5. Dom

Coming awake, my head feels like its going to explode. I keep my eyes closed. This is a familiar feeling. I've been like this nonstop since the night I returned home from T's hospital room after saying goodbye to Thea. I'd like to tell you I have a reason for lying drunk, but the simple truth is, I don't.

Sure, I feel responsible for T getting shot. I'm also upset because Thea only sees me as a friend—or distant family member. Mostly, I just feel like my life is falling apart and instead of trying to fix it, I seem to make things worse. I've seen the looks Dad is giving me. I feel his disappointment with every fucking breath I take. I want to scream at him that it's his fault. It's not, though—at least not entirely. Besides, confronting him would open a whole new can of worms that I don't want to deal with. Slapping the shit out of him and calling him a sanctimonious asshole probably wouldn't be the smartest thing to do either.

I scrunch up my nose. There's a dank, musty smell over all of the alcohol. It's then I remember I rented a cheap-ass motel room last night. Needing away from my father's condemning stare, I left the club with Raze. We ended up at Pussy's watching the dancers. Pussy's is one of the oldest joints that our club owns. The other is Wolf's Den. Dad tore down all the other old ones and replaced them with new, sleek buildings. We now have fine dining restaurants, bowling alleys, diners, a jump zone and even an inflatable kids themed place. They're all legitimate businesses that rake in the dough. We have garages all over our territory that do the same. The biggest is in the heart of London. Savage Bikes gets business from around the country. It's also Dad's pride and joy. We create custom bikes from the tires up and they're highly sought after. Dad's careful about who he accepts as a client and although each bike is top tier, they can't touch the ones we build for our own club members.

I push those thoughts out of my head and begin hating myself for the shit I'm doing. For a moment during dinner with Thea, I felt myself wanting her to be proud of me. We had our first deep one-on-one talk in a long time—hell, maybe ever. It felt damn good. She sure as hell would be ashamed of me now. She'd go back to not talking to me again. The kicker of it all is, I don't even enjoy what I'm doing. I just feel lost.

I sure as hell don't know why I ended up at a strip joint. I've been so drunk off my ass lately that I've had a severe case of whiskey dick. I remember little of my time at Pussy's. I do know that Raze left earlier than me, but I drank until I no longer cared about the shit my life had become. I don't remember going back to the hotel, but I guess I should be thankful I made it back in one piece.

"Fuck," I hiss as I sit up, holding my head in my hands when the pain makes it tempting to gouge out my own eyes just to stop the pounding behind them.

"You okay, baby?"

I freeze as I hear that voice. My body grows taut with distress when a hand glides down my back. I jerk away from her instantly, jumping out of the bed.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I growl, knowing my face probably looks as panicked as I feel.

"What do you mean?"

I shake my head trying to deny what I'm seeing. Gabby in the bed, the green hotel sheet pooled around her hips, her hair mussed from sleep, and her tits exposed, her nipples hard and sticking out, wanting attention. At one time in my life, I would have fucking got down on my knees to see her like this. Now? My fucking blood runs cold.

"What the fuck are you doing in that bed?"

"I was trying to sleep because my man wore me out last night."

No, no, no! My mind rails against what she's saying. There's no way I would have allowed Gabby back into my bed. Fuck no, not after everything I've found out about her and definitely not since I've discovered her trail of lies.

"The fuck I did. I wouldn't want you here, even if you were the last fucking woman on the planet."

Her face immediately falls into a pout where she bites on her lip and looks up at me. I know she expects me to give into her immediately. That's what I always did in the past. That's before I realized what a fool she made of me.

I look around to find my pants, immediately upset when I see them folded on the dresser that is opposite the bed. I wouldn't fold my pants. That means Gabby did it. Jesus. I was hoping this was a nightmare, but it's slowly dawning on me that getting drunk out of my head is coming back to bite me in the ass. Apparently, I did the one thing that I swore I would never do again. I grab my pants and my shirt, feeling as if I can't breathe. I put them on in record time, thanking God that my wallet and shit are in my pockets. I look down on the floor and see my damn cut. Christ, that's something I'd never do. It's beyond time I quit drinking. I only need to look at the bitch in that bed to know that. I'm just starting to mend fences with T over this crap. I almost lost him completely and now look what I've done? How in the hell will he react when he finds out I slept with this bitch again, despite how much she lied to the both of us? T doesn't even know how much she's lied to me. I never tried to defend myself—at least not completely. He can't find out about this. I can't allow her to come between me and T again.

