OWNED by Dominic (Possessed #1) (12 page)

The physician had a close call once with a detox patient that wasn’t wanting to get clean and had tried to stab a nurse with a needle. Two weeks later, that side of the practice was closed.

As they entered an exam room, Dom placed Deedee on the exam table waiting anxiously for her to wake up or something.

“Did he kick her?”

“No, she was protecting Jax when he ran at them. His chest nailed her, and when she fell, I think she hit her head. I wasn’t very close.” He filled in the blanks and was getting more upset by the moment.

“Jax is all right?”

“He’s fine. Upset about Dee but fine.”

After filling the doctor in on all of her personal information, he went out to the waiting room as they did a full x-ray on her, hoping he wouldn’t have to bring her to the city for a CAT scan.

“Good news, Dom!” He came out not long after. “She’s awake and demanding you.” His smile was infectious.

“Thank fuck,” he mumbled going back to her room.

“Dominic.” She took a breath when she saw him. Her voice was filled with pain.

Going to her side, he ran his knuckles down her cheek. “You scared me, Princess.”

“Scared myself, too,” she mumbled. “The barn door was broken, Dom.”

He’d noticed that as soon as he saw the paddock gates open. “I know, Dee. Let’s get you better before we worry about that, though.”

She went to nod her head only to wince in pain immediately.

“She’s got quite the knot on her head and a small concussion. Otherwise, her body might be a bit stiff the next couple of days. Make sure you wake her every two hours after she falls asleep the first twenty-four hours. If she develops any nausea or her headache worsens, bring her back,” The doctor instructed, filling out a prescription for painkillers before he sent them on their way.

Eleven

It’d been three
days since her accident. Dom and Jax waited on her hand and foot, making her feel like the princess Dom called her so often. But she was restless and looking for something to do. She needed out of the house, and since Angela had come by the day before to check on her, she knew a trip into town would be needed.

Dom had a meeting with one of his guys—whatever that meant—so she had to convince Casey to take her and Jaxson for groceries. And since the way to that man’s heart, or rather guilty conscience, was food, she had faith she could get him to help her.

Jumping out of bed and into the shower, she was out, dressed, and ready to go in record time. Wandering downstairs, she found the boys right where she thought she would—the kitchen.

“Who’s hungry?” she called out. Both of their heads popped up at her voice with eager looks in their eyes for food that didn’t come from a… “Tell me that boy is not eating an MRE?” she demanded. Knowing now more than ever, she would get her way.

“Me, me, me!” Jaxson jumped from his chair running to her.

“Casey?” she asked again, nodding at the nasty food in front of where Jax had been sitting.

“He liked it?” She arched an eye brow at his lame answer. “I liked it?” She could hear the disgust in his own voice. “We’re growing boys?”

Shaking her head, she picked up the small one, telling them both, “We’re going to get some groceries.”

“No can do, pretty Dee,” Case said half-heartedly behind her.

“I can, Casey, and I will.” She didn’t even turn around, just kept walking out to his truck that was parked out front.

“Dom’s gonna kill me,” he grumbled behind her as she started strapping Jax into his carseat.

“Not before those MRE’s do.” She laughed at his sour expression.

“Are you sure about this Double D? You’re feeling up to it? No lingering headache? Vision’s clear? We know your hearing’s obviously impaired since you’re not listening to Dom.”

“Shut up and drive.”

“This is a bad fucking idea.”

“No swear, Unca Case!” The young boy clapped from the back seat.

*****

As they pulled
into the grocery store parking lot, Dee instructed Case, “Will you go get us a cart please, while I unbuckle him?”

“I ain’t shopping, little lady.” He seemed horrified at the prospect.

“I don’t need you to shop; I need you to get us a cart.”

Growling, he jumped from the truck looking down and mumbling about being a whipping boy for someone else’s woman. She and Jax shared a look before laughing.

“Come on, sweet boy, let’s get some grub.”

“Grub?”

“Food, sweetie.”

“Oh. I fought you meant wike wion king, and they eat worms.” She wasn’t sure if his face showed excitement or disgust.

“Ummm, let’s go with gummy worms, and I’ll be fine with that.”

“Yay!”

“Here you go, mistress lady.” Case laughed as he glided towards them on the front of the cart.

