Sweetness (28 page)

Justin leans forward, placing his elbows on his
knees, and grasps his head. He looks so distraught; I
can’t help but feel sorry for him. I sit on the bed next to
him and rub his back to try and comfort him.
“Emma, I don’t know what to do. She tried to stay
away from him but he won’t leave her alone. It’s as if he
gets off on hurting her,” Justin pauses to look up at me.
His knowing expression makes me still my hand on his
back. “I know Glen hurt you too, in some way. When we
were in Miami you implied as much. What did he do to
you?”
I look at the floor and scrunch up my face. I don’t
want to talk about this. I put my hands in my lap and
fiddle with a string on my shirt as I shake my head.
Justin kneels in front of me and takes my hands in his.
He tries to look at me but I make very sure to avert my
eyes on anything but him.
“Please Emma, I have to know what kind of
monster he is. I know he hurt you. Did he hurt you the
same way he hurt Julie? Did he used to beat you up or
something? What? I need to know.”
I shake my head in the negative. “Justin I…I can’t
talk about this…I’m sorry. I will talk to her and try to get
her to tell me it was Glen. Then he can be arrested. If she
tells, then he will go away.”
Justin sits back on his heels. “Emma, I know this is
hard. I am asking as Dom’s friend, as
your
friend, please
help me understand, because right now I don’t know
why he is doing this. I am afraid he is going to go too far.
My mother took her to the hospital because she had
bruises on her arms and legs, it looked like he slapped
her around a few times, her clothes were torn, and…and
they think she was raped.”
As he said the last part my eyes flew up to meet
his, growing wider with each passing second. I know
what Glen is capable of. If he raped Julie to the point
where she is scared to talk, then his mental abuse is at
play here also. He has a way about him that can scare the
living shit out of you. You can see the devil in his eyes
when he is angry and I know first hand that it is
frightening when that happens.
When I don’t say anything Justin face transforms
from anger to shock. Salty tears blur my vision.
Something clicks. I don’t know what he thinks he knows
but something tells me he gets it. My reaction to the word
‘rape’ clearly gave it away. When he sits back up on the
bed to hug me tight, I can’t stop the tears from falling.
“Shhh. Emma. It’s okay. I’m sorry I pushed you,”
he coos while rubbing my back. “That’s it isn’t it. That’s
how he hurt you.”
Without thinking I nod in agreement.
“Fucking bastard.” He quietly growls.
Realizing what I have just revealed, I tense under
his touch and shoot to my feet in a panic. I pace in front
of him not knowing what he will do with this new
information. Will he tell Dominic? He
is
his friend first.
Why would he keep a secret from him for me?
He can’t tell him. He just can’t.
“Justin you can’t say anything. Please, you can’t
tell Dominic. You can’t tell anyone. He will leave me if
you tell him,” I beg.
Justin stands and hugs me again. “Emma, calm
down. I won’t tell anyone. Although, I don’t think you
give Dominic enough credit. I think if he knew, he would
protect you from that cocksucker, not leave.” I shake my
head ferociously and pulled away.
“Justin please, I don’t want him to know. What
Glen did-the night he pulled me out of the bar, the last
time I saw Dominic-it was terrible.” I swallow hard. “If
Dominic finds out, he will know how damaged I am. He
will never want anything to do with me. He’ll never look
at me the same way again. That is just something I can’t
take. He loves me. By the grace of God he thinks I am this
wonderful person, and for reasons I will never
understand, he actually loves me.”
“So Glen
IS
dangerous. The night he dragged you
out of the bar he…he hurt you?” I nod. “He knew you
had feelings for Dom. And the way Dom used to talk
about you, Glen knew Dom had feelings for you, too. But
Glen kept quiet about it. Never said a word that he even
knew who you were. Glen knew this whole time-Emma,
this is fucked up.”
“I know. I know exactly how fucked up this is.
You don’t know the half of it. Look, I don’t want to talk
about this anymore here. I don’t want Dom to know
about any of this. I will talk to Julie and see what I can
find out. If we can put Glen behind bars then we will all
be safer.”
“Fine, but we are not done talking about this. I still
want to know just how far his depravity goes. I don’t
want him around her and I don’t want him anywhere
near you. I will keep this from Dom. For now. But
eventually, you will have to tell him, you know that
don’t you? No matter what you tell him, he will still love
you.”
“I know
eventually
I’ll have to tell him, but I can’t
right now. I’m scared. He tells me he loves me. No one
has ever loved me like this before. If he walked away
now it would kill me, Justin. I can’t imagine my life
without him in it.”
“I understand. I know he feels the same way. He’s
told me as much. When you’re ready to tell him, we can
do it together. You don’t have to do it alone. He will
understand, Emma. I know he will. You didn’t do
anything wrong. Dominic loves you, he would never
turn his back on you.”
I nod my head just as a soft knock on the door
reminds us we are not alone on this bus, so we will need
to curb this until a later time. Dominic opens the door
slightly and pokes his head in. My fake smile is enough
of an all clear for him to open the door wider.
