Dom #4
Except...I wasn’t. I was missing hits that I should have landed, and I was taking hits that should have been blocked.
My reaction times were noticeably delayed, and I never seemed to have my limbs in the right place.
The translation from practice and training to an actual match was night and day, and no one, not me, not Darren, not even consultants he’d brought in out of desperation, could figure out what was going on.
“Okay, so you getting your ass kicked like you were new to the sport, fighting while drunk and possibly high hasn’t affected you in the slightest,” Moira said dryly.
“Your entire career potentially in danger, the one thing you’ve focused on for years, since someone found you at a random boxing ring, is now being called into question.
Reporters and articles are finding every way to infer that you might be at your limit, or even just plain washed up, and people wonder if it might be time for you to retire.
..but I’m sure that’s not affecting you. ”
I scooped the eggs off the flat top, sprinkled the cheese on them, then slid them onto the bagels and into the salamander to brown the cheese. “Jesus Christ, Moira. Anything else you want to add? And people say Mason is the asshole of the family.”
“Mason wouldn’t touch this subject with a ten-foot pole unless forced to. He’s a jackass, but he’s not going to give you shit over your career. I’m bringing it up because someone needs to say it, because everyone else is going to avoid it because they’re scared of upsetting you.”
“Something you clearly do not suffer from.”
“What are you going to do? With the way you’ve been fighting lately, I could probably take you.”
“Ouch,” I said, but my protest was ruined when I laughed. She wouldn’t be able to take me in a straight fight, but she made a good point. “That’s not why I’m here making a sandwich, but you’ve made your point.”
“Then why are you here at almost two in the morning making a sandwich?”
“I told you already.”
“No, you specified why you’re here, but not why you’re not sleeping or shacked up with someone who decided big muscles were a good enough excuse to go to bed with you.”
“Make one more comment about me being a ho, and I’ll tell Mason all about that girly giggle you made when Kayden was clearly talking dirty to you.”
She glared at me, then sniffed. “Deal.”
I grinned. “I couldn’t sleep, alright? Had a bad dream before I got woken up to the first steps leading to gay sex.”
“A dream?” she asked. “Since when do dreams bother you?”
“I don’t exactly share my dreams, so how would you even know if I get bothered by them?”
“You used to have them when you were younger,” Moira said thoughtfully.
“Same as Arlo...wait, are your dreams why you went on your middle-of-the-night roaming slash food hunts? However, I have learned that in this family, the fewer questions asked, the better,” she muttered, turning when we heard the squeak of the back door. “Hello?”
“Oh, hi, honey,” I heard Matty call, and she appeared, her eyes going wide when she saw me. Then her face fell into a frown of concern. “Oh...hi, Dom. What are you doing here? Are you okay?”
I stared at her. “I’m fine.”
She wrinkled her nose, cupping my face in her hands. “You came all the way here to get a snack? In the middle of the night? Come on, hon, talk to me.”
“I’m fine, Matty,” I said, waving her off with a laugh. “Jesus, you and Moira. Can’t a man get a snack?”
“I already pointed out that he’s supposed to be at Arlo’s, but he made the good point that Arlo has a date over tonight, so I don’t blame him for coming here,” Moira said with a shrug, having produced an apple from somewhere.
“Doesn’t explain why he’s in the kitchen instead of in his old room, sleeping. ”
“The good Moira giveth and the evil Moira taketh away,” I said with a scowl. “You’re not helping.”
“Oh, but I am,” she said with a grin.
“Helping me.”
“But I am. I’m worried about my little brother, and I think he deserves to get the help he so desperately needs.”
“Let no one say that you and Mason aren’t fucking twins.”
“Language,” Matty chided, but there was no real heat in it. “Now, just tell us what’s wrong.”
“I’m fine.”
“Tell the truth.”
“I am telling the truth,” I lied as I cleaned up the mess I’d left behind on the counters.
Only Arlo knew about Levi, and even then, it was limited information; I hadn’t even mentioned Levi’s name. I was sure Arlo could make the connection if he tried, but he wouldn’t call it out, whereas everyone else in the family...well, they wouldn’t hesitate to connect the dots.
I wasn’t ashamed that I’d been with guys, but it wasn’t something I wanted to get into because it wasn’t a big deal.
I’d had my fun, discovered that, overall, it wasn’t my thing.
.. except when it was, and that was fine by me.
I already had to endure my family making comments about the fact that I didn’t settle down, and I didn’t want to add another gender for them to ask after when I’d only ever had romantic feelings for one man.
A man who was beyond my reach and had been for years, as far as I knew.
I’d never heard from Levi again after our final confrontation.
Since it had been over a decade, I wasn’t under any illusions that he would remember me.
Our lives were completely separate, and if his father had had his way, then Levi was beyond my grasp in a way I didn’t want to think too hard about.
There was no point in telling my family that a dream unsettled me.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, ladies,” I said with a smirk. “I’m going to grab a drink and go have a smoke.”
“You don’t smoke,” Matty said with a frown. “At least, you didn’t.”
“I still do on occasion,” I said with a shrug. “Once a smoker, always a smoker. You two have a good night, love youuuu.”
“Now, come back here,” Matty protested, but I was already heading out the door toward the bar. I knew she wasn’t going to pester me in front of guests, so I was more than happy to use them as a shield to keep her at bay.
“Evening, Roger,” I said with a grin. “Long Island?”
The older man behind the counter, who had been working at the hotel since before my parents had died, grinned. “Sure, Dom, weak or strong?”
“It’s probably just going to be the one, so make it strong,” I said.
“Sure thing,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said as he slid the drink across to me, and I slid him a nice tip.
I didn’t have to pay for shit while I was here, but that didn’t mean I was going to forget the tip.
