DOMINIC

 

It’s been two weeks since Zach rescued me from the Grimm Industries building before it was blown to hell and back, debris raining from the sky all around us. It’s been two weeks since I lost any and all hope and in that intervening time, I’ve kept entirely to myself, turned off my phone too.

I’m not ready to deal with the world right now. Hell, I’m not ready to deal with anything that doesn’t involve the effort it takes to pop the cap off a bottle of beer.

Clink.

The cap of the bottle pops off as I thrust it against the hard countertop. I lost the actual bottle opener a few days ago but the counter has become my trusty replacement ever since then.

I tip the bottle against my lips and take a quick sip and it’s like everything comes flooding back to me; memories of the last time I saw my sister and memories of all of my hope going down in flames. Even after I pulled the trigger, ending Seth Grimm’s reign once and for all, I still had to show up to the Grimm Industries event. I was so damn close to finding my sister again until the building was blown to hell and back.

A part of me wants to believe that Shelby is still out there somewhere but I’m convinced myself that this strange man—a man named Brendan Brown—was only lying to me in the same way Seth had been lying to me all those years. He needed something from me and knew my weakness and then he tried to exploit it.

And I did exactly what he asked me to do. I killed Seth Grimm, but even if it didn’t end up with me getting my sister back, I still took great pleasure in pulling the trigger. Seth Grimm destroyed my life so it was only fitting that I’d be the one to end his.

I drop my head low and glance out the windows on the back kitchen wall. It’s practically pitch-black outside with only the neighbor’s lights casting a dim yellow hue on the landscaped back yard. And I think about how Shelby never got the chance to own her own home. Hell, she barely had the chance to become an adult. So much was stolen from her and that’s something that can never be amended.

I tip the bottle back and take another sip.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

A series of knocks at the front door steals my attention. I cock my head over my shoulder and glance down the open passage that cuts through the kitchen and living room and into the foyer. There are no windows in the door so I’m unable to see who’s knocking.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The knocks continue to come at a furious pace with each pound against the door harder than the one before. Someone really wants my attention and though I’m not in the mood to give my attention to anyone right now, I have a gut feeling that whoever it is isn’t going to stop until they have it.

I resign myself to my fate.

As I make my way through the living room and towards the foyer to rip some jackass a new asshole, I catch a quick glance at my reflection in the mirror. My face is unshaven and starting to sprout a beard and my eyes are heavy and tired, to say nothing of the tussled hair upon my head.

I sit the beer bottle down onto the console table in the foyer and rip open the door—something I normally wouldn’t do because I’m always cautions, especially considering I have so many enemies out in the world—to find Zach staring there with his hand held into a fist as if he was just about to knock again. He’s out of uniform in blue jeans and a blue plaid shirt.

I roll my eyes and sigh. “What are you doing here, Zach?”

He swallows nervously, cocks his head sideways for a split second as he thumbs his lips before turning back to me with a severe look on his face. “I need to know why you were at the Grimm building the night it exploded.”

“It’s complicated,” I say flatly.

“Make it so it’s not complicated then,” he says, and it’s such a simple request but one that I’m not able to fulfill. “Help me understand. I don’t need the whole story, but I just need something to hold onto. Something that makes me believe that you haven’t been lying to me since you’ve known me. Something that makes me believe that you’re still one of us, that you’re still a good guy.”

“I’m not really in a mood to be talking about this right now.”

“You’re drinking.” He shifts his gaze past me and then right at me. “I can smell it on your breath and I can see those bottles on your table and the counter.” He nudges past me and makes his way into my home without my permission.

I shake my head, realizing that he’s not going to leave this alone and push the door to a close just as he pivots back around to face me. “There are things I already know,” he continues, “and there are other things that are a complete mystery. But from what little I know, I’m struggling to believe—”

“Then don’t believe.” I shrug, reach for my bottle, and then push my way past him to step back into the kitchen. “I just need to be alone right now.”

“Why?” he questions from behind me, the tone of his voice heavy and dark. “Come on, Dom. Just give me something.”

“How about this for something?” I finish off the bottle and toss it into the trash. It lands with a loud clink as I twist around to face Zach. “Did you know I have a sister?” He stands before me emotionless but my mind is anywhere else but in this home right now. It’s gone, lost, searching through memories. “Or maybe I did have a sister. Seth Grimm took her years ago, but he never upheld his end of the bargain.”

