Chapter Twenty-Six

“You gonna stick by me?”

“Maybe…”

**

"Letty??? You here??? Where the fuck is everyone and why the fuck doesn't anyone answer the fucking phone around this goddamned place?" Dom roared as he walked into the garage. Well...walked isn't exactly the right word. Limped is more like it. Hobbled, maybe.

I was completely speechless when I saw him. His shirt was torn and dirty, there was blood running down the side of his face... He looked like he'd been drug along behind a car for a few hundred miles.

"Dom?" I finally managed to ask, walking up to him. "What the hell happened to you? Are you okay?"

He didn't say anything, just grabbed me up in his arms and squeezed me, and I was immediately reminded of that night when he was arrested.

"Is...is everyone okay?" I asked hesitantly, not sure I wanted to hear the answer. "Leon and Amber? Nothing... Did something happen to them? Something bad?"

"I thought...God, I thought... I thought they were here..."

"Dom?" I asked again, wondering if I was supposed to have a clue what he was talking about. "You thought who was here? No one's come in all day...Mia just went over to the house to finish up some homework, but it's been just the two of us here all afternoon... Who did you think was here?"

"Lance...they said Lance was here..." he mumbled, and I had to lean in close to hear him. I remember thinking that I'd never seen Dom this upset before, not even when his dad died.

"Lance? Lance who? Johnny's cousin, Lance? Lance Nguyen? What the fuck would he be doing here?"

"They said he came here to hurt you, Letty... They said he was here, hurting you, and there was nothing I could do about it... They said Lance was hurting you to pay me back and that after they were done with me they were all going to come hurt you too... You're... You're okay? He didn't... No one hurt you, did they?"

"Dom...I'm fine!" I said, trying to get my words to sink in. "I'm fine, baby... No one hurt me, no one at all. Here," I continued, grabbing his hand and rubbing it along my face, “I'm fine, see? Now...what happened? Who did this to you?"

I finally got Dom to tell me what'd happened after he called the house to check on Mia. He'd calmed down, but he was still acting weird... We sat down on the old couch in the office, and he practically pulled me into his lap. Not that I minded. But it wasn't sexual at all, more like he just needed to reassure himself that I was actually there.

"Well," he started explaining as he stroked my hair. "You know that race that was supposed to be tomorrow? The other day, I got a call saying it'd been changed to tonight. Something with the cops coming around or some shit like that."

"Who called?" I asked, frowning. It wasn't like Dom to trust just anyone. And if one of his friends had sold him out... They were going to have hell to pay, just as soon as I found out who'd done it.

"I don't even know," he answered, slowly, like he didn't want to tell me. "Guy just said he was helping get the word out to everyone about the date change for the race. I didn't even think to ask what his name was. And before you say anything, yes, I know how dumb I was; and no, I don't know what the fuck I was thinking; and no, I'll never do anything like that again for the rest of my life."

"Better not, if this is where it gets you," I muttered under my breath. "Or I'll have to kick your ass myself..."

"Yeah, well...somehow I think I'd enjoy that more," Dom laughed, and I had to keep myself from wincing at the pained look that crossed his face.

I wanted to get up, so my weight wouldn't hurt him, but Dom wouldn't let go of me. His grip on me tightened, actually, pulling me closer to him as I tried to squirm out of his lap.

"No, baby...stay here," he whispered against my hair, so low I could barely hear him, wrapping his arms around me. "Stay here...stay with me. I need you...I need to feel you…"

"Okay, okay, I'm not going anywhere," I murmured, and he relaxed a little. "So," I continued after a few minutes of silence, "what happened then?"

"Well," he started, slowly, "there wasn't anyone around when I got out to where the race was supposed to be. A few cars parked here and there, but no one wandering around. Figured maybe I was early, or maybe they'd had to completely cancel the race and just hadn't been able to get a hold of me or something. Tried to call Hector, see if he knew what was going on, but I couldn't get through on my cell. So I got out of the car, to look around a bit..."

"Ugh," I groaned, thinking of every dumb horror movie where the girl does something incredibly stupid that you just know is gonna get her killed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Dom said softly. "Not the best idea I've ever had."

