Dominic (Saint Brothers #1) (15 page)

The next few cases had also been relatively routine, a guy with several fractured ribs after a bar fight and a teenager who had fallen to sleep with her contact lenses in. That was one that made me wince. She now had a painful abscess on her eye and we could all see how much agony she was in. It was the usual run of the mill kind of stuff. That was until Roger Dunkins came in.

I wasn’t sure what was wrong with him at first but it soon became apparent that he was as high as a kite. His friends had simply dumped him on the hospital doorstep, probably not wanting to get into any trouble themselves. Unfortunately, Roger wasn’t coherent enough to tell us what he had taken. He was hallucinating and lashing out and had caught me off caught with a heavy blow to my leg with all his thrashing about. It hurt like a bitch and I’d ended up limping around for the remainder of my shift.

That’s why my shift sucked. Time seemed to drag by so slowly, mainly because of the pain in my leg. Of course, I wasn’t stupid and had it checked out, but it was just a nasty bruise. I was lucky. He could have done a lot more damage than that.

After my shift ended, it took a lot longer than usual to reach my car and by the time I sat down in the drivers’ seat, it felt like my leg was on fire. It hurt like a motherfucker and I cursed Roger Dunkins all the way home.

I was actually supposed to be calling by my parents’ house after my shift this evening, but there was no way I could do that now. My mother had left me several messages with regards to my bridesmaid dress fittings and other wedding emergencies that I had no interest in. I didn’t really want to deal with that kind of thing after a long shift anyway, but certainly not now. If they saw me limping around like this after the incident at work, they would only take it as another perfect opportunity to start in as to why I shouldn’t be lowering myself to work at the hospital. This was just the sort of thing they had warned me about. Working among the unwashed masses was beneath us, according to them at least.

The drive home was long, getting caught in the rush hour traffic. Just my luck. By the time I pulled up outside my house, all I wanted to do was get in the bath and soak for an hour.

Slowly pulling my way up the path, I pulled my keys out of my bag. As I put the keys in the lock, a hand closed over mine and I shrieked. Spinning around to see who had snuck up on me, my heart fell to my feet.

“Hello, Fallon.”

Shit. It was Matt. “What are you doing here?” I stammered. How did he even know where I lived? What did he want?

He smiled at me warmly, like a long lost friend. “Lauren hasn’t been home in a while. Where is she?”

“She was at home the last time I spoke to her.”

He smiled again, condescendingly. “Yes, but she hasn’t been home every night and I know she hasn’t been staying with you. Where has she been?”

“I’ve no idea.” There was no way I was going to tell this crazy nut job that she was alternating between staying at hers and Maze’s place. Apart from that one time, nothing else had happened between them, but he didn’t know that and I had the feeling he wouldn’t listen to reason even if I told him.

“Come on. You are one of her very best friends. Of course you know where she is.”

“I really don’t. Sorry, Matt.”

“And I supposed that you don’t know who that guy is that she’s been spending a lot of time with? Maze?”

Shit. How did he know about Maze? How did he know his name? The guy was an expert at being a shadow and they weren’t seen together outside of Sinners. Even in there, he mingled while keeping her in his sight.

I didn’t really know how to play this, but I thought it would be wise to stick to the lie I’d started with.

“Well?” he demanded.

“I said, I don’t know. We aren’t as close as we once were, thanks to you.” I straightened my back, standing taller. I was determined to show him that he wasn’t intimidating me, even though I was shaking like crazy on the inside.

I brought back all my elegance training from when I was growing up, showing no emotions and standing proud. If there was one thing my mother had taught me when I was a kid it was how to put on a fake face for show. Never let them see you as anything less than perfect, always putting your best foot forward. That was what I had to do now. I had to put on a face to show him that he couldn’t get to me.

“Hmm. Now, why don’t I believe that?”

“You can believe what you want.”

Matt leant forward with menace glinting in his eyes. “You know that you can’t keep her from me. You know that, right? We are meant to be together. Lauren loves me.”

If I hadn’t already been backed up to the door, I would have taken another step away from him. This was more serious than I thought. No wonder Dominic wanted around-the-clock security on Lauren. This guy was more dangerous and unhinged than I had imagined.

There was something broken in his eyes. He had put himself on the path of getting Lauren back and no one would be able to stop him. He truly believed that they should be together and no one would be able to tell him otherwise. It was scary to witness up close and personal, looking up into those eyes that were filled with danger and insanity. I’d seen some cases in my time at work and this man was definitely in need of a psych evaluation. He wasn’t stable. Dominic had more on his hands than he realised.

“I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”

“No. You’re not sorry at all. You just don’t want to help me.”

Taking a deep breath, I said, “Can you blame me?”

“You can’t keep her from me.”

“I’m not trying to. She doesn’t want to be with you.”

Rage crossed his face and he slammed his fist into the door, only inches from my head. I shuddered. “Please leave. Please.”

“I don’t think so.” He grinned at me. “Maybe I should just stay here until you decide to tell me. I’m sure we can think of plenty of things to do to pass the time.” He smiled, the smile not reaching his ice cold eyes. Seeing my panic, he laughed and the sound made me shiver. “Well, aren’t you going to invite me in? Where are your manners? I thought you were raised better than that.”

I shoot my head rapidly. My throat had dried up and I had lost my voice. Fear ran through me, freezing my veins as I stood shaking in front of him.

Abruptly, Matt looked at his watch and sighed. “I really wish that I could stay here longer with you and carry on our chat, but there is somewhere I have to be.” He looked at me intently as I clung to the door behind me. “If you could tell Lauren that I was looking for her I would appreciate it.”

I didn’t nod. I couldn’t move. All I wanted was for him to leave so I could finally breathe again.

