whispers and warnings
1080 Words
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Chapter 6: Whispers & Warnings
Molly hadn’t slept.
Not really.
Every time she closed her eyes, she felt the ghost of his lips. The pressure. The heat. The sheer arrogance of it.
Dominic Hawthorne had kissed her. Not in some romantic, candlelit moment—but in a marble hallway, barefoot and half-naked, like it was just another form of teasing.
It shouldn’t have affected her. But it had.
And now, as she sat through her 9 AM class trying to focus on metaphors and literary devices, her brain kept wandering back to his voice—“Now you’ve got something to think about while you mop.”
God. She wanted to throw a dictionary at him.
“Hey,” Jay said softly beside her. “You okay?”
She blinked. “What? Yeah. Fine.”
“You’ve been chewing your pen for five straight minutes.”
She looked down. The pen cap was nearly destroyed.
“Oh.”
Jay smiled. “Wanna talk about it?”
Molly hesitated. Jay was sweet, sincere, and the one person here who didn’t make her feel like a maid in disguise. But this? This wasn’t something she could explain.
She forced a smile. “Just tired.”
He nodded, but his eyes lingered on her a little longer than usual.
---
Dominic made his entrance fifteen minutes late, as usual.
He strolled into the room with Leo and Elias flanking him like royalty and slid into the seat right behind Molly’s.
She stiffened.
He leaned forward, breath tickling the back of her neck. “Good morning, trouble.”
She didn’t turn around. “Don’t speak to me.”
“You’re still thinking about it, aren’t you?”
She clenched her jaw.
Dominic smirked. “The kiss. It’s okay. I get it. It was electric.”
“It was a mistake,” she muttered.
“No, darling. You pretending it didn’t matter is the mistake.”
Jay turned his head slightly, catching the tension.
“Everything okay?” he asked Molly.
“She’s fine,” Dominic answered for her.
Molly whipped around. “Stop it.”
Dominic leaned back in his seat, hands behind his head, all mock innocence. “Stop what?”
“You know what.”
“You know,” he said thoughtfully, “for someone who claims she’s not into me, you sure spend a lot of time saying my name.”
“Because you won’t leave me alone!”
“You love it.”
Jay cleared his throat loudly, shooting Dominic a glare. “You done harassing her?”
Dominic raised a brow. “Harassing? Ouch.”
Jay didn’t respond. But the air between the three of them crackled.
---
After class, Molly tried to escape.
Dominic caught up to her anyway, walking backward in front of her with irritating ease.
“Where are you going in such a rush?” he asked.
“Away from you.”
“Rude.”
“Accurate.”
He suddenly stepped closer, stopping her in her tracks. “You didn’t hate the kiss, Molly.”
She stared at him, pulse racing. “You think you’re irresistible.”
“No,” he said softly. “I know I’m unforgettable.”
She swallowed hard.
“You’re not going to win,” she whispered.
He smiled. “Then why are you shaking?”
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
She brushed past him and stormed off, leaving Dominic watching her with that same amused fire in his eyes.
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That evening, back at the estate, Molly kept to herself—cleaning quickly, avoiding the West Wing, keeping her headphones in.
She needed distance.
She needed clarity.
What she didn’t expect… was what happened the next morning.
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It started with murmurs.
Students gathering around the courtyard fountain, whispering excitedly.
Molly, arriving late with Anna, glanced at the crowd. “What’s going on now?”
Anna squealed. “Some insanely gorgeous girl just showed up in a convertible asking for Dominic.”
Molly froze. “What?”
Anna grabbed her arm. “Come look! She looks like a literal model.”
Molly didn’t want to look.
But her legs moved anyway.
The girl stood beside a red convertible, sunglasses pushed onto her platinum-blonde hair, flawless skin, sky-high heels, and a dress that hugged every inch of her like it was made for her body.
She laughed softly as Dominic approached, sunglasses on, hands in his pockets, casual as ever.
“Hello, Dom,” the woman purred.
Dom?
Molly’s stomach twisted.
Dominic leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Ava.”
Ava. Of course her name was Ava.
“I missed you,” Ava said, smiling up at him. “Didn’t expect to find you playing with peasants.”
The crowd laughed uncomfortably.
Dominic’s eyes flicked to Molly.
She turned on her heel and walked away.
Fast.
But not fast enough to stop the ache building in her chest.
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Later that night, Dominic found her in the laundry room, folding towels.
“Jealousy doesn’t suit you,” he said.
“I’m not jealous.”
“You left when Ava showed up.”
“I left because I don’t care who you kiss. Or sleep with. Or parade around like a trophy.”
He walked closer, slow and easy. “Then why do you look like you want to scream?”
“Because you keep—messing with me,” she snapped, eyes shining. “You confuse me. You make me feel like I’m on fire one second and invisible the next.”
He stopped in front of her.
“You’re never invisible,” he said quietly. “Especially not to me.”
She looked up, breathless.
“You kissed me,” she whispered. “Then you bring that model to campus like I’m just some—some maid who imagined it.”
He leaned in, brushing her hair behind her ear.
“I didn’t bring her for you.”
“Then why?”
“To remind myself who I used to be before you.”
Her lips parted. “What does that mean?”
But he didn’t explain.
He simply took a step back, the fire in his eyes dampened by something deeper. Something almost vulnerable.
“You’re messing with my head, Molly Gardener,” he said.
And then he left—no kiss, no smirk, no teasing.
Just a storm of silence.
Leaving Molly standing there with towels in her hands and everything else unraveling.
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