CHAPTER 31
Theo
I went straight to my room and turned on my screens so I could see Sutton.
Dom was heading to her room to try to explain his colossal fuck up but if he expected privacy for it, he was sorely mistaken.
I was so angry with him that I wanted to knock his fucking teeth down his throat.
If he didn’t fix things with her, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t knock his teeth out.
Sutton was in her bed, staring up at the ceiling.
She looked like she was lost in thought but as soon as she heard her doorknob turning, she rolled to her side and curled up like she did when she slept.
When Dom let himself in and called her name she didn’t budge or make a sound.
She was pretending to be asleep. Dom walked across the room and called her name a couple more times but when she continued to pretend to be asleep, I watched him rub his face and then leave.
The second the door shut Sutton was out of her bed.
She crossed to the door and locked it before coming closer to the camera.
I shot to my feet as her tear-streaked face was caught in perfect clarity for a moment before the feed cut.
Just like that, I’d been cut off from her again. I was going to murder Dom.
I was still glaring at my reflection in the black screen when he let himself into my room. He didn’t seem to understand the danger facing him because he came right up to me and tapped my desk.
“Pull up the footage of her coming back here.”
I cut my eyes at him and scowled.
“You have a lot of fucking nerve.”
“Just—” He cut himself off and blew out a deep breath. “I know. Please, Theo. Pull it up.”
Knowing she’d been crying was bad enough but seeing it twisted something in my chest. I followed her through the cameras as she left the club and cut through the woods.
The look on her face was haunting as tears streaked down her cheeks.
We watched her run up the stairs and close herself in her room.
We watched as she changed into her pajamas and hid under the blanket.
I could’ve saved him for seeing her ignore him but I didn’t.
I let him see her face when she turned the camera off, too. He needed to see what he’d done.
“Fuck!” Turning, he paced away from me and then back again. “It’s my fucking job! The demonstration had been planned for weeks. It’s never been an issue to step in and lead things before.”
I knew Leon was coming before my door exploded open again. I also knew he was possibly even angrier than I was.
“Come on in, I guess.”
Leon grabbed the front of Dom’s shirt and got in his face.
“What the fuck were you thinking?”
Dom shoved him away and growled at both of us.
“I was doing my goddamn job. I have a club to run!”
“You didn’t think to have me take her somewhere else? Or just reschedule the demo? No! You fucking made her sit there and watch you. You think that makes sense to her?” Leon walked closer to me and nodded to the screens. “Can I see her?”
I glared at Dom as I answered. “She turned off the camera.”
“I fucked up. I get it. I’m not used to this shit.” He scrubbed his hands down his face. “I’ll fix it.”
Leon laughed. “Yeah? How? How are you going to fix how hurt she was by having to watch you make another woman come in front of her? You didn’t feel the way she turned to fucking stone, Dom. She didn’t fucking blink.”
Dom paced away from us and locked his hands on top of his head.
“There’s no other option. I’ll fix it.”
“I think we’ll be lucky if she doesn’t fucking quit.” Leon grabbed the door and held it open. “The kids like her. They’ll be crushed.”
I rubbed at my chest.
“She can’t leave. I’ll be fucking crushed. I’ll follow her. I’ll take Charlie and we’ll go where she goes.”
They both stared at me with matching looks of shock on their faces. Leon shut the door and leaned against it.
“Shit.”
“I’d never leave this family without protection but I’m not going to just sit here and watch her go. You made a choice that affected the family without asking us our opinion. If I have to make a choice to keep Sutton, I’ll do the same.” I shrugged. “She’s special.”
“She’s angry at you, too, Theo.” Dom was grasping at straws.
“Because I made her follow your directions. Leon and I held her down and made her watch because you fucking barked at her like an asshole to sit and stay. All of this is your fault. She was happy.”
Leon nodded and pushed away from the door.
“She came to me. She was worried we didn’t want her because she’d been bad at the club.
She said some shit about just being the nanny.
She fucking wanted more. She wanted us to want her the way she wanted us.
But she wasn’t sure we did. And now she thinks she knows that we don’t want her the same way.
She helped me work on the bike. In pink fucking pajamas that my Great Aunt Sue would’ve worn. If you ruined that for me…”
“I’ll fucking fix it.” Dom went to the door and yanked it open. “I care about her, too. She isn’t a fleeting fucking feeling. She’s meant to be here. I didn’t fuck that up. I didn’t.”
Leon followed him out and then I was alone in my room with my screens and thoughts. I watched the screen that showed Sutton’s bedroom door for as long as I could before going to it. When I tried to slip it open, though, it wouldn’t budge. She’d pushed something in front of it.
Pain. It was blinding.