Still Falling | ✓

06 | déjà vu

"Are you okay, Amanda? You don't very good."

"Aren't you a gentleman, Dom," Natalie teased.

He smirked. "For the right cause? Gladly."

I forced a smile on. "I'm fine. I just need another drink." He offered up his glass of wine. I shook my head and my eyes strayed to our table where Finn was still sat, eyes not on me for the first time tonight. "Something stronger?"

He pulled a questioning look that barely lasted a second before he offered me his arm. "To the bar then. Sorry, Natalie, but I'll take it from here."

Natalie rolled her eyes and let go of my arm. "Go ahead."

I linked mine with Dominic's, a little smug. That, or tipsy from the alcohol already settled in my system. "I don't think your guests would like me hogging you anyway."

She made a disgruntled sound as Dominic led me to the bar. I ordered for a cocktail and he settled for his wine. After I got my drink I sipped hard on the straw until a chuckle halted me in my tracks. I looked up to see Dominic staring at me, his lips titled up in a grin that exposed a perfect set of teeth.

"What?" I asked.

He gave a slight shrug. "Nothing. Just that you're something of an enigma."

I scrunched my face comically. Again, it was the alcohol. "Enigma? Is that a new term for crazy?"

He burst into laughter, the sound almost drowned by the music. "Is that how you think I see you?"

"I wouldn't blame you."

"I would be the crazy one to think that."

I finished the rest of the drink and set the glass down. I grabbed his and set it down too. "Do you dance, Dom?" The nickname rolled off my tongue with relative ease, the same he'd used on mine on our elevator ride up.

His brown eyes shone. "Occasionally." He held out his hand and I took it. There was something textured behind it, and I caught sight of a scar just as he led me to the dancefloor that now bore more than half of the party.

"What was that story about that bride at a wedding?" I asked as I settled my hands around his neck and his came around my waist. This was the most closeness I had gotten with any man in a long, long time, and it surprised me that I felt oddly comfortable here.

"I'd rather not talk about that right now," he sighed.

"Is that why you don't like weddings?" I stubbornly pushed.

"Amanda," he drawled.

Every so often, the music changed, signalling a change of dance partners, but Dom and I continued to dance together.

"But really," I piped up again. "Were you two really caught..." My voice faded off.

His lips parted open and he let out a heavy sigh. "Fuck. Yes, we were caught having sex, with her wedding dress on and her fiancé waiting at the alter."

I pursed my lips. I knew Finn wouldn't make up stories, but hearing him say it was still surprising.

"I regret none of it," he spoke up. "Although I was too much of a coward to let her go and she was too selfish to let me go. He got married to her still, just so I wouldn't have her."

"Are they still married?"

"I have no clue," he said, and before I could decipher the look of pain on his face the music changed and he let me go. I stood in place, a little dazed, a little dizzy, until a hand settled on the small of my back, steadying me. I turned to see Finn by my side, with everybody else paired up except us. Something in me wanted to run away, but a much larger part craved this moment.