“Come on. You are one of her very best friends. Of course you know where she is.”
“I really don’t. Sorry, Matt.”
“And I supposed that you don’t know who that guy is that she’s been spending a lot of time with? Maze?”
Shit. How did he know about Maze? How did he know his name? The guy was an expert at being a shadow and they weren’t seen together outside of Sinners. Even in there, he mingled while keeping her in his sight.
I didn’t really know how to play this, but I thought it would be wise to stick to the lie I’d started with.
“Well?” he demanded.
“I said, I don’t know. We aren’t as close as we once were, thanks to you.” I straightened my back, standing taller. I was determined to show him that he wasn’t intimidating me, even though I was shaking like crazy on the inside.
I brought back all my elegance training from when I was growing up, showing no emotions and standing proud. If there was one thing my mother had taught me when I was a kid it was how to put on a fake face for show. Never let them see you as anything less than perfect, always putting your best foot forward. That was what I had to do now. I had to put on a face to show him that he couldn’t get to me.
“Hmm. Now, why don’t I believe that?”
“You can believe what you want.”
Matt leant forward with menace glinting in his eyes. “You know that you can’t keep her from me. You know that, right? We are meant to be together. Lauren loves me.”
If I hadn’t already been backed up to the door, I would have taken another step away from him. This was more serious than I thought. No wonder Dominic wanted around-the-clock security on Lauren. This guy was more dangerous and unhinged than I had imagined.
There was something broken in his eyes. He had put himself on the path of getting Lauren back and no one would be able to stop him. He truly believed that they should be together and no one would be able to tell him otherwise. It was scary to witness up close and personal, looking up into those eyes that were filled with danger and insanity. I’d seen some cases in my time at work and this man was definitely in need of a psych evaluation. He wasn’t stable. Dominic had more on his hands than he realised.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
“No. You’re not sorry at all. You just don’t want to help me.”
Taking a deep breath, I said, “Can you blame me?”
“You can’t keep her from me.”
“I’m not trying to. She doesn’t want to be with you.”
Rage crossed his face and he slammed his fist into the door, only inches from my head. I shuddered. “Please leave. Please.”
“I don’t think so.” He grinned at me. “Maybe I should just stay here until you decide to tell me. I’m sure we can think of plenty of things to do to pass the time.” He smiled, the smile not reaching his ice cold eyes. Seeing my panic, he laughed and the sound made me shiver. “Well, aren’t you going to invite me in? Where are your manners? I thought you were raised better than that.”
I shoot my head rapidly. My throat had dried up and I had lost my voice. Fear ran through me, freezing my veins as I stood shaking in front of him.
Abruptly, Matt looked at his watch and sighed. “I really wish that I could stay here longer with you and carry on our chat, but there is somewhere I have to be.” He looked at me intently as I clung to the door behind me. “If you could tell Lauren that I was looking for her I would appreciate it.”
I didn’t nod. I couldn’t move. All I wanted was for him to leave so I could finally breathe again.
Matt stood there looking at me for a moment before lunging forward and smashing his fist into my cheekbone. Pain exploded in my face and I felt my body crumple beneath me.
“Tell Lauren that I will find her and it will be sooner rather than later.” He hissed.
With a sob in my throat, I tried to raise my head to make sure that he really was leaving, but the pain thundered through my head before blackness swallowed me up into unconsciousness.
Shivering, I felt the cold, hard floor against my cheek only moments before the pain in my face rocketed through me. It was bad enough that I couldn’t feel any pain in my leg anymore.
Scrambling up, I didn’t know how long I’d been out there and was absolutely terrified that Matt was either lurking somewhere nearby or that he would be back at any moment.
With shaking hands, it took several attempts to unlock the door and I flung myself inside, slamming the door shut behind me and throwing across every lock I had.
Even inside I didn’t feel safe. My keys had been hanging in the door just where I had left them. What was to say that Matt wasn’t in the house, waiting for me? Tears clouded my eyes as I set the alarm.
Sobbing, I slumped to the floor. The more I cried, the more my face hurt and I wailed like a wounded animal.
I had never been hit like that before in my life. Back in school, even in the posh private school that I had attended, there had been plenty of girls who loved a good fight to prove a point, but I just wasn’t built like that. I didn’t have an aggressive bone in my body. Even at work, I had never been put in a position like this. I had been on the receiving end of a scuffle, like earlier tonight, but no one had ever deliberately gone out of their way to hurt me like that.
The look in his eyes had been so cold. You know when you look into a sharks’ eye and you see nothing but death? That was what it was like staring into Matt’s eyes.
Trying my hardest to pull myself together, it hurt to cry and it wouldn’t do me any good anyway. All it would do was leave me red and blotchy and feeling worse than I already was. I had to try and think straight and work out what to do next. Matt was out there and it wasn’t safe for Lauren. I couldn’t concentrate on myself right now. She was in danger, a greater danger than anyone thought.
