by H. Q. Frost
"You can't get any closer," the officer insisted, giving him a shove back.
"Nyla!" Dom screamed, with her no longer in his sight. "Nyla!" He tried to run around the officer but was thrown to the ground.
Getting to his knees, he took in a few deep breaths to calm down. His anger was only going to get him locked in a cell, and he didn't have time for that. The sound of a shotgun blast dropped him to his ass and his attention went to the house. At the sound of a second shot, he scrambled to his feet and took off, running around the distracted officer. As the cops swarmed closer to the house, Dom went with them, going unnoticed because of the chaos.
The front door opened before a battering ram forced entry and Nyla stood in the doorway in tears, holding Kaitlyn's limp body. His eyes focused on the bloody girl in Nyla's arms and it only took him a second to notice the blood was coming from Kaitlyn's head, wounded by gunshot.
Police grabbed the body from Nyla and she was then engulfed by the S.W.A.T team. Dom lost her as she was ushered to an ambulance. As much as he tried to get to her, he was kept back from Nyla while she was evaluated and then put into the backseat of a police vehicle.
Dom bolted to his truck and got off the street as quickly as he could so he would be waiting at the station.
While he fidgeted at the front desk next to his mom, she rubbed his arm. "She'll be here any second. You're not going to be able to talk to her until they do."
"Shh, I know, Mom. I know. Just... just shut up." He put his head in his hands and groaned. "Mom." His arm went around her and he pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry."
"I know you're stressed, sweetheart." She rubbed his hair a minute before telling him, "Her dad's on his way."
"You called him?" Dom demanded, looking angry.
"Of course, Dominic," she quietly snapped. "That's her dad. He needs to know what's going on."
"Mom, she didn't shoot Kait. There's no fucking way, and that's what they're saying, isn't it?"
His language made her huff but she rubbed his arm again. "No, honey, but she tampered with evidence."
"What evidence?" Dom's protesting tone got louder.
"Lower your voice now," she warned quietly. "She touched the body. So now it's uncertain if her brother shot her then himself, or the other way around." When she watched his face twist as everything was setting in, she put her arm around him. "Sit down for a few. I'll let you know when you can see her."
"She was our friend, Mom." His voice wavered and she wrapped both arms around him.
"I know, honey. I know." The soothing rub of her hands on his back comforted him like it used to when he was a child, and prevented him from breaking down in the middle of the police station.
When Maleek showed up, he demanded to see his daughter and to have Dom at his side. Marilyn's eyebrows rose in surprise but she got it cleared for them to go into the back where Nyla was being questioned.
"Dad," she said in a tearful voice, noticing him first and throwing herself into his arms. The second she saw Dom, she pulled away and her face contorted into painful sobs as he pulled her to him.
"She shot him, Dom," she sobbed. "Then herself."
"Shh." His fingers carefully ran through her curls while his grip tightened as the image of what was left of Kaitlyn's head filled his thoughts.
With Nyla in his arms, they followed behind her dad and stopped at the front desk where his mother compassionately hugged them before saying goodbye.
"Nyla!" A female's voice drew their attention to the door.
Dom furrowed his brows at the woman in a pencil skirt and heels running their way. The tall blonde pulled Nyla from his arms. He looked at Maleek who took a step back and tucked his hands into his pockets.
"Dom." Nyla pushed out of the unknown woman's arms and grabbed him, pulling him forward. "Mom, this is my boyfriend, Dom."
Her green eyes landed on him and she slowly stuck her hand out. "Nice to meet you. I've heard all about you."
Dom couldn't say the same. Nyla rarely talked about her mom and he forgot the woman existed. She hadn't seen her in over a month but he remembered he'd seen her drop Nyla off once, before they really knew each other that well.
"You too," he politely responded.
"Why are you here?" Nyla quietly asked.
"Your dad called me." She gestured to Maleek and Nyla sighed, knowing that phone call almost damn near killed him. "I think you should come home tonight."
"I am going home. To my home, with Dad and Dom."
