Five

I had eleven minutes.

I scrubbed my mouth until it hurt, brushed my teeth twice, washed my face with cold water, and yanked the black dress off like it burned. I threw on an oversized T-shirt and soft shorts ,innocent, roommate clothes ...and dragged a brush through my still-damp hair. My lips were still slightly swollen. My thighs still trembled when I walked. Every time I swallowed I tasted him.

I was in the hallway when the front door opened.

Maya stepped inside looking smaller than usual. Her eyes were red. Mascara smudged. She dropped her bag on the floor and went straight to me, wrapping her arms around me tightly.

“He was such an asshole,” she whispered against my shoulder. “I don’t even want to talk about it yet. I just… I needed to come home.”

I hugged her back, heart slamming so hard I was sure she could feel it.

“It’s okay. You’re here now.”

Footsteps sounded on the stairs.

Dominic came down slowly, expression carefully blank. He had changed into a dark hoodie and sweatpants. His hair was slightly messy, like he’d run his hands through it too many times. When his eyes met mine for half a second, something raw and dangerous flickered there before he locked it down.

“You all right, kid?” he asked Maya, voice low and even.

Maya pulled away from me and went to him. He hugged her the way a father should ... solid, safe, nothing more. I watched the careful way he held himself, the way his hands stayed only on her back, and felt heat crawl up my neck anyway.

We ended up in the living room.

Maya curled up on the couch with her head on my thigh, scrolling through her phone and muttering about Jason. Dominic sat in the armchair across from us, a fresh glass of whiskey untouched on the table beside him. He barely looked at me. Every time he did, the air tightened.

Maya sniffed and wiped her eyes.

“You look weird,” she said suddenly, tilting her head up at me. “Your face is all flushed. Are you feeling okay?”

I forced a small smile.

“Just tired. Long day.”

Dominic’s fingers flexed once against the arm of the chair.

Maya kept talking, voice soft and hurt. I answered on autopilot, stroking her hair, while my body still remembered the stretch of his fingers and the weight of his cock on my tongue. Dominic sat there like a statue, jaw tight, eyes fixed on nothing.

After a while Maya sat up and sighed.

“I’m gonna shower. I smell like a club and bad decisions. Don’t move, okay? I still want to vent.”

She disappeared upstairs.

The second the bathroom door closed, the silence in the living room turned sharp.

Dominic stood.

He didn’t speak at first. He just walked over to where I sat on the couch and stopped in front of me, close enough that I had to tip my head back to meet his eyes. The smell of whiskey and clean soap and something darker wrapped around me.

His voice came out low, almost a growl.

“You still taste like me, don’t you?”

My breath caught.

He leaned down, one hand braced on the back of the couch beside my head, caging me in without touching.

“I can still smell it on you,” he murmured. “What we did. What I let you do.” His eyes dropped to my mouth. “You should have stayed in your room.”

“You didn’t want me to,” I whispered.

Something cracked behind his expression. His free hand moved ...slow, deliberate, sliding under the hem of my T-shirt, palm hot against my bare stomach. His fingers drifted lower, skimming the waistband of my shorts.

“This is the last time I touch you,” he said, but his hand kept moving. “You understand me? The last...”

The bathroom door opened upstairs.

His hand froze.

Footsteps started down the hall.

He pulled back instantly, putting three feet of space between us just as Maya appeared at the top of the stairs in an oversized hoodie and wet hair. She paused halfway down, eyes moving from Dominic to me and back again.

The living room went completely still.

Maya’s voice was quiet.

“Is everything okay with you two? You’re both acting really weird tonight.”

No one answered.

The silence stretched ...long, heavy, and loud enough to hear every heartbeat in the room.