Chapter 7: Dom

Bring my toy.

Was Danil being serious? He wants me to bring my toy over. What on earth did he want to do with it, and why was I suddenly wishing that I was going over tonight and not tomorrow? But I also know that I need to let my ass recover.

When Danil and I started out, I have to admit that I initially saw it as a little experiment. I knew that I liked men, but considering I'd never been with a man, I wasnt sure how much, and then Danil came along. Our first kiss had been simply amazing. From that second it became very real. I had wanted to shout it from the rooftop, but I also understood keeping it a secret. Especially with my family. I had no idea what Papa would do if he found out. Considering he tried to kill G, anything was possible.

But now, suddenly even that has changed. I knew the moment Danil and I slept together it had the potential to change us, and I wasn't wrong. Telling friends was one thing. When we initially discussed it I had been so excited, and now we were going to tell Alessia. We were finally telling the world.

If it wasn't for the fact that I was already at G's restaurant, I might have run home to talk to her. Find out when she was free. I have an idea of getting friends and Alessia together at the same time to tell them. Even though it will most likely be Danil's friends. I have been a little lax with my friends for a while. I'm not sure how they would react to me being bi, and I'm definitely not sure how they would handle me having a boyfriend.

All of us grew up with the same religious parents. The topic of being gay or straight never really came up, and I had no idea about their views. I know a lot of them were surprised when G came out and left home. Not one of them said anything really negative, but no one said anything good, either. So until I am sure that they won't go blabbing to parents or priests, then I'm happy for them to stay in the dark.

"You look very deep in thought." Matts voice behind me causes me to jump. I'm in the staff room in the back of the restaurant, and I hadn't heard anyone else come in.

"Jesus! You just frightened the crap out of me," I exclaim, which causes a huge smile to spread across Matts face and a laugh to escape out of him, and it hits me that I haven't seen Matt this happy in a very long time. In fact, ever.

"Sorry," Matt states, but the smile never leaves his face.

"No, you're not," I pout, but I can feel the smile on my face.

"True," he admits. "So, what has you so deep in thought?"

"Nothing," I lie, but God, I want to tell him that its because I met a man who makes me feel alive for the first time in my life. Because as I look at Matteo now, he would understand those words more than anyone.

"I thought it might be about last night and your declaration and what happened with Momma and Papa," Matt replies.

"Last night was, umm, interesting," I say, which could well be the understatement of the century. Would he think Danil being balls deep in me is interesting? Or would he think it wrong?

"You could say that," Matteo says. "How long did you sit on the stairs listening to us?"

"What?" How the hell did Matt know that I was listening? "How the hell did you know I was there?"

"Because Dom, I know you. So how long were you there? How much did you hear?" Matt asks.

"I heard most of it," I tell him truthfully. "Up to the point that Papa asked you to leave."

"I guessed as much. How were they after we left?"

"Well, they called me downstairs and told me that I wasn't allowed to see you or G again."

"I had a feeling that was coming," Matt says, and the smile drops from his face and I see the flash of pain, before he's able to steal his emotions. "G and I never intended to put you in this position."

"Matt, you didn't. Momma and Papa did," I tell him.

"Maybe, but I know that you snuck around last year trying to see G, and we have put you in that position again."

"Actually, you haven't."

"How?" Matt asks, confusion now etched all over his face.

"I told Momma and Papa straight out that they were not going to keep me from you or G. That they might disapprove of who you love but I don't, and that there was no way that I was going to stop seeing you. I told them that Alessia would feel the same."

"Well damn, I would have loved to see their faces," Matt says, and I spot the smile tugging at his lips again.

"I also asked them if they are prepared to lose all their children, because that is what is going to happen if they try to stop us from seeing you."

"Wow," Matt replies, and the smile that had been playing on his lips now spreads across his face.

"They actually relented; I'm just not allowed to tell them when I'm seeing you."

"Really, I didn't see that coming," Matt replies.

"Me too, but I do have one question," I say, thinking about Momma's response about Lorenzo.

"Which is?" And there is a hint of, I think, trepidation in Matts voice.

"They only relented because of Lorenzo, why?" I ask him, hoping he will enlighten me.

"When we were all discussing confronting Momma and Papa, Lorenzo told us about something he found out regarding the paperwork for the restaurant."

"What, Momma and Papa's restaurant?" I ask, confused why Lorenzo would be involved with the restaurant.

"Did you know that it was Uncle Alfredo that gifted Momma and Papa the restaurant?" Matt pauses here to wait for my reaction, and when he sees me shake my head no, he continues. "Well, we both know what type of man Uncle Alfredo was; it turns out in the small print there was a stipulation which meant he could take the restaurant back at any time. When he died, that was transferred to Lorenzo."

"Lorenzo threatened to take the restaurant from them," I say, guessing where this was going.

"Basically yeah, but only if they continued to hurt us," Matt states.

"He wouldn't, would he?"

