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“So, that’s it? You aren’t even going to try?—”
“If she’s not around, I can agree to be civil when I’m around you. If you stop hurting Thomas, I will try to put the past behind us—only so our brothers can have us in the same room together at family gatherings. Although, why it matters after all this time, I have no idea.”
“It matters. Having us getting along would make our families happy, too.”
“Yeah, I guess it would.”
“Will you let me walk you out? It’s dark out there,” he asks, and I blink. I don’t know what I expected, but this wasn’t it.
“You’re leaving? I thought you’d be hanging around with your family and seeing the baby again.”
“There is a lot of shit swirling in my head, and I think I need time away from them for a bit,” he says.
Letting my guard down enough to look at him, I realize he looks haggard. Dom hasn’t shaved in a couple days. His eyes are red, and it looks like he hasn’t slept either. I shouldn’t. I know I shouldn’t. Still, I’ve always been a fool for Dom. I may not be in love with him anymore, but I don’t want to see him hurt. He’s finally found out the truth about Gabby and I know that had to cut him deeply.
“Okay,” I murmur, while getting in the elevator. When I turn to face him, he gives me a tight smile. It doesn’t really touch his eyes, but suddenly being a bitch to him feels a little bit akin to plucking the wings off butterflies.
“Okay,” he repeats, stepping into the small square space before the doors slide closed. I push the button for the lobby and pray I’m not making a mistake.
Deep down inside, I know I am.
Chapter 2
Dom
If you would have told me this day would have ended with me having dinner with Thea Kane and laughing, I would have called you fucking delusional. Yet that’s exactly what I’m doing. After Thea surprisingly let me walk her to her car, she asked if I wanted to grab dinner with her. For a second, I was so shocked that I was speechless. Thea took my reaction wrong and just said forget it, but I shook my head and thankfully got my voice back. I told her I’d love that. I tried to get her to ride my bike to get food, but instead, she let me follow her.
She led me to a small Italian place. It’s a restaurant that looks like it was once a house and they remodeled to make it open enough for a business. It’s cute and the brick and black interior brightens up with pops of red. We’re currently sitting opposite one another in a corner booth while Thea is telling me about how her brother tried to scare her boyfriend off right after they started dating and the way her eyes sparkle as she tells the story—along with the smile on her lips—manages to thaw out some of the coldness that has invaded me since I discovered Gabby’s lies.
“I mean, Deke is a pretty tall guy and don’t get me wrong, he’s not skinny, but, well, Mattie…”
“Is fucking huge,” I finish, making her giggle.
“Yeah,” she agrees, sharing a sweet smile with me. “He makes pro linebackers look small.”
“Yeah,” I laugh.
“Yep, so, he’s standing there looking at Deke and tells him if he ever hurts me, he’d rip off his arms and use them as drum sticks on his head.”
“And the guy didn’t run away?”
“I think he turned a little green around the gills, but he didn’t run.”
Until today, I’m not even sure I knew that Thea could giggle. It’s a strange feeling.
“So, I take it this relationship is serious?”
She shrugs, looking uncomfortable. “Other than my teenage-angst-filled crush on you, he’s the only guy that I’ve felt sparks with. He stays busy with his studying, and I completely understand that. My career doesn’t give me a lot of downtime either. Still, we make time for each other. It’s nice, kind of easy. Which is good because I don’t deal well with stress.”
“Never would have guessed that,” I quip. She narrows her eyes at me, flipping me the middle finger—all while making me really laugh for the first time in way too long. “Do your parents like him?”
“They met him when they visited me in New York. Mom loves him. They talk about medicine and crap all the time. I joke and tell Deke all the time that he’s just using me to get to my mom.”
“And your dad?”
“He doesn’t say much, but he hasn’t pulled a gun on him yet, so I’m taking that to mean good things.”
“Probably does,” I admit.
