Dom (Alliance, #3)

by S.J. Tilly

Just because we don’t have it right at this moment doesn’t mean we won’t be able to find it together. He’s a good man. Dom is a good man. And his relationships with his family prove he’s capable of love.

“I’m traditional when it comes to marriage.” “How so?” I breathe out as he slides his hands higher. “A marriage isn’t real until consummation.” His thumbs brush under the edge of his shirt. “What else?” “A marriage makes you family.”

“I believe in loyalty. And trust. And living together.” My eyes were sliding closed until that last part. “Living together?” “Living together.”

“I’m not marrying a wife this fucking sexy and then letting her live six hours away.”

“You want me to move to Chicago?” Dominic lowers his face until it’s just above mine. “I’m afraid I’m going to demand it.”

“What if what, Shorty? What if we don’t get along? We do.” He drops his hips, and I groan. “What if we don’t fit?” He presses his weight into me. “We fit together perfectly. And if you need space, my place is big. You can have your space.”

Dom is making me believe we can make this work. That we can make this crazy drunken we’ve only known each other for a month and a half thing work. And goddammit, I want it. I want him. I want a chance to build the future I’ve barely dared to dream of.

“But most importantly, Valentine, when you move in with me, you’ll spend every night in my bed.”

“Yes. I’ll move to Chicago.” “And?” Dom inhales against my cheek. “And I’ll sleep with you.” Dominic chuckles, and I correct myself. “I’ll share your bed.”

“Our bed.” “Our bed,” I repeat, and emotion clogs my throat.

He lowers his face to my throat, breathing me in. “I love that you smell like me.”

“Valentine, I enjoy being around you. I enjoy talking to you. And being in close proximity isn’t going to change that.” He reaches out to grip my thigh. “But if a time comes that we aren’t able to make things work, I won’t ever leave you to fend for yourself. This is a partnership, and whether you love me or hate me, I’ll always protect you.”

“I can’t imagine ever hating you,” I admit. Dom tightens his hold on my leg. “Good.”

“My half—my brother is kind of a big deal. Like he’s super rich. And he’s overprotective to a fault, which has recently extended to me. So now I have a guy named Bo driving me everywhere. I don’t even remember the last time I started my car.” “What’s Bo’s last name?” Dom’s question has me tipping my head back up to look at him. “I… I don’t actually know.” “I’ll find out,”

But I didn’t want to tell them your name until things got, well, more serious.” I hold up my hand, the big diamond sparkling between us. “But now I think we’re there.” Dom lifts his left hand, clicking his ring against mine. “I think you’re right.”

“Don’t apologize. You can feel however you want.” “Right, sorry.” I huff. “Not sorry.” Dom chuckles. “You’ll get the hang of it.”

Dom lowers his tinted window, setting his left hand palm up on the sill. A strangled sound catches in my throat when the guard pulls his gun from its holster. “Afternoon,” Dom greets the guard way too calmly. “We’re here to see King.”

“Is King home? I texted him earlier and let him know I was going to stop by.” As I say it, I don’t remember if I’ve ever used King’s name in front of Dom before. But he just asked for King by name, so I must have.

“Shorty.” Dom lifts our joined hands and brushes a kiss across my knuckles. “I can handle your brother.”

I reach out with the hand closest to Dominic and hook my fingers into his pants pocket, needing the extra contact. “It’s going to be fine,” Dom whispers before pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

“King.” I hold up my free hand. “This is—” “What the fuck are you doing in my house?” King’s voice booms through the space.

“Don’t raise your voice around my wife.” Dominic’s tone is cold. Ice to King’s fire. King stops walking just a few steps away. “What did you just say?”

“You bring Dom Fucking Gonzalez, the head of the Chicago mafia, into my home, and you don’t want me to be mad?” “I…” My breaths are coming fast now. “What?” I look up at Dominic.

“Dominic?” I blink up at him. That can’t be true. Dom can’t be that. They can’t know each other.

Dom makes a clicking sound with his tongue. “Is that any way to welcome me into The Alliance?” Everything slows. In one awful, horrible second, everything slows.

“Dominic?” My voice is weak, but I know he hears me, because his fingers flex around my arm. “What’s going on?” Please, let this be some sort of mistake. But he doesn’t look at me. His eyes are still locked on King.

“What do you want?” King grits out the question, squaring off with Dominic, waiting for his answer. Me. Please say you want me. “To join The Alliance.” My knees weaken. No. No, no, no, no. This can’t be happening.