"No, not really," I replied, trying to resist the urge to smack him around some for sheer stupidity. I couldn't even imagine what Dom'd been thinking. Normally he was so careful, so aware of his surroundings.

"I walked up to a few of the cars, to see if the people in them knew what was going on. But they were all empty, like they'd just been abandoned out there. Perfectly good cars, too. Nothing wrong with them. Unlocked, even. It was just creepy. I started walking back towards my car, was gonna try to call Hector again. But before I got there, a whole group of cars pulled up. Figured it was just everyone finally showing up for the race, you know? But it turned out to be Johnny Tran and his whole crew. Well, his whole crew except for Lance. One of the cars pulled up right next to me, nearly hit me. Johnny jumped out, came after me with a bat. I managed to hold him off pretty well, but he hit me across the chest a few times, knocked the wind out of me a bit. Then, a couple of guys jumped on me, knocked me down to the ground. They held me down while Johnny just went...psychotic, almost. Kicking me, hitting me with the bat still... And all the time he was just screaming at me..."

"Screaming at you?" I asked, rubbing my hand along the side of Dom's face, absently trying to wipe away some of the blood. "What was he saying?"

"I don't even really know," Dom sighed. "He wasn't making any sense at all...screaming some shit about payback, and respect, and responsibility..."

"What the fuck?" I asked.

"Yeah," Dom laughed. "My thoughts exactly, at the time. And then he started saying shit about you...that Lance was over here hurting you...wondering if Lance was enjoying himself... I don't even want to think about the shit Johnny said Lance was doing to you..."

"I can take care of myself, you know, Dom," I said softly, trying to distract him. "You don't have to worry about me..."

"I know, I know," he replied, just looking up at me, and I thought I actually saw tears in his eyes. "You're the tough chick who can handle anything, take care of anyone who tries to come after her, right? I can't help it though, you know? I love you...I worry about you... I was so scared for you, baby... I could hear you screaming, in my mind, I could see Lance doing...things...to you..."

"Shh, I'm okay...everything's okay, Dom, I'm fine," I murmured, trying to reassure him.

"And then I don't know what happened, but Johnny decided he was finished with me or something," Dom continued, wrapping his arms around me. "Kicked me in the gut a few times and walked off...saying he hoped Lance had saved some of you for the rest of them... God, I wanted to kill him. But I could barely even move, let alone go after Johnny. I just laid there for maybe twenty minutes, maybe an hour or more. I don't know, maybe I even passed out or something. When I came to and the world stopped spinning, I drug myself back to the car. Johnny'd left it alone for some reason, I have no idea why...you know how much he likes to vandalize cars."

"Yeah," I muttered, thinking of all the cars we'd gotten into our shop after Johnny'd tried to destroy them. "Keeps us in business pretty well, doesn't he?"

"True," Dom said, laughing a little. "Guess I can't completely hate him then, right?"

"Nah," I replied. "You can hate him."

“Glad I have your permission,” Dom said, still laughing.

I didn’t say anything, just snuggled down against Dom, still trying not to put too much of my weight on him. We just sat there in silence for a few minutes. Finally, I pulled away a little. I didn’t want to, but I had to make sure that Dom really was okay. I knew he wouldn’t say anything about being in pain, even if he was hurting bad.

“So, what’d you do after you got back to the car?” I asked, trying to distract Dom from what I was actually doing as I looked him over, taking in all of the cuts and scrapes on his face and arms. They didn’t look all that bad…there were just so many of them. I couldn’t help but wonder what the rest of him looked like.

“Well,” he answered, his eyes closed, “I just sat there for a few minutes…trying to get myself together. Tried calling you here, but I still couldn’t get through on the cell. So then I just drove… Trying to get to you as fast as I could, make sure you were okay. And the whole time I just kept… In my mind, I kept seeing Lance and the rest of them hurting you… And I knew how much you’d fight them, so you’d prolly end up hurt even worse… Kept trying to call, but you never answered the phone, and that just made me even more worried…”

“I swear to God, Dom…the phone never rang.”

“Shit,” Dom complained as he reached up to rub at his shoulder. “I might as well not even have a cell at all, with all the good it does me.”