Her mom's head jerked to look at Dom, then Maleek. "He's living in your home?" she quietly grilled her ex-husband. "You allow them to live together inside your home?"
"Dom doesn't live with us, Mom," Nyla huffed. "No offense, but I really need to be with Dom right now. Our friend just killed herself." Tears filled her eyes and Dom pulled her into his arms as she broke down.
"You okay to drive?" Maleek asked Dom, helping them get out of there sooner than her mother had planned.
Nodding at Maleek, he then looked at Nyla's mother and quickly said, "Nice to meet you," before walking Nyla out to the truck.
***
"It's choking me!" Jeff complained pulling on his tie while they walked across the cemetery for Kaitlyn's burial.
"Leave it alone," Dom mumbled, before kissing Nyla's temple, who was sobbing at his side.
"Dom," she squeaked when they approached the dug grave and realized Reese's was side by side with Kaitlyn's.
"Shit." He huffed and looked up to the sky, silently apologizing to Kaitlyn that even in death she would be haunted by her brother.
When the ceremony ended, Nyla stepped forward and held her clamped hand over the open grave that held Kaitlyn's casket. Opening her fist, she dropped a necklace with a pendant that said 'Bitches' inside. It was the necklace Kaitlyn bought as a set for them after her first pay check from the theater. She raised her fingers to the pendant around her neck that said 'Best' then took a step back.
Renee looked hollow as she stared at her, almost looking as if she had numbed life's pain with some sort of substance before the funeral; Nyla didn't put it past the afflicted girl. She glared for a minute before turning her back and taking Dom's hand.
After baseball practice, Dom picked Nyla up and they headed to a party that was being held for Kaitlyn and Reese. Rumors and truths had spread about the siblings, but the only people that knew the truth, were the few that had been camping that weekend when it all came out.
When a beer bong was being passed in a circle and every guy screamed "Reese!" after downing a beer from it, Nyla grabbed Dom's hand.
"Can we leave?" Her brownish-green eyes were swimming in tears as clueless people celebrated a man that ruined the life of a girl she'd become best friends with.
After kissing her temple, he turned to Jesse. "We're leaving."
"I'll find a ride," Jesse said, only glancing at Nyla as tears flowed down her cheeks.
Dom started the truck but didn't put it in gear for a few minutes.
"Did you want to stay?" she asked, sliding over in the bench seat toward him.
"Stay the night at my house tonight."
The noise that came from her throat was a strangled gasp from the unexpected request. And before he revoked it, she responded, "Okay."
They walked into the house to Jeff passed out on the couch and the TV blaring. Dom woke him and got him to his bedroom while Nyla smiled from the sweet act that was almost a daily occurrence in their household.
"He okay?" she asked when Dom closed Jeff's bedroom door behind him.
"Yeah. You know how he doesn't really have, or show, remorse?" He took her hand and walked her down the hall to his bedroom.
"Yeah." She stepped inside the room and he pushed the door closed behind them.
"Today at practice he seemed off his game and when I asked him what was on his mind, he said Kaitlyn. I don't know what that means. If it means anything." He shrugged before huffing. "I just sometimes think there's more going on in his head
than he shows people."
"That's the same for everyone." She sat on his bed and kicked her sandals off.
"But I've never seen Jeff get... sad over someone. He's been bummed if I've snapped at him, but not ten minutes later it's like he forgot and he's back to doing the thing I snapped at him about. But this was three hours… he just seemed lost. We had to bench him because he couldn't get his head in it and then I lost him for an hour 'cause he took a walk. I just think maybe his brain is developing a little more. If that's possible." He covered his face and dropped his head back. "Fuck, I don't know."
"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe your changes are changing him?" Approaching him, her hands pushed his shirt up.
"What changes?"
"You're a lot different than you were almost three months ago, Dom." Her lips covered a scar above his nipple.
"Before meeting you, you mean."
"I guess. I can't take all the credit." She smirked before twirling her tongue around the pink beaded flesh.
