Chapter 55
Rayna
“There’s been a slight change in who’s coming with who,” George announced as he thumped hurriedly down the stairs of their house.
Rayna emptied the packet of crisps into a white bowl and pushed it closer to the other bowls of snacks scattered around the kitchen counter.
She lifted her gaze to her adopted brother as he plodded through their open-plan living area and stopped by the dining table where Benedict was laying out the selection of board games he’d brought with him.
The three of them were hosting a games night for their friends as they hadn’t really seen each other over the Peace Celebrations, having spent the international event with their receptive families as usual instead.
“River had to grab something from the lab,” George said, “so Erin and Jake are on their way to pick up Kelly, which means it’s gonna take them a bit longer to get here.”
“And it took you half an hour to find that out?” Rayna said in a dead tone, dumping the empty pack in a bin tucked against the end of the counter.
Benedict grunted, while George grimaced sheepishly. “Sorry, I got distracted.”
Rayna rolled her eyes and grabbed a cheesy breadstick from the bowl of snacks, popping it into her mouth as she sauntered to the table. But before she could ask which game they were going to vote to start the night with, the ring of the doorbell echoed from the front of the house.
“Is that the food?” Benedict asked, stretching his neck as if he could see past the curtains drawn over the windows that overlooked the street.
“No, I scheduled the delivery for after seven,” Rayna said.
Being the closest to the glass-panelled doors that separated the entrance hallway from the rest of the downstairs, George headed towards them. “It’s probably River,” he said.
He moved out of view, then the clunk of the door being pulled open filtered through. Only to be followed by absolute silence rather than the sound of George greeting someone.
Rayna glanced at Benedict just as he looked at her, both of them frowning in confusion. But faint footsteps had them gazing back towards the doors.
George came through, his face pale and eyes round like he’d seen a ghost. “Rayna…there’s someone here to see you.”
Rayna’s heart slipped a little in her chest, her lips parting to ask who.
But her voice vanished when she saw a bouquet of red roses held by familiar, tanned hands.
Long, muscular legs clad in loose, dark grey jeans, striding with a confident swagger.
A sturdy torso wrapped in a thin cream sweater, and thick arms tucked neatly into a brown leather jacket.
Broad shoulders. An angular jaw, cleanly shaven but always shadowed. A dent in the chin, firm lips, an aristocratic nose, straight brows, a head of luscious dark brown hair…
Yellow eyes, somewhere between the colour of honey and gold. Ringed in amber. Fanned in wisps of black. Expressive to a fault. A gateway to his heart.
The heart she’d broken. Belonging to the man who had stolen hers and left her bleeding without it.
Rayna’s body swayed, the back of her thighs meeting the edge of the table, as she sucked in a shaky breath.
Her mind was trying to convince her she was hallucinating, but the buzzing, burning sensation making her skin prickle was far too intense for him to be a figment of her imagination.
Then he edged forward, and his mouth curled. Small. Unsure. Hopeful. Yearning.
“Hello, my love,” Dominic rasped, his voice deep and thick with emotion.
Rayna spun away, choking on a quiet noise.
Five months and three weeks.
She hadn’t seen him, hadn’t heard his voice in nearly six months, regretting how she’d let him go day after day, missing him to the point of feeling like her heart would stop.
It had been five months since Victor had given her Dominic’s signet ring and told her to trust him, never elaborating any further.
Over twenty bloody weeks of waiting to know what that meant!
Of clutching the ring around her neck, staring at every door, hoping he’d walk in, and she could say everything he hadn’t given her enough time to say.
Dominic had finally walked in, but she couldn’t remember anything she’d wanted to say.
All she could hear was the frenzied beat of her heart, drumming to the relieved, shocked rhythm of he’s here, he’s back, he came back.
As she stared at the wall opposite, her eyes wide and stinging, she caught George yanking at Benedict’s arm until they both stumbled out of her periphery. Then a set of fingers touched her arm.
“Rayna—”
“Don’t touch me,” she snapped, jerking away, stumbling several steps along the table.
She whirled around, and the crinkle of hurt around Dominic’s eyes wrenched a sob from her.
No. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. But she—he—
“You left,” she accused, the click of the front door twining through her wet voice. “You left me.”
Dominic’s expression wilted further as he curled his shoulders in. “I had to, my love. You were right. Your mother was right. I could not fix my Rupture from here. The only way to do so was by going back to my own time. So I made a deal with Sheun.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she rumbled. “Why did you let me believe you’d actually left?”
He absently placed the bouquet on top of the boxes of games Benedict had laid out, coming a pace towards her.
“I did not wish to, but it was the only deal Sheun would make in case I failed to fix it. She said there was less of a chance you would try to bring me back if you did not know what I was doing in the first place.”
