In Love With Him

Chapter 49

Dominic POV

I walked into the dining room and every seat was full… except the one directly across from Kennedy.

Of course.

She didn’t look at me. Not at first. But I saw the subtle signs—her flushed cheeks, the way she bit her bottom lip the second I entered, like her body was still remembering what almost happened upstairs. Hell, mine was too. I could still feel the ghost of her skin under my fingertips.

I sat down slowly, swallowing the knot in my throat.

My mom passed the turkey. Max was already scarfing down mashed potatoes like it was his last meal. Kyle poured himself a glass of wine like he owned the place.

And Kennedy?

She still hadn’t looked at me. Her eyes stayed on her plate, and she just pushed her food around, like she was avoiding more than just calories.

We stole glances.

Quick ones. Dangerous ones.

Every time her eyes darted to mine and then quickly looked away, it was like a goddamn spark hit me in the chest. She was trying to pretend nothing happened upstairs.

But I knew she felt it too.

Mom finally spoke, breaking the weird tension humming beneath the table. “So, Kyle… how did you and Morgan meet?”

Kyle leaned back smugly, draping an arm around Morgan’s chair. “We were both stationed in Germany. Saw her at the mess hall and boom—smitten.”

Morgan rolled her eyes but smiled. “You were such a cocky asshole. Thought he could just walk up and charm me. I told him he was a player and to get lost.”

Kyle laughed. “It only took me a few months of chasing her before she finally gave in.”

“Because you wore me down,” she smirked, sipping her drink.

I chuckled. I couldn’t help it. “You were a bigger player than me,” I said under my breath.

Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

I shrugged, still chewing. “You were.”

He smirked. “Says the guy who went through more blondes than a bottle of bleach.”

My jaw tightened. I didn’t want to do this. Not tonight. Not in front of Kennedy.

Kyle leaned in, elbows on the table like he was teeing up. “So what about you? Still chasing fake Barbies or do you finally have someone worth keeping around?”

I forced a tight smile. “Just focusing on school right now.”

He scoffed. “Bullshit. You can’t go five minutes without some girl wrapped around you. Remember that time you were dating two girls at once and they found out? What a disaster—those chicks tried to rip each other’s extensions out in front of the library.”

I could feel the heat crawling up my neck. My fists clenched under the table. Stop.

I didn’t dare look at Kennedy. I didn’t want to see her face while my brother painted me like some s*x-addicted clown with zero self-respect.

Before I could say anything, Mom came to my rescue.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough embarrassing your little brother,” she said, waving her fork. “I’m sure there’s plenty Morgan doesn’t know about you, Kyle. Like the time you tried to sneak a hooker in through the window half-drunk and found out she was transgender.”

Kyle sputtered. “Jesus, Mom—”

Morgan burst out laughing. “Oh, I definitely want to hear that one later.”

The table broke out in laughter, except for me.

Then Mom turned to Kennedy. “What about you, sweetheart? Do you know what college you want to go to yet?”

I finally looked up at her.

She was still playing with her turkey, not eating it. Her voice came soft, almost nervous. “I don’t know… I was thinking maybe Juilliard.”

Paul choked on his drink. “Juilliard?! That’s… that’s in New York.”

I watched the panic crawl across his face.

Mom gave him a look.

Kyle grinned. “That’s the fancy artist school, right? What do you want to do?”

Kennedy hesitated, and for a second, I thought she wouldn’t say it.

“Acting. Like Broadway, plays and stuff. I figured… New York would be the best place for that.”

Kyle blinked. “No s**t. You do acting?”

Paul perked up like he was dying to brag. “She’s been in every school play since middle school. She’s absolutely amazing. And her singing? Superb. I have videos.”

Kennedy groaned, dropping her fork and hiding her face. “Dad, stop.”

He beamed. “After dinner, I’ll show you the one where she played Juliet. She made the entire audience cry.”

Kennedy sank into her seat, her face a deep shade of red.

I smirked.

But then Kyle opened his damn mouth again.

He leaned back, looking right at Kennedy. “Just don’t end up like hothead over here. Gets accepted into Stanford, top of his class, then bam—beats the hell out of a professor over a bad grade. Lucky for him, they didn’t press charges. They just kicked him off campus and made him finish online. Got to get that temper under control, little brother, or you’re gonna end up like Dad.”

The air in my lungs turned to fire.

That was it.

