“Breaker is all for what’s between us, Thea. As for the rest of the shit, I don’t give a fuck about Dad or the club. I’m all in with us and you’re what matters most. Fuck, you’re the only thing that’s important to me.”
Before I can acknowledge exactly what he just said—how monumental it is or what it means to me—I lose my breath. “Dom, where is your cut?”
“Thea—”
“You’re never without it. It’s a piece of you. You always have it on unless we’re going to bed. What exactly is going on?” He rubs the back of his neck in a way I’ve seen him do a million times. What worries me is that he usually only does it when he’s worried or upset. I reach out and put my hand over the one he has lying on the table. I squeeze it gently. “Talk to me, honey.”
He looks up and gives me a ghost of a smile, and it’s then that he stops hiding. I know because I can clearly see the misery on his face. My man is devastated and seeing it up close makes my eyes sting with unshed tears. I can’t give into them right now. Dom needs me, and it would hurt him even more to see me cry.
“I told Dad I was leaving the club. I’m turning my cut in tomorrow. I’d have just given it to him today, but I have a few things I need in my room there.”
“Fuck. Dom, honey, if this is about me?—”
“It’s not about you. Even if it was, I’d still choose you. I want you to know that. You’re the only woman in my life I have ever said that about, and I need you to know it’s true.”
“We can talk about that later, honey. We’re solid. I need to understand what’s going on here. If it’s not me, then what?—”
“It’s me, Thea. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me. Dad looks at me and he sees a man who chose a bitch over his own brother. He sees someone who put a woman who didn’t deserve it before a brother of the club.”
“That’s bull?—”
“He’s right, sweetheart. I did all of that. Fuck, I had feelings for you, and I allowed a promise I made to a woman when we were kids to ignore that. I felt I owed her because I took her virginity—even while I watched her change from the girl I fell in love with. I hate what I did to T. It eats me up inside, but even though I’m responsible for it, I at least have the excuse that Gabby promised T knew she was in love with someone else and was just trying to help him get over everything.”
“Yeah, by shoving her tongue down his throat and that’s probably the most PG thing she did with that tongue of hers,” I mutter.
Dom laughs, shocking me and making me look at his face again. “I really don’t want to talk about what Gabby did or didn’t do. At this point, I’m trying to forget I ever knew the bitch,” he mutters.
“On that, we’re in complete agreement,” I huff, giving him a smile that I don’t really feel. I’m rewarded when he gives one of his own and his face softens. “So, tell me what happened.”
“King told me that my father knew he was in town. I went to confront him and found out most, if not everyone in the club but me, knew that King was here and that he was here to talk about some trouble headed our way. Or hell, maybe it was more than that. I have no idea to be honest.”
“What the fuck?”
“You’re sexy when you say fuck. I feel the need to do everything I can to make you say that word a lot…”
“Focus with your brain and not your dick, Dom,” I mumble, ignoring the way my body instantly warms, or the moisture I feel gathering between my thighs. Damn.
“My dick is more expressive when you’re close, Gorgeous.”
I snort. “Okay, to give myself the CliffNotes version here, your dad is being an asshole and holding all of that shit against you?—”
“Thea—”
I hold up my hand to stop him from interrupting me. “Regardless of what happened between you and T, and I think you know whose side I was on in that, he’s wrong here, Dom.”
“I do know,” he admits. “It’s more than that, though. I laid drunk for a few weeks and my club duties slipped. My judgment was clearly impaired in ways I hope we never have to talk about.”
“Let’s make a deal that the past is in the past and we leave it there. It doesn’t need to intrude on what we have now. We can live in the present.”
“And the future, baby. You’re my future.”
“And the future,” I agree. “Still, your dad has no right to hold that shit against you. Especially since you’ve been doing nothing but proving yourself lately.”
“And how do you know that?”
I shrug. “Mattie told me. He’s really proud of you. So am I, if it matters.”
“It means everything, Thea.”