Dominic: Come to my apartment. Derek is injured and he keeps asking to see you.

I start shaking as I read his message.

God, what happened?! If something happens to him too, I don't know if I'll survive.

Fuck, I need to call a cab now.

I arrive at Dominic's apartment and my knees are weak. I'm so scared to see Derek hurt.

Dominic opens the door as soon as I knock on it, he leads me to his room.

"What happened?!" I ask while bursting into the room looking around until I see a wounded Derek laying on the bed, he is severely injured just like Dominic said.

He has blood on his arms, his face is bruised and his lip is slightly busted.

Dominic is cleaning him up as much as he can but it isn't helping much.

"I got-" Derek starts talking and I stop him.

"No, please, rest," I say while I walk near him, grabbing his hand and despite how much he seems in pain, he looks so happy to see me.

"Why didn't you take him to the hospital?!" I scold Dominic and they both shake their heads.

"He got into a fight with Felix and his people. There is no way they can explain this to the hospital. It's better this way," says and my eyes widen.

"Why? Why did you fight them?!" I ask Derek and he is about to reply but Dominic interrupts him.

"He had to. They have been causing all of us issues, especially to you." He exhales, "Well, now he won't," he says to me and I look down, upset. Derek did this partly because of me?

I squeeze Derek's hand tighter.

I grab the disinfectant Dominic gave me and I gently clean his wounds as he groans in pain.

"It will be okay, don't worry," I try to encourage him and he doesn't take his eyes off me for a second.

"He was alone, while they were three people. Felix is a fucking coward," Dominic cusses him out and I agree, irritated.

"Why would you go there alone?" I ask him as I keep cleaning every wound.

"I was so angry- Dominic told me-" Derek tries to speak but Dominic interrupts him once again.

"He wanted to be Prince Charming and save you." He laughs and I want to smack his face.

"This is not funny," I spit.

"Well, it's true," Dominic says and I look at Derek, he doesn't even try to deny it. He seems pleased with what he did.

"You are reckless, Derek," I whisper and he gives me an innocent smile, even though he seems to be in pain with the wound he has on his lower lip.

I missed his smile so much, every day I'm not with him, I think about it. I think about everything, our lips touching after so much pent-up desire.

"I'll grab more disinfectant," Dominic says while smirking. This guy. He knows exactly what he is doing.

"I'm so happy you came," Derek tells me and I look at him, surprised.

"How could I not come if I knew you were hurting?" I say, forgetting that just a month ago I told him how I didn't care about him, but that facade falls off as soon as I see him in pain.

"So, you care about me," he affirms pleased with his realization.

Is this what I'm doing? I'll keep saying stuff I don't mean and then doing the complete opposite?

I look into his blue eyes which now seem way darker, his lip still has blood on it and I grab a wet towel as I go closer to him.

"How do you manage to still look good like this?" I mutter before I even think about what I'm saying, which I'll probably regret soon.

"If me getting knocked out makes you sweeter to me, then I'll do it every day," he says in a husky tone and I laugh.

"You're an idiot. Don't," I exclaim while smiling and he puts his hand on my thigh, which makes me blush.

He notices it but he decides to not comment on it which I infinitely mentally thank him for.

I'm a few inches away from his face and it's so difficult to concentrate on my tasks as his eyes are directly staring at my lips.

"Why are you staring?" I ask him annoyed and he smiles.

"Thinking about how much I'd like to kiss you right now," he admits and I blush so much I look down at my hands, but he lifts my chin with his injured hand.

"You are beautiful," he simply says and if he wasn't so hurt right now I'd kiss him.

"I don't believe you. I look like a mess, I didn't even take a shower," I mutter and he rolls his eyes.

"You could have omitted that detail." He chuckles. "It doesn't matter, you are still beautiful," he says and I try to hide the nervousness I feel whenever he is near me.

"Where is Dominic with that disinfectant?!" I yell trying to change the subject.

"I'm here. I was letting you two sweethearts have a moment alone," he says and laughs, handing me the disinfectant.

"Shut up," I say and Dominic shrugs.

As I put some disinfectant on the towel, it lingers down my arm so I roll the sleeves up to not wet my sweater.

I quickly realize in horror that my cigarette scars are still there, as I've done them just two or three days ago.

"What's that on your arm?" Derek asks me, the tone in his voice completely changing from sweet to cold.

I quickly roll down the sleeves and I shrug, Dominic also looks at my arms but it's too late.

"It's n- nothing. Just some old scars," I stutter and I hate myself as I instantly lose credibility. I'm a horrible liar.

Derek doesn't like my answer and he doesn't even hesitate to sit up, despite groaning in pain.

"Show me," he orders and I shake my head.

"What's happening?" Dominic asks confused as he comes closer to us.

"Dominic, let me talk to her alone," Derek says and he nods.

"Y'all were boring anyway," he jokes and I chuckle trying to shift the attention away from me.

