Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 99723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
He’s not getting anywhere with Dominic and the loss is obvious. Tyler isn’t successfully riling him up to make him seem out of control, nor inciting him to become the violent aggressor he wants to make him out to be. Dominic is sitting still, his hand on my knee, breathing steadily, and he has not raised his voice a bit. On the other hand, Tyler is red-faced, panting, sweating, and looks ready to explode. I don’t know if he’s ever actually gone up against someone like Dominic.
I don’t know if there is anyone like Dominic.
I certainly wasn’t like this. In the early days, I’d beg and plead for Tyler to pay attention, cry when my feelings were ignored or misrepresented, and eventually, do anything to prove my own affection, while he sat back and gloated. Later, it just became easier to not put up a fight to begin with. I functioned around Tyler, creating my own pockets of happiness where I could.
But now, without him, my happiness has grown exponentially. So has my spine. I just wasn’t using it to its full capabilities. That ends now.
“I am not your babe,” I say, keeping my voice as close to an approximation of Dom’s even dismissiveness as I can. “And Dominic can speak to you any way he’d like. He’s a grown man. I trust him to handle himself appropriately.”
And isn’t that an amazing thing to say about a partner? The freedom of trusting Dominic rushes through me, healing so many years of hurt.
Tyler scoffs. “I get it. Gotta play it cool for your new man. But we know the truth. You still love me.” He makes it sound like we’re having a secret conversation that Dominic and Amber can’t hear. In fact, despite Dom’s reminder, I think Tyler has truly forgotten that his girlfriend is on his other side, listening to every word he says. Or maybe he thinks he has her sufficiently tricked into submission with his manipulative ways. Hell, maybe he does? I don’t know.
“I never loved you,” I say, the truth coming to me even now. “I loved who you pretended to be. But you can’t pretend for long before the real you starts to come out.” I glance past Tyler to Amber, hoping she hears me too.
Tyler recoils, and I think for the first time ever, he’s actually surprised by me. Like he didn’t accurately predict what I was going to say or do. It’s the only explanation I have for why he shifts focus back to Dominic, who by all accounts is the more dangerous target. Except . . . maybe Tyler is scared of me. At least a teeny tiny bit. I press my lips together, hiding the joy that brings me.
“She probably told you I’m a narcissist or some psychobabble BS like that, right?”
Dominic nods. “She did actually. But I think she’s wrong.” That draws both me and Tyler up short. I didn’t know Dom didn’t agree with me, but I’m open to hearing his thoughts. He’s damn perceptive, obviously, and has fixed some of my damage quicker than any therapist did. “I think you’re a nihilist. You don’t love anything, not even yourself, and you want everyone to feel the same emptiness you do, see the same bleakness you do.” He gives Tyler a chilling grin that borders on maniacal. “But we don’t. We feel happiness and sadness, joy and sorrow, and are better off for all the ups and downs. Definitely better off because of the love we experience.”
Dominic turns his dark eyes to me, his face going soft in a heartbeat. Is he saying? Could he mean? My heart jumps in my chest as I search for any sign I’m misunderstanding, but there’s none. He’s an open book and shares everything he’s feeling and thinking in his gaze.
I once had a man I thought was rescuing me from a lifetime of daddy issues, but he turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. But Dominic? I think he’s a sheep in wolf’s clothing. He plays this violent, aggressive sport, and has this image as a brute, but inside, he’s perceptive and insightful, honest and genuine, and comes with zero-point-zero baggage, unlike me. That should be terrifying, but it’s so reassuring.
Safe.
It whispers through my mind again. I’ve finally found the peace I’ve been searching for. In a package I would’ve never considered. But I’m so glad I did. He’s the man I’ve been looking for my whole life.
I lean into Dominic, pressing the tiniest, chastest kiss to his lips, and feel the lift of his smile against my own.
In the background of the celebration happening in my mind, I hear Tyler mutter, “Fuck you, Briar,” before he gets up and stomps away. Amber leaves with him, but I can’t worry about her. She has her own journey to get away from Tyler’s toxicity. I just hope the seeds I planted will eventually bloom into some hard-to-ignore truths in her mind, too, the same way they did in mine.