“Why would we? Have you been drinking?” I ask him, trying to figure out what’s going on here.
“No. Damn it, Thea. I know we haven’t been close in the past?—”
“Dom—”
He holds up his hand to keep me from continuing. “I can even admit that it is my fault.”
“That’s big of you,” I respond with a smirk.
I catch him off guard and I watch as he rolls his eyes at me and then laughs. “Smart ass. I swear, I think you just love busting my balls.”
“You make it too easy.”
He shakes his head. “We had a good dinner together, Thea. I thought we had turned a page. It crossed my mind that things might be different between us now.”
I study him, trying to figure out what in the world he’s thinking. His face remains unreadable, however. “I guess it is different. I don’t actively want to kill or maim you now, at least.”
His eyes go round in shock for a second and I have to school my features to keep from laughing out loud. “Damn,” he hisses and I just grin at him.
“You’re a hard woman.”
“So I’ve been told,” I respond—practically giggling.
“Are you sure dating someone from the club is what you want, Thea?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re more like Hawk when it comes to the club. You don’t want anything to do with us. Dating a brother?—”
“Dom, stop. I love the club. My family is here.”
“If that’s so true then why the hell did you avoid anything the club has done? You never come to family parties. You never use the room that Bull set up for you, and?—”
“Is that really what you think of me? You think I believe I’m too good to associate with the club? With my family?”
“It sure as hell looks that way. You have to admit that.”
“No, I don’t. No one believes that. I have a sneaking suspicion that you only believe it because Gabby has drummed it in your head.”
“Thea,” he sighs out, sounding exhausted with life. I could almost feel sorry for him. I can’t though.
“You never really knew me at all, Dom. The sad part is you never gave me a chance. You believed every lie Gabby ever told you?—”
“Why would she lie about you? It makes no sense.”
“God, do you still not see that she’s a pathological liar when it comes to trying to keep what she deems is hers? Why would she lie to you about anything, Dom? You’ve loved her all your life. What did you do that warranted her lying to you about Thomas? Why would she keep Thomas on the string? Even knowing what she’s done, you still think she didn’t lie to you about me?” I question him, shaking my head in disgust.
“It’s not that, but you can’t deny you avoided the club. Hell, you left town to get away from us all.”
I look at this man. I stare into his beautiful face, and I just shake my head. “Wrong, dickhead. I left town to get away from the two of you. I might have been young and stupid, but back then, I loved you. Gabby knew it and she made my life a living hell because of it.”
“I…” He stops talking and just stares at me. Confusion etched across his face as he tries to piece everything together. It looks painful, and that shouldn’t make me happy—but it does.
“You love me?” he asks.
“Loved, past tense.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”