Dominic (39 page)

The man who was chuckling looked in my direction and stared at me for a moment before he gestured with his finger for me to go to him. I didn't know why but instead of walking straight towards the exit, I kept my eyes on the man's as I walked towards him. He smiled at me when I reached the booth and held out his hand for me. I took hold of it and moved when he gently pulled me down to the spot next to him.

"What is your name, beauty?" he asked me, his accent not Irish but American.

"Bronagh," I replied as I still just stared at him.

His hair was jet black, his eyes were a light hazel colour, and his skin was lightly tanned. There wasn't anything exceptionally remarkable about him; he was just a good-looking man, average even, but he had something about him that made me want to be close to him. It was the weirdest feeling I had ever gotten in my entire life; I knew he was somebody important just by looking at him. He had a dominant status about him and, to be honest, I was curious to know who he was.

"Such a pretty name for such a pretty girl," the man smiled before reaching out and wiping under my eyes with his thumbs. He smiled at my eyes lingering on his, and then asked, "Why are you here?"

I swallowed before I said, "I came here to watch the fight that was on earlier, but I fell asleep in one of the private rooms."

He grinned and asked, "You like watching the brawls?"

I shook my head. "No way, I actually hate them but me boyfriend fights in them, so I have to come along for support or he gets mad."

He raised his eyebrows then, but lowered them as he reached out again and smoothed my hair back from my face. He was very gentle when he asked, "Who is your boyfriend? I bet on the fights; he might have won me some money in the past."

The other men in the booth snickered at this, but I didn't look at them, I kept my eyes on the man next to me and answered, "Dominic Slater, he's the undefeated champion of Darkness. He always wins his fights."

I didn't know what I was expecting when I answered the man's question, but growling from the young lad across from me wasn't it. "That pussy gets lucky in his fights."

I was instantly mad.

"He just happens to get lucky in
every single fight then
?" I asked the young lad as I looked away from the man next to me. I was instantly aware that he was somehow related to the man next to me because he looked so much like him, just a younger version.

"He is a pussy,
bitch
," the young lad snarled.

I glared right back at him. "Well, you know what they say? You are what you eat."

The young lad grinned at me while the two other men burst into laughter. I jumped a little when the man next to me put his arm over my shoulder as he laughed. "Get my picture with this Irish beauty. It's not often someone shuts my nephew up."

I looked to the man as the other older man across the table snapped a picture on his phone. I looked to him then when he began tapping on it and reached over handing it back to the man next to me.

Referring to them as just 'men' was hurting my head so I asked, "What is your name?"

The man next to me opened his mouth to speak when the phone in his hand rang, causing a smile to light up his face. "I don't think he has ever called me back so quick before." He chuckled then answered the phone and said, "Nico, my boy, how are you?"

My full attention was on the man next to me when he said the name Nico.

The man held his phone away from his ear a little when screaming spewed from the receiver. The man nodded across to the other man across the table. After the nod that man got up and walked in the direction of the hallway where all the private rooms were. I furrowed my eyes as I watched him disappear down the hallway; I kept looking in that direction waiting for him to reappear, and when he did, he was dragging a person's body by their legs in our direction.

"Omigod," I screamed in horror of what I was seeing.

The man next to me suddenly fisted my hair in his hand and snarled, "Bronagh, I don't like screaming so cut it out, or I'll cut your tongue out, your choice."

I was breathing heavily as I snapped my mouth shut.

"Good girl," the man said then chuckled. "You trained your bitch well, Nico, I'm proud of you, son. Your woman knows her place."

I began to cry as the man dragging the male body by the legs neared the booth. I could tell it was a male and the closer he got, I noticed more things. I furrowed my eyebrow and blinked through my tears when I recognised who the person was. I narrowed my eyes to see better and when the person's face came into view I screamed out and tried to go to him.

"Damien!" I cried.

He was out cold on the ground and his face was all busted up. If you didn't know who he was you wouldn't have been able to recognise him; that's how swollen his face was.

"Shut it, bitch, you look better when your mouth is closed," the man that fisted my hair growled.

He pulled me by the hair until I was standing up from the booth. He turned me and shoved me forward until I landed on the younger lad whose hands latched onto me and pulled me down onto him so my arse was directly on his groin.

"Fuck me, you have some ass," he commented making my stomach lurched. "Marco, please let me test this one out."

I widened my eyes as I stared at the man who was grinning at me as he still held his phone to his ear. "Be here in one hour or I'll kill the girl and paralyse your brother." He hung up and dropped his phone on the table in front me.

"Marco Miles?" I whispered.

He grinned and asked, "Nico told you about me then?"

I set my jaw. "He told me
everythin'
about you," I growled.

Marco chuckled. "I hope it was all good?"

I curled my lip in disgust making him laugh as he dropped back down into the booth. "I thought this trip to this country wouldn't be worth it. I figured Nico and his brothers would be hard to keep employed, but you and Damien have made it very easy. Damien left Darkness just as we arrived so grabbing him was easy. Then when we went to put him in one of the back rooms, Trent found you passed out. One of the bouncers identified who you were and just so happened to mention whose girlfriend you were." Marco snickered. "That slut lady luck is being very good to me, wouldn't you say so?"

