Page 70 of Hold On

“Hopefully, there will be no trouble. I just wanted you to be aware of the situation. I’m glad Col has you. I’m even glad that you’re angry with me because it shows how much you love him. Not that I was ever in any doubt. You should be angry. But you should also understand that I will do anything I can to make sure Col stays safe and happy, and doing the work he loves. Col has always been my priority and that won’t change. Thank you for seeing me.”

Dominic hurried out with Ren on his heels.

“Don’t talk to me for a bit,” Dominic said as they went down the stairs.

Once they were on the bike and moving away, Dominic felt his breathing ease.Well, fuck.Why did everything have to be difficult?

He wasn’t really aware of where Ren was heading until they stopped next to a park they’d passed on the way there. It was mostly empty apart from a few kids and their mothers in a fenced-off area with slides and swings.

“Let’s go and find a bench,” Ren said.

When they were sitting down, Ren held Dominic’s hand. “Did that go as you’d expected?”

“I did what I wanted to do, which was say I was sorry about the name thing and thank them for being good parents. I wasn’t expecting them to be happy to see me.”

“They did offer cake. I could have eaten a slice.”

Dominic gave a quiet chuckle.

“When she made that comment about doing awful things, you flinched.”

Dominic glanced at him. “Did I?”

“Yes.”

“I was aware Col knew some of it, but I didn’t know he’d told them. Maybe he didn’t. They might have found out from a social worker. Col wasn’t supposed to know all of it. He was just a kid, but teenagers don’t kill their parents every day and I guess there was a lot of chatter. People were careless and Col overheard stuff he shouldn’t have. It isn’t something I ever want to talk to him about.”

“Do you remember what you did?”

“Yes.” In ultra-high definition.Every fucking thing.Every second of that day from the moment he’d seen Col waiting outside his school.Dominic gave a long sigh. “How about my truth for yours?”

“Meaning?”

“I’ll tell you what I did and you tell me how you came to be left for dead?”

“And then?”

“You’ll listen to me, then flounce off in disgust and leave me to find my own way back. Probably a good thing.”

“I never flounce.”

“You might throw up, though.”

“What the fuck did you do?” Ren whispered.

Dominic knew why he was going to do this. He was pushing Ren away.It was safer for everyone if he was on his own and Ren would—well, maybe not freak out because he wasn’t the type, but he’d be horrified.

He spoke in as calm and even a voice as he could manage. “I fastened my mother’s eyes open with tape and positioned her so she had to watch while I cut off my father’s cock.”

For a few minutes, neither of them said anything. Dominic was waiting for Ren to make some comment, express disgust or…

“While he was still alive?” Ren asked.

“Yes. A bit at a time. All I could think about was what they were planning to do to Col and…” He released a shaky breath. “It was tricky because it had shrivelled to nothing and the blood made it hard to hold.” He gulped. “Sorry. Too much.” He took another breath. “I already told you I stabbed them repeatedly. I didn’t want them to die straightaway. I knew exactly what I was doing. I wanted to hurt them like they’d hurt me. I wanted them to suffer.”

“Remind me not to piss you off.”

Dominic looked at him and Ren raised his eyebrows.

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