Truth or Dare; The Dominator II (18 page)

Nothing underhanded? My Pop profited off the misery that Lisa, Felicia, and those other girls endured, for fuck sakes. Fucking basement holes and torture rooms and fear and rape. Now I’d imagined Lisa
and
Felicia in those fucking solitary cells naked, cold, dirty, hungry, and fucking broken. And then I imagined my father sitting in those dining rooms and luxurious suites laughing and drinking and smoking a stogy like king of the fucking world with Lisa at his feet waiting for him to feed her table scraps.

Fuck.

“Let’s get you home,” I said through clenched teeth and we headed back to the car.

As we pulled up to the house she said, “Look at your brother. It doesn’t always start out right but it can get there.”

I didn’t reply. I passed her the keys and watched her walk to the house. I texted Nino to ask him if he could swing by and give me a lift home. I Skype called my brother from my phone. He didn’t answer. 

As I was waiting it dawned that when I’d had dinner the last night at Kruna they’d said there would be “play” in the Townsend room. Lisa’s real name was Shayla Townsend. I decided to add Lisa’s details to the puzzle, to give the information to Zack and see if it helped him get us more information.

Felicia

He was gone until after lunchtime. I’d gotten up, got dressed in a black pair of dress pants and a black blouse, put make-up on and flat ironed my hair, and I was sitting on the terrace with a cup of coffee and the cashmere throw from the sofa over me. It was getting chilly. The leaves were starting to change color. I hadn’t dealt with cold weather in 2 years and while I’d spent the previous almost decade in the frigid frozen tundra, this was an adjustment. I caught something from the corner of my eye. He was back. He was standing at the patio doors, leaning against the wall, staring at me. He was in jeans and a t-shirt and his hair was wet. He must’ve been back a while and grabbed a shower.

His face looked hard, pissed. I swallowed past a lump in my throat and got to my feet. He opened the door for me and I went inside. He closed the door behind me. I gave him a tentative smile but my eyes quickly darted toward my feet when I saw the hard look on his face. I walked to the kitchen sink and rinsed my cup and then put it in the dishwasher. When I turned around he was standing behind me, leaning against the island with his arms folded across his chest.

I stood still, eyes to the floor, waiting for him to address me.

“You straightened your hair,” he said finally.

I jolted. He’d told me at the resort that he preferred I didn’t but maybe I did it in an effort to behave myself. My hair was almost always straight at Kruna unless I was playing the naughty role. I pushed that thought away, avoiding the urge to analyze it, to think about anyone from there.

“Wanna go shopping?” he asked.

I was startled. That was not what I’d been expecting.

I lifted my chin and looked at him and nodded.

“Then let’s go,” he said softly and went to the table by the door where his keys and phone were.

“Can I have two minutes?” I asked.

He jerked his chin up in a ‘yes’.

I hurried to the bathroom and put on some more mascara and lip gloss and then put a few things into one of the purses that had been packed for me, put on a pair of ballerina flats, and found him by the door. He was in jeans and a t-shirt, a leather jacket and sneakers and was standing by the door twirling keys on his index finger.

“You don’t have a coat?”

I shook my head.

He reached into a closet by the front door and handed me a black fleece-lined hoodie. It was too big for me but I put it on. It smelled like him. Smelled so good.

“Let’s go get you one.”

I’d been expecting him to come in and tell me that last night was a mistake and that it wouldn’t happen again. Then he’d be distant with me. After all, he was drunk and he didn’t mean to take advantage of me. He didn’t take advantage of me but I was waiting for him to act like he did. Right now I didn’t know what to make of his demeanor. He was pissed off, as per usual, he’d left this morning without hardly looking at me, but now he was taking me shopping to buy clothes.

The elevator took us to the underground and he opened the passenger door to his SUV for me. When we pulled out of the garage onto the street I was struck by how odd it was to be in a moving vehicle again. I felt woozy.

