Princely Passions

“Well, sure, when we first got together, that’s what he said he wanted.”

“You told me the other day that he said he wanted to be friends with benefits later on, but that in the beginning, he had pretended like he wanted to date you and have a real relationship.” My blood pressure is rising and I’m staring at her, not giving an inch.

“Oh, well, yes, that’s because…well, you see, it’s all kind of confusing,” she finishes lamely.

“Confusing? What part about this is confusing? Either he was clear about just wanting to be fuck buddies from the beginning, or he wasn’t.” My voice is hard and unforgiving as I pin her down into her seat like a dissected frog in anatomy class.

“I’m just worried about you,” she says, putting her hand on my arm and patting it. “That’s all I care about. Just protecting you.”

“Really? Me, a complete stranger off the street? I’m the only person you’re worried about?” I stare at her. Did she really think that I’d fall for that? She starts patting me faster.

“I care about people, unlike other people. Dominic, he just uses people, uses them and throws them away! I want to help other people. That’s what I’m here for.”

I push away from the table and stand up, staring down at her. The waiter is finally coming back our way, drinks in hand, but I ignore him for the moment. “Heather, you and your delusions have caused me enough pain. Don’t contact me again. If you do, I’m calling the police.” I turned to the waiter, the tray of drinks in his hand, and pull a ten out to drop on his tray. “Here. Enjoy the cosmo. Tell your boss it’s on me, the woman stupid enough to believe an ex.”

I turn around and walk out of the bar, head held high. I felt better already. I feel great, in fact, until I get out onto the street and it all hits me—because of the bitter ramblings of an ex, I believed something about Dominic that isn’t true.

And maybe my accusations that he isn’t comfortable about publicly dating me are also true, and that’s something that we need to figure out. But in the meanwhile, I’ve fucked it all up.

And I don’t know how to fix it.

56

Dominic

Tuesday night at Bemelmans’s Bar and here I am, back to looking for a random one-night stand. I thought when I started dating Daphne that I could leave all of this behind me, but I guess not. Not now that she’s left me.

I see a cute blonde over at the bar, and I walk over to flirt with her. I can do this, I can totally do this. There’s a part of me that is removed from the situation, and giving ongoing commentary the whole time we’re talking. Her laugh is too loud, her eyes are too small. She’s wearing an orange shirt and doesn’t she know that orange is an awful color? Daphne hates the color orange, and for good reason. This chic – dammit, I’ve already forgotten her name – looks like she’s wearing a caution sign on the side of the road.

Not flattering.

She’s laughing again and I can’t help comparing her in every way to Daphne, and coming up short.

“Listen, it’s been nice chatting with you,” I finally say in a lull in the conversation. Fuck. Still can’t remember her name. I think it started with a H. Or maybe it was a T. “I…uhh…I hate to do it but I have to head out. Have a great evening.” I place a twenty on the bar to keep her supplied with drinks for a bit – suckiest consolation prize ever but it’s the best I can do – and walk away, feeling her shocked gaze on my back as I quickly exit stage left. Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense for me to leave like that; I know that. I know that if I’d wanted, she totally would’ve been up for a night of wild sex back at my place.

But she wasn’t Daphne, and I’m starting to realize that this is a fatal flaw for everyone not named Daphne Williams.

I’m almost to the door when I hear, “Dominic

Masters?” I turn and spot Kim, one of Daphne’s friends in high school, with some guy I don’t recognize. “Hi, I almost didn’t see you,” she says, putting her hand out to shake mine warmly. “Dominic, this is my boyfriend Cody. Cody, this is Daphne Williams’s stepfather. Well, ex-stepfather, I guess, since you two got a divorce when we were seniors in high school.”

“Definitely ex,” I say with a forced laugh, putting my hand out for Cody to shake. “Otherwise…”

“Otherwise, I think Mary would have a conniption fit over what you two have been doing these last few weeks,” Kim says with a laugh.

“Oh, you heard?” Out of the corner of my eye, I see neon-orange girl heading towards the door and I try to shuffle Kim and Cody off to the side to let her get past. This whole situation is awkward enough without adding another layer to it. She stalks past us, ignoring me as she goes.

Fair enough.

“Yeah, Daphne told me. It seemed like you two were pretty happy together, at least until Heather got involved.”

“Heather? What? Daphne doesn’t know Heather.” I’m staring at her in surprise. She just shrugs.

“I think Heather tracked her down or something. But Heather gave her this whole song and dance about how you’d lied to her about what you wanted out of your relationship, and how awful you’d been to her. That’s why Daphne was so upset on Sunday. Heather had been texting her bullshit for several days by that point. It wasn’t until after you two broke up that Daphne realized that Heather had been lying to her all along.”

I can feel the rage boiling in my veins but I can’t explode. I have to concentrate on how to get Daphne back. She’s all that matters. We can file a restraining order against Heather for Daphne too, but later.

Right now, I have to fight for Daphne.