Chapter 30: You Could Be Mine-2

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Later that night, I was sitting at my desk in my bedroom. I was currently studying for one of my final exams of the spring semester that were a few weeks away.

I could not believe that I would be finishing my second year of university already, where did all the time go? Between my classes and training with Jee-min, not to mention finding time to be with my friends and Cristiano,the months had just flown by.

"Seems like you're more than ready to ace this exam," Quintin commented, as he closed the book in front of him on the bed."Thanks for helping me study," I said with a smile.

"Well it's not like I did much, seeing all those numbers gave me a headache.

Are you sure you're willing to give up most of your summer vacation to be stuck in classes?" he asked, as he sat up and looked at me.

Nodding, I quickly replied, "It'll just be for the next two summers, a small sacrifice that will allow me to graduate a year early, so yes, I'm sure."

"What do you plan on doing after?" Quintin asked, knowing already what my answer would be.

"What do you mean? Isn't it obvious? I'll be joining you guys!" I beamed.

Laughing softly, "I don't think you'll be joining us fresh out of university. I'm pretty sure Dominic is not going to allow that; he might have you do some office work first, put that accounting degree to use."

"He better not renege on our agreement! I did not agree to go to university just so that I could sit behind a desk all day, I want to be out in the field with you guys at some point." I argued with a pout.

As he was about to reply, Dominic's voice interrupted as he entered through the open door, "Why aren't you dressed yet, Quintin? We're supposed to be at that Haitian party in an hour."

Fumbling, he quickly stood, "Sorry boss, was just helping Jade do some studying."

"Well, get a move on then, we leave in a few minutes," Dominic commanded, as he dusted something from the sleeve of his purple suit.

Quintin hugged me tightly before quickly leaving the room.

Looking down at me, Dominic raised a brow, "I could not help but overhear something about you not wanting to use your degree?"

Shrugging slightly, I stood from my desk and attempted to put some space between us.

"Don't walk away from me," he demanded, as he strode right up to me. I looked up into his piercing blue eyes, trying not to get lost in the intensity that threatened to drown me. God he was beautiful, I thought to myself.

Clearing my throat, I said, "The only reason I agreed to go to university was so that I could join your organisation after I graduated. You know that I want to be alongside you where all the action is, not be some paper pusher,"

I added sweetly at the end, batting my lashes innocently. Growling softly, his hands came up to gently grip my shoulder, "Why must you be so difficult? Don't think I haven't noticed how impressive your

progress has been. And while I'm proud of how well you can handle the higher calibre guns, I really would rather have you choose a quieter life."

"Yes well, this life chose me, remember? It's like Al Capone said 'once in the racket, you're always in it' capeesh?" I spoke with a fake Italian accent before giggling at the end.

"What do you know about Capone?" he asked with a small smirk. Making a funny face at him, I replied, "I know a lot about Mr. Scarface, thank you very much! And thanks to the accounting degree I'll have, hopefully you won't end up like him. But don't get any ideas about keeping me locked up behind some desk, I plan on getting my hands dirty at some point."

Dominic could not help but laugh at my playfulness, even though we were talking about something serious. It seemed that lately, I had been having that effect on him. Making him laugh was something I was most proud of.

I knew that Dominic thought that I would be a great addition to his organisation, he would be stupid not to. But I knew that he was just being stubborn. I guess he feared that I would be too good at it.

"How about we re-negotiate? How about you wait a few months after you graduate, just have you observe things from the side-lines," he said with a smile.

Shaking my head, I said "Nuh uh! I'm not stupid, you'd only keep delaying it. Besides, we already made a deal. You said I could join. How about we meet halfway? You can start me off with some menial tasks, nothing too dangerous."

A soft rumble escaped him as he continued to look down at me,

"Sometimes I think that you're too smart for your own good, you know that?"

"Which is why I know, that you know, that I would be a great addition to the Calvetti empire," I smartly stated.

"We'll see..." was all he said.

The power of his gaze washed over me, rendering me speechless. I always found it hard to speak whenever Dominic looked at me in a certain way, or in any way for that matter. Everything about him simply mesmerised me, without him ever having to do anything.

"Don't you feel bad that I'm stuck at home while all of you go out?" I suddenly asked when I finally found my voice.

Shaking his head with a slight grin, "Not one bit. You need to study, remember? Besides, this party is definitely more of a twenty-one years and older sort of thing."

"But I'll be twenty soon, that's close enough," I teased, my lips pouting.

"I said no, Jade. Don't make me repeat myself!" Dominic reinforced, as he ran a gloved hand through my purple hair, his grip moving to my neck which he gently squeezed, reminding me who was in charge.

Fuck... I felt body hum as his touch instantly aroused me.

Pouting even more, I relented while leaned into him, "Fiiiine, you look handsome though."

"Don't I always?" he leaned down with a smirk, our noses nearly touching.

"Maybe..." I replied, the tone in my voice slightly husky. Chuckling softly at my response, he changed the subject as he let go of my neck, "Anyway, I haven't heard anything about you hanging around with those friends of yours in a while. How is everyone?"

Shrugging slightly, I reached up and touched his tie, "It's exam time, how do you think we're doing? Can't wait until it's all over. Blaire will be throwing a large party at one of James's pubs after everyone's had their last exam."

"Speaking of O'Doherty and Blaire... Are you and Cristiano using protection?" Dominic suddenly asked.

