"I don't have anything to talk to you about." Dominic snatched his arm out of her grasp. "Not about that. Not about her."

She drank the sight of him. He was no longer peering at her in the intoxicating way that made her feel like the only woman; person in the world. He looked past her, over her shoulder to the windows that led to the backyard. A multitude of thoughts, emotions, and memories flashed through his optics in mere seconds as he clenched his jaw and let out quick breaths. He was fighting. She could tell that he was at war with himself because she fought that war before.

"You can...." She took hold of his hand but his sight did not follow. "It's totally okay if you cry in front of me. You can—"

"I'm not about to cry." He seethed, pulling his hand from her. "You shouldn't even know about her. But my big mouth ass sister can't keep her damn mouth shut." He balled up his fist and moved to the doorway but whirl back around and dropped his face in his hands. "Fuck!"

Amila tapped her thighs with her fingertips and then she took a tentative step toward the man that had always been so thoroughly put together now visibly coming undone in front of her.

"I understand..." She started as she erased the space between and placed her hand gently on his shoulder. "She broke your heart."

He dropped his shoulder removing her hand from his body. "Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about and I'm not rehashing—"

"Don't tell me to shut up." She hissed, her chest moving briskly. "Don't tell me to fucking shut up."

"Swan," He said as if he had broken out of a trace and was forced to see how his words inflicted others. "I'm sorry...I just..." He reached for her hand and she took a measurable step back pulling her hands away.

"You loved her and you don't want to talk to me about it. That's fine." She sniffed as hurt and anger battled each other within her. "Don't disrespect me in the process."

"I didn't mean to..." He sincerely said. "I...I moved on from her. I don't want to talk about her. Let's just..." He glanced over to the sink. "Let me finish cleaning up and we can play games until dawn."

"And then fuck my brains out until noon because..." Tears flooded her eyes blocking the sight of him as her next words formulated in her mind. They hurt constructing on her tongue but holding it in was even more agonizing. "...I'm just a sex toy to you."

"Amila, you're—" He stopped as a man appeared in the doorway.

She wiped the tears away and saw the person clearer. It was Danielle's fiance.

"Am I interrupting?" He asked with a saucer in his hand that no longer had the slice of pecan pie.

"No." The answer burst out of her mouth then she turned her gaze to Dominic. "I'm just remembering my place." Her hand went to her mouth as her lip started to quiver. "I need some air."

She stormed to the back door before her quiet tears turned into a visible sob. She had got caught up.

******

How could you heartbreak if you weren't in a relationship? Amila had been outside trying to answer that question. She thought about calling Deja but the last text she received from her bestie was a picture of the pies she and Keaton made and Amila knew that their competition would turn into eating pie and then other frisky behavior. She didn't want to disrupt her friend's good moment with her drama. And she didn't have her sister to call anymore so she sunk down in the grass, gazed up at the night sky, and cried.

She was a mess for a man that was in love with someone else. A man that made his intentions clear; all he wanted was conversations and sex. She didn't know where she went wrong. How did she invest too much into this contractual partnership? She knew the terms upon entering the agreement. She enjoyed the stipulations and stimulations. Maybe it was the hand holding or the cuddling after climax.

Or could it have been the deep conversations they had in the middle of the night when their side of the world was asleep?

It could've been his need to shower her with the best of everything or the subtle glances he took when he thought she wasn't looking.

Maybe it was all of it that skewed her perception and confused her bruised heart?

"Sweetheart, I think a bed would be more comfortable to—" Valentina sweetly whispered with a tap on Amila's shoulder that called her eyes to open. Amila didn't know what was in her eyes but the look of them made the older woman's eyebrows scrounge. "Oh, baby. Are you okay?"

She didn't give Amila much time to answer as she sunk down in the grass next to her, pulled her into her side, and hugged her warmly. Amila didn't fight the embrace. She let her head fall on the woman's shoulder that was technically a stranger but felt like family. Felt like a mother; something she desperately needed at this moment. Tears rolled over her nose and splashed onto Valentina's blouse but the woman didn't fuss with them as she rocked Amila.

"I thought he was better." Valentina's silky, smooth tone filled the cool night and caressed Amila. "But grief is a tricky thing. Sometimes you feel like you're healed and just one word can bring back all that pain."

"What grief?" Amila asked with a tear trickling over her top lip.

Valentina sighed as her rocking stopped. "He didn't tell you." She let out a long breath. "I don't like meddling in my children's business but you should know all the facts."

She started to stroke Amila's arm and then began. "Dominic and Jade had been together since high school. He went off to MIT but the summer before he left he proposed to her. While he was busy with his studies she got sick. Breast cancer. He took a semester off to be with her..." Valentia stopped to gather herself. "She died in May. He broke down in June and went to NYU in August and never looked back."

Amila lifted her head, "She died."

Valentina nodded. "That's why you being here is a big step and means so much more than you could ever know. He's in—"

"No, Mrs. James..." Amila shook her head stopping the woman from finishing that statement. "Dominic and I aren't serious...it's very casual."

"Hmm." She sounded. "I don't see it. Dominic's never done casual and the way you too look at each other seems deeper than a fling. I don't know what you kids do these days but from the outside looking in you two look very much in love."

"We're not," Amila said, sitting up her tears dry from the breeze. "He's not...I'm—" She paused. It was like her voice box stopped working so she shook her head instead. She pushed herself off the ground. "I should call an Uber and..."

"Absolutely not." Valentina stood up. "I don't know what's going on between you and my son but this house is big enough for half of Florida. I'll get Syrus to move your bag into another room. But I'm not letting you get in the car with some stranger in the middle of the night. No. Not on my watch." She nodded and Amila nodded in return. "I'll tell him to give you space and he'll let you be."

"Yes, ma'am," Amila said with a weak smile.

Valentina gave her another hug then released her. "You're the girl aren't you. The ballerina."

"What?" Amila's head tilted. "How did you?" Her hand went to her neck but she hadn't been wearing her ballet shoe necklace. She was wearing a diamond pendant necklace that Dominic gave her just because. "How did you know?

"Because finding your match is rare." She said then gestured to Amila. "Plus, you have the posture of a dancer." She linked her arm with Amila's. "Let's get you inside and warmed up."

Amila nodded and went back into the house. But she didn't go into the living room with the family nor did she go see where Dominic was. She went to the room at the end of the left-wing and slid into bed. Without changing clothes or wrapping her hair. She didn't have the energy, physically or emotionally, to do anything but sleep. 

What do you think made Amila invest too much emotion into their agreement? Is it all her fault or does Dominic share some of the blame?

Do you think Valentina was right for telling Amila what her son couldn't?

Was Dominic wrong for telling Amila to 'shut up'?

Is Valentina right, do they act like they are in love? 

Do you think Valentina is right for insisting that Amila stay the night?