Page 15 of Dominic

Shit. Fuck. Shit. And piss.

Lemon.

I saw her and my daughter, Calista, headed in my direction with a full head of steam. Calista hung back slightly, frowning but hesitant, but she continued forward. Lemon didn’t hesitate. Her fists were clenched and the fine muscles in her arms bunched as if putting the point on her anger. I stuck up my hand in sheepish greeting like a lame-O, but honestly, there was nothing else I could do. I’d fucked up. Me. So whatever she dished out, I’d take with a bowed head, on my knees. Then I’d walk on my knees back to the house and plead, grovel, beg, or even borrow Falcon’s fucking pink monstrosity to ride her round, until she took me back.

Wait. We weren’t a couple. Right?

Fuck.

“Hey, Lemon.” Yep. I just kept getting lamer and lamer.

“What the fuck did you do to Annie, you bastard?” Lemon wasn’t slowing down as she approached and I braced myself for impact. Her hand cracked across my face almost before I saw it coming. Girl was getting good at not telegraphing her movements. Rocket would be proud.

“Lemon!” Calista stopped dead in her tracks, covering her mouth with her hands.

“Sour puss…” Rocket was close behind her, though he was trotting to catch up. Probably had seen or heard Lemon and took off after her. He didn’t often try to mitigate the damage caused by his vice president -- she was, after all, the vice president -- but he’d protect his wife with a ruthlessness matched only by the other members of Grim who had women of their own.

“Well? What did you do to her?”

“I kissed her.”

Again, Lemon’s hand shot out and smacked my face. The other side this time. And yeah, she was equally quick with both hands. I had to remember to compliment her on that. Once she’d calmed down. And no, I wasn’t telling her to calm down. I liked my balls where they were.

“Have you talked to her about what she went through before she came here? Do you know she was trapped in a compound, much like this one, with a cult?”

“I do.”

Slap!

“And did you discuss all the trauma she endured?”

I groaned. Hadn’t I just been thinking the same thing? “I think you know the answer, Lemon.”

Slap! Slap! One side of my face. Then the other. No, I didn’t even consider protecting myself. I deserved this for being a horny, possessive, stupid-ass motherfucker who didn’t use his fucking brain.

Surprisingly, Rocket hovered, but didn’t interfere. I knew he would if he even thought I’d fight back, but my president knew me well enough to know I’d stand there and take whatever Lemon gave me, whether I thought I deserved it or not. I didn’t hit women, and if I wasn’t man enough to take what they dished out -- as long as no guns or knives were involved -- I was in the wrong position within Grim Road.

“Lemon, stop! Please!” Calista looked like she was near tears, but she only put her hand on Lemon’s shoulder.

Lemon slapped me one more time before stepping back. She still looked ready to gut me, but the fact her knife was still at her hip and not sticking out the front of my throat meant she didn’t believe I’d done something so bad as to warrant killing. If she’d thought I’d deliberately hurt Annie, or forced that kiss on her in any way, I’d already be dead. Because if she hadn’t already ended me, Rocket would.

A long silence followed Lemon’s outburst. I didn’t dare take my attention away from her lest I end up with that knife in my gut when she thought I wasn’t paying proper attention to her. Yeah. I wasn’t that stupid.

“Now.” Lemon stepped back just far enough to be able to look at me comfortably without craning her neck. “Start over. What happened?”

“Start ov-- You didn’t let me start to begin with!” I stopped. Took a breath. This was Lemon. She was pushing my buttons. This is what she did. How she operated. Lemon never made sense. You know. Until she did. “Look, Lemon. I was careful with her. I asked every step of the way. I gave her every opportunity to tell me to go fuck myself. Even encouraged it. She was fine until… after.”

When I didn’t continue, she stepped forward and slapped me again. This time with feeling. She actually used enough force to turn my head with that one. One thing about Lemon, she was smart when she unleashed her temper. By using an open hand, her palm might sting as much as my face, but it did neither of us real harm and she got to make her point.

“You can keep slapping me all you want, Lemon, but what happened is between me and Annie. I will make it right. I think I accidentally triggered something.”

“If you triggeredsomething --” she made air quotes -- “why didn’t you fucking stop?”

“It happened afterward.”

“Gonna need to know exactly what you said to her.”

“No, Lemon. And you can’t bully me into it. Not this time. If Annie wants to tell you she will. Go ask her. But not right now.”