“You feeling okay?” I asked, noticing Dom wincing.

“Yeah, yeah… I’m good. Just a little sore, you know.”

“Here,” I said, taking his hand away from his shoulder and replacing it with my own. “Lemme see what I can do to help you out with that…”

“God, Letty…that’s good,” Dom moaned as I kneaded his shoulder between my hands, trying to work the tension out of his body.

“Wait…lemme get behind you,” I muttered, trying to climb over Dom without kicking him in the face. He cooperated, scooted forward on the couch until there was room for me behind him. “Okay…” I continued when I’d managed to sit so I straddled his body, my face right in the middle of his back. “You know, you’re a little big to be between my legs like this…”

“That’s not what you said the other night,” Dom said lowly, his voice somewhere between a laugh and a growl.

“Yeah, okay…I’m just gonna pretend like I didn’t hear that,” I replied as I crawled out from behind him and sat myself on the back of the couch, trying to ignore the tingly ‘I want you right now’ feeling in the pit of my stomach.

We didn’t talk as I rubbed Dom’s neck and shoulders, just sat there in comfortable silence. I even thought he might’ve fallen asleep…all I could hear was the soft, familiar whisper of his breath, though it was a little more ragged than normal. Finally, when I got to the point where I could barely feel my hands, I stopped, leaned down and kissed the back of his head, wrapped my arms loosely around his shoulders.

“Thanks baby,” Dom murmured, surprising me. He reached up to take my hands in his, rubbing them a little.

“Oh, you’re awake, are you?” I asked, smiling. “Thought you fell asleep on me or something.”

“Nah…I’m awake.”

“Good,” I replied, letting go of Dom as I slid off of the couch and moved around it to stand in front of him. “Now…let me look at you…make sure you’re okay…”

“I’m fine, Letty, I told you that already,” Dom protested.

“Yeah, right. Like you would say anything even if you were hurt. You think I don’t remember that time when you were in high school and busted your ribs and didn’t say anything to anyone for nearly three weeks…”

“Come on, Letty…can’t we just go back to the house so I can get some sleep? I’m exhausted…”

“You’re not going anywhere, Dom, not until you let me look at you,” I insisted, tugging his tank top off over his head.

I couldn’t say anything for a few minutes, once I finally got a look at him… Big, ugly bruises were already starting to show up all over his chest…some long, others thick and vaguely circular… His stomach looked swollen, and I worried that he might have hurt his kidneys, or liver, or some other vital internal organ, and that he might die right here in the garage, sitting on the couch in front of me.

“Shit, Dom,” I finally managed, hesitantly reaching up to probe at his chest, trying to see if they’d broken any of his ribs. “Maybe we should go to the ER…”

“How many times do I have to say it, Letty?” Dom asked, and I could hear the impatience in his voice. “I’m fine! We’re not going to the fucking ER so they can call the cops in and I can end up in jail and then have some dumb fucking social worker start asking questions about why you’re hanging out with me and living with Leon instead of with your aunt like you’re supposed to be, and end up taking you away from me. No way in hell am I gonna let that happen. I am perfectly fucking fine.”

I turned to face Dom somewhere in the middle of his paranoid tirade, leaned into him, resting my hands flat against his chest, and started kissing at a bruise that was just forming on his collarbone. My hands roamed over his skin, and I caught sight of a long, jagged cut that ran from the base of his shoulder up to his ear. Suddenly, it was like that cut was the most fascinating thing I’d seen in my entire life, and I just had to taste it. I slowly lowered my mouth to his skin and started lightly tracing the cut with just the tip of my tongue, savoring the sweaty saltiness of him. He shuddered beneath me, and I stopped, worried that I might be hurting him.

“More…” Dom moaned, so low that if I hadn’t already been leaning over him I don’t think I would have heard him. I went back to licking the cut, running my tongue flat along his skin, feeling his body responding beneath me.

“So if you’re perfectly fine, then what are the chances of me gettin’ some tonight?” I whispered against Dom’s ear when I finally reached the end of the cut.

“Not that I mind, but when did you turn into such a nympho?” he asked, smirking at me.

