43. Dom

I hang up the phone. Mom has just reamed my ass for the last hour over Thea. My woman has been gone for three days and I'm surprised I'm still walking. Without her, my life is completely shattered. I know I deserve it. What I'm feeling probably doesn't begin to encompass how she is feeling. I just don't know how to fix it. I've tried to speak with her, but she's all but hiding from me. She won't talk to me at all. I know she's staying with her parents, but they won't let me through the door.

Hell, I only know Thea's there because Mom told me. Today was like the third time she berated me like I was still five. I take it each time, because fuck…I deserve it. At least she has agreed to talk to Thea on my behalf. That's the best I can hope for at this point.

I ordered some more flowers before Mom called. I send Thea a bunch every day. They're always turned away, but I still do it—mostly because I can't think of anything else. I want her to know that I miss her and think of her every day. I want her to know I love her. I'm about two steps away from camping out in front of Bull's house.

Someone starts pounding on my door and I brace myself. Who it could be at this point is a tossup, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to see who it is. On the flip side, I have a lot of raw anger to work out, so maybe it will give me someone to wail on. I wouldn't mind if the person trying to knock my door down is Gabby's father, Skull. He'd be a good target right now.

That hope dies when I open the door and three men are standing outside—Bull, Breaker and my dad. This doesn't bode well. I expected one or even two of them, but all three together is like winning a lottery that I never wanted to enter.

"We doing this outside or inside?" I ask, not even pretending I don't know why the assholes are here.

"Let us in, Dom," Dad grumbles.

"Inside it is," I mutter as I stand back.

Once they're inside, I close the door and face them. I walk over to the new table I bought Thea to replace the old one that was damaged in mine and Dad's fight. I grab the glass vase off the top of it. It's an exact copy of the one Thea bought that shattered in the fight. I drove to the home store after work yesterday and picked it up.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Bull asks.

"I get you assholes want to beat the hell out of me. Fuck, I deserve it. I'd do it myself if it were possible, so I get it. My woman loved this vase when she bought it. Dad and I already destroyed one. I'm going to protect the one I bought yesterday to surprise her with. You can try to kill me once I make sure it's safe."

"You don't have a woman," Bull grumbles. "You broke her heart."

"She's mine. I won't give up until she forgives me."

"That will be hard for her to do when you're busy with Gabby," he taunts.

"I'm not going to be busy with Gabby," I growl.

"I ought to just kill you and be done with it. I told you not to fuck over my sister."

"I haven't."

"You knocked up that bitch who's not even worth licking Thea's shoes," Breaker responds in disgust.

"I've convinced these two not to kill you without hearing your side of it," Dad says. "So, you should probably do that while they're still calm."

I could almost laugh. The vibes coming off Bull and Breaker are so violent it makes the air around us all heavy. Instead of concentrating on that, I look at my father and try to figure him out.

"Does this mean you don't think I deserve all of this shit for hurting Thea?"

"Let's just say I've realized that I've jumped to conclusions that my son was fucking up and following in his old man's footsteps. I believe you love Thea. So, I need to know what the hell is going on."

"Thea hasn't told you guys?" I ask, shocked.

"All she will do is tell her momma that Gabby is pregnant, and she only told her that after we promised not to kill you."

"So, you plan on leaving me alive?" I laugh bitterly.

"Barely," Bull shrugs and I nod in acceptance. It's no less than I deserve.

I all but collapse in a recliner, so fucking tired of all this shit. I'm almost disappointed they're not going to kill me. If my life is going to go on without Thea in it, I'm not sure I want to survive. Hell, standing on the outside of her life may kill me on its own. I drop my head down in my hands and visions of all my dreams sifting through my fingers like sand begin haunting me. Thea is my forever. How in the fuck am I supposed to go on without her?

"Son?"

"The day little D was born, Thea agreed to go out to dinner with me. It was just a simple dinner, but it was the first time that I could remember feeling happy in fuckin' years. I wanted more with her. I knew I had hurt her in the past and I needed to fix it, but I wanted more. It was a dream. I knew it. Fuck,"I groan, as I look up at the three men who have been the most important people in my life outside of T.

"Keep going," Dad says.

"Going back to the club, I saw how my brothers looked at me. I saw the disappointment on all your faces and realized I didn't deserve Thea."

"Why the fuck didn't you try to earn her, asshole?" Breaker barks.

I force myself to look up at him, keeping eye contact. "She told me she was happy with Deke. He's going to be a fucking doctor. I thought he could give her the kind of life she deserved."

"You should have come to me about her, brother."

