Page 84 of Between Love & Ruin

“No no,” Reyansh holds up his hand. “That’s not up for debate. I work with him. I would go far to say that we talk to each other about stuff other than work as well. And the way he talks about you—that’s not casual. Dominic Wolfe in front of the world may be the king of media that you shouldn’t cross, but for you—he’s just Dom. And that’s not just something, Sienna. So when we say he would do anything to bring the world to your feet if you asked him to, we mean it.”

Aisha smiles at my stunned face. I know Reyansh, and I know this man doesn’t lie. He doesn’t say sweet words to anyone other than his wife. He doesn’t sugarcoat the truth. So when he says something, you can bet your life on it that it is true.

“You have a lover boy wrapped around your finger, my girl,” Aisha says, her hand casually tugging on mine. “Make sure you keep him around always.”

* * *

I walk into the dimly lit house quite late, only realizing then that I forgot to text Dominic. Reyansh completely took over my girl time with Aisha, and we got so caught up talking about everything that I completely lost track of time.

By the time we were done, it was already half-past nine, and I had a dozen missed calls from my lover boy, as Aisha calls him now.

“Dom,” I call softly as I tip-toe up to our room. “Are you here?”

He doesn’t reply, but when I walk in, I find him looking at the book he’s reading. He’s wearing his reading glasses, and that’s the hottest he has ever looked. I am lying. He always looks hot, but like this—he looks like all of my dreams come true.

“Hello,” I say sweetly. I know he is upset. And it stings a little to see him ignoring me like this. “Did you have dinner?”

No answer.

I sigh and remove my heels. I sit on the edge of the bed where he is lying down, and he scoots over, not touching me. I barely hold back the dramatic gasp threatening to escape me. Rude.

I softly massage my tired feet while looking at him. And he still doesn’t look back at me.

“Dominic,” I say seriously now. “Look at me.”

He finally lifts his eyes from that boring book now and looks at me. “What?”

“I am sorry, okay,” I tell him. I take his hand in mine, and he doesn’t hold mine as tightly as he usually does. “I know I should have texted you and not ignored your calls, but I swear, I forgot where my phone was at their place. We met after so long that it completely escaped my mind.”

“So you forgot about me?” He questions, sitting up straight now.

“What? Of course not.”

“Looks exactly like that to me.”

Before I can save myself and say something, he gets up and goes out of the room, shutting the door behind him, and I am left gaping at him, wondering what the hell happened.

Dominic Wolfe

Ihate being away from Sienna.

I hate not talking to her. I don’t think I’ve ever gone this long without talking to her since we met.

But tonight, I kind of like not talking to her. I don’t think I’m mad at her anymore. It’s physically impossible for me to stay upset with her after looking at her. I was hell-bent on not talking to her earlier when I realized she had forgotten about me, but one look at her and all my resolve melted away.

But it’s also fun seeing her fret over me. She looked adorable with that helpless pout on her face as she stared at me, waiting for me to respond. It was hard to stay quiet, but also so worth it.

I wasn’t even mad at her because she stayed with her friends. As much as I would like to stay glued by her side all the time, I also know she needs her space. I felt like Myra said something to her back at the office, because the smile she gave me didn’t feel real. It didn’t soothe whatever tension I was feeling ever since Roy and Myra walked in with that file that holds mine and Sienna’s past together.

When I first got to know that our parents died in an accident together, I wanted it to not be true. I asked Roy to dig deeper, to get some concrete evidence for me. I didn’t realize when Myra got to know about this, when she started working on it with Roy, but she got the work done. Now I have a file of proof that clearly describes how it happened.

Whatever fucked-up game the universe was playing—at least it managed to bring me to Sienna. But knowing I will have to tell her the truth someday breaks me completely. I know more than anyone in this world how much she misses them and how much she needs them. She doesn’t need to talk about it for me to notice it. I see it every time she looks at a family in our neighborhood, every time she writes about a broken family in her writing. I see it in her eyes when she talks about it on rare occasions.

So I know the truth will be hard for her to digest.

I was already spiraling, thinking about what was happening in my life, when I realized how late it was getting. Sienna wasn’t answering my texts or my calls, and I swear to god I have never panicked as much as I did in those moments. The fear of losing her was gnawing at my chest the entire time.

It was only after I was able to connect with Reyansh about her whereabouts when I managed to relax.