Dominic (Saint Brothers #1) (21 page)

Opening up the door, all plans for going in all guns blazing went out the window. Hearing all that noise, Matt could do something rash, something that we would all regret. I had to proceed slowly and quietly and hopefully I’d catch him unawares.

In doing that, I would be on my own. Kellin would be waiting for some noise or some kind of sign that I was in. In a way, this would be better. In taking the girls, and in particular Fallon, this was now personal. This would be my fight.

“No, Matt, please no, please, please, please.”

I could hear Lauren sobbing from in the other room, but there was no other noise. Moving towards the sound of her voice, I kept my eyes wide open, taking everything in.

There were signs of a struggle. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. From all I had heard about Fallon from Lauren, and what I knew of her myself, she wouldn’t go down without a fight. She was a loyal friend and would have done everything in her power to protect Lauren from Matt. I just wondered how far she would have gone and how bad the outcome would have been.

“Lauren, pick up the bag. We’re leaving.”

My ears spiked at Matt’s voice and I wanted to bundle in there and beat the ever loving crap out of him, but I held back. He clearly didn’t realise he had company just yet.

“No, Matt. I can’t leave Fallon.”

“She’ll be fine.”

“Look at her! Look what you’ve done to her!” Lauren wailed.

If I was a cat, my hackles would have been rising at those words. I couldn’t hear Fallon and if Lauren’s distress was anything to go by, it wasn’t going to be a pretty sight. My fingers clenched into fists.

“I didn’t do anything to her. She brought it on herself. She shouldn’t have meddled in our relationship.”

“We don’t have a relationship.” Lauren cried.

“Don’t say that!” Matt roared and his words were followed by the sound of a slap, the crack of flesh on skin audible in the silent house.

That was my cue. I couldn’t let this go on a moment. I was already pissed enough at Ethan for sitting outside and waiting for backup, there was no way I was going to hide in the house like a pussy and let him beat up on the women.

Kicking the door open, Lauren screamed. My eyes were trained on Matt, who had whirled around to face me. Surprise flitted across his face before a smirk settled into place.

“Well, if it isn’t Prince Charming.” He sneered.

I glared at him. There was no way I was going to take my eyes off of him for a second to look around the room. He was the only threat, and one that I was about to eliminate.

“Don’t you realise yet? Lauren doesn’t need rescuing.”

Without looking at her, I asked, “Lauren, are you hurt?”

She gasped, “Fallon…”

“I didn’t ask about Fallon.” It took all my strength not to jump on that, wanting to know how Fallon was. If I heard that she was hurt or worse, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from pulling him limb from limb and I didn’t want to do that in front of Lauren. “I asked if you were hurt.”

“She’s fine.” Matt waved a hand at me, dismissing the question.

“Lauren.” I snapped. This was a bad situation, I understood that, but if I was going to be able to get her out of it in one piece, she was going to have to pull herself together.

“I can walk.” She finally confirmed in a small voice.

“Then get up and walk to the front door. Kellin is there waiting for you.”

“She’s not going anywhere.” Matt stepped in front of her when she got up to leave, pushing her back down on the sofa.

Fury took over every part of me. He had the audacity to man-handle her in front of me? He was going to pay.

Striding forward, I didn’t hesitate to wrap my hands around his neck, wrenching him up off the ground and throwing him to the floor. Shouting to Lauren over my shoulder, I didn’t stop to check that she was following my instructions. My fists flew as if they had a mind of their own, wanting to incapacitate, wanting to maim, wanting to kill this sick son of a bitch.

“Dominic!”

I didn’t register that there was anyone else in the room until I was pulled backwards.

“Fucking get off me!” I roared, throwing my elbow back and connecting with flesh. As soon as their hold let up on me, I lunged for Matt again who was lying motionless on the floor.

Hands reached for me yet again. As much as I struggled, they weren’t letting up on me this time.

“Fucking pack it in, Dominic. You’re going to kill him.”

Kellin. As I turned my eyes to him, blood was pouring from his nose and I narrowed my eyes in question.

He chuckled and shook his head. “You did this, dumbass.” Kellin put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back against the wall. “Let them do their job.”