Zach’s tongue darts out to wet his lips. There’s a particular look written all over his face, one I’ve seen a thousand times before. It’s one that screams that he doesn’t quite know what to say and he’s in a little bit of shock. I can’t exactly blame him considering the fact that I’ve never shared the fact that I have a sister with any of the boys.

He finally speaks. “What was the bargain?”

“That I work outside his organization, basically as a man for hire but without any of the perks of having an actual job. The only pay I received was the assurance that my sister would be returned to me safely.” I purse my lips together, tense my throat, reach for another bottle of beer and pop the top off using the counter ledge. “I killed him.”

“Seth Grimm?” His eyes widen as he shakes his head in disbelief. “Why would you do that? Not that he was a good man or anything, but if he knew where your sister was, then why would you kill him?”

“Because right before he was presumed dead the first time, he informed me that my sister had been dead for a long time. I meant to kill him then but the next thing I knew he was already dead, but you already know all about that.” I pass him an open bottle of beer and cheers him. “When I found out he was still alive, I made another pact with myself to make sure that I got to finish him this time. Fate would have it that I received an offer from another associate of his with the promise that if I killed him that he’d tell me where my sister was and that she was still alive.” I take a quick drink. “I began getting my orders from a man named Brendan who headed a subsidiary of Grimm Industries. He instructed me to meet him at the Grimm Industries event and that’s why I went.” I exhale softly. “And then you showed up and dragged me out of there and I’ve been angry ever since. I’ve been angry even though I know you’re not the one who rigged the building to blow, but that explosion took away the last hope I had of either finding my sister or at least knowing what became of her.”

“I’m sorry.” It’s all he can bring himself to say as he stares out longingly into the distance, right on past me and through the large kitchen windows. “I didn’t know.”

“How could you?” I shrug, roll my eyes. This is the last conversation I want to be having right now. People always say the best therapy is talking about what ails us but it’s not helping. It’s only making things worse. “These are my demons, Zach, and I need to deal with them on my own.”

His eyes twist to me. “Let me help you.”

“No,” I say as low as a whisper. “That’s not an option.”

“Make it an option,” he pleads with me as he steps closer. “You’ve done so much for me so let me help you with this. Maybe Lola would know something.”

I shoot him a glare. He has his own free will and he can make his own choices, but the fact that he’s wrapped himself up into the arms of a Grimm is honestly enough to make me sick. She can say she’s not like her father but I won’t ever believe it. As much as we never want to admit it, we are products of our parents and she did not have a good role model.

“There’s nothing Lola could say—”

“Don’t do that,” he scowls. “Don’t push me away or try to paint her with a broad brush for what her father did.”

“I’m not the one wanting to have this conversation.” I push past him and back towards the foyer. “Don’t make me say something I’m going to regret.”

I can feel his shadow hovering me as he follows me to the foyer. “Don’t hold back, Dom. Just say what you need to say. God knows you’re basically a closed book incapable of opening up to anyone or anything—”

“I’m going to stop you right there.” I twist around to face him with a finger pointed squarely in his face. “I literally just brought all of my skeletons out of the closet for you to see and yeah, I know I can be closed off, but at the end of the day it’s none of your business.”

“It is my business,” he grinds out. “Because you made it my business. You’re supposed to be my friend and friends help each other.”

I force myself to bite my tongue. All I can do is look away because while I know he’s right, I’m really not in the right headspace to be talking about this. I’ve already said enough. Finally, I turn back to him. “That’s all I’ve ever done is help you people, but I understand there are limits and lines I can’t cross, and you need to realize there are things that you simply can’t help.”

“I choose to not believe that.” He takes a measured step towards me. “I choose to believe that there’s always a way and it’s easier to figure out if you’re not fighting alone.”

“I just… Not tonight.” I click my tongue against the inside of my cheek and sigh. “I just need to be alone right now.”

He purses his lips and offers me a gentle nod. “I can understand that but just know that we’re here.” He steps to me and drops a palm on my shoulder. “We’ve all been through hell and back, especially these last few months, but there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. You’re going to find it.”

I pass my eyes over him and in the quietness we reach a silent understanding before he steps past me and exits through the front door, leaving me to my own devices once more. But the funniest thing happens once he’s gone, I feel alone. I feel powerless, I feel like the world’s just going to keep on spinning and I’m tired of fighting.

I grip the bottle of beer in my hand tightly and then throw it against the living room wall. It shatters into a thousand tiny fragments as I let out a scream, “Fuck!”