Page 116 of Inevitable Destruction

“I just need to ask him a few questions regarding—”

Jamie’s voice floats away as I eat up the distance between us, the cord growing taut. I fly by rooms, peering through their windows, and coming up empty. It’s not until my eyes lock on a mop of black curls that my footsteps stop, locking me in place.

His eyes are closed, sunken in and ringed with black. His entire face is gaunt, hollow, matching perfectly with the rest of his body.

My body moves on autopilot, bringing me closer to him and his hold over me. There’s a tube in his nose and an IV in his hand, but other than that, he lies free, covered only by a thin, blue blanket.

My fingers trail up his once smooth arm, now blemished with evidence of what he’s done—no. What I’ve done.

I swallow but choke on my guilt, on my shame. It sits heavy at the base of my throat, compressing my chest until my legs give out, and I collapse onto the edge of his bed. My hip jostles his leg, and I freeze, hoping I haven’t woken him.

“He needs space. He’s in a lot of pain,” the same voice I heard earlier filters in behind me, and I tighten my grip on his calf on instinct, refusing to separate us.

“Can you give us a moment?” Jamie asks, and I sigh a breath of relief, thankful to have her here.

“He needs to heal. Please do not wake him to ask questions. They’ve already tried, and it didn’t go well, so wait until later.”

“Of course; I understand. We’re not here for that,” Jamie tells her and then the door closes, leaving us alone. My hand slides up and down his thick leg, his touch—even through a blanket—doing unfathomable things to me.

“What’s going on, Jamie?” I ask, hating the way my words come out weak, broken. Much how I left him.

My hand flies to my chest to rub the center. I increase pressure, igniting more pain. I deserve it all.

“I don’t think we should talk about this right now.”

“I didn’t ask for your fucking opinion,” I grumble. My eyes fall to Dominik’s face, to his lips slightly parted and dry. I itch to brush my tongue along the thin skin and wet it, giving it the shine it needs.

He looks high on me after I’ve kissed him.

My fingers curl into my palms, unaccustomed to having to resist the temptation of touching what’s mine.

Because he is. Fucking mine.

“Lawson came across a car on the side of Crawford Road, south of town. It wasn’t pulled all the way over, which is why he stopped.” She stops, and I can almost hear her swallow before she forces herself to continue.

“He knocked on the window, but what— Fuck, Rhett. I don’t think you want to hear this. We don’t know what any of it—”

“Tell me.” My words are venomous, but it’s all a hoax. A cover up because inside, with every word that comes out of her mouth, I’m dying a little more inside.

I try to prepare myself for what I know comes next…

“He was unconscious, and Lawson noticed a lot of blood on his pants. So, he called it in, and they brought him here. They’re pretty sure he w-was r-raped. Which is w-why everyone’s waiting for him to wake up to see what happened.”

Dominik’s pretty boy face muddles, blending into the blob the room morphs into. Even though I can no longer see his features, I keep my gaze locked in his vicinity, unable to tear any part of me away from him.

Wretched, agonizing sounds resonate through the room, through me.

Pain had no meaning before now—before this.

I thought I was living in hell for years, with what happened to my pops, what his death brought me. It filled me with rage, with guilt for being unable to stop it.

I didn’t think there was any other way to survive other than to shove it all down, to accept it for what it was, so I tried. But then I saw him…

I blink, Dominik becoming clear for a split second before blurring again. My heart contorts, warping, weakening.

His face brought back everything I had shoved down for too long. Being flooded with a rush so intense, I focused it all into one thing—revenge. Revenge I so foolishly thought was warranted. That it’s what my pops would’ve wanted, what I wanted.

It turned me into a man I can’t recognize or even acknowledge. How could I when I did this to him? The one fucking person who managed to make me feel after so long of living a numb, placating life.

---