“Did you seriously think you could pull a stunt like this and—” Dom cuts him off, taking a step forward and bringing me with him. “There is no stunt. This little sister of yours has been wedded and bedded. That makes me family, and if you have any honor at all, King Vass, you know that means I’m a part of The Alliance now.”

And those last tiny pieces of hope, the little broken shards I’ve been carrying since I was nine, finally crumble into sand. I was so close. Tears form and fall in the space of a heartbeat. I was so goddamn close to having what I’ve always wanted. And it was all a fucking lie.

It was all a setup. A trick. More tears roll down my cheeks. I thought I could make him love me. A strange sound comes out of my throat, but no one hears it. No one is paying attention to me. I thought someone finally cared. But Dom never cared about me. He did this for The Alliance. He married me for The Alliance.

“Tricking Val into your bed doesn’t mean shit,” King snaps. And his words slice between my ribs. Tricking Val. It’s exactly what Dominic did, so why does hearing King say it hurt so much?

What part doesn’t mean shit? The sex part? Or the me part? Dread hits me. What if Dom did all this, only to find out I’m not family enough? What if his plan doesn’t work? What will happen to me then?

“You owe me. Remember?” Dom says slowly. “A wife for a wife, King. Val is mine now.” Val. I don’t think he’s ever called me that. It was always Valentine. Or Angel. Or Shorty.

Numbness starts to wash through me. Starting at my toes. Up to my ankles. I’m such a fool. It’s at my knees. Such a sad, pathetic, love-starved fool. My hips. So desperate for love, I believed that the hot man on the airplane was desperate to be with me. My belly button. So goddamn broken, I believed every compliment. I clung to every nice thing he said. My rib cage. So fucking lonely, I drunkenly married him

“Were you even drunk?” I ask the thought out loud. I have to blink to see through the tears, but I know the answer in my heart. And the blank expression on Dom’s face as he looks down at me is all the confirmation I need.

He wasn’t drunk. Just me. Because he needed me to be. Because he needed me to marry him. It was never about me.

He’ll never love me. No one ever has.

“Get out of my fucking house.” I don’t look up to see if he’s talking to just Dom or to both of us. Because it doesn’t really matter, does it? I don’t belong here either. I don’t belong anywhere.

She doesn’t react to any of it. But she never stops crying. Silent tears continuously roll down her cheeks. And they make me feel… They make me feel.

Val’s pretty brown eyes are staring right at it, but I’m not sure she sees it. Not sure if she realizes now that this is my vehicle. Just like the one in Vegas. Just like the driver in Vegas. Just like the witnesses at our wedding. I’ve been building this world out of smoke and mirrors. Carefully. Meticulously. All for this. For what just happened. Because I had to. Because I need this. And I won’t apologize for it.

“Valentine.” She flinches a little at my voice but doesn’t reply.

Figured she’d yell and scream and probably try to hit me. Thought I’d have to carry her out of King’s house, kicking and screaming, while fending her brother off as he tried to wrestle her back. But none of that happened. She just shut down. And King… Fucking King just let me take her.

But King just let me take her. He let me walk his sister out of the house. Val was standing there, fucking crying, and he did nothing. But I guess there isn’t much he could do, because King knows I’m right. He knows that he owes me one. Because when his wife ran away, straight into the path of a human trafficker, I stepped in and protected her.

“Do you want your seat warmer on?” She doesn’t answer. Of course she doesn’t. Val trembles again, so I press the button to warm the leather seats anyway. She can turn it off if she wants.

It had to happen, and once Val understands why, she’ll forgive me. I know her. She might not believe that right now, but I do. And I know she’ll eventually understand.

I reach for her. “Angel.” “Don’t call me that!” Her sudden shout fills the vehicle.

“This is what I’ve always wanted.” Her voice drops to a whisper. Keeping my eyes on the road, I sneak another glance, seeing she’s still staring at the ring. “I don’t know how you knew.” She sounds… lost.

Val touches the diamond with the tip of her finger. “You brought this with you, didn’t you? To Vegas.” I don’t answer.

“You offered me everything I’ve ever wanted,” she says quietly as she pulls the ring off her finger, holding it up to the afternoon sun. “But you can’t hold on to mirages.” Before I can stop her, she lowers her window, and the wind rushes ...

It’s quiet for a beat before King’s voice fills the car. “Bring her back.” I stare at the letters on the screen, not sure how to feel. Dominic lets out an acidic laugh. “Only took you three and a half hours to decide you want her.” His words are true. And that’s why they hurt so much.