I'm already struggling, not having him in the club with me. For as long as I can remember, I've had this clear vision of taking over for my dad and having T as my second. That's always been the plan. The club feels different now. It's empty. There are days I miss my brother so much that it is a struggle to do what is asked of me. Lately, I just haven't bothered. I know Mattie and the others are picking up my slack. I also know that Dad, Bull, and the others are aware of it. If things don't change, my old man's going to rake my ass over the coals, and I'll deserve it. If I don't straighten up, my position in the club will be in question. I look over at Gabby and begin to wonder if it shouldn't be. None of my brothers would have got so wrapped up in a woman that he would have betrayed his own blood, his brother—by blood and in the club. Not a one of them would have lied to someone who trusted them the way T trusted me.

Motherfucker.

Dom, you were begging me to get in your bed last night. You might have been drunk, but you wanted me. You can't deny it now. I didn't want to come. I'm tired of you making me the bad guy. You're the one who made promises."

"I didn't promise you shit," I growl, putting on my cut and intent on getting the fuck out of here.

"The hell you didn't. You asked me to be your old lady. Promised we'd finally have what we've wanted all along."

I laugh, shaking my head. She's taking it too far now. "You just overplayed your damn hand, Gabby. I wouldn't promise none of that shit—no matter how drunk I was. My club hates you. After the truth came out about the way you played Thomas, they don't want your ass anywhere near the club. There's no way they'd let you through the gates at this point. Fuck, if I gave you a motherfucking cut showing you as mine, they'd kick my ass out too. Of course, I would have to have some kind of aneurysm that made my brains explode even to do that."

"You promised! That's the only reason I agreed to meet you here," she huffs. She gets up on her hands and knees to prowl across the mattress to me. "You can lie to yourself all you want, Dom, but we both know you want me. You've always wanted me. We're a fire in each other's blood. That's always been true."

"Whatever fire you started in me, Gabby, is gone. You burned me so bad there's nothing left but ashes. Looking at you makes me sick."

She jumps off the bed, not caring she has nothing on. Then again, being bashful has never been Gabby's style. She'd walk down Main Street in London completely naked and love every minute of it. That is as long as every eye was on her, telling her how beautiful she was. I used to think it was cute and sexy how confident she was. Of course, that's when I was under the mistaken impression that I was the only man she ever wanted.

She stands in front of me, and I can see the anger on her face. It's leaking through the surface and overtaking the look of hunger she had just moments ago. She reaches out and pokes my chest with her finger. "You made promises, Dom, and you will keep them."

"I didn't and there's nothing you can do about it anyway," I deny.

"I'll tell my father that you made promises to me and then, after taking my virginity, kicked me out. If you don't think my father would move heaven and earth to retaliate because his daughter was treated like a club whore and tossed aside, you better think again."

"I took your virginity years ago, Gabby, not last night."

"So? My father doesn't know when it happened. All he will know is that you took my innocence, called me a bitch, and left me in a seedy motel across from your club's whorehouse."

"It's a strip joint and trust me, the only whore I've seen in a long time is you." She brings her hand back and slaps me across the face. I laugh and step away from her, going to the door and slipping my feet into my boots. "I'll give you that one, Gabby. I figure I deserve it for being stupid enough to get so drunk I let a bitch like you back into my bed."

"I wonder how your brother will react when he knows how you're treating me."

"He won't give a damn. He's happy."

"We'll see," she hums, looking way too fucking proud of herself.

Something inside me snaps. I don't want her poison anywhere near T again. My brother is happy with his family. The last thing he needs is her toxic ass trying to fuck it all up for him again. I wrap my hand around her throat and move her back against the wall. "Stay away from me and my fucking family. You run to Daddy and try to feed him your bullshit and I swear to God, Gabby, I will rain hell down on you the likes you've never seen."

"You won't do anything. You want me. You're just being too stubborn to admit it."

I tighten my hand up on her neck and hiss out my warning. "You must have missed the part where my dick was limp looking at you before I put my fucking pants on. I want nothing to do with you anymore, Gabby. If I could go back to the beginning and cut you out of my life, I would sell my soul to do that. Stay away from me and stay away from my family."

"Dom—"

"Stay the fuck away. This is your only warning. Go latch your lying snatch onto someone else's dick. You're never getting around mine again."

"You'll regret this, Dom. You belong to me. You cannot just walk away from me. I won't let you!" she screams.

"That's exactly what I'm doing," I laugh coldly. With that, I release my hold on her and walk out.

I ignore her sobs as she cries out my name. I need to go home and get a shower. I don't remember last night. I sure as fuck don't remember calling Gabby or getting into bed with her.

It's definitely past time I stop getting drunk…