His Games, Her Rules

I turn to look at Dominique who still has a strain on his face as he stares at nothing. His body is here but his mind is not here. I place my hand on his thigh and squeeze. Dominique looks down at my hand on his thigh as he turns to look at me. I give him an assuring smile and he smiles in return. Slowly, I feel his rigid muscles start to relax underneath my touch as he lets out a sigh.

“Sorry, I’m late.” A baritone voice says as we turn toward the source of the voice.

A man dressed in a black well-tailored suit appears from nowhere as he leans down to kiss Camilla on the cheek. He stands upright and turns to look at us.

“Hello, everyone.”

“Hi, Lorenzo.” A few voices echo around me as Lorenzo sits down next to Aimee and directly opposite me.

He locks eyes with me for a long minute as a playful smirk plays on his lips. Damn, he’s fine. He has dark golden skin, jet black hair, a pointed long nose, a toned and well-defined body, a defined jawline, and piercing dark brown eyes. He’s the same height and size as Dominique, with Dominique a lot more sexy and attractive.

“Aunt Carlotta.” Lorenzo nods in acknowledgment as he turns to her husband. “Pascal.”

“Hello, Lorenzo.” Carlotta smiles at the man.

“What’s he doing here?” Dominique speaks for the first time since we sat down.

Lorenzo chuckles as he turns to look at Dominique. “The last time I checked, Dom, I’m also part of this family.”

“Is that so?” Dominique’s tone is venomous. What’s going on in his family anyway? Do they all have grievances against each other?

Camilla gives me a sympathetic look while the others pretend to dig into their food as the waitresses leave. He did tell me their family was complicated, but I wasn’t expecting this level of complications.

“The only person at this table who is not a family, is your lapdog Oliver. What is he doing here anyway?” Lorenzo stares at Dominique, a smug smirk on his face.

“The fuck is wrong with you, Lorenzo?” Leo says, shooting Lorenzo a death glare.

“Guys!” Camilla calls, giving warning stares at the men. “Please stop. Whatever beef you have against each other, put it on hold because it’s my wedding and I won’t let any of you ruin it for me. If you can’t do that for me, you’re allowed to leave. And Dom, I invited Lorenzo because he’s our cousin. For my sake try to behave.” She gives her brother a pleading stare as he sighs.

“Thank you,” Camilla says as she lets out an exasperated sigh.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

We start to eat in silence, the atmosphere around the room slowly dissipates and the tension decreases. My plan for this breakfast was to make Dominique pay for what he did to me in the kitchen in our hotel suite, but I’m putting a pause on my grand scheme. There are a lot of unresolved issues going on with his family and this is not the right place and time to exact my revenge.

When we finish eating, the waitresses come back to clear the table with two bottles of wine.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Dominique whispers into my ear as he interlocks his fingers with mine underneath the table.

“It’s okay.” I give him an assuring smile. “It’s not like my family is perfect anyway.”

“I hope I get to meet them someday,” Dominique says, his words make my heart skip a beat.

I don’t get enough time to comprehend what he just said as Carlotta speaks up.

“So, Robyn, how did you two meet?” Carlotta asks as she looks at me.

“Oh.” I glance at Dominique and he’s smiling at me. Traitor.

“Um…” I glance around the table, surprised that I have everybody’s attention. “Dominique and I met in a parking lot. I was backing out of the parking lot and I hit his Rolls Royce. I didn’t bother to come down from my car and apologize, which was a dick move, and I just fled the scene.”

Camilla and her fiance laugh, including the others.

“That was a romantic first-time meeting,” Camilla says.

“Cheesy,” Aimee, aka, bitchface mutters under her breath as she takes a sip from her glass of wine. I ignore her.

“Then we met again at a party and I apologized about the damage but Dominique insisted he wanted payment in the form of a date. And so I agreed to go on a date with him and everything else was a blur.” I say, the half-truth slipping out of my tongue seamlessly.

Dominique turns to look at me, a smirk on his lips as he removes his hand from mine and places it on my thigh. He rubs small circles on my knees and the little gesture only makes the butterflies in my stomach flutter.

“So what do you do, Ronin? Are you a model? I’m sure you’re not an actress, I would have seen your face on TV. Unless you’re a struggling actress.” Aimee asks as she looks at me, a mischievous smile on her thin lips.

“It’s Robyn, not Ronin.” I correct her even though I’m pretty sure she knows my name.

“That’s what I said. Robyn.”

“I’m a nurse. What do you do?”

“I’m an interior designer. I’ve designed a lot of buildings in New York and several other cities and states. That was how Dom and I met. I designed his penthouse suite a few years ago.” Aimee says, her over-the-top British accent makes it a lot easier to hate her more.

“Oh.” I turn to look at Dominique, thanking my stars I’m a good actress and the jealousy and irritation I’m feeling right now are not showing on my face. “You two used to date?”

“Something like that,” Aimee says as she steals a glance at Dominique who’s also staring at her. There’s a warning look in his eyes as he stares at Aimee but Aimee pretends not to acknowledge it.

“It was nothing serious. Just a casual fling.” Dominique says softly as he looks at me.

I know I’m supposed to be his pretend girlfriend and I’m supposed to be jealous of this new information because I’m his pretend girlfriend. But right now, I’m actually angry and jealous and it’s not an act. Aimee is evidently his type. Blonde hair, fuller boobs, a British accent, a little taller than me, and she’s got class. So I’m not surprised Dominique has slept with her. The thought repulses me and I badly want to throw up, but before I do that, I want to grab her blonde locks and slam her face against the table repeatedly.

Why is she a fucking bitch? Hating on me for no reason other than the fact that I’m Dominique’s supposed girlfriend. God, she’s full of shit.

“It’s okay. I’m not angry.” I say, grabbing my glass of wine as I bring it to my lips.

The table is oddly silent as they stare at Aimee and me. I’m not a drama doll and I’m not going to give this fucking skank a show by acting all jealous in front of his family. I know that’s what she wants. To see me put on a show.

“Dominique was a wild card before I tamed him. I didn’t think he liked blondes, though. Always had been a brunette guy. I guess that was why it was casual and it didn’t last.” I flash Aimee a smug smile. She’s dumbfounded as she gives me a discreet stink eye which suddenly morphs into a small smile.

Yeah, cunt. Sit on that.

“So, Camila, how long have you been together before you guys finally decided to tie the knot? You guys seem so in love.” I say, shifting the attention from me.

Camilla smiles as she and Anthony tell us the story of how they met.

Dominique leans down to whisper into my ear, his hand on my mid-thigh as he squeezes a little, almost leaving me needy for his touch. “Aimee was nothing. Like you said, it didn’t last.”

I whisper back. “I don’t care.”

Oh, but I care. I care a lot but he doesn’t have to know that.