Book 5, Chapter 6: And Then Play On (1/3)
Title: And Then Play On (1/3)
Authors: kiltsandlollies and escribo
Characters: Billy/Dominic
Word Count: 2526
Summary: A little bit on the town, a lot on the minor make.
Index
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction; the recognizable people in the story belong to themselves and have never performed the actions portrayed here. I do not know the actors nor am I associated with them in any way. If you are underage, please do not read this story. I am not making any profit from these stories, nor do I mean any harm.
Another Sunday, and another morning during which Billy knows that he and Dominic are meant to sleep in, especially as the weather has turned grey. The only wrench in that plan is that he’s awake now, at ten minutes to nine, and he wants company, especially if that company is at the moment still three-quarters hidden under Billy’s duvet, naked and warm and breathing gently into his pillow.
“Dominic,” Billy murmurs, trailing a hand through Dominic’s hair. Dominic mutters something in return, but his eyes remain closed. Billy looks down to the end of the bed, where he and Dominic have kicked both the previous evening’s clothes and two paperbacks Billy doesn’t even recall picking up in the first place. Clearly they’d been reading when they fell asleep, then. Clearly, they’d been exhausted.
“Dom,” Billy tries again, nudging at Dominic’s shoulder. “There’s the shopping. And lunch.” Dominic’s eyelids flutter open and he looks out the window before squeezing his eyes tightly shut again. “I know,” Billy laughs. “It’s dead awful out there, but at least it’s not raining yet. Come on, up. Keep me company while I make us some breakfast.”
Dominic moves, but only to slide deeper beneath the bedclothes and wrap his arm around Billy’s waist in an attempt to pull him under, too. “Don’t need brekkie. We can just stay here, yeah?”
Billy snorts, allowing himself to be curled into Dominic’s side. Dominic’s never enjoyed waking up--a function, Billy believes, of the exhaustion he rarely speaks of anymore but is obvious by the end of the week. Billy knows he doesn’t make it much easier for Dominic on Friday nights, when they tend to spare no energy or expense laughing, drinking, and crashing through the house before they finally fall into bed. And Saturdays are sometimes busy in entirely different, for more external reasons.
Sundays, however, are their days to do nothing at all but lie in bed or on Billy’s old couch, reading, dozing and making love, sometimes spending the entire day in the same clothes they found tossed to every corner of Billy’s room in the morning. This Sunday would be the same but for the errands Billy wants to run.
“Right, Dom, I can’t sleep any more. Come on, now.” Billy squirms from Dominic’s grip and the bed, padding softly around his bedroom and stretching in front of his window. He leans down, palms on the sill, and contemplates this grey day and his wet garden for a moment before making his way to a shower--running the water blazing hot and letting it beat down on his shoulders and back, not surprised in the least when Dominic joins him a few moments later.
“Can’t believe you left me alone in bed.” Dominic’s voice is just a touch indignant, and it takes everything Billy has not to laugh at him, hair wild and sticking up everywhere. Dominic places his hands on Billy’s hips to steady himself and then huffs. “I’m going to develop a complex about my ability to keep you there.”
“If that’s the only one you develop because of me, we’ll call it lucky. And you were sleeping.”
“I was awake. Mostly.”
Billy smiles, moving only enough to allow Dominic room beneath the spray of water. He pushes his hands through Dominic’s wet hair, pulling him a bit closer for a brush of lips before Billy reaches for the dark green washcloth behind him, pushing it absently over Dominic’s chest. “I knew you’d come find me when you were ready.”
“It’s too early for you to be this cocky.”
“And too early for you to be arguing with me. You’re still tired. Look at you-" Billy's distracted by the sight of a smallish red mark in between the rising curve of Dominic's shoulder and the side of his neck, and Billy’s smile turns to a delighted smirk. "Look at you," he says again, more quietly, and strokes gently where he’d done a lot worse before. "Turn around."
Dominic does so, leaning against the wall, and Billy's soap-slick hands rise to stroke harder now, smoothly over and down Dominic's back. Billy presses hard where Dominic's muscles are strained and tight, and caresses lightly where Dominic loves it most, listening for the contented sound that seems to settle in his chest.
"Remind me why we're up,” Dominic mutters. “I remember the bit about lunch."
"Shopping. There’s no food left in the house.”
“Which is a problem.”