Matt stood there looking at me for a moment before lunging forward and smashing his fist into my cheekbone. Pain exploded in my face and I felt my body crumple beneath me.

“Tell Lauren that I will find her and it will be sooner rather than later.” He hissed.

With a sob in my throat, I tried to raise my head to make sure that he really was leaving, but the pain thundered through my head before blackness swallowed me up into unconsciousness.

Shivering, I felt the cold, hard floor against my cheek only moments before the pain in my face rocketed through me. It was bad enough that I couldn’t feel any pain in my leg anymore.

Scrambling up, I didn’t know how long I’d been out there and was absolutely terrified that Matt was either lurking somewhere nearby or that he would be back at any moment.

With shaking hands, it took several attempts to unlock the door and I flung myself inside, slamming the door shut behind me and throwing across every lock I had.

Even inside I didn’t feel safe. My keys had been hanging in the door just where I had left them. What was to say that Matt wasn’t in the house, waiting for me? Tears clouded my eyes as I set the alarm.

Sobbing, I slumped to the floor. The more I cried, the more my face hurt and I wailed like a wounded animal.

I had never been hit like that before in my life. Back in school, even in the posh private school that I had attended, there had been plenty of girls who loved a good fight to prove a point, but I just wasn’t built like that. I didn’t have an aggressive bone in my body. Even at work, I had never been put in a position like this. I had been on the receiving end of a scuffle, like earlier tonight, but no one had ever deliberately gone out of their way to hurt me like that.

The look in his eyes had been so cold. You know when you look into a sharks’ eye and you see nothing but death? That was what it was like staring into Matt’s eyes.

Trying my hardest to pull myself together, it hurt to cry and it wouldn’t do me any good anyway. All it would do was leave me red and blotchy and feeling worse than I already was. I had to try and think straight and work out what to do next. Matt was out there and it wasn’t safe for Lauren. I couldn’t concentrate on myself right now. She was in danger, a greater danger than anyone thought.

I didn’t want to call Lauren, though. Telling her what had happened to me would only scare her and she didn’t need that right now. She was just getting her life back together and I wouldn’t let Matt ruin that for her. Honestly, she didn’t think Matt would ever lay a finger on her or that he was violent in the slightest, but I had found out first hand just what he was capable of. And I knew that he had a lot worse in him, too.

There was no way I was going to call my parents. Even though I was a grown woman, they would never let me out of their sight again. My sister would totally freak out, saying that I brought this on myself by working at the hospital and living in the ‘slums’.

There was only one person I could call. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to do this.

Dialling the only number I had for him, I drummed my fingers on the coffee table as I waited for someone to answer.

“Sinners.” A gruff voice answered.

“Can I speak to Dominic, please?” I felt such a fool calling him, but he really was the only one that I could turn to with this. He had to know what Matt was up to and what he was capable of. After all, he was the one that was looking out for Lauren.

“Who? I can’t hear you. You’re going to have to speak up.”

I sighed. Talking hurt and repeating myself was the last thing I wanted to do. “Can I speak to Dominic Saint, please?”

They grunted, acknowledging they heard me I think. “Who’s calling?”

“Can you tell him it’s Fallon?”

The line was filled with background noise from the bar. I hoped that meant he had gone to find Dominic and that he hadn’t just left me hanging. If Dominic couldn’t help me, I wasn’t sure where to turn. Maybe Maze could help? It sucked that I didn’t have his number or he would have been a better choice.

“Has he got your number?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I’ll leave him a message.” And the line went dead. Fucking great. I could feel the tears building in my eyes again. The one person I’d hoped to turn to for help wasn’t here.

What the fuck was I going to do? Phoning Lauren was the most rational option, but she would freak the hell out if she heard what Matt had done.

After the conversation I’d had with Taylor last night, perhaps I was going to be seeing Dominic a little sooner than anticipated. This wasn’t the kind of meeting I had been expecting, though.

The phone rang, interrupting my thoughts. “Hello?” I asked shakily.

“Fallon?” Dominic’s husky, low rumble filled the line.

“Dominic?” I asked in a shaky voice, hope building in me that he was returning my call so quickly

“Yeah, you tried getting hold of me at the bar?”

“Yeah, it’s Fallon.” When I was met with silence, I felt a pang of embarrassment that he didn’t even remember me after our two encounters. “Lauren’s friend?” I felt like such a fool.

“I know who you are, Fallon.” There was humour in his voice. “Why else did you think I was calling you back?”

“I’m sorry.” I whispered, feeling such an idiot.

“What can I do for you, Fallon?”

The way he was speaking, he clearly couldn’t remember who the hell I was and didn’t really give a crap what I was calling about. Great. This was going to be awkward as well as painful. “I thought I should let you know that Matt has been to my house looking for Lauren.”

“What did he say?” Dominic asked sharply.

“That he would find her and they would be together.”

“Fuck!” he shouted.

I flinched. I had already faced enough anger for one night. “I thought that I should tell someone. I didn’t want to scare Lauren and I didn’t know how to get hold of anyone else.”

“Did he say anything else to you?”

“Not really.”

“Did he do anything else?”

“Look,” I snapped, getting annoyed myself. “It doesn’t matter. I thought you should know that he has crawled back out from under his rock.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” I said through gritted teeth, feeling sick at hearing his anger.

“For fucks sake, Fallon! Just tell me. Did he fucking hurt you?” Dominic growled menacingly down the phone.

I felt even more pathetic as a sob escaped my throat. I had already been scared enough for one night and now his tone was putting me further on edge. “Yes.” I squeaked, scrunching my eyes shut to try and stop the tears, but immediately regretting the action when my face screamed out in pain.