Chapter Forty

“You gonna stick by me?

“Maybe….”

**

“Yo, Letty,” I heard Vince say from somewhere far away. “You awake? That Miguel guy’s on the phone for you again…you wanna talk to him, or should I tell him he’s never gonna get into your pants so he might as well stop calling here?”

“I’m gonna fucking kill them,” I thought to myself. I just couldn’t decide who was going to die first - Vince or Miguel.

I started pushing against Dom’s shoulders, trying to get him off of me, but he didn’t move. Prolly thought I was wanting more of him or something… Which I was, actually, until I heard Vince fumbling with the doorknob and realized he wasn’t gonna just go away.

“God,” I muttered, digging my nails into Dom’s skin, still trying to get his attention. “Get the fuck off of me, Dom!”

“What?” he asked as looked up at me, confused.

“Vince-“ was all I had time to say before the door was open.

Dom was up and off the bed almost before I realized he’d moved at all, standing in front of me as I scrambled to find my top.

“What the fuck is going on in here?” Vince demanded, his voice loud and angry.

“Vince,” Dom said, trying to calm him down, “it’s okay. Just… Go wait downstairs, and I’ll be there in a minute, I’ll explain…”

“Explain?” Vince interrupted. “I don’t know if I want to hear the explanation for this. Damn, Letty… Have to say, I never thought you’d let yourself just be turned into Dom’s whore… Something he keeps around the house when nothing at the races interests him, huh?”

“You need to shut the fuck up!” Dom roared, and for a second I thought he was gonna hit Vince.

“What?” Vince roared right back, getting up in Dom’s face. “You gonna try and tell me I’m wrong?”

“You are wrong!” Dom shouted, not backing up. “You think Letty’s just my whore? Just someone I keep around to fuck when I can’t find anything better? You don’t know shit, Vince.”

“What the hell is she, then?” Vince demanded, like it was any of his business. “What the fuck is she to you?” he repeated, pushing Dom with every word. “’Cause it sure as hell looks like she’s just your whore!”

At that, Dom reached out and grabbed Vince, started choking him.

“Dom,” I said as Vince’s face started turning red. Dom didn’t move, just kept his hands locked around Vince’s throat.

“Dom!” I repeated, getting up off the bed as Vince started turning purple. “Let go of him already!”

Dom didn’t move until I was standing right next to him, my hands around his wrists, trying to pull him away from Vince. For the second time that day my nails dug into his skin, and like before, it seemed to bring him back to reality. His hands dropped to his sides, leaving Vince hunched over, panting heavily as he tried to get his breath back.

“You wanted to know what Letty is to me?” Dom demanded. “She’s…” he continued, his voice suddenly quiet. “She’s my everything.”

“Yeah?” Vince asked, looking over at me before turning back to Dom, trying to act like he wasn’t breathing heavy anymore. “You know, man, you got a pretty fucked up way of showing that…”

Dom didn’t say anything, just rubbed his hand over his head like he always does when he’s frustrated. He took a step back, looked and me, and I knew exactly what he was thinking.

It was fucked up, the whole thing was. Dom having to act like he was fucking a different chick practically every week, me having to act like I didn’t give a damn what he did. It was like we were actors, playing parts in our own lives, a different role for every situation. The player, the bitch, the leader, the tomboy… We could only be ourselves around each other, when we were alone. And even then, sometimes we still got caught up in our roles, couldn’t quite figure out how to let go of them. Especially when we never knew when Vince would show up with one of his chicks and we’d have to go back to the act.

You know, people think secret relationships are romantic, all “Romeo and Juliet” and shit. They’re wrong. Having to sneak around and hide how you feel, it sucks. Plus, everybody seems to forget that Romeo and Juliet ended up dead. Yeah, real fucking romantic.