Supernova (28 page)

Dominic was laughing, and Kerrigan giggled at the tickle from the little bugs’ wings and legs. They were each in their own world that they just happened to share with the other. Once again, their worlds were colliding.

In the midst of their clumsy searches, they had inched closer and closer to each other without being aware of their position. Kerrigan was following one particular firefly when Dominic turned to see it as well. They stood across from each other, the firefly between them. He lifted an eyebrow at her, silently challenging her to try to get to it before him. Kerrigan returned the expression as if to say,
Bring it on
.

They lunged forward at the same time, but only managed to bump into each other, causing their cups to tumble to the ground. Dominic grabbed Kerrigan around the waist and pulled her against his chest to keep her from falling. They both laughed at the fact that all the lightning bugs were now set free. As the fireflies floated up, Dominic and Kerrigan were surrounded. Her head fell back, and she watched them spread out to go their own way. She was so happy she laughed harder than she ever had in her life, and all Dominic could do was watch her. He was mesmerized by her simple beauty, and seeing her there like that, all he really wanted to do was kiss her.

Kerrigan lifted her head, smiling so hard her cheeks hurt. Then she saw the look in his eyes. Her gaze traveled down to his lips, and his tongue came out to sweep across them enticingly as he leaned forward. She sighed and let her body relax against his as she leaned in to meet him. Fireflies free-floated all around them as their lips touched. Dominic ran one hand up along her spine while the other wrapped around her waist to hold her closer, and he deepened the kiss. His lips moved against hers with tender purpose. It was a simple kiss, not meant to develop into anything more, but it set them both on fire all the same.

This was who they were. Twin flames surrounded by impossibilities made possible just because they had found each other.

When Dominic broke the kiss, he leaned his forehead against hers. “We have to go if we’re going to make the bonfire.”

“Screw the bonfire. Let’s just stay here.”

“As much as I would love to do just that, I think Gabe would send out a search party. And then there’ll be hell to pay,” he said with an alluring smile.

“Okay,” Kerrigan groaned. “I guess you have a point.”

“Besides, I’m starving. I was thinking we should maybe stop by The Oasis first.”

“Mmm…Gonzo burger,” Kerrigan hummed with a dreamy look on her face. The Gonzo burger had been her favorite as a child. She pictured the mound of shaved ham over ground beef, smothered by three types of cheese, and topped with crispy bacon, and her mouth watered. She licked her lips with a seductive hunger in her expression.

Dominic closed his eyes with a groan. “You’re killing me here, Querida.”

“What? What did I do?” she asked with a mischievous smirk. She pressed her chest closer to his and leaned in to nip at his neck.

He palmed her ass and pushed his erection into her center to answer the question. “You know exactly what you’re doing. Now, behave,” he said with a swat to her rear before he released her and took a step back to put distance between them.

Without any sense of modesty, he resituated himself in his jeans, wincing at the uncomfortable pain she had left him in. “I’m going to go get the car. Meet me out front in a few minutes.” He gave her one last chaste kiss and headed toward the garage.

“You going to go rub one out?” Kerrigan called after him.

Dominic turned and walked backward. “Maybe.” He smiled and gave her a wink before he faced forward again.

“Will you think of me?”

“Always!” he called back over his shoulder.

Kerrigan laughed and then went inside to lock up the house.

After their dinner, they took the Barracuda to the beach and parked it alongside Tyson’s convertible. They could see the bonfire already in full blaze, the flames licking at the horizon like a serpent’s tongue. Their friends and a hoard of other people they didn’t know were already crowded around it. The party was in full swing.

Millie ran out to greet the couple. Dominic bent down to pick him up, not wanting him to get trampled by the already booze induced partygoers that were dancing around and kicking sand up without a care in the world.

“Dude!” Tyson yelled over the crowd with his plastic red cup raised high in greeting. “It’s about time you guys got here.”

Kerrigan sat with the girls on the beach blanket while Dominic handed Millie off to Gabe. He and the twins did that manly greeting thing they always do before he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Talon handed him a beer and nodded toward a half-naked woman who was giving Dominic the come-hither eyes. He was a guy, so he checked her out. She wasn’t ugly by far, but she just wasn’t
her
.

Dominic looked over at Kerrigan and smiled as he exhaled his smoke and watched her toss her head back with a giggle when Millie assaulted her with wet kisses.

“Nah, man. Not interested,” he said, and then he tilted his beer to his lips.

Tyson let out a belch that could be heard around the world and made no attempt to apologize for his rudeness. “I don’t blame you, man. Kerrigan’s pretty spectacular. You’d be stupid to give her up for an easy lay. Plus, she can do all that crazy shit with her mind. She might blink your junk away or something.”