As she was putting Jax in the child seat, a small car flew through the parking lot narrowly missing another car backing out.

“Jesus, it’s a parking lot, lady!” Case yelled at her.

Deciding to ignore the speeding idiot, she got Jax focused on what they would need. “What do we grab first, sweetie?”

“Cereal!”

Laughing at his enthusiasm she asked, “Then what?”

“Candy!” Her look had him rethinking that. “Cwackers?”

As they went through the aisles picking out the healthiest food she could find, Casey had ditched them a few aisles back in search of junk food because he couldn’t deal with the health crap.

A sharp bump from behind, followed sarcastically by, “Ooops, sorry,” had her turning around. The woman’s eyes were glued to Jax as he happily counted the animals on the box of animal crackers.

“It’s all right,” Dee replied hesitantly, not liking the look being directed the boy’s way.

As the person turned to leave, she asked her, “Do you make it a habit of stealing other women’s families?”

This must be Brooke.

“Excuse me?” Dee demanded, suddenly wishing Casey was done hoarding his junk food.

“You heard me. That’s my son, and you’ve stolen him and my husband away from me,” she snapped.

Shock resonated through her about the husband thing but years of neglect kept it from showing on her face. “The only thing I make a habit of doing is taking care of
my
family.” Brooke got a dark and bitter look on her face at that.

“You bitch! He’s my son, and I will have him back.”

When she went to reach for Jax, Deedee put a hand to her chest and pushed her back with a warning. “Don’t. Touch. Him.”

“Pincess?” Jax asked from behind her.

“It’s fine, little man.” She tried to soothe him, not taking her eyes off of Brooke.

“Oh, sweetheart, it’s okay. Mommy’s here now. I’ll take you from this mean, mean lady.” Brooke tried reaching for him again, only for Casey to come from behind her and grab her hand.

“Don’t think so, lady!” he barked.

“You not my mommy, pincess is!” Jax started yelling at her, tears beginning to well in his eyes.

“Get the fuck outta here, Brooke, or I’m not gonna be responsible for what happens to you,” Case whispered in her ear, so Jax didn’t hear the threat.

“Oh, please. You wouldn’t hurt a woman.”

“You’re right, I wouldn’t.” She smiled triumphantly at that. “But that doesn’t mean Miss Dee won’t lay a beatdown on your skanky ass.” It was Case’s turn to smile at the shock on Brooke’s face.

Done with the whole encounter, Deidre turned around and gave Jax a small kiss on the cheek, telling Brooke over her shoulder, “Stay away from my family, or I promise you’ll regret it.”

A couple of minutes later, she heard tires squealing out of the parking lot just as Case met up with them after following her out, and while Jax was choosing the apples he wanted. He didn’t say anything to her, just started helping Jaxson load his bag full of fruit. At a loss about what to say or do at the moment, she was pissed the woman had the audacity to approach them the way she had.

She was extremely disgusted that Dom had slept with her. A shiver ran up her spine at just the thought of him touching her. But then she thought of how Jax wouldn’t be in her life if he hadn’t, so that outweighed the bad. It was still an abhorrent thought, though. Unfortunately, she knew their troubles with the bitchy woman were far from over. The look in her eyes while she watched her son worried Dee beyond belief. It showed possession like he was a toy to pass around or something. But worse, she looked vindictive. Like she knew that taking Jax from Dom would hurt him more than anything else could, and that scared the crap out of Dee.

“Dee? You all right?” Case asked concernedly as they made their way through the produce, with Jax picking all his favorites.

“Yeah, fine.” Her voice sounded robotic even to her.

“You know he never married her, right? He was in a bad place, and she took advantage.” Case was only doing what every best friend would do, but he was pissing her off.

“Just fucking let it go, Casey,” she snapped at him, instantly regretting it.

Gripping her arm, he pulled her to a stop. “Deidre, he would fucking die for you. Don’t let this stupid bitch ruin this. I see the way he looks at you, and I know he’s fucking gone. Handed in his man-card, fallen harder than the motherfucking Roman Empire.” By the end of his little speech, he had a triumphant smile on his face.

