STORY 29: MARK DOMINATING ME (I)

Chapter 1 Emma's POV. I sat across from Mark at our usual corner booth in the diner, stirring my coffee slowly, watching the steam rise up. We had been best friends for over 6 years now, ever since college when he was the teaching assistant in my psychology class and I was the freshman who kept bombing tests. He was 32 years back then, divorced, with that salt and pepper hair and a laugh that always made me feel safe. Now I'm 27 and he his 47, I still came to him for everything, breakups, job stress, you name it. Tonight was no different, or so I thought. My latest boyfriend had dumped me two weeks ago, calling me too needy, and I needed to vent. Mark listened like he always did, his blue eyes fixed on me, nodding at the right times. He wore that faded gray t shirt that hugged his broad shoulders, the ones he built from years of construction work before he switched to teaching. His hands were rough, calloused, wrapped around his mug. I always noticed them, wondered what they would feel