Dominic (Saint Brothers #1) Page 19

  The pain I was feeling was from memory. Right now, I couldn’t feel anything. I was only feeling what my brain thought I should. I was thankful that the painkillers were doing their job.

  “Fallon? Do you know why you’re here?”

  I nodded slowly, mindful of my injuries. “I was attacked.” Looking back at him, I saw the concern in his eyes. “How bad is it?”

  “Admittedly, most of the wounds are superficial and looks worse than it is, but saying that, you have sustained some significant injuries.” He moved to sit down on the cushioned chair next to the bed.

  He ran through a list of my injuries, from the minor to the more extreme, like the several broken bones in my hand, bruised vocal chords and the broken ribs that were causing some breathing problems. Luckily, there was no internal bleeding and no life threatening injuries, but I’d been in a medically induced coma to reduce the swelling to my brain.

  “We have several more tests to do, but so far, everything points towards a full recovery.”

  I closed my eyes in relief. As the memories of what Matt had done rushed back to me, I thought I was going to die at the time. And now that I was here in hospital and relatively lucid, I was worried that he had done something that would permanently scar my life.

  The doctor stayed with me a little longer, explaining what they had done to me, what they expected of my recovery and the suchlike. As he moved to leave, I asked, “Do you know how Lauren is?”

  “The girl that came in with you?” I nodded. “Admittedly, she wasn’t my patient, but you were calling out her name last time you woke up. She’s fine. She was discharged.” He smiled reassuringly.

  “Thank you.” I sagged in the bed in relief. I could remember every single detail of what had happened and the last thing I saw before I blacked out was Matt stalking towards her. It was an immense relief to know that he hadn’t go to her.

  “How long do I have to stay here?”

  Doctor Jenner chuckled. “Why is everyone always so eager to leave? The food here isn’t half bad.”

  I tried to smile, but it felt alien and hurt my face. “I don’t really like hospitals.”

  “No one does.” He shook his head. “I’ll be back to check on you later but I’d like you to stay in for observation. That was a nasty bump to the head and I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting you leave so soon.”

  I closed my eyes, trying to resign myself to the fact that I was going to be stuck in this bed for a while longer.

  It was a good idea. I wasn’t feeling myself at the moment. The pain wasn’t as bad as I expected, but I guessed that was down to the amount of painkillers being pumped into my body. I had no idea how I would look after myself at home, all by myself.

  “There is a young man waiting outside. Shall I send him in?”

  For a panicked moment, I thought it was Matt. The doctor saw my distress and smiled again, “He has been with you since you were brought in. Dominic Saint? I think that’s his name.”

  “Dominic’s here? Why?”

  The doctor smiled at me warmly, “He hasn’t left your side. He and several of your other friends have been here waiting for you to wake up.”

  Dominic? What was he doing at the hospital? In my confusion, I nodded but regretted it the moment the doctor left the room.

  I didn’t get long to worry as the door swung open and Dominic came into the room. Concern was etched on his face as he came straight to the side of the bed.

  “Fallon? How are you feeling?”

  “What are you doing here?” I whispered.

  Dominic shook his head and started pacing around the room. He looked like he was furious.

  I didn’t know what to do or say. I was stuck on the goddamn hospital bed with my mind barely able to focus and he was making me dizzy with all his pacing. “Can you at least sit down?”

  He looked at me sharply before his face softened and he fell into the chair by the bed. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Really?” he smirked.

  I felt myself smiling, or at least as well as I could. “I’m as high as a kite. Believe me, I’m more than fine at the moment.”

  Dominic ran a hand over his face. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

  “There wasn’t anything you could have done.” And there wasn’t. None of us had expected Matt to go that far. He was deluded, beyond help. “What happened to Matt?”

  A scowl scrunched up his face. “He was arrested.”

  Well, it didn’t look like he was very happy about that. Not that I could blame him. With his state of mind, it was doubtful in my opinion that Matt would end up in prison. If he was lucky, he’d spend the rest of his life in a mental institute. I could imagine that Dominic would have preferred to exact his own brand of justice on his ass.

  “Is Lauren okay?” I know I’d already asked the doctor, but Dominic would know more about her state of mind.

  He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “She’ll be fine.”

  We sat in an awkward silence for a moment. I couldn’t look at him. I didn’t understand why he was there.

  Dominic was the last person I thought I’d see on waking up. Hell, I didn’t plan on seeing him again at all.

  Closing my eyes, I was shocked to realise quite how exhausted I was feeling. It was pathetic really. I’d only been awake for a few minutes and I could already feel myself dozing off.

  Feeling the hair being brushed off my face was soothing and I could feel myself leaning into the touch, lulling me to a peaceful sleep.

  “Sleep, baby. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  Dominic

  I hated to see her in so much pain. She looked a fucking mess and it made me want to go and kick his ass all over again. He had gotten off lightly in my opinion.

  There was no way I was leaving her. I had grudgingly agreed to leave when the doctor or nurses came in to examine her, but that was it. They’d tried pulling the old visiting hour trick on me, but I wasn’t having any of it. I was staying and they could all fucking lump it.