I shake my head at him. "Breaker man, I couldn't even be honest with myself about how much I wanted her. I just lived off the fantasies of her. I started drinking because I knew I had wasted years of my life trying to keep a promise I made as a kid. Fuck, Breaker, I was attracted to Thea, wanted her, and forced myself to shut her down—when it was the last thing I wanted—because of that promise. I blame what happened with T on Gabby, and part of it was. I didn't know she was playing him. I swear I had no idea. I let her get by with not telling him and I didn't talk to him about it, because honestly, a big part of me didn't want things to advance with Gabby. I had no fucking clue she was playing me and T together. If I had, I would have come clean myself.

"Dom—" I look up at my dad.

"I twisted myself in knot after knot so I wouldn't hurt a woman who I thought loved me. I didn't want to turn into my old man and look at me now. I'm just like you. I've gotten myself into a mirror situation with you, Dad. What's that fucking saying? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"How did Gabby end up pregnant? Why the fuck did you go back to her after what she did to T—not to mention playing you for a fool."

I rub the back of my neck as the tension keeps multiplying inside of me. "After T was shot, I blamed myself. It was my fault he left our club. It was my fault he was even at the Demon Chaser's clubhouse. I couldn't breathe for the guilt. Drinking became a way to forget the pain—it was an escape. Raze began going with me places to watch my back. He didn't know everything I was going through, but he understood my guilt with T. One night we went to Pussy's. Raze was fooling around with one of the strippers there. I lost track of him. Everything became a haze. I rented a room at the motel across the road. I was alone and passed out on the bed. When I woke up the next morning, I was naked with Gabby in the bed beside me. She said I called her and promised to make her my old lady. Apparently, I even insisted we have sex without protection. I don't understand any of it. I swear, I wouldn't have called her willingly, no matter how drunk I was. I sure as fuck wouldn't have sex with her. The entire night after I passed out is blank to me. I left immediately and told her to stay away from me."

"That's why you stopped drinking," Bull says, studying me.

"Yeah. I haven't been drunk since. I never have more than a beer or two and that's usually once a week or every other week. I'm never losing control again."

"How do you even know she is pregnant? Did she show you any proof?"

"She pulled her dress tight enough to show off the swell of her stomach. That's it, really. I told her to leave. She said she'd be back after I had time to process everything and break things off with Thea. Gabby's delusional—completely fucking delusional. She thinks I'm going to move her in here."

"We need to put a tail on her. See what game she's playing," Dad mutters.

"I agree. I'll have the tech boys tap into all her medical records. Corbin isn't huge. It should be easy to track down records," Bull adds.

"We put a tail on her, we'll be able to see where she's going to the doctor, at the very least we'll know what pharmacy she uses and can track doctors that way," Breaker chimes in.

"What if she doesn't visit a pharmacist?"

"If she is pregnant, there will be medications to get filled," Dad points out.

I nod, but I feel a little lost. "Why would you help me? I'm not in the club?—"

"You're family and your fucking cut is waiting for you to stop being so stubborn. The club needs you. I fucked up, Dom, but I never wanted you to leave the club. Never," Dad says.

I swallow down the emotion that I'm not ready for and clear my throat. "Thanks, Dad."

"We'll go get this shit started," he says, and walks over to me. His hand comes down on my shoulder. "It's going to be okay, Dom. We'll both weather through this storm and come out whole on the other side."

I nod. We hug. He slaps me hard on my back, and I withstand it with a smile. "Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"If you want Mom home sooner, it might be good to set up a meeting with King and ask her to go with you."

"She say that to you?" he asks, clearly surprised.

"Not in so many words, but I'm pretty sure it would work. Just be careful. I don't trust him and I'm not just saying that because of who he is. I think he's hiding something."

"Are you going to be able to accept the fact you may have another brother?" Dad asks.

"Jury's still out," I respond with a halfhearted smirk.

"Fair enough." With a nod, he goes to the door.

Breaker is next. He stands and looks at me. I wait for whatever is brewing in that head of his. "You pull this shit again, Dom, and I'll end you myself."

"Fair enough."

Bull is last. I wait for him to read me the riot act, or demand I stay away from his daughter. Instead, he sucker-punches me in the gut. He doesn't hold back either. It's so bad that I can't catch my breath. I go down like a lead weight. My ass hits the floor hard. "My daughter is not moving to Tennessee. We get this shit sorted, then I expect you to keep her close to home."

"Whatever Thea wants, she gets," I wheeze. I try to ignore the tiny spark of hope that attempts to spark inside of me.

"Good enough," Bull says, then heads out, while I'm still trying to recover from his hit.

I sure as hell hope they find something. If they don't, I'm not sure what I'll do. Life without Thea holds zero appeal.

Absolutely zero.