"No," Matt replies, but there is something in the way he says it that tells me he's not sure how true that statement is. "Anyway, how were they this morning?"

"No idea," I tell him. "After what happened, I left."

"You left?" Matt repeats.

"Yeah, I went to stay with, um, a friend," I say, hoping that he doesn't question who.

"A friend," Matt repeats. "Who?"

"No one you know," I say, because Matt doesn't know all my friends.

"This friend, are they – " and I pick up on how Matt uses they, not he or she, "– the reason you have been happier recently?"

"Matt, he is just a friend. He was the one I went hiking with this weekend," I lie, and hope that I am being convincing. Well, it's only a half lie. Danil is the one that I went camping with; he's just not my friend.

"Just a friend? You're a hundred percent sure about that?" Matt asks.

"Yes Matt I am sure," I lie again. Trying to add more to my voice.

"Okay," Matt replies, and I heave a sigh of relief. "Just making sure. Considering your ‘I'm bi-sexual' outburst last night, I wanted to make sure there was no secret boyfriend."

"Matt," I start, "You had just walked in with your boyfriend, oh thanks for telling me that, and were saying that your coming out wouldn't affect me. I had no option but to tell you."

At my words Matts face falls, and unlike last time when he tried to hide his pain, this time it is etched all over his face, and I know I caused this.

"Dom, no one knew about me. I hated myself for a very long time," Matt mumbles back at me. "That was one of the reasons why I overdosed," Matt states back.

"What?" Not sure that I'm believing what I'm hearing. I had automatically thought that maybe the guilt of what he did to G last year caught up with him. The pain that Matt must have been in.

"Yeah, that plus the guilt of what I had done to G, when I was gay myself, became too much," Matt continues.

"Matt," I say, going over to him and pulling him into a hug. "If it's too painful, you don't have to say anything more."

"No, Trip says it's good for me to talk," Matt says into my shoulder.

"Trip seems like a really good guy, from the few minutes I spent with him," I say.

"Trip saved me in a way I never knew someone could be saved. He really is the love of my life."

"I can see that," I say, pushing Matt back. "You're happy. I don't think I have ever seen you look this happy."

Matt just smiles at me when I say this and simply says, "Yeah."

"Maybe we can arrange for me to meet him properly. Go for a drink or something."

"We're both free tomorrow night," Matt states.

"Tomorrow?" I repeat, and Matt nods his head. "Sorry I can't tomorrow," I say.

"Let me guess, plans with your hiking ‘friend'?" Matt says, with a stupid grin on his face, as he does air quotes while saying the word friend.

"You're a shithead," I state as I push past him, and I can still hear him laughing as I make my way into the restaurant.

"You love me!" Matt shouts after me.

"At the moment I don't," I shout back over my shoulder to him, but he knows that I don't mean it.

"What is going on with you two tonight?" G asks as I walk into the restaurant, and I'm pleased that there are no patrons in yet.

"Well brother," Matt says, standing next to me, "I think that our baby brother has a special friend that he isn't telling us about."

"Really," G says, "a secret girlfriend."

"Please not you too," I say over to G, this conversation is hitting a little too close to home at the moment, and I want them to stop.

"Don't forget G, that our dear little Domenico told us he was bi, there could be a secret boyfriend," Matt starts, the smile still stretched across his face, and I know he's enjoying himself way too much.

"Shit I forgot about that," G replies, looking over in my direction. "So what is it? Secret girlfriend or boyfriend?"

"As I told Matt, its neither. It's just a friend," I say.

"One we know nothing about," G says over to me.

"You don't need to know the details of every friend I hang out with, and I'm trying to spare him…."

The moment I mention the sex of my friend I know I have messed up. Matt and G both look at each other, and if possible their grins get wider, and I have a feeling that I am not going to hear the end of it.

"So its him. Interesting," Matt replies with a wink.

"Nope, not interesting at all. Yes he is a male, yes he is a friend, but he is not my boyfriend," I say over to him.

"But you fancy him, right?" G asks, a little of the humor gone from his voice.

"He is handsome," I admit.

"But don't tell me, he's straight?" G asks, and suddenly I have a way of getting out of the conversation.

"Yep," I reply.

"Well, that sucks. Falling for the straight friend is never a good thing," G replies. "Are you one hundred percent sure he is straight?"

"I think so."

"We need to meet him," Matt suddenly interjects. "The family gaydar would know."

"Oh, hell no, I am not introducing him to the family. Do you know how scary you guys are?"

"We aren't scary," G adds.

"You're kidding right? You have met your fiancé, right? Look, he's a nice guy, and we are good friends. That is all you need to know."

"Dom," G calls my name, and when I look up at him, he has a weird expression on his face. "Matt and I will leave you alone, but look after yourself. Don't get hurt."

"I won't," I confirm. "Now can we please get to work?"

