Page 37 of Miss Treated

“Believe me when I say there are no worries.”

Dominic’s words caused my heart to skip double time. His alpha rescue was doing funny things to my body.

Joel smirked, looking at me. “Noted. But word of warning, she can be fragile and insecure, can’t you, babe?”

My knees threatened to give out, but Dominic held me tighter, preventing a fall. “Funny, she used the same words to describe your ego. I’d say it’s been a pleasure, Joe, but I think we both know I’d be lying.”

Joel’s smirk slipped. “It’s Joel, not Joe. And, yeah. You two have a good night. I’ll be in touch, Kelsey.”

His threat to contact me had nothing on the humiliation caused by the whole interaction. I was mortified I’d forced Dominic to do all the verbal warfare because I’d been stunned silent. The moment Joel walked away, I let out a breath, not daring to look at Dominic. “I need to leave.”

He took my arm. “Of course. I’ll escort you to your room.”

Dominic had no idea how much I appreciated his support. I walked on unsteady legs, anxious to get to my room so I could collect myself.

Chapter Sixteen

Dominic

Protectiveness wasn’t a strong enough word for what I’d felt when Kelsey had spotted her ex. To see her shrink inside herself and know her ex had made her feel that way made me irate.

“Do you want me to stay for awhile?” I offered. I didn’t have a clue what I could do for her, but didn’t wish to leave her alone.

“No, thanks. This is me.” Downstairs, we’d practically sprinted to the elevator. The whole way up, she wouldn’t look at me. And now she wanted to flee.

“Okay. If you need anything, call me.”

She inserted her key card, gave me a quick look. “Thanks. Good night.”

Fuck. I stood there in the hallway. Closing my eyes, I replayed her admission he’d made her feel small. That such a confident woman would whisper those words evoked such a strong response. I wanted to shove my fist into Joel’s smug face. What kind of monster went around trying to tear people down?

With heavy footsteps, I went up one floor to my room, unsettled about leaving her. I couldn’t shake this weird intuition and thought I’d drop by one last time to make sure she was all right.

Chapter Seventeen

Kelsey

Angry tears threatened, but I slipped off my shoes and sat on my hotel room sofa to take deep breaths instead of letting them fall. Fuck. I’d never been good at confrontations. Any time I’d attempted to stand my ground, Joel would find a way of twisting things around. Over time, I’d lost any fight. That’s why I’d been forced to simply leave.

Having Dominic as witness was the most humiliating part of the evening. Especially when Joel had disclosed my fragility. Guess I should have been thankful he hadn’t brought up my antidepressants too. God, was there ever a time I hadn’t been on them? When my mother had taken me to the doctor as a kid for my first prescription, she’d blamed my father and the divorce. Then Joel had thrown them in my face whenever we disagreed. I was the one medicated, not him, he’d pointed out; therefore I must be the crazy, oversensitive, insecure partner in the relationship. I should feel lucky he loved me despite the fact I was broken.

Sadly, he’d convinced me of this for years. I rubbed at the knot in my chest.

By tomorrow I hoped I’d be ready to face Dominic again. The sound of the knock on my door had me smiling, though. God, he was the most persistent, sweetest man. Despite my protest I wanted to be alone, maybe his company was what I needed to get out of my head.

I opened the door without looking through the peephole, completely stunned to see it wasn’t Dominic standing there.

“What are you doing here?”

Joel smirked. “Where’s your boyfriend?” He looked beyond me into the empty room.

“He went to get something. I suggest you leave before he returns.”

He chuckled. “You know what I think? I think the entire thing is a ruse.”

I’d always been a terrible liar. “What do you want, Joel?”

“I deserve to know what happened. You fucking ghosted me. After all the years I loved you, after everything I did for you, you walked away like I was nothing.”