As soon as those words were out of his mouth, the room filled with police, shouting instructions for everyone to put their hands up. Kellin and I stayed against the wall, only relaxing when Ethan walked into the room.

Ethan walked over to where Matt lay on the floor and shook his head. “How the fuck am I supposed to explain this?”

Kellin stepped forward, “It was self-defence.”

Ethan shook his head but refused to say anything else while the rest of the officers were within ear shot. From the look exchange between him and Kellin, they already had a story worked out. Not that I gave a shit. That asshole would be worth getting a criminal record over.

Paramedics swarmed the room and I bent over, taking in a deep breath. The adrenaline was running through my body but I knew that it was going to only last so long and then I’d be in for a hell of a crash.

Shouts could be heard and I glanced over to where the medical assistance were working. I didn’t let myself look around before now, concentrating only on getting Lauren out of there. I couldn’t think about Fallon.

Now I could see her. Shoving everyone out of the way, I stood over her with a look of complete horror on my face.

She was lying in a pool of her own blood, breathing but not conscious. He had really gone to town on her, worse than the beating I’d given him.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to move.” One of the paramedics asked firmly. It didn’t register at first, but Kellin pulled on my arm again, allowing the medics room to move.

“Dominic?” Kellin moved to stand in front of me, blocking my view of Fallon. “Look at me. She needs help. You need to move.”

I nodded dumbly and moved to the side to allow more help to get to her. It made me sick to the stomach to see her looking like that.

“Come on, man. We need to get to the hospital.” Kellin urged me out of the house. I didn’t want to leave her, but she was in the most capable hands and he assured me that we’d meet the ambulance at the hospital. “Come on, man. You can’t do anything for her here.”

Chapter Seventeen

Fallon

Blurred voices. Bright lights.

I tried to open my eyes but everything seemed like too much effort. It hurt too much to try.

Feeling the soothing touch of someone brushing the hair back from my face, it lulled me back to sleep, back where I didn’t hurt so much.

Blinking several times, the stark lighting burnt my eyes. At first, I couldn’t understand why everything was so bright, but then the pain in my body brought back the memories of what had happened.

Matt.

Where was Lauren? Was she okay? Had he taken her? The thoughts whirled around in my mind, a jumbled mess I couldn’t get straight.

“I think she’s awake.”

Who was that? Why were they shouting? My head was feeling fragile, like the worst hangover none to mankind.

“Fallon? Can you hear me?”

I felt someone gently take hold of my hand, but my eyes wouldn’t open again.

“Is she okay?”

“Can you all please leave the room? I need a moment with the patient.”

Voices. Words. People. It was much more peaceful when I was asleep.

“Fallon?”

I could have sighed if I’d had the energy. It hurt to open my eyes. The lights in the room were too bright, but I had the feeling that they wouldn’t give up until I’d opened my eyes.

Blinking slowly, my eyes felt dry and scratchy. It took several moments for my vision to focus. Everything seemed too sterile and white.

“Fallon?”

I turned towards the voice. An older gentleman, possibly in his late fifties, was standing at the side of the bed patiently waiting for me to come around. He was clearly a doctor, if his white coat and smart suit were anything to go by. He was smiling down at me with kindly eyes.

I didn’t recognise him. In a way, I was glad that it wasn’t one of my colleagues in here treating me. They wouldn’t be able to do it with an impartial eye and the last thing I needed right now was someone looking at me with sympathy.

“Do you know where you are?”

“Hospital?” My voice was raspy and my throat felt like I hadn’t had a drink in about a month. Everything hurt like a bitch, talking was like torture.

“You’re at St Thomas’. My name is Doctor Jenner. Do you know why you’re here?”

I closed my eyes for a moment. The pain wasn’t anywhere near as bad now but as the memories started to flood back to me, agony spiked along my body.

Matt. He’d done this.

I still couldn’t believe how quickly and how badly it had all gone down. One minute, we thought we were safe with our man-mountain bodyguards outside Lauren’s place, and then the next?

Glancing down at my hands, I noticed one was in a cast while the other was looking bruised. I knew just by looking at them that the rest of me would look so much worse and that I must be on quite heavy painkillers for me to still be feeling like I was floating on a cloud.

The pain I was feeling was from memory. Right now, I couldn’t feel anything. I was only feeling what my brain thought I should. I was thankful that the painkillers were doing their job.

