Excerpt: Where Are You Going

Dom’s Reflections
My first clear memory of Brian is the day I broke up the street scuffle between him and Vince.
He was sitting there at the counter, his flirting interrupting my concentration on the books. Crunching numbers ain’t easy when you’ve got a soundtrack of innuendo going nonstop. So I got up to grab a drink. Needed something to cool my nerves before I said something that Mia would just tear me up for.
I turned around, and he was watching me. Intently. Not just a casual glance to acknowledge my presence, but a piercing, searching look of curiosity and something else. Like he was taking my measure and didn’t have a problem letting me know it.
It wasn’t his first time showing up for lunch, but it was the first time I’d bothered to be there. In fact, the team’s bitching (or rather, Vince’s odd behavior and moping about) about the stranger was what goaded me away from the garage. I wanted to see him for myself. Especially since he’d become an unknown – and a source of unwanted drama – in the team’s dynamic.
Last thing I wanted to do was get involved in breaking the two of them up. Their scuffle was entirely testosterone-driven, and I wanted no part of it. Public domain, they weren’t about to damage anything inside the diner, so what did I care? If delivery-boy couldn’t hold his own against Vince, it was better off to let the team run him off as opposed to me doing it. And if he could? Well. I guess you could say I viewed it as a test of sorts.
But then the girls both got up in my grill, and there was no way I’d get to finish my soda in peace. If I insisted on it, I’d never hear the end of it. I’m not a big fan of drama. Vince’s shit kinda pisses me off, and I had no problem at all letting him know it. Took it out on Brian, too. Didn’t care what he thought. I just wanted a couple hours of quiet, and the lot of them had spoiled it.
Not to mention that Letty and Mia wanted Big Bad Dom to flex his muscles. So it was all on them if I took it beyond what they wanted. I hoped maybe it would teach them not to try telling me what to do. Like I’m some Rottweiler on a leash, and all they gotta do is sic me on whoever they want.