“I was scared.”
“You were shaking.”
“I was so mad. At you. And at me. And then you arrested me.”
“I dream about that.”
“Arresting me?” Kinky fucker.
“No. That moment. When I saw you again for the first time. That defiant look on your face. The way you stuck out your chest, trying to make yourself look bigger. You know what I thought right then?”
“Probably how long you should tase me for, huh?”
“No,” he says. “I thought, ‘We’re inevitable.’”
“Yeah, Dom,” I say hoarsely. “You and me, huh?”
“Sure, Ty. You and me.”
“Stacey knows.”
“Yes.”
“Bear knows. And Otter.”
“Do they?” No concern in his voice. “I thought they did.”
“I think Bear’s known for a long time.”
“He’s smart.”
“Sometimes. Dom?”
“Ty.” My name on his lips is something I’ll never tire of hearing.
“Stacey.”
“Yeah?”
“She’s okay?”
“She is. She told me something once. At the end of me and her.”
“What?”
“She told me if you truly love someone, you could let them go.”
“Oh.”
“Or, she said, you fight like hell to get them back.”
“You and her?” My heart breaks for the woman I long considered to be an enemy. I never wanted this, not if it meant others being hurt. Not truly. But something in his voice causes my heart to race, my skin to prickle. And then he speaks again and everything changes.
“No, Ty,” Dominic says. “She was talking about you and me. And you can trust me when I say I’m going to fight like hell. Because no matter where you’ve been or how long it’s taken you to come home, we’ve always been inevitable, and that will never change.”
I can say nothing in return because my voice no longer works.
Sometime later, before he drifts off to sleep, he finds my hand with his and holds it tight.