I didn’t want to call Lauren, though. Telling her what had happened to me would only scare her and she didn’t need that right now. She was just getting her life back together and I wouldn’t let Matt ruin that for her. Honestly, she didn’t think Matt would ever lay a finger on her or that he was violent in the slightest, but I had found out first hand just what he was capable of. And I knew that he had a lot worse in him, too.
There was no way I was going to call my parents. Even though I was a grown woman, they would never let me out of their sight again. My sister would totally freak out, saying that I brought this on myself by working at the hospital and living in the ‘slums’.
There was only one person I could call. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to do this.
Dialling the only number I had for him, I drummed my fingers on the coffee table as I waited for someone to answer.
“Sinners.” A gruff voice answered.
“Can I speak to Dominic, please?” I felt such a fool calling him, but he really was the only one that I could turn to with this. He had to know what Matt was up to and what he was capable of. After all, he was the one that was looking out for Lauren.
“Who? I can’t hear you. You’re going to have to speak up.”
I sighed. Talking hurt and repeating myself was the last thing I wanted to do. “Can I speak to Dominic Saint, please?”
They grunted, acknowledging they heard me I think. “Who’s calling?”
“Can you tell him it’s Fallon?”
The line was filled with background noise from the bar. I hoped that meant he had gone to find Dominic and that he hadn’t just left me hanging. If Dominic couldn’t help me, I wasn’t sure where to turn. Maybe Maze could help? It sucked that I didn’t have his number or he would have been a better choice.
“Has he got your number?”
“I’m not sure.”
“I’ll leave him a message.” And the line went dead. Fucking great. I could feel the tears building in my eyes again. The one person I’d hoped to turn to for help wasn’t here.
What the fuck was I going to do? Phoning Lauren was the most rational option, but sh
e would freak the hell out if she heard what Matt had done.
After the conversation I’d had with Taylor last night, perhaps I was going to be seeing Dominic a little sooner than anticipated. This wasn’t the kind of meeting I had been expecting, though.
The phone rang, interrupting my thoughts. “Hello?” I asked shakily.
“Fallon?” Dominic’s husky, low rumble filled the line.
“Dominic?” I asked in a shaky voice, hope building in me that he was returning my call so quickly
“Yeah, you tried getting hold of me at the bar?”
“Yeah, it’s Fallon.” When I was met with silence, I felt a pang of embarrassment that he didn’t even remember me after our two encounters. “Lauren’s friend?” I felt like such a fool.
“I know who you are, Fallon.” There was humour in his voice. “Why else did you think I was calling you back?”
“I’m sorry.” I whispered, feeling such an idiot.
“What can I do for you, Fallon?”
The way he was speaking, he clearly couldn’t remember who the hell I was and didn’t really give a crap what I was calling about. Great. This was going to be awkward as well as painful. “I thought I should let you know that Matt has been to my house looking for Lauren.”
“What did he say?” Dominic asked sharply.
“That he would find her and they would be together.”
“Fuck!” he shouted.
I flinched. I had already faced enough anger for one night. “I thought that I should tell someone. I didn’t want to scare Lauren and I didn’t know how to get hold of anyone else.”
“Did he say anything else to you?”
“Not really.”
“Did he do anything else?”
“Look,” I snapped, getting annoyed myself. “It doesn’t matter. I thought you should know that he has crawled back out from under his rock.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I said through gritted teeth, feeling sick at hearing his anger.
“For fucks sake, Fallon! Just tell me. Did he fucking hurt you?” Dominic growled menacingly down the phone.
I felt even more pathetic as a sob escaped my throat. I had already been scared enough for one night and now his tone was putting me further on edge. “Yes.” I squeaked, scrunching my eyes shut to try and stop the tears, but immediately regretting the action when my face screamed out in pain.
“I’m on my way.”
The phone went dead. He’d hung up on me. I was left staring at the receiver dumbly. What the hell did he mean? Did he mean he was on the way here or on the way to check up on Lauren? I didn’t understand.
Shuffling into the kitchen, I carefully tried to wash away some of the dried blood on my face, wincing at the pain.
It wasn’t worth it. I didn’t care. Giving up, I took a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer and wrapped it in a towel before slowly placing it against the side of my face.
The rapid fire knocking at the door made me jump out of my skin. All I wanted to do was hide behind the sofa like a coward and wait for them to go away.
“Fallon?”
Hearing Dominic’s voice, I didn’t know whether to be scared or relieved. As he continued to bang on the door, I moved to answer it. The last thing I needed was for the neighbours to complain on top of everything else.
Standing in front of the door, I called out his name, just in case. “Dominic? Is that you?” I didn’t want my ears to be playing tricks on me and find myself opening the door to Psycho Matt.
“Yes. It’s me. Open the fucking door, Fallon.”
Dominic
“Fallon. I said open the fucking door.”
I was seriously losing my shit out here. She had sounded scared shitless when she’d called the bar and I had raced over to her place. I’d barely had the time to call Rachael to come over and watch Lily. I had no idea how long I would be, but at least I knew my girl would be in safe hands.
