Page 10 of Dominion

“Is she that bad?” I asked as Zoe placed the dishes on the table.

“No!” Atlas, Cillian, and Zoe yelled out while Indigo said, “Yes!”

“You just don’t like the fact that she could beat you if she tried.” Zoe laughed and patted him on his shoulder.

“She wishes she could.”

“Let’s be honest, Indigo,” Atlas started. “She could, but we don’t have to talk about it right now.”

“Seriously?” Indigo looked at Zoe as she sat next to me, then at Atlas and finally Cillian. “Are you at least going to say something?” he asked Cillian. “You grew up with her.”

“Hey, man, Ophelia is amazing if she likes you. But if she doesn’t…” He grimaced. “That’s all I’m going to say.”

“No, nuh-uh.” Indigo shook his head. “I am a likable person.”

“Sure you are, brother.” Zoe smiled, placing a piece of chicken breast onto my plate.

“I am!”

“Fine, fine, we believe you.”

“You guys are unbelievable,” Indigo exclaimed. “And to think that I even brought chocolate pudding so that all of you ungrateful asses could have something sweet.”

Everybody kept laughing at him, while he pretended to ignore each of us. But I needed this. I needed at least five minutes where everything wasn’t doom and gloom. Was this what it felt like when life wasn’t kicking you from every possible side?

Indigo kept bickering with Zoe. Atlas laughed at both of them, while Cillian observed the situation with the little twinkle in his eye that wasn’t there just moments ago. I loved it. I loved the camaraderie these people had between each other and I wanted the same.

I didn’t want to go through my life constantly thinking of only the bad things.

I didn’t want to stare at the ceiling every single morning, thinking that it would be better if I never woke up at all. I didn’t want to have crutches just to get through the day.

As they all talked over each other, I promised myself I would do better. I would fucking do better for myself, for the people I loved, for everyone in my life, because that’s what I deserved. People deserved the best version of me, and I would try to get to that point.

But only if I managed to survive this shitshow I called life right now.

I knew why they all behaved like this. They wanted me to forget. I couldn’t even put into words how much it meant having this from complete strangers. From people I met only two days ago, or in Cillian’s case, last night.

I just needed Ash and Dylan to come back.

Then I would be fine.

The carefree atmospherequickly dissipated as soon as we finished lunch. I knew that the time for jokes was over. The relaxed faces Indigo and Atlas kept throughout lunch disappeared as soon as they sat me down in the living room in front of a laptop somebody had left on the table. When I lookedat Cillian, who stood in the corner of the room, looking out the window, he looked the same.

For a moment there, I forgot that all of these people were professional killers, and that they were the only lifeline I had at the moment.

If that didn’t scare the living crap out of me, I didn’t know what would.

Zoe disappeared as soon as we moved to the living room and something told me that she didn’t want to know all the gory details of what was going to happen. She was part of this world, but she also kept herself out of it as much as possible.

“Where are Storm and Ophelia?” I asked while Atlas pulled the laptop to his lap, sitting right next to me.

Indigo winced. Cillian looked at me as if I’d grown three heads and Atlas’s knee kept bouncing much like Cillian’s had this morning.

“What?” My eyes traveled from one to the other and then landed on Indigo. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Let’s just say that Storm wasn’t exactly happy with what Ophelia did with you, risking your life like that.”

“Is she going to be okay?” Cillian asked instead of me, looking at Indigo.

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