Dominic laughed at his absurdity.

“I’m serious, dude. Betcha’ won’t catch me pissing her off,” he said. He cupped himself over his shorts and looked down to talk to his penis. “No worries, little buddy. Daddy’s gonna’ keep you safe and sound.”

Dominic laughed and gave him a playful shove.

“So, are you guys official, or what?” Talon asked him.

He shrugged. “We haven’t really put a label on it. I don’t think either of us feels the need to.”

“That’s kind of cool. It’s not like anyone within a thousand mile radius can’t see the intensity between the two of you anyway.”

Kerrigan looked over at Dominic then. A sweet smile graced her full, pink lips, and all he could think about was how badly he wanted to get her alone so that he could kiss them again.

“Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse me…” He butted his cigarette and made his way over to where she sat. “Mind if I steal her away for a walk on the beach?” he asked her friends.

“Back off, Dom-Dom,” Gabe warned. “You’ve been monopolizing every second of every day lately. I never get to spend any time with my Kerr Bear. If you try to take her away from me before I get bored with her, or meet some hot surfer boy, I swear I will climb up one side of you and down the other like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew.

So, you just carry your tight little ass back on over there with Hotty McHotterson and Spanky McSpank-me-some, then all three of you can strip your shirts off, and we’ll sit over here and enjoy the view. And so help me God, Dominic,” he took a breath. “If even one of these skanks so much as tries to lay a hand on any of you, they
will
get their weave snatched out their head. So, try to keep the flexing to a minimum, m’kay? And would it kill you to bend over every now and then? We’d like to check out your
ass
-sets.”

Dominic gave him a blank stare and turned to Kerrigan who merely raised an eyebrow at him. “No, Gabe…it probably wouldn’t kill him. Dominic’s the master of tease. Aren’t you, Dominic?” she said with a smirk on her lips. “He never follows through with anything, always running away the second things start to get a little…
hard
to deal with.”

He smirked back at her and nodded his head. “Okay, okay.” Then, without warning, he sprang forward, scooped her up, threw her over his shoulder, and took off running down the beach with her.

“Put me down!” Kerrigan shrieked through her laughter as she swatted his butt.

“Uh-uh. No way. You have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to do this to you. Only, my bedroom would be my destination of choice under the other circumstances.”

“Dominic, all the blood is rushing to my head,” she laughed. “Please put me down.”

He stood her on her feet with a disgruntled huff, but wouldn’t release his hold on her. Instead, he pulled her into his chest until her body was flush with his.

“Kiss me.” His voice was gentle, yet assertive.

“No, you’re being mean to me. I don’t feel like kissing you,” she pouted, straightening her clothes.

“Fine then,” he said nonchalantly as he started walking backward toward the bonfire. “There just happens to be another woman over there that was eyeing me like a fat kid staring down the Christmas pie. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind giving me a kiss.”

He turned away from her and kept walking toward the party. Kerrigan ran to catch up with him and launched herself onto his back. Dominic caught her though. He would always catch her.

“Oh, I don’t think that’s going to happen, Mr. Grayson.” She giggled and bit his earlobe. Her sweet laughter was so infectious that Dominic couldn’t help but laugh along. He hiked her up on his back to a more comfortable position.

“Well, well, well…I thought that car looked familiar,” a woman walking toward them crooned. “How’s it going, lover?”

Dominic stopped dead in his tracks. It wasn’t until he felt Kerrigan shift again that he loosened his grip on her legs and allowed her to slide down his back. He kept her there with one arm still around her back in a protective stance.

“Sinclair,” he greeted her in a less than friendly voice. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh come now, Dominic. Is that any way to treat your girlfriend?”

“Dominic? What’s she talking about? Who is this?”

“So,
this
is the plaything that’s been monopolizing all your time during the day?” Sinclair’s words suggested she knew exactly what he had been doing at night.

“Dominic?” Kerrigan asked again, growing more confused and frustrated.

Dominic couldn’t answer her because he didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t very well tell Kerrigan that Sinclair was the woman who attempted to steal his soul so his dead father could inhabit his body. And he couldn’t tell her the residual effect of her failed attempt had left him in an apparitional state at night while she thought he was at work. He couldn’t tell her everything she thought him to be was a lie.

How could he be stupid enough to be in public – in his car no less? Deep down, this had always been his fear. Being with Kerrigan made it easy to let his guard down. He was going soft. Nothing like the hardcore man of the streets he had been before this whole situation happened.

