She wasn’t like anyone else from his world. She never played her cards close to the chest. Now that they were what she called “official,” she was 100% honest with him. And that made him want to be 100% honest back.
“I like watching you sometimes,” he signed. “It feels nice just to watch you. In my heart.”
A pretty blush rose to her face, giving her warm brown skin a slightly pink undertone.
“See, this is why it’s not even a choice between you and art club,” she said with an embarrassed-but-pleased smile.
A slight pang of guilt rose in his chest. “Do you miss art club?”
“Not as much as I would miss you on Tuesdays if I didn’t skip it,” she answered.
Dawn was rarely smooth like her brother. By her own admission, she always got A+’s in Being Awkward. But sometimes, she surprised him by saying the exact right thing.
He took her by the hand and led her back to his car. That was the first time, but not the last, that he kissed her in the backseat, unable to wait until they got back to his apartment.
Victor had forgotten how dangerous it was to watch her from afar.
He hadn’t been prepared for the sight of her signing and laughing with the little brown children…just as she used to sign and laugh with him. Another upsurge of unwanted memories rose inside of him. They made his chest feel bruised as if his cousin had round-housed him again.
He still didn’t know why she had taken this particular low-paying job, located in a high crime neighborhood in Lower South Providence. But Dawn appeared to genuinely enjoy her engagement with the children. It made him wonder what kind of mother she would…
Do not go down that road. The voice of reason cut his curious thought off before it could reach completion. It’s bad enough that you’re here.
That voice was right. He’d never meant to have sex with Dawn. That hadn’t been in his plan, which could be summed up in three parts: 1. Lock her down with marriage, 2. Leave her to rot in Rhode Island, and 3. Get all the way over his prisoner before he was required to marry someone else.
But she’d thrown him off his plan when she challenged him. And now here he was, watching her from afar again, even though he knew it was dangerous.
He couldn’t hear what the other teacher was saying to her, but Dawn went completely still. Like an animal who’d figured out that her predator lurked nearby.
Meanwhile, the children she’d been laughing and signing with started sing-songing about her having a boyfriend.
She abruptly set down the iron and immediately rushed over to him. But unlike in Japan, her face hadn’t lit up at the sight of him. Just the opposite. Her expression was upset and wary as she approached. As if she was walking up to a monster.
“What are you doing here?” she signed when she reached him.
She didn’t speak out loud, most likely because she didn’t want questions from her co-workers. She signed carefully in front of her body, blocking the sight of her hands from the children. They watched her and Victor avidly in the background and appeared primed to burst into another made-up song.
“Where is your ring?” Victor signed back.
“I took it off,” she answered, her expression tight. “A few months ago, when I didn’t hear a word from you.”
Was she irritated by his long absence or his sudden reappearance? He couldn’t tell.
Either way…
“Put your ring back on,” he commanded. “And do not take it off again.”
She didn’t acknowledge the command as she should have, considering the circumstances. Instead, she asked again, “What are you doing here?”
Victor signed back two words. Harsh and precise. “Happy Anniversary.”
Her eyes flared with the realization that they had stood before the judge in that town hall exactly one year ago.
Annoyance twisted Victor’s insides. He wished he’d been able to forget the date so easily.
He’d spent the last twelve months trying not to think of her. Telling himself that it was enough to leave her to rot.
That morning, he’d woken up optimistic. He’d deliberately packed the day with meetings in New York. And he’d dared to hope that their first anniversary would pass quickly without him even thinking about driving down to Rhode Island.
But he only made it to the afternoon before his willpower gave out. And now, here he stood across from her while Han handled the rest of his New York meetings.
“Why did you come here?” Dawn asked, her expression genuinely confused. “Why didn’t you wait for me at the house?”
That was a good question. Too good.
“I don’t wait,” he answered instead of telling her the truth—that he hadn’t been able to wait. That he was so obsessed with her, he had decided to come to her place of work when he found the house empty.
Speaking of which…
“Tell your co-workers you are leaving early.”
Her eyes widened. “I still have an hour left on my shift.”
He ground his teeth. She still didn’t seem to know her place with him. “Would you rather I write her a note? Tell her that your owner has arrived to fuck you?”
Dawn shot him a mutinous look. But in the end, she went over to the older black lady Victor had given his name to earlier.
“Marge, I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to leave early…”
There came some argument from the older woman. Apparently, Dawn was the only other person on shift until they closed.
“I’m really so, so sorry. You know I wouldn’t leave you in a lurch if I didn’t have to….” Dawn answered.
Eventually, the argument ended with Marge shaking her head and Dawn walking back to him. He savored her miserable expression, even as he greedily took in all the changes to her appearance.
She had taken out the braids she’d worn in college, but her hair still wasn’t the same as it had been in Japan. She’d manipulated it somehow, and it fell long and silky straight to just past her breasts.
She’d also lost weight. She was trim now, verging on willowy. Victor wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He’d found her compelling at any size. So why had she gone out of her way to shed so many pounds?
Perhaps it was to impress someone. Another guy?
It doesn’t matter, he told himself, tamping down the unwanted spurt of jealousy as they walked out of the bright orange building together. Even if she was attracted to someone else, there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Any guy she so much as touched would be dealt with in such a way that she wouldn’t dare to cross him again. In truth, it might be better if she had feelings for another man.
He wanted her to hurt, wanted her to suffer, wanted her to yearn uselessly. Just like him.
When he had pulled in earlier, he noticed the fleet Audi all his men drove wasn’t in the parking lot. And now that he was outside, he could see that his Audi was still the only luxury car on the entire block.
“Where is your driver?” he asked Dawn.
She regarded him a considering second, then to his surprise, she gave him a huge smile. “You know what, I’ve been working a lot on reframing and mindset lately, and I’m thinking things don’t have to be so difficult between us. So, hi Victor. How are you?”
He frowned at her aggressively cheerful question. He was terrible. He had tried and failed to resist coming down here for their anniversary. That was how he was.