Unfortunately, there wasn’t any way out except through the door I’d come in. The windows were shielded by decorative iron grilles, a not-uncommon safeguard against thieves. I messed with the door a bit, but I’m not a locksmith.
About forty-five minutes after the festivities next door had halted, a key slid into the lock on my door.
I’d been pacing the room, frustrated and trapped, but I stumbled to a halt. I tried to brace myself, but I wasn’t sure my nerves were up to another sparring session. If Adam goaded me, I’d give him far more satisfaction than I wanted.
Only it wasn’t Adam who stepped into my room a moment later, it was Dominic. He shoved the door closed with his foot, and I saw that he carried a tray. Seconds later, the aroma of garlic and green peppers hit me, and my stomach reminded me I hadn’t eaten since noon.
He didn’t meet my gaze as he laid the tray down on an antique writing desk that faced the window. As I watched, a flush crawled up his neck. I wasn’t sure which one of us was more embarrassed.
“Are you all right?” I asked him.
He looked at me for the first time, and though he was still blushing, there was a hint of a smile on his lips. “I’m fine.” He cleared his throat and stared at his feet. “And I’m sorry about…all that.” His cheeks reddened further. “Adam does enjoy his mind games.”
He pulled out the chair in front of the desk for me, every inch the gentleman. I was way too hungry to ignore the invitation, especially when the scent made my mouth water like Niagara Falls. I was, however, still in a pretty bitchy frame of mind.
“Sounded like he wasn’t the only one enjoying it,” I said, then wished I hadn’t. First, it was snarky. Second, I really didn’t want to talk about their sex life.
To my surprise, Dominic didn’t take offense. He grinned at me, a surprisingly sweet, boyish expression. “He can be a jerk sometimes, but he sure knows how to make up for it.”
I sat and examined my plate, which featured chicken smothered with peppers and onions and tomato sauce over a mound of spaghetti. It smelled heavenly. There was also a glass of dark red wine, which I ignored. I sampled a bite of the chicken, and I think my taste buds had an orgasm.
Dominic plopped into a recliner and looked at me expectantly. I licked my lips to catch the last drip of sauce while I cut off another hunk.
“Did you make this?” I asked with my mouth full. My mom would have had a conniption fit over my table manners.
“Yes,” he admitted modestly, though I could tell he was pleased with my reaction.
“It’s delicious,” I told him, just to make sure he got the message. “You were wasted as a firefighter — you should have been a chef.”
His smile fell away, and I wished I’d kept that little gem to myself.
“Sorry. That was insensitive. I was just trying to give you a compliment.” I tried a wry grin. “I’m not very good at it.”
He laughed at that, and it made me feel a little better. The laughter faded, and he rubbed his chest absently.
“It’s only been five days,” he said. “Sometimes it feels like it happened an hour ago. Sometimes it seems more like a year. I don’t quite know what to do with myself. If it weren’t for Adam, I think I’d have gone crazy by now.”
I wondered if I would ever come close to getting this guy. “How can you be so close to him when you’ve only known him for five days? I mean, only known him as yourself. Er …” I couldn’t think of how to phrase my question so it made sense, and I really wished I hadn’t tried.
Dominic gave me a funny look. “I was still me when I was hosting Saul. It’s not like I ceased to exist just because I wasn’t in the driver’s seat.” He smiled faintly. “Saul was very fond of Adam, but I was the one who always loved him.” The smile turned sad, the pain in his eyes enough to make me wince. “And I loved Saul, too. He deserved so much better than he got.”
I really hated seeing his pain, and I thought about the secret Adam was keeping. Lugh told me they weren’t allowed to tell humans the truth. But there was nothing stopping me.
“Did Adam tell you my…situation?” I asked him.
Dominic shook off his melancholy with a visible effort. “He told me you were hosting someone who can’t control you.”
“Did he tell you who it was?” I didn’t get my hopes up, which was a good thing.
Dominic shook his head. “No. He just said that it’s someone who outranks him in their world. Someone important.”
“Yeah, well, my uninvited guest told me something I think you should know.” I tore myself away from my plate, because this wasn’t something you told someone while you were casually stuffing your face.
“The whole thing about exorcism killing demons is apparently a myth. Your demon isn’t dead.”
For a long, frozen moment, Dominic stared at me in shock. Then he burst into tears.
It startled me for a moment. I’d seen him cry before, right after the exorcism, but that hadn’t been as shocking. Yeah, I know gay guys are supposed to be more sensitive, more in touch with their feelings, yada, yada, but Dominic just looks too much like your typical manly man. I hadn’t the first idea how to deal with his tears.
He moaned Adam’s name, and the tears turned into wrenching sobs that tore at my heart.
Well, shit. I might have just given Dominic the good news that his demon wasn’t dead, but I’d also given him the bad news that Adam had known and hadn’t told him. Although I hadn’t done it consciously, I think there was a small, spiteful part of me that wanted to stick it to Adam for what he’d done today. But sticking it to Adam by hurting Dominic was just low and mean.
“He couldn’t tell you,” I said, wondering if it was even possible to heal the wound I’d just made. “It’s against their laws.”
It sounded lame, so I shut up. I was pond scum. Yeah, I thought Dominic should know his demon was still alive, but this sure as hell hadn’t been the way to go about it.
The door to my room slammed open. I jumped and let out a startled yelp. Dominic didn’t even look up.
Adam looked from me, to Dominic, then back to me. The look on his face was deadly.
“What did you do?” His voice sounded calm, but he wasn’t anything like calm.
I felt awful, but I wasn’t going to admit it to Adam. I held my chin up and met his angry gaze. “I told him his demon isn’t dead.”
If looks could kill…
“Fuck!” Adam shouted. He strode forward.
I thought he was coming after me, so I leapt out of my chair, but he was going to Dominic, who still hadn’t looked up. His sobs were loud and heartbroken, and he was rocking back and forth in his chair.
Adam knelt in front of the chair, putting both hands on Dominic’s shoulders.
“Dom,” he said softly, gently. “I couldn’t tell you. I’m so sorry.”
Dominic stopped rocking and looked up with tear-reddened eyes. “How could you let me believe he was dead? How? ”
“Because I thought I had to. If I’d known Lugh had lifted the injunction against it, I would have told you in a heartbeat.” He drew Dominic off the chair and onto his knees, then wrapped his arms around the still-sobbing man.
Cradling Dominic’s head against his chest, Adam glared at me with such malevolence my skin tried to crawl away and hide. I considered making a break for the door, but I wasn’t sure I’d live through the escape attempt.
“If you weren’t hosting Lugh,” he growled at me, “I’d kick your ass out the door and hang a big bull’s-eye on your back.”
A chill snaked down my spine. The humanity had disappeared from his eyes and his demon shone through. Literally. His eyes were glowing, like Lugh’s did in my dreams.
Usually when I know I’m in the wrong, all my defenses go up and I go into full-out bitch mode. I always regret it afterward, but that’s how I react in the heat of the moment. This time, I felt too shitty to mount even the most pathetic of defenses. It wasn’t just because I was scared of Adam, either, though I was. Big, strong, fireman Dominic brought out something in me I hadn’t known I’d had — a protective instinct that I might almost have called maternal.