The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Dominic followed along with me until we were in my room. Then, he shut the door behind us and sat in the large chair in front of the bed. I tugged off my robe leaving my dress on. Then I took a seat on the bed and faced him.

"Sor--"

He held up his hand, then took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After a few seconds passed, he slowly released it. "Matty, I love you."

"I know you do, and I--"

"No, let me talk." He took off his glasses and set them on the table beside him so he could rub his eyes.

I nodded as I looked at him with a pained expression.

"Matty, do you remember the day we first met?"

I nodded and, at his expression, answered his question. "Aisha came over and made your dad give me a job. I wandered into the kitchen, and you gave me a cannoli, then started singing. "

He chuckled with a weariness I had never heard from my eternally cheerful friend. "You came into my kitchen with your wild mop of curly dark hair and your tiny body, and I knew I'd finally found who I was looking for."

I swallowed, then nodded at him. Dominic's kitchen had been my oasis, even though I wasn't entirely certain why. I'd always had Luis, but the only place I'd felt at home was at Dominic's counter while he fed me cheesecake. "The song was 'I'll cover you.'" I recalled.

He left the chair and approached me on his knees, then put his large hands on either side of my thighs. He dropped his head onto my lap, and I felt his tears begin to soak the silk of my dress. "Matty, I was content being the friend of the sun. But now I feel like I'm not even that. You didn't trust me."

I put my hand on his head and stroked his soft, auburn hair. He turned his head to the side on my lap as he cried. Tears were glistening on his dark reddish-brown lashes, and one dropped to make its journey to my lap.

A thousand rebuttals immediately came to my mind, but none of them escaped my lips because they were all lies. "No, I thought you'd try to stop me the way Ciaran did because I might harm the babies."

"The babies... matter. They're your babies, so of course, they matter to me too. But I understand the stakes, Matty. " He lifted his tear-streaked face to me. "Don't you get it? I've always been on your side from the day I saw how happy my food made you. I saw the scared little boy trying to be brave, and I saw the shadow of pain in your eyes. I wanted to cover you - not to control you, nothing like that. I just wanted to make you smile. It's probably why I got the power to be your shield."

"I'm--" He cut off my apology with a kiss and leaned forward so that his hands were balancing on either side of my hips. I tasted the salt of his tears on my mouth as I welcomed him, which started my own tears flowing. I'd hurt one of my friends again. He pulled us both up onto the bed and cradled me in his arms as he pressed more tender kisses into my hair and cheeks.

"You're letting someone lead you by the nose, Matty," Dom said as he rested my head against his chest and stroked my hair. "First Luis, damn him, and now Ciaran. I fear that Ciaran is far worse than that possessive dog."

I wrestled with the pain of his truths. "They both love me. They aren't trying to hurt me."

"No. Manipulation isn't real love, Matty. What's more awful is that I saw what Luis was doing to you for four years, and I didn't do enough to stop it."

"I didn't let you in, so how could you."

He squeezed me gently, "No, you didn't, and it drove me nuts. I always hoped one day you would, that's why I was on top of the world when all this happened, but now I feel like I did back then. You'd dance around me but never with me. Nevertheless, I knew you kept questioning yourself. You always wanted to know what everyone thought."