Now she wasn’t even letting me in the fucking door. I knew that soft, cajoling words would probably work better on her but I was too worried and too pissed off to be pussy-footing around her like that. I needed to see her. I needed to see what he’d done and then I could go out there and beat his motherfucking face to a pulp.
“Fallon?”
The locks clicked and she hesitantly peered out the door. One look at her face had me pushing the door open, moving to stand in the hallway. I couldn’t take my eyes off her face. What the fuck had he done to her?
Her face was a complete and utter mess. The bruising was already starting to come out and there was still dried blood on her puffy cheek. I wanted to kill him
“He did this to you?” I wanted to wrap my hands around the cowardly bastard’s neck for touching her. Who the hell did he think he was going around treating women like this? He would pay for laying a finger on Fallon.
“Can you shut the door, please?”
It took me a moment to stop focusing on her to realise I’d left the door wide open behind me. Not that I gave a flying shit if he chose this very moment to return, hell, I’d relish the confrontation. I wanted to have a strongly worded conversation with him about his treatment of women, but Fallon looked scared to death. It was easy to see in the way that she was shaking and how her eyes continually flickered to the open doorway, assessing every movement for threat.
That got to me more than anything else. Even though I didn’t want to feel this way about her, it killed me to think that she thought I wouldn’t protect her from him. She must have had some faith in me to call, or at least that’s what I hoped.
Slamming the door behind me and flicking the locks just so she would feel more secure, I led her into the living room.
“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked as we sat down, keeping my tone more gentle this time. Resting a hand lightly on her shoulder, she seemed to need the physical comfort and support.
Fallon took a deep breath and refused to look at me. “He was already here when I got home. He told me to pass the message on to Lauren that he would find her and that they would be together again.” She shuddered, remembering his words.
“And what did he do to you?” I motioned towards her face.
“He punched me. I must have passed out.”
“Fuck.” I muttered.
“When I came to, I rang you straight away. I didn’t want to call Lauren and have her worry.”
“You did the right thing.” I nodded, rubbing my thumb in a circle on her shoulder. It made me feel better that I was the first person she thought to call.
“Is she safe?”
I nodded again. “Oli and Chester are with her. And before you even think it, they wouldn’t let Matt anywhere near her. He hasn’t got a chance with them guarding her. She’s safe with them.” I got up and looked around the room. I wasn’t sure what to do about this, but I had to keep Fallon safe. I had no choice. “You need to go and pack an overnight bag.”
“What for?” She frowned in confusion.
“You can’t stay here tonight. I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to come back but I need to get Austen over here to notch up your security system.”
“But where will I go? To Lauren’s?”
“You’ll have to stay with me tonight.” This was the only solution I could come up with. I wanted to keep Lauren safe and the best way to do that was to keep her close to me. It may complicate the situation between us, but I had no choice. Matt wouldn’t stand a chance at coming to my place. Lily was there and I wouldn’t play around with her safety. My house was done up like Fort Knox. The fucker wouldn’t stand a chance.
Fallon nodded reluctantly and slowly got up from her chair, limping out of the room. I was pleased she didn’t put up a fight. That leant a nod to how much he had scared her, the bastard.
“Did he do that as well?” I glanced down at her leg.
She shook her head at me. “It happened at work. Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.” And she left th
e room.
Cursing under my breath, I put a call through to Chester.
“Brother?” he answered.
“Can you talk?”
“One minute.” I heard some rustling and doors shutting before his voice came back on the line. “Go ahead.”
I was pleased that he had the sense to move away from where Lauren or anyone else could overhear. “That motherfucker Matt paid a visit to Lauren’s friend, Fallon. He fucked up her face.”
“You’re shitting me?”
“No.”
“And this is Fallon? The Fallon? The one you like?”
“Chester.” I growled down the phone. “Keep your head on the job.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Anyway, I need you to contact Austen for me and get him to take a look at her security system. She’s coming to stay with me tonight.”
“Is that wise?”
Chester knew that Lily would be home tonight and that I didn’t like to mix business with my private life, but this was different. It was Fallon. “Do I really have any choice? She can’t stay here and Lauren would freak the fuck out if she saw her right now. Her face is a mess.”
“What about the cops?”
“I’m going to call Ethan now.” He was an old friend of mine and was on the force. Hopefully he would be able to call and see Fallon at my place. I didn’t want her to go through the stress of having to go down to the police station. She’d had a hard night and I didn’t want to make it any worse for her. Plus, if we wanted to get our hands on Matt, we were going to have to keep this on the down-low.
“Okay. Do you want me to give Lauren the heads up?”
I thought for a moment. “Yes. She needs to know what this asshole is capable of.” Pausing for a moment, I asked, “Have you spoken to Kellin or Maze?”
“Not for a few hours, why?”
“They have found out a couple of things. I’ll talk to you more when I’ve got Fallon secure at my place. Just be warned, I think this guy is craftier than we first thought. Keep your eyes open.”
“Will do, but what do you want me to tell Lauren?”
I had to think for a moment. “Tell her what happened here with Fallon. She needs to know how dangerous this guy is.”
Dominic (Saint Brothers #1) Page 14