Sinclair’s attention drifted from Dominic’s stale face to Kerrigan, and she smiled with a fake sweetness. “Hi, I’m Sinclair, Dominic’s girlfriend.” She offered an outstretched hand toward Kerrigan who was still being shielded by Dominic’s body.

“Don’t you dare touch her!” Dominic seethed, pushing Kerrigan further behind him.

“Well, that’s just rude,” Sinclair said, still trying to play the sweet girlfriend. “I haven’t ever minded your extra-curricular activities, and you know that. I think I at least have the right to be able to meet the other woman. Wouldn’t you agree…
Kerrigan
?”

Dominic’s face blanched. Sinclair knew her name. His mind swarmed with thoughts of what that could mean. Had she known where he was all along? Was she watching him? He knew he hadn’t seen her anywhere, but she would probably have someone else do her bidding for her. While he was sorting out the possibilities, Sinclair continued to spew lies.

“I’m willing to share,” she continued. “She can have you during the day as long as you continue to come to
my
bed every night.”

She turned toward Kerrigan again. “That okay with you? I mean, as long as you don’t wear him out so much that he can’t perform for me. I know he’s got a lot of stamina, but even the most virile of men can only take so much before they…”

“Stop it!” Dominic yelled, breaking his silence. The muscles in his jaw tensed, and the green of his eyes darkened with hatred.

Kerrigan flinched, startled by the boom of his voice. He looked back at her to make sure that she was okay. When he saw the hurt in her eyes, he felt ill. She believed the lies that Sinclair had carefully orchestrated.

Sinclair gave a self-confident giggle, drawing his attention back to her. Her expression was smug. She knew the damage she had caused and was beyond proud of herself. The urge to reach out and grab her by the throat to choke the life out of her was overwhelming. If he didn’t get himself and Kerrigan out of there, the urge would win. Kerrigan didn’t need to see that side of him.

“Come on, we’re leaving.” He pulled a stunned Kerrigan into his side and walked them around Sinclair, keeping a wary eye on her.

Dominic pointed at Sinclair. “You stay away from her. Do you hear me? You stay away from her!”

When they were almost back to the bonfire, Kerrigan pulled out of his grasp and started to walk away without a word.

“Querida,” Dominic started, grabbing her elbow.

“Don’t touch me!” she yelled, yanking away from him again.

He had a pleading look in his eyes when she looked back at him, but she couldn’t feel sorry for him. He had been making a fool out of her all along. The time they had spent together, the feelings she thought they shared, it had all been a lie. She was the only one feeling those things.
He
was feeling up some floozy every night while telling her he was working.

Anger flared like a raging inferno in the pit of her stomach. She thought back on all the ways men had shoved her around and made her feel inferior. The way her father always coddled her as if she couldn’t take care of herself, how Jackson tried to control her and use her as his own personal piggy bank. But worst of all, the way Dominic made her fall for the lie. She blamed herself for being so naïve, but he took advantage of her innocence. And he was there, an easy target for her frustrations.

She ran at him, shoving him hard in the chest and knocking him off balance. He took one step back before he righted himself, but he didn’t push back. He just stretched his arms out to her in an effort to pull her to him.

She threw her hands up and backed away, her chest heaving as quiet tears slipped down her cheek.

“It was a lie,” he said in a soft voice.

“Obviously.” She turned and walked away.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.” She kept walking in the direction of their friends.

“Wait up. I’ll take you.” He picked up his pace to catch up to her.

She spun around on him. They were close enough to the party that their friends were able to see and hear everything between them. When the girls saw her crying, they shot daggers at Dominic, instantly launching into man-hater mode. Even the strangers in attendance stopped dancing and chatting amongst themselves to watch the scene unfold.

“I’m not going anywhere with you. Sydney will take me home. Won’t you, Syd?”

“Of course, sweetie,” Sydney answered. She, Olivia, and Gabe started gathering up their things.

“Querida…”

“Don’t, Dominic. Just…don’t.” She bent over to pick up Millie and started walking toward the parking lot. Gabe shot Dominic a disapproving scowl and saddled up beside his best friend. Putting his arm over her shoulders, he curled her into his side to give her comfort as she cried.

Dominic should have been the one to do that. But, he was the one she was running from. All because of Sinclair. Over a year had passed since she had first wreaked havoc on his life. When he finally found someone who made him feel like life was worth living again, she took that away, too.