“For me more than you, I’m thinking. It couldn't hurt either of us to get some clothes, too.” Billy feels Dominic’s shoulders tense again under his hands, but doesn’t pause. “If you'd rather kip out on the couch while I manage the groceries, I'd understand, but leave me to go clothes shopping alone and then we're talking complexes. Here, have at it."
Billy passes the shampoo to Dominic, moving again so the water streams mostly on his own body. Rinsing himself down quickly, Billy finds himself wondering if Dominic may really have the right idea-stay in bed or at least at home, avoiding the weekend crowds. But Billy has another agenda today beyond what he's told Dominic, a fact-finding mission Billy intends to make as amusing as possible, at least for himself.
"Come on, Dom. You needn't wake, provided you can walk," Billy says as he steps from the shower and reaches for towels, remembering words his grandmother had said morning after morning during Billy's more churlish schooldays. "You needn't talk if you can take your tea. Finish up here and come find me in the kitchen."
It takes longer this time for Dominic to do so, but he’s clean and dressed even if his hair’s still something of a bird’s nest. He hasn’t shaved, either, as Billy discovers when Dominic wraps his arms around Billy’s waist and pushes his nose against Billy’s neck.
“That’s not tea,” Dominic sniffs at the air, but Billy shrugs amiably, knowing that Dominic can knock back coffee if he has to, or as in the case of a morning like this, needs to. “Did you purposely buy the slowest brewing coffeepot that you could find?” Dominic continues, switching shoulders, breathing warm against Billy’s neck as he tucks his fingers into the front pockets of Billy’s trousers. “And didn’t you just buy new shirts? As if I don’t have enough to listen to when the girls go on about Professor Boyd. New trousers could be dangerous.”
“Only if they don’t fit, and that’s a risk I’m willing to take. Go on, Dom, tell me more; you’ve got a bridge to sell me next, don’t you. I do need trousers, by the way, with or without anyone’s approval of what goes in them. Have a seat.” At Dominic's retreat to the table, Billy pours the coffee into two large mugs and smiles down into the stream rising from them. Billy knows he's not what one would call terribly good-looking, not in the sense that he can make young girls swoon in the hallways. He's seen that before, of course-Townsend, a few offices down from Billy, always attracts a good amount of pretty female teaching assistants every year with his deep-set eyes and black hair-but it doesn't happen to him. Yes, he's heard a bit about his accent and his smile, but those things are commodities, easily sold but anyone from his country who’s got a sense of humour or the pleasantly ridiculous. Billy’s no great piece of work and never expected to be, and whatever he’s got from his looks alone has never ended well, anyway.
"Maybe you should just agree with them, Dom," Billy says, the smirk still full-blown on his face as he sets Dominic's coffee in front of him with milk and sugar. "Throw them the bone they want. Tell them how fantastic I am in bed and what hell I am t’live with. And when they ask how you know, be creative."
“Who says I haven’t agreed with them?” Dominic looks up from the rhythmic little swoosh of his spoon in the mug. “They know where my interests lie. Mostly.”
Billy raises first his eyebrows and then his own mug to his lips as he stretches his legs under the table until his feet are in Dominic's lap, bare toes twitching. "The view’s not much different from the other side. You should know that.”
“Don’t tell me. Kylie.”
“Good Christ, how that poor girl wants you. Even wrote something on her hands last week, something I’ve blocked from my memory because it was just a bit more than I needed to know." Dominic looks up, interested, and Billy smirks again. “No, I’m not going to tell you, “ he says simply. "One, it’s not fair to her, and two, it might charm you right out of my house, and then where would I be? I think I’m just going to trust that you’re not expanding your territory at the moment, as it were.”
"Kylie's been like that since we met,” Dominic sighs, then laughs. “And she definitely knows I’m gay. We used to go out together more. She liked to get me drunk and see if she could convince me to play for her side. At least for a night."
“Did she ever succeed?”
Dominic’s eyes flash, but he smiles, too, stirring the coffee a little harder. “I’ll never tell. But you can rest easy, professor. I have it on good authority that she’s seeing some bloke from the languages department."
“A professor?”
Dominic winces, more on Kylie’s behalf than his own, Billy thinks, especially when Dominic laughs again. “No.”
