42. Thea

Two Days Later

I walk into the kitchen to find Dom standing in front of the stove. The smell of bacon and scrambled eggs permeates the air. This makes the second day straight that he's made breakfast for us. It might not seem like a big thing to some, but I know how much Dom hates cooking. There have been other changes, too. I don't know what it all means, but I'm starting to get a sick feeling in my stomach.

"Dom, is something wrong?"

"Of course not. Why would you think that?" he asks, but he doesn't look me in the eye either. "I hope you're hungry. I'm making all your favorites. I even cut up some fresh fruit that I found at the fruit market when I got off work yesterday."

The fruit market.

Dom hates shopping. He is not the type to go to a fruit market unless I'm with him and even then, I've had to beg. What the hell is going on here?

"Seriously, Dom. You're freaking me out. You're different lately."

"I'm not," he counters. He puts down the spatula he was holding, turns to me, and pulls me into his arms. "I'm just happy, Thea. The woman I love told me she loves me. She's going to marry me and build our lives together. I'm happier than I've ever been."

He looks away from me and this icky feeling fills me. I know he's lying. I can feel it. A couple of days ago, when I got home from school, he was visibly upset but insisted everything was fine. Since then, he's been broody and on edge all the time. I'm worried, but I can't get him to talk to me. Unless we're making love, which is happening constantly and definitely more intensely—not that I'm complaining—it's like there's a wall up between us. I've let it go, thinking it has to do with him leaving the club. I can't let it go on, though. It's not getting any better, and I'm starting to panic. Something has definitely changed, although I"m not exactly sure what. "What is going on with you?"

"What do you mean?" he asks, but his voice still sounds off to me.

"Dom, stop. I have to know what is going on here."

"Nothing is going on," he insists, making me mutter under my breath.

"Bull crap. Be honest, Dom. Are you having second thoughts about us?"

"Thea, I'm just trying to show my woman that I love her."

I move deeper into his arms with a sigh. "You showed me that last night. Much more of it and I'll have to run away to recover," I joke. As I pull back, I see a look of pure panic on his face. Seeing that look on a man who has always been so cocky and sure of himself makes my blood runs cold.

"Dom, seriously, what's going on? You're scaring me."

"Fuck," Dom hisses, his whole body vibrating with some deep emotion that I can't name. "Jesus, Thea. I know I need to tell you, but I don't know how."

I was beginning to panic before. Now, I'm just a damn mess. What am I missing here? What could have changed so drastically after he asked me to marry him? "Just tell me already," I implore him. I can't take not knowing anymore. I have to find out what's going on and hopefully, fix it.

"The other day while you were at the college, I had a visitor," he says, sitting down at the breakfast bar. I sit beside him and try to still my heart. It's running away with me right now.

"Your dad came back?"

"No…"

"My dad?"

"No," he breathes, his head goes down as his arms go up and he rubs his hands through his hair. Seeing him like this is killing me.

"Dom, baby, you're going to have to give me something here."

"It was Gabby," he confesses and my heart squeezes inside my chest. For a second, I can't catch my breath.

"Why?" I ask, unable to get any other words out.

"She… Motherfucker!" he growls. "I can't do this."

"Do what? What the hell is going on, Dom? Just spit it out!"

"She's pregnant."

"She's what?"

"She's pregnant, Thea, and she says the baby is mine."

"But the two of you haven't been together since T found out about you and you discovered she lied. There's no way she could be pregnant. I mean, if she is, it couldn't be yours. So why would she come by here?"

"I…"

"Dom, how far along is she?"

"I'm not sure. She didn't say."

"Yet, you're scared it could be yours."

"Thea—"

"You had sex with her without protection?"

"I…"

"Oh, God." I close my eyes as pain fills me. "Is it yours?"

"There's a chance…"

I shake my head no. "This can't be true. It just can't. I know you. You wouldn't have sex with Gabby after you found out what she had been doing to T. You wouldn't do it."

"Thea, I don't…"

"You had unprotected sex with that bitch even after you knew she had been playing you?"

"Damn it, Thea."

"Tell me you didn't do this, Dom. Tell me you couldn't be that stupid."

"Gorgeous, it wasn't like that. What happened, I mean."

"Don't call me that. Never call me that again. I want to know one thing. When did you fuck her?"

"Thea—"

"When!" I demand, my voice borderline shrill.

"It was after Kayden had Little D. The night you and I had dinner. I mean, I didn't sleep with Gabby that night, but not too long after that night, I guess."

