Chapter Sixty-One

**

“You gonna stick by me?”

“Maybe….”

**

“Hey….” Dom mumbled, turning towards me as I slid into bed.

“Hey,” I said back. “Did I wake you up?”

“Nah, I wasn’t really asleep yet,” he answered. “Have fun tonight?”

“Yeah,” I laughed, remembering everything that’d happened at Jerry’s. “Yeah, we did.”

“Good,” Dom said, reaching over to wrap his arm around me and pull me closer. “Jamie go home?”

“No….”

“So how come you’re in here then?”

“Well, if you want me to leave….” I started, moving away from Dom a little.

His arm tightened around me before I could move even six inches. “Okay, okay, I’ll stay!” I said, laughing again. “Jamie’s downstairs - it was too late to drop her off at home. Her parents are weird with that kind of thing. She’s asleep on the couch.”

“Damn, that girl falls asleep earlier than anyone I know, even Mia,” Dom laughed.

“Yeah, she does,” I said. “We’ll have to turn her into a night owl…

“You like her, huh?” Dom asked.

The question caught me kinda off guard. I’d stopped thinking in terms of liking Jamie or not liking her, I guess. It was just like she’d always been there, and she was always gonna be there. Like I didn’t even have a choice anymore in whether or not she was gonna be a friend - she just was.

“Yeah, I do,” I answered after a minute, smiling a little.

“Maybe you should just tell her about us, then, ‘stead of waiting around for Vince to declare his love….”

“Yeah, maybe,” I said, before the words had really sunk in. “Wait, what?” I practically screeched. It must’ve been louder than I thought, ‘cause Dom jumped a little. “Did you talk to him about Jamie?”

“Yeah….” Dom said slowly.

“And?” I demanded. “What’d he say?”

“Not that much…. He likes her, I think, but he’s not ready to really go after her,” Dom explained, giving me a kinda weird look.

“Oh,” I said, a little disappointed. I guess I’d kinda gotten used to thinking of Jamie and Vince as a couple already.

“You know,” Dom laughed, “I think maybe you’ve been hanging around Mia too much…all matchmaker and shit.”

“Oh, fuck you, Dom,” I laughed back, swatting his arm.

“I’ll remember that later…” he growled at me.

“So what’d you guys do tonight? Anything interesting?” I asked, still laughing.

“Nah, not really,” he answered. “Worked at the garage for a while. Changed the oil on Lorraine’s car, finished up the Mustang and Buick. Got a little bit ahead for next week, you know.”

“That’s good,” I said, scooting closer to him so I could rest my head on his chest.

“Oh,” Dom added, “and Miguel came by.”

“What?” I asked, lifting my head up to look at Dom.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, he wanted to ask you out or something,” Dom said, reaching up to brush a piece of hair out of my eyes.

“He what?” I practically shrieked. “What the fuck is that boy thinking? You didn’t…what’d you say to him?” I asked, a little worried about what Dom might’ve done to Miguel. “You didn’t beat the shit out of him or anything stupid like that, did you?”

Dom just looked at me.

“Nah,” he finally answered. “You think I want to start shit with Hector? Just, you know, told him it probably wasn’t a good idea.”

“Oh,” I sighed, relieved.

“He thinks I treat you bad,” Dom said quietly.

“He what?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Dom said, a harsh laugh escaping his throat as he ran his hand over his head. “Guess our plan’s worked pretty well, huh? He believes everything…that I was fucking around with Julie behind your back, that I left you…. Should be happy, huh? Everything’s going along just like Mia said it would. But damn, Let, I can hardly stand people thinking that about us…that you’re just another fuck to me….”

“Oh, Dom….” I sighed, snuggling against him. “I know, baby. I don’t care, though. It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks about us. All that matters is we’re together, and we know it, and the team knows it. I love you more than anyone else in the world, you know that, right?”

“Yeah….” he said slowly.

“Yep,” I said, leaning down to kiss him. “So…you think you can forget about Miguel for a while?”

“Miguel who?” Dom asked, pulling me on top of him.

I could only laugh as Dom’s mouth latched onto my neck, licking and sucking at my pulse point. After that, I couldn’t really think of anything at all….