Derek gently grabs my arm but I take it back, and I can tell he is struggling to grab it again by the way he frowns.

"I said it's nothing, please, just rest. You are hurting yourself."

"If it's nothing then show me. I cannot rest if I know you are hurt, he says as he puts again his hand on my thigh and I'm slowly melting by hearing how worried he is for me.

If he keeps doing that I might just faint.

"I'm not hurt! Don't worry about me. Let's clean your wounded lip," I lie while getting up, grabbing the towel again while he sighs. I'm glad he doesn't insist.

He lays back again and I hover over him, a few inches away trying to clean his lip. It's gonna heal, luckily. He doesn't need stitches as it's not very deep.

I cannot stop myself from remembering the moment we kissed, how it was addicting, and perhaps, I'd say, more addicting than drugs.

He whines a bit in pain but lets me help him and all I can focus on is his lips, resisting the urge to think about it again.

I realize way too late he rolls my sleeve up and he grabs my arm, forcing me to stay near him.

"Derek, stop, you are hurting me," I lie so he can let go of my arm.

He relaxes the hold but doesn't let go, instead, he looks at my cigarette scars.

He seems worried as he quickly realizes how fresh and consistent they are.

"Are these- cigarette burns?" he asks shocked and he is not as surprised as I am. How does he even know?!

"Who did this to you?" he says through gritted teeth as he squeezes my arm tighter, we both whine in pain.

"No one. Just rest, you are hurting yourself." I try to change the subject but he doesn't even care as he keeps looking at my scars which makes me nervous.

"Don't lie to me, Ronnie."

"It was an- accident!" I lie and he shakes his head.

"You have several burns on your arm, and you dare to say it was an accident?" he asks annoyed, and then his eyes linger down my body, almost as if he is searching for more burn spots.

I have others on my stomach but he won't know about those, luckily.

"I'm fine." I give him a half-smile and he still doesn't look pleased with my reply.

"Look, I don't want to pressure you. Just tell me. Did Felix hurt you, cause if he did, I swear-" he says while caressing my hand with his wounded hand.

"He didn't hurt me," I lie and he still doesn't buy it.

Felix didn't cause those burns directly but he did push me around many times, causing bruises on my knees, he has been very rough during sex which I barely remember from how intoxicated I was and he verbally abused me.

Now actually thinking about this I realize what a horrible person he is. I feel- disgusted. Used. Once again.

Derek's annoyance seems to grow even bigger as he notices me being lost in my thoughts with my eyes glossy.

"I'll end him," he says and I grab his hand.

"No. Don't. Leave him alone, this will get us in trouble even more," I say and he seems to agree.

"If you don't say what happened, I swear I will, and I won't stop-" he says and I shake my head.

"Don't do this..." I whisper as I feel my eyes getting even more watery. I did this to myself, it was my choice.

I put a cold compress on his eye which is quite purple, and I instruct him to keep his hand on it.

I take another look at him and he seems confused, still hung up on my arm as he stares at it. I rolled down the sleeves again but he can't let go of it.

"Perhaps- you did it yourself, didn't you?" he mutters sad and I stop whatever I was doing, taken back by how he caught me and how embarrassed that makes me feel. I feel crazy.

He lets go of his cold compress and he sits up again, grabbing both of my hands. I hate how he cares more about me than himself. He looks miserable and I just want him to take a nap.

I look at his hands intertwined with mine and I can't help but smile.

No, I don't want to get used to this, it will hurt.

"Don't ever do this to yourself again," he orders and I continue looking down, knowing damn well I'll do it again.

He kisses me on the cheek and I squeeze his hands tighter, feeling a sense of closeness I haven't felt in so long.

Derek became so important to me in such a difficult time of my life.

I know I feel something for him and it scares me to think I will have to stay away from him, as much as I can, even though I keep failing.

"I didn't, it was an accident," I try to lie because it makes me feel insane, I don't want him to see me this way.

"I don't know if I can believe you..." he says with uncertainty.

"I'm telling you the truth," I say and he nods.

After a few seconds, he replies but I doubt he believes me, "Ok. I won't insist."

He breaks the silence again. "I paid for your debts." I look at him shocked.

"What? Why?!" I feel quite relieved but embarrassed at the same time.

"Because I know him way too well. Don't ever go to him again," he says and I think back to when I slept with Felix for drugs. Gosh, what kind of person did I become? I'm sure Derek knows I did this too, but he doesn't bring it up.

"Thank you- I appreciate it," I murmur, accidentally looking at his lips, he copies my body language.

Our first kiss was us both being intoxicated, which I regret. It also can't happen again, not even if I want it to as I'm not sure I can be this intimate while sober.

But maybe... I'm comfortable with him now.

———

Thank you so much for reading, don't forget to vote and comment! I love youuuu.

It's so fun writing their dialogues.