My eyes darted to the clock once more. “Max, now really isn’t the time?—”
“It’s the perfect time.” Max pushed the pile into my hands. “Listen, I know what you’re thinking where Dom is concerned.”
“You do?”
“Yes. You’re worried about trusting him. That he’s going to leave again and break your heart.”
“How can you possibly know that?”
“You have those fears partially because of me,” Max said bluntly. “I put them in your head, and now it’s on me to remove them. Well, me and Dom, but I’m not speaking for him. Just for me.”
The envelopes in my hand rustled slightly. Great. I was shaking again. “It’s not just that.”
“Then what is it?”
I wavered, but in for a penny, in for a pound. “He never contacted me, Max. Not once. Even you messaged me more than he did.”
“That doesn’t mean he didn’t think about you.”
“I want to believe that. I do.”
“Then read those letters. They’re going to clear up any questions you have about how Dom’s felt about you all these years.”
“These are letters?”
“His last letters. We all wrote them. A letter to be sent to our loved ones back home if the worst happened. I had Dom’s, and he had mine.”
My brow furrowed as I stared down at the pile. “But there’s more than one letter here.”
“Ten, in fact,” Max said. “Dom wrote a new one every year. I don’t know if he meant me to replace them each time, but I kept them all.”
“They’re all for me?”
“Every last one.”
I thought about it before shaking my head and holding them out to Max. “I shouldn’t read these without his permission.”
“I can guarantee he won’t care. That night he was shot, when he was bleeding out, the only thing he was able to communicate about was this.He was dying, Ryan, and the only thing he gave a shit about was those letters. That you would know how much he loved you, even if he wasn’t there to tell you in person.”
“Holy shit,” I whispered. “That fucking man, I swear. Just when I think I’ve got him figured out, he goes and does some shit like this.”
Max laughed. “See, people think Dom’s complicated. Hell, even I thought that once upon a time. But he’s actually a very simple man.”
“How so?”
“All he cares about is you,” Max said bluntly. “And maybe his friends. Some days I make that list, others I don’t. But you, Ryan? You’re his constant. Even if you walk down that aisle today, that won’t change.”
I cleared my throat, feeling the overwhelming urge to be alone. “Thank you, Max. I needed to hear that.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, correctly interpreting my polite ending of the conversation. “If you want to talk, I’m just a phone call away.”
I nodded in thanks, trailing after him to the door. There was no way I was going to Kate just yet. Not with temptation clasped between my fingers.
“Oh, if Dom does sulk about you seeing those letters,” Max said as he was about to leave. “Just ask him for mine. That’ll make it fair.”
“Why would I want to read yours?”
Max rubbed the back of his neck. “Because it’s addressed to you too.”