Monster(51)

“You have no legal right to cut me off.”

“Actually I do,” Dominic retorted with infallible calm, leaning back in his chair to regard Lucas in that imperious way that made one feel like they were nothing beneath his gaze. “I have been named the trustee to your trust fund, and as I’ve said earlier, you are to meet certain requirements before I will consider relinquishing it back to you.”

“Rehab,” Lucas spat the word. “I’m not an alcoholic!” he roared, rising he swung his arm and everything on Dominic’s desk came crashing to the ground, causing Eden to jump at the loud clatter.

Dominic stood. “It appears alcoholism is the least of your problems, Lucas.”

“I didn’t have a fucking problem until you came into my life!” he roared, and when he rounded the desk and invaded Dominic’s personal space, Eden knew they would come to blows. She didn’t know what good she was going to do, but she at least needed to try and diffuse the situation before it got completely out of hand.

“Dominic…” she called tentatively.

Dominic ignored her. “The problem with you is that you are an entitled, spoiled little boy too lazy to get off his mother’s teat and do something with your life.”

Lucas shoved at Dominic’s chest with enough force to have the other man stumbling backwards and when he grabbed the lapels of Dominic’s shirt bringing them face to face, he snarled, “Your goddamn cum bucket of a mother should’ve killed you the very second she found out about you. You’re nothing but a mistake, Dominic, no wonder why she wanted nothing to do with you.”

“Lucas!” Eden grabbed at his arm to try and pry him off, the words he’d just uttered more than hateful, provoked her protective instincts and she wanted to physically attack him for hurting Dominic this way. “Let him go!” she railed tugging for all she was worth on Lucas’s arm.

“Fuck off!” he jerked his arm back and shoved hard so that she went sailing, crashing first into the desk before falling to the floor from the impact. With her eyes closed from the pain, she didn’t see exactly what happened next but when she did reopen them, Dominic was pummeling at Lucas, fists crashing down connecting with the sickening crunch of bone hitting bone. Eden knew she wasn’t in a condition to move with her head spinning and her back screaming in protest, but she had to get Dominic to stop, otherwise he was going to kill his brother.

“No more…” She crawled to where he stood grounded and wrapped her arms around his leg because that was all her body would allow and held on. “Please…stop…” He did.

“Be very grateful for this day,” he grated, his laborious breath coming in short and fast. “Because the next time you come at me like this, you had better be ready to kill me yourself, Lucas.”

When Lucas finally stumbled out of Dominic’s office, it was not only with a bloodied and battered face, but his bruised pride kept his head down. Eden didn’t pay much attention to him, all that mattered to her was seeing to Dominic. She called for someone in the kitchen to bring up a towel and some ice which thankfully they weren’t made to wait too long for. Seated in front of him on the carpeted floor, with her legs curled beneath her buttocks, Eden put a few cubes of ice in the towel and folded it tightly closed before gently applying it to his bruised knuckles. The adrenaline was wearing off now, but she was still shaken by the display of violence she’d witnessed.

Dominic watched her work almost too diligently on his wounds and knew he’d up screwed once again. He had known when he’d called Lucas over to notify him of his inevitable visit to rehab, that things would get out of hand, given Lucas’s explosive temper, and the very real possibility of losing his trust. The situation had been volatile from the start. Which was why Dominic had endeavored to remain calm. A calm that abandoned him the very second Lucas made the mistake of shoving Eden. He’d lost it there for a second, admittedly. However inadvertent the shove may have been, Dominic had failed to see the difference. There’d been a haze of red and the undeniable need for violence. It had taken her touch and her voice to clear that haze and draw him back from the edge of the consuming violence that had felt too good to be right. He didn’t like himself that way. Dominic didn’t relish her seeing that violent side of him. But these were the demons he was attempting to exorcise.

