Dom awoke with a start. She sat up in the bed and glanced around, pausing when her eyes fell on the relaxed form of Gerard beside her. She watched him sleep for a moment, leaning down to push the hair from his face. He smiled at her touch but didn’t wake up. Instead he rolled onto his side and sighed. Letting out a slow breath, Dom stretched, leaning her elbows on her thighs and burying her head in her hands. She’d never had a dream so vivid, so horrific.

A shiver wracked her spine as the images returned. Hospital beds and beeping machines, nurses fussing and the heart monitor ringing. Hands groping and her body seizing. She’d never wanted to experience that again: overdose, death, Luke.

Another shiver shot through her at the thought of him. The only man she’d ever been deathly afraid of. And he’d found her again. Her hands shook and she opened her eyes, staring at her palms before pulling them away. Silently she reassured herself that it was only a dream. She was sober now. No pills, no alcohol, nothing. Just art and work and Gerard. She glanced down at him again and reached her hand out, running it along his side. She had forgotten about the scar along his hip where Luke had slashed at him.

That had been the worst night of her life. Not only had she almost died, but he’d been hurt and Mikey…. She felt her eyes well with tears. Blinking rapidly to make them go away she sniffed. It still hurt to think about it. His pain was her fault. He’d confided in her and she’d run off, too afraid to face it.

“Dom?”

Gerard’s voice was sleepy and she glanced down at him when he rolled to face her, rubbing his eyes to see her sitting up beside him. He tucked an arm behind his head and cupped her face with his free hand.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she whispered, sliding back beside him. “I just had a bad dream.”

“Are you sure? You look terrified,” he pulled his hand from her face and rested it against her hip. She returned her head to rest on his chest and listened to his breathing.

“I’m fine, Gee. Go back to sleep. Lord knows you need it.” She kissed his shoulder. He chuckled and nodded.

“I guess I do.”

Dom waited for his breathing to even out again and his hand went limp on her side. She sighed and tried to ease herself back to sleep to little avail. When nothing worked she simply closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing, trying to match the slow pace of Gerard’s. When that didn’t help she heaved a sigh, throwing the covers away from her and shuffling to the small bathroom hidden in the wall. She wrapped her only robe around her and padded to the small kitchen, fumbling with the drawers in her search for nicotine.

“Where are you?” she whispered, yanking open the three drawers she kept her papers in, fumbling through the stacks until she found her last carton of cigarettes. “There you are.” She grinned, tapping one into her hand before returning to the pile of papers for her lighter. She found it tucked beneath an already paid phone bill and found her way to the small window beside the bed, curling up in the sill and cracking it open.

Dom shivered as the cool night air washed over her bare toes. She stuck the cigarette between her lips and flicked the lighter her body trembling with anticipation. When she finally got the little flame to stay lit, Dom leaned forward, pulling the first drag in three months through her lips, the smoke filtering out around the cigarette and through her nostrils. She coughed, unused to the burn in the back of her throat but her muscles relaxed and she grinned.

“I thought you were supposed to be completely clean, Dominica,” Gerard’s sleepy voice interrupted the quiet and she jumped, blowing a cloud of smoke through the open window. “No cigarettes.”

“Damn. Busted. You’re the lightest sleeper I’ve ever met.” She bit her lip as he rolled out of bed and shuffled over to her, unfazed at his nakedness. Dom ran her eyes over his exposed skin, admiring his thin frame. She liked that he wasn’t perfect, his pale skin still showing the subtle after affects of having gained and lost weight, the fading scar on his hip and the dusting of dark hair below his navel. Her cheeks flushed but she couldn’t help admiring him.

“Stop staring at me, you’re making me self conscious,” he kicked up his discarded pair of boxers and pulled them on.

“Shut up, you’re perfect.”

He scoffed, shuffling to the sill with her and pulling the cigarette from her lips. She watched him take a long drag and blow the smoke up toward the ceiling. She reached to take it back but he poked it between his lips again with a wink.