He didn’t touch me, though. Just clenched his fists at his sides, like he didn’t want to let himself start anything. I wasn’t really surprised - even when we were just kissing, Dom always did everything sweet and slow and gentle…he barely ever even made the first move. It was always me begging him to be rougher, harder...reminding him that I wouldn’t break.

I reached down and grabbed Dom’s hands in mine, led them to my hips. His hands didn’t stay there long, though. I squirmed a little on his lap, rubbing against his hardening dick as I leaned back down to kiss him, and his hands moved up underneath my shirt.

“God, Dom,” I moaned a few minutes later as he broke away from my mouth. He slowly pushed my shirt over my head, and started running his tongue over my tits, through the thin fabric of my bra.

Almost before I knew it, my skirt was hiked up around my hips as I rubbed against Dom, desperate to get closer to him. I had to fight the urge to run my nails across his back as he bent down in front of me. I didn’t want to hurt him…

Dom finally undid my bra, and he slowly licked the valley of skin between my tits as he lightly brushed his fingers over my bare nipples. I chewed at my lip, trying to keep myself from rushing him for more, trying to force myself to be patient and let him take as much time as he wanted to with this slow torture.

His mouth finally closed around my nipple and his hands dropped to my legs, running up the sides of my thighs to cup my ass and then back down to the bend of my knees as he guided me into a slow rocking against him. My underwear was soaking wet and I wanted nothing more than to feel his bare skin against my inner thighs.

When I couldn’t wait anymore, I gently pushed Dom’s head away from my tit and scooted myself back from his body a little so I could get to the fly of his pants. I must have struggled with the button for at least five minutes… Dom was pulling at my underwear, trying to get it off of me, and I couldn’t concentrate at all on what my fingers were doing.

We moved around a little, awkwardly struggling to get Dom naked without me having to get off of his lap, before ending up with him leaning back against the arm of the couch and me straddling his thighs, my hands resting against his stomach, lightly tracing random patterns onto his skin. And then, Dom took my hands in his, and everything stopped. He just lay there, motionless, looking up at me. His eyebrows scrunched together a little, and I could feel his body heaving, like he was having to work just to breathe.

“Dom?” I asked, worried that I’d somehow hurt him without realizing it. “Are you okay?”

“So beautiful,” he murmured softly, his eyes half-closed, a small smile gracing his lips as he reached up to brush a strand of hair away from my face, trailing a path across the very top of my tit. “I love you, Letty.”

“I love you too, baby,” I answered, trying to keep my voice from breaking with pure relief.

Slowly, I moved so that my hands were on either side of Dom’s head, so I could lean down to him without having to put any more of my weight on him. I kissed him, and as he lifted himself up to kiss me back, I slid one arm underneath his head to support his neck. Dom thrust his tongue into my mouth, pulling me down so that I was lying against him, our whole bodies touching. We kissed frantically, like we hadn’t seen each other in years, like we might never see each other again and wanted to remember every single detail about each other’s mouths…

I could feel Dom getting harder and harder against me, and at that moment I wanted nothing more than I wanted his dick to be inside of me. More than want, I needed it, as if that would prove that he really was going to be okay.

I lightly pushed myself off of Dom’s chest, but he didn’t want to let me move away from him… I could hear him groan, lowly, as he tried to sit up so he could keep kissing me, and so I leaned back down against him.

“Now, stay…” I whispered, kissing him softly before I sat up again. I waited a minute before lowering myself onto his dick, slowly at first to make sure it wouldn’t hurt him. He reached up to grab my hips, trying to pull me completely down onto him, moaning in pleasure as I clenched my muscles around his dick.

I stayed motionless for a minute before starting to rock against Dom. He thrust up against me, just like he always did, like he’d forgotten the beating he’d gotten earlier that night. His body didn’t let him forget for too long, though. Suddenly he was grimacing, his nails digging into my hips as his stomach muscles contracted in pain.

“Dom!” I said sharply, leaning down close to his face. “Will you stop it and just let me fuck you? Tonight is mine - you just lay back and enjoy, or we’re not gonna do this at all. You got it?”

“Okay, okay,” he muttered, a grin spreading across his face as he relaxed back against the couch. “Fine, I got it…”