Chapter 17 Tunnel Teeth
TUNNEL TEETH
DOMINIC
Cal walked into Ravenswood like he hadn't spent two days pretending I didn't exist.
I was in the east corridor with Noah, discussing security rotations for the upcoming gala, when I saw him.
The anger hit first. Then the relief I didn't want to feel. Then anger again because the relief made me feel weak.
Noah noticed him at the same time I did. His hand came up, a subtle warning gesture, but I was already moving.
“Dom,” Noah said quietly. “Not here.”
I ignored him. Closed the distance between me and Cal in six strides, using my size deliberately, crowding into his space the way I knew made most people step back.
Cal didn't step back. Just lifted those mismatched eyes to mine with an expression that was part challenge, part calculation, and completely infuriating.
“You have some nerve,” I said. Voice low.
“Good to see you too.”
“Two days.” I stepped closer. “You going to tell me what that was about, or are we pretending it didn't happen?”
“I've been working.”
“Bullshit.”
“Dom.” Noah's voice again. “This isn't the place.”
“Then he shouldn't have shown up uninvited.” I kept my eyes on Cal. “What are you doing here?”
Cal's jaw tightened fractionally. The only visible crack in his composure. “I need to speak with Adrian.”
Not I need to speak with you. Not I came to explain. He'd come to Ravenswood, walked into my territory, and immediately made it clear this wasn't about me at all.
“Adrian.” My voice came out rougher than intended. “You came here to see Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“Not me.”
“This isn't personal, Dom.” Cal shifted his weight slightly. Still holding his ground. Still refusing to give me anything real. “I need access to Eden. Adrian owns it. So I need to speak with Adrian. That's how this works.”
“How this works?” I repeated slowly. “You disappear and act like what happened between us was just another decision you've already moved past.”
“It was.” Cal's eyes stayed steady on mine. Cold. Detached. Everything I'd thought had cracked open that night locked down tight again. “And if you can't separate professional necessity from personal complications, that's your problem, not mine.”
Noah moved between us before I could respond. “Enough. Both of you.” He looked at me first. “Dom. Breathe.” Then at Cal. “And you. Stop poking him just because you can.”
“I'm not—”
“Yes, you are.” Noah's voice stayed calm but firm. “You're doing that thing where you turn clinical and cold because you're scared. I've seen it enough times to recognise it. So stop.”
Cal's mouth tightened. For a second I thought he might actually argue. Then footsteps echoed down the corridor, measured and deliberate, and we all turned.
Adrian.
He looked between the three of us. Took in my clenched fists. Cal's rigid posture. Noah's positioning between us. The tension thick enough to choke on.
“Dominic,” Adrian said quietly. “Stand down.”
I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell Adrian this was my business, my problem, my right to be angry. But Adrian's tone left no room for negotiation. So I stepped back. Put distance between me and Cal even though every instinct screamed to close it again.
“I need to speak with you. Privately.” Cal said.
Adrian studied Cal for a long moment. Then his gaze shifted to me with an expression I recognised—the particular look he got when pieces he'd been watching finally clicked into place exactly as he'd predicted.
“Callahan Mercer,” Adrian said. Not a question. A confirmation.
My chest tightened. “You knew.”
“Of course I knew. Did you think I wouldn't notice? That my security wouldn't flag an investigator with known grudges entering my territory?” Adrian's voice stayed level. Almost amused. “I've been waiting for you to tell me yourself.”
“I also seem to recall,” Adrian continued, “explicitly telling you to stay off this case.
That pursuing your sister's investigation would make you a target.” His eyes held mine.
“And yet here we are. With you not only pursuing it, but partnering with someone who's been hunting Harrow even longer than you have.”
“I couldn't let it go,” I said. “You knew I wouldn't.”
“I knew you wouldn't. Which is why I've been monitoring the situation. Making sure your partnership with Mr Mercer didn't get you killed before you had sense enough to ask for help.” Adrian moved around his desk. “What I didn't anticipate was how long you'd wait before coming to me honestly.”
“I didn't want to involve you unless it became necessary.”
“It became necessary the moment you started working with the likes of him.” Adrian's gaze hardened.
“I thought I could handle it.”
“You thought you could keep it separate.
Keep your partnership with Mr Mercer isolated from your work here.
Keep me at arm's length until you'd solved everything yourself.” Adrian's voice stayed level but carried weight.
“That's not how trust works, Dominic. That's not how this family works.
