Chapter 68: Strange, Wild Hope

- VANESSA -

The shower is mostly spent frowning at the tiles while the warm water falls around, unnoticed. I'm waiting until some answer arrives to explain exactly what just happened. I'm not waking up yet, so maybe this isn't actually a dream. 

How dare he? How dare he… touch me. And look at me like that. Like he's… in love with me or something. 

Does he look at everyone like that? Am I just Dominik's next hopeful conquest, and this magic trick with his hands is a way of luring me into being the next one groped on the couch like whoever was here last night?

My hands start working again after that thought, and I scrub my hair, my face, my neck… every inch of my skin, trying to rid myself of that memory and the cascade of devastation that followed.