Uncle Dominic's Touch (7 page)

“Okay.” She didn’t know what else to say. The phone went dead and she looked at it, verifying that he had indeed hung up on her.
Oh God, what have I done?
This isn’t how she saw this whole situation playing out. On one hand, she could see all the awful things that could and did happen after she had sex with him, but she had pushed those thoughts away and focused on how right it all felt. It was clear he didn’t feel the same way, and she worried that she had just ruined her relationship with the man she loved the most.

****

Hours had passed since she had spoken with Dominic. She hadn’t called him back, no matter how much she wanted to, and he hadn’t called her. The sun had long set hours ago when she heard a car pull into the driveway. Chloe rushed toward the window and saw a taxi stop in front of the house. Dominic climbed out, his steps uneven and off balance. He was drunk. That much was clear.

As the taxi left and Dominic made his way up the front steps to the house, Chloe couldn’t find the strength to greet him. She had seen Uncle Dominic drink on more than one occasion, but never had she seen him so wasted he couldn’t even stand up straight.

Watching from the shadows of the living room as he stumbled into the kitchen, she held her breath. The sound of cupboards slamming and glasses clanking together drew her closer. Now in the entryway to the kitchen, his back to her, she watched as he poured himself a drink.

“Did you eat dinner, sweetie?” Words garbled and slurred, Chloe should have known that despite his intoxication he would have known she was there. There wasn’t anything that got by him. Ever.

“Yeah.” Her voice was nothing more than a whisper but she knew he heard her by the way he nodded in response. He kept his back toward her and so she took a tentative step forward. What could she say? How would she say it even if she knew what to say?

“It’s getting late, Chloe.”

He was dismissing her. She wanted to argue, wanted to ask him to come with her, to touch her, kiss her, love her. All those things were on the tip of her tongue but she couldn’t find the strength to say them. Instead she whispered, “Uncle Dominic, please.” He turned so quickly that she stumbled back a step. Glossy eyes and lids half mast, he looked like a drunk, smelled like one too.

“Why won’t you talk to me?”
About us, about what happened, hell, about anything.

“Don’t you get it, Chloe?” He held the crystal cut glass in his hand so tightly his knuckles were white. “What we did is wrong on so many levels. I am your fucking uncle! Your God damn uncle!” He all but screamed and Chloe winced, never seeing this side of him before, this raw, painful anger. “The ink hasn’t even dried from my divorce!”

Chloe felt the tears start to come to the surface. She wanted to be strong, needed to be because showing weakness wouldn’t help this situation. “You know as well as I do that what happened last night wasn’t wrong. I know I wasn’t the only one that felt the connection.” The laugh that came out of him had her skin prickling. It wasn’t one of happiness, no, it was one of sarcasm.

“We fucked, Chloe. It should have never happened, but it did. Don’t be delusional to think it was anything other than that.”

He said it so matter-of-factly that Chloe couldn’t help the hurt that enveloped her. “It was so much more than just a fuck, Dominic. Be a man and admit you are just too scared to say so!” She raised her voice as loud as he did and didn’t care if the whole damn town heard them. His face became a deep shade of red and she knew the anger that she had seen from him was nothing compared to what was about to happen.

The glass flew out of his hand and shattered against the wall. She watched the amber colored liquid slide down the immaculate wallpaper before it made a pool on the ground. The light hit the shards of glass and cast sparkling designs across the hardwood floor. It would have been beautiful if the result of its destruction hadn’t been so ugly.

“I’m a sick man! Can’t you see that? You’re a smart girl. Use that brain of yours, Chloe! What person in their right mind would fuck their
niece
? Blood related or not, that’s what I consider you, my fucking niece! There will never be anything between us, Chloe. Last night was a mistake. One big fucking mistake.”

When he stormed out of the kitchen, Chloe didn’t go after him. She could have crumbled to the ground and wept until there were no more tears inside of her, but she didn’t. Looking at the broken glass again, she grabbed the broom and dustpan and cleaned up. What else could she do?

