Shadows Part IV

[hannah_chapter1]

Title: Shadows Part IV
Author: hannah_chapter
Pairing: Belldom
Rating: R
Summary: AU. Sequel to Temptation. Dom's POV. Ten years have passed and Dom and Matt have made a life together. But when his past comes back to haunt him, how far will Dom go to keep Matt safe?
Feedback: Always welcome.
Disclaimer: Oh so very, very fake.

Matt's whole body tenses up and I squeeze his shoulder, a silent warning. I know what he's thinking: he wants to go for the shotgun, which is leaning against the wall beside the bed, just within arm's reach, close enough to grab it quickly if he needs to but not close enough to cause an accident. As far as the rest of the town's concerned Matt lives alone so he keeps the gun handy, just in case there's trouble some night after closing. Well, I guess trouble finally found us but I don't think blowing Eddie's head off is going to solve anything. I feel Matt relax and I know he's gotten the message.

As for Eddie, he obviously has no idea just how close he came to being nothing but a big, red stain on the wall. He's still smiling down at us, like two men in bed together is the funniest thing he's ever seen. It probably is. "We need to talk, Dominic, so let go of your little friend, put some pants on and meet me in the bar."

Eddie leaves the bedroom and we hear him go downstairs, still giggling to himself. I get up, Matt starts to get out of bed as well and I hold up a hand.

"No, stay here. I'll take care of this." Somehow.

"I don't think you can explain this away, Dom."

I pull on my pants and shirt, don't bother with my shoes. "I know, but I have to try. What else can I do?"

I find Eddie at a table with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. He waves a hand at them. "I hope you don't mind me helping myself, I had to do something while I waited for you boys to finish up." He smirks. "Sounded like you were having the time of your lives. I thought the ceiling was going to fall in on me."

My hands curl into fists and I force myself to take deep, calming breaths as I walk over to the table. Eddie pours me a drink but I won't take it, or sit down with him. I may have to talk to him, but nobody said I had to be polite.

If Eddie's offended by my refusal he doesn't show it. He just plays with his own glass as he looks at me. "I can't believe I didn't see it before. There was always something just a little bit off about you, Dominic. I could never quite put my finger on it, but now I know. You're one of those guys. One of nature's mistakes. Tell me something: have you ever even tried to do it with a girl? I bet you did. But you just couldn't get it up, could you?"

His words bring back shameful memories, things I thought I'd put to rest long ago. A handful of humiliating encounters, with me trying to lie to myself and be like everyone else, before I just let go and accepted what I was. Some guys like me might be able to lie to themselves, convince themselves that they're not queer, but it's something I could never do. I could fool everyone else, but never myself.

I won't rise to his bait. "Okay, you know about me, about us. And if I don't do what you want, you'll spread the news far and wide. That's it, isn't it?"

"You catch on fast, Dominic, you always did. That's it, or most of it, nine out of ten. I'm going back to New York and you're coming with me. I've got plans, big plans, and I want you by my side. Refuse and I'll spill everything I know - but you won't be the one who gets hurt."

He takes a piece of paper from his pocket and, even before he unfolds it, I know it's a newspaper clipping and I bet I can guess what it's about. I should have known this was coming. He makes a big show of reading it.

"I knew I'd seen your partner before, so I did a little digging. He looks pretty lively for a dead man." Eddie giggles. "Sounds pretty lively, too."

My whole body is trembling now and my fingernails are digging into my palms.

"Says here he killed two men, and one of them was a cop."

Eddie tuts and shakes his head. "He shouldn't have done that. Cops don't like it when you kill one of their own, they're not happy until someone's bled for it. This other guy, this Barzini, I don't think anyone cares about that. It was a long time ago and he was a crook and a sadistic fucker too, or so I heard. But killing a cop, your friend will burn for that."

Eddie stands and closes the gap between us, whispering in my ear. "Just imagine that, him strapped down in the chair at Sing Sing while you watch. Maybe they'll be nice and let you blow him one last time before they throw the switch."

