Page 41 of Dominion
“I think—” he said, then cleared his throat. “I think she just didn’t want to go on living with my dad. He was a top-notch asshole, like me.”
Her chest tightened and her nose tickled, tears rising up for him. “That’s not you. You may play that part, but I know it’s not the real you.”
He lifted his eyes, looking stunned. She met his gaze evenly, transmitting her utter confidence in her statement. As if he couldn’t take it, he literally shook it off, like a dog shakes off water.
“I mean it. Sure, you’re a dick at times—okay, most of the time, but underneath it all, you are sweet.”
“No,” he said. “I’m really not. And you’re the only person on the planet who has ever described me that way.”
“Because I know the truth,” she said, lifting her chin and daring him to contradict her.
His expression wavered for a moment and he looked uncertain or lost. Then he did the same shaking motion he’d done a few minutes before. “No, you don’t,” he said bitterly.
“What would it take for you to accept anything I offer? Do you always have to reject it?” She almost saidreject me,because that was the truth of the matter.
He didn’t answer. They had reached the taco place, and he led her inside, glancing at the board. “Do you know what you want?”
It was an authentic Mexican joint, with the menu mostly in Spanish. She shrugged. “Surprise me.”
Ben ordered in Spanish and they handed him a couple of Dos Equis beers with lime wedges stuffed in the mouth. He passed one to her and they sat down at a booth.
“What did you order?”
“Acarne asadaburrito. Is that okay?”
“Yeah,” she said with a little laugh.
“You don’t know what that is, do you?”
She grinned sheepishly. “Some kind of burrito.”
“It’s a marinated beefsteak. I think you’ll like it.”
It was stupid, but she leaned forward and said, “Speak to me in Spanish?”
His eyebrows shot up.
She shrugged. “I like the way it sounds.”
“Como qué?”
“Keep going.”
“Si pudiera decirte la verdad, deciré que tu eres… mi todo mundo.”
His words rolled over her ears like they were spoken by Don Juan himself. “What did you say?”
He hesitated long enough for her to realize that he’d said something real for once. Something he couldn’t or wouldn’t say in English. She tried to replay the syllables in her mind to decipher their meaning, but her high school Spanish was lacking. Was it something about speaking the truth and then, you are my whole world?She clung to that thought, and placed it in her heart like a little jewel to take out and hold to the light the next time he rejected her.
8
They met Mark and Zolla back at Zolla’s house. Ashley headed toward the bathroom to change her clothes. He watched the shape of her ass under the red skirt as she sashayed away. God, how he ached to be inside her, to spank those lovely cheeks and fuck her from behind. Or maybe, even, to take her ass.
“You should really mark her,” Zolla said.
He frowned. “What’s it to you?”
To the omega’s credit, he didn’t cower under Ben’s narrowed gaze. “It would calm you down. You’d be able to think straight when she’s around.”