Chapter 8
"Dom?" Letty groaned, eyes fluttering open, searching the dark bedroom. She didn't have to look far. He was laying in bed next to her, his large hand overlapping hers, grasping it gently.
"I'm here Let," he said quietly.
She'd been in and out of it for a few days, and he'd stayed by her side, making sure she took her medicine to keep from being in too much pain. He laid next to her in bed, watching her sleep, listening to her breathe. It had been so quiet at the beach house, nothing to do but watch and listen. And think. Every time he looked at her the whole disaster would play through his mind, over and over and over. He saw his best friend laying on the ground...helpless, he saw her car flipping over and over and finally landing on it's crushed hood. He saw Jesse laying lifelessly in his arms... He saw his sisters face as he said goodbye, telling her he would call her when it was safe.
But he hadn't called. And he hadn't cried. He took comfort in knowing he was taking care of Letty and that she was counting on him to help her get better. He wasn't going to let her down again. Not this time.
"What time is it?" she asked weakly. Dom looked at his watch.
"Ten o'clock. You hungry?" he asked, hoping she would be in the mood to eat. She hadn't been eating much and was getting pretty weak. She shook her head no.
"Let, you need to eat something," he tried one more time.
"I'm not hungry," she replied, almost snapping. He wanted to smile, for it seemed she was getting a little of her spunk back.
"How's the pain? Need some pills?" he offered. She'd gotten lucky. A concussion, a few broken ribs and some nasty cuts and bruises. As bad as it looked, it could have been so much worse.
"Yeah." She replied, holding out her hand. He handed her two vicodin tablets and a glass of water from the night stand.
She sat up, wincing a little at the pain in her side. She took the two pills and immediately laid back in her previous position. She was still pretty out of it, but she couldn't help but notice Dom's somber demeanor.
"Hey," She said, nudging him lightly with her arm. He looked over at her, his eyes filled with sadness...regret...guilt.
"Hey..."
He shook his head as tears came to his eyes for the first time in days.
"I was all he had, Let," he whispered, digging his head into her shirt as the tears became more frequent. She immediately knew he was talking about Jesse.
"Listen to me," she said sternly, lifting his chin up with her finger, bringing his eyes to meet hers.
"That was not your fault Dom," she said firmly, almost yelling.
"I just...I miss him so much." he cried again, ignoring her statement completely.
Looking into his guilt stricken eyes, she wanted nothing more than to take away his pain...
She let her fingers roam around his back until they found the bottom of his shirt, sliding her hand under slowly and working it over his back and up over his head. She let it drop somewhere on the floor next to the bed.
"Letty, what are you..." he asked, as her tiny hand slid across his cheek, wiping his tear stained face. She leaned up slightly, bring her lips to meet his.
He let his lips linger on hers for a few seconds before opening his mouth, letting her tongue slip in. She reached for his cargos with one hand, slowly unbuttoning them and sliding the zipper down.
"Letty wait," he said as he pulled back from their kiss, but the back of his head was met by her free hand, and she brought his lips to hers once more.
"Your ribs..." he whispered through their kiss. But she wasn't having it. She didn't care about the pain. She needed him. And he needed her...
...
He stood in front of her once again, but somehow, she wasn't all that surprised to see him.
"Hey."
"Hey," she replied, her eyes slightly softer than when they had met a few days before.
"Can we talk?" he asked politely.
"I dunno Dom. Can we? Or are you planning on calling me a bitch for a third time?" she responded, making sure to shelve out a fair amount of attitude. The name calling was getting old.
"About that..."
She leaned back against the doorway, arms across her chest, waiting for him to continue.
"I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for the way we left things the other day," he said, his eyes filled with a sincerity that she hadn't seen in a really, really long time.
"Yeah," she replied, motioning with her hand for him to come inside. Things had gotten pretty ugly last time...and the time before that... She wasn't quite sure why this time would be any different.
Dom looked around at the livingroom that he'd been in countless times before.
"You decide what your gonna do with the house?" he asked, looking at the boxes that were piled up in the corner.
"I'm selling it," she replied.
"Are you serious?"
"What do you mean, am I serious?" she asked harshly, raising an eyebrow.
"I mean, she left you the house right? Why would you sell it?" he asked, confused.
"Why would I keep it Dom? What would I do, live here?" she asked sarcastically.
"I just don't think you should sell it. I dunno," he said as he looked around. So many memories...
"What do you care anyway?" she asked.
Yeah. Why did he care?
"Never mind Letty. Do whatever you want," he grumbled.
Seriously, why did he care what the hell she did with the house?
"So what do you want Dom?" she asked annoyed, sensing their conversation going downhill quickly.
Dom walked past her, and headed for the couch. He picked up a plush pillow, making room to sit down.
"Dom wait..."
But it was too late.
He saw it. But he couldn't really believe what he was seeing. He picked up the box and put in on his lap.
She didn't know what to do. Run over and grab it off him? Tell him she was just about to throw it away? Or...burn it? That would work, if that's what she was really about to do. But she wasn't...
"You kept this?" he asked, his heavy voice barely above a whisper.
She wasn't sure what to say, just stood there and shrugged her shoulders.
"Yeah, well..." was all she could manage to say.
He slowly pried the lid off and began to go through the box, pulling out one memory after another.
"I can't believe you kept this..." he said softly, staring intently at the pictures he held in his hand.
"I found it in the back of my closet." she replied, taking a seat on the opposite side of the couch.
"I never knew we were such picture people," he said, laughing a little.
"We weren't. Mia was," Letty replied, cracking a slight smile.
They sat in silence for what seemed like ever as Dom went through the box of pictures.
And then...
"We were so happy..." he said quietly, running his thumb over one of the pictures he held.
"Were we?"
Dom's head shot up. "What do you mean, were we?" he snapped.
"Just what I said Dom. Were we really happy? I mean, we fought all the time. How were we happy?" she asked sarcastically.
"Oh come on Letty. You act like we spent every second of every fuckin day fighting."
She shrugged her shoulders. "What does it matter Dom? What's the point in even talking about it?" she asked, slightly annoyed.
"Because Letty, I just...I don't understand how we got to this point. It was like we were fine one day and then out of the fuckin blue, your bags are packed and your standing there telling me that you don't wanna do it anymore. I mean, what the fuck Letty?"
"I AM NOT gonna get into this Dom," she said as she stood up quickly from the couch.
"Yeah? Well, that's too fuckin bad Letty because you owe me," he demanded.
"Owe you? What the fuck do I owe you Dom?"
"A fuckin explanation Letty!!" he bellowed, rumbling the whole empty house.
"I don't owe you anything Dom. Get out," she shot back, whipping open the front door.
"Uh, uh," he said, as he stood up from the couch, the pictures in his lap flying all over the floor. Before she knew it the door was flying shut, and she was cornered by Dom, one massive arm holding the door shut.
"Dominic, you better move your fuckin arm..." she warned through gritted teeth.
He took a deep breath and let his arm drop from the door. He ran a tired hand over his head.
"Look. I don't wanna fight Letty. I just want to know why," he said, lowering his voice.
"It's not that easy Dom."
"Why? Just tell me why Letty! What the fucks so hard about that?!" he exclaimed.
"Cause I don't know why!" she yelled, tears stinging the back of her eyes.
Dom's breath caught slightly in his throat. It wasn't what she said, but the way she said it.
There was regret in her voice.