I did, and he slipped my shoes off easily and proceeded to rub my left foot with both of his huge strong hands. He had magic in those hands. I almost started moaning, it felt so good. He was rubbing into my heel, my arch, pulling out and stretching each toe, rolling his thumbs along lines on my soles. It was like heaven. My eyes rolled to the back of my head.
Astrid Gilberto was crooning light and smooth, and my mind was floating out near space as Dom spent several minutes on the left and then switched to give equal attention to the right. He gave me that time in silence, knowing intuitively that this was a rare and special treat for me. How often does a dancer without a romantic partner actually get her feet massaged? Speaking only for myself, the answer was never. The building could have been on fire, and I would not have noticed, nor cared.
But all good things must end. Eventually his hands slowed down, and he held the tops of my feet, keeping them warm but no longer at work. I slowly peeled open my eyes and righted my head from its recline. I gazed at him gratefully, breathing a little heavily through my open mouth. He smiled lightly, then asked, “You ready to talk, baby?”
I just about cried. He was being so sweet. “Yeah, Dom. I’m ready.”
“What’s got you goin’ lately, Sienna?”
I took a deep breath and pulled my feet from his hands, then curled my legs under me. I grabbed my water, took a sip, then raised my eyes to his. “You know about my sister?” I asked.
His brow furrowed. “Your sister? I didn’t know you have a sister. No. What about her?”
The wetness that threatened behind my eyes started falling down my face. My voice managed to scratch out, “I had a sister. Had, Dom. Tania. Joey Ronn killed her. Or had her killed. I don’t know. Either way, it was him. So I have to get him back. I have to, Dom. I have to.” I kind of dissolved into my hands.
Dom didn’t just sit there. He pulled me across the couch, turned me so I was cradled in his lap with both my legs draped over his and my back resting half against the couch and half against his chest. He pulled my head back to his shoulder and draped one arm across my upper back, the other resting on my outer hip. He was like a big man-couch. I was breathing in his scent, cuddled in his muscular heat. I was crying on his freaking shoulder, for god’s sake, getting him all sloppy wet, and he just held me through it.
“Tell me what happened, Sienna.”
“I don’t really know the whole thing. But Tan—she wasn’t easy, you know? She was my little sis, five years younger than me. I took care of her, since we were little. But she wasn’t easy. We got on okay, but it was hard. So after I got this gig at the club, I figured, this isn’t bad, and it’s good money, so if both of us are there, we’d have each other’s backs and we’d make like double the money, and we’d be solid, for the first time in forever.
“It started out good. She wasn’t the greatest dancer; it didn’t come naturally for her like it does me, but she could hold her own. I taught her a lot, we’d practiced. She was doing all right. But then, I don’t know, I think Mr. Ronn got to her. Started talking to her about other ways of earning bigger bucks, and it turned her head.
“She was always looking for the easy way out, of pretty much everything. It got her messed up some in high school; she dropped out when she was fifteen. She had gotten into drugs and was drinking too much, ya know? But I finally got her cleared of that mess. Or, I thought so. Maybe not.
“Anyway, the Hardcore scene—hell, maybe I fucked up really badly, bringing her into that. Maybe it made her think less of using her body for money. I never really thought of it like that. I feel like I control what happens with me there, you know what I mean? But maybe, Tania… maybe she felt like, what difference does it make what I do, if it makes more money?”
My mind drifted in that direction, and I got lost in my thoughts for a few minutes.
Dom brought me back to the moment. “So let me guess. Joey Ronn talked her into doing one of his movies.” He totally got it.
“Yeah. Only, something must have happened. Bad. Because Tania never came back, that first day she went to the set. She just never came home. And Mr. Ronn… Mr. Ronn, he just—he laughed—” And my tears got me again.
Dom waited me out, not letting me go. He was like a rock, warm and solid, letting me find my breath again.
“When was this, baby?” he asked softly.
“Just about two months ago. Maybe a little more. End of February. That weekend we had that big snow, you remember?”