  My brothers had all been pacing in the waiting room, waiting to hear news. Austen had gone over to check on Maze and Chester and both men were doing fine. Both had been checked over by the hospital staff and had been discharged. Lauren had been sent home and Jared had gone over to check on them.

  Damn, he was pissed that he had missed out on all the fun. Fun? It wasn’t so fun seeing the state of Fallon. That bastard had really done a number on her and it shocked us all to see. We had all been raised to treat women with respect and to never lay a finger on them in anger. How anyone could do that to a woman, I’ll never know.

  Kellin and Kacey were the last to leave. I’d gone out and told them that there was nothing else anyone could do. Fallon was being kept in for observation and I wasn’t going to leave her side. It was pointless them being there and I promised to call as soon as I had any other news.

  Now, Fallon was sleeping again. It was obvious that she was doped up to the eyeballs on painkillers the moment she woke up. I knew that look in her eyes well. She looked so confused to see me there, yet I’d been sat there talking to her for hours.

  Apparently, Kellin had spoken to Ethan and they had Matt in a holding cell, waiting for processing. Personally, I didn’t give a shit what they did to him as long as he wasn’t let back out on the streets again.

  Lauren was a complete mess. I knew she would be. She wasn’t as strong as Fallon and this had hit her hard.

  Not that Fallon wouldn’t be affected by this. Hell, anyone who had been through something like this knew that they were never the same afterwards. Matt had broken something in her, but I was determined to be there for her while she recovered to help get that special spark back.

  Sitting back in the chair, I stretched out my legs. Hospital chairs were not the most comfortable things at the best of times, but trying to sleep in one? It was almost impossible. My back ached, my neck was screaming out and my ass was going
numb. But I wasn’t going to leave her.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket. Pulling it out, I saw that a call was coming in from my dad. “Dad?”

  “Yes, son. It’s me. How’s she doing?” he asked, the concern clear in his voice. He’d known from the first moment I’d mentioned Fallon that she was someone special to me and he and Gemma hadn’t hesitated to look after Lily while I sat with Fallon.

  “About the same. She’s woken up a couple of times, but she’s sleeping now.”

  “What did the doctors say?”

  I got to walk over to the door when I saw Fallon stirring on the bed. This time, she must not have been sleeping so deeply if the sound of my voice was disturbing her.

  Opening up the door, I stepped outside, shutting it behind me and leaning my head back against the cool wood. “She was lucky. She’s got several broken bones in her hand that are going to take some healing, but other than that, it’s mainly superficial.”

  I closed my eyes in relief even as I said the words. It could have been so much worse, and looking at the state of her, I had expected the worst.

  That was the thing that hit me harder than anything. I thought she was going to be taken away from me before I’d even been able to take a chance with her. Sure, there was no guarantee that she even wanted anything to do with me after the way I had treated her, but I wanted to be given that chance and it had nearly been taken away from me.

  Fuck ‘em and chuck ‘em. That’s the kind of guy she thought I was and I was going to have my work cut out making her believe otherwise. But I was willing to give it a damn good try to show her I was worthy of her.

  “Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?”

  I sighed, the emotions weighing heavily on me. “She looks like she’s been hit with a truck.”

  “But you’re there with her, son. That’s the important thing.”

  I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “It’s just hard, you know?”

  “I know, Dominic. It’s hard to see someone you love suffering. But you’re there for her, that’s the main thing.”

  Love? It was probably a little soon for that word to be thrown about, but I wasn’t going to pull him up on it. There were deeper feelings at play here, but I couldn’t put a label on them. I probably wouldn’t be able to for a long time, but at long as Fallon gave me that chance, we’d be able to see where this thing would take us.

  “How’s Lily doing?” I hated leaving my daughter, but I had to be here right now. Part of it was because I felt responsible for what had happened to the girls. They were under our protection and yet they had still got hurt. Obviously, the other part was something else altogether.

  “She’s great. She and Gemma are busy cooking up a storm in the kitchen, making cookies and cakes and I don’t know what else. All I know is that I’m going to be as sick as a dog if they make me try it all.” My father chuckled.

  “That’s good.” I knew she would be fine with my dad. She loved being with her grandparents, so at least I knew me being at the hospital wouldn’t have a negative effect on her. “I’ll give you a call later when I find out more.” And after a few more pleasantries, I hung up the phone.

  Opening the door again, I noticed she was awake again. Closing the door carefully behind me, her eyes swung to me and a small smile formed on her lips.

  “You came back?”

  “I never left.” I assured her. “How are you feeling?”

  She seemed a little more lucid as she watched me sit down next to her. “I’m aching.”

  I took that as a good sign. At least she was feeling something. I also knew that the nurses would be in shortly to check out her medication, but as long as the worst she was feeling was achy, then that was alright by me.

  “You don’t have to stay, you know.” She said hesitantly.

  I shrugged. “Where else would I be?”

  She looked momentarily frustrated. “What’s going on here, Dominic? I don’t understand why you’re here?”

