My eyes are on him as he watches Brooke go, half hanging out from the archway after his failed attempts to grab her phone, before rounding himself on me still in the kitchen.

“So, appears it’s just you and me, Hercules...”

Raising my eyebrow, I scoop the pancake out before adding it to the already towering pile, and pour the last of the mixture into the pan. He’s still smiling away at me, but unlike before, it doesn’t quite reach his eyes this time.

“.. She’s on the phone to Penny, and should give us a good couple of minutes to have that chat... Right about last night, despite what she tells me, is that asshat at work still bothering her?”

That makes me freeze, my whole body stilling as I turn stiffly back around to fully face him.

What the hell does that dipshit have to do with last night?

“He was... As far as I know, she hasn’t seen him since he was fired for pulling the same shit as usual, but with an audience this time.... Where the fuck is this going?”

Dom’s head nods away as he comes over to lean his arms on the island bench, and I automatically spin to flip the pancake before the damn thing burns.

“Don’t freak on me.. Cos you have that look in your eye, and I’m not mad about seeing it there, particularly when my sister's involved, but..”

He rambling away, my jaw locking as I begin to grind my teeth.

I seriously don’t have the patience with that guy anymore, and wish like hell I just clobbered him the last time I had my hands on him... Or after the comment he made about how much she loves his attention, how much she encourages it, instead of just ramming him into the fucking wall again.

“.. Ahhh, ok moving on before you go on a seek, and destroy without me... The flowers by the door last night were from him. Big ass ones too, and looked damn expensive.. However, there was no fucking delivery sticker on them, so I'm reckoning they were home done and dropped. Fuck man, you shoulda seen the note. I mean the things it not only said, but described..”

Chucking the pancake out once it's finished, my hands hit the island hard, gripping onto the edges so tightly my knuckles are white. What the fuck is it going to take for him to get the damn message already.. Dom’s eyeing me closely, his head shaking lightly when I raise my eyes up to him.

“.. Ok, maybe you shouldn’t have.. but I do love the murderous expression you've got going. I can definitely work with that.. I can’t believe this shit is still going on.. I mean I’ve threatened him dozens of times, that smug fucking grin splayed across his face the whole time.. Believes himself to be un-fucking-touchable..”

My head drops in attempt to try and stay calm, distract myself as I hear Brooke giggle from what sounds like the bedroom.

Jesus, she can’t know this... She’s not fragile or anything, in fact she handles herself surprisingly quite well when confronted, almost in an eerie calm, but it’s more she shouldn’t have too.

“.. Unless those muscles are purely for aesthetics, why don't we take a drive, you and I?..”

His face lights up the same way Brooke’s does when she wants to do something crazy, however there’s something else in the look coming from Dom.

“.. I told ya once mate, I’ll be damned if I let another fucker hurt my sister.”

The rage, fury and protectiveness for his sister coming out in the hardness of his eyes, and much more than I'm feeling, making me not exactly sure how far he would go to make his point with dipshit. Letting her brother end up in jail for beating a man senseless isn’t high on my list, even if the fucker deserves it, and my hands are sweeping the keys for my car off the counter as I nod my head to him.

“I’ll drive.”

Dom’s moving before I even round the island, his feet skidding as he comes to an abrupt stop.

“Shit, Brooke... There's no way we can tell her where we're going.. Ok, we’ll tell her that I left my phone at that woman’s apartment, and are heading over to pick it up... Lie or not, it, ahh, may not be the first time that something like that's happened and she’s helped my ass out of that one, so will believe it no worries. What? I leave in a hurry some days..”

She half collides into me as we come out of her kitchen, my hand winding around her waist before I even really think about it. Her eyes are wide in confusion as my other hand slides along the delicate skin of her jaw to hold her chin while I bend my lips to meet hers. I'm meaning to be quick and gentle, somewhat trying to put her mind at ease, but the emotions are raging inside me.

My lips are firm on hers, lovingly moving my mouth to tangle with her own. The fiery anger, the insistent frustration with this guy who not only won't leave her alone, but now somehow knows where she lives, just shoving at me. I couldn't honestly tell myself what exactly I even say to her as I pull away, the lines on complete auto pilot as I stay looking at her.

I would literally do anything to protect her, to put her mind unwittingly at rest.

My heels are shifting, spinning me to move towards the door, and get the hell out of there before I say something I'm not sure she's ready to hear. The whole time slightly wondering that when we get there, out of the two of us, is Dom the one that I should be worried about..

He’s bloody quite as we drive, compared to the chatterbox he was walking beside me as we made our way to my car. His hands text away on his phone, not even glancing up while giving me vague directions.

“So, how is it you know where he lives?”

Raising his hand, Dom jiggles the phone in it, his eyes never leaving the screen.

“Pen’s a huge knowledge of information, you know.. and I wasn’t going to severely piss Brooke off, and threaten him at their work. She warned me long ago not to interfere, and that she would handle it, but fuck I couldn’t stand by. I bloody snapped, and cornered him in the carpark the first time... Eventually, I got my info out of Pen, and paid him a visit at home. My fist was sore for a damn week, and whatever I jarred in my arm, but hell it was worth it.”

I don't even think about my answer, my mind still focused on Brooke and ending this for her.

“Never fully straighten your arm when punching someone. Boxing 101..”

This time I catch his head swing up to look at me, while I keep my eyes on the road, watching for where I’m suppose to turn next.

“Damn.. good to know... I just wish I got to the last trash bucket she dated sooner. She’s damn cunning these days with what she tells me, and when. Mostly the when.. Leaves it too late for me to pounce. She's the only family I've got left, and I'll be damned if something happens to her too.”

My mouth curves into a grin, reminded of the pleasure of grabbing that last jerk not long after I met Brooke.

“Ah, I took care of the last one. That was a pretty good day.”

Dom's grin matches my own and he throws in a chuckle too, while reaching for my phone in the cup holders between us, as it begins to sing loudly.

“I knew I fucking liked you.. but, you're still on probation... Shit, speak of the devil.. Wait, I've got this..”

His finger swipes the screen and before he’s able to utter a word, there's an ear piercing scream down the line. Everything stops, even more so when the line goes completely dead. I don't even need to ask before I'm skidding the car around, my foot pressing the accelerator hard as I floor it back in the direction we just came.

Anything happens to her, and god help the person responsible..