SWNOVELS Chapter 52 — I’m Here
-Blake's POV-
"Who the fuck took the photo?!"
Rage. That's what was going through my entire body. Under the grip of my fingers, my phone was near its breaking point. The screen holding a picture of a couple of guys holding Dominic against her will, wearing nothing but bandages, hostage under their arms.
She looked weak and defeated and that's what angered me the most. They wanted to boost their own egos. Wanted to make themselves look better and in turn, made her out to be something she wasn't.
Dominic was strong. That was something I liked about her. When we would bully her, she never asked anyone for help, fought her own battles, didn't get teachers involved, and took beatings in order to keep herself safe. I failed as her friend then but now I know that even though she's strong, she should never have to go as low as to facing bullshit like this. Never again.
My outburst made the whole lunch hall quieten down instantly, yet no one came out and answered me. The guys in the photo were nowhere to be seen either.
I looked around some more until my eyes landed on my friends. I had hoped to get some answers from them at least if no one else was going to come out about it. Zack and Jake had a lesson with Dominic, so they'd know where she was at least.
I walked up to them and they looked back at me, knowing what I was looking to get out of them but instead of giving me any answers they started telling me to, "Calm down," and that, "we'll deal with the guys soon," but that wasn't enough for me.
I shook my head and sat down at one of the seats behind them. "Where's Dominic?" I asked. I had to know if she was okay. I looked up at the guys but in response, I got wide eyes as if they had seen a ghost. They then turned to each other. "Guys?" I asked again but they ignored me.
"She was right fucking there." "Where'd she go?" I heard them mutter which made me furrow my eyebrows. "I don't know, she was sitting right there!" Worry started stirring inside of me. I opened my phone and went to call Dominic, but the call went straight to voice message.
"Shit, she's not answering," I say out loud which makes them all turn to me. One by one they all sat down with me, unsure of what to do or how to handle the situation. "Who were they?" I asked, calmly this time.
"A group from one year lower. They're unimportant and weak. Dominic could have easily beat them up but we just had a gym class and she was beaten up by Xavier quite a lot so she must have been tired or something. I don't know she just seemed out of it in general today." Jake replied, and silence consumed us again.
"Should we tell Nick?" Jason asked but we all shook our head. I cringed at the thought. Besides the fact that he'd kill us for letting it happen, it's the last thing Nick needs to hear right now. He had enough on his shoulders already. I stared down at my phone again when I suddenly got a notification from an unknown number. It was a message with an address and name, saying that Dominic was there and that she needed me. That's all I needed to hear. I got up hastily, without answering any of the guys' questions and left the school building, calling an Uber and getting to the address.
William? I knew I had heard the name somewhere but couldn't piece it together.
I knew I had to be cautious, especially since where the Uber stopped was in front of a forest. I got out and slowly started walking in. I was only a few meters in when I saw a man walking towards me. I went to pull out my pocketknife, but before I could, the man put his hands up and exclaimed, "Hold up, hold up! It's me, William!"
I raised my brows, and when he was close enough, I relaxed because I recognised him.
"The mechanic?" I asked, and he laughed.
"Yeah, that's right. The mechanic, not a threat. But that's not important."
His face then went serious and he looked behind himself sadly before looking back at me again. "Keep walking forward and you'll find her. Comfort her. Be there for her. She needs someone right now, but I can't be that person. You can," he said giving me a look of trust before walking past me.
I did as William instructed and walked forward until I was met with a simple little treehouse. From inside it, I could hear cries and sobs which made me frown. It hurt me that she was hurting this much and alone at that.
I walked closer to the treehouse, climbed up before slowly walking towards her figure and sitting down next to her. I pulled her in close to me, making her lean on me instead of the wood as I looked forward.
I had to be here for her. I couldn't let her suffer alone anymore. I knew it took strength to let all of her feelings out just now and now it was my duty to help her get the strength to keep on walking after this.
It warmed my heart when she relaxed her head against my chest, to see her comfortable enough to keep on crying instead of pretending to be okay.
"I'm sorry-"
"Don't be."
She had no reason to apologise. Her feelings were valid.
"I'm here now."
I reassured her, which she seemed to appreciate as her breathing started to calm down and eventually she naturally stopped crying. "I probably look so weak right now, damn it," she fake-laughed as she rubbed her eyes, but I couldn't join her sad laughter.
"You're not weak Dominic. You've just been strong for too long. You needed a break and that's okay. Please rely on me-us-when you feel this way." I replied which makes her look up at me for a moment. I wondered if everything was okay which she seemed to be able to read and then she smiled to which I smiled back.
After that I got up slowly, pulling her up with me and we both dusted ourselves off.
I then looked around at the treehouse a bit and smiled again, it looked really cosy. I looked back at Dominic who was also looking around when suddenly my breath was taken.
The way the sun gleamed down on her figure, the way her hair swayed with the wind, the way her eyes glistened due to her tears. She looked stunning. This feeling I got from her was as if a blind man got to see the light for the very first time. She was my light and I couldn't help but stare in astonishment at her beauty.
"You know, if you keep staring at me, this will become really awkward," she suddenly says while started to walk towards the exit.
My face heated up slightly and I jogged to catch up to her with a grin on my face, "I know a good way to ease the tension," I teased, and she gave me a friendly glare,
"You perv," I faked a shocked expression and nudged her shoulder as we started walking out of the forest.
"I was going to suggest...a pillow fight!"
She nudged my shoulder back, "Really? A pillow fight? With what? leaves?"
I smirked at her suggestion, and without a second thought, grabbed a bunch of leaves from the ground and threw them in her direction, laughing as I did. I held my stomach when I got to see her facial expression, watching her scowl at me made me burst out laughing even louder.
In the moment my eyes were closed though, I heard shuffling and when I opened them again, all I could see was a storm of leaves being rained on me from a tree above. This time Dominic laughed as she stopped shaking the tree. We both ended up laughing at how ridiculous the other looked with leaves stuck in random places.
"That wasn't fair," I pouted and then she grabbed my chin. My eyes immediately moved to her lips, but my hopes fell when she pushed my face away and patted my cheek twice.
"Don't pout, it'll make your cheeks sag when you're old and wrinkly," She then said before starting to walk away again, making me scoff playfully.
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"Me? Old and wrinkly?" I started as I caught up to her, "Sorry D, those words aren't in my dictionary,"
"Sure, whatever you say Mr, sexy pants."
I almost stopped in my tracks with a grin forming on my face.
Did she just call me...sexy?
"WE'RE SORRY! PLEASE STOP! WE'RE SORRY!"
"You better be, you fucktards. Let the whole school know how sorry your asses are."
We sat and watching Dominic from afar as she beat up the group of guys who took her picture from before. They were in the middle of a group of other people from our year too who stood as witnesses, recording the whole thing before the teachers could come out.
"Looks like she's back to normal," Jason mumbled and the rest of the guys agreed from next to him.
"It also looks like someone else here is in love," Zack said but I was still in my little happy daze to comment on what he was saying. I was watching Dominic act in her demonic ways, couldn't think of anything worth more than that. "Come on, we all knew that from the beginning," Jake then says, waving a hand in front of me. "You've lost it, dude,"
I sighed and looked at his ugly face, "I haven't 'lost' anything but I'm going to get her."