Chapter Seventeen
Brooke
“Brooke, quit avoiding me.”
Dom had finally cornered me in the kitchen. I was surprised it had taken him this long. I’d been able to stay hidden almost all day, but he must have been waiting for me to come in there. It wouldn’t have mattered, though; he would’ve come to my room when he knew I was in bed.
I rested my hands on the counter. “I’m not avoiding you, Dom. I just don’t know what to say.”
He came closer, pinning me in the corner, his body tight against mine. I tried not to be affected by how close he was or the smell of his spicy cologne.
“We need to talk,” he whispered.
His breath on the back of my neck made me shiver. As mad as I was, I wasn’t an idiot. I realized we’d eventually have to talk. I just wasn’t sure I was ready. Things were all messed up in my head because of things Austin had said. Dom had kept how he felt from Josh, and they didn’t keep secrets. They had a friendship like what most girls wanted in their life.
Now Dom was here, and we were both single again. But he’d lied—something he’d never done before—and I didn’t know how to deal with that. Finding out that he had some ridiculous competition going on between him and Austin made me sick to my stomach. I rolled my shoulders to try to gain a little room.
“Dominic, I need time.”
He took a step back, allowing me to step farther into the room. The hard set of his jaw made me nervous. Dom wasn’t the kind to get angry—at least not with me—but right now he looked like he was about to explode.
“Are you kidding me?” he muttered, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you, Brooke.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You can’t believe me?”
“We had everything last night, baby. I had everything I wanted when you were in my arms. I get that the timing isn’t ideal, but you can’t look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t feel how right it was between us.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Yeah, I did, until this morning when I found out you were just using me.”
His eyes narrowed. “Damn it, Brooke, you’ve known me for three years. Do you really think I’d do that to you?”
“Okay, maybe you didn’t use me, but you lied to me, Dom.”
His eyes tracked me as I started pacing.
“What about Talia? You never really said what happened there, other than mentioning that fucking tattoo--which we still haven’t talked about by the way. Are you two getting back together?”
When he walked toward me, I held up my hands to ward him off. His touch would destroy me right now. I needed to be levelheaded to figure all of this out.
“Brooke, you should know me well enough to know I’d never cheat on anyone. We weren’t even together, and I wouldn’t date anyone because I was afraid of betraying you. Where’s all this crap coming from?”
Because I’m terrified.
“This is all just happening too fast.”
He threw his hands up. “Three years is too fast? Because that’s how long I’ve been in love with you, Brooke.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?” I demanded. “What about that moment in the kitchen? You know exactly what I’m talking about, so don’t even try act like you have no idea what I’m talking about. Instead of letting that moment pass, you should’ve kissed me, Dom! Maybe we wouldn’t have gone through hell the past couple of months if you had.”
He slammed his hands down on the counter, making me jump at the loud sound. “Why would I risk it, Brooke? You use every possible excuse to push people away. You had my back against a wall. If I kissed you, and you didn’t see me like that, then I would’ve lost you—even more than I already have.”
I rolled my eyes. “Maybe I felt the same way. Did it ever occur to you that it was a distinct possibility?” I looked away, glaring at the roaring ocean outside the window. “As it is, you lost me anyway.”
I didn’t get how this was happening. It wasn’t like I wanted to push him away, but the word vomit spewing from my mouth wasn’t stopping. Yes, I was terrified of falling in love with him and then losing my best friend if things didn’t work out, but as it was I’d already lost him.
“You’re done fighting for us, aren’t you?”
He knew me well enough to understand that when I’d reached my breaking point, there was no changing my mind. He was bowing out because he thought nothing would sway me. Dominic was frustrating as hell because he needed to keep fighting for me, especially when I tried to push him away. He knew I had commitment issues. Things with Austin were never real. That’s why I didn’t fight it.
But with him, things were different.
“Brooke,” he said softly.
I shook my head and bit down on my lip. There was no way I’d allow myself to cry in front of him. This was embarrassing enough without adding insult to injury.
“I’m done, Dom. I can’t do this anymore. The back and forth is killing me.”
“You can’t mean that.” His voice came out barely a whisper.
I smiled sadly. “I really do. I wish things were different, but they aren’t. You’ve spent the past two months being so mad that you could barely look at me, and I can’t let you keep going like this.” I sucked in a shuddery breath. “Don’t worry about being my friend anymore or being civil to me when you pass by me. I’ll step back so you aren’t losing your friends and they don’t feel like they have to choose between us—”
He stared at me incredulously. “This is ridiculous—”
I rushed on to continue. “I’m so sorry, Dominic, for everything I put you through.”
I turned to leave, and he reached for my arm to stop me.
“Give me one last thing before you leave.” He looked so hurt, but I knew he’d heal if I let him go. It wasn’t fair for me to be so angry and sad and still expect him to follow along with the whiplash of would we or wouldn’t we.
“Kiss me.”
“That’s what started this whole thing,” I murmured.
He took a step closer and cupped my face with one of his hands. “One kiss, Brooke.”
I swallowed hard. “One.”
His lips were soft against mine and his hands brushed along my jaw. He angled my head so he could deepen the kiss. I moaned as his soft, wet tongue delved into my mouth. It took everything in me not to throw myself at him and tell him to take us upstairs to his room. Because this was what I wanted. For too long, I’d waited for Dominic to kiss me like he meant it.
I didn’t want to be just his friend.
We pulled apart, both gasping for air. His hand tightened in my hair and he pressed his forehead against mine.
