Something Worth Fighting For

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

BRAYLEE

"How're things going?" Stella asked, her voice pouring through the phone I had propped up on my desk in my room. I had missed our weekly check-in yesterday for... reasons... so I had reached out to her this morning, mostly needing a distraction from all that had happened between Dom and I lately. Sadie hadn't been available to join in, nor had Mia, which was fine. I enjoyed talking to Stels. Since she was also a freelance writer, we had a lot more in common with each other than I did with the others. And right now, I seemed to be very aware of the lack of close friends I had in my life. My chosen career path had limited social interaction on a daily basis, which meant my friendships from university were the only thing I honestly had going for me presently. It was difficult not to feel a bit bummed out by that. "The whole living with Dom thing?"

I shrugged, hugging my knees to my chest where I sat in my chair by my desk. I'd positioned the hefty wooden structure against the expanse of windows that overlooked the lawns of the property so that I'd always get a good view of outside while I worked, and today wasn't letting me down on that front. It was sunny and cloudless, the morning sunlight glistening over the dew-covered grass and leaves of the shrubbery outside my window. "It's only been a week," I told Stels. "It's fine, really." Liar.

"Don't sound so enthusiastic about it, Bray," she teased dryly. "Is Dom being annoying? Let me speak to him. I'll tell him off for you."

Annoying? I thought back to our conversation this morning, and then back to when I woke up sprawled across his massive chest as if I was some kind of barnacle and had rooted myself in place overnight. Fresh embarrassment churned in my gut when I thought about Dom waking up to find me crawling all over him. He must think I'm clingy and desperate and all sorts of crazy to latch onto him in my sleep like that. I made a mental vow to not fall asleep in his vicinity ever again. Another note to not think about how warm and delicious he felt pressed up against me. Did the boy have to smell so good, too? I don't know what cologne Dom used, but I found myself wanting to sniff out the bottle from his room, dribble it out over my sheets, and roll around in it.

"Not necessary," I told her, hoping she couldn't detect the burn of my cheeks through the screen of my phone. Stella's face encompassed the entirety of my phone, her blue eyes amused and astute behind the lenses of her glasses. "He's actually been a perfect gentleman."

Because it sure as shit had not been him running palms over someone else's stomach this morning because it had felt so warm and nice he couldn't help himself. And when I did realise what I had been doing... I had scrambled away so clumsily I ended up kneeing the poor guy in his balls.

"That definitely does not sound like Dom. Are you sure you're living with the right guy?"

I snorted, toying with the empty mug of coffee sitting on my desk besides Stella's face. I needed to brush my teeth, but I had heard Dom using the shower earlier. It was a while ago, so I was hoping he was done because I needed to get into the bathroom soon. "We had an attempted break-in a couple nights ago and Dom has been great. Organised people to come round today to install some security stuff around the place and all that."

"A break in!" Stella's eyes went wide. "Are you OK? What happened?"

I waved her off dismissively. "Everything's fine- just a broken window. The cops think it may have been someone just taking a chance on nobody being home." I shrugged, unwilling to share more with Stels about the possibility that it could also be an ex. I supposed I didn't really want to face that possibility either and hoped that it was only speculation that Tim could be capable of something like that.