Page 111 of Sweet Shots

Once Dominic is in a parking spot in the small lot, he shuts the car off and we get out.

There are a few streetlights, so it isn’t fully dark over here, but they only reach so far. We head to one of the benches, and with my hands shoved into my pockets, I sit on the end of the bench. Dominic sits down too, and I notice immediately all the space between us.

Maybe I shouldn’t have come here. This was stupid. Why do I have to be so damn impulsive when it comes to him? He makes it hard to think. Or to thinkclearly. Or maybe he makes me think too clearly, since he’s the only one who shuts up that damn voice in my head.

“How have you been?” he asks, sounding unsure.

He’s never unsure. Never nervous. He’s always so confident and knows exactly what needs to be said and done all the time.

This isn’t good.

“Okay, I guess. You?”

“Honestly? Not great.” He gets to his feet and takes a few steps away, letting his head fall back and taking a deep breath. The moon is shining high beyond him, and with the lightsahead of him, he’s just a silhouette to me. A tall, muscled, sexy silhouette.

“I put my house up for sale,” he says suddenly.

“What?” I bark out, getting to my feet. “What do you mean? Why?”

Way to sound desperate, Mikah.

“Because of you.”

I try not to flinch at his words but fail. Obviously he wouldn’t want to be next to me after all that’s happened. It’s the exact reason I didn’t want to go home. He can’t stand to be next to me, and that hurts. It’s not fair, because I thought the same of him, but being on the other end of it? It sucks. I thought maybe… I don’t know. That he missed me even a little? That he was hurting too. That he isn’t a complete asshole like I thought he was.

“Is that all you came to tell me?” I ask, not sure why he couldn’t have just texted that or called. It’s not like I had his number blocked; I just didn’t answer his calls. I saw the texts, though. I always read them. Not that there were many, because they stopped soon after I left.

“Basically.” He turns to face me. “I wanted to make sure you knew that you could go back home and be comfortable. That I won’t be in your way.”

“Be in my way?” I snap. “What the hell does that mean?”

Anger burns in my chest, and I don’t know why. My hands fist at my sides, and I want to punch him.

“Mikah, you ran away from me. It’s obvious you want nothing to do with me.”

“You’re the one who wants nothing to do with me!” I shout, stepping closer to him.

It’s taking everything in me not to sucker punch him right in his handsome face. It would feel so damn good, I bet. And knowing him, he’d just take it. He’d let me do it. He seems like that kind of person. No, he definitely is that kind of person. I need to stop acting like I don’t know who he is, because I do.

“Who the fuck said that?” he asks.

I scoff. “No one needed to say it, Dominic. Your actions spoke loud enough.”

“My actions?” he asks in a low tone. “What actions would that be, Mikah? Me filing a report because I thought someone kidnapped you? Me sticking around Vegas for days, hoping you showed up? Me calling you and texting you, begging to tell me where you were so I could help you? Me being a miserable fuck over the last month after learning that youwillinglyleft me when I thought you were lying dead in a ditch somewhere?” His words slowly get louder as he goes on, and it’s obvious he’s pissed.

I swallow past the lump in my throat, find my voice, and say, “You kissing Trent at the club.”

“Me kissing—” He makes a choked sound. “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s what this is about?” He blinks, waiting for me to answer.

And, well, when he puts it that way, it seems like it isn’t a big deal. But it is. I know how it made me feel, how itstillmakes me feel when I think about it.

“I hope you’re fucking kidding, and this isn’t just abouthimkissingme.”

“Youwere kissinghim,” I say, though my voice is small this time. I cross my arms over my chest, trying to look confident, but I feel weaker than normal.

“No the fuck I was not,” he barks, stepping closer to me. “I shoved him off me and threatened him after he pulled that shit in the club. But let me guess… you didn’t see any of that, did you?”

“I…” I don’t know what to say, is what. Because no, I didn’t. “You were kissing him for a long time. What does it matter? You going to blame it on being drunk? You thought it was me?”

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