Page 29 of Monster

He cupped my cheek, drawing my eyes to his.

It was a bad mistake to look into them.

And now I was unable to look away.

We didn’t say anything for a moment, and Dominic moved the pad of his thumb gently over my cheek, messing me up a little more with each swipe.

“Go to sleep. You look fucking exhausted.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask what his plans for me were tomorrow, but something told me he wouldn’t answer.

And Iwasexhausted.

I hadn’t eaten anything since before the piano lesson, but right now, I was more exhausted than I was hungry.

I just wanted to sleep and pretend this day had never happened.

I was only moments away from crashing, I was sure of it.

I licked my lips, drawing his gaze to my mouth, and I felt very much like a curious little kitten staring into the jaws of a lion—and not running for my life, even though I should.

What would I do if he kissed me?

Push him away?

Slap him?

Or, worse, kiss him back?

I swallowed, and he stepped away from me suddenly, turning his back.

I took a much-needed breath of air and tried to keep from falling on my ass.

“Rest up. You’re safe tonight.”

I might be a little stupid because I believed him.

I was safe tonight.

I watched as he walked out of the hotel room, and it wasn’t until the door clicked shut that I finally collapsed onto the bed—so, so exhausted.

6

DOMINIC

I had stood thereand listened to her ramble out an explanation, putting the story together through the jumbled mess of her words and wild hand gestures.

Her flushed face—probably from the alcohol and all that had happened—and animated eyes played on my mind the entire time I drove home.

Her words were mainly nonsensical. The little wildcat didn’t explain much that I found helpful, besides the fact that the car those bastards drove was black—probably stolen, and a brief description of the two men, but she might as well be describing a million other fuckers in the city.

It didn’t matter. I had a pretty good idea of what happened, and I didn’t like it one fucking bit.

The rest, I would find out once we hacked into the traffic cam, and hopefully, that would give me more information to go on.

She wasn’t going to like me very much for what I would have to do to keep those under my protection safe, including her now.

But she had gotten involved in this situation. There was no getting out.

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