“There’s no bleeding,” she whispered unevenly. “Just some bruising…”

Dominic peered down at her auburn head, her hair concealing her face from his view, but he could tell that she was visibly shaken, even if the tremors of her hands didn’t give her away.

“Eden.”

“I think we need more ice.” She didn’t meet his gaze when she came to her feet. Her legs felt like jelly beneath her she wavered, but his fast reflexes caught her before she could tumble back down.

With his hand at her hip, he interlaced their fingers together. “We don’t need more ice,” he murmured.

She blinked. “But your hands…”

“Will heal. I just…don’t leave.” The slightest tug brought her to his lap. He gently pried the towel of ice from her cold, damp hands and set it down on the edge of his desk, before drawing in a ragged sigh. “I’m sorry you had to see that.” His arm banded possessively around her waist, but he didn’t need to do much to keep her there because Eden wouldn’t have moved if he wanted her to. “I could have handled it better.”

Eden turned to look at him, staring into his stunning green eyes that had so much control over her, her heart especially. “You handled it exactly how you should have.” The tips of her fingers slid along his bristly cheek, caressing, delighting, and taking her absolute fill because she’d gone so long without. “He shouldn’t have said those things to you.”

“It’s nothing,” he murmured succinctly. But still waters did indeed run deep, he said very little yet having come to know him as well as she did, Eden found that there was so much more meaning beneath that flippant reply. Emotions that could not simply be verbalized. She felt him almost like they were her own, and it broke her heart that he had to convince himself that it was okay.

“I know,” she agreed, surprising them both by wrapping her arms around his torso and laying her head on his chest, his strong, steady heartbeats thudding beneath her ear. “I’m still sorry he said them.” She would bear this burden with him. Whatever emotion he wasn’t capable of displaying, Eden wanted to display them for him. “I’m sorry.”

Dominic’s brows creased at the catch in her voice, “Hey,” he tilted his head down to look at her but she hid her face against his chest, her warm tears dampening his shirt. “Why are you crying?”

“I’m not,” she sniffled.

A half smile upturned the corner of his mouth. “Then why your eyes sweating?” She snorted and Dominic’s smile spread wider. He moved back slightly, enabling him a chance to cradle her cheek in one hand and swipe at her tears with his thumb.

“I just…I didn’t like hearing him say those words to you.”

She heard him take in a breath before releasing it slowly. “The words did not bother me. The fact that he touched you did. It bothered me a lot.” That he would feel so moved to come to her defense when he’d been the one assaulted flooded her with overwhelming warmth. “Are you hurt?”

Eden sat up and sniffled again, chancing a look at him she said, “I just had the wind knocked out of me, but I’m fine now. Honestly, I wanted to jump on his back and scratch his eyes out when he shoved you.” That brought a deep, rumbling chuckle that made her instantly giddy. “What’s so funny?”

He shook his head, the remnants of his laughter in the ghost of his smile. “I’m just imagining what that would have looked like.” Resting his forehead against hers for a moment, he took a deep breath and the scent of her shampoo filled his lungs. “I’m touched that you feel so protective of me.”

“I’m…” Eden didn’t know what was about to come out of her mouth, but she was sure it wasn’t meant to be said as she was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. “You should probably get that,” she said, swiping at her cheeks while hastening off his lap.

“Eden,” he called, but she was already by the door holding the dripping towel over the bowl of ice she had in her hand.

“I’m going to go check on Liam,” she floundered feebly, before taking her exit.

It shamed her to know that she’d used her child as an excuse to run away. But it’d been the first thing that popped in her mind. She’d panicked because she knew if the phone hadn’t rung she would’ve been prompted to say something that would’ve embarrassed her. Eden practically ran down the hall almost afraid that he would come after her and demand she finish what she had been about to say. Her heart was racing, and she was trembling but it was for a completely different reason now than the shock she’d received earlier. Taking a detour to the kitchen to drop off the items in her hands, Eden continued up to Jenna’s room and before entering she drew in a deep breath and released it slowly.