  “We’ll talk more later.” I didn’t really want to get into it with her now. This wasn’t the time or place.

  “I want to talk about it now. Why are you here? Did something happen to Lauren?”

  The real question was plain to see on her face – were we all lying to her? “No. Lauren is fine. She’s shaken up, but she’s come out of it much better than you did.”

  “Well, if Lauren’s fine then I don’t understand.”

  Sighing, I knew she wasn’t going to let this drop. “It’s something I would rather talk about at a later date.” I waved my hand around, indicating the hospital in general.

  “Now is as good a time as any.” She glared at me.

  Damn, this was going to be harder than I thought. Fallon was there, thinking the worst and all I wanted to do was be with her. After all this, perhaps my words were going to be a bit of an anti-climax.

  Taking a deep breath, I wasn’t sure where to start so I thought I’d just dive straight in. “I’ve been a dick. I treated you like crap.”

  “You don’t have to stick around here. A simple apology would work for me.” Fallon snapped, averting her eyes.

  I wasn’t going to let her get off that easily. “Fallon, it takes two to tango. You were into this as much as I was, sweetheart.”

  “Sweetheart?” she seethed. “Don’t you ‘sweetheart’ me!”

  Shaking my head, I sat down heavily in the chair. “This is coming out wrong. I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Well, what did you mean?”

  “I meant that you walked out on me the second time.”

  “So, what? Does that mean we’re even? That doesn’t explain to me what you’re doing here.”

  “I’m here because I want to be here.” Standing up, I started to pace around the room. I wasn’t big on rejection and I could see this one coming from a mile off. She didn’t want anything to do with me, hell, I wasn’t even sure she liked me. “I’m here because I like you.”

  “You like me?” she scoffed. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Fallon looked so mad that I couldn’t help laughing, and once I’d started I couldn’t stop. She was getting red in the face from her anger, which tickled me even further.

  “If you don’t stop, I’m calling security.”

  That made me howl with laughter. I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with me but it took a good few minutes for me to calm down enough to talk. Falling back into the chair, I wiped my eyes as I looked over at her fuming expression.

  “Have you finished?” she demanded.

  Choking back another laugh, I said, “I’m not apologising for that.” She frowned at me. “Well, I never realised what a bitch you could be.”

  She smirked. “I think we had this conversation before when you called me a feisty bitch. I didn’t appreciate it then and I don’t appreciate it now.”

  “Fallon, for Christ’s sake, will you give me a break? You’re making me feel like some teenager with no confidence.” When she made a move to talk again, I put a hand up to stop her. “I’m here because I want to be here. I’m here because I want a chance to prove to you that I’m not just some dick who took advantage of you.”

  She looked taken aback for a moment, “You didn’t take advantage of me.”

  “Whatever. I’m telling you I want to give this a go.” I waved my hands between us.

  “Telling me or asking me?”

  At least she now looked more amused than pissed off. Hopefully, that meant that I was getting my point across. Leaning on the chair so I was closer to her, I looked deep into her eyes, trying to see past the bruising and the bloodshot eyes to see what she was thinking. “Fallon, I’m asking you to give me a chance.”

  She was quiet for a moment before smirking again, “I’ll think about it.”

  Chuckling, I knew that was going to be the best I would get at the moment. But at least it gave me some hope for the future.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Fallon
>
  I looked absolutely horrendous. No amount of make-up could cover the mess that my face was at the moment.

  Shrugging on my jacket, I’d found it infuriating how long it had taken for me to get dressed. Everything ached now that the painkillers had been reduced. But on the upside, my mind was feeling clearer.

  Lauren had called into to see me and it had taken everything in me to convince her that I didn’t hold her responsible for what had happened. She had been the victim as well. It was Matt that was the one at fault. It was going to take a long time for that to sink in, but she would get there in the end.

  Taylor had been running around like a headless chicken, flying between her job and the hospital, making sure that I had everything to make me as comfortable as possible and bringing piles of magazines to ward off the boredom. She’d been an absolute godsend these last few days.

  I’d ended up having to stay in for several days for them to keep an eye on my head wound. Although I still had a killer headache, it was my hand that was causing me the most problems. Luckily, it was my left hand and seeing as I’m right handed, it could have been a lot worse.

  They told me that I was going to have to keep the cast on for at least six weeks and then physio to follow. Depending on how things went, I may also need an operation, but that wasn’t something I wanted to think about just now. I was happy to be getting out of hospital, I didn’t want to think about coming back in so soon.

  The others had been great, as well. Kacey and Kellin had popped in to see me and Austen had even called to say hello. It was strange because before this had happened, I wasn’t all that chummy with the boys, but over the last few days, we’d all grown closer. It appeared that my circle of friends was growing.

  And Dominic. I didn’t really know what to think about Dominic.

  He’d come in to see me every single day and night that I’d been in here, which I knew had to be hard for him with looking after Lily, but when I asked him about it, he’d said he had it all sorted.

  We talked about anything and everything and I saw a side to him that I didn’t think was there. He was much deeper and funnier than I had ever anticipated.