“You two okay?”
“Yea baby, we’re fine,” I reassure him as I wrap
my arms around waist. Justin nods without a word more
being said, and leaves the room, closing the door behind
him. “I am really tired. I’m gonna’ go to bed. Are you
going to join me or stay up?”
“I’ll join you. There is no place I would rather be
right now then in that bed with you next to me.”
I smile and kiss Dominic on his lips tenderly; he
cups my cheeks and holds me in place as his tongue
grazes my bottom lip. My lips part, allowing him to
intensify our kiss while he drags me over to the bed.
When we pull apart I slip under the covers and watch
him take the rest of his clothes off before turning off the
light. We snuggle so close that our noses are touching
while we breathe each other’s air. In the darkness, with
nothing more then the passing headlights illuminating
the room, we stare into each other’s eyes with love in our
hearts and unspoken words on our minds. Not a word is
said as we caress each other to sleep.

Buzzing! Buzzing getting louder.
What the hell is
buzzing? I reach over to the nightstand and grab for my
phone. I have three missed calls, all from Gabe. What
time is it? I look at my phone to see it is seven in the
morning. Why would he be calling at seven in the
morning unless it is an emergency? While I contemplate
his reasons for calling, my phone vibrates in my hand.

“Answer the damn phone, Emma,” Dominic
grumbles, turning over and taking the covers with him.
“Hello,” I whisper.
“Emma, good morning. I finally got you. Late
night last night?”
“No. Not at all. I had my phone on vibrate. Its
only seven in the morning here, is something the matter?
Is it my father?”
Dominic flips back over at mention my father,
concern stamped on his sleepy face. He sits up and leans
in so he can hear Gabe better.
“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t even think of the time
difference. Nothing’s wrong. Your father is fine.” I take a
sigh of relief and Dominic falls back on the bed, pulling
the covers over his head to block out the early morning
sunlight. “I just wanted to congratulate you. I heard last
night went very well. The label had nothing but good
things to say about you. I told you, you could handle
this.”
I swing my legs off the bed and walk into the
bathroom to get some privacy, and not wake anyone else.
It is still early and these guys are not necessarily up with
the chickens.
“Thank you. Were you checking up on me? How
do you know how last night went?” I question. If he is so
confident in my abilities to handle this then why is he
checking up on me?
“Not at all. Although, I will be checking up on you
from time to time, so don’t be so surprised when I do.
Anyway, I got a phone call about an hour ago, from the
record label, telling me what a great help you were at the
after party last night. Evidently they have taken a liking
to you. You handled the press and the paparazzi with
confidence and I am told you are very charming. I knew
it all along but they had some concerns when I told them
I was handing over this project to fresh meat. You don’t
have much experience and they were worried you
wouldn’t be able to handle yourself appropriately,
especially since you are dating Mr. Ross.” I can hear the
pride in his voice and it makes me smile, until he
mentions me dating the lead singer. His voice traveled
off at that point like he doesn’t want to say the words out
loud.
“Oh. Well, thank you. I am glad you are pleased. I
just want to do a good job so it’s nice to hear I am on the
right path.”
“You have definitely pleased me…I mean…”
Gabe clears his throat. It is nice to hear him fumbling
over his words for once instead of the other way around.
“You are doing well. Listen I have to go. I will talk to you
soon,” he says in a rush before the line goes dead.
My, my, my. Gabe Hernandez, flustered. This is a
treat.
I use the bathroom then walk back to the bedroom
where warm arms wrap around me as I climb back into
bed. After a very stressful night I was so tired I must
have just passed out soon after my head hit the pillow. I
am more than happy to lay here in bed with the man I
love but my mind is wide-awake.
My conversation with Justin runs through my
head. I know Dominic loves me but I just don’t know if
he will be able to live with the knowledge of what Glen
did to me. I know once I tell him he will ask questions
until he knows it all; all of the torture and pain he put me
through for those two years. Justin is so sure that me
telling Dominic the truth won’t matter to him, but I’m
not. Dominic has told me he loves me and wants to
marry me. Am I ready for something like that? Could I
marry him and could we live normal lives without living
in fear of Glen being a constant black shadow? Not to
mention the fact that this is all moving way too fast.
If we are ever going to have a chance at making it,
we have to be honest with each other. We promised that
from day one. Lying by omission is still lying. I don’t
want to lie to him but I am not ready to tell him yet. I
will
tell him, just not yet. I don’t want to ruin this promo tour
and I don’t want us to spend our time together worrying
about Glen Maser.
“You’re thinking too hard. I can feel it.”
“What?” I chuckle. Dominic opens one eye to look
at me and it makes me laugh harder.
“I can always feel when you are worried. Call it a
sixth sense,” he says while he pulls my body closer to his.
I can feel his hardness on my thigh and it inspires me to
let my fingers explore. “What did Gabe want?”
“He just wanted to tell me how awesome I am.”