Somewhere in her mind, she understood the reasoning, even if she hated it, hated Sheun even more, but she couldn’t accept it right then.
“Then how did you come back?” she questioned. “Someone had to bring you back, and I clearly wasn’t part of the plan, so who was it?”
“River,” he muttered.
Her heart cracked, but she wasn’t shocked by the answer. A part of her had already known.
“And V too, huh?”
“They did it for you, my love.”
She knew that, she did, but she was just so angry and hurt, so relieved that it had worked, and the mixture was messing with her head.
Rayna turned away from Dominic again, but this time, when he called her name, he also grabbed her wrist, pulling her back around. And it snapped something inside her.
“You tried to leave while I was sleeping,” she yelled, slamming her hands into his chest.
He barely swayed, his gaze turning glassy with guilt. “I thought it would hurt less.”
She pushed again, making a sound of pain as her vision swam. “You hid my fucking car keys!” She slammed him harder. “You tried to stop me from getting to you.”
He tipped towards her. “I was desperate.”
Her arms shook and tears rolled down her cheeks, but still she shoved at him. “You never said goodbye.”
“I could not.” His voice cracked. “Saying goodbye was the same as admitting I was never going to see you again. But I refused to accept that. I was going to find a way back to you.”
She fisted his jumper and tried to shake him in a burst of fury. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“I’m sorry. I am so sorry, my love.”
Just like that, all her anger and the energy that came with it were gone. She slumped towards him, shaking and crying as she clung to him.
“You made me fall in love with you,” she blubbered. “And then you left. I thought you left me. I thought I—I thought I’d lost you forever. I thought you’d forgotten me. That you were going to marry Lady Claire and have the family you’d promised me.”
His hands went around her wrist and covered the fist over his heart. “I would never have married her. I could not even bring myself to meet her for months without feeling sick to my stomach.”
“But I didn’t know that! I didn’t know anything, not even when V gave me your ring. All I could do was hope it meant you were coming back. But you never came.”
“I was trying. Every day I was trying to find a way to reduce my Rupture so I could come back to you. You must have known that, Rayna.”
“But I couldn’t do anything to help,” she snapped.
“All I could do was wait, and do you know how hard it’s been?
Not knowing if or when you were coming back?
Watching months go by and feeling myself lose hope?
Crying myself to fucking sleep nearly every night because I missed you?
” She pulled at him. “I don’t cry! I never cry.
But that’s all I’ve done since you left! ”
Liquid filled his golden gaze. “I never wanted to make you cry.”
She struggled for a gasp of air, forcing herself to stand tall. “Then don’t ever leave me again.”
Dominic’s face crumpled on a gritted sound.
“Promise me,” she demanded. “Promise you’ll never leave me again, or I swear I’ll—”
He scooped her into his arms and pressed his face into her neck. “Never,” he whispered. “Never. I vow to you I will never leave you again, my love.”
Choking on a sob, Rayna looped her arms around his neck, squeezed her eyes shut, and nestled into him.
For long minutes, they stayed locked in the bittersweet embrace of long-lost lovers who had doubted whether they would see each other again.
She buried a hand in his hair and filled her lungs with his warm, comforting musk.
He did the same, touching her all over, breathing her in, and whispering words of love and apology as he stroked her hair.
When Rayna untangled herself from around him, she was sitting on one of the sofas, and Dominic was kneeling on the rug between her knees. He kept his arms around her waist as she cupped his jaw in her palms.
She mapped the beautiful planes of his face. He stared back. She traced the damp pinkness under one of his eyes with her thumb, and he nuzzled his cheek against her palm.
Her chest clenched.
“I love you,” she uttered, meaning the words with everything in her.
He stilled, his gaze immediately glazing over. “Truly?”
Gosh, did his small voice break her heart all over again.
She nodded rapidly. “Yes, I do. So much. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“Do not apologise—”
“No, I have to. Because I should have told you then, but I didn’t.
I let you leave without knowing, and I’m so, so sorry for that.
” She angled his face right before hers.
“I’m sorry for pushing you away too. And I’m sorry I told you that you didn’t belong here.
You do. You belong with me. Always. No matter where we are. ”
A slow smile spread across his lips, turning into a stunning, liquid grin that he pressed into each of her palms before bringing it closer to her own smile.
When he was a hair’s breadth away, he whispered, “I love you.”
He kissed her, not giving her the chance to say it back.
But she’d tell him again. Later. Every chance she got. Between all the talking they still had to do. Because there were lots of words yet to say, things to do and discuss and plan for, questions to ask and be answered, but all of that could wait.
Right then, all Rayna wanted to do was hold the man she loved.
Benedict:
So I left all my games and car keys inside can I come and get them quickly?
Hello?
Rayna??
HELLO
Youre not going to answer are you?
Fucks sake
Fine I’ll come tomorrow