Chance • {Dominic Sherwood; 1}

018. it's true

tw: talk of sexual abuse

When Dom knocked on Annabelle's door with the pizza a little while later, he knew as soon as the door swung open that she'd been drinking. She smiled at him sillily and he cocked his head to the side as he stepped into the apartment.

"Are you drunk, Miss Woods?" he asked her in a joking tone, and she nodded instantly.

"A little," she said, smiling again and throwing herself at him. He just barely managed to set the pizza down on the kitchen counter as she wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back, laughing as she squeezed him. He'd never seen her drunk before; in fact she'd told him once that she never wanted him to see her drunk because she turned into a self-described "word-vomitter".

"I thought I wasn't allowed to see you like this," he observed, and she giggled.

"Yeah, well, I was already a little drunk when you said you were coming over and I didn't want to not see you, so..." she trailed off, motioning to the bottle of wine on the counter.

"Did you know that your cheeks get very red when you're a little drunk?" he asked her, and she nodded.

"Yeah, I did... did you know that I also think you're beautiful when I'm a little drunk?" she asked, laughing so hard she made herself snort.

"No, I didn't know that. News to me," he said, smiling and kissing her sweetly on the forehead. "Come on, let's get you to the couch. You need pizza grease to soak up some of that wine, I'd say," he said, and she nodded, still laughing at herself.

An hour and three slices of pizza later, Annabelle had sobered up just enough that she wasn't a giggly mess anymore. Instead, she'd shifted into a pensive drunk.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Dom asked her finally after she'd been silent for almost twenty minutes.

"I don't deserve your kindness," she said, and he instantly shook his head.

"I've told you before to stop talking down about yourself to me. I'm only going to insist you're wrong because you are. Of course you deserve my kindness. You're absolutely lovely," he told her, reaching for her and clutching onto her hand. She held his back, and when he looked up at her again, there were tears in her eyes.

"I... I've never told anyone what I'm about to tell you. Never. Nora doesn't even know," she said quietly, a single tear spilling down her cheek. Dom nodded, turning towards her further and giving her his complete attention. Annabelle traced the lines on his palm, mustering her courage.

"You can trust me, little one," he said, and she nodded, knowing she could. She stared down at their hands and traced more lines and circles into his palm as she began to speak.

"I... was molested for most of my childhood by a friend of my mom's. It started at about the time I was seven and lasted until I was fourteen or fifteen. He always told me he'd kill me if I told anyone or tried to get him to stop in any way, and I believed him... I still believe he would've if he'd had the chance," she paused to take a deep breath, and when she looked up again there were tears in Dom's eyes too.

"I'd grown up calling him my uncle. I'd looked at him as family, and then... then he took advantage of me, of that bond. I didn't know it was wrong for a long time. I thought... it was just what was supposed to happen. I was so young, Dom, and so scared. It happened once or twice a week for years. Finally, I plucked up the courage to tell my mom. She was shocked when I told her; angry at herself because she hadn't see it and devastated that I hadn't told her. At the time I think she took it as meaning I didn't trust her. She didn't understand that I'd just been scared to death, you know?"

"Well, he went to jail. He went to jail and my mom and I did everything we could to make sure Nora never found out because it just wasn't something she needed to know, something she needed to be put through. But I was so fucked up because of it. I was so fucked up and I didn't know how to cope with it. I spent most of my teenage years thinking it was my fault. I went to therapist after therapist and nothing ever helped. I started doing drugs and drinking and cutting myself and that's how I became the mess I am today. There are still days when I go back in my mind and blame myself and wonder why the hell I wasn't braver, why I didn't say something sooner," she paused, looking up at Dom bashfully through her wet eyelashes. His face was tear-stained and something about how absolutely vulnerable he looked made her own tears start pouring faster and more steadily.

"Belles,-" he started but she waved her hand in front of him, cutting him off.

"I know, you're sorry. You don't know what to say. It's okay. I didn't tell you because I wanted you to be sorry. I told you because I've never trusted someone like I trust you. I've never told anyone that, but for some reason I've wanted to confide it in you since that night you came over here and cleaned me up and helped me when I cut myself. I've never wanted to tell anyone before. I've only ever wanted to try as desperately as possible to hide it. But you bring out something in me, Dom. You make me feel... alive for the first time in a long time and it's fucking fantastic," she said, sobs shaking her as she spoke.

"Annabelle... I-" he started, but she put a finger to his lips, knowing by the look in his eye what he was about to say.

"Don't say it right now. Say it in the morning when I'm not a little drunk and you're not feeling compelled to just because I told you that story. Say it when you've thought about it," she said, and he started to argue but she stopped him by pressing her lips to his for the first time.

He held her close to him, pressing their bodies together as she tangled a hand into his hair and slipped the other one up the back of his shirt. She could feel goosebumps rise over the soft skin of his back and leaned closer into him, giving herself to him completely through the kiss.

He pulled away a few moments later and looked deeply into her eyes, smiling at her.

"Even if you won't let me say it, I want you to know that it's true," he said, making her heart do back flips in her chest. She smiled happily at him, burying her face in his neck.

•••••

a/n: so, i actually had most of this chapter written before anything else in this story. it just came to me, before i even knew clearly who i wanted the love interest to be. i had annabelle's character almost completely constructed before i even decided on dom, and i think that's why i love her so much. also, i know their relationship is moving pretty fast when originally according to them it wasn't supposed to. that's the way i always pictured it; that they'd fall for each other kind of without really meaning to.