Logically, she knew she shouldn’t be upset about anything Brooke had to say. Emotionally, though? She was nearly destroyed at the thought of Dominic having feelings of any kind for her. They had a child together, so how could he not feel something?

“Tell me something, Casey.”

“Shoot.”

“Did he love her?” She was terrified of the answer.
Do you really want to know?

“Honestly?” She nodded. “I have no idea. I was in a bad place of my own. We hadn’t spoken in longer than I care to admit. My gut says no; he was not an open man. He wouldn’t have let just anyone in. Not like he has with you.”

His honesty was refreshing and dreadful all at once. She hoped that what Dom felt for her was as consuming as what she felt for him, but how could she know. She’d never felt anything like it before. This was unchartered territory for her. The one thing she did know, though, was that she would fight with everything she had for him and Jaxson.

“Roman Empire, huh?”

“Hey, still waters run deep, lady. I’m not just another pretty face.” She laughed at the hurt look on his face just as his phone rang.

“Wanna bet that’s bossman?” He half-joked as he picked up his cell. “Yo, bossman.”

She didn’t hear anything Dom said, but from the paling of Casey’s face, she didn’t think it was good.

“That’s low man,” he grumbled, listening to something else Dom said before responding. “Well, the princess here demanded a field trip. Was I supposed to play the big bad bodyguard and tell her no?” She could hear the humor return to his voice now. “Next time you should be more clear with your tyrannical tactics then, and maybe let her in on the show. That way she can’t manipulate me.”

Handing her the phone, he mouthed “good luck” before finishing their produce exploration with Jax.

Taking a deep breath, she hesitantly answered. “Dominic?”

“Princess,” he growled angrily. “What are you doing?”

“Uhh, shopping?”

“That an answer or a question, Deidre?”
Full name…shit.

“Both?” Dom didn’t scare her, not really, but she couldn’t see his eyes. They always told her the mood he was in.

“Deidre,” he growled again. “Why did you leave the house? You aren’t supposed to be out of bed yet.” Anger. Yup, he was really pissed.
Great.

“I feel fine, Dominic. I was going stir crazy and Casey had your son eating an MRE! He’s three. He cannot eat those things.” She’d try a different tactic, play on his parental side.

“He eats them all the time.”
Or not.

Sighing into the phone, she whispered, “You weren’t there. Where are you?”

“Miss me?” His voice softened.

“Yes.”

“I’ll be home soon; I promise. I had some things to take care of.”

“That’s not vague or anything,” she grumbled, feeling her temper rise. Not feeling in the right frame of mind after her encounter with Brooke to deal with his vague answers.

“What’s going on, Deidre?” He had an edge to his voice she’d only ever heard him use with other people when he was getting frustrated. Normally, the strength and command in it had her ready to melt in a pool at his feet. Right then, she wanted to bash him in the head.

“I met Brooke,” was all she told him before handing the phone back to Casey as she took the cart from him and went to the checkout.

She could hear Dom’s voice yelling at him as she and Jax unloaded their groceries onto the belt. Looking up at Casey quickly, he was shooting dirty looks her way while still being hollered at. Shrugging her shoulders, she continued with her task.

*****

“How the fuck
did that bitch get that close to them, Casey!” he yelled at his best friend. He was beyond pissed that Deidre had just walked away after dropping that bomb, and he couldn’t be there to gauge her reaction to meeting the parasite. More than ever regretting haven slept with her, but then he wouldn’t have Jax, and it was pretty fucking hard to regret his son for any reason.

“Look man, if I had thought for a second that cum guzzling, gutter slut would have been here, I obviously wouldn’t have brought them out to begin with.” Case tried to explain, but Dom was beyond reason.

“Why the fuck would you even take them out when we don’t know what the fuck is happening?”

“Well, she seemed pretty upset that pipsqueak was eating an MRE. Something about it not having proper nutrients or some shit. I don’t fucking know; the girl’s a manipulator. You better watch your ass with this one.”

Dom knew what he meant. All she had to do was bat her pretty little eyelashes, and he’d do whatever she asked. He just had to make sure she never figured that shit out.

“Look, I’m on my way. Keep your fucking eyes peeled with Brooke on the loose, and with the intel I just got, nothing had better happen to those two Case, or I will own your fucking balls,” he snarled.