Big mistake. One thing you should never, ever do is threaten Matthew Bellamy in front of me. I lose what little self-control I have left and I grab Eddie by the back of the neck and slam his face into the table-top - completely forgetting about the glasses. There's a crunch, the bottle falls and breaks and Eddie's body spasms wildly, his feet drumming on the floor, then he goes limp. There's noise from upstairs, Matt's voice, but I don't answer. I'm frozen in place, staring at the blood dripping off the table. Time slips sideways and...

I feel like I'm locked in a nightmare and there's no way out. I haven't slept in two days and every breath I take stretches the stitches in my chest. The room stinks of blood, gunpowder and human waste and the fat man on the floor is still babbling away but I ignore him, he's already told me everything I need to know. There's a large bloodstain on the table and I press my hand against it. This might be all that's left of Matt now. I left him - I left him and Tameleo's got him and he's as good as dead and this idiot has no idea what he's done. Something beside the table catches my eye: a meat cleaver, the edge stained with more of Matt's blood.

Inside I'm burning, an unholy mixture of guilt, grief and rage is boiling in my veins, but I keep the same neutral, vaguely interested expression on my face as I pick the cleaver up and stand over Paulsen again. Jesus, does he ever shut up? He's begging me now, something about taking him to a hospital, but I've had enough. I put my foot on his injured knee and press down hard. He screams and the sound is music to my ears. He made Matt scream, I'll make him scream. He hurt Matt, I'll hurt him. Paulsen stares up at me with his good eye.

"Please, Dominic, Mr. Howard, I've never done anything to you. You've got no reason to hurt me-"

"Oh, but I do. You torture the man I love, you sell him out, what did you think I was going to do?"

I let that sink in as I drop to my knees by his head. "Yeah, you heard me. I don't hate Matthew Bellamy, I love him. Do you get it now, you stupid shit? Do you see why telling me everything you just did was the biggest mistake you ever made?"

He opens his mouth to say something but I've heard all I ever want to hear from him. I grip the cleaver in both hands and raise it above my head. His scream is drowned out by mine as I bring the blade down-

Matt's voice calls me back to reality. Dressed only in pants and holding the shotgun, he's staring in disbelief at the scene before him. "You call this taking care of things? Seriously Dom, what the hell were you thinking?"

"It was an accident. He knew all about us, everything that happened in New York. He was threatening you and I lost it. But I didn't mean to kill him!"

Matt puts the gun on the bar and takes me in his arms and I relax into his embrace. This is a serious violation of the rules but it's the middle of the night, there's a dead man on a table and being caught together is the least of our worries right now. When he's sure I've calmed down Matt releases me and grab Eddie by the hair, pulling his head off the table, just to make sure he really is dead. One glass got the artery in his throat and the other went into his eye: he's dead alright. Matt drops him and wipes his hand on his pants.

He takes control of the situation and I'm happy to let him. "We can't go to the law, Dom. They'll lock you up for sure. We have to get rid of him."

"Should we bury him?"

"No, that's not good enough. He has to disappear, and I mean really disappear."

"Well, what then?"

Matt stares into space for a few seconds before snapping his fingers. "Hardy. He could help us."

"What could he do? He barely has enough sense to remember to put on pants before he comes to town."

"He has pigs, we could cut the body up and feed it to them. Pigs eat anything, he's always telling me that."

The thought of that disgusts me but Matt's right, this body can't be found. "Will he help us?"

"If I ask him to. I'll go talk to him in the morning." Matt runs his fingers through his hair.

"But right now, we've got to clean up this mess. We can wrap him in some old sheets, put him down in the cellar for the day." He takes me by the shoulders.

"Everything will be fine. Trust me. We'll deal with this and  things will go back to normal, or as normal as they ever get. You'll see."

I don't know if he really believes that or if he's just trying to make me feel better. Either way, it's not working; as I stare at the body on the table I can't shake the feeling that the bad times are just beginning.