English Accent (The Accents #1)

We all make mistakes

Dominic remained his brooding version of himself for a long time.

Of course, he tried to hide it and act like everything was alright, but I knew better. For the first week I pretended I didn't see anything, but finally, my thin thread of patience snapped and asked. And, of course, he told me nothing was going on.

I knew he lied. I also knew it was probably the first time he ever lied to me. But I didn't say anything more.

Until the day I saw his hands.

We were sitting on his bed, - I still refused to sit my ass on their couch - watching a movie on his laptop when he reached out to take one of my hands in his. Instinctively, I looked down at our intertwined fingers and froze.

Dominic's knuckles were bruised, in some places even torn open. I could see it even in the dim light coming from the laptop screen, and I didn't want to know how they looked in the full light. All I knew that they weren't like that the day before. Right now they looked painful. Just like they looked after the feral night at the club.

The night he beat the shit out of that guy.

"Dom." I said calmly, still staring at his hands.

"Hm?" He didn't take his eyes off of the screen.

"What is it?"

Dominic tore his eyes away from the screen and looked at me. When I didn't raise my head, he followed my gaze resting on his palms. I knew the moment he got what I meant because he hissed in a breath and tried to snatch them away. I didn't let him, clamping my other hand over his. Both of us knew he could have easily broken my hold, but he didn't do it. Slowly, he raised his chin and I lifted my eyes to meet his gaze.

"You promised me something." I said quietly, squeezing his fingers lightly.

"Abi, it's not -"

"You promised me something." I repeated, my voice breaking in its coolness.

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my emotions on hold. I was seconds from exploding - I just didn't know whether once I did, it was going to be with tears or anger. Dominic must have sensed it, because he freed his hands and brought them up to cup both sides of my face. I tried to move away, but he didn't let me, forcing me to hold his gaze. He didn't pause the movie, so the sounds of some fight still sounded from the laptop, but they were so distant to me that they could as well be taking place somewhere in Panama. Everything apart from the ugly feeling of anger mixed with betrayal faded away.

"It was just a few hits." He began, pleading with me to believe him with his eyes. "We were in a bar and some guy advanced on Max. I had to help him out."

"It doesn't seem like just a few hits to me." I reasoned, lifting his hands.

He closed his eyes and exhaled, turning his head to the side. He looked exasperated and my heart ached for him, wanted to believe him. But my mind screamed for it to shut up and for me to get the hell out of there.

"I know I broke the promise." He whispered, pressing his forehead to mine. "And I know how much it meant to you. But I swear I had to. I didn't have much of a choice."

I tried - really tried - to look at it through his eyes. If Sierra needed help, I would probably do the same. Hell, I have done the same with Borah. I didn't even think, I just acted. And since Dominic wasn't much less reckless than I was, then I supposed it could have looked the same...

Taking a deep breath, I brought his bruised hands up and pressed them to my lips.

"Okay." I whispered, my lips brushing the injured skin of his knuckles.