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Chapter 17
"Aleera, you're making me dizzy. Can you please sit down?" Jeremy asked, no, he pleaded from where he sat, on one of the black couches. I heard Anya chuckle, she was sitting next to him while watching a movie on Dom's massive flat screen, completely relaxed and carefree while I was in a bundle of nevers, walking back and forth behind the couches.
"How can you guys be so relaxed?!"
"Because we trust Dom." He simply replied.
"And Scott, Patrick and Rixon to keep him out of trouble." Anya added while I just huffed and resumed my walking. A hour and a half had already pass and Dom was still out. My nerves were tattered and I almost made a whole in the carpet from all the pacing but I just didn't care, I would stop when he returned.
The ringing of a phone sounded from Dom's room, that I recognized as my phone, and almost ran over there, hissing when my knee protested.
"Be careful, Aleera!" Anya worried voice sounded behind me but I didn't even care.
As soon as I opened the door, I sprinted to the cellphone on the nightstand and answered the call.
"Hello?" I asked, breathless.
"Hi!" Michaela's chirpy voice sounded and I almost screamed in frustration. "Damn, you sure sound happy with my call." Her sarcastic remark made me feel a little guilty and I couldn't help but laugh. With all the craziness around me, a person from my old, bored and safe life was like a bottle of water in the middle of the desert. Michaela sounded so normal that I almost forgot all the chaos in my life. Almost.
"I'm sorry but this last weeks has been chaotic. But, how are you?"
"I'm fine! I'm in Romenia, do you believe it?! And the men in here! The people are not very friendly but they all look like gods, it's unbelievable. I should fly back there in a couple of weeks or so and I'll bring my new boyfriend. Christoph is a sweet and I know you're going to love him." She happily chattered and I could almost imagine her, with her fiery red hair next to a tall romenian man. Surprisingly, for the first time, I wasn't jeaulous of her many lovers. "And how are you?"
"It's...complicated..."
"The phone his charged and I have money to talk for hours. Bring it." Michaela said and I remembered why she was such a close friend, despite all her perks, she was there when I needed.
"Oh God, where do I begin...Well, it all started..." And for the next 45 minutes, I told Michaela all that happened. How Dom had become my boyfriend, about the maniac after me and the attack, all the gifts and flowers and the gang. She heard all, making small comments here and there and making a few questions. When I finally finished, my mouth was dry and my still sensitive throat was aching slightly. "So..."
"Damn, Aleera..."
"I know." I whined.
"Do you like him, dear?"
"I love him..." I admitted aloud for the first time, savoring the sweetness of the words.
"Then go for it. A man like you described isn't something you find every day, trust me, I know. If he makes you happy don't let him go away."
"I'm trying but this is all so chaotic, I don't know if I can take it."
"You can. You're the strongest person I ever met and if someone was able to tame the insanely hot and manly Dominic Kingston, that person is you. Don't let some freak ruin that for you!"
"Yeah, you're right. I'll see what I can do."
"That's my girl." A giggle sounded from the other side, followed by a manly voice. "Well, I've got to go. Call me if you need anything, ok?"
"Ok. And good luck with your knew romenian man."
"Oh, trust me, I will..." She chuckled as I hang up.
Michaela was right, I needed to trust Dom and not let this ruin what we had. It was difficult but I would manage to do it, for both of us. We were strong enough to take it, or at least I wanted to believe I was strong enough to take it.
Looking at the digital clock on the nightstand, I read the numbers 18.25. Dominic should have been back already and, despite knowing he was probably alright, my heart still felt constricted. I wanted my lion with me, where I could see and feel he was okay.
"Aleera!" Anya shouted in an alarmed tone and I, confused, got up from the bed, allowing my eyes to glance at the beautiful flowers around me, and strolled towards the living room, where Anya and Jeremy stood, the last one with a medium sized box in his hands. When I walked in, they all looked at me with wary faces.
"What's that?"
"It just arrived for you. I went after the delivery guy but he said it was anonymous and had no idea who sent it." Jeremy explained in a tense voice that I had never heard.
"Give it to me."
"No, I don't know what's inside. Let me open for you."
"Jeremy, it was sent to me, let me open it." I stated sternly.
"Aleera..." Anya started but I just stretched my arms and Jeremy, reluctantly, put the box in them.
Carefully, I walked towards the coffee table, placing the box on top of it and kneeling in front of it. Anya and Jeremy did the same. Taking a deep breath, I opened the lid and, the first thing I saw, on top of tons of small styrofoam bits, was a letter. My hand shook slightly when I opened it.
He thinks he can protect you by keeping you in his home? Silly, little Dom... Nothing can protect you from me and he'll learn it in the worst way.
"Give me the box, Aleera." Jeremy demanded in a anxious tone of voice that scared me more than the threat itself. He was alway the calm guy. However, I didn't listen and quickly buried my hands on the styrofoam.