Thrown off by his sudden question, I started to cough. I was pretty sure that he did not really want to know the answer. But I guess he wanted to be sure that I was keeping safe.

"W-hat? Why would I need that? You know that I can't get pregnant..." I said my eyes wide.

"Come on Jade, we had the sex talk years ago, it's more than just about that.

You know condoms also help against sexually transmitted diseases," he said gently, his eyes trying to read my face knowing the sensitivity of the issue involving me not being able to conceive.

Looking away shyly, a bit embarrassed that I had forgotten about the possibility of STD's, I tried to move away from him. However, Dominic was not having it, and his hold on my neck returned. With a soft growl, he began to walk us back, until I felt the wall behind me, trapping me from escaping.

Unable to help myself, I arched slightly as his eyes held mine, we seemed to stare at each other for hours, even though it was just a few seconds.

"You didn't answer me," Dominic whispered, breaking the silence.

Stammering slightly, I said, "W-we've never needed it."

"What do you mean by that Jade? I do not understand, are you really having unprotected sex?" his voice lowered as he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at me.

"No!" I exclaimed, my cheeks burning as the rest of my words came out all at once, "We've never had sex, okay!"

"I find that a bit hard to believe," Dominic said more to himself. It was my turn to angle my head as I looked up at him, "What's that supposed to mean? Are you calling me a whore again?"

"No, Jade, and I apologise for insinuating such all those months ago in the kitchen," his hand moved from my neck to caress my cheek as he continued speaking, "I mean that I just find it hard to believe that Cristiano was able to keep his hands off of you."

"Yea well, it's not like he didn't want to, but..." my words trailed off as I looked away from him.

"But?" Dominic asked, turning me back to face him.

I bit the inside of my cheek as my hands moved to grip his shoulders, taking a deep breath, I admitted, "I wanted my first real sexual experience to be with you."

"Oh..." was all he could say, my confession rendering him speechless.

His eyes stared into mine and as always, I could not tell what he was thinking, but the way he was looking at me made my body shiver as my heart began to beat faster.

Wanting to lighten the mood, I changed the subject, "Anyway... Back to Blaire and James, what started out as a fuck buddy situation turned into something more. Who knows, maybe in another life, that could've been us," I joked at the end to hide my earlier embarrassment.

Taking a glove off, he used his thumb to caress my bottom lip, "Do you really want to be with a monster like me Jade?"

Gently kissing his finger, I replied, "You know what they say, even monsters need love."

"Hmmm..." Dominic paused before continuing softly, "Perhaps we can try, one day, if an opportunity presents itself."

I felt as though all the air had been knocked out of me. His words shocked and excited me all at once. God, how was it possible that I was so responsive to him, it never ceased to amaze me. Seeing the exhilaration on my face, Dominic smiled and I marvelled at the way his eyes lit up as he looked at me.

"Good night, Jade. Don't stay up too late," he kissed my forehead softly, before leaving the room.

With a sigh, I threw myself on the bed, hugging Harvey the Hippo. I had the biggest grin on my face as I squealed into the pillow pet. It was the first time that Dominic had openly expressed his desire about us being in a relationship of some sorts.

Even though I did not want to hurt Cristiano, I realised that I needed to end things with him. It just was not fair to stay with him when I knew that I was in love with Dominic.

I had been trying to break things off with him for the last six weeks.

However, Cristiano had been acting strange. In fact, now that I thought about it, I got the feeling that he had been ducking my calls and when we did manage to cross paths on campus, he was very moody and evasive and I would end up getting distracted with what I wanted to say as I was more focused in finding out why he was suddenly acting so weird around me.

As I looked up at the ceiling, I tried to make sense of Cristiano's bizarre behaviour.

I knew that Cristiano's mood may have been related to his father getting a new job in another state and with his mother falling sick recently. However, I was not sure as I sometimes felt like he was angry at me for some reason.

Of course, I understood that he could not bear to be parted from his parents as he had confided in me that he may have to take up online classes to finish his degree as he would more than likely move upstate with them.

But I just could not shake the feeling that something else was on his mind.

Nonetheless, with his father's new job and the probability of Cristiano moving, this would mean that we would not be living in the same city anymore.

A part of me felt like this was the universe reaffirming my belief that we were just not meant to be together this way. It would be a perfect excuse to end our relationship without hurting Cristiano too much.

I mean, not everyone was into long-distance relationships, so I hoped that Cristiano would understand and that we could remain friends.

After all, I still liked him very much and did not want to lose his friendship.

As I continued to mull over the different thoughts in my head, I got up from the bed, and walked into my en-suite bathroom, and opened the top drawer in my vanity. Looking down at the different bottles of medication, I gently ran my fingers over them.

Perhaps if Cristiano and I had met under different circumstances, in another place and time, I could have seen us being together. Although, with the way he had been acting lately, who knew, maybe Cristiano would be the one to break up with me first.

"Ugh!" I groaned as my thoughts swirled.

Who knew that emotions could be so complicated? Nothing in the multitude of books I had read could have prepared me for any of the feelings that I was going through. Sure, they may have helped a little, but the reality of it all was that everyone had their own unique journeys to face. Shaking my head with a small laugh, I continued my silent musings while I took a few pills and downed them with some water from the tap.

Looking at my reflection in the mirror I mentally prepared myself for the changes that I knew were inevitable.