A Tiara Under the Tree

Dominic thumbed the pictures icon to get an idea of whom the phone belonged to. Something told him to take this to the police, but he needed to see who the owner was. What he found in search of selfies were airbrushed photos and everything necessary for making a meme...every meme of Waverly possible. Angry blood pounded in his ears. A text buzzed through, accompanied by Vera Laing’s photo.

Hey, Anson, heard you came down here to see your girl lose to me lol.

Dominic was already out of his seat, pushing his way through the crowds trying to find their seats. Will called after him and tried to follow. He knew his frat brother shouted for him to stop. For Anson’s sake, he hoped Will or Zoe went ahead and called the police. Because he was about to kill Anson.

As expected, Dominic found Anson pacing outside Waverly’s closed dressing room and stopping at each turn to listen at the door. Jillian fawned over the man, practically petting his shoulders. Another group of pageant ladies and their entourages stepped between Waverly’s mother and the mayor. The pink paisley ascot wrapped around Anson’s neck was immediately replaced by Dominic’s left hand. He slung the man against the wall and punched him in the face. The contact of his fist to Anson’s face wasn’t satisfying enough. Dominic threw Anson down to the ground.

“Jesus!” Jillian screamed. “Someone help.” Her pleas caused a trickle effect of screams and a stampede of stilettos and sequins in the hallway.

Someone came from behind Dominic and grabbed him by the shoulders, but Dominic shrugged out of his jacket and hit Anson a few times. Anson tried to grip Dominic by the forearm to release the pressure on his neck.

“Are you crazy?” Anson asked. “Do you know who I am?”

“Dominic,” Waverly screeched.

Only the sound of her voice gave Dominic pause. He saw her petrified face and came to his feet. Somewhere in the background a flash went off. In his peripheral vision Dominic noticed all the cell phones recording the incident. A blonde figure barreled through the crowd; he figured it was Lexi but at the moment Dominic didn’t give a damn.

“This is just great, just great,” Jillian huffed and sidled up to her daughter. “You see what you get for mixing with this trash?”

“Trash?” Will repeated and stepped over to Dominic, handing him his jacket. “Now, hold on a damn minute.”

“Trash,” Jillian reiterated. “You can put an expensive suit on, but no matter what you’re still, and are always going to be, trash.”

“What is going on, Dominic?” Waverly inquired. He hated the look of fear across her face. In an attempt to soothe her, Dominic reached for her with his hands. She recoiled.

“What is going on, Waverly?” Lexi demanded to know, the Morality Committee in tow.

No one spoke, not even Dominic. He needed to see, hear and feel from Waverly that everything was okay. He wanted to talk to her alone. She had never looked at him with such fear and disappointment.

Vera brought up the rear of the group and rushed to Anson’s side. She extracted a tissue from her top to wipe away the blood from his bleeding face. “You monster!” Vera cried.

Dominic didn’t give a damn what anyone else said, filmed or did, or how they looked at him. The only person he cared about was Waverly...who stood still, frozen, in the doorway.

“This man assaulted the mayor of Southwood, Georgia,” Jillian said dramatically, a finger pointed at Dominic’s chest. Two uniformed officers began to make their way through the crowd.

“Dominic, is this true?” Lexi asked.

“With good cause,” Dominic growled. “Anson is Waverly’s stalker.”

“What?”

Dominic wasn’t sure who said that. It wasn’t Waverly. Her lips remained tight. “Waverly, the phone Zoe found and gave me, it wasn’t mine. It was Anson’s.”

“Where is this phone?” Anson asked. The tissue at his nose soaked up his blood. “He’s lying, Wave

rly.”

Finally Waverly blinked and began to breathe. Dominic tried to reach her again, but she backed up into Johnny, whether intentionally or not. Johnny held on to Waverly’s shoulder.

“You!” Jillian gasped and paled at the sight of Waverly’s ex.

“I’ve missed you, too, Jill,” Johnny responded.

“Why are you here? Jesus, Waverly. Must every bad choice you ever made show up today?”

“All right now, Jillian,” Lexi said, taking the woman by the shoulders. Lexi pushed Jillian to the side, where Stephen embraced her. “Everyone, please,” she said over her shoulder.

“Everyone,” Zoe shouted at the top of her voice. The whispers and gossiping ceased. “If you have a dressing room, get to it. If you have a seat, go find it.”