First, I felt something sticky and moist. Grabbing it, I squeezed a little and it felt a little rigid but still squichy. More liquid came out. Alarmed, I pulled it out and become face to face with a heart, a real bloody heart.
It was then I started screaming. And I screamed and screamed and screamed.
I could faintly hear Jeremy cuss violently and quickly get that...that thing out of my hands before hugging tightly my shaking body. He was talking but I couldn't understand him so I was somewhat aware that I was having a panic attack. I could hear my racing heart and loud pants but not much more. Somehow, I could hear Anya's scared shouts but did not understood what she was shouting.
Jeremy kept hugging me and I thought I screamed a few more times, but I was not sure. The only thing I knew was that I had grabbed a heart, if it was human or not I didn't know, and that I was crying in panic. I felt like I was trapped in a big bubble where I couldn't hear or see, just faintly feel someone's arms around me and a chest pressed against my cheek.
"He's coming, he's on his way." I heard but the words didn't actually made sense to me. "Put her in the couch, she'll be more comfortable."
Jeremy started to pull away slightly but that feeling of being safe was the only thing keeping me from start screaming again so I quickly pulled him back and he stayed still.
"It's okay, everything is going to be fine." He whispered but it didn't soothe me enough for me to relax. I needed Dom and I needed him now.
We stayed like that for what seemed hours, with me almost on Jeremy's lap and Anya near us, rubbing my back softly, trying to hide the rage and fear that I could clearly see in her green eyes, not at all like Dom's.
I felt completely helpess and powerless. How could a man have so much control over someone? Why was he doing that? I hadn't done anything wrong, at least nothing that could lead to this. This kind of behaviour was a mix of pure insanity, cruelty and raw wickedness. He was not human, he was a demon and all I wished for was for him to disappear. Fear was infiltrated in every cell of my shivering body, drowning me in a state of panic.
All of the sudden, the apartment door burst open and shouting began, angry male voices reaching my ears. Whimpering, I pressed tighter against Jeremy until I was brutally ripped out of his embrace. The panic filled cries were immediate. Struggling against the new person's hold, I felt myself being carried and that only added to my panic. Seconds later, I was placed in a soft surface and pinned down.
A voice sounded near me but I was trashing wildly and I couldn't recognize it until it shouted at me.
"It's me, love! You're okay, you're safe!" Dominic repeated over and over until I slowly quiet down, silently crying in his chest. "I'm here, I got you." He cooed at him, running his hand through my hair and kissing my tears away. "I'm here."
"I-it was a-a h-heart ins..." I sobbed, grasping the fabric of his shirt and pressing my face against him. "I-in the-e box..."
"I know, baby, don't think about it. Focus in something else."
"The-ere was-s..."
"Forget it, Aleera." He insisted, rocking me back and forth on his bed, with me wrapped around him on his lap. "Concentrate on my voice. I'll protect you, no one's going to touch you."
I finally soothed, forcing myself to believe in his words, nothing else mattered. Dominic's words and arms lulled me for hours, until all the panic vanished and only the feeling of dread and anxiety kept me from falling asleep. All my body felt sore, like I had run 15 miles and my knee and shoulder were giving me a bad time. Like sensing my discomfort, Dom quickly fetch a glass of water and tenderly gave me the painkillers, holding me and the glass as I drank the cold water. Laying me down again, he wrapped his body around mine, enveloping in a warm cocoon of protection, comfort and pure and undeniable love.
"Did you find him?" I asked hoarsely at some point during the night. The clock marked 00.32am and the moon shone bright in the dark blue starry sky, bathing us with its silver light.
"No, the fucker got away." He whispered back, bringing me even closer to him. "I'll kill him, Aleera, i swear to God, I'll end his miserable life."
Something in his voice made my attention spike and I gingerly turned around in his embrace, face to face with him, our noses almost touching.
"You know something else." He looked at the ceiling, purposely ignoring my question. I just had the worst fright of my life, he wasn't going to get away with that, not that night. Lifting my torso, I layed myself on his chest, forcing him to face me. Unexpectedly, he put his big hands on my hips and placed my whole body on top of his, hugging me like that. Some other time, I would nag him about being heavy and that he had to put me down but, at that point, I really didn't care. "I thought you loved me."
"I do." He answered with secure confirmation.
"People who love each other, trust each other. You never tell me anything."
Dom closed his eyes and I could see the worry and angry lines on his face, making me wonder how he was feeling. He looked exhausted.
"I just want to protect you, that's why I keep things from you. Making you worried is the last thing I want."
"I know, Dom, but you can't shield me from everything. Knowing is better than be kept in ignorance, in a glass bell jar. We're together now and I need you to talk to me." Seeing he wasn't answering, I pressed. "Please, Dom, I need to know."