“I know what you’re doing, Brooke. And I’m not going to let you. Baby, I’m coming for you with everything I’ve got because this time, I know. You feel the same way for me that I do for you.”
He nipped at my throat, and a delicious shiver ran its way up my spine.
Dominic had always had a talent at tearing down my defenses.
I was so screwed.
***
Dominic was damned good at wearing down my defenses. He made it hard for me to stay mad at him or remember that he and Austin had some pissing contest going on over me. When he was near me, everything seemed safe. Dominic and I were the perfect storm. We absolutely should be together, but somehow we couldn’t ever quite make it happen. Well, at this point I was the one keeping it from happening.
Even Quinn, Caroline, and Riley could tell I was floundering. They were rooting for me and Dom to get our shit together, but at the same time, they realized I was overwhelmed. So we ended up having a girls’ night so I could get some much needed relief from Dom’s overbearing tactics. We were supposed to be going out for sushi and manicures, but we ended up at a bar, day drinking and drunkenly discussing the merits of Jared’s pineapple girlfriend. Much to my amusement, we were getting weird looks from other patrons as Quinn and Riley screamed at each other. Poor Matilda was going to get the boot if Quinn had anything to say about it.
I snorted a laugh into my beer. “I kinda want to call Jared and have him listen to this conversation.”
Riley leapt for me as I started digging around in my purse for my phone. “No, you don’t.”
“You don’t want him to know that you think he can’t get a girl?” I held up my phone and shook it in her face.
“I never said that,” she countered. “Instead of talking about a fucking pineapple, we need information about what the hell is going on with you and Dom.”
Quinn and Caroline rested their faces in their hands as they leaned over the table to look at me. God, we were all toasted. Both wore expectant expressions like I was going to divulge some interesting secrets about how we’d been screwing like bunnies underneath everyone’s noses for years. We obviously hadn’t been, but it didn’t mean I didn’t want to be now.
“I’m too drunk for this conversation,” I whined.
Caroline arched her brows. “Bullshit.”
“Why aren’t you two together now? If you believe that shit from Austin, you’re an idiot.” Quinn took a drink of her beer innocently. “I’m just saying.”
I glared at my supposed friend. She always had a way with words.
“Why wouldn’t Josh know if Dom really had a thing for me?”
Riley giggled. “He knew. He was just in denial.”
I whipped my head around to her.
“He didn’t know, know, but he suspected. I think he secretly wanted it to happen between you two. Every time I mentioned it, he’d shut me up by doing this thing with his tongue—”
I slammed my hands over my ears and started singing so I didn’t have to be scarred.
Quinn pulled my hands down. “She’s done. We shut her up.”
I gave Riley a dirty look. “Why didn’t Dom ever say anything to me then?”
“That’s easy,” Caroline said before taking a drink of her soda. “You put him in the friend zone. We told you that for two years. Every time you started to get close to the breaking point, you mentioned that stupid thing Josh said about how you couldn’t be friends with a guy.”
"That's just stupid." I pointed a finger at her and noticed the wobble in it. That sucker wasn't staying straight. I must have been a lot drunker than I thought. "I didn't do that."
Quinn and Riley said in unison, "Yeah, you did."
"How did I put him in the friend zone?"
Caroline whipped out her phone and read the definition. "A situation in which a friendship exists between two people, one of whom has an unreciprocated romantic or sexual interest in the other." She looked at me pointedly. "Sound a little familiar?"
I shook my head. "I had feelings for Dominic. And I had sexual interest. He’s hot."
Quinn’s lip quirked. "That you just ignored?"
"Maybe," I said, blushing. "Maybe I just didn't want to tell you nosy bitches anything."
Riley gave me a knowing smile. "Sure. That's it. Keep telling yourself that."
I wanted to point at her, but that hadn't worked out so well last time. "You shut your dirty mouth."
She smirked but didn't say anything else. I was happy that she ended up with my brother. God, if he'd chosen someone I hated I would've killed him.
Caroline leaned in closer. "Have your feelings changed? Do you want to be with him now?"
I sighed dramatically. “Yes. No. I don't know. I think we’d be good together if we did.”
“Duh,” Quinn said. “Quit being ridiculous. You're missing out on a ton of amazing sex by being this dumb.”
I smirked. “How do you know it's good?”
“I just have to look at him to know. That man is hot.”
I narrowed my eyes, and she gave me a smug look.
“Try to deny that you have feelings for him again, and see how that goes. You're jealous.”
Damn it.
I was fucking jealous.
I laid my head down on my arms. “Why is this so damn difficult?”
Caroline took pity on me. “Because you’re fighting against it. B, you and Dom could figure this out in a second, but you’re hanging onto your anger like a shield. Josh doesn’t care if you two are together and he knows better than trying to mess things up between you two. Austin is an asshole. He was trying to mess things up with Dom because you wouldn’t sleep with him, and he was pissed.”
I lifted my head to look at her. What she said made a lot of sense. “This isn’t fair. You’re the only sober one here.”
She ignored that and continued. “Austin played you, and you’re blaming Dom for that. Here’s the thing, though; we were all fooled by Austin. I thought he might’ve actually grown up a little bit, but he didn’t. And it’s sad, because he’s a really nice guy when he wants to be. The problem is he doesn’t want it all that often.”
Quinn and Riley drunkenly agreed with her. Those nosy bitches weren’t helping.
“What’s holding you back?” Care asked softly.
The thought of putting myself out there and losing my best friend.
Losing Dominic would be devastating. But the alternative of loving him and having him love me was inconceivable. What would that even be like?
I cleared my throat and tried not to fidget. “Absolutely nothing.”