He turned the radio on to some classic rock and I just stared out the window watching cars and people go by, living life, living normal everyday lives. We pulled into an enormous mall parking lot and I took the hoodie off and left it in the car, figuring I’d be inside and warm enough in a minute.

As I got out he came around to my side and reached for my hand.  Yes, he still looked pissed but he was holding my hand as we walked inside. My heart was in my throat at that.

“What first?” he asked as we got into the enormous mall. It looked like it had a lot of upscale shops. He stopped in front of the mall directory and map.

“Ummm…” It felt like I was on another planet. I had spent half my life as a teenager in shopping malls. But after all this time, it was so strange, so foreign. So… normal.

This was a normal I had once prayed for but had long since given up on the notion of returning to my life.  This was people, normal and free people around me exerting their free will and they were going about their day: teenaged girls laughing and walking while thumbing away on smartphones, women pushing strollers with babies in them, old people congregated around benches, couples holding hands. I looked down at our hands with our fingers woven together and my heart lifted like a kite being pulled up by a gust of wind.

“Comfortable clothes?” He motioned toward a yoga store on the listing with his free hand. I nodded enthusiastically.

He motioned toward the shop, which was not far ahead of us, let go of me, which meant a small pain in my chest, that I thankfully was able to push back, and then he opened his wallet, handed me a credit card, and then leaned over and whispered in my ear, making me tingle, “Go nuts. Pin 3825.”

He sat on a bench and pulled his smartphone out of his pocket and started thumbing at the screen. I think I must’ve looked like a zombie for a second because he looked up and smiled and then jerked his chin toward the store.

I hesitantly went into the store, pushing back the urge to throw myself at his feet and hang onto his ankle. I took slow breath after slow breath to hold it together. The sales girl totally put me at ease. After buying a few pairs of capri length and full length yoga pants, t-shirts, tank tops, and hoodies, I went to him and he took my bags and led me to a coat store where I bought two coats while he waited on a nearby bench with my bags. I’d bought a fall one and then a winter one as it would be snowing in the not too distant future. I was kind of looking forward to seeing snow again so I could wear the gorgeous coat. After 7 years of living in Alaska, a place I’d never wanted to go, I never thought I’d say that I looked forward to snow ever again.

I didn’t want to take advantage but I didn’t want to insult him either by declining his kindness and it was fun. At first I had trouble deciding what I wanted and all the people around me was a little dizzying but salespeople were more than happy to make recommendations.

I got two pairs of jeans.  I bought a pair of sneakers. And then he let me loose into a higher-end department store and I bought new underwear, some toiletries (like bubble bath), thick fluffy socks, and I bought three pairs of ladies’ winter pjs and a bathrobe. I bought 2 pairs of long pjs and one pair of super soft fleece pink and purple striped shorts with a matching hoodie.

“Anything else you want?” he asked as I emerged from the department store. He was seated on a bench with my shopping bags around his feet. He had a cup of Starbucks in his right hand and he held another Starbucks cup on his knee with his left hand. He passed it to me. My heart warmed.

“Thank you. I can’t remember the last time I had one of these.” Actually, no. I
could
remember. Suddenly I could remember it as clear as day, so clearly I could smell the November Juneau air. It was on my way to the airport the day I’d left from Juneau airport to leave for Bangkok. Chills ran up my spine. I sipped it. It tasted amazing. It was milky and sweet and it tasted like happiness in a cup.

“Anything else you want?” he asked again. He didn’t look pissed off. He was smiling at me.

“No. Thank you for everything. So much. I think I’ve subjected you to enough torture today and spent enough of your hard-earned money. Thank you, Dare.”

He gave me a small smile and then lifted my booty of shopping bags from the floor all into one hand and slipped handles over his wrist so he would carry his coffee in that hand. My non coffee holding hand had two bags in it. He took them from me and transferred them onto the already full wrist and then grabbed my free hand with his now free hand and we headed back to the car.

“Wanna go eat?” he asked.

