Chapter 311
Ellie’s POV
Betore Dominic could reach me, I ducked my head, pretending I hadn’t noticed him, and grabbed a stack of paperwork on the table. I turned and slipped into the crowd. Or at least, I tried to. But I only made it a few steps away before his hand came around my upper arm, pulling me back.
“Hey,” he said, slightly out of breath. “I didn’t think you would be at the registration table. I was looking for you over by the raffle setup.”
“I’m on clean-up duty,” I said, shuffling the papers around. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you. I wanted to help.”
“I said I didn’t need you here.”
“I know.” His hand dropped back to his side. “But I figured showing up anyway would prove that I’m serious about being
supportive.”
I looked at him. He was smiling, like he thought this was charming. Like he thought I’d be happy to see him.
I wasn’t. Or at least, I was pretty sure I wasn’t, and yet my stupid fucking heart was doing that thing again, because seeing him smiling reminded me an awful lot of last night, and… I really didn’t want to think about that right now.
“Well, you’ve proven yourself,” I said. “Isn’t Vivian in need of your attention, anyway?”
Dominic sighed. “Ellie…”
I huffed, realizing that I was doing it again. Being defensive and combative, which wasn’t helping at all right now.
“Okay,” I said, looking around. “Maybe go check on the food setup or something then? I heard them talking about needing more people to help set up tables.”
“I already did,” Dominic said. “They said that they had enough people.”
“Oh. Well…” I paused, then suggested, “maybe parking duty needs help.”
“I just spent the past half hour directing traffic.”
I sighed, realizing that he wasn’t going to go away that easily. I knew why he was really here: to keep tabs on me, to make sure 1 wasn’t with Lucas. Finally, I held out the bundle of papers I was holding. “Here. You can take over registration.”
He took it without complaint. “What are you going to do?”
“Literally anything else,” I said, then walked away before he could respond.
The next hour was a lesson in frustration. No matter where I went or what task I picked up, Dominic was there. When I moved to the gazebo to check on the raffle setup, he appeared five minutes later with a box of extra tickets. When I went to help set up chairs near the food area, he showed up with more chairs stacked in his arms.
I decided to test him.
“We need someone to haul the coolers from the parking lot,” I said when he asked what else needed doing.
“On it,” he said, and jogged off.
He came back twenty minutes later, sweaty and slightly red-faced, but he had done it. All six coolers were now sitting beside the refreshment table.
“What else?” he asked, planting his hands on his hips.
1/2
+30 Bonus
I looked around There was a small public bathroom at the far end of the park. I had gone in there earlier and noticed how much of a mess it was. Technically, it was owned by the park and therefore not the responsibility of our organization to maintain, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt, and if it meant keeping him out of my hair, then it was worth a shot.
Besides, I didn’t think he would actually do it.
“That bathroom over there needs cleaning,” I said.
Dominic didn’t even hesitate. “Where is it?”
I pointed. He nodded and walked off.
I stared after him, surprised that he’d accepted the task so easily.
An hour later, I went to check on him, half-expecting to find that he had left entirely when he realized that I was going to give him all of the hardest and most menial tasks. Instead, I saw his shoes beneath one of the stalls, and I heard the sound of furious
scrubbing.
