Ten

"Excuse me?"

She huffed, "Of course, you're going to play dumb. They always do." She adjusted her proud stance by shaking her shoulders seductively. "I asked if you're the woman Dominic is sleeping with."

Who the hell is this woman giving an attitude to? And who on earth is she, exactly? Her presence spelled drama, so I decided to play along. "What if I am the woman Dominic is sleeping with?"

She laughed a bit sinisterly, her humor-lit face suddenly turning deadly at the end of the laugh. "Well, I have an issue with you."

"Who are you? The thirtieth girlfriend on his list of thirty girlfriends?" What am I saying?

"I am his—"

"Diane. What are you doing here?" Mr. Powers' voice made both of us whip our heads in his direction. Soon, Diane was all over him.

"Oh, Dominic. It's so nice to see you again." She placed her slim hands on his firm chest. "I've missed you so much, Dom. I have." I rolled my eyes at how desperate her actions were. Yup, she's definitely a girlfriend. Or an ex, to put it better, based on the slight mix of discomfort and annoyance on Mr. Powers' face.

Mr. Powers made a low sound with his mouth and took her hands off him. He distanced himself from her before asking, "What are you doing here?"

She moved closer to him and leaned into the side of his body. "I told you, I missed you." He glanced my way as he must have heard the little sound that escaped my lips as I tried hard not to let out a chuckle. She noticed him look my way and she stepped back. "Oh, so you're ignoring me because of her? Come on, get over yourself, you know you'll come back to me at the end of the day. And..." She eyed me. "I don't even know what you see in this one. How do you even manage to have sex with her? She's so not pretty." She made her hair flip as she grabbed onto his arm.

And I was so enjoying the show in front of me. Mr. Powers peeled her hands off him and adjusted his suit.
"Why are you here, Diane?" he repeated, this time his voice dangerously impatient.

"I came to see you!" she exclaimed, unbelievably.

He grabbed her hand and walked towards the entrance. "Let's go in and talk." After they had made it inside, he turned to face me. "And she's Ruby's babysitter, not the woman I'm sleeping with." He grazed my face as though searching for a particular emotion.

"Oh," she said, her eyes looking at me disgustingly.
"In that case," she stretched her bag toward me, and I stared at it, wondering what she was trying to do. ", carry my bag for me."

"Diane," Mr. Powers warned her.

"What, she's a servant after all. Take my bag," she pushed it further toward me.

"No," I replied. I needed to send the message properly. She dropped her hand and left Mr. Powers' hold and walked toward me.

"First, you waste my time by pretending to be Dom's girlfriend, something that can never happen to you. Now, you're refusing to carry my bag?" Her hand landed across my cheek to my surprise, but I didn't let it get cold. My hand left my face and kissed hers almost immediately, the shock on her face more than mine.
"Dom..." she said, her voice shaking as her hand held the spot I just slapped.

He shrugged, and she gasped in surprise. He really knows when not to interfere. I walked over to her and grabbed her hand, holding it as tightly as possible. "I'm not your fucking servant," I dropped her hand abruptly. "Diane."

Mr. Powers reached for the trembling woman, his face unreadable as he pulled her with him all the way to the stairs. I turned and saw that Ruby and Jeremy were staring hard at me. "Sorry you had to see that. I kind of lost it."

"That was cool. You really don't take shit, do you?" Jeremy asked as I moved closer to them. I shrugged.

"Let's start this class then."

"That was my mother," Ruby said quietly after we had all sat down.

And... I did not see that one coming. At all.

********
"Are you sure me slapping your mom isn't bad?" I tucked Ruby in properly.

"She doesn't like me and I don't like her. So, I don't care if someone beats her up," Ruby said, hugging her teddy bear to her chest.

I sat by her bed and played with her hair. "You really don't like her?"

"Fiona said I shouldn't hate people, so I just really don't like her. The last time she stayed over, she hit me for going into Daddy's room." Ruby's words sounded very bitter, so I decided to let go of the remaining questions on my mind.

"Alright, Ruby. Good night."

"Grace. Thank you for deciding to live with us." I recalled what her father had told me earlier about her health status. I smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm doing it for you. Good night." I turned off the nightstand lamp.

"Good night." I tiptoed out of the room and made for my new room.

I had already arranged my stuff in the room and even though there wasn't much to do, I just did some little rearrangement that reminded me of my room. I might have slept five hours straight the other night (and that was because of my tired state), but I highly doubted I'd be able to sleep properly for the first few nights, hence the little rearrangement.

I pushed open the door, yawning loudly as I closed it. I was already in my PJs, so I just needed to jump into bed. But I couldn't because Mr. Powers was seated right at the edge.

"Sir..." He raised his head from the book in his hand to look at me. My eyes traveled around his body as I wondered what he was doing in my room. He was wearing an oversized tank top, which meant his arms were bare. Staring at the built beauties that kept flexing involuntarily, I immediately caught myself and cleared my throat. "Uh, sir..."

"Have a seat, Miss Sands." Reluctantly, I walked to the bed and sat a short distance from him.
For fear of being mesmerized by his eyes, I looked down at the white tiles, my ears waiting for him to say something. "Thank you, Miss Sands," his voice was low and threateningly closer to me than I had anticipated. I raised my head and turned in his direction.

Funny, he hadn't moved an inch from where he was seated.

"Sir, you've already said that. It's really fine," I smiled and looked away again. His eyes. Damn! His sexy eyes. I recalled the earlier incident with my nightgown; there was this look in his eyes that just drew me in, closer and closer.

Damn! How am I going to survive moving in with them if he affects me this much with just his eyes? With whatever happened this morning, my hormones aren't as safe as I thought they were.

"I mean, thank you for helping me with Diane," he said after a while.

"Eh?" I looked at him, confused. If I knew better, he should be spitting at me right now for slapping, not just any woman, but Ruby's mother.

"She's a huge pain, and I've been trying to find a way to remove her from our lives. Your slap provided the perfect opportunity," he said, placing his large hand over mine, which had been gripping the end of the mattress. My body tensed as his warm palm made contact with my skin, and my gaze was locked onto his, which seemed unfathomably deep. "So, thank you, Miss Sands. For moving in and for helping to drive Diane away."

The touch was electrifying, his fingers stationary yet sending a current through me. I gave a nervous chuckle and withdrew my hand swiftly. "Well, you're welcome, both of you," I said, forcing a laugh while avoiding his gaze. I rubbed my hand, trying to erase the sensation of his touch, but it persisted, hauntingly present. "You really can't stand her, can you?"

"It's something like that," he answered, rising to his feet, the book still clutched in his other hand. "Good night, Miss Sands. See you in the morning."

"Good night, sir." I rose and escorted him to the door, deliberately avoiding eye contact. After closing the door behind him, I pressed a hand to my racing heart. Damn it! A mere touch from him had nearly unraveled me.

"Get a grip, Grace," I scolded myself. "He's not implying anything with his actions. Don't let them get to you." I returned to my bed. "Don't lose your head over someone who's clearly out of reach. He has a girlfriend he's into, so just stop."

I took a deep breath and slipped into bed, hoping to calm my racing thoughts.

That should work.