****

The next morning Chloe packed her bag and called a taxi. A bus was scheduled to leave in an hour and she planned to be on it. She hadn’t seen Dominic again after the blow up in the kitchen, but that was okay. She didn’t think she could face him anyway. He had made himself perfectly clear, made how he felt about her crystal clear.

All she could do now was go on with her life, despite the shattered heart that lay inside her chest. The sound of the taxi’s tires crunching along the driveway sounded and Chloe laid the goodbye letter to Dominic on the table. It was short and right to the point. She didn’t mention anything that they had done, didn’t even mention the fight. A simple, “thank you for letting me stay at your cottage, but I think my time here is done,” was all that needed to be said.

She made sure to let him know when her bus would be leaving, not so much because she thought he needed to know, but more so because she hoped, in the back of her mind, he would come to her. She could see it as clear as day, could see him wrap her in his arms at the bus station and tell her to come home with him, and that everything would be okay. Of course she hoped that would happen, but she knew it wouldn’t. Chloe wasn’t stupid, no matter what she had done recently that said the contrary.

Chapter Nine

June 2010, eight years later

The road beside Chloe’s car sped by like a blur of grey and yellow. Finally, after eight grueling years of school, she was finished. She was a doctor. It seemed surreal in a sense, almost like she was locked in a dream, a very good one at that. Now, she had another four years of internship to look forward to, but she wasn’t going to let that creep into her mind right now.

Where she was going might be one of the worst decisions of her life, but despite that, she couldn’t stop herself from making the journey. She was going to the cottage, going to the one place she had told herself she wouldn’t go to ever again. Dominic wasn’t there.  She knew that from one of the rare phone calls from her parents.

In the past eight years a lot had changed. Her parents had decided to practice medicine in California. It wasn’t too much of a shock to Chloe given the fact she knew they wanted to expand their profession and look into plastics. It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to being put on the backburner, though. Hell, the majority of her life had been only about her grades and future professional status to them. If she looked good, they looked good.

Her parents had moved a year ago, and although they still spoke, rarely, it was like they were much too busy with their own lives to care about hers any longer. Maybe they were sick of everything too, and moving was the only option they saw fit to rectify the shitty life they had wrought?

The one person that was always in the forefront of her mind, though, was Uncle Dominic. When everyone had found out Clara and Dominic had divorced, surprise was everyone’s emotion. Chloe knew that her, along with everyone else, had thought Clara and Dominic would last forever. There was no talk about Clara cheating on him, and Chloe knew that if she hadn’t overhead her aunt and uncle’s conversation she would have never known either. The blame was squarely placed on Dominic and his “inadequacy to be a good husband.”

She hadn’t spoken to her uncle in the past eight years. All of her information came from her parents when they felt like calling, although she wasn’t even sure why they cared anymore. After the divorce, it was as if they had never liked him.

Through her parents, she had found he had reenlisted as an active Navy SEAL and had gone overseas. He was now back in the frontline which scared the shit out of Chloe. With the wars waging all over the world, she feared receiving that phone call that said Dominic was dead. Although she had no idea who would even call her. She was just, after all, his niece.

She knew he beat himself up about what they had done and she wished she could take his pain away. If he didn’t feel guilty why else would he have ran away and became an active SEAL again? She thought of him every day—but to actually speak to him again, see him again, after what had been said—was too much.

As the hours past and her tires ate up the pavement, Chloe couldn’t help but think about where her life had taken her. Her fondest memories where the ones at the cottage she was now heading to, and how sad was that? A childhood where you are happiest at a place that isn’t even your home, with a person that isn’t even blood related.

Once she started her internship she wouldn’t have time for anything else. During this break, before she started her residency, she needed to see the lake again, needed to see the little things that made up the memories she thought about the most.

When she had asked about whether the cabin was empty, her aunt hadn’t even questioned her. It was hard speaking to Clara, knowing that she was in love with her aunt's ex-husband but not able to confess it, broke Chloe’s heart over and over again.

