Bad Boys and Billionaires(5)

“Bottle?”

“Oh yeah, sorry,” he said, handing it over. Her eyes roamed over his muscular arms, bulging from his t-shirt. She took another swig. It burned again, but not as bad.

Amy could start to feel a buzz. She wasn’t drunk, but she started to feel more relaxed. Strange, at the beginning of the day, she thought this might be the most stressful day of her life, but now, it might end up the most peaceful.

“What about you?”

“Not much of a whisky chick, although that would be cool. I like my sweet girlie wines. I’m out of my element.”

“That’s not what I meant.” The fire rippled in his eyes.

“Oh, what did you mean?”

“I mean, why were you with that asshole, Amy?”

“Long story,” she said and giggled nervously. “He wasn’t always an asshole. There were warning signs, but I didn’t want to see them. I suppose a psychologist would simply nod and point to the part in their book about family relationships. My dad beat my mom, and then when he started to beat me, I got my own place. I’ve been fending for myself ever since. Tom helped me a lot in the beginning. Little did I know I headed right into the same situation.”

Dom took a swig.

“I’m sorry. That’s rough.”

“Thanks,” she said, glad to hear him understand. Most of the time, people tried to defend Tom or else shift the blame on Amy. Sometimes all she wanted to hear was “sorry.”

I might be starting to like you, Dom. Please, don’t turn out to be a killer on the run, or some other type of madman. Please, don’t make this turn out to be a case of Stockholm Syndrome either.

They continued to drink and talk. Eventually, darkness blanketed the woods, and she felt like shuffling closer to Dom, not sure what else was moving about in the night. Next to him and the fire, she felt a lot safer.

Amy only had a couple more sips. She had a good buzz going, but she needed to keep focused in order to deal with this situation. The last thing she needed was to get hammered with her captor.

“Thanks for standing up for me back there. I let Tom get away with too much. I was actually about to break up with him. I don’t want to think about what he was about to do to me,” she told him.

“You deserve a lot better.”

She laughed. “How can you tell that?”

“In this brief time we’ve been together, I could pick up on it. You’re a sweet girl...smart, intelligent-” He stopped. Amy thought he was going to say “sexy.”

Why didn’t you say sexy?

Why did you stop?

“Hey, don’t stop in the middle of your compliment.”

“Sorry,” Dom said. He looked away, shaking his head. Something was wrong. Something stoked the fire in his eyes. He couldn’t look at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“I shouldn’t,” he said. He moved further away. She put her hand out to comfort him. “I really shouldn’t.”

“Shouldn’t what?”

“I don’t think I can stop myself around you.”

“Oh?”

She looked into his eyes. They seemed different. Amy couldn’t put her finger on it.

“That doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” she said. Amy couldn’t believe she said it after. She blamed the whisky, but that wasn’t it.

I just broke up with my boyfriend, and here I am flirting with the guy who kidnapped me. This is unbelievable.

Yet she knew this was an opportunity she shouldn’t pass up. Dom had been kind to her. Saved her. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have some comfort, especially from Dom. Besides, having a little distraction wouldn’t be a bad thing. This might be a hot rebound, or it might be something else.

“It’s not what you think,” he said.

“Then tell me,” she said, and her hand fell on his thigh. Don’t tell me you’re gay. You’ve been checking me out this whole time.

Her hand darted away when she felt the muscles pushing against her. He was on edge all right. What was happening? What was Dom hiding from her?

“Too late.”

“What’s going on?”

“You’ll understand soon enough.”

He stood next to the bonfire, then attempted to throw off his shirt, but it was already too tight against him. When he needed to tear it to pieces in order to free himself, that’s when Amy realized that something wasn’t right.

Dom was changing.

She thought he looked more bear like before, but now he was a bear. His chest was covered in fur, and it grew much wider. He roared, stretching out, showing off gigantic teeth in his monstrous mouth. The flames licked his giant chest, glowing in the dark forest.