Chapter 19 #2
Cassian set his glass down with finality. “Right,” he said brightly, turning to Miguel and Logan. “You two want me to introduce you to some of the girls? Feels like the right moment.”
Logan blinked. “Uh—yeah.”
Miguel hesitated, eyes moving between Dominic and Knox. “You good?”
“I’m good,” he said.
Cassian gave him one last knowing look before steering the other two into the crowd.
That’s when Dominic stopped in front of him. Close enough that Knox could feel the heat of him through the thin space between them. The music still pulsed around them, bodies moved, glasses clinked—but the noise had dulled, like someone had turned the world’s volume down.
He looked exactly as Knox remembered. Sharp suit, open collar, dark stubble framing the hard line of his jaw. The fractured club lights caught against his skin and carved his features into something even more severe. His hazel eyes were fixed on Knox, their intensity unmistakable.
Two weeks.
Two weeks and the tension hadn’t thinned at all.
If anything, the absence had concentrated it, distilled it into something Knox felt in his throat and chest and the back of his neck.
He became acutely aware of the shirt he’d chosen.
The care he’d taken. The fact that Dominic’s gaze had traveled over it.
God.
Dominic didn’t ease into conversation. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s a club,” he replied. “People come here to have a good time.”
Dominic’s jaw shifted, not in amusement. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?”
Dominic looked at him like the answer should’ve been obvious. “Don’t play dumb. You didn’t walk into my club by accident.”
Knox’s brow twitched, hating that it was true. “You really think everything I do revolves around you?”
“No?” Dominic said. “Then why this place?”
Knox shrugged. “It’s close.”
“There are at least five bars closer to your apartment.”
Knox felt the heat rise before he could stop it. He opened his mouth to deflect, to make light of it—but what came out instead wasn’t calculated at all. “You disappeared for two weeks.”
The words hung there. Knox felt it the second they left his mouth. The mistake. He hadn’t meant to give that much away. To let it show that he’d counted the days, and that the silence had gotten under his skin.
Dominic’s expression iced over. “I was working.”
Knox blinked, thrown off by how flat it landed. “That’s it?”
“What did you expect? That I’d be there holding your hand the whole time?” His eyes narrowed. “You’re not a child. And I don’t do that.”
Knox felt something bruise under the surface, but he held his ground. “Then why are you here now? You could have stayed away.”
“You came into my space,” Dominic replied. “That makes it my business.”
“I didn’t realize I needed clearance.”
“You don’t,” Dominic said smoothly. “But don’t pretend you didn’t know where you were coming—or why.”
That landed closer than Knox liked. The truth of it left him tongue-tied, scrambling for a response that wouldn’t reveal any more. But Dominic’s gaze cut deep, reading the silence for exactly what it was.
Knox held his ground. “You vanished,” he said. “After telling me I wasn’t like the others. That’s a hell of a way to invest in longevity.”
Dominic’s eyes flashed at that—at the fact Knox remembered his exact phrasing. “I didn’t vanish,” he replied evenly. “I was busy.”
“For two whole weeks?”
“Yes. Now tell me why you’re here.”
Knox’s pulse ticked harder. “Why should I answer that when you’re not being truthful?”
“I am being truthful.”
“No,” Knox said, shaking his head. “You’re being selective.”
Something darkened in Dominic’s eyes. “You get what I choose to give you.”
“Great,” Knox huffed. “And I’m supposed to just… what? Answer on command?”
“You’re the one who came here,” Dominic said. “If you had nothing to say, you could’ve stayed home.”
“That doesn’t mean I owe you anything.”
“Then don’t answer,” Dominic said. “And we’re done here.”
The dismissal was deliberate. A step back without moving an inch.
Knox’s jaw tightened. “Fine. I’ll answer you. But you go first.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not how this works.”
“It is now.”
A beat. The music pulsed around them. Neither moved.
Knox held his gaze, searching for a crack and finding none. “You want the truth? Then give me yours first.”
Dominic studied him. Probably measuring cost and calculating outcome. The silence stretched long enough that Knox thought he’d refuse entirely. “One answer,” he said at last.
Knox nodded. “Why did you vanish?”
A flicker of irritation crossed Dominic’s face at the phrasing. Then he exhaled slowly through his nose. “I kept my distance.”
Knox went very still. “Why?”
“Because what happened that night wasn’t strategic,” he said. “And I don’t make decisions based on impulse.”
The memory flared without permission—hardwood floors, Dominic’s hand in his hair, the sound he’d made when he lost control. Heat crawled up Knox’s spine. “And I make you impulsive?” he asked.
Dominic didn’t blink. “Yes,” he said. Controlled. Like he’d weighed the admission and decided it was acceptable damage.
Knox went rigid. “That sounds like poor self-control,” he said.
A dangerous curve touched Dominic’s mouth. “Just a miscalculation.”
Knox’s lips thinned. “So now I’m a miscalculation?”
“You were,” Dominic said. “That’s been corrected.”
The words should have stung. They didn’t; they did something else entirely. Knox felt his pulse kick harder, adrenaline rising. “Then why are you standing here?”
For a fraction of a second, Dominic’s composure thinned. “Because distance doesn’t work when you deliberately walk into my club hoping to find me.”
Knox’s throat tightened. Dominic was standing too close. Close enough for Knox to see the tension in his shoulders and a vein pulsing at his temple.
“Your turn,” Dominic said, each word deliberate. “Why are you here?”
Knox held his gaze. “I wanted to see you.”
Silence.
Dominic’s nostrils flared, the only crack in his composure. “You’ve seen me,” he said. Like that settled it.
Knox’s brow pulled. “That’s it?”
Dominic’s eyes raked over him, slow enough to make Knox feel every second of it. Then, in a voice that was far too calm: “You stupid boy. You really have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
Knox held his gaze. “I think I do.”
“If you’re smart,” Dominic said, “you don’t push this.
” Then he stepped back. The space between them widened by inches, but it felt like a wall going up.
Dominic adjusted his cuff, gaze sweeping the room as if recalibrating to the larger space.
“Enjoy your drink,” he said. “Don’t make me regret letting you stay here. ”
He turned and walked away, stepping back into his world without looking back.
Knox stood there, his teeth clenched so hard he could feel the ache in his jaw. He’d seen it—that brief fracture in Dominic’s composure before it sealed itself shut again.
Now Dominic was across the room, head inclined toward whoever had approached, one hand resting casually in his pocket. Like nothing had happened. Like Knox hadn’t mattered enough to linger on.
That made something unpleasant burn in his chest. Reckless energy crawled under his skin with nowhere to go. He grabbed his glass and knocked back the rest of the alcohol in one swallow. It barely cut through the frustration.
He knew Dominic didn’t owe him his attention.
The adrenaline flooding his system didn’t care about that.
It wanted friction. It wanted to see that flash in Dominic’s eyes.
Fuck it.
He set his empty glass on the bar harder than necessary and turned away from it. Cassian and the others were somewhere near the stage. He shoved through the crowd, shoulder clipping someone who cursed at him as he passed.
He would give Dominic something to react to.