****

The sun was starting to set when she finally reached the cottage. The lights were off and the last rays of that giant orange ball illuminated the wraparound porch and pristine landscaping. Chloe pulled the car in front of the porch and turned it off. When she got out, she stretched, her vision landing right on the lake. She couldn’t help but smile at the warmth she felt. Everything looked the same. As far as she was aware, no one had been at the cabin in years, yet everything looked well taken care of, right down to the mowed grass.

She pushed the thoughts away and grabbed her bags, and then headed up the porch. The same rock that sat by the front door sat by her feet and she lifted it. Chloe grinned when she saw the rusted spare key.

When she entered the house she immediately smelled lemon and lavender. She turned the lights on and walked through each room. The feeling of “home” instantly washed through her. It was strange being here all over again, after being away for so long.

She took the stairs quickly and opened the door that led to the room she always stayed. The room she lost her virginity in. Although she couldn’t help the tingle that raced up her spine at the memory, she also felt tears prickle behind her lids. The same bed she shared with Dominic sat before her, a painful reminder of what she missed most.

The cottage was very clean for no one living in it for years, but then again she didn’t doubt a cleaning service had been hired to do the upkeep on it. Her aunt was a stickler for neat and tidy.

After putting her belongs away, she went into the kitchen and empted the bags of food she brought. She thought it odd that there was food in the cupboard and even some in the fridge, but pushed her suspicions aside. After making herself something to eat she headed out onto the porch. It was just like old times and the feeling of never leaving had adrenaline going through her. The night was fairly warm, but even so, she decided to start a fire in the fire pit. Flames blazing in front of her, Chloe enjoyed her meal. Leaning back in the chair, she stared at the stars and started to count them aloud. The time seemed to blur as she counted those little, bright orbs of light, wishing she could be that far away, looking down at someone else.

“You used to do that when you were a kid.”

She gasped and stood up so fast her plate fell off her lap and broke on the paved patio. Chloe turned around. Staring wide eyed at the man that stood in the back doorway, she hadn’t even known he entered.
Oh God, what am I going to do?

Chapter Ten

 Her body’s response was instantaneous. Heart pounding wildly, adrenaline pumping through her veins, she felt the same rush she had felt all those years ago when he held and kissed her.

“
Uncle Dominic
.” The words were breathless as they left her. He looked the same. Aside from a few silver hairs that reflected off the moonlight, he was still all hard, powerful muscle and imposing frame. It was awkward, to say the least, because all she could think about was what they had shared. Was he thinking the same? Picturing what they had done?

He stepped onto the patio and moved toward her. Her throat was suddenly bone dry. “I thought you were overseas.” She closed her eyes. The words had just fell from her mouth, and she instantly felt like an ass. When she opened her eyes he was watching her with a hint of amusement.

“I was.” He didn’t elaborate and she didn’t probe for more details. If he wanted her to know more he would volunteer the information.

A pregnant moment of silence suspended upon them and Chloe found herself shifting uncomfortably. She cleared her throat and never thought she would be in a moment more awkward than the day after she lost her virginity to Dominic. How wrong she was.

“Listen, I really didn’t know you would be here. I’ll go because I don’t want to step on any toes." Moving the chair out of the way so she didn’t have to get too close to him, Chloe landed right on one of the broken pieces of broken plate that littered the ground.

She cried out in pain, lost her footing, and started to fall forward. The ground came closer and closer, but right before she landed face first, Dominic was there, his arms wrapped tightly around her. He swept her off her feet and into his arms. Chloe gasped, could do nothing but wrap her arms around his neck and hold on as he carried her inside.

The feel of her body against his sent a flush of heat through her. Uncomfortable wasn’t even a word she would use to describe what she felt. When they entered the kitchen and he set her on the counter, it brought back memories she tried to suppress. He was on his knees in front of her with her injured foot in his hand in the next moment. She squirmed at how close he was. Chloe stared down at his dark head.