“Smart girl.” Dominic looks up again, more sharply this time, but Billy offers him a kinder smile and takes another long drink of his coffee. Billy’s curious what else Dominic’s heard from his classmates, and what Dominic’s said in return, but that curiosity is for once not built on fear; but for a few mistakes early on, they've been discreet-perhaps more than they've needed to be-and Billy can't imagine either of them is in any danger, at this point, not even from Elijah, who’s faded into himself a bit, and not, Billy hopes, waiting merely for the right time to strike again.
"I do rest easy, so we’re clear,” Billy says then, the words coming from him strangely easily. “With you. Never better in my life, in fact. I want to ask you something, Dom."
“Anything.”
"Have you never taken even a second look at some of these girls?” Billy tilts his head at the sudden broader smile that moves over Dominic’s face. “They adore you, you must know that. I'm not talking about since you've been with me. I mean when you first came to Baskerville. Ever share a few furtive moments with another first year just to see?"
“Once, when I was a teenager.” Dominic’s grin hides the truth of the situation, Billy suspects, carries the weight of his family and their expectations. “Experimentation, I guess. To see what it was like.”
“And the result?”
“It’s not for me.” Dominic’s smile is smaller but more genuine now, though he still doesn’t meet Billy’s eyes, focusing on the rough massage he’s giving Billy’s feet and ankles still propped in his lap. “Where were you going with this, Billy?”
“Not where I’m guessing you were thinking.” Dominic blinks but doesn’t stop what he’s doing, and Billy leans in a little, lowering his voice as if they’re not alone here, as if they’re not already in the safest possible circumstances. “Not just the once, was it.”
“There were other times," Dominic nods, then shakes his head a little. “They were part of scenes. Just something I was involved with for a time. Does it bother you?”
“What, that you’ve been with girls?” Billy frowns. “Of course not, that’s insane, why would I-”
“That I’ve been with so many partners.”
Billy leans back in his chair and takes a deep breath, knowing that not answering Dominic immediately is making them both more uncomfortable than he’d ever intended, but enjoying the soft sensations that run through his body as Dominic frowns down at his work, at his hands pressing and pulling at the muscles of Billy’s feet while Billy takes his time to respond the right way.
"Look at me, Dominic," he says finally, and waits for Dominic to do so. "The decisions you made in the past, all your choices--they’re just that, Dom, yours. That you weren't always treated well and that deserved better-that bothers me. That infuriates me. I'm not some shining example of kindness, but you’re meant to be happy, Dom, with me or with anyone else. You ended up safer and smarter than you thought you’d been, didn’t you. And none of has as clear a conscience as we’d like, but what we’ve done, all those decisions and choices, they make us who we are." Billy nods and takes another drink. “I don’t see any reason to change who you are, so no, that does not bother me. You’ll know when something does, Dominic, be clear on that one, too, hmm?”
Dominic presses down in the middle of Billy's arch, and Billy releases a noise he never imagined he was capable of producing. "That was interesting," he huffs, then, making to pull his foot away but not fighting when Dominic holds him steady. "You'll have to try that again later when I'm in a better position to enjoy it, and don't have hot coffee in my hands."
Dominic laughs, sliding one of his hands up Billy's trouser leg. They're quiet for several long moments as both finish their coffee, and Billy allows himself a few messy thoughts of his own other partners, other decisions and choices and mistakes, before he pushes them away with his mug and a bland stare at the kitchen ceiling. Where were you going with this? Billy hears himself ask this time, and he frowns again, thinking Out. And nowhere else.
He’s about say it aloud, but Dominic speaks first. “I am happy, Billy. With you, even when you want to go out with a million other people on a perfectly good Sunday, rather than spend it in bed with me.”
"Who's to say I won't do that, too?" Billy wrests his foot free this time and then moves to the sink to rinse the coffee mugs. "We’re not going to be long, Dom. Just a few errands and then back home, and if you're not a problem child while we're out, if you’re cooperative, when we come home, I'll shag you blind in front of the fire." He turns around, leaning against the counter as he folds his arms over his chest and holds Dominic’s gaze. “Then neither of us’ll have any energy t’spend thinking about anyone else, will we.”
Dominic shakes his head but doesn’t speak, all the challenge in his now-brightened eyes alone. Billy nods and then takes another deep breath, tugging at Dominic’s arm and then sliding two fingers into Dominic's beltloops, pulling him back into the front room to retrieve shoes and coats and keys.