Roger had been taking care of people’s drink needs for a generation; he deserved tips even though he was paid quite well.
“If you’re running from your mother, you might not want to head toward the lobby,” Roger warned. “She seems to be standing out there, waiting for something. And since you weren’t expected to be here, I’m going to guess it’s you she’s looking for.”
“And you would be right,” I said with a snort. “Thanks for the heads up, she’s being all worried for no reason.”
“She wouldn’t be a mother if she didn’t worry endlessly.”
“I’m a grown ass man, Roger.”
“And you will never stop being her child, no matter how old you get. How do you not know that by now?”
“I’ll figure it out one day, I’m sure, now...I’ll be going.”
Trying not to be obvious, I blended in with the crowd while I shuffled toward the back of the bar, where another door would take me into the employee-only part of the hotel.
Ducking into the room, I walked toward the side of the building where I could step out into the night.
The alley was lit only at the mouth and at the door I walked out of, but it was enough for me to see.
Which included the figure hanging half into the small dumpster we kept.
“Evening, Mads,” I said as I walked down the stairs toward the dumpster.
“Fuck!” came a deceptively strong voice as the frail woman flailed and fell forward with another cry and a muffled curse.
“Uhh.” I came to the dumpster and peered over into her craggy face. “You alright?”
“Damn you to the furthest reaches of hell!” she snapped, shoving her arm toward me. “Help me up, Dominic! Gotta keep an eye on the place.”
I snorted. “Mads, I don’t think we need you watching the place.”
“Why?”
“Well, we have cameras, so that takes care of that. And last I checked, you’ve needed glasses for the last thirty or so years, so what exactly are you watching?”
“My eyes work just fine when they need to,” she said, and I sighed as I watched her pull out what looked like the film from a tub of yogurt.
“Don’t,” I said, taking it from her and tossing it into the dumpster. “Just come inside and let me get you some food. Real food. Not this.”
“Not until I make sure that weirdo is gone,” she said, glaring at the street.
As much as I wanted to point out that the only weirdo around here was her, I kept my mouth shut on that point. “The city is full of weirdos, Mads. That’s not exactly something new or interesting.”
“People watch,” she said, and I suppressed the urge to sigh heavily. “Someone’s watching right now.”
“It’s a big building,” I tried to soothe. “I’m sure there’s a lot of people who stare at it or watch the people.”
“No, no, he’s watching,” she muttered, and I wondered if I had time to get Moira or Matty before things got worse. “They always are.”
“Well,” I began slowly, wondering if it was safe for me to touch her or if it would make it worse. “Why don’t you come inside and after we get you…oh goddammit.”
Mads had already started walking, and you wouldn’t think that a woman her age could move quickly.
Mads might hobble around and take her time, usually, but when she was on a mission, nothing short of physical force would stop her once she got an idea in her head.
But also like a toddler on a mission, she didn’t pay attention to anything around her when she was locked into whatever had grabbed her attention.
“Mads!” I called, forgetting my drink entirely and hurrying after her as she made for the road. “I know it’s the middle of the night, but there’s still traffic!”
Not that that mattered apparently, because she was hobbling at the speed of light to.
..somewhere. By the time I got to the mouth of the alley, she was already walking past the few parked cars at the curb and into the street.
The problem was that she hadn’t listened to a thing I said, and there were still cars coming up and down the road.
Swearing vehemently, I chased after her, hoping to catch her before she got run over.
The last thing I needed was to add an ER visit to the night.
“You!” she proclaimed, giving an outraged shout when I took hold of her and yanked her back before a truck almost hit her, the side mirror nearly clipping her forehead as it drove on. “No, I see you, damn you, I see!”
“Mads,” I growled, trying to pull her back, wondering where the hell she found the strength.
I could have torn her away from the street easily, but the strength I would have been forced to use to keep her under control, with how hard she was fighting me, might have ended up with her getting hurt.
“Mads, come on, just take a breath and—”
“You!” she screamed even harder, freeing her arm from my grip to jab her finger toward the far side of the street.
“Mads,” I repeated with a bewildered and alarmed gasp as she almost got free.
Looking back later, I would realize that if he hadn’t moved so quickly, so sharply—guiltily—I might not have paid the slightest attention to anything other than the crazed woman I was trying to hold back from the street.
Except he did move too quickly, out of the shadows, ducking his head and making for the corner, his back to Mads and me.
Mads continued to shout after him and collapsed to the ground when shock made my grip on her go slack, and I didn’t bother trying to hold onto her any longer.
“No fucking way,” I gaped as he continued walking. “No. Fucking. Way.”
I barely noticed Mads cursing as I darted into the road, a horn blared, and I ran to the other side.
Ignoring the furious voice of the driver who I’d probably forced to birth kittens, I ran down the sidewalk.
He was turning the corner and looked to be on his phone, but that only made me run faster as I tried to make the corner.
I nearly slipped on a piece of trash sitting in a small puddle, catching myself as I slid around the corner, slamming my hand on the ground, ignoring the flare of pain from my palm.
“Levi!” I shouted as the man slid into the back of a car, but I saw him flinch, smacking his head as he got in.
Before I could do much more than run toward the vehicle, the door slammed shut, and the car peeled away from the curb with a harsh squeal of tires. It had been so quick; there was no way it wasn’t a backup plan to get off the street as quickly as possible.
Except it hadn’t been fast enough. I had seen enough to know I wasn’t crazy; I had seen him in the flesh.
He had definitely gotten bigger since I last saw him; he was no longer the weedy kid waiting for puberty to fill him out and give him another couple of inches of height, but I had seen his face.
It didn’t help that he had turned around in the back of the car before it pulled off, and I had seen his face as confirmation that I wasn’t losing my mind.
Levi was back in Cresson Point.