G nods his head and gives Matt a warning look, and they both thankfully stop teasing me. The rest of the night goes by with nothing more being said, and I hope rather than know that this is not going to be the end of the conversation.

For the rest of the night, I keep catching Matt and G giving me looks, and I know they're concerned that I have fallen for a straight man, and they're going to want to try and protect me, and I also know that I brought this on myself. I should have never accidentally given away the sex of my friend.

Once the last customer has left for the night and the doors are locked, I quickly clear everything away and make for a quick exit.

"G," I called over to him. "Is it okay for me to get going?"

G looks around the restaurant. "Yeah, but we were hoping that maybe you would want to stay and have a drink."

"Maybe another time. Think my hiking on the weekend has caught up with me," I reply, which isn't really a lie, its just more the antics of last night than the hiking.

"Hey, did you know that Danil was hiking on the weekend too?" G suddenly says.

"Was he?" I reply, trying to pay attention to what I'm doing and not look over to G. "Feliks said he thinks it was within a few miles of you." I have always found it kinda cute that G calls Frank Feliks. Even when we all found out his real name, we all continued to call him Frank except G.

"A lot of people go hiking where we were, there are some good trails," I reply.

"Well, I was thinking that maybe you and Danil could go one day. I know that Feliks wants the two of you to get to know each other better."

I have to bite my tongue at that sentence. The fact that the family wants me and Danil to get to know each other better. Because we know each other well, and as if my pain needs a reminder, I lean over a table and clench my ass, which causes a twinge to travel over my body.

"Yeah, that would be cool. Danil seems to be a nice guy," I reply, and deliberately look over to G because I know that I need to make some kind of eye contact, otherwise they might wonder why I was acting weird.

"Great. Can I pass on your cell phone number to him?" G asks.

"Yeah, no problem." And I know that I'm going to have to warn Danil about what is going to happen.

I finish what I'm doing and quickly go into the staff room to grab my stuff, then make my way onto the sidewalk and hail myself a cab. I probably could use the subway, but I just want to get home, and I made some good tips tonight.

Ten minutes later I am pulling up outside Momma and Papa's house, and my heart is heavy. This house used to feel like home, but since the business with G, it has felt weird, and I know that I should take that as a sign to move out.

"Momma, Papa?" I call as I open the door, and I am greeted with "Dom," a female voice replies, but its not Momma. Following the direction of the voice, I walk into the living room and see Alessia curled up in one of the chairs, a book closed in her lap.

"Hey," I say, walking over. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I thought I would take the opportunity to enjoy the silence," Alessia replies, picking up the book as if I needed a clue to what she was doing.

"Well, I won't disturb you," I say, turning to go up to my room.

"Have you heard about Matteo?" Alessia suddenly asks.

"Yeah, I was here when he came home yesterday. Did Momma and Papa say something to you?"

"Just the same shit they said about G, but they haven't forbidden me from seeing him," Alessia replied.

"I think we have Lorenzo to thank for that," I tell her, and then I realized that she doesn't know about me. She wasn't here last night.

Walking over to her, I crouch down in front of her, the action causing my ass to stretch, reminding me of what Danil and I did. "Look, there is something you need to know about me. I told G and Matt last night."

"Youre gay," Alessia says.

"What, no," I reply, surprised that she said that. "I am bi."

"Oh, my bad," Alessia says, but she is smiling at me. "I was almost one hundred percent sure you were gay."

"Not every male in this family is gay."

Alessia opens her mouth to refute this, but I watch as she calculates everything in her mind and comes to the same conclusion that we did last night, she doesn't say anything but her eyes go wide.

"Anyway, why did you think I was gay?" I ask.

"I have caught you staring at magazines and movies," Alessia replies.

"And I thought that I was hiding it so well, too."

"Oh, you were, I just know you better than anyone in the family."

"You do," I say, as I get up from my position and lean down to place a kiss on Alessias forehead before turning to leave the room.

"Dom," Alessia calls as I get to the threshold of the room and turn to face her. "Do Momma and Papa know?"

"No."

"Please don't tell them at the moment. I can't lose you too."

"I promise I have no intention of telling them at the moment," I reply, and turn to walk out of the room when her next words stop me in my tracks.

"Will you introduce me to him?"

Alessia really does know me better than anyone in the family, and I know that I cannot throw her off the scent like I did with G and Matt, but then I remember that Danil and I were talking about being open with Alessia. Looks like now is the perfect time to tell her.

"Him?" I question, not wanting to give myself away too quickly.

"Yes, your boyfriend. The guy you went hiking with over the weekend. The guy you have been seeing for months and the one I am guessing is making your ass sore tonight."

"Alessia," I admonish, but I cannot help but smile. "How long have you known I was seeing someone?"

"From the beginning. You have been happier, and I see the stupid looks on your face when you look at your cell. It really doesn't take a genius."

"Okay, there is someone. We have been keeping it on the down low, but are you free this weekend?" I ask, hoping that Danil is okay with me making these plans.