4. Ryan #2
Dominic just snorted. “Yeah, actually, I do. Sharing a bed with someone of the same sex doesn’t make you gay.You eyeing my biceps like you want to sink your teeth into them though? That might make you gay. Or bi, maybe.”
He’s just baiting you to get a reaction, I reminded myself. Did I occasionally check out Dominic’s physique? Sure. But not because I was attracted to him, but because I wanted to be like him.
I fucking hated it, but it was the truth. I’d never admit it out loud, but I wanted to be more like him and Max. I wanted the confidence. The friendships. The girls. I wanted to know what it was like to walk through life knowing every door would be opened for me.
Not looking for shadows to hide in.
“You’re full of bullshit.” I moved to the side of my bed and glared down at him. “Get out, Dominic. You’ve had your fun and I’m shattered.”
Both his eyes opened as his lips curled into a smirk. “Oh, Ry. I haven’t even started the fun yet.”
For fuck’s sake. “Don’t you have anything better to do than piss me off?”
“Nope, can’t say I do. Like I said, Max is busy, so you get the pleasure of my company.”
“What could he possibly be doing that you can’t do with him?”
“Fucking,” Dominic said bluntly.
I winced. Of course he was. Max didn’t scurry home from his art class to pick up the house. He was too busy getting his dick wet.
Alright for some.
Dominic misunderstood my reaction. “Don’t worry though, it won’t come back on you this time.”
“I wasn’t worried about that.” After the two blokes today had run away from me, I suspected I’d be okay for a while. On that front, at least. “Why aren’t you off getting laid too?”
“Decided I’d rather torment you instead.”
“Wow. Lucky me.”
He flashed his teeth in a grin. “If I’d realised you were this much fun, maybe I would’ve started doing so earlier.”
I shot him a bored stare. “What makes you think I want to be tortured by you?”
“I said tormented, not tortured.”
“What’s the difference?”
Dominic stood up slowly. Thanks to my proximity to the bed, there were only a few inches between us. “Torment is done without malice. I’m doing it because I like seeing this side of you, Shadow.”
I growled, digging a finger into his chest. “Don’t call me that.”
His grin only grew. He wrapped a hand around my finger. “Aw, and after I was so helpful. What a way to thank me.”
Helpful? What the fuck was he on about now? And why the fuck was he holding my finger?
I opened his mouth to tell him, once again, to get out, but my gaze snagged on his scabbed over knuckles. Pieces fell into place in my mind, but only to create a picture I didn’t understand. One of bullies with black eyes and split lips. Running in the opposite direction at the mere sight of me.
No. He didn’t. He couldn’t have.
But then there was the quiet way Dominic was watching me. Like he was waiting for me to have this exact realisation.
Oh fuck. He did. He beat the shit out of them.
For me.
Something rushed through me. A feeling I’d never felt before. It raced too fast for me to catch it, nothing more than a passing wave that left confusion in its wake. “Why would you do that?”
Dominic shrugged. He was doing that a lot tonight. Was he playing it cool to fuck with me? Or was he as confused about his behaviour as I was? “Didn’t seem right that you took a beating for Max, so I returned the favour.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
He met my eyes steadily. “And Max didn’t ask you to pay for his mistakes either, but here we are.”
“Thank you.” The words tasted foreign in my mouth. Not because I wasn’t used to saying them, but because I’d sure as shit never said them to Dominic before.
“Don’t be thanking me yet, Shadow.” Dominic’s smirk was back. It was a warning sign. A red fucking flag that he had something up his sleeve. “This one was free, but if you want me to get everyone else to leave you alone, it’s going to cost you.”
Typical Dominic. He couldn’t just do something out of the goodness of his heart. Unless it was for Max, of course. Then the limits of his generosity knew no bounds.
I wasn’t buying into his bullshit though. “What makes you think I need you to do that?”
He prowled closer. His chest was brushing against mine now, the spicy aftershave he preferred filling my nostrils. I gritted my teeth to stop myself taking a step back.
“Because I’ve been watching you, Shadow. You were right, there’s a lot of things I hadn’t been seeing. Like how you hide out in the library. The way you cling to walls as you go between lessons.”
I hated that he’d noticed that. I lifted my chin defiantly, refusing to let him see it. “So? That doesn’t mean anything.”
Condescension dripped from his smile. “Not on its own, no. But the snide comments? The way certain people trip you up as you pass? The time you got shoved into the lockers? Those all mean something.”
Shame had me wanting to tuck my chin. To retreat to a place of safety where the truth of what Dominic was saying couldn’t find me. But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d got to me. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
His eyes darkened. “Those bruises suggest otherwise.”
“I don’t need your protection, Dominic.”
He picked a piece of lint off my shoulder. “But you want it.Everything would be easier if I told everyone to back off. You could actually enjoy college, rather than just counting down the days until you fuck off to uni.”
“How do you know that’s what I’ve been doing?”
His gaze flicked to mine, almost bored. “I told you—I’ve been paying attention.”
I wrestled with myself. He was right. My life would be a fuck-tonne easier if I didn’t have to live my life constantly looking over my shoulder.
But that would mean accepting help from Dominic, of all people.
That was even before we took into account whatever ridiculous demand he had for ‘payment.’ We both knew I had no money.
No one on our estate did. It was another reason why I was so fucking desperate to leave.
There were lots of grandiose ideals spouted about growing up in poverty, but let me tell you now—it fucking sucked.
We were better off now than we once had been, thanks to Mum retraining to be a teacher, but that didn’t mean we had a lot of money going spare.
My art class was paid for by the early morning paper round I’d had since I was thirteen.
So, no. Whatever Dominic wanted, it wouldn’t be money. I couldn’t think of a single thing he might ask me for that I’d be willing to give. “Why not just do it out of the goodness of your own heart? Or because I’m Max’s twin? Surely that should be enough reason to help me?”
“Trust me, you being Max’s twin is the last thing that makes me want to help you.” His lip curled. “Knowing that is almost enough to make me say ‘fuck it all’ and walk out of here.”
“Then why don’t you?”
There was a pause. “I don’t know.”
“You’re a real dick.”
His expression smoothed out. “I am. Don’t ever forget that, Shadow.”
The fatigue from earlier was back now, making it harder to keep this argument going.
That was the only reason I had for what I said next.
If I’d been more awake, if I’d been thinking clearly, there was no way I would’ve even deigned to consider Dominic’s ridiculous proposal.
“What sort of payment are we talking about?”
Dominic thumbed at my lower lip. I was so startled that I didn’t pull back. “It’s pretty straightforward.I want you to get on your knees, Ry, and suck my cock.”