ANNABELLE'S POV
After Lucas tortured me with his questions about my birthday. I told him I would just love to spend the day with him, Emma and Uncle Nick.

Dominick
It's been three days since I saw his beautiful face, three days since I saw those lovely eyes, three days since I laid my eyes on that wonderful body and three days since I heard that amazing voice, but who's counting definitely not me. Thinking about him knowing I have had a crush on Jake for the longest time makes me feel a little bit awful. Just a little bit, if Jake saw how gorgeous this man is, he'd have a crush on him too.
I have been thinking about him a lot more than I would like lately in ways I never thought I would. I think about how it would feel to have his arms wrapped around me, his lips on me and his voice whispering how much he wants me. I know that's a far-fetched dream. I mean I am a teenager, and he's an adult, he probably sees me as the kid I am.
I reached school earlier than usual, and I am already 90 percent done with my classes. I didn't bump into Amanda today, which was a little bit old, but I just shrugged off the thought and continued with my day.
This is my last class, and Mrs Lee, our science teacher, won't just let us go home or breathe. She always has something impossible to assign us at the end of all her classes. I wonder what insane thing she has cooked up this time. Rumor has it that she is torturing us to make the little pups in her stomach laugh. Lucas confessed she had always been like this when she was pregnant.
She has given us a project to do and has assigned us to our partners, and I ended up with Jake. Just great. Don't get me started on how most of the girls turned their heads in my direction when Mrs Lee paired us together. They were throwing glares at me the whole time, and the funny thing is, I didn't know whether I should keep staring at them or look somewhere else. I decided to confidently stare back at them. Amanda was not in attendance to throw a tantrum or anything at arms-length at me. It's an awkward situation, trust me.

It's like I'm just attracting drama this week and I don't like that one bit. I even tried changing partners, but she wouldn't budge. Jake and his friends are not at school today, and since I don't have his number, I'll have to ask Lucas to help me out here. He'll have to call him and convince him to get us out of this whole situation.
My last class is finally over. I sent Lucas a text telling him to pick me up. I know I can walk, but I don't feel like walking in the hot sun today. Getting scorched is not how you end the day when you just find out you and your crush with a psycho ex you should be avoiding have been paired up. He said he'd be here in a few minutes, so I am currently in the school parking lot waiting for him. About five minutes later, I see his car pulling up, and he parks it next to where I'm standing. I get in the car and put on my seat belt.
"Heyyy, Lucy". I greeted him with a smile on my face.
"Hey little pea, how was school?'' Lucas asked while he glanced in my direction for a second and then his focus was back on the roa, and I started explaining to him how my day was. I even emphasized the fact that I don't like who I'm paired up with. He just had a smile on his face and let me know he was listening by throwing in silly comments here and there and before we knew it, we were already home.

"Lucy, I umhh- have a favor to ask... do you by any chance have Jake's number? '' I asked him while getting out of the car. He also got out, and we were heading for the front door.
" Yes, why do you ask?" he opened up a bottle of water and took a sip.
" Can you wait for me to change into something more comfortable? Then I can tell you why I need it'' I frown while looking at my poor choice of clothing today. Who wears sweats in the summer ? In my defense, I checked the weather forecast before picking out my outfit I always do. It was a little chilly when I left the house and the clouds were a heavy coat of gray.
" Right I will be right here waiting to hear all of it. Who thought pairing you with Jake was a good idea?"
" Mrs. Lee" I said, and he burst into a loud fit of laughter, rolling my eyes in response, I got up from the chair and made my way to my room. After putting on a pair of comfortable shorts and a baggy tee, I went back to the kitchen and found Lucas typing away on his phone.
"Hey, I'm ready, we can talk "I said and that got his attention.
"Finally, so why do you want to know whether I have his number or not" he said, letting me know how invested he was in what I was about to say.
"I kind of need your help with ummh- calling him to get him to change Mrs. Lee's mind on having us as partners on the project. I am not comfortable with us being partners."
"I hear you, but unfortunately you're going to have to do the asking yourself." I gave him pleading eyes, but that didn't work. He begins to tap on his phone for a few seconds and when he looks back up, my phone dings signaling a new notification. Jake's contact has been sent to me. Before I could beg him anymore, he walked away, leaving me alone, conflicted about whether texting him was the easy way out. After deep thought, I decided to type without putting much thought into it.
Hey Jake, this is Annabelle from school.
I hit the send button and waited for a response before I could break the news to him, but he didn't respond. For five dreadful moments he still didn't reply. I then decided on just telling him about the reason I texted so that he is not too surprised when he finds a message from me with zero context.
I just wanted to let you know that we have been assigned as partners for the science project. I know we both don't want to be partners and Mrs. Lee would be welcoming to the idea of us switching partners if you asked her.
Staring at the messages a bit longer than I should have made sure I was satisfied with the few lines I had drafted, I hit the send button.
Almost immediately, my phone begins to buzz, and Jakes name is plastered right on the screen, the whole world comes to an instant stop and my heart beat is the only thing I can hear right now.
There is a lump in my throat from the fear of what he might say. I am holding on to the hope that he will agree with my suggestion that he will not torture me any further.
I hesitantly picked up and put the phone to my ear.
"Hey sweetheart?", he greeted me in a warm cheery voice that forced a small smile out of me. From the way he has greeted me, I am fully aware that I have to let go of the little hope and come to terms with the fact that he wants to torture me with being partners on a project that will last the whole term.
" Hey, I don't think Amanda would be happy with addressing me that way."
"Is that the reason you're convinced I wouldn't want to be partners on the project?" He asked in a genuinely concerned tone, and I already knew the answers to the questions was yes, among many other reasons.
"Maybe." I let out in a defeated tone.
"Who told you I cared what Amanda feels or has to say about it? '' He asked again in a serious tone. "Listen here sweetheart, I called to answer your question, and my answer is No. you're stuck with me and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Not even you" clearly. With that, he hangs up, standing up while sending the text to Lucas to thank him for being of help today and let him know I am now stuck with Jake because of him. I end up bumping into someone, which leaves me startled as far as I am concerned, I am the only living thing in the house today.
I looked up and saw Dominick with a small frown on his face. Just when I feel like I'm going to fall and land on my butt, big strong arms slide around my waist, and hold me tightly in place.
Now we were standing in front of each other, his face was just inches from mine, and to top it all up, he was looking at me, with worry ?
He then dropped his head and I closed my eyes, waiting for whatever was going to happen. I felt his lips on the side of my face, his lips kept on moving until they reached my neck and I could feel him breathing lightly on my neck. He left a small kiss there and lifted his head a little bit until his lips were over my ear, and he whispered in a deep husky voice,
"Watch where you're going azúcar, we don't want you getting hurt now, do we?" I bit my bottom lip to keep the sound that was threatening to come out of my mouth, and I shook my head no, he bit down on my ear and I felt a shiver down my spine. I'm sure my face is as red as a tomato right now.
" Use your word's princess" he said in the same husky voice, and I felt my insides melt.
"No we don't" he lifted his head once more and one of his hands was caressing my cheek while he smiled at me and whispered
"Good girl"
"What are you doing here, who let you in?" I finally let out in a crocky voice.
"As of yesterday I live here."