"How could you do that? How?" I demand.

"Thea, you and I weren't together," he points out, and that just pisses me off more.

"That bitch cut your brother into pieces, playing you as a fool at the same time. How could you do this?"

"I didn't mean to," he responds.

A bitter laugh escapes. "Gee, Dom, what happened? You just walked by her, and your dick fell into her?"

"Damn it, I don't have the answers to your questions, woman. I'm not even sure I actually slept with Gabby."

"What in the hell does that mean?"

"I went to the club's strip joint. I drank a lot that night. I'd been doing too much drinking for way too long. The whole night is a blur. I remember I had a hotel room across from the club. I remember going into the room. The rest is just fuzzy. I don't remember calling Gabby like she says I did. I know no matter how drunk I was, I wouldn't have promised to make her my old lady and be part of my life. I wouldn't."

"Then how could you have gotten her pregnant?"

"I woke up the next morning. I was hung over, bad. That wasn't really new. I had begun using alcohol to numb my brain. She was lying beside me. We were both naked. She said we?—"

"So, you fucked her, but you don't remember it?" When he nods, my heart fills me with enough pain to destroy me. "That just makes it worse."

I start to get up, but Dom grabs my arms. "Thea, I haven't been drunk since I woke up that morning. I don't drink anything harder than a beer anymore, and only have one or two of those here and there. I will never drown myself in the bottle again. This doesn't have to change anything between us. I don't want her. Gabby is nothing to me. She knows that. I told her that the morning I woke up. All I want in my entire life is you. What happened honestly changes nothing."

I immediately shake my head no. "Dom, this changes everything! She's pregnant with your baby. You'll always be connected to her now. This child will bind the two of you together in ways that I can never compete with."

"No, you're wrong. The baby is separate from Gabby. You're the only woman I want in my life. You're the only one in my heart."

"That baby is inside Gabby right now. Gabby will use that to her advantage. She's going to demand you be a part of everything from here on out. There will be doctor appointments, Lamaze classes, the birth—everything."

The pain is getting too much to bear. Big, sloppy tears fall down my face. It hurts to breathe. My entire body is quaking with the force of it.

"It doesn't have to be that way. I'll keep my distance from her. I'll only do the things concerning the baby when you can be by my side."

I laugh. "Gabby will never agree to that. That bitch will take every chance she has to make us miserable—especially me. She'll try cutting me out of everything."

"I won't allow that."

"Get real, Dom. This is Gabby we're talking about. I'm surprised she hasn't already demanded you move her into our home. Hell, if I know anything about Gabby, she toured the house and told you what room the nursery was going to be in."

Watching Dom—even through the continued deluge of my tears—I can see how stiff he instantly becomes. I can't stop the laugh that bubbles up. I sound hysterical and I think I am.

"Oh my God, she already has, hasn't she?"

"Damn it, Thea?"

"She has, hasn't she, Dom?"

"It doesn't matter. I already told her she was out of her fucking mind."

"Yeah," I scoff. "That will work until Gabby pretends something is wrong and needs someone to watch over her because the baby is at risk. Then you'll cave because you can't be sure if she's lying or telling the truth. God knows that woman is nothing if not resourceful. She'll find a way to have her doctor back up everything she tells you."

"Thea, we'll stand together through all of this. We love each other. Gabby can't touch that. I won't let her. I love you."

I shake my head, still crying. "I've loved you my entire life, yet Gabby has always been between us. This is just proof to me that she's still going to do it. We'll never be free of that bitch. When this child is grown and gets married, Gabby will be at the wedding demanding a dance with you. It will never end."

Dom gets on his knees in front of me. He has tears in his eyes. Any other time, I'd try to make him feel better. I can't see any way to do that here. He braces himself by putting a hand on each of my thighs. His touch brands me, but my heart is too cold to even drive up the energy to shove his hand away. "Thea, don't do this. I need you."

"I have to go. I need some air. I need room to think."

"No, Thea, baby, don't do this. We can get through this together."

I somehow find the strength to push him away. I jog over to the door, grabbing my keys off the counter. "I need time to think." I open the back door and take off running to my car. I can hear Dom gaining ground behind me and I stop, spin around and scream, "Stop!"

I look at him. He looks destroyed—because he is. "Give me this, Dom. If you truly care for me, let me go for now. I need time away from you. I need to think. I have to. Please respect that."

With that, I take off running again. I hop in my car and drive off, tears streaming down my face. I'm not sure there's a way I'll survive any of this.