Page 3 of Dominic

Jesus, this guy! It’s people like him who made me want to go to the wild somewhere and disappear into nature. Just live off the land. No stupid-ass motherfuckers taking advantage of young women. Nothing to make an obviously socially awkward young woman enter a contest like this for whatever money it paid out.

I glanced at the judges’ sheet, then back up at Jimmy. He gave me a grin, then turned and left the table.

“Hey, man.” The announcer held his mic away from him so he could speak to me. He stood on the stage where he’d been moving down the line of girls, presenting them one last time. Now he looked ready to announce the winner. “Gimme the envelope.”

I raised an eyebrow, then saw the envelope in question laying between me and where the other judge was supposed to be. I filled out the winner’s sheet which consisted of a big number on a piece of paper, folded and stuffed it in the envelope. And no. I didn’t pick number twenty-five.

“And this year’s West Palm Beach Bikini Diva is…” Dramatic pause for effect. “Number fifty-eight! Annie Warren!” Aaaand I now had a name to go with the number.

Chapter Two

Annie

I stood there, not moving. The announcer called my name and I just stood there like an idiot! I won. And I couldn’t seem to make myself move.

The guy stuck out his hand and I took it automatically. He tugged me to him, putting his hand around my waist and urging me to the front of the stage. I’m not even sure I was smiling. In fact, I probably looked terrified. My knees trembled and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could walk in these Godforsaken heels without falling on my face.

Someone draped a sash around my body and handed me some cheap roses. Still, I stood there. Rooted to the spot.

“For fuck’s sake, bitch. Wave and smile.” The announcer bit out his order in an irritated voice, all the while smiling like he was the happiest person in the world.

I have no idea why I froze. Probably the encounter earlier. I definitely hadn’t been expecting to win. Not in any way. Hadn’t the man who’d come to my rescue said the same thing? No way I should have won after freaking out like I had. No matter the circumstances…

But wait. Wasn’t that guy one of the judges? The other judge had been there when I’d first come back on stage -- bloody nose and eyes that were starting to bruise -- but was nowhere to be seen now. Only the other one. The guy from backstage. My hero.

He stood behind the judges’ table, arms crossed over his chest with a satisfied smirk on his face. It was the first time I’d really gotten a good look at him. Sure, I’d been so close to him earlier I got a hit of the gasoline fumes clinging to him, but the scent hadn’t really registered. Now, I noticed the black vest with patches. One side said “Dom,” the other “SAA.” Of course. A motorcycle gang or something. I’d seen a few at the diner, but they were all different from this guy. At least, they were at the diner. Most of them had women they simply doted on. Everyone seemed so happy. I hadn’t believed it when Ulyana had told me about them when she’d convinced me to come with her. But I also knew from talking to her that not all clubs in the area were like the ones I saw at the diner. Stumbling into a guy who could quite possibly be on the wrong side of the law and dangerous to me sounded about right for my luck. Though, this guy hadn’t seemed like the type to hurt me. In fact, he’d only been gentle. I couldn’t imagine a man as dangerous and uncaring as people said bikers were would have taken the time to try to calm me down. Of course, hehadalso been a real jerk. There had been no reason to be mean about letting me know I wasn’t going to win this contest.

Except I did win. And he’d obviously been the one who’d chosen me.

Behind me on the stage, there was an uproar. Women screeched and yelled. One in particular was very vocal.

“What the hell? Jimmy! You said I was gonna win!” a whiny, nasally voice piped up. I thought it was the same woman who’d made fun of me outside the bathroom.

“What?” This screech from another female voice. “How did you know you were gonna win? He literallyjustwrote the number on a piece of paper and stuffed it in an envelope. I watched him do it!”

“How could you possibly have given the win to that little mouse?” That from the first woman.

“Are you saying this thing was rigged?” Voices called out from several different directions. Outrage and indignant denials came from all around me.

“Wait! Wait!” Another man jumped up on stage and grabbed the mic from the announcer. “You got it wrong. You didn’t look at it right!” He tried to smile to cover his panic, whatever was happening, he was in a snit. “Gimmie that!” I thought the guy’s name was Jimmy, the guy who’d organized the competition. He snatched the paper, envelope, and the mic from the announcer and looked at it, his smile widening. “Number twenty-five! Mercedes Golden!”

“Ten bucks says that’s not her real name,” I muttered as someone stripped off my sash and snatched the roses from me. I didn’t care about the sash, and the roses sucked. I just wanted the money. And I was a tad bit snippy about it. It was right there in my hands! Ugh!

“Mercedes” acted like she’d won the Miss Universe contest instead of the West Palm Beach Bikini Diva contest. She blew kisses and waved her hand in front of her face like she was drying her tears. Well, until she was handed her check for a whole two hundred and fifty dollars. “What the fuck is this?” The woman looked outraged. “Where’s the rest of the zeros?”

“I mean, if you don’t want the check, I’ll be happy to take it,” I grumbled dryly. “What exactly were you expecting?”

Mercedes turned her venomous gaze on me and hissed. “Bitch.”

“Me? What’d I do?” I knew I should just walk away. Let it go. For whatever reason my hero had tried to let me win, but I could have told him shit like that never worked out for me.

“You’rebreathing.” Mercedes stepped close and gave me a hard shove. “Why don’t you just shut up anddie!”

I stumbled back and caught my high heel on… something, and tumbled to the floor on my ass. My view was a bit obscured after that because of my position on the stage, so I missed what exactly happened. When I finally got to my feet, there was a brawl on stage.

Mercedes slapped the piss outta Jimmy, and a couple of the other girls snagged Mercedes’ hair and reached for the big check (Literally big. In size. Not dollar amount.) I have no idea why. It was one of those really huge trophy checks. It wasn’t like it was actually good for anything. Right?

All around the stage, men and women hollered and cheered, wanting the fight to continue. Or, more accurately, wanting to introduce a kiddie pool full of Jell-O or pudding. Because, why the hell not?