Control Freak Chapter 1

Dominic is a control freak.

He needs to know precisely when I wake up, when I eat, when I sleep, even when I go to the bathroom. He has me trained like a dog.

His friend once asked me, "Has it ever occurred to you that your entire life is being controlled by that psycho, Dominic?"

Dominic, with a faint smile, answered for me. "He hasn't."

Alright, fine. If that’s how he wants to play.

I told Dominic, "From now on, our curfew is 7 PM."

"And we need to have our phone locations shared at all times."

I started video-calling him eighteen times a day.

I'd pull him into intimate photos, plastering our "love" all over social media, making a grand show of our relationship.

I forced him to live inside my own web of suffocating, omnipresent surveillance and performance art.

And then... he got off on it.

* * *

I was out of breath when I stumbled through the door at one minute past eight.

The house was dark, completely unlit. I thought Dominic wasn’t home yet and breathed a silent sigh of relief.

But in the next instant, with a soft click, the lights flooded the room.

Dominic’s tall figure stood in the entryway, silhouetted against the blinding light.

Like a ghost.

"Noah," he said softly, "you're 1 minute and 27 seconds late."

The sudden light had already startled me. His whisper-soft voice sent a chill down my spine, and a cold sweat broke out on my back.

I took a deep breath, trying to force down the metallic taste of blood that had risen in my throat from running so hard.

"An old classmate of mine is in town, so a few of us got together. I was already on my way back at seven, but the traffic was insane. That's why I'm a little late."

He gestured for me to sit on the low bench in the entryway, then knelt gracefully before me. His hand wrapped around my slender ankle. His fingers slid slowly upwards, gripping the sliver of skin just above my white sock. He lifted my foot with a gentle pressure to help me change my shoes.

He looked up at me and smiled, a picture of innocence. "Then why didn't you leave earlier? Or you could have asked me to pick you up."

My fingers, braced against the bench, trembled slightly. "I... I didn't want to bother you. You had a long day at work."

"I really thought I could make it back before curfew," I explained, my jaw tight. "I planned ahead, I swear. The mall is only a half-hour drive from our place… I never expected the traffic to be this bad."

He slowly slipped off my sneakers, his fingers squeezing the soft sole of my foot through my sock. I felt a tickle and instinctively tried to pull my foot back, but his grip on my calf was like iron. I couldn't move an inch.

He put my slippers on for me.

"Are these old classmates of yours really that important?" he murmured. "So important that you can't even come home on time?"

"Did you not want to come home? Did you want to spend more time with them that badly?"

"Was an old flame among them?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" I snapped, cutting him off. "Today was a one-time thing. I'll be back before curfew from now on!"

He ignored my outburst. He stood up, leaned in, and brushed his nose against my cheek.

"Noah," he whispered, "why can't your eyes be only on me?"