I processed what he just said and my mind lingered on one thing, the name 'Trent'. I looked over my shoulder to the scumbag who was rubbing my thighs and asked, "Trent Miles?"

He grinned at me. "In the flesh, bitch."

"You're supposed to be dead! Damien
killed
you!" I shouted and struggled in Trent's arms.

Marco laughed from across the table. "No, Damien shot him in the shoulder, and I told Ryder it was his heart, and that he was dead. I was about to lose those boys and after their father and I had been grooming them all their lives for our line of work, I couldn't let it happen. So when I got the opportunity to put them where I wanted them, I took it with both hands."

I glared at him in disgust. "You pretended your nephew was dead just so you could hold it over the brothers and make them work for you?"

Marco grinned. "Genius wasn't it? The Slater brothers are nothin' if not loyal to each other. They would give up everything to keep each other safe, and holding Damien's life in my hands got me their lives in return. I
own
that family."

I shook my head. "They want out. Dominic told me they were cuttin' ties with you!"

Marco snorted. "Yeah, he told me that as well, but I'm not very happy with my best boys jumping ship. They each provide substantial income for me, and I really like my money, so we're just going to have to talk about extending their work contracts instead of terminating them."

I felt like getting sick. "You can't make them work for you anymore. Trent isn't dead; you held somethin' over them that didn't exist in order to keep them in line!"

Marco laughed at me again. "That was an illusion; what I really held was the threat of killing their brother over them, and I still hold it over them… the threat of killing you is new but I'm sure it will prove just as effective."

He was fucking crazy!

"You
won't
get away with this!" I snapped.

Trent laughed, and he gripped my hair. "He already has," he said as he whacked the back of my head causing darkness to consume me instantly.

I woke up when someone called my name. I groaned but didn't answer. I had a killer headache and just wanted to sleep until it went away, but the person calling me wouldn't allow that to happen.

"What?" I grunted.

"Bee? Wake up, please."

I groaned as I blinked my eyes open, and I flicked my eyes around until I realised I wasn't in my bedroom. I shot up and gripped the back of my head when pain filled it. I pulled my hand away and found some blood, fresh and hard, on it.

What the fuck?

"What happened?" I asked as I looked around.

I felt an arm come around my waist, making me jump. I looked to the person who was holding me and gasped. I knew it was Damien but his face was so swollen and cut up that it was hard to recognise him.

"Damien," I whimpered and threw my arms around him. He winced but squeezed me with the arm that was already around my waist.

"Are you okay?" I cried as I pulled back from him.

He nodded his head as I brushed his hair from his face and kissed his forehead. "It's goin' to be okay, I promise."

He squeezed me again. "I know."

I looked at him as tears streamed down my face. "I'm sorry for everything I said to you. You're still a dick, but what I said was wrong."

Damien laughed but his face wouldn't allow him to smile. "Shut up, Bee, you were right about everything you said, and I only reacted the way I did because I knew it was true, and I hated it. I never want to be like my parents, and the shit I've being doing just proves that I am."

I frowned as I looked at him.

"I don't set out to break hearts. I actually don't set out to have anything to do with hearts at all but some girls get attached to me. I swear I never meant to hurt Alannah. I know this will make me sound like a prick. I am a prick, but I just wanted to be with her. She's different."

I gave him a look. "Is that your cryptic way of sayin' you like Alannah?"

Damien shrugged but didn't answer.

I glanced around the room then and groaned. "I can't believe I was knocked out."

"Tell me about it. They did this to me
after
I was knocked out, the fucking pussies!" Damien growled.

I shook my head then winced. "The back of me head is throbin', it's bleedin' as well."

Damien turned me so my back was to him, and he placed his hands gently on my neck and tilted my head forward. He moved his fingers through my hair and stopped when I hissed in pain. "It's not a deep cut, and it's starting to clot. I can see all the dry blood."

I breathed sigh of relief. "Thank God for that."

"Who hit you? Marco? I saw his face before I was hit."

I swallowed and turned to face Damien. "It wasn't Marco, Damien… it was Trent."

Damien's eyebrows shot up, and his mouth dropped open.

"Trent…
Trent Miles
?" Damien spluttered.

I nodded my head. "He isn't dead. Marco said he just pretended he was so that he could hold the threat of killin' you over your brothers' heads. He lied to you all, Damien."

Damien looked at me for a moment then turned his head and stared off into space. I was about to ask if he was okay when he said, "For the last three and a half years I've seen his face every night when I've gone to sleep. I was convinced he was haunting me for what I did to him but now I realise it's all just been in my head."

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and said, "You can let go of all that now."

Damien nodded his head then looked to me just as the door of the room we were in opened and asked, "Is he really alive?"

Laughter from the doorway caused us to look in that direction. I set my jaw when I saw him while Damien just stared, his mouth hanging open. Trent smirked at Damien and gestured to himself with open arms and said, "I'm really alive. Did you miss me, buddy?"