"What the fuck happened out here? Why'd Vince snap?" Dom yelled at Leon, who was spiting blood out of his mouth.
"Don't be mad at him Dom; he was just trying to protect me." Chris said walking over to them.
"Why did he need to protect…Jesus what happened to your face?"
"Vince hit me." She said.
"HE WHAT?" Dom yelled, Vince might have an amazingly short fuse, but he'd never hit a women, especially after the history with his dad.
"He hit her Dom, that's why we were fighting." Leon said, standing shakily.
"Mia, send everyone home." Dom yelled over his shoulder, "You ok Chris?"
"Yeah fine, I just wanna go to sleep…but I'm not really sure where I'm gonna do that." She said.
"You can sleep in my room, I don't mind the floor." Leon said.
"Thanks Leon, night Dom." Chris said, walking towards the back door.
"Go with her Le." Dom said, Leon nodded and followed. Dom walked back into the house and found Vince passed out on the couch.
"What happened Dom?"
"Nothing, everyone just go to bed, I'll deal with Vince."
"But what happened?"
"We'll talk about in the morning." He said through gritted teeth. As soon as everyone had cleared out Dom walked into the kitchen, trying to figure out what he should do about Vince. After a couple of hours Dom got fed up waiting for Vince to wake up, and he filled a bowl with ice water. He walked calmly back to Vince on the couch and dumped it on his head. Vince jumped up cursing,
"What the fuck bro? Why'd you do that?"
"Take these and drink this." Dom said gruffly handing Vince some aspirin and water.
"What's the matter?" Vince asked taking the aspirin and downing the glass of water.
"How much do you remember about last night?" Dom asked.
"Shit bro I don't remember anything since I got home and started drinking, why?" Vince said with a slight chuckle, at least until he saw Dom's face.
"What's the matter Dom? What happened? And why is my eye swollen?"
"You got in a fight."
"With who?"
"Leon."
"What, why?"
"Because he was protecting your girl."
"From who?"
"You."
"What the fuck do you mean me? She doesn't need protection from me."
"She did tonight."
"What do you mean?"
"You hit her V." Dom said Vince immediately started shaking his head no.
"Nah bro I wouldn't do that, I don't hit women."
"Yeah well Chris didn't get that black eye or those bruises on her arm from herself."
"Dominic, I wouldn't do that."
"Wrong, you wouldn't do that sober, but drunk…"
"Stop it Dom. Where is she?" Vince asked, Dom looked at him and shook his head.
"What do you mean no. I need to talk to her."
"Not tonight."
"Where is she Dominic?"
"She's in with Leon."
"What the fuck is she doing in with him, she's my girl."
"Vince, you hit her…and I don't think you can keep calling her your girl."
"Until she tells me otherwise she's my girl…and I NEED to talk to her."
"Vince…look…I think you just need to leave her alone for a little while until you both cool off a bit."
"But I need to fix this Dom! I fucked up big and I need to fix it." Vince said heading for the stairs down to the basement.
"You were with another girl too." Dom said, Vince stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face him.
"What the fuck do you mean?"
"She was mad at you and you were chasing her outside because she caught you with another girl." Vince walked back to the couch, sat down and hung his head in his hands.
"I fucked up. Dom, what am I gonna do, I don't wanna lose her."
"That ain't you're call anymore bro. Give her some time to cool off."
"What the hell's that gonna do…fuck Dom, I'm no better than my father…I'm not gonna do that to her."
"What do you mean Vince? You've never done anything like this before, give her time…she'll come around." Dom said, Vince shook his head
"I promised myself I'd never be like him Dom, and I won't do that to her again."
"So what are you gonna do?"
"I'm gonna stay away from her…she can do better then me. Someone who won't hurt her like I did."
"Vince, don't…"
"No Dom, that's what I gotta do, I'm in love with her…and this is what's best for her."
"Vince…" Dom started as Vince stood up and walked out back. Dom watched him through the kitchen window, he was sitting on the picnic table, his shoulders shaking as he cried in shame for becoming what he promised himself he would never be.
"Dom?" A voice asked quietly from behind him, he jumped, turning around to face Chris.
"Jesus Chris" he said clutching his chest and shaking his head. "You almost gave me a heart attack. Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, where's Vince?" she asked, Dom pointed out the window to where Vince was sitting on the picnic, his back to the window.
"Thanks." She said simply, taking long strides towards Vince on the picnic table, looking awfully like Vince when he went after Brian. Dom followed her outside, not really sure how this was gonna play out. She strode up to him and shoved him off the table before he even knew she was there. He fell hard to the ground, and Chris didn't let up, she kicked him three times in the ribs before he even knew what had happened. He picked himself up off the ground and stood facing her.
"Chris…"he started, but was cut short when her knee connected with his groin. Vince fell to his knees, gasping for air, eyes watering, and moaning in pain. Chris leaned down until she was inches from his face,
"If you ever, EVER, touch me like that again, I swear to god Vince I'll kill you. Got it?" she growled. Vince looked up at her and nodded, still in too much pain to form coherent sentence.
"Good." She said walking past Dom, who was frozen in place, "Night Dom."
"Night." He said watching her walk back into the house before heading over to Vince.
"You ok brother?"
"I think she broke one of my ribs." Vince moaned rolling onto his back, still trying to regain his breath.
"The way she was kicking you…I bet she did." Dom said helping him to his feet.
"Fuck this, I'm just gonna sleep out here, it hurts like hell to walk." Vince said lying back on the grass.
"You gonna be alright."
"No but you should go inside." Vince said shutting his eyes, Dom turned and walked back into the house, leaving Vince alone in the backyard.