Chapter Eighteen

Itry to blink my eyes open, but they won’t budge. I move my head to the side, but an agonizing pain rips through me. Okay, don’t move your head, Blake.

Taking several slow breaths, I lift my eyelids, thankful when light begins to pour in and I can see the world in front of me. I’m in one of the spare bedrooms, and it looks to be the afternoon based on how much sunlight is in the room. I try to slowly turn my head to assess the rest of the room when a voice calls out, “Angel?”

Dominic?

A man in a leather jacket rushes over to me, crouching down by the bed as he takes my hands in his. He looks like Dominic to a T, except for his eyes. Dominic’s are a beautiful deep brown, but these…these are like two crystal-clear pools, so blue you could practically dive into them. They are a stark contrast against his jet-black hair that is currently wild and unruly like he’s run his hands through it a thousand times. His knuckles are bloody and swollen, and the last moments I remember begin flickering to life before my eyes.

I rip my hands out of his as I attempt to scramble away from him before I let out a bloodcurdling scream from the pain.

“Shh, shh, shhh,” he hushes. “Don’t move, angel. You’re hurt.”

Pain is drenched in his eyes, like it hurts him that I’m injured more than the actual pain I feel.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you, and then you fell, and.” He shakes his head before looking up at me with renewed fire in his eyes. “I’ll never forgive myself.”

In the next moment, the door is pushed open, and a swollen-eyed Dominic stumbles in as his eyes scan the room.

“You’re awake. Are you okay? Did he touch you? I heard you scream.”

“What’s happening?” I ask as I flick my eyes back and forth between the two.

Dominic sits down on the opposite side of the bed, resting his hand on my thigh before I move it from his reach. Hurt flashes across his face before he nods.

“Last night, Zayden hit you, and then you hit your head on the floor. You lost a lot of blood.”

“I was aiming for you!” he seethes.

“Well, you did a shit job!” Dominic snaps. “Look at her!”

Something akin to a flinch rips through Zayden’s body before he stands up and storms out of the room, slamming the door so hard the wall shakes.

Once he’s gone, the room is silent for several seconds before I finally speak.

“So, last night, all of that actually happened?”

He blows out a breath before nodding.

“So, you lied to me.”

His eyes come to my own, so many unsaid things pass through them before he speaks.

“There is so much you don’t know. So much I want to tell you.”

“Then tell me,” I say flatly.

He rolls his lips together and shakes his head.

“I can tell you, it’s not what you think. We were not tricking you. We were not playing you. This was not a game. This is real, we are real,” he says as he reaches for my hand.

I don’t move it as I allow myself to absorb his words.

“So where does he come into all of this?” I ask.

Dominic clenches his jaw.

“He saw you first and became obsessed with you. Then he…had to go away for a while. He wanted me to look after you, and all it took was one look and I knew I couldn’t let my brother have you. I knew I wasn’t good enough to even set my eyes on you, but I wanted you anyway.”

He saw me. So all those nightmares, the feeling of being watched. That wasn’t my imagination, that was…him. Oh my god?—

“He slept with me. Twice. More than twice?” I question.

Dominic shakes his head. “Not to my knowledge.”

“How?” I whisper. “How did I not know it wasn’t you? How did you not know?”

“We’re identical twins, and he is incredibly…cunning.”

“And sick!” I snap. “He tricked me, deceived me. Technically raped me!”

“I failed you,” Dominic says in response. “Twice.” He hangs his head low for several seconds before lifting it up until he meets my eyes.

“I don’t fail, ever, and the most important thing that I’ve ever held, I failed. I won’t ask for your forgiveness because I don’t deserve it.”

“Why is he still here?” I ask.

“What?”

“Zayden. He nearly beat you to death. He hit me. He took advantage of me. Why is he still in your apartment?”

“It’s complicated,” he says with a slight twinge on his face.

“Uncomplicate it.”

He doesn’t say anything for several seconds. Instead, he just stares at me, unmoving. I think he’s never going to respond until he finally speaks.

“Zayden isn’t good. There isn’t a good bone in his entire body. But there are worse monsters out there.”

Without another word, he stands, turns his back, and shuts the door. I hear the sound of a lock, which sends a chill running down my back. I’m locked in here and obviously injured. My phone is destroyed, and I’m trapped inside a house with my boyfriend, well, my obviously ex-boyfriend due to current circumstances and his crazy twin brother.

What the actual fuck?