Page 32 of The Dom

“What do I do?” I asked the question even though I was half-convinced she’d tell me to break things off until I was more certain that I could handle things the way they needed to be done.

“Do you want to put in the work?” she asked. “If he’s willing to grow, are you willing to do what’s necessary to help him? It won’t be easy.”

“As long as he promises to work on his weaknesses as much as I’m going to work on mine, I want it.”

“All right then. I’m going to keep you accountable. The next time you see him, remember that I’ll expect to hear about it. You’re going to tell me if you caved the moment you saw him or if you talked to him about what happened. You’re going to tell me his response, and then your response. Until you’re able to handle things on your own, I’ll be here to tell you when you’re being weak, and I’ll help you be strong.”

My mom was the most amazing person in the world. I never really had serious thoughts about having kids of my own, not yet anyway, but the one thing I knew was that if I was half the mom she was, I’d be doing things right.

Someone knocked on my door, and my stomach flipped as I got up to see who it was. I kept the phone with me as I crossed the few feet to the door. If it was Nate, I wanted to let Mom know. If it wasn’t, I’d ignore it. I wasn’t in the mood for Mormon missionaries or Girl Scout cookies.

It was neither of the latter.

“Mom, Nate’s here.”

“Let him in. Talk to him. I’ll expect a text or call either tonight or tomorrow. Be strong. I love you.”

The call ended, and I squared my shoulders, determined to make Mom proud.

Twenty-One

Nate

I hadn’t done anything wrong.

I had every right to be pissed when my girlfriend was chatting up my brother, especially when it was Joshua. And she’d done it at work too.

I’d thought making her a freelancer would keep my personal and professional lives separate, but I’d clearly been wrong. She shouldn’t have interfered with the temp receptionist doing his job, no matter how new he was, and she certainly shouldn’t have offered to bring someone upstairs. That wasn’t her place.

The moment she’d heard who he was, she should have come right up to see me so I could handle it. Who knew what Joshua had told her? She’d said that he hadn’t said anything about what had happened between us, but how did I know she was telling the truth? Sure, I’d thought that I could tell when she was being honest, but how did I really know? It wasn’t like we’d known each other very long.

Then again, if he’d told her anything more than what she’d said he had, she probably wouldn’t have been so calm when she’d first come to see me. And it wasn’t like she was the sort of woman who wouldn’t have confronted me if she’d learned something like that about me. Right?

But if Joshua hadn’t said anything, then that probably meant everything else she’d told me had been true too.

Or maybe she’d been able to use my past behavior to justify her own actions because she and Joshua had been flirting.

Or maybe I just had my head up my ass.

“Dammit!” I kicked my desk and immediately regretted it, though not as much as I regretted how I’d acted with Ashlee.

She wasn’t the one at fault, not really. It was all Joshua. He probably hadn’t had any intention of talking to me at all. He’d just come by to see what trouble he could make for me and struck the motherload when he ran into Ashlee. I was willing to bet that as soon as he found out that he was talking to my girlfriend, he’d immediately started thinking about all the ways he could fuck with my relationship.

I needed to call him and tell him to back off. Ashlee was off-limits. He could’ve fucked with anyone but her…and that’s exactly what I’d be telling him if I gave in to my impulse. He’d know that the best way to hurt me would be to mess with her. Seduce her. Flirt with her.

Turn her against me.

And I’d deserve it.

Because I’d done it to him.

A decade ago, I’d slept with his then-girlfriend, Calah Evenstar, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he tried to return the favor.

Ashlee wouldn’t fall for that, though. She was too smart.

But she had fallen for me, so maybe she wasn’t as smart as I thought when it came to men. I felt like the worst person ever as soon as I thought it. What sort of man took a dig at his own girlfriend like that? Of course, Ashlee was smart. She was one of the most intelligent people I knew. And the kindest. She’d never betray me like that, no matter how hard Joshua would try or even had tried already.

My toe throbbed as I practically stomped to the elevator. I didn’t know who else was in the building, but I didn’t care. I needed to get out of here. I hadn’t bothered to call my driver, and it didn’t matter that the gorgeous day had turned into just another gray and dreary evening. I walked anyway.

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