Dom (Alliance #3)

The ceiling lightsare still on, so I watch Val walk around the bed and notice her thick sweatpants and my Yale sweatshirt.

I’m starting to recognize this as her comfort outfit, and as much as I wish she didn’t need it, I can’t help but feel pride that my wardrobe is a part of it.

Instead of lying on her side, like she does when she’s ready to fall asleep, she lies on her back.

I roll onto my side, facing her profile.

Her eyes are open, but she’s staring at nothing.

Something twists inside me, and I move closer until her shoulder is against my chest.

“Want to tell me?” I ask quietly.

She bites her lip even as she nods her head. “It’s a lot.”

“We have time.”

Val pulls the blankets up to her chin, and I slip my arm under the covers. She only tenses for a moment when I rest my hand on her stomach. She’s so soft. I want to be touching her always.

“I’m… I’m just gonna start at the beginning.”

I nod against my pillow. “I want to know everything about you, Valentine.”

I watch as her throat works.

She opens and closes her mouth. “Hold on.” She leans away from me, reaching out to turn off the ceiling lights.

There’s still ambient light from the city, but darkness settles around us.

Val lies back, and I put my hand back where it was, feeling her body rise and fall with breaths.

“I don’t know how much you know from your, um, research.” She exhales. “So you can tell me to skip stuff.”

“I don’t really want to talk about the background check I ran on you,” I admit, knowing I need to give her something in exchange for what she’s about to give me. “I know you have a different mom from King and Aspen. And that you grew up in a different house. But I want to know how it’s possible that you’ve never had a birthday party.”

The blankets shift, and one of her hands starts to settle on top of mine on her stomach, but I lift my hand a little, and she slips hers underneath, trapping it between my palm and her body.

I close my fingers around hers.

She’s quiet for a long moment. And I give her the time.

“I really loved my dad.” She takes another deep breath. “He would bring me presents on my birthday. They were always great kid gifts. Toys, stuffed animals… And there were a few times when he’d bring cupcakes, too. But there was never a party. My mom… sucked. She only ever pretended to be kind when my dad was around. When he wasn’t…” I can feel her shrug. “She was mean.”

Her mom was mean to her?

Rage starts to creep in on the edge of my vision. My mom is my rock. She’s always been there for me. For everything. To imagine growing up in a world where she was cruel to me… I can’t.

“Did she hurt you?” I ask as calmly as I’m able.

Valentine shrugs again. “Nothing bad.”

I squeeze her fingers. That’s a terrible answer.

“She liked to pinch,” Val tells me. “But she wielded her words with much more precision.”

“Angel…” I don’t even know what to say.

“When I was like eight, I found a book about pregnancy and birth. It was really simple. A children’s book with illustrations. But it talked about how a baby needs nine months in their mother’s stomach before they can come out. I’d always been told that I was a Valentine’s Day baby, which is what I was named after, so I pulled the calendar off my wall and counted back from my birthday. And when it didn’t match up, I made the mistake of asking my mom about it.” She huffs out a derisive laugh. “She told me I was stupid and I didn’t know what I was talking about.”