To be continued.
Authors: kiltsandlollies and escribo
Characters: Billy/Dominic
Word Count: 2526
Summary: A little bit on the town, a lot on the minor make.
Index
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction; the recognizable people in the story belong to themselves and have never performed the actions portrayed here. I do not know the actors nor am I associated with them in any way. If you are underage, please do not read this story. I am not making any profit from these stories, nor do I mean any harm.
Another Sunday, and another morning during which Billy knows that he and Dominic are meant to sleep in, especially as the weather has turned grey. The only wrench in that plan is that he’s awake now, at ten minutes to nine, and he wants company, especially if that company is at the moment still three-quarters hidden under Billy’s duvet, naked and warm and breathing gently into his pillow.
“Dominic,” Billy murmurs, trailing a hand through Dominic’s hair. Dominic mutters something in return, but his eyes remain closed. Billy looks down to the end of the bed, where he and Dominic have kicked both the previous evening’s clothes and two paperbacks Billy doesn’t even recall picking up in the first place. Clearly they’d been reading when they fell asleep, then. Clearly, they’d been exhausted.
“Dom,” Billy tries again, nudging at Dominic’s shoulder. “There’s the shopping. And lunch.” Dominic’s eyelids flutter open and he looks out the window before squeezing his eyes tightly shut again. “I know,” Billy laughs. “It’s dead awful out there, but at least it’s not raining yet. Come on, up. Keep me company while I make us some breakfast.”
Dominic moves, but only to slide deeper beneath the bedclothes and wrap his arm around Billy’s waist in an attempt to pull him under, too. “Don’t need brekkie. We can just stay here, yeah?”
Billy snorts, allowing himself to be curled into Dominic’s side. Dominic’s never enjoyed waking up--a function, Billy believes, of the exhaustion he rarely speaks of anymore but is obvious by the end of the week. Billy knows he doesn’t make it much easier for Dominic on Friday nights, when they tend to spare no energy or expense laughing, drinking, and crashing through the house before they finally fall into bed. And Saturdays are sometimes busy in entirely different, for more external reasons.
Sundays, however, are their days to do nothing at all but lie in bed or on Billy’s old couch, reading, dozing and making love, sometimes spending the entire day in the same clothes they found tossed to every corner of Billy’s room in the morning. This Sunday would be the same but for the errands Billy wants to run.
“Right, Dom, I can’t sleep any more. Come on, now.” Billy squirms from Dominic’s grip and the bed, padding softly around his bedroom and stretching in front of his window. He leans down, palms on the sill, and contemplates this grey day and his wet garden for a moment before making his way to a shower--running the water blazing hot and letting it beat down on his shoulders and back, not surprised in the least when Dominic joins him a few moments later.
“Can’t believe you left me alone in bed.” Dominic’s voice is just a touch indignant, and it takes everything Billy has not to laugh at him, hair wild and sticking up everywhere. Dominic places his hands on Billy’s hips to steady himself and then huffs. “I’m going to develop a complex about my ability to keep you there.”
“If that’s the only one you develop because of me, we’ll call it lucky. And you were sleeping.”
“I was awake. Mostly.”
Billy smiles, moving only enough to allow Dominic room beneath the spray of water. He pushes his hands through Dominic’s wet hair, pulling him a bit closer for a brush of lips before Billy reaches for the dark green washcloth behind him, pushing it absently over Dominic’s chest. “I knew you’d come find me when you were ready.”
“It’s too early for you to be this cocky.”
“And too early for you to be arguing with me. You’re still tired. Look at you-" Billy's distracted by the sight of a smallish red mark in between the rising curve of Dominic's shoulder and the side of his neck, and Billy’s smile turns to a delighted smirk. "Look at you," he says again, more quietly, and strokes gently where he’d done a lot worse before. "Turn around."
Dominic does so, leaning against the wall, and Billy's soap-slick hands rise to stroke harder now, smoothly over and down Dominic's back. Billy presses hard where Dominic's muscles are strained and tight, and caresses lightly where Dominic loves it most, listening for the contented sound that seems to settle in his chest.
"Remind me why we're up,” Dominic mutters. “I remember the bit about lunch."
"Shopping. There’s no food left in the house.”
“Which is a problem.”
