“Well, we’re both hurting right now, but it’ll be worth it when we’re back together. Our foundation will be stronger than ever, because we’ll have built it on the back of our suffering.”
“You’re deluded,” I whispered, somewhat distracted by how close he was. Had he moved? Or had I? “Deluded and insane. This is my engagement party, Dom. I’m getting married and, newsflash, it’s not to you.”
Dom grinned. “Not to meyet.”
God, he was impossible. I didn’t know whether to tearmy hair out or punch him. For some bizarre reason, what I found myself doing was smiling. “You drive me fucking crazy.”
“And you love it. You hate it, but you love it too.”
“I don’t.”
“Sure,” he drawled, letting a finger brush down my forearm where it rested against the metal. “That’s why you’re still out here.”
My smile fell away. “I’m out here because you’re clearly not going to leave me alone until you’ve said whatever you came here to say.”
“No, I’m not going to leave you alone until we’re back together.”
I gritted my teeth, trying with all my might to ignore the fire licking along the path Dom’s finger was tracing on my skin. “We aren’t getting back together, Dom. Even if I wasn’t getting married in three weeks, I wouldn’t even consider it.”
“All these lies, Shadow,” he said mockingly. “It’s a good thing you’re so terrible at it. I might get offended otherwise.”
His hand fell away as I straightened. “It’s been ten years, Dominic. You can’t possibly think I still have feelings for you.”
“I don’t think you have feelings for me.” Dom straightened to his full height. “Iknowyou do.”
God, he pissed me off so much. Why was he the person I could never back down from? With anyone else, I would’ve walked away already. Something about Dominic always kept me here. Fighting him. “Oh yeah, how?”
Dominic flashed his teeth. “Let’s start with how you looked like you wanted to kill someone when you saw my arm around Mimic.”
“You flatter yourself,” I said calmly. So long as Domdidn’t know about the fury pulsing beneath my skin at the memory, everything would be okay. “I don’t give a shit who you give yourself to. You can go back and fuck him tonight and I won’t lose a second of sleep over it.”
“God, you’re too good.” Dom laughed. “Anyone else might actually believe you.”
I gripped the railing to stop myself planting my fist in Dom’s face.
He stepped so close that our shoulders brushed. “I haven’t slept with Mimic, Shadow. Never will, either. Guy’s one of my closest friends.”
“Sure looked friendly with how he was draped all over you.”
Dom stretched his little finger out to linger against mine. “Mimic has no sense of personal boundaries and a propensity to shit stir.”
“He’s not the only one,” I said pointedly, drawing my hand away until the connection was broken. “Good to know you’ve aired all our dirty laundry with yet another person and not told me about it.”
Dom grabbed my shoulders, spinning me to face him. “That’s where you’re wrong. Mimic knowsnothingabout what went down between us, just that you’re important to me. I swear.”
I refused to meet his gaze. “If you say so.”
“I do say so,” Dom said, searching my face. “I don’t hide my past with you out of shame, but because I don’t want to share it. What we had is ours. Mine and yours.”
My eyes locked with his coolly. “Shame you didn’t always think like that.”
He flinched like I’d hit him. “It’s a lesson I learned the hard way.”
“We both did.”
Dom inhaled deeply. “In the interest of fulltransparency, Taff knows the truth. I got drunk one night and it all came spilling out.”
I thought back to my interactions with Taff. “Figures. Felt like far too much of a set-up to be natural.”
