Dance For Me (Strip in the City, Book 2)

45 • Hot Ticket

Tan

I woke up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat and breathing heavy—Dominick's voice still ringing in my ears.

"I don't want to be your everything. I want you to go and live your life. Go find the man of your dreams. The guy who you can stomach bringing home to meet your family."

Tears rushed to my eyes, and I clutched my chest, trying to find a steady breath. It was just another dream. Another bad dream, I told myself. That's all.

I flipped my pillow over and tried to lay back down, but I couldn't stop thinking about him or what happened that night at Blanche's. His accusation that I didn't love him, I only loved fixing things, had rocked me to my core, and was forcing me to rethink who I was as a person.

And for all my overthinking, I hadn't come up with shit.

Sighing, I unlocked my phone and realized today was the fourteenth day since Dominick broke up with me, and even though all my friends kept saying things would get better, they weren't.

After I'd left the club that night, my legs had given out, and I'd collapsed next to a dumpster. A very low moment for me, considering alcohol was not involved.

My parents didn't even notice me sitting there, and I didn't try and get their attention as they walked by. I didn't have anything to say to them, and maybe they didn't have anything to say to me either.

Once they were gone, I texted my friends, who rushed out, stuffed me inside a cab, and took me to DeShauna's apartment on the Upper East Side.

And that's where I'd been ever since. Staying in DeShauna's guest bedroom. Far away from all reminders of Dominick DuBois. They even told me to block his number, which I reluctantly did.

It was what my friends told me was best, and I didn't fight them.

DeShauna had canceled a business trip just to stay with me. Maren was here when I got home from ballet and left when I went to bed. Kennedy, too, as often as she could. We'd watched movies, ate food, and spent time with each other, which was more than I ever could've asked for.

But what they didn't understand was that I couldn't escape him. Dominick had become part of my DNA. My genetic code rewritten to include him. From now on, Dominick would always be with me.

The saddest part of all this was that there were so many times that I thought I was losing him. I'd thought he was pulling away from me because I wasn't good enough or because I thought if he saw the real me, he wouldn't love me. But that wasn't true at all. Dominick had loved me despite all my flaws.

I was the one who couldn't stand being perceived in a negative light by people like my parents or Celeste.  

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to practice some of the mindfulness DeShana was trying to teach me, but that shit wasn't working. It didn't make Dominick disappear. He was my present moment. I wanted to reach out and pull him into my arms and kiss him until he understood just how deeply he was loved.

But I couldn't. 

After another thirty minutes of lying in bed, replaying all the ways I'd messed up my relationship with Dominick, I forced myself to get out of bed and take a shower.