I should’ve known better.
Still holding my shirt up, he grabbed my arm and yanked so my back was to him. There was a second of silence while he took in the state of what I’d been hiding. “What the fuck?”
I wrestled out of his grip, letting my T-shirt cover my shame. I didn’t face him. I couldn’t. “Okay, so now you know. Now fuck off and leave me alone.”
There was a heartbeat of silence. “You said this was to do with Max?”
All the fight left me. Of course that was where his mind went.How to protect Max.
My head slumped between my shoulders. “He fucked someone’s girlfriend. That someone decided to send him a message by kicking the shit out of me. Don’t worry though. They made it damn clear they won’t go after him directly.”
I waited for him to say something. Anything. Eventually I couldn’t stand the tension anymore. I glanced back over my shoulder.
Dominic was gone.
4
Ryan
I spent the next few days on tenterhooks. Waiting for Dominic to make some snide comment about the bruises he’d seen on me, or for Max to make some shitty remark about blaming my problems on him.
But neither of them said a word. Max had gone back to acting like I didn’t exist. Dominic wasn’t much better. It wasn’t like he’d spoken to me frequently before, but this complete silence was new.
Didn’t stop him staring at me. The first few times he’d done it, I’d glared back. If the fucker thought he could intimidate me then he could jog on. I might have been scared of just about everyone, but I wasn’t scared of Dominic.
Realistically, I knew I should be. He could flatten me with a single punch. My lack of fear wasn’t because I didn’t believe that could happen. It definitely could. Like my brother, Dominic was more of a‘punch first, ask questions later’kind of guy. I didn’t doubt that one day I’d find myself on the wrong side of his fists.
No. My absence of fear had nothing to do with that. It was because I had no room for fear. How could I, when just the sight of Dominic’s face irritated the fuck out of me? The simmeringresentment was now a pressure cooker of fury just waiting to explode.
I had no idea where it had come from, either. I mean, sure, he’d always got on my nerves. Was I pissed he’d caused an irreparable rift between me and Max? Sure.
But none of that accounted for how my blood pressure soared whenever I caught him staring at me. How my skin seemed to burn whenever we were in the same room. How my heart pounded in my chest and my hands curled into fists.
I didn’t understand it. Any of it. Dominic’s presence was bringing something new out in me.
I didn’t like it.
In fact, I fucking hated it.
The single time we’d interacted was last night. He’d shoved past me in our hall, lifting his hand to open the front door.
The flash of red had me speaking before thinking. “What happened to your knuckles?”
He froze for a split second before turning his back to me fully. “Don’t worry about it, Shadow.”
I shouldn’t worry about it. I hated him. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him with bloodied knuckles. It wasn’t even the tenth. Dominic’s temper was a thing to behold. Couple that with how often he and Max got into trouble, I was more likely to see them bruised than not.
For some reason I couldn’t fathom, seeing it left me with a hollow sensation in my stomach. A feeling that only intensified after I subtly checked out my twin’s hands later that night to see unmarred skin.
Why would Dominic have been fighting without Max? That literally never happened. They did everything together, including settling grievances.
It was after lunch and I was walking from the library to my physics class. I’d taken to spending my breaks and free periodsin there. Not because I was behind on my studies, but because it was staffed. It was one of the few places I could let down my guard, knowing I couldn’t be targeted.
At least, not in a physical way. There were still shitty or sly comments muttered by some of the other kids, but I was used to ignoring those.
The beatings were another story. After the last one, I wasn’t keen to repeat the experience.
Five months and two weeks until freedom.
