The sliding door to the room opens, causing my eyes to shoot up, Dominic steps into the room holding a carry tray with two takeaway cups. He offers me a small smile before his eyes float down to Max and I can see the sadness behind his eyes. Dominic shuts the door to the room and comes to stand at my side. "Here." He says softly, handing me one of the takeaway cups. "Not your favourite type, but the lady told me this was something called English breakfast?" He tells me skeptically.

I give a small nod and mutter a thank you to Dominic, holding the tea in one hand while keeping my other around Max's. 

Dominic moves around the room to sit in the chair on the opposite side of Max's bed to me. "How are you feeling?" He asks me softly after several minutes had passed between us.

"Scared." I tell him truthfully. I look up from Max to meet Dominic's eyes.

His face looks sad and confused. "What is it that's making you scared?" He asks hesitantly, as if not sure if he wants to know the answer to his own question.

"Everything. Seeing Max like this. He always got hurt when we were kids, but I've never seen him this bad. And then there's everything else, his job, your job..." I trail off.

Dominic visually gulps. "Me?" He asks in a whisper so quiet I almost missed it.

I watched Dominic  quietly for a minute, studying his face, his stature hunched over in the hospital chair. Slowly I shake my head. "I don't think so. I... I'm not scared right now that you'll hurt me. I know that you could, if you wanted to."

"I don't want to, not ever." He cuts in.

"... But I think I'm more scared of what you are capable of doing in theory than scared of the reality that it could happen. I'm more scared of the idea of it all than yourself. If that makes sense?"

Dominic nods. "I get it." He tells me softly, looking somewhat relieved.

I watch him for a long few minutes, I can see the sadness haunting him. "How are you doing with all this?" I ask him softly. I may not fully be ok with Dominic right now, but he is Max's best friend, he cares for my brother anyone could see that plain as day right now.

He looks down to his friend in the hospital bed. "Guilty." He whispers. "I sent him in there. I've known the guys he was dealing with for years now and I never saw this coming. I slipped up, I never should have sent Max in there alone like I did." Grief and guilt lace his tone. "He called me, after it all went down." Dominic's eyes meet mine again and I can see a ghost dancing in them as he recounts the memory. "He called, he sounded so scared, but not for himself. As long as I've known him he never feared death but rather dared it to stare into his eyes. But he was scared for you, of what would happen to you if he..." Dominic trails off shaking his head. "I made a vow to him, Ell, to protect you always. To care for you so long as you're living and breathing."

I feel tears pricking at my eyes, blurring my vision as they threaten to spill. That's such a Max thing to do, when he thinks he's on his death bed he makes sure I'll be taken care of. "How did you two meet?" I ask, needing to get away from this heavy subject.

Dominic smiles at me and I can see his eyes glossy from our previous conversation, not that he'd ever admit it. "We actually meet in College. I went to NYU with Max. We met a little over four years ago, well into the first year of him living here. He was an ass, always doing stupid stunts in order to get girls numbers." He chuckles softly at the memory. "We weren't close, or even friendly at first, though I suppose that's because of me."

I nod, remembering how Dominic had been when I first met him, though I can't imagine that would have stopped Max. Max was always the friendliest person, making friends with everyone and anyone.

"One day he decided that in order to get a girls number the only thing he could possibly do was something dangerous. She wouldn't give him the time of day until he did this." Dominic shakes his head. "Back then Max had this old cruddy motorcycle that he loved as if it were his child, he took the bike up to the roof at a house party in the suburbs and drove it straight off and onto another roof maybe ten or fifteen meters away."

I gasp. "Did he make it?"

"Fuck no." Dominic laughs. "He fell straight into the pool. He tried to backtrack and say it was his plan all along. But it was good enough to get this girls number, and they went out twice." He tells me. "After that I kind of liked Max's enjoyment for danger. I began to recruit him, my father was still in charge of the Mafia until I graduated college, but I saw something in Max that I knew I wanted for when I took over. I didn't tell him at first, about all of it or who I was. It took time to build up trust for both of us, but the second I came clean to him about everything he was all in."

I nod slowly. Not knowing what to say.

"He talked about you all the time. How much he loved you, how smart you were, he would literally gush over you to anyone who would listen." Dominic offers me a small smile.

I return his smile for a moment before I remember how Dominic had been around me when I first met him, how he had always used Max's old nickname for me as an insult. "You hated me when we first met, what could Max have told you that made you hate me?" My voice is quiet as I ask.

Dominic shakes his head. "I didn't hate you, I just didn't understand you." He pauses and watches as my expression contorted to confusion. "You had this brother who praised your every action, everything you did or said was solid gold to him. I've never seen someone love another in such a way. The way he told the stories of you, it almost sounded as if you had everything come so easily to you. He said how you always got the best grades in school, never got into trouble or fights, he had told me you'd never had a boyfriend..."

"I never told him about anyone I dated because we weren't close after he left." I cut in.

Dominic nods and I can see a faint humorous smile tugging his lips. "I kind of figured that after we..." He trails off.

I flush a deep crimson and give a small nod.

"When Max talked about you, he'd always call you princess, even to people who didn't know who he was talking about. You are everything to him Ell." Dominic continues his explanation. "I didn't know how to feel when he'd told me, not asked but told me, you were moving in with us and that he was going to be your sole financial support while you studied. I didn't understand he was doing it out of a place of love, all I saw it for was him spoiling you."

I give a small laugh. "He has been spoiling me. He's spent too much on me since I arrived here and it's barely been a week. I don't need luxury or high class items. I had more fun at the thrift stores the other day than in those boutiques he'd dragged me to." I pause as I look to Max. "I wanted to get a job, to be able to pay my own way here, even if I could only contribute a small amount. Max told me I was ridiculous, he said he wanted me to stay focused on my studies and that a job would only distract me."

"That sounds like Max." Dominic laughs softly, I join him. "How's the tea?" He asks after a long silence has passed between us.

"Terrible." I tell him truthfully. "This doesn't taste remotely like English breakfast." I laugh.

Dominic laughs. "That's fitting. This coffee tastes nothing like coffee. I suppose that's what I get for getting us drinks from the hospital Cafe."