“Fallon? Do you know why you’re here?”

I nodded slowly, mindful of my injuries. “I was attacked.” Looking back at him, I saw the concern in his eyes. “How bad is it?”

“Admittedly, most of the wounds are superficial and looks worse than it is, but saying that, you have sustained some significant injuries.” He moved to sit down on the cushioned chair next to the bed.

He ran through a list of my injuries, from the minor to the more extreme, like the several broken bones in my hand, bruised vocal chords and the broken ribs that were causing some breathing problems. Luckily, there was no internal bleeding and no life threatening injuries, but I’d been in a medically induced coma to reduce the swelling to my brain.

“We have several more tests to do, but so far, everything points towards a full recovery.”

I closed my eyes in relief. As the memories of what Matt had done rushed back to me, I thought I was going to die at the time. And now that I was here in hospital and relatively lucid, I was worried that he had done something that would permanently scar my life.

The doctor stayed with me a little longer, explaining what they had done to me, what they expected of my recovery and the suchlike. As he moved to leave, I asked, “Do you know how Lauren is?”

“The girl that came in with you?” I nodded. “Admittedly, she wasn’t my patient, but you were calling out her name last time you woke up. She’s fine. She was discharged.” He smiled reassuringly.

“Thank you.” I sagged in the bed in relief. I could remember every single detail of what had happened and the last thing I saw before I blacked out was Matt stalking towards her. It was an immense relief to know that he hadn’t go to her.

“How long do I have to stay here?”

Doctor Jenner chuckled. “Why is everyone always so eager to leave? The food here isn’t half bad.”

I tried to smile, but it felt alien and hurt my face. “I don’t really like hospitals.”

“No one does.” He shook his head. “I’ll be back to check on you later but I’d like you to stay in for observation. That was a nasty bump to the head and I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting you leave so soon.”

I closed my eyes, trying to resign myself to the fact that I was going to be stuck in this bed for a while longer.

It was a good idea. I wasn’t feeling myself at the moment. The pain wasn’t as bad as I expected, but I guessed that was down to the amount of painkillers being pumped into my body. I had no idea how I would look after myself at home, all by myself.

“There is a young man waiting outside. Shall I send him in?”

For a panicked moment, I thought it was Matt. The doctor saw my distress and smiled again, “He has been with you since you were brought in. Dominic Saint? I think that’s his name.”

“Dominic’s here? Why?”

The doctor smiled at me warmly, “He hasn’t left your side. He and several of your other friends have been here waiting for you to wake up.”

Dominic? What was he doing at the hospital? In my confusion, I nodded but regretted it the moment the doctor left the room.

I didn’t get long to worry as the door swung open and Dominic came into the room. Concern was etched on his face as he came straight to the side of the bed.

“Fallon? How are you feeling?”

“What are you doing here?” I whispered.

Dominic shook his head and started pacing around the room. He looked like he was furious.

I didn’t know what to do or say. I was stuck on the goddamn hospital bed with my mind barely able to focus and he was making me dizzy with all his pacing. “Can you at least sit down?”

He looked at me sharply before his face softened and he fell into the chair by the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

“Really?” he smirked.

I felt myself smiling, or at least as well as I could. “I’m as high as a kite. Believe me, I’m more than fine at the moment.”

Dominic ran a hand over his face. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

“There wasn’t anything you could have done.” And there wasn’t. None of us had expected Matt to go that far. He was deluded, beyond help. “What happened to Matt?”

A scowl scrunched up his face. “He was arrested.”

Well, it didn’t look like he was very happy about that. Not that I could blame him. With his state of mind, it was doubtful in my opinion that Matt would end up in prison. If he was lucky, he’d spend the rest of his life in a mental institute. I could imagine that Dominic would have preferred to exact his own brand of justice on his ass.

“Is Lauren okay?” I know I’d already asked the doctor, but Dominic would know more about her state of mind.

He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “She’ll be fine.”

We sat in an awkward silence for a moment. I couldn’t look at him. I didn’t understand why he was there.

Dominic was the last person I thought I’d see on waking up. Hell, I didn’t plan on seeing him again at all.