“For me more than you, I’m thinking. It couldn't hurt either of us to get some clothes, too.” Billy feels Dominic’s shoulders tense again under his hands, but doesn’t pause. “If you'd rather kip out on the couch while I manage the groceries, I'd understand, but leave me to go clothes shopping alone and then we're talking complexes. Here, have at it."
Billy passes the shampoo to Dominic, moving again so the water streams mostly on his own body. Rinsing himself down quickly, Billy finds himself wondering if Dominic may really have the right idea-stay in bed or at least at home, avoiding the weekend crowds. But Billy has another agenda today beyond what he's told Dominic, a fact-finding mission Billy intends to make as amusing as possible, at least for himself.
"Come on, Dom. You needn't wake, provided you can walk," Billy says as he steps from the shower and reaches for towels, remembering words his grandmother had said morning after morning during Billy's more churlish schooldays. "You needn't talk if you can take your tea. Finish up here and come find me in the kitchen."
It takes longer this time for Dominic to do so, but he’s clean and dressed even if his hair’s still something of a bird’s nest. He hasn’t shaved, either, as Billy discovers when Dominic wraps his arms around Billy’s waist and pushes his nose against Billy’s neck.
“That’s not tea,” Dominic sniffs at the air, but Billy shrugs amiably, knowing that Dominic can knock back coffee if he has to, or as in the case of a morning like this, needs to. “Did you purposely buy the slowest brewing coffeepot that you could find?” Dominic continues, switching shoulders, breathing warm against Billy’s neck as he tucks his fingers into the front pockets of Billy’s trousers. “And didn’t you just buy new shirts? As if I don’t have enough to listen to when the girls go on about Professor Boyd. New trousers could be dangerous.”
“Only if they don’t fit, and that’s a risk I’m willing to take. Go on, Dom, tell me more; you’ve got a bridge to sell me next, don’t you. I do need trousers, by the way, with or without anyone’s approval of what goes in them. Have a seat.” At Dominic's retreat to the table, Billy pours the coffee into two large mugs and smiles down into the stream rising from them. Billy knows he's not what one would call terribly good-looking, not in the sense that he can make young girls swoon in the hallways. He's seen that before, of course-Townsend, a few offices down from Billy, always attracts a good amount of pretty female teaching assistants every year with his deep-set eyes and black hair-but it doesn't happen to him. Yes, he's heard a bit about his accent and his smile, but those things are commodities, easily sold but anyone from his country who’s got a sense of humour or the pleasantly ridiculous. Billy’s no great piece of work and never expected to be, and whatever he’s got from his looks alone has never ended well, anyway.
"Maybe you should just agree with them, Dom," Billy says, the smirk still full-blown on his face as he sets Dominic's coffee in front of him with milk and sugar. "Throw them the bone they want. Tell them how fantastic I am in bed and what hell I am t’live with. And when they ask how you know, be creative."
“Who says I haven’t agreed with them?” Dominic looks up from the rhythmic little swoosh of his spoon in the mug. “They know where my interests lie. Mostly.”
Billy raises first his eyebrows and then his own mug to his lips as he stretches his legs under the table until his feet are in Dominic's lap, bare toes twitching. "The view’s not much different from the other side. You should know that.”
“Don’t tell me. Kylie.”
“Good Christ, how that poor girl wants you. Even wrote something on her hands last week, something I’ve blocked from my memory because it was just a bit more than I needed to know." Dominic looks up, interested, and Billy smirks again. “No, I’m not going to tell you, “ he says simply. "One, it’s not fair to her, and two, it might charm you right out of my house, and then where would I be? I think I’m just going to trust that you’re not expanding your territory at the moment, as it were.”
"Kylie's been like that since we met,” Dominic sighs, then laughs. “And she definitely knows I’m gay. We used to go out together more. She liked to get me drunk and see if she could convince me to play for her side. At least for a night."
“Did she ever succeed?”
Dominic’s eyes flash, but he smiles, too, stirring the coffee a little harder. “I’ll never tell. But you can rest easy, professor. I have it on good authority that she’s seeing some bloke from the languages department."
“A professor?”
Dominic winces, more on Kylie’s behalf than his own, Billy thinks, especially when Dominic laughs again. “No.”
