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"If you want to fuck a goat
be my guest."
- Dominic
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Chapter 38 - Sanctify
▪️V I N C E N T▪️
Surprised?
I most certainly was, when Jade suddenly burst in and caught me kissing Quintin.
There was a slight smirk on my face as I left Quintin's bedroom. With quick strides, I headed downstairs towards Dominic's office on the main floor.
Having seen the bright eyes of Jade, the slight flush of her skin, and the exposed love bites on her neck, I knew without a doubt that her night had gone exceptionally well. Coupled with the fact that Dominic had not been on my ass for the morning already was proof that Jade was changing him, even if just a little.
Not to mention the fact that Dominic had been sleeping more, that in itself had been shocking for me.
For as long as I had known the man, Dominic had never been one to sleep much, getting a few short hours here and there. The way Dominic's day-to-day schedule ran was almost robotic. I was convinced at one point that the he had to be an android in order to function efficiently on such little sleep.
Of course, I was more than happy to see my old friend opening up, allowing himself to experience new things. Given what we had endured as young children, especially him, I knew that trusting people was almost impossible for him.
Watching my best friend give in to his emotions was like watching a man getting his freedom after being locked away for decades. There was just something about Jade that seemed to allow Dominic to have a bit of liberty. Releasing himself from some of that self-inflicted punishment that he had been subjecting himself to for years.
"Jade is most definitely Dom's absolution," I said softly.
Truth be told, I thought that perhaps Dominic may have backed out last minute.
After all, I have seen him skin the flesh off of men, made them eat their own body parts, and burn things to ash. Yet, when Jade asked him for a kiss on her nineteenth birthday, I swear, in all my time knowing Dominic, I had never seen him so rattled.
I chuckled softly while remembering the look on his face as he threw me his Maserati keys.
These last two years had been interesting to say the least. Watching Dominic and Jade fight their attraction for each other had been nothing short of hilarious at certain instances.
Even though I had known the man for over two decades, in all that time I had never seen him smile the way he did when he thought no one was looking. I never thought that Dominic, of all people, would be one to ever feel such romantic emotions.
Truthfully, I just did not think that he was capable of such things. I mean, it was to be expected, given the shit he had been through. Having been by his side for as many years as I had, I was privy to the way in which the harshness of the world helped to mould him into the unpredictable and violent man everyone knew today.
But deep down, I always knew that there was more to Dominic than the vicious monster he showed to the world.
We had been roommates at the boarding school, and though he had been younger than me he would be the one to provide comfort during some of our darkest days. A real monster would not have bothered himself with the likes of me. Although, I suppose that his own darkness recognised a kindred spirit within myself.
Nonetheless, his fierce determination to break out gave me the perseverance to endure.
There was a strength in him that called out to me, and as we formed a bond over our healing wounds, I vowed to protect Dominic until the day I died.
So, one can only imagine how thrilled I was when I realised that he was really going to go through with trying to be in a relationship with Jade. Of course, I was more than happy to help him plan something special for her twenty-first birthday. I believed that Dominic deserved some form of happiness, even if he himself did not think so.
Which brought me back to my own thoughts on Quintin.
I could not say for sure when my feelings for him started changing exactly. All I knew was that one day, he was just another member of the organisation, then the next I was on edge whenever we had a task to do. I found myself worrying about his safety to the point where it was hard to focus sometimes.
Given the nature of how we found Quintin and Jade, the two of them had always been given extra privileges while living at the residence. They were like family, and we had treated them as such.
So, imagine my complete surprise last year, when I began looking at Quintin not as a younger brother, but as someone who I was developing romantic feelings for.
At first, I did what any normal red-blooded male would do. I lashed out, becoming more irate than usual.
But as amused as I was from watching Dominic struggle with his own emotions, I realised that I had to figure out what I was going to do about my own dilemma.
The way Quintin would gaze at me when he thought I was not looking made it hard for me to ignore him. Those beautiful hazel eyes of his were slowly drawing me in, even when I had vehemently tried fighting against the magnetic pull.
When I went to visit him last night, I had intended to try and talk to him about what those looks of his meant, wanting to hear him verbally confess what I already knew. However, upon seeing him on his bed naked, with his hand wrapped around his erection, all cognisant thought seemed to have escaped my brain as my body immediately responded to the sight of him.
I had not felt any sexual desires towards another in many years, so to feel myself react the way I had momentarily stunned me. But from the moment I touched him, I knew that whatever it was I had been feeling was right, as having Quintin in my arms was one of the best sensations I had ever experienced.
As I neared Dominic's office, I pushed my thoughts away as I saw that the door was open. He was clearly waiting for me, and so I braced myself as I approached.
"Where were you?" Dominic asked as soon as I entered the office.
"Good morning to you too," I replied with a smirk, as I moved to sit in the chair in front of the large desk, "I was in Quintin's bedroom."
"Oh? I spend one night away from the manor and end up missing so much?" Dominic responded with a chuckle.
"Don't worry, our relationship won't interfere with the business and we'll be discreet," I assured him.
Waving a gloved hand in the air, he stated, "You're the last person to ever jeopardise this mafia, so I know that you'll remain professional. As for being discreet, it's the 21st century. If you want to fuck a goat be my guest. You know that my men's sexuality is none of my concern."
I crinkled my nose at his goat comment while visibly relaxing into the chair.
In reality, I did not want to hide my relationship with Quintin, as I did not care if it diminished my reputation. Not that I thought it would as times had changed, even if there were some archaic types of ideology that remained.
It did not really matter though. If anyone had a problem with my relationship, they could take it up with the barrel of my gun.
Dominic continued to speak, pulling me from my thoughts, "Actually, I'm more surprised that you have feelings at all, Vincent. As in the past, when I encouraged you to date, you repeatedly brushed the idea off. I thought as an asexual you didn't really have carnal feelings or desires?"
"I usually don't, so I can't really say what happened to change that. Since you've had us working alongside each other almost every day since he officially joined us, I don't know, but something changed these last few months. I've found myself developing romantic feelings for him, then those emotions somehow transcended into a physical attraction," I confessed with a slight frown on my face, as the sensations that I was feeling were obviously very new to me.
With a soft cackle, Dominic replied, "Well, looks like I'm not the only whose life is about to drastically change."
"Indeed," I stated before adding, "who would have thought those two orphans would have affected our lives so much all these years later."
Making a clicking sound with his mouth, he commented, "Yes well, I know for a fact that Quintin is much easier to handle than Jade."
Unable to stop myself, I laughed softly, "Uh huh, you know you love her just the way she is!"
Snarling Dominic reacted, "Don't remind me!"
I watched as his blue eyes seemed to glaze over as he clearly thought about Jade. It was so obvious that he was in love and I had to hold my smirk in as looked at me, no doubt a little embarrassed that I caught him daydreaming.
Waving me off, he said, "Anyway, enough chit chat, back to business. Let's go over some things. We need to organise a pickup of the new shipment later."
With a silent nod, just like that, our personas changed as we began discussing mafia-related business.
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A/N: How are you liking the book so far?