His hatred of the woman he once thought he loved boiled over in his veins, and he turned to charge at her down the beach. Only she was no longer there. The pitch blackness of the night stared back at him ominously. He heard that unmistakable croaking sound, and his head whipped around to face it head on. A black shadow flew overhead, blocking out the faint light from the moon. Bright orange eyes peered back at him as the raven swooped low, causing him to duck. He could have sworn he heard it laugh as it gained altitude once again and flew off into the darkness.

Dominic didn’t even stop to talk to Talon or Tyson before he sprinted for his car and peeled out of the parking lot. Once he made it home, he ran inside, finding it quiet. He checked all the doors and windows to be sure they were secure, fearing Sinclair and her coven might try something stupid. Then he made his way to Kerrigan’s room. He could tell the light was on from the crack under the door, but when he knocked and called out her name, there was no answer.

“Kerrigan, please!” he yelled through the door.

“Go away, Dominic!”

“You don’t have to talk to me right now, Kerrigan,” he said, exasperated. “Just…just make sure you shut and lock your balcony door and all the windows in your room. Please?”

He was met with silence again. He had no choice but to give up. Relenting, he went back to his room where he was forced to wait until midnight before he could sneak into her room and keep watch over her without her knowing.

It was times like this his music had been the most comfort in the past, so he picked up his guitar and lit a cigarette before climbing out his window. He sat on the floor of his balcony and stuck the filter of his cigarette between his lips, giving him use of both hands. Removing the pearl-blue pick that was wedged under the strings on the neck of the guitar, he leaned his back against the wall and strummed a song he knew by heart.

Kerrigan heard the hum of Dominic’s guitar as he sang a song she recognized. Ray Lamontagne’s
Let It Be Me
. She stepped out onto her balcony as well, careful not to let the screen door slam and alert him to her presence. She was still beyond upset with him. She trusted him, and he let her down. He was a stranger that her grandmother had opened her home to, and she had allowed him to stay because Grammy had asked her to. But, it never had to be more than that. She’s the one who let herself believe that there was something more between them. A sense of obligation to her grandmother was what made him stay there to help develop her gift, and perhaps he thought a little kiss here and there made it somewhat less boring.

But to go to another woman’s bed every night while she was pining away for him in his?

Her emotions got the better of her again, and she wished rain would pour down from the sky and drown his two-timing butt. Hearing and granting her wish, the clouds opened up with a downpour.

A devilish grin spread across her face. She was getting really good at using her gift.

Dominic didn’t even have it in him to care that a sudden burst of rain came out of nowhere and was now drowning him. He tilted his head toward the sky. Beads of water bounced off his chiseled face. He closed his eyes and just breathed. It was Kerrigan’s doing. He didn’t know how he knew that, but he just did. The rain even smelled like her.

He sat there like that until midnight came and went. The soft pelts of the rain consumed his senses, and he hadn’t even realized he had transformed. She did it to lash out at him, but in truth, he felt refreshed.

He got up and took his guitar inside, propping it against the stereo in hopes that it wasn’t ruined. Kerrigan would be there soon, ready to fall asleep in his bed. So he made his way over to the futon to wait for her to come to his room.

But Kerrigan didn’t go to his room that night. And, she wasn’t there the next night either.

For over a week Kerrigan hadn’t uttered so much as a word to Dominic that wasn’t necessary. There were lots of times that Dominic felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up, and when he turned around to inspect the room, he had always found her staring daggers at him. Long gone were those moments of stolen glances where her lips curled into a half smirk and her thick lashes gently swept the delicate skin just beneath those azure eyes.

He missed her.

He missed the sound of her voice, the way she hummed while she washed dishes, or laughed at Gabe’s flamboyant antics. He missed the softness of her skin under his fingertips, the shudder that ran through his body when she brushed past him, the way her lips felt pressed to his, her taste, the raw passion that burned in her eyes whenever she looked at him. She took it all away from him. But ever present, was her scent. That never left, and it only served to remind him of what he craved, but could never have.

What he wanted was miles away, even though she was in the same damn house.

He had to talk to her. Make her listen to him. She needed to know that Sinclair was no longer a part of his life and never really was to begin with. And he most certainly wasn’t making love to her every night as she had alluded. Even if the truth about what he was sickened her, and she wanted nothing further to do with him, she needed to know. It wasn’t like it would make things much worse anyway. Maybe just solidify the fact that she had good cause to be disgusted with him.

Kerrigan was in the kitchen with Gabe when Dominic summoned the courage to approach her. She was taking everything out of the cupboards and wiping down the shelves. She had been cleaning a lot over the past few days. It was her way of keeping busy. Lord knows she was using every excuse known to man to avoid him. But enough was enough.