Not even taking the time to change into more comfortable clothes, Domi took one of the ice cream cartons from Avery, a spoon from Rae, and slumped down on the couch to dig in. Her friends sat on either side of her with their own ice cream, eyes on her, patiently waiting. Well, impatiently waiting in Rae’s case.
Sighing, Domi stared at her ice cream and told them everything—catching Mitch before he went into the bathroom, what he’d said to her, what she’d said to him, and his final decision to break things off.
“I didn’t want to break up, I just wanted to talk… but he wouldn’t listen.” She stabbed at her ice cream. That had been the worst part. Mitch had always been a good listener, but he’d suddenly shut her out. He hadn’t even looked at her the same way. “The asshole. I don’t know why I expected anything different from him. He has the emotional capacity of a trash can.”
Avery and Rae were silent for a long moment, so Domi looked up, turning her head between the two of them. Wait… was she the asshole?
“He was an asshole, right?” she prodded. They were supposed to be supporting her, but she didn’t feel very supported.
“Okay, sweetie… tough love or support?” Rae asked. Domi groaned. The only time she and Rae asked each other that question was when one of them thought the other was in the wrong in some way. Domi always made the same choice because she wanted to know… needed to know.
“Tough love.” She sighed, mentally prepping herself to hear some things she might not want to.
“He was definitely an asshole,” Rae said, but Domi knew not to get excited. That was just the buffer before the real talk. “But he had some good points. You really haven’t let him into your life in a real way. You never told Marcus and Julia about him, and that was something you always said you’d do if you dated someone.”
“If I was serious about them!” Domi protested, then widened her eyes. Shit. She’d walked right into Rae’s trap.
“Exactly.” Rae pointed her spoon at Domi. “Which implies you weren’t that serious about Mitch. You kept him completely separate from other parts of your life. You didn’t even tell him it was Ana’s birthday. It wasn’t like he needed an invitation, but you can’t totally separate your life into segregated pieces and expect it to stay together.”
Shit. Rae was making sense. Maybe she had been a bit of an asshole, too. She hadn’t meant to… thought she was doing the right thing… but… hell, they had gotten serious, hadn’t they? Or it would have felt serious if she had treated it seriously. She’d done the bare minimum by introducing him to her parents, and half the reason she’d done that was to get her mom off her back.
Not exactly epic girlfriend material.
“What do you think?” she asked, turning to Avery, whose eyes widened when Domi put her on the spot. “Don’t hold back, I can handle it. I get Rae has a point, but you’re… well, you haven’t known me as long, so you have more of an objective point of view.”
Avery pursed her lips together, thinking for a long moment.
“You said he left the table when you were talking to his dad. Do you think he was upset about you meeting his dad?”
Glancing at Rae, Domi tried to remember. Her bestie shrugged.
“He was definitely off. I’m not sure it had to do with us being there, though,” Rae said. “He had a weird expression on his face from the beginning.”
“I thought so, too!” Domi shook her head. “I don’t know, though. It might have been because Ana went running up to him, and he knew how I felt about them meeting again.”
“Or maybe his dad told him something that upset him. You said you followed him, and you wanted him to listen, but, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, did you listen to him?” Avery asked tentatively.
Mitch’s voice echoed in her head.
I need a minute, Domi.
She hadn’t given him that minute, had she? Whatever had upset him, whatever had sent him running from the table, she didn’t know because she hadn’t listened to him. Hadn’t given him the very first thing he’d asked for. Instead, she’d pushed him when he was already visibly agitated. Demanded he talk to her when he clearly needed some space.
Fuck. She was the asshole.
The tears that had been gathering in her eyes spilled over.
“Support now,” she choked out as she curled up, crying into her ice cream.
“Oh, honey…”
Arms wrapped around her from both sides, telling her it was all going to be okay, that Mitch had been a total asshole and fuck him, he’d lost the best thing he’d ever had. That only made Domi cry harder because she suspected that she had as well.
Mitch
Expecting to be castigated by the time he was done telling Olivia about how everything had gone down with Domi tonight and what an ass he’d been to her, it was still a relief to get it off his chest. What surprised him was when Olivia didn’t immediately tear into him. She was known for being super protective of the submissives, and while some of that had been extended to him, Kincaid, Zach, and Brian after they’d gone through Dom 101 with her, they knew where they ranked.
Tapping her fingers on the bar, she seemed to be gathering her thoughts.
“Your father is Gavin Craig?”
“Yes.” Mitch sighed. “I lived with my mom after they divorced and took her name. I didn’t want anything to do with him for a while after they separated. I hated how he kept stringing her along.”
Olivia’s fingers tapped on the bar, amping up Mitch’s anxiety every tap. He couldn’t even begin to guess what she was thinking.