"Take credit where credit's due." He grabbed her wrists and walked her backward to his bed until she sat.
She almost huffed, thinking he was going to undress her like usual and not let her explore him, but he dropped his pants and boxers then stepped closer to her, waiting for her mouth. It was so unexpected she hesitated, and he stepped back thinking he'd crossed a line. Quickly reaching out, she grabbed his hips, pulling him back toward the bed and her eyes studied everything she could. Everything he had never let her linger on because when it came to his pleasure, there was none. She had begun to think maybe he was hiding something, a deformity or scar and that was why he wouldn't have sex with her. But now, up close and personal, everything looked perfect to her and she hummed around him while sliding her lips down his dick.
He could only take a few minutes before he was stripping her of her clothes then kissing down her chest.
"Dom," she whispered and grabbed his arm, pulling him back up when he was headed down on her. Shaking her head no, she told him, "I can't wait anymore," and her legs wrapped around him.
"La." He pushed the hair from her face and she was worried that was the moment he was going to call it all off. When her eyes locked on his he told her, "I love you," sinking inside her.
Her nails dug into his shoulders while her back bowed from the bed. "I love you too," she cried out before his mouth swallowed her moans.
Nyla turned in a circle in Dom's living room then looked at his mom. "Marilyn, have you seen Dom's cleats?"
"In the kitchen by the table, where he took them off two days ago." She smirked at Nyla who apologetically smiled at her. "I think that boy's head would fall off without you."
"And mine would without you." Picking up the shoes, she smiled at his mother who she had grown closer to over the past few weeks since the incident. Her own mother didn't bother to call even once after that day at the police station. "Thanks." After heading to Dom's room, she put the shoes in his duffel bag. "Here they are."
"Thanks, babe." He pulled his jersey on then kissed her cheek before running around his room looking for pants.
She leaned against the wall and watched him frantically fling clothes around while only in a baseball jersey and boxer briefs.
After a few minutes she said, "They're in your second drawer."
"Shit." He ran to his drawer.
"This is your fifth game. Why are you so unorganized for this? You didn't even work today."
He smirked at her before letting his eyes linger from her breasts to between her thighs. "I worked today."
With a devious grin, she headed toward him. "Hard."
"So hard." His hand slid to her ass as he pulled her closer and his mouth went to hers.
"Do you—" Marilyn abruptly stopped and backed out of the room, calling out, "Sorry, the door was open, sorry."
Nyla chuckled and laid her forehead on his shoulder. "We need our own place, babe."
"In one year I will get us our own place. One year and I'll have enough money to walk away from this city and hopefully bring Jeff with us. One year and maybe you'll be okay with leaving your dad."
"Where will we go?" Excitement always lit in her eyes whenever they talked about their future together.
"I don't know yet. But we should start planning. I don't want to be too far from our parents. And it's gotta be somewhere that you're close to a campus. But we need to be far enough away from this city we won't run into anyone from here."
"I'll be happy anywhere if I'm with you. I'm gonna go help your mom." Her lips reached for his and the girl hopelessly in love kissed her boyfriend expressing every ounce of that emotion.
Before she left his room he said, "Nyla." And when she looked back, he winked at her. "I love you."
A giddy smile spread across her face. "I love you too."
The usual plan after every game they won was to go out and celebrate; maybe just up to the hill, sometimes to the diner across the street, but that night Dom wasn't in the mood. He wanted to go back to Nyla's and relax with the only comfort he could find lately. As they pulled in front of her house, he sighed seeing Austin on his porch. It'd been a few weeks since he'd seen him, and the last time they did see each other, Austin had quickly gone back into his house. Dom expected him to run and cower, but he didn't, he headed down the porch steps.
"Don't get out yet," Dom snapped before jumping out of the truck and walking around to her side.
Austin stood on his lawn smoking, tauntingly watching them.
The second she stepped out of the truck, he called out, "Hey, Nyla."
