Page 44 of Say My Name

His laugh makes me think of his hand on my back, of the way he admitted wanting Marcus gone without trying to make it sound reasonable. I need something to do with my hands.

I begin collecting plastic cups.

Marcus reaches for one. “Sit down. We can clean.”

“You’ve been sitting for an hour.”

“Exactly. I’m rested.”

“The last thing he cleaned voluntarily was his plate in 2004,” Cliff says.

“That’s not true. Back in college, Big⁠—”

Dominic turns his head.

He doesn’t say a word. Marcus stops so abruptly the silence is a statement.

I know the rest… Big D.

The memory hits—a flash of his bare back, the low sound he made right before he came. Long enough to learn what he looks like naked, what he sounds like when he loses control, and why his friends gave him that name.

My hand is frozen around the cup.

When I look up, Dominic’s eyes are on me. Marcus is watching us both.

“Sorry.” I grab it. “Sticky.”

It’s dry.

Cliff laughs. “Some stories need to stay buried.”

“I was going to say bighearted,” Marcus says.

One of the other men snorts. “No, you weren’t.”

“It was a long time ago. Who can say?”

Dominic doesn’t take his eyes off Marcus. “I can.”

Marcus raises both hands. “I’ve forgotten the entire conversation.”

“Good.”

Cliff shakes his head. “You’ve gotten soft, Rowe.”

“Marcus has developed better judgment.”

“Debatable,” Marcus says with a grin.

The conversation shifts, but Dominic continues watching me.

I stack the cups, pick up the plates, and carry everything into the kitchen before he can ask why one unfinished word left me holding a fork for thirty seconds without knowing what to do with it.

When I return outside, he’s still there.

By the time the kitchen is clean, the sun has started to drop behind the neighboring houses. Marcus leaves with Maya, my parents take Sophie and Theo upstairs, and Cliff follows Rachel into the backyard to make sure they collected all the children’s belongings.

I say goodbye, gather my purse, and walk toward the driveway.