Competing for the Dominant

Fifteen

Quinn

I was dancing around my living room, cleaning up when my phone rang. I turned down the volume and looked to see who was calling.

"Daniel, hey,"

"Hello, Quinn. How are you?"

"Pretty good. I've been cleaning my apartment all day. How have you been?"

"I've been shopping for a new mattress. Unfortunately, I need some assistance in getting it in my house. Would you mind helping me out?"

"What about Ken? Or Cale? They're both stronger than I am,"

"Cale is dealing with his own problems with Owen right now. I don't want to bother them. And Ken has no muscles. Literally none. You definitely have more muscles than he does,"

"Thanks, I think. What're you offering if I come over and help?"

"I was thinking dinner that I make. Maybe giving Stella belly rubs and teasing her,"

"I can be there in half an hour. You had me at food,"

I finished dusting my shelves and headed towards the bathroom to shower. I tried not to get excited at the prospect of seeing Daniel again. It had been a week since Daniel had broken it off with Charlie and he had been texting me non-stop, especially since we hadn't seen each other much outside of me working at the club and we had kept it professional.

I threw my hair in a bun for the drive over there and I stuffed a tarp in the side bag, in case it rained again. It didn't look like it was going to rain, but the weather was unpredictable.

🖤

When I arrived, I made sure to park closer to the garage, and just like last time, Stella was there, greeting me with her tongue hanging out and her butt wiggling.

"Hi, girl. Did you miss me?" In a softer voice, I asked, "Did Daniel miss me?"

"What would you do if I said that I did?" I jumped and fell backward. Stella took this opportunity to climb into my lap and sit. Daniel snorted and picked Stella off my lap and helped me up.

"I'd eat your food still," Daniel laughed again and shook his head.

"Come on. The mattress is stuck at the front door,"

Stella bounded in front of us and was easily able to slide in between the door frame and the mattress.

"So, what's the problem exactly?"

"I'm too big to fit between the wall and the mattress so I can't move it away from the wall. Whoever designed the foyer to the bedroom is an idiot. Anyway, I figured you would be small enough to—Uh, I didn't mean it like that. Don't look at me like that,"

"You just insulted me! How should I look at you?"

"Well, you are small and short,"

"Not helping. And you're only like three inches taller than me!" I attempted to hide my smile, but Daniel caught it and he shoved me a little.

"That's not funny. Could you please just help me out here? I would've done it myself, but again. Not small enough,"

I rolled my eyes and slid through the small gap, avoiding the few picture frames he had on his wall. When I reached the other side, I started sliding it back towards Daniel and heard him groan. Probably should've warned him that it was coming back towards him. Whoops.

"Very funny, Quinn. Laugh it up. I'll shove it toward you and see how you like having a mattress shoved into your stomach!" He called and I laughed as I maneuvered it around the right wall towards the second hallway. I could see Daniel keeping it steady as we pushed it into the bedroom. We lifted it and placed it on the frame.