Frustrated, he took me off his lap, getting up and walking towards the glass wall. Against the light of the moon in a background of pure darkness splashed with tiny dots of light below, he seemed almost out of this world. Dom was just wearing a pair of jeans that hang dangerously low on his waist, he was shirtless and barefoot. I could see the outline of the tribal tattoo on his back and bicep, a grim reaper on his forearm and I knew there was a quote on his chest, "Only God can judge me". With one hand touching the glass and head hang low, he never appeared so vulnerable and so strong at the same time.
Silently, I walked to him. My hands went to his broad shoulders and I placed my head agaisnt his back.
"When I was in college, besides the gang, I had a best friend, Liam Morrison. He knew about you and, in the beginning, he thought it was just a passenger obsession but he soon found out the all I cared about was you, and he started to get angry. At you."
"Why?" I whispered.
"We did everything together, all the thefts and drugs and even women, we shared everything until I lost all interest in that when you came. Liam was angry that I cared more for a girl that I had never talked to than his best friend, and I understood but I couldn't help it."
"Then what happen?" His muscles tensed under my hands and I knew the worst part was yet to come. I wrapped my arms around his wide torso and his left hand grabbed mine.
"One night, he reached his limit. He said that I was getting soft and that no woman liked a wuss." He sigh. "Liam was good with words, he knew exactly were to hit. He brought your name up many times, giving so many reasons why you would never look at me that I burst. Liam liked to manipulate people and that was what he did to me, he convinced me to prove myself as man and rob a jewelry shop in our neighbourhood."
"Dom..."
"He even convinced me that I could offer you something and that you would like it." Dom laughed bitterly. "I was wrapped around his little finger and, at that point, he could say what he wanted to me. We planned it for weeks until we chose the night we were going to do it."
"You guys made it?"
"Almost. I didn't want to involve the gang, they were closer to me than to Liam and I didn't want them to take risks so it was just the two of us. We got in and out in less than five minutes, the alarm was off and he only broke the lock, no damages or proof that had been us doing it. However, a patrol car was doing its rounds and saw us come out."
He stopped for a few seconds, taking deep breaths, like he was remembering all, while I just rubbed his chest in a soothing way.
"Both of us knew what would happen if we got caught and both us knew that it was everyone for himself so we ran and, eventually, we got separated. I'm a fucked up man, bad temper and did more mistakes than I can count..."
"You're not that bad, Dominic. If you were, I wouldn't be here with you." I quickly interrupted and smiled sadly when he kissed my hand. He didn't believe in me.
"I know what I am, baby. Anyway, for some reason, people were more loyal to me than to Liam, they could trust me while Liam would throw them to the wolves if he had the oportunity."
"Why were you with him, then?"
"I don't know, he was my friend and I never really thought about it. That night, a group of guys saw me run down the street followed the three cops. Fortunately, they recognized me and saved my ass. Only on the next morning I found out that Liam had got caught."
"But I still don't understand why would he be after me..."
Dom then turned to me, leaning with his back agaisnt the glass and with me on his arms.
"He hates me because he was the only one caught and he hates you because he thinks that, if you hadn't showed up, I wouldn't be so unfocused and with my head 'out of the game'. I heard that Liam made a lot of friends in jail and, since he got out 8 months ago, his main goal is to make me suffer. It's simple, actually, he hurts you and he can do whatever he wants with me."
"Don't say that, Dom! Ever. If something happens to me, I don't want you to destroy yourself."
His voice got lower as he came closer to me. "You're taken away from me and I'm done, there's no other way to put it. "
"Please, whatever happens, don't do that to yourself, please." I begged, holding his face in my hands and pecking, almost desperatly, his cheeks, nose, forehead and chin. "For me, please."
"I won't lie to you, Aleera."
"I thought you loved me." I stated harshly and saw his eyes turn darker.
"You know I do." He hissed.
"Then how do you feel if I did exactly what you want to do, if something happened to you?" Dominic fell silent, glaring at me. Now he understood. "Don't you see, seeing the person you love hit rock bottom is the worst thing in the world." My eyes widened when I realised what I had said. I had admitted that I loved him...
"You love me?"
"Yes, Dom, I really do." I confessed and, the next thing I knew, I was thrown in the bed with him on top of me. The emotion flickering on his green eyes almost made me cry, he was almost desperate.
"Say it again."
"I love you."
Dom's kiss was not gentle, it was demanding and loving at the same time. His hands ran up and down my body and I clinged to him like I needed him to breath. I knew we were about to take a step that would seal my life, I would never be able to walk away from Dom and both of us knew it. However, I wasn't frightened by it, I wanted it to happen.
His searing kisses made me melt and, when his lips met my neck, shivers covered my skin. His hands slid under my shirt and, then, he stopped and looked at me, asking for my permission. There was no doubt in my mind, I loved him and all I wanted was to be with him.
"Yes, Dom..."I agreed, breathless.
His dimples made my heart melt and, when my shirt was ripped of me, the last coherent thought I had was "how could I be so lucky".