Free The Sacrificial Lamb by Elle Fiore Page A

his dream and again felt the familiar twinge in his pants. Straddling this chair might not be the best position to be sitting in.
    Coughing, he shifted, leaning back and hanging clasped hands between his spread legs. The girl didn’t seem to notice anything amiss. She was still looking down, struggling to keep her emotions in check. Domenic was curious about her boyfriend but wasn’t sure if he should risk upsetting her further. In the end, his curiosity won out.
    “Your boyfriend was coming to visit you?”
    “Yes. He was coming for my graduation.”
    Even though it wasn’t Domenic’s fault, he felt badly that she had missed such an important event in her life. She should have been in a gown and cap, walking up to get her diploma while her family cheered for her. She missed that because her father had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and because Carlo was a devious bastard.
    “I’m sorry you missed it,” he said quietly, before he could stop himself. Alexis glanced up in shock and regarded him for a moment.
    “Why would you care?” she asked coldly. “It’s your fault I’m here! Or at least partly.”
    “This wasn’t my decision, Alexis.”
    “Still, you keep me here, locked up. You’re just as guilty as the rest!”
    Domenic knew there would be no way to explain to her the reasons why he was going along with this. Not without putting them both in mortal danger. The threat they were under was great enough as it was.
    “What are you going to do with me?” she asked when he stayed silent.
    “That’s not my decision,” he stated as impassively as possible. Domenic watched as her bottom lip began to tremble, her eyes took on the telltale sheen of tears, and she couldn’t stop them from spilling over onto her smudged cheeks. She put her face in her hands, unwilling to let him watch her cry.
    “Oh God, oh God, oh God…” Alex whispered in a shaky voice as she rocked back and forth.
    Domenic jumped off the chair and ran over to her quickly. When he sat on the cot, she removed her hands from her face and scrambled away from him toward the corner. She had her arms folded in front of her chest, her fisted hands under her chin, and she looked frail and wounded. He reached out a tentative hand to her shoulder. When Alex turned her face away from him, her hair swung down, as if creating a shield between them.
    Alex was still making panicked noises, so he finally did touch her to try to offer some sort of comfort. Her body was trembling from trying to keep the sobs from ripping out of her chest. Domenic stroked her shoulder softly, making hushing noises. Eventually, he reached out and swept her light brown hair away from her face and back over her shoulder, his fingers grazing her neck. He inched closer, and she didn’t pull away when he put his arm around her shoulder.
    She collapsed against his chest and covered her face as she continued to cry.
    “I’m sorry, Alex. Shh, shh…”
    “Please,” she choked out. “Please, let me go home.”
    “I wish I could, but I don’t have that power.”
    Yet .
    Domenic sat back against the wall and held Alex while she cried herself out. For the first time in years, he loathed himself. He hated that he was powerless to remove her from this situation at this moment. There was no doubt that he would get her out safely, but he couldn’t let her know that yet. For now, she would have to suffer through these next few painful weeks until his plan came to fruition.
    Alex’s sobbing eventually subsided, but she stayed in his arms. Domenic absentmindedly ran his fingers through the hair at her temple with the arm that was wrapped around her. His other hand rested on her arm. Despite their surroundings, he felt almost at peace. Everything about this situation was wrong, utterly and completely, but holding this girl still felt right somehow.
    Looking down, he realized she had fallen asleep. Her dark lashes fanned against the roundness of her cheek, and the slope of