Chapter 26 FALSE ALARM
Ava's POV
I stood on the sidewalk staring at the blood pooled near the curb.
My hands wouldn't stop shaking as I picked up Dominic's phone lying next to it. The screen was cracked but still working. There was no calls and no messages.
"No no no no," I whispered, my voice breaking.
I looked around frantically. The street was empty except for a few people walking their dogs blocks away but none of them were Dominic.
My fingers fumbled as I dialed Adrian's number.
"Miss Scott? It's late, is everything... " He tried to ask from the other end but I cut him short.
"He's gone. There's blood on the sidewalk and his phone is here and he's gone." The words came out in a rush.
"Adrian, something happened to him." I said but my voice was shaking badly.
"Stay exactly where you are. I'm five minutes away." He said and quickly hung up.
I stood there clutching Dominic's phone to my chest and I really couldn't breathe right.
What if someone took him? What if he was hurt? What if I never got to tell him I was sorry for saying I wanted options? What if the last real conversation we had was a fight?
I started walking down the street, looking in every alley, every doorway and at some point I was practically running. My apartment building security cameras only covered the front entrance, and not this side street where his car had been parked.
"Dominic!" I called out, not caring who heard me. "Dominic, where are you?" I kept saying while walking fast but there was nothing.
I turned down the alley next to my building, the one where people threw their trash and thought it smelled horrible but I didn't care. I kept walking deeper into it, using my phone flashlight to see.
That's when I heard a groan.
"Dominic?" I said as i ran toward the sound and found him leaning against the brick wall, one hand pressed to his side. His shirt was torn and there was blood on it, but when I got closer I saw it wasn't as bad as it looked.
"Ava?" He looked up at me confused.
"What are you doing here?"
"What am I...you disappeared! There's blood and your phone and I thought..." I couldn't finish the sentence because I was crying too hard.
I threw my arms around him and he grunted in pain but hugged me back anyway.
"I'm okay. I'm okay," he said into my hair.
"Some guys tried to mug me. I gave them my wallet and they still hit me and knocked the phone out of my hand." He added.
"You're bleeding." I said extremely worried.
"It's not mine. Well, most of it isn't mine." He pulled back to look at me.
"One of them had a bloody nose after I fought back."
"You idiot! You could have been killed!" I hit his chest and then immediately felt bad because he winced.
"Sorry, I'm sorry. We need to get you to a hospital." I said trying to help him up but realized he was too stronger and heavier than I could be.
"I'm fine. Just some bruises." He said as he wiped the tears off my face with his thumb.
"Were you really that worried about me?"
"Of course I was worried! I thought I'd lost you and I never got to tell you that I'm sorry and that I didn't mean what I said about wanting options and..." I tried to talk but he kissed me.
Right there in the dirty alley that smelled like garbage but that didn't matter, I kissed him back just as desperately, my hands fisting in his torn shirt.
"I'm sorry," he said when we broke apart.
"For everything. For being controlling and jealous and for giving you that check like you were something I could just pay off."
"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have said that about options. There are no options, there's only you." I said, looking deeply into his eyes.
We kissed again, harder this time. His hands were in my hair and mine were pulling him closer even though I knew he was hurt.
"Ava," he breathed against my mouth.
"We're in an alley." He whispered
"I don't care." I replied as i pushed him back against the wall, careful of his injuries, and kissed down his neck. He groaned...
"Someone could see us." He said.
"Let them see." I don't know where I got the courage from but I started unbuttoning his shirt, needing to check his injuries but also needing to touch him.
"I thought I lost you tonight. I thought I'd never get to touch you again." I whispered
His hands grabbed my hips and pulled me closer, he kissed my lips once and said
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Promise me." I said.
"I promise." He spun us around so I was against the wall now and he lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist.
We were kissing hard now and his hands slid under my shirt and I gasped when his fingers found bare skin. This was crazy as we were in an alley where anyone could walk by, but I didn't want to stop.
"Take me home," I said between kisses.
"Take me back to the penthouse." I said.
He set me down and took my hand. We walked back to the street just as Adrian's car pulled up.
Adrian got out looking worried, then saw us holding hands and relaxed.
"Everything alright?"he asked
"Just a mugging. I'm fine." Dominic showed him the torn shirt. "Can you drive us back to the penthouse?"
"Of course."
The drive was quiet but Dominic held my hand the entire time, his thumb rubbing circles on my palm. Every few seconds we'd look at each other and I'd see everything I was feeling reflected back at me.
When we got to the penthouse I thought we'd go straight to the bedroom, but Dominic stopped in the living room to make some calls while I had to go to the room.
When he came back to the room. He stood at the door for a while and stared a me.
"I'm really sorry for being so controlling" he said as he walked towards where I sat on the bed. He stretches out his hands at me, and pulled me up to where he was standing.
"That's fine,I like the controlling you"
He laughed and pulled me into a kiss.
"Come back," he said.
"Move back in. Not because of the contract or the money, but because I love you and I want you here."
My breath caught. "You love me?"
"I love you. I should have said it weeks ago but I was too scared. I love you, Ava. You're it for me."
"I love you too." I said too.
We kissed again and this time when his hands started pulling at my clothes I didn't stop him. He was already undressing me even while we were still standing.
By the time we reached the bed we were both mostly naked. He laid me down gently, careful now where before he'd been rough.
"I thought I'd never get to do this again," he said, kissing down my neck.
"Never get to touch you like this."
"You can touch me however you want. I'm yours." I said and his mouth found my breast and I arched into him. I really wanted to be the one to satisfy him tonight, so I pushed him to the edge of the bed and pulled down the tight shorts he had on him.
My hand found his budge and rubbed the cap of it slowly,he moaned in pleasure. I
" Fuck! Av...a" he said barely above a whisper. After doing that for like a minute or two, I did that on and on for a while and stopped.
I brought my mouth to his cap and rolled my tongue around it slowly, he help on tight unto my hair and pulled me close.
"God. Ava" he mummered as he closed his eyes slowly.
He really was more huge than I had thought and when I swallowed about half his cock, I was already chocking but I kept on going anyways, as he banged into me slowly.
"Fuck that cock... urg baby" he screamed and I knew people from the next room or even the living room could hear us.
When he was close,I stopped.
"Not yet, you have to do that inside me" I said as I rolled off the tiny pant that I had on. He rubbed my clit slowly and pulled me closer to him.
He put in the cap first and I held unto him to withstand the wave of pleasure I was feeling.
"Go in daddy" I found myself saying as I moved closer to himself.
When he finally pushed inside me we both groaned. He stayed still for a moment, his forehead pressed against mine.
"I love you," he said again.
"I love you too. Now move before I die."
He laughed and started moving, slow at first but building. This wasn't the rough desperate sex from the alley. This was something else, something that felt like making love instead of just fucking.
When I got close he knew, reaching between us to push me over the edge. I came calling his name and he followed seconds later.
Afterward we lay tangled together, both breathing hard.
"Move back in tomorrow," he said. "I already had Adrian bring your bags back."
"Presumptuous." I said and laughed
We fell asleep wrapped around each other, and for the first time in days I didn't have nightmares about blood or mysterious messages or losing him.
But three floors below, in a car parked across the street, Victoria sat watching the penthouse windows.
She pulled out her phone and made a call.
"Plan A didn't work. He's fine and they're back together." She listened to whoever was on the other end. "Yes, I understand. Time for Plan B."
She hung up and smiled while staring at the room where we stayed.
"Enjoy it while it lasts, Ava. This is far from over."