Bear shifts behind me and rises up. “Now might not be the best time, Dominic,” he says, his voice tight.
“I understand that,” Dom growls. “And if you’d like, I can rephrase it so it’s me telling you instead of asking you.”
They glare at each other until I roll my eyes. “Knock it off,” I tell both of them. “Bear, it’s okay.”
He looks down at me like he doesn’t believe me.
“It’ll just be a minute,” I tell him. “I’ve got something to tell you, anyway.” And I do. But it can wait a bit longer.
Bear nods and helps me sit up in the bathtub. I bring my knees to my chest as he leans down and kisses my hair. His hand trails off my shoulder as he steps out of the tub. He glances over his shoulder at me before he faces Dom. “A word, please?” he says, jerking his head toward the door.
Dom nods reluctantly and follows Bear out the bathroom.
“How much did you hear?” Bear hisses at him, trying to be quiet, but his voice echoes off the tile in the bathroom.
“Enough,” Dom rumbles. “Enough to know….”
“It doesn’t matter what you know. It doesn’t matter what you think. All that matters is my brother in there. All that matters is that he’s fifteen years old and still feels earthquakes. That’s the only thing that matters.”
“I know.”
“I’ll give you five minutes, Dom. Five. Don’t you upset him again, or you and me are going to have a problem.”
Overprotective, Bear is. I hear him stomp away.
Dom sighs.
I wait.
He turns into the bathroom and walks toward me until he kneels at the side of the tub, resting his hands on the edge. He drops his head until his chin hits the back of his hands and we’re at eye level. I don’t look away.
“I didn’t mean for you to see that,” he says finally. “Downstairs.”
I snort. “That’s… I don’t know what that is.”
“It just happened.”
“It looks like it’s been happening.” I wait for him to deny it so I can call him on it.
He doesn’t. “Yeah” is all he says.
“Do you love her?”
He looks startled. “What?”
“Do you love her?”
“I’ve only known her a couple weeks.”
I cock my head at him. “What does that have to do with anything?”
He smiles at me, like I’ve amused him. “No, Ty. I don’t love her.”
“Why not?”
“Because. She’s not… I already have….” He sighs. “It’s not important.”
“But it could be.”