I shoved my chair back so hard it screeched across the floor. Everyone jumped.

I didn’t say a word.

I turned and stormed out the front door, letting it slam behind me.

I didn’t care that it was Thanksgiving.

I didn’t care that they were all staring.

I needed air.

Because if I stayed one more second at that table, I was going to kill my own brother.

---

Kennedy – POV

The second the front door slammed, silence fell over the table like a thick, suffocating cloud.

My heart was still racing.

Dominic… he just left.

The tension in his jaw, the way his fists had clenched against the table, the look in his eyes before he stood up—it all stuck with me. I knew he had a temper, but I’d never seen him that close to the edge before.

And hearing Kyle say all those things about him…

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t shake me.

Kyle made it sound like Dominic was just some angry womanizer who ruined everything he touched. Like he was destined to repeat his father’s mistakes. Like he was broken. And maybe a part of me, deep down, wondered if that could be true.

But I’d seen another side of him—softer, gentler, patient, protective. I remembered the way he’d held me when I was in pain. The way he brushed my hair, made me protein shakes, stayed up late with me watching shows, rubbing my back when I couldn’t sleep.

That wasn’t the man Kyle was talking about.

I glanced down the table toward Helen, who sat pale and tight-lipped. Her eyes glistened, but she hadn’t blinked yet. She just stared at her plate, her fork limp in her hand.

Then I looked at Kyle.

He had the same hazel green eyes as her, even if they were sharper now. His sandy-blonde hair—what was left of it—was buzzed down to a military fade. Lightly tanned skin. Heart-shaped face.

They looked like family.

But Dominic… he didn’t really resemble either of them.

His features were sharper, more defined—his dark chestnut hair always a little messy, his striking blue eyes that could burn through you or soften like melting ice, depending on his mood. His build was lean and toned, his movements fluid, careful—controlled until he wasn’t. His face… it was all angles and intensity.

I’d never seen a picture of his father. But I didn’t have to. I knew, just by looking at Dominic, that he wasn’t a carbon copy of Helen or Kyle.

He must look like him.

The thought sent a weird chill down my spine.

Then Helen’s voice cut through the silence, soft but sharp. “Now why did you have to mention that?” she snapped, turning to Kyle. “You know how he feels about being compared to him.”

Kyle rolled his eyes, throwing a dinner roll in his mouth. “Maybe he should stop acting like him. Temper-wise, I mean. Yeah, he controls it better than Mark ever did—but when he snaps? He’s just as bad. Kid needs anger management.”

Helen flinched at his words.

I bit the inside of my cheek, my eyes flicking down to my untouched plate. I didn’t know Dominic’s dad’s name until just now. Mark. A simple name for someone who clearly left scars on this family so deep they never really healed.

Helen’s voice cracked. “Maybe if you weren’t off sleeping with anything that had a pulse, he wouldn’t have to control his temper so hard.”

Kyle’s head snapped toward her, but she kept going.

“He looked up to you, Kyle. He wanted to be like his big brother. You were the only male figure in his life for years… and you were never there.” Her voice wobbled. “And don’t you dare act like you don’t know what that did to him.”

Tears were welling in her eyes now, slow and shimmering. “It’s not his fault that the two men in his life—his father and his brother—weren’t either around when he needed them most or busy beating the s**t out of him. I tried. I really did. But I was just trying to survive. You had the chance to leave. And you took it.”

Kyle shifted in his seat, his bravado dissolving as his mother’s pain spilled out in front of all of us.

“But Dominic?” she whispered, voice cracking fully now, “He stayed. He stayed behind… to protect me.” She choked back a sob. “When I should’ve been the one protecting him.”

The tears finally broke free, slipping down her cheeks.

Kyle stood abruptly, his chair scraping loudly against the tile. “Mom,” he said softly, guilt bleeding into his voice.

He crossed the space between them and knelt beside her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, pressing his face into her shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Mom.”

She let herself lean into him for a moment, eyes closed, mouth trembling.

But then she sniffed and shook her head. “Don’t apologize to me,” she said quietly, pulling back. “I’m not the one you should be saying that to.”

Kyle nodded slowly, wiping his face. “When he comes back… when he calms down… I will.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, quietly pushing my plate away. Appetite gone.

I didn’t say anything.

But deep down, I hoped Kyle meant what he said.

Because Dominic deserved better than what he’d been given.