“Sure,” I replied as he opened the passenger door for me and tossed all my bags into the back seat.

He drove to a little Italian place not far from the mall. He seemed relaxed as we drove, happy even. As we entered a man in a suit approached.

“Ah, Mr. Dario! What a surprise! We are still getting ready for dinner but come, sit. We will look after you and the beautiful lady.”

“Nice to see you, Augustus. Is Ed in?”

“I don’t think so yet, Mr. Dario. He’s expected any minute. Please introduce me to this lovely lady!”

“This is…” He stopped and looked at me. His face was blank. I was relieved he didn’t introduce me as Felicia, that he remembered I didn’t want to be called that any longer.

“Angel,” I extended a hand to the older Italian man, “Nice to meet you.”

“Angel. Bella! Face of an angel, Mr. Dario. Such a beauty. So lucky, Mr. Dario, so lucky. Right this way.”

We were seated and Dario was studying me. I gave him a smile. He didn’t smile back. He didn’t look angry but he was studying my face, trying to figure something out, I think.

He started talking in a flurry of Italian to a waiter that came over and filled our water glasses. This was a nice place. Intimate. Dim. Red and white checked tablecloths with candles on the tables. I could smell food cooking and it smelled amazing.

We were quiet. It was a little awkward. Then a tall dark-haired and good-looking guy dressed in chef whites came over and put his hand on Dario’s shoulder, “Hey, man. How are you? You okay with a coupla specials since you’re here right in the middle of prep for dinner?”

“Sounds good, man. And I’m good.  Uh, Angel, this is my brother-in-law, Eddy. This place is owned by my family. Ed’s the head chef and manager.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said, “I’ve had your food. It’s wonderful. Best pizza I’ve ever had.”

Eddy beamed at me, “Thank you, I try. Nice to meet
you.
” He gave Dare a sly look, “I’m sure it’s why Dare’s sister married me. My cooking.” He shrugged. There was a clatter in the kitchen and he said, “Excuse me. I’ll get those specials out.”

I smiled at Dare. He sighed and shook his head.

“Your Italian is beautiful. Do you speak any other languages?” I asked.

“Spanish, Icelandic, a little French,” he muttered.

“Wow.”

He took a sip of his water and shook his head at me.

“Have I upset you?” I asked.

“What’s your name?” he asked me.

“It’s Angel,” I answered.

He shook his head, “Sweetheart…”

“Can we leave it at that? Please?”

He was jiggling his legs with vigor and he was shaking his head at me. Then his gaze sharpened, “I could make you tell me,” he warned.

“I know you could,” I pleaded with my eyes but my body was suddenly alert with sexuality at that dominant statement.

He shook his head, took a sip of his water, kept jiggling his legs, clearly annoyed with me.

A waiter brought warm bread and a platter with meats, cheese, and olives and put it between us. Another waiter came with a bottle of wine and poured two glasses of red.

We were quiet, eating from the platter and he had a few lighthearted conversations with staff who came by setting up nearby tables for dinner. As the waiter brought over two plates heaped with spaghetti with meatballs three very attractive women rushed toward the table.

“Hi ho, Dariiiiooooooo,” one of them sang out and Dare looked up and then went, “Ah for fuck sakes.” He put his palm to his forehead and stared at the ceiling.

Two were clearly sisters, maybe even fraternal twins, short, almost identical. One was blonde and the other had a blonde on top, dark on the bottom ombre. They were both petite but they looked like Dare. His sisters? Behind them was a tall and strikingly beautiful brunette.

One of the sisters was greeted by Eddy who kissed her and then said, “Sorry, man. They found out.”

“They found out,” Dario repeated, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

The two sisters were laughing mischievously. The taller brunette was just looking at me. Her eyes were on my throat. My hand covered my collar protectively. It would look to anyone who didn’t know better like a choker necklace and it matched my blue sapphire stud earrings and bracelet and I knew they were beautiful pieces of jewelry but I felt self-conscious at the way she was looking at it.