And if we're going to help you bring down Harrow, you need to stop treating me like a resource you access when convenient and start treating me like someone who deserves honesty.”
The words hit harder than they should have. Because he was right. I'd been compartmentalising. Keeping Cal's investigation separate from Adrian's world. Not because I didn't trust Adrian, but because involving him felt like admitting I couldn't handle this alone.
“You're right,” I said. “I should have told you.”
“Yes. You should have.” Adrian's expression softened fractionally. “But you're telling me now. So let's hear what Mr Mercer needs that's brought him to my door at this hour.”
He moved toward his office, then paused. Looked at me.
“My office. Noah, with me. Dominic—wait here.”
“Like hell.” The words came out before I could stop them. “If this is about the case—”
“Then you'll be included when appropriate. But right now, Mr Mercer came to speak with me. So you'll wait here until I decide whether this conversation concerns you.”
It was dismissal. Polite but absolute. The kind Adrian used when he'd made a decision and wouldn't be argued with.
Cal walked past me without meeting my eyes. Noah followed. Adrian moved last, pausing just long enough to give me a look that said control yourself without needing words.
The door to Adrian's office closed with a quiet click.
I stood in the corridor alone, fists clenched, jaw tight, trying to remember why murdering Cal would be counterproductive.
They were in there for twenty minutes. I spent all of them pacing, cataloguing exactly what I'd say when Cal came out.
How I'd make him explain what the hell he was playing at.
How I'd force him to acknowledge that disappearing without explanation after what we'd done wasn't tactical, it was cowardice.
When the door finally opened, Cal emerged first.
I was on him before he'd taken three steps.
“We're not done,” I said.
“There's nothing to discuss.” Cal tried to move past me. I blocked him. His eyes flashed. “Move, Dom.”
“Make me.”
“This is juvenile.”
I crowded closer. “What did you tell Adrian?”
“That's between me and him.”
“It involves my sister's case. That makes it my business.”
“Your sister's case involves a lot of things you don't know about yet.” Cal's voice went colder. “And maybe if you'd let me do my job instead of making everything about your feelings, we'd actually get somewhere.”
“My feelings.”
“Yes. Your need for explanations. Your need for me to check in. Your need to know every detail of my investigation because you can't stand not being in control.” Cal stepped closer instead of backing down.
My hand moved before I could think. Fisted in his jacket. Slammed him back against the wall with enough force to rattle his teeth.
“Dom!” Noah warned.
I ignored him. Kept my focus on Cal.
“You think this is about control? You think I'm angry because you didn't check in?”
“I think you're angry because I didn't stay.” Cal's breathing had gone uneven. “Because I left before you could turn what happened into something it wasn't.”
“And what was it?”
“A mistake. A complication.”
I leaned closer. Close enough to feel his breath on my face. Close enough to see his pupils dilate despite everything coming out of his mouth.
“You're lying,” I said quietly. “To me and to yourself. .”
“You don't know anything about what I want.”
My grip on his jacket tightened. “I know that whatever you told Adrian in there, you came to him instead of me because admitting you need help from me specifically would mean admitting this is real.”
Cal's jaw clenched. His hands came up, gripped my wrists, but didn't push me away. Just held on like he needed the contact as much as he hated it.
“Let go, Dom.”
“Give me a reason.”
“Because if you don't step back right now, I'm going to do something we'll both regret.”
“Like what?”
His mouth crashed into mine.
It wasn't careful. Wasn't controlled. Was all teeth and anger and two days of frustration compressed into one brutal kiss that tasted like fury and desperation. My hands released his jacket, moved to his face, holding him in place as I kissed him back with everything I couldn't say out loud.
His hands fisted in my shirt. Pulled me closer even as he bit my lip hard enough to draw blood. We broke apart gasping, foreheads pressed together, both breathing too hard.
“I hate you,” Cal whispered.
“No, you don't.”
“I should.”
“But you don't.” I kissed him again. Softer this time. “Stop running. Whatever this is, we figure it out together.”
“I don't know how to do together.” His voice cracked on the last word. “I don't know how to need someone and not have it destroy me.”
“Then we learn.” I pulled back enough to meet his eyes. “But you don't get to disappear again. And you definitely don't get to show up here and act like what happened between us meant nothing.”
Cal studied my face for a long moment. Then nodded once. “Fine. But if this goes sideways—”
“It won't.”
“You can't promise that.”
“Watch me.”