Dominick’s eyebrows fall, looking as miserable as I feel.
“Please.” Then he drops to his knees and bows, pressing his forehead to my stomach with his hands on the back of my thighs. “Please,” he begs, sounding like I’m ripping his heart out.
The rain is finally slowing again and when Dominick’s back starts to shake, I can’t tell if he’s crying or if all the emotions he’s feeling are so intense, it’s the only way his body is able to let them out. But it’s obvious he’s a man broken.
I’ve just been so hurt this past year and sure they were both playing me, I never stopped to think—
“Dom,” I call out in an anguished cry, falling to my knees and grabbing him by his shoulders. His eyes are red and he’s still shaking so hard he can barely speak. “Couldn’t stand— You thinking that I was like him. And what he did— That last night with your mom and the other times he hurt you and I didn’t stop it—” He breaks off, his eyes squeezing shut as he turns away from me. He stumbles to his feet, away from me. “I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry.”
“Dominick.” I go to him and grab his cheeks, forcing him to look at me. “Stop it.”
He keeps his eyes stubbornly shut but I give him a little shake and he finally meets my gaze.
And oh God, there’s my Dominick. His hazel eyes, stormy and tortured, but so familiar. “Where’s your car?” I ask him.
Still shaking, he swallows and nods his head behind him. I drop my hands from his face, but only so I can take his hand. As soon as I do, his fingers interlock with mine and some of his quaking calms.
After we walk down the path a bit in silence, I see his black BMW parked at the curb. When we get there, I walk to the passenger side and wait. Dominick looks down at me, seeming a little dazed, like he can’t believe I’m really here with him. He pulls his keys out of his pocket and unlocks the door, then opens it for me.
Still without a word, I slip inside, grimacing a little as my sodden dress makes a wet squelching noise against his leather interior. Dominick just stands there for a moment, staring down at me. “Get in,” I say, then pull my door shut.
My words seem to galvanize him into action because he runs around the front of the car and jerks open the driver’s side. I look straight ahead as he settles himself in his seat, but I can feel his heavy stare.
“Well don’t just sit there,” I say, trying to fight off my own nerves as I put my seatbelt on. I’m making this up as I go. “Take me to your apartment.” But then my whole body freezes and I jerk my head towards him. “Unless you still live with him.”
“No.” He shakes his head vehemently back and forth. “I cut off all contact with the bastard.”
I breathe out and look back out the front windshield, my heart calming back down again. “Good. Then take me to your house.”
I can see him nodding out of my peripheral vision. Then he’s got the key in the ignition and soon we’re headed down the familiar streets where I grew up. I turn on the radio and smile when I find that he has it tuned to a local pop station. I got him listening to this top forty stuff. He always had classical music on before he met me. Boring, I used to tease him.
I lean back in the comfortable seat—well, as comfortable as I can be in a wet dress and the gillion unanswered questions running through my head—and close my eyes. I don’t want to have it out while he’s driving, though, and I am curious to see where he lives.
Turns out I don’t have to wait long. The drive is short.
“I’m just five minutes from Boston General,” he says, breaking the silence as we pull into a parking garage. “Thirty minutes if I walk.”
I smile, looking over at him. He looks tense again and for the first time, maybe since there’s not rain pelting us now, I see just how dark the circles under his eyes are. “You got one of the spots in the advanced residency program.”
I reach out and put a hand on his forearm as he pulls into a spot and parks. He expels a long breath and looks down at his lap, closing his eyes at my touch. I feel his muscles flex and tighten underneath my fingers. His left hand reaches over and he hesitates, but then lays his hand on mine before looking back up at me. “I thought throwing myself into my work might help distract me from life without you.”