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Like lavender, and oranges, and cedar all mashed together, his shirt’s aroma brought a tingle to places on my body I never knew existed until that moment. “He even smells amazing.”
Shifting toward her in my chair, I held my wrists out for her to sniff them. “What kind of cologne do you think that is?”
She took a whiff and opened her eyes wider as she backed away. “Expensive. It smells like the expensive kind.”
The teacher plopped a stack of papers in front of us, and it slowly occurred to me I’d have to see him every day for the next three years. “What am I going to say when I run into him again?”
Obsessing over every detail of my life until I was sick was a daily occurrence for me, and I wiped the nervous sweat from my palms onto my jeans. “What if we have a class together and I don’t know anyone else? Should I go sit with him, or is that weird?”
Like a drug to soothe my nerves, I pushed the sleeves over my nose before I slid them through my hair to rub his scent all over me. “God, he’s going to think I’m such a loser.”
Her fingers rolled over the side of her face as she pushed out her lips like a duck. “He must not think you’re too loser-y, or he wouldn’t have made that scene in front of everyone just to give that to you.” She squinted at the embroidery, running her finger along his name. “Dominic Vasser.” Nodding at me, she wiggled her finger. “That’s the richest-sounding rich boy’s name I’ve ever heard.”
I put my hand up to her and sank back into my chair. “Stop. I’m already having a panic attack over here as it is.”
The bell rang, and I squished my eyes at myself, scoffing as I pulled my book bag from the table and pushed back my chair. “Wait a minute. What am I so worried about?”
Carolyn turned to face me and backed out the door as I followed her. “He went to one of those swanky private schools and has an IQ of like a hundred and fifty. So, he’s probably in all the advanced classes.”
I slid my straps over one shoulder and shoved my hands into my pockets as we turned for the main corridor. “Dad has to work overnight. So I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?”
She shook her head and gurgled air through her throat as she curled her lip back at me. “No can do. I’m working until eight.”
Bottlenecked with everyone else trying to make it down the math hall, I pouted back at her. “Being alone at night is the worst. I have to sleep with every light on and a chair up against my bedroom door.”
Carolyn yanked at my sleeve to pull me through the crowd toward the lockers. “Miss Thompson’s room is over here.”
As soon as she got to the doorway, Carolyn came to a standstill and pulled me to her side. “Wow. What a coincidence.”
Dominic wiggled his fingers against the seatback of the desk before him, biting back his smile as he sat a little taller. “We saved you some seats, ladies.”
Carolyn was already in the seat in front of Jason, giving me no other choice. So I went around Jason to take the desk Dominic saved for me.
I slid into the chair sideways and peeked over at him as I unzipped my bag. “Thanks for being my hero today, Dominic Vasser.”
My hands shook so much that I dropped my pencil as soon as I got my bag closed. How it rolled under his desk like that let me know this whole day would only be one embarrassing debacle in front of him after another. “Crap.” I scrunched my eyes shut at what a fool I was making of myself when he shifted around in his seat to pick it up for me. “I’m so sorry. I’m just a walking accident this morning.”
When I opened my eyes again, he held the pencil between us. “I’m glad I remembered to pack my big red cape when I moved, then, because I think you’re going to keep me busy.”
His finger slipped over mine as I took it away from him and shrugged like my heart wasn’t going a million miles a minute. “I wish I could say I’m not always such a disaster, but that would be a lie.” Blowing my bangs out of my eyes, I shook my head. “I’m literally always like this.” I glanced away from him, checking for another empty seat in case he said yes. “So, if you want me to move so it doesn’t rub off on you. It’s okay.”
His fingers curled around the sides of his desk, and he leaned over it, tilting his face away from mine until we were cheek to cheek. “Not a chance.” Whispering at me so no one else could hear him, he skipped his lips across my ear. “Go on and be what the good Lord made you, Faith. I think I kind of get off on being your hero.” He tapped my shoulder as he came out of our little bubble. “I guess that makes us soul mates. Doesn’t it?”
Arching his brow at me, he waited for me to agree — because I think he already understood I could never say no to him.
I cried over almost everything anymore, and this boy would break my heart into a million pieces when he figured out he deserved better. My eyes teared instantly because I already saw it coming, and I rushed to wipe them on his sweatshirt sleeve. “I guess so.”
The teacher walked in and closed the door behind her, and Dominic gently laid his hand on my shoulder, squeezing for a second before dragging his fingers away from me.
Even though I was just shy of sixteen and didn’t have a clue about life yet, I already knew I’d never find a man who loved me as much as Dominic Vasser did that morning.
4
Watch Dog
Dominic
Another train full of gravel chugged in and out of the small sections of trees on the other side of the visitors’ bleachers.
