By the time Dom has finished getting Chloe into the car in one piece, it's past midnight. The roads are abandoned and the car ride home is silent, save for a steady stream of sniffles from Chloe. She accepts Dom's arm as he leads her into his flat, thanking his past self for having the sense to clean and vacuum the day before. He guides her to the sofa, pushing aside blankets and kneeling in front of her, taking her hands in her lap.
"Chloe, listen to me. Have you been drinking?" She meets Dom's eyes and gives a wobbly nod.
"Have you taken anything?" His voice is calm and non-judgemental, which she appreciates. She shakes her head, but closes her eyes as if she is trying to figure out how to say something.
"Feels like I have." She slurs her words in the end.
Dom looks up at Chloe properly. He moves her hands up to her neck, checking over the bites.
"Can I have a look at your injuries?" Dom asks quietly. He wasn't sure what Chloe would do, if she would even reply. To his surprise, though, Chloe nods and Dom stands up. Helping her out of the coat, Chloe sits in her torn shirt, on Dom's sofa, trembling. She flinches away at Dom's first touch but as she got used to it, she calmed slightly. Dom traces his fingers over the bruise on the left side of her face.
"Chloe, who did this?"
Chloe shakes her head. Dom frowns slightly- he's not sure how far he should push this. He gets distracted, however, when she winces and swears under her breath.
"Are you in pain? Where does it hurt?" He sounds so concerned, it's breaking Chloe's heart. She motions to her stomach, unable to speak through the wave of cramps and nausea.
"Do you want paracetamol?" He offers.
"Best not. Probably won't react well with whatever's in my system already." Dom nods understandingly, looking up at her face. There are still tears trickling down her cheeks and she's staring at the opposite wall numbly.
"Do you need a hug?" He quirks his head to the side and she finally looks down at him. She stares for a few seconds, seemingly surprised by his offer, but as she feels her lip start to tremble again, she nods in acceptance. He uses the coffee table as support when standing up from the floor, before sitting back down on the sofa and letting her collapse into his arms. She wraps her arms under his, her soft hair brushing his cheek and her chest starting to shake. He reaches up to stroke her hair comfortingly.
"Are you sure you don't want me to call your mum?" He whispers into her neck.
"Our mum. Give it a while. She'll go mental, I can't deal with that yet." Chloe pulls away slightly, still remaining in Dom's arms but leaning against the sofa instead.
"You going to tell me what happened?"
"I can't remember much. I finished my shift, I got in the car with Evan. He said we could go for drinks, but he took me back to his house. We drank a lot, and then he kissed me. I told him to get off. And I can't remember anything after that. We didn't have sex, I don't think. I remember him feeling me up. Just touching, though." Chloe shakes her head in disgust.
"Were you okay with it?" This was the first thing that came into his head. She looks away from him, concentrating on the corner of a mirror on the opposite wall.
"Chloe? Was what happened consensual?" Dom asks again, the concern rife in his voice.
"Can't remember. Don't tell Mum, please." Chloe sighs.
"I won't do anything until you want me to." Dom reaches out to rub her arm reassuringly.
"Do you have something I could wear?" She says nervously, twisting her hands around the bottom of her sleeves, as if she wants to get out of the shirt.
"Course. Shower is just through there. You have my bed. Only, Chloe," Dom places a gentle hand on her arm and she turns around.
"If he did do anything, are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital? They can collect evidence in case you ever wanted to take this further."
"It was just touching. He didn't get that far. I kicked him and ran."
Dom nodded, and let out a small grimace.
"Just... shout if you need anything. I'll go grab clothes now." Chloe nods in thanks, and makes her way to the bathroom. Dom walks to his spare room, to try and find any clothes Zosia may have donated to his growing pile of junk. Retrieving a slightly dodgy looking pair of pyjama shorts and an oversized band shirt from Dom's edgy teenage years, he knocks on the door of the bathroom.
"Chloe, you decent?"
"Yep," She calls out, cracking open the door. She's got a towel around her but Dom can see the bruise forming on her collarbone.
"Thanks." She nods in gratitude.
—
It was almost half an hour later when Chloe emerged from the bathroom, wearing the selection of attire Dom had picked out. She was wringing her hair out with the towel, and she walked over to the sofa where Dom was sitting, leaning against the door frame.
"Hey." She said with a small smile.
"Hey." He replied.
"Feeling any better?" He asks, looking up questioningly.
"I think the alcohol is starting to wear off. Everything hurts."
"Are you sure you don't want an ibuprofen?" Chloe shook her head firmly.
"Do you want to talk about what happened?" Dom motioned for Chloe to sit next to him. She did, but instead leans her back against his chest, tipping her head back until it falls onto his shoulder. He is surprised by her desire for intimacy but he reciprocates immediately, taking a strand of her hair and twirling it around his finger.
"It all got out of control so quickly." Her voice was quiet, and he doesn't reply, but waited for her to explain.
"One minute we were just drinking, just talking, and then he was trying to kiss me. I told him to get off, that I didn't want to. He sort of- He put his hand on my leg, and it's left a mark." She rolled the shorts up slightly, revealing a hand shaped bruise.
"He started trying to get down my jeans, and he was properly holding me down. He's bruised my arms, too." Dom remains silent.
"I remember crying, and shouting for him to get off, but he kept saying that I wanted it to happen. But I didn't."
"After he was done feeling me up, he was distracted, trying to undo his belt, so I kneed him and ran. And on the way out, I noticed that he hadn't actually had anything to drink."
Dom didn't say anything, just held her. He watched her eyes fill up with tears as she finally processed what had happened, and he turned her towards him in order to pull her closer. She placed her hand on his chest and started to shake.
He wasn't quite sure what to do. He'd had girls cry to him before, of course- Zosia was emotional to say the least. But there was something different about seeing his own sister so broken, clutching at his jumper, hot tears streaming from her eyes onto his neck. All he could do was hold her tightly, close to himself, hoping that this would be some comfort.
"I've got you now. You're safe." He tried to reassure her, stroking her hair and letting her grab his jumper. They remained intertwined until she fell asleep, tears still trickling down her cheeks. As her breathing evened out and she started to slumber, he unhooked an arm and reached across the sofa for his phone. With Chloe still sleeping on his chest, he had to be quiet about this. Quickly unlocking his phone, he dialled Ange and pressed it to his ear with his shoulder.
"Dominic?" She picked up on the second ring.
"Hi. I've got Chloe." He said, his words coming out in a jumble.
"What? Is she okay? I thought she was with Evan? What's happened?" Ange fired questions at him so quickly he thought he might have to list them down.
"She's fine, ish. She called me about two hours ago and asked me to pick her up from the other side of town. I did, obviously, and she's safe now, she's asleep. She told me not to call you but I thought you'd want to know she's okay." Dom said, careful not to wake the sleeping Chloe who was now gently pawing at his leg.
"Yeah. Thanks. What do you mean, fine-ish? What's going on?" The panic was rising in Ange's voice.
"I don't know if she'd be happy with me telling you like this. She might want to do it herself." Dom tried to explain, looking down at the peaceful girl in his arms.
"Dominic, what's happened? Is this to do with Evan?"
"Look, I'll tell her to give you a call tomorrow. She's fine, though. Seriously. Night." Dom tried to end the call quickly, afraid he was going to give too much away. He didn't want to betray Chloe's trust.
"Night. Dominic?", Ange asked again. "Thanks, for this. For picking her up. You didn't have to."
"It's fine. She's my little sister, it's the least I can do." Dom smiled, even though Ange couldn't see it.
"Night."