Nyla went stiff and looked at Dom. She knew he and Dom had exchanged words, and though she wouldn't admit it to Dom, she was grateful because Austin had left her alone since. Dom turned to face him, wanting nothing more than to walk over to him and shut him up with his fist, but he only chuckled and shook his head, taking her hand.
"Nyla, I'm talking to you, bitch. When a man says hi, you say it back."
When Dom abruptly turned, Nyla wrapped her arms around his waist and held tight. "Let's just go in," she pleaded. "Austin, go away!"
"I don't take orders from sluts."
"Are you fucking stupid?" Dom broke free of her grasp and rushed him, taking him to the ground.
Nyla screamed his name but it didn't break him from his angry trance. He was so distracted that he didn't notice the three guys that ran out of Austin's house until they jumped him. When Nyla bolted inside, her dad opened the bathroom door and stared at her like she was insane while she rummaged through the cupboard above the stove.
"Nyla, what are you doing?" he asked just as she grabbed the gun box. "Nyla!" He stepped forward but she already had it unlocked and was running outside.
Following behind her, the sight of Dom getting pummeled by four men made him fumble because the old man wouldn't be able to break up that fight. Lifting the gun in the air, she fired a shot.
"Get the fuck away from him!" she screamed when the men stopped to find the source of the gunfire.
They all backed away with their hands up and Maleek took the gun from her before she rushed to Dom. Keeping the gun pointed at them, he waited until she got Dom to his feet then stepped over to help get him inside.
"Dad, call an ambulance!" Nyla screamed.
"An ambulance won't be here for two hours. Move!" Maleek propped Dom up when his eyes rolled back and he went unconscious. A violent fit of shakes overtook his body and Nyla screamed his name, grabbing his shirt until Maleek pushed her back a step.
"He's having a seizure, help me get him on his side!"
The spasm only lasted less than a minute and after getting him comfortable, they worked to stop the bleeding on his face and head before they worked together to move him to Nyla's bed.
"Dad, I think he needs a hospital." She wiped at the steady flow of blinding tears. "He needs rest. He took a good beating."
"He had a seizure!" The breakdown of sobs began.
"He was knocked upside the head
. Trust me, Nyla. I think he'd rather wake up here than in a hospital and dealing with police. Just keep an eye on him. If he's not awake by two, we'll take him." He placed his hand on Dom's shoulder for a moment before leaving her bedroom.
She watched her dad close the door and stared after him like he was insane, until she heard Goliath and turned to see the cat jump onto Dom's chest and lick at his face.
"No, no, no!" In a quick swipe, she pulled the feline against her face and spoke into her fur that helped muffle her cries. "I know you want to make sure he's okay, but later, when he's awake. When he can ignore my bitching about petting you, then sneeze for an hour." Walking the cat to the bedroom door, she quickly closed it and whimpered, "Dom," as she got back in bed next to him.
Her fingers pushed to his neck, checking for a pulse while she looked at the clock. Two a.m. was two hours away. She refused to wait two hours but the only person she thought of that would come over and help was Boney. In a trembling mess, she fished Dom's phone from his pocket.
"Nyla," he groaned and grabbed her wrist as she pulled his phone out.
"Dom!" She jumped to her knees and the bounce of the bed made him moan in pain. "Dom, what can I do? Oh my god. Can you sit up?"
"Stop yelling. Please." He put his hand to his head.
"We should go to the hospital!"
"No. Shh." He tightly grabbed her hand. "Lay down, La," he whispered, trying to tug her to his side but feeling too weak.
"Dom, you need to go to a hospital." She cried curling into his side.
"Not tonight. I'm gonna kill that fucker."
"No you're not," she whispered, gently kissing his jaw. He turned his head before she saw the wince of pain.
"For you," he whispered and pushed his face to her chest.
Wrapping her arms around him, her tears continued until she fell asleep.
At four in the morning, Maleek was knocking at her door. "Nyla," he whispered after cracking it.
"Dad," she groggily replied through squinted eyes.
"Is he okay?" He stepped inside the room.
"He woke up for a little while."
"Was he talking? Coherent?"
"Yeah. He knew what happened."