“Smart girl.” Dominic looks up again, more sharply this time, but Billy offers him a kinder smile and takes another long drink of his coffee. Billy’s curious what else Dominic’s heard from his classmates, and what Dominic’s said in return, but that curiosity is for once not built on fear; but for a few mistakes early on, they've been discreet-perhaps more than they've needed to be-and Billy can't imagine either of them is in any danger, at this point, not even from Elijah, who’s faded into himself a bit, and not, Billy hopes, waiting merely for the right time to strike again.
"I do rest easy, so we’re clear,” Billy says then, the words coming from him strangely easily. “With you. Never better in my life, in fact. I want to ask you something, Dom."
“Anything.”
"Have you never taken even a second look at some of these girls?” Billy tilts his head at the sudden broader smile that moves over Dominic’s face. “They adore you, you must know that. I'm not talking about since you've been with me. I mean when you first came to Baskerville. Ever share a few furtive moments with another first year just to see?"
“Once, when I was a teenager.” Dominic’s grin hides the truth of the situation, Billy suspects, carries the weight of his family and their expectations. “Experimentation, I guess. To see what it was like.”
“And the result?”
“It’s not for me.” Dominic’s smile is smaller but more genuine now, though he still doesn’t meet Billy’s eyes, focusing on the rough massage he’s giving Billy’s feet and ankles still propped in his lap. “Where were you going with this, Billy?”
“Not where I’m guessing you were thinking.” Dominic blinks but doesn’t stop what he’s doing, and Billy leans in a little, lowering his voice as if they’re not alone here, as if they’re not already in the safest possible circumstances. “Not just the once, was it.”
“There were other times," Dominic nods, then shakes his head a little. “They were part of scenes. Just something I was involved with for a time. Does it bother you?”
“What, that you’ve been with girls?” Billy frowns. “Of course not, that’s insane, why would I-”
“That I’ve been with so many partners.”
Billy leans back in his chair and takes a deep breath, knowing that not answering Dominic immediately is making them both more uncomfortable than he’d ever intended, but enjoying the soft sensations that run through his body as Dominic frowns down at his work, at his hands pressing and pulling at the muscles of Billy’s feet while Billy takes his time to respond the right way.
"Look at me, Dominic," he says finally, and waits for Dominic to do so. "The decisions you made in the past, all your choices--they’re just that, Dom, yours. That you weren't always treated well and that deserved better-that bothers me. That infuriates me. I'm not some shining example of kindness, but you’re meant to be happy, Dom, with me or with anyone else. You ended up safer and smarter than you thought you’d been, didn’t you. And none of has as clear a conscience as we’d like, but what we’ve done, all those decisions and choices, they make us who we are." Billy nods and takes another drink. “I don’t see any reason to change who you are, so no, that does not bother me. You’ll know when something does, Dominic, be clear on that one, too, hmm?”
Dominic presses down in the middle of Billy's arch, and Billy releases a noise he never imagined he was capable of producing. "That was interesting," he huffs, then, making to pull his foot away but not fighting when Dominic holds him steady. "You'll have to try that again later when I'm in a better position to enjoy it, and don't have hot coffee in my hands."
Dominic laughs, sliding one of his hands up Billy's trouser leg. They're quiet for several long moments as both finish their coffee, and Billy allows himself a few messy thoughts of his own other partners, other decisions and choices and mistakes, before he pushes them away with his mug and a bland stare at the kitchen ceiling. Where were you going with this? Billy hears himself ask this time, and he frowns again, thinking Out. And nowhere else.
He’s about say it aloud, but Dominic speaks first. “I am happy, Billy. With you, even when you want to go out with a million other people on a perfectly good Sunday, rather than spend it in bed with me.”
"Who's to say I won't do that, too?" Billy wrests his foot free this time and then moves to the sink to rinse the coffee mugs. "We’re not going to be long, Dom. Just a few errands and then back home, and if you're not a problem child while we're out, if you’re cooperative, when we come home, I'll shag you blind in front of the fire." He turns around, leaning against the counter as he folds his arms over his chest and holds Dominic’s gaze. “Then neither of us’ll have any energy t’spend thinking about anyone else, will we.”
Dominic shakes his head but doesn’t speak, all the challenge in his now-brightened eyes alone. Billy nods and then takes another deep breath, tugging at Dominic’s arm and then sliding two fingers into Dominic's beltloops, pulling him back into the front room to retrieve shoes and coats and keys.
To be continued.