Nineteen
Jo
Ifelt Dominic behindme as I walked back to the bedroom.His hand grabbed my elbow, stopping me as his eyes wildly scanned my face.
“Absolutely not,” he growled as he clenched his jaw.“We do this the right way, Jo.”
“What is the right way?”I demanded, pulling my arm free as I shrugged and stepped away from him.“You and I both know there is noright way.If we wait for Keith’s team to make a move, Tray will get suspicious.He’s fucking smart, Dom.You know that.You’re stupid to think that he’s not already onto you.”
“I’m doing the best I can.But I can’t do that if you try to go barging in there and offering yourself up to him.”
“Yeah, and I can’t stand back and let your sister die because of me.”
“None of this is because of you,” he said sternly, looking at me with such intensity that a shiver ran up my spine.“Let’s just get that clear right now.Lauren is involved becauseshechose to get involved with one of his guys.If I would have known what she was up to, I would have stopped her before she could even get close.But I couldn’t, and now we’re stuck dealing with the consequences of her reckless decisions.Don’t you dare sit there and take any blame for this.”
I looked away from him because if I allowed myself to keep looking at him, I knew I would fall for what he was saying.At the end of the day, it didn’t matter how we got to this point.All that mattered was keeping Lauren alive and trying to survive my ex-husband a second time.
“I don’t care who is to blame for all of this,” I said slowly.“I care about saving your sister.Just because she made a bad decision doesn’t mean we give up.”
“No, you’re right.”He nodded before pinning me with another look.“But it also doesn’t mean that we send you in as some fucking sacrifice, Jo.You escaped Tray once.I’m not willing to risk your life on the chance you might escape a second time.”
“Yeah, well, lucky for you, you don’t have to worry about all of that,” I said, pulling my shoulders back.“I’m not your concern anymore, Dom.All you need to focus on is Lauren.I can handle myself.”
I walked away, not bothering to look back as I went into the bedroom and shut the door behind me.It was going to be a long day tomorrow, given how little sleep either of us had gotten.
**********************
By the time I got up, my phone had rung several times, showing missed calls from Dr.Foster.I called her back and let her know that I would be at the clinic in twenty minutes.I took a quick shower, then headed to the kitchen to fix a quick bite to eat when I found Dom sitting in front of the front door.
“What are you doing?”I asked, narrowing my eyes as he shifted in his chair and looked at me.
“Good morning.How did you sleep?”
Lovely.Apparently, he was in a mood this morning, given how he’d refused to answer my question.
“Fine.You?”
“Great,” he replied.“There’s something calming about knowing the woman you love can’t escape without you knowing it.”
