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After Dominic shares some leftovers from a recent meal he cooked, we make our way to the sofa.
The old faithful aphrodisiac furniture.
I always feel nervous when I sit on top of it.
"I just want to watch the anime and not think about any of this other shit right now," he says, exhaling wearily.
I imagine this day must have been hell for him. I can't imagine what was running through his head as he was on his way to my house.
That beatdown almost seemed personal.
"Nick?"
"Hmm?"
I offer a smile as I gaze at him, taking in his disheveled hair. He looks incredibly handsome, and all I want to do is hug him.
"Thank you for saving my life."
He gives me a very brief smile and looks back at the TV.
Concentration proves difficult, and my mind continues to replay all the events of the day. I find myself pondering the fact that he wouldn't have stopped if I hadn't commanded him to in Italian.
Dominic straight up Jason Bourned the shit out of that situation. If anything, it made me more curious.
I shift my gaze to the left, observing him as he remains engrossed in the anime. Either that or he's pretending to watch it because the look on his face just looks tired and jaded.
"Is that the first time you've ever been to jail?" I ask, noticing the obvious silence that follows.
"...No."
I nod in acknowledgment. I didn't think it was. I'm so curious about what his life was like and suddenly I remember the conversation that we had in his office the day of my firing and what he told me.
"You're a very dishonest person, Lacie. You act as though you struggle and you've come from an impoverished life and you don't know SHIT about being poor. You lived a privileged life from what you told me, you've never done drugs. Neither of your parents were on drugs. Maybe your parents might have hurt your feelings by telling you things that you actually needed to hear, but none of them beat you within an inch of your life."
I swallow a lump in my throat. He's right. I grew up very privileged, and aside from the debt that we had, that my parents put us into mind you, nobody would ever know from the big house that my parents had and the nice cars that they drove, and the pretty clothes that I wore. I have never gone hungry in my life or worried about our house being taken away.
My parents have never done drugs or abused me physically to the point where I wanted to die. Surely, I got spanked when I was younger, but the most discomfort I've had is from my mom being passive-aggressive. Next to Dominic and what he might have gone through, and what I believe is the worst thing he fell victim to, I was a princess.
I feel shame for even remotely thinking that I was oppressed, especially in comparison to his life. I don't know all of his past, but from the little bit that I do know, it seems like hell.
I look over at him again, and I'm curious but careful.
"Earlier... when you were pummeling that guy, I tried to get you to stop so many times. What made you stop?"
"Stop what?" he replies, still fixated on the screen.
"Stop beating him?"
"... You told me to stop."
He looks over at me.
The inner part of me is telling me to shut up and stop questioning, but my mind is so curious.
"Do you remember what I said to you?"
"It was honestly kind of a blur. But I do remember you telling me to stop."
"What did I say word for word?" I ask.
"You said 'stop'... and I stopped. I guess it just took a while," he mumbles wearily, as if he's only half-awake or his thoughts are elsewhere.
I don't say anything further. I had told him to stop over and over again, but that's not what made him stop. Me telling him 'stop' in Italian is the moment his eyes changed and it registered. However, for some reason, he doesn't remember me saying the actual Italian word. Weird.
It doesn't matter. It worked. But it does make me wonder, especially based on what Sandy had told me, if he was in a state of subconsciousness while he was beating that guy. He wasn't speaking Italian or saying anything. A chill runs down my spine when I remember Dominic's face.
Jesus Christ. You know those anime movies when someone snaps mentally and they look crazy and insane? That's how he looked. He looked like he was no longer himself. It's like his body was on autopilot, and its instruction was to kill.
I wonder how many times he's been in that mode.
I know I should feel afraid of him, but I don't. This is the first time I've seen him Hulk out like that, and it was because he thought I was in danger.
I don't think he actually initially intended to even kill the guy. I think he realized, at least when he still had his mind, that he can't just gun down the guy if he's not an active threat. But the moment the guy tackled him, it's almost as though Dominic was waiting for a reason to unleash all his anger.
"What are you thinking about?" I ask him.
"I'm just watching the anime," he replies as if bored.
I note that we have one episode left. He yawns and looks over at me.
"Lacie, I'm dog tired."
"Me too."
He rises to his feet to stretch, and I follow suit, both of us standing very close, facing each other. Dominic gazes down at me with a tender expression, and I offer him a shy smile in return.
"Did you mean what you said in the kitchen about Kiera?" I ask, my voice filled with a combination of charm and nervousness.
"Yes," he replies with his usual flat delivery, making his emotions at that moment somewhat hard to decipher.
The sincerity of the reply makes me feel so special, but this would be a big move, especially on my part. If he doesn't want to be in a relationship, and this doesn't pertain to work, it's going to feel like I'm just a replacement for Kiera. I don't want that, no matter how much I want to be with him and live with him.
We start walking towards the main hallway. I have a change of clothes with me just because I figured I would need it. Once again, as we have done many times in the past, we stop by his room door.
He swings his door open, glances over, and offers me a tired smile as he places his hand on the door frame's edge. Goodness, he looks so DAMN attractive in that stance, like he's striking a pose for a photograph.
"One more episode left," I tell him with a smile.
"Yup. I enjoyed watching it with you."
"Me too," I grin bashfully.