“Did he now? And why would he call you so
damn early to tell you that?” I slip one finger into the
waistband of his boxers and run it along his stomach and
around to his back over and over again while he talks.
“He forgot about the time difference. But he
wanted to let me know that I did well last night. Your
record label called him first thing this morning to preach
my praises and he wanted to let me know that he is
proud of me.”
Dominic rolls on top of me. I can feel his hard rod
between my legs and the mischief gleams in his eyes
before his lips find my neck. I slide my hands over his
broad shoulders and around to his back tracing the
flexing muscles with my fingertips. His hand slides
under my shirt but stops right below the swell of my
breast. His whole palm is on my rib cage. I am eager for
him to move his hand up a little further, but he won’t. I
arch my back to encourage him but he doesn’t move his
hand while he continues to kiss my neck.
“He’s proud of you, huh,” he murmurs against my
skin. I roll my eyes at his comment and lay my hands
back on the bed in frustration. He pulls back instantly but
doesn’t say anything. His eyes narrow with lust and
jealousy. Here we go again with the jealousy.
“Yes, Dominic he is. He is my boss. Like it or not,
his approval means a lot to me. My father has trusted
him to run his company and that means I will be working
with him for a long time. Is that going to be a problem for
you?” I don’t even try to hide my annoyance. He has to
understand how important my career is for me. I am out
here helping him live his dream and all I ask in return is
to not get shit while I do my job.
“As a matter of fact, it is a problem for me. I see
how he looks at you, Emma. He wants you and I’ll be
damned if he is going to get you.”
He has got to be kidding me. There is no way in
hell that Gabe Hernandez wants me. He just started
tolerating me for Christ sake. He may torment me to
make me uncomfortable but that is just because he is
trying to see how much I can handle under pressure.
Right?
“Seriously,” I scoff and try to push him off of me.
He is much stronger then I am so he doesn’t budge. I
drop my arms in defeat and focus on a small spot on the
ceiling instead of the exasperating man hovering above
me. “Gabe doesn’t want me. You are being ridiculous. I
have explained what happened when you saw us in,
Miami, and I have apologized for the way it looked.
What more do you want me to do?”
“I want you to open your eyes and realize that he
wants you. I see the way he looks at you when you are
not paying attention, and it pisses me off. If HMA wasn’t
doing all this promo shit for us I would have knocked
him out when he was watching us by the pool in Miami.”
“Is that why you pinned me against the wall and
started touching me? You wanted to stake claim on me?”
Dominic doesn’t say anything but his cocky expression
tells me I am right. “Get. Off. Me.”
“No, listen to me. You are
my
girl.
Mine
. If I can’t
beat the shit out of him for the way he looks at you, I am
going to show him he doesn’t have a chance in hell of
getting you. I don’t like it that I was away from you for a
month and you spent five days a week, or more, at his
back and call. I don’t like that you shared a suite with
him while people at the hotel thought you were his wife.
And I really don’t like what I saw in the club in Miami
when I arrived. Not because of what I saw you do, but
because of the way I saw him react. He liked you
touching him, Emma. I saw it in his eyes. He can’t have
you, he needs to get that.”
Dominic climbs off of me and sits on the side of
the bed looking out the window. I think he is being
ridiculous. If Gabe wanted me I would know. I am not an
expert on men but I would like to think I would be able
to figure out if a man was interested in me. I sit on my
knees behind him, wrap my arms around his neck, and
put my chin on his shoulder.
“Babe, I think you’re wrong. If Gabe really wanted
me then why would he allow me to leave with you? If he
wanted to get me alone with him, he would have taken
me back to New York, far away from you. But he didn’t.
He let me join you because he thinks I can do this. I was
the one that was reluctant on coming along.” Dominic
twists his body around on the bed. “Not because I didn’t
want to, but because I didn’t think I could handle this.
Gabe reassured me I could. When he got the call this
morning, confirming I did well last night, he just wanted
to tell me.”
He takes a deep cleansing breath and drops his
forehead to my shoulder. “Fine. I’m sorry I overreacted.
I just…I love you so much, Emma. You are so beautiful
and when guys look at you like that, I lose control. I
can’t stand the thought of another man touching you the
way I do.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I love you,
and only you. I don’t want anyone else.” I wrap my
fingers around the nape of his neck and pull him closer
so his forehead is pressed against mine. “Just you and
me.”
“Always?”
“Always.” I know that’s what he needs to hear,
right now. He is very insecure. The more we get to know
each other the more I see it. He is always so confident on
stage and in life, but when it comes to me, he lets his
guard down and his shortcomings come spilling out. Not
that he has many of them. “Now, lets get back to bed. It
is too damn early to be up.”
“Now you’re talking,” he says with that same
devilish smile he had before. I giggle and slide up the
bed and under the covers. Dominic joins me and takes
over where he left off. For the next many hours we make
silly, lazy love and lie in bed, enjoying each other’s
company while the bus gently rocks us back to sleep.