“Completely clean and sober, Dom.”

“Fuck you, I want my cig,” she snatched at it but he leaned away, raising his hands as she batted at him. “It’s your fault I wanted one anyway. I’ve been doing so well and then your stupid mouth tasted like nicotine. Tempting motherfucker,” she grumbled, making him laugh.

He blew the smoke in her face, letting the cigarette burn low before handing it back to her. She smacked him, her handprint bright red on his arm, and finished off the cigarette, stabbing the butt into the cement sill and tossing it out the window. She sighed, propping her feet up on the wall to make room for Gerard to sit beside her. He complied, leaning his head back against the wall as Dom trailed her fingers over his thigh, raising goose bumps on the skin.

“I miss these nights,” she sighed, keeping her eyes on her hand. “I like just hanging out. There’s no chaos in that. No issues.”

“I know, me too.”

She lifted her eyes to meet his and the corner of her mouth lifted. “I hate that you’re so fucking pretty.”

“I’m not pretty, Dominica,” he nudged her playfully with his knee.
“You’re the pretty one in this relationship.”

She laughed aloud, “Hardly.”

Gee glanced around for a moment before his eyes fell on her makeup mirror. Reaching for it he grabbed it and held it in front of her face. “Tell me what you see.”

“Stop it,” she swatted at it but he kept it trained on her.

“No, come on,” he raised his eyebrows and pouted his bottom lip.

She groaned, “Not the puppy face. I hate the puppy face.”

Fighting off his smile, Gerard watched her study her reflection, her eyebrows pulling together as she stared into the glass. She smoothed her long hair and sighed, her stormy eyes lifting to his.

“I see a broken, pathetic, recovering drug addict,” she stated flatly, grabbing the mirror from him and turning it on him. “Your turn.”

He pursed his lips but studied his reflection as well. If she’d have asked him that question when they first met he would have told her something similar to her answer, but things were different now. He was sober, he loved his band, and he had her keeping him whole. A smile crept across his face and he looked up at her. “I see someone finally happy with life and where it’s going. And you’re part of that.”

Her cheeks flushed and she stared down at her hands resting in her lap. She picked at her fingernails and refused to look at him. Leaning forward, Gerard cupped her chin, tilting her head so she looked at him. He offered her a small smile before leaning in, pressing his lips to hers gently.

At first Dom didn’t respond she just enjoyed the press of his mouth against hers. She let his warmth spread through their connected mouths before she wrapped her arm around his neck, pulling him closer. He rested a hand on her back, his fingers tangling in the knotty strands of her hair. Deepening the kiss, Dom slid off the sill and across his lap, her breath quickening as they kissed. She pulled back, gasping for air and wiped her hand over her bottom lip.

“We should probably sleep,” she whispered, sliding off his lap, her feet emitting a quiet slap when the bare skin touched the hardwood floor.

“You’re probably right,” Gerard nodded. He grinned, both of them glancing down to where his hand was wrapped in the strip of fabric keeping her robe tied closed. Dom narrowed her eyes at him, ready to scold him but he tugged it free anyway, his eyes lighting up when it fell open, revealing her bare body.

“Gee, we’re going to sleep,” she frowned.

“Not yet,” he shook his head, tackling her onto the bed. Her giggles filled the room as he pushed the robe away from her body. She squealed when his lips latched onto her throat, his hands holding her firmly by the waist to keep her from wriggling free. Her hand slid down his back, her giggling and squirming slowly turning into low pleasure sounds as Gerard returned his lips to hers, kissing her long and deeply.

Dom’s hand slipped beneath the waist of his boxers, her fingers squeezing his butt and pulling him against her. He let her push the loose fabric from his body, her legs wrapping around his waist as they tangled themselves together for another round of passion.

Notes

The ending of this chapter just made me laugh SO HARD. What the hell was I thinking when I wrote that. LOL I'm so corny.

Sorry.

HAHAHAHAHAHA