Chapter 11 #2
“That’s my father’s suicide scene,” Dominik says his words don’t leave his mouth easily.
“Your mother?-”
“Deceased,” Dominik says and I start to see the reason behind all the chaos. He’s been navigating this world alone for years. And his only company, his brother, only brings more trouble to his mind.
“I’m sorry-”
“No pity,” he replies and I look up at him.
“It’s not pity. I’m just wondering how you could’ve managed all this alone,” I say and reach out for his hand, he lets me hold it, he doesn’t hold back, he’s shaking. “Are you ok?” his eyes go dull and I know I lost him to his demons.
“This was a huge mistake. Forget everything you saw, please,” he says and I feel like I hit a brick wall face-first. Dominik holds my hand, but it seems a phantom-like act. He’s in autopilot mode.
“Dom? What’s going on? Don’t push me out,” I request trying to cup his face in my hands.
He suddenly sits on a chair and stands there.
In silence, shaking and expressionless. I hold his hand, that’s all I can do.
I hold his hand and when I lean against his arm I see light back in his eyes.
I decide not to push. Not to ask him where he went.
Not yet. But his shaking? Still scares me that I might lose him to whatever is haunting him.
“You need to go, right?” Dominik asks turning my face to his by nudging my chin.
“I should. The girls might fear I was kidnapped,” I tell him and he kisses me. His lips linger on mine, he feels gone. And I don’t like it a bit. Give me my Dom back. I request to what’s holding him hostage inside his head.
“I’ll get you out of here,” he says and gets up, I can feel him regaining power, and his serious, emotionless expression taking over again. I hold his hand tighter, and he caresses the back of my hand yet I still can’t feel him. Not like I did before I pushed him. I shouldn’t have done it.
“Will you be ok?” I whisper to him when we get to the back door again. No one sees us, but that’s because only Marcus is home and he’s watching TV, too focused to care.
“Yeah,” Dominik says yet I’m not convinced.
“I’ll check on you later,” I say, no, inform, and leave without bothering him further.
As I walk out I feel a tear fall. I wipe it off my cheek and get my shit together.
It was just a bad moment. He was having a bad moment.
I keep repeating it in my head. Trying to convince myself what I saw wasn’t a glimpse into his broken self, and saying it was just a bad moment. Why did I push?
“Everything ok, Miss Kane?” Kai asks when I get outside of Dominik’s building.
“Yes, I think so,” I say unsurely, “I’m fine,” I assure him, trying to assure myself Dominik will also be fine. “I’m going to the girls,” I inform Kai and he nods. I walk numbly to their front door, they also own two entire floors.
I ring the bell and the door is almost instantly opened by a beaming Sammy. I equal her smile while checking Dominik’s chat and social media for updates. “Finally someone who doesn’t mind watching a good show over boring books,” Sammy says and I laugh.
“Don’t push, Samantha,” Maya warns throwing a pillow at her.
“How did you not kill each other without me?” I ask and hug Maya who’s cosy in a chair reading some fantasy book, romantasy to be specific, that’s all she reads. Maya is a huge bookworm, I like a good book as well but she might read five books in a month, I read that in a year.
“It’s a mystery to humankind,” Maya says and I sit on their couch- our couch now. I check Damian’s socials, he’s the most active of all the guys, he posts every day several times a day. Maybe I can catch a peek at Dominik from him.
@Damiani: I swear he’s going to kill me one day, and it’s your fault @TheKane
I read the caption and then focus on the photo.
It’s a photo of Rian with a moustache drawn with ink on his face, permanent I’d say.
Rian is going to kill Damian. I swipe the post to see the second photo and catch a glimpse of Dominik in a corner of the living room, sitting casually with a sketchbook, and showing the middle finger to the camera, aka Damian.
He’s accumulating a lot of enemies today.
“Why are you on Damian’s profile?” Sammy asks and Maya peeks at my phone.
“She’s spying on Dominik, dumbass,” Maya says and steals my phone. “Tell us what’s wrong. You haven’t said a word since you sat down and it’s giving me an eerie downright unsettling feeling.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong. And I need you not to intrude,” I request and Maya nods, she knows me well. I won’t budge.
“Fine, but you need to talk to us. What took you so long?” Sammy asks and I reply “Dominik,” Maya smirks and I throw a pillow at her.
“Not what you’re thinking!” I exclaim and Sammy arches an eyebrow.
“Then what?” Sammy questions.
“I have no idea,” I confess, being as honest as I can.
I spend the rest of the morning watching Chicago Med with Sammy.
While Maya finishes her book and gets the next one, she starts it right after.
She’s hooked. I’m happy she’s not thinking about Damian.
She had a minor crush on him that didn’t end well.
I want her to move on with her life, but she’s been drinking her pain away most nights.
She thought no one knew until well, this morning, but Sammy and I have an eye on her.
We let her sneak out, especially because of her parents.
Every responsibility fell on her when they died. She’s still not nearly doing good.
My phone vibrates and I look at the notification.
“@dominik-ricik has posted”
I open the notification and stare at the photo and my world succumbs. I keep looking at the picture while getting up and running to the guy’s apartment.
“Where’s Dominik?” I ask after I see an ambulance leave. “Was that him?” I ask the image still haunting me.
“Leave him alone, just today,” Josh advises and I see he’s got his arm bandaged.
“What happened?” I ask Josh, “Are you ok?” I try again, “Josh answer me, please,” I say but he just sighs nodding at Damian.
“What the fuck happened, and whose blood was that?” I ask and Damian goes in his car after the ambulance, it is Dominik.
“Josh?” I ask shuddering with my world falling apart around me.
“It isn’t Dominik, it’s Marcus who tried to stop Dominik from leaving. The rest of the blood? Ours. Not Dominik’s. Seems like the bastard is smarter than all of us put together, and didn’t even touch us. We hurt each other trying to stop him.”
“Did James-”
“James killed himself yesterday. Dominik went to attend the funeral. I don’t know if he’s coming back. He took some of his stuff,” Josh reveals and I take a deep breath. Dominik is fine. Or he’s going to be. I’m just scared he’ll want to be fine away from me.