have zero qualifications.”
“Don’t be an asshole,” Kiera rolled her eyes. “Just come with us. Who knows, might make it a little easier to forgive you.”
Watching Kiera bat her eyes at Dom made my stomach turn, even when she was doing it facetiously. Of all people, I couldn’t believe that Kiera was okay with Dom right now — okay enough to invite her with us, at least.
Leo was an emotional cinderblock: I knew that she would try to go back to normal as quickly as possible. That was no surprise.But seeing Kiera play along? It made me feel completely alone in my rage.
“Fine,” Dom rolled her eyes. “But we’re taking the Camaro.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but before I could, the other two were following her to the garage, leaving me in their dust. Seeing no other choice, I shuffled along behind them, dreading every moment of what was supposed to be a fun trip.
I hated that she had the power to ruin this for me just by being there. I hated that she didn’t even have to try. But most of all, I hated that the sight of one of my best fucking friends stoked so much ire in me.
Even I wasn’t sure what it was going to take for me to forgive her. She’d fucked-up badly. And I still didn’t have any real clue what happened to my mom. The details were fuzzy and I hadn’t been able to bring myself to read the paperwork. It would all be too much.
But I knew it wasn’t happening today. And it certainly wasn’t even a consideration until I got a real apology from her.
66
KIERA