Closing my eyes, I was shocked to realise quite how exhausted I was feeling. It was pathetic really. I’d only been awake for a few minutes and I could already feel myself dozing off.

Feeling the hair being brushed off my face was soothing and I could feel myself leaning into the touch, lulling me to a peaceful sleep.

“Sleep, baby. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Dominic

I hated to see her in so much pain. She looked a fucking mess and it made me want to go and kick his ass all over again. He had gotten off lightly in my opinion.

There was no way I was leaving her. I had grudgingly agreed to leave when the doctor or nurses came in to examine her, but that was it. They’d tried pulling the old visiting hour trick on me, but I wasn’t having any of it. I was staying and they could all fucking lump it.

My brothers had all been pacing in the waiting room, waiting to hear news. Austen had gone over to check on Maze and Chester and both men were doing fine. Both had been checked over by the hospital staff and had been discharged. Lauren had been sent home and Jared had gone over to check on them.

Damn, he was pissed that he had missed out on all the fun. Fun? It wasn’t so fun seeing the state of Fallon. That bastard had really done a number on her and it shocked us all to see. We had all been raised to treat women with respect and to never lay a finger on them in anger. How anyone could do that to a woman, I’ll never know.

Kellin and Kacey were the last to leave. I’d gone out and told them that there was nothing else anyone could do. Fallon was being kept in for observation and I wasn’t going to leave her side. It was pointless them being there and I promised to call as soon as I had any other news.

Now, Fallon was sleeping again. It was obvious that she was doped up to the eyeballs on painkillers the moment she woke up. I knew that look in her eyes well. She looked so confused to see me there, yet I’d been sat there talking to her for hours.

Apparently, Kellin had spoken to Ethan and they had Matt in a holding cell, waiting for processing. Personally, I didn’t give a shit what they did to him as long as he wasn’t let back out on the streets again.

Lauren was a complete mess. I knew she would be. She wasn’t as strong as Fallon and this had hit her hard.

Not that Fallon wouldn’t be affected by this. Hell, anyone who had been through something like this knew that they were never the same afterwards. Matt had broken something in her, but I was determined to be there for her while she recovered to help get that special spark back.

Sitting back in the chair, I stretched out my legs. Hospital chairs were not the most comfortable things at the best of times, but trying to sleep in one? It was almost impossible. My back ached, my neck was screaming out and my ass was going numb. But I wasn’t going to leave her.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. Pulling it out, I saw that a call was coming in from my dad. “Dad?”

“Yes, son. It’s me. How’s she doing?” he asked, the concern clear in his voice. He’d known from the first moment I’d mentioned Fallon that she was someone special to me and he and Gemma hadn’t hesitated to look after Lily while I sat with Fallon.

“About the same. She’s woken up a couple of times, but she’s sleeping now.”

“What did the doctors say?”

I got to walk over to the door when I saw Fallon stirring on the bed. This time, she must not have been sleeping so deeply if the sound of my voice was disturbing her.

Opening up the door, I stepped outside, shutting it behind me and leaning my head back against the cool wood. “She was lucky. She’s got several broken bones in her hand that are going to take some healing, but other than that, it’s mainly superficial.”

I closed my eyes in relief even as I said the words. It could have been so much worse, and looking at the state of her, I had expected the worst.

That was the thing that hit me harder than anything. I thought she was going to be taken away from me before I’d even been able to take a chance with her. Sure, there was no guarantee that she even wanted anything to do with me after the way I had treated her, but I wanted to be given that chance and it had nearly been taken away from me.

Fuck ‘em and chuck ‘em. That’s the kind of guy she thought I was and I was going to have my work cut out making her believe otherwise. But I was willing to give it a damn good try to show her I was worthy of her.

“Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?”

I sighed, the emotions weighing heavily on me. “She looks like she’s been hit with a truck.”

“But you’re there with her, son. That’s the important thing.”

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “It’s just hard, you know?”

“I know, Dominic. It’s hard to see someone you love suffering. But you’re there for her, that’s the main thing.”

Love? It was probably a little soon for that word to be thrown about, but I wasn’t going to pull him up on it. There were deeper feelings at play here, but I couldn’t put a label on them. I probably wouldn’t be able to for a long time, but at long as Fallon gave me that chance, we’d be able to see where this thing would take us.