Page 90 of Inception

Dominic on the other hand...

“I don’t believe you,” I said, facing him again. “You’re just trying to turn me against him. It won’t work.”

“Ask him to tell you about how he met her,” he dared. “And when he refuses, you are more than welcome to come and find me, and I will tell you everything you want to know.”

“Why don’t you just tell me now?”

His smile deepened as though my question brought him much joy. “It would be my pleasure to tell you now.”

“Okay...” I waited.

He leaned forward briefly. “For a kiss.”

I didn’t even have to think about it. “Forget it! I’d rather melt my lips off with acid.”

His laughter rang out melodically as the giant wheel of horrors gradually crawled to a stop.

From my peripheral, I spotted Gabriel pushing through the crowd of people waiting to get on as he made his way over to the loading ramp to meet me. I threw a pleading glance back at Dominic, praying he’d let me get off this thing without incident.

He nodded as if to answer my silent plea. “I’ll be seeing you,” he sang playfully, chilling my blood with his song.

I turned back to Gabriel who was holding his hand out like a life preserver, his eyes gleaming an apologetic shade of olive green. I grabbed it with all my heart and nearly somersaulted myself off the ride.

“Did he hurt you?” he asked with an exasperated look.

I shook my head, “I’m fine. Let’s just go.”

He put his hand on my back and funneled me past him where I began to move towards the exit, thinking he was right there behind me. It was only when I heard the gasps in the crowd that I turned around and found him plucking Dominic off the cart by his shirt and slamming him into one of the metal railings.

Dominic’s maniacal laughter pierced the air as Gabriel yanked him off the rail and rammed him into another one on the opposing side. The structure trembled under the impact.

“Stop it!” I yelled, running back over to them, terrified that the whole thing would come tumbling down on us.

“You’d be wise to listen to her,” said Dominic, his eyes wide with merriment over Gabriel’s total loss of control. “You’re causing quite a scene here, brother.”

Gabriel halted, his cautious eyes peering over his shoulder at the crowd that had amassed around us. He let go of Dominic abruptly as though scorched by the contact. “This isn’t over,” he said, shoving his finger into his brother’s chest.

Dominic’s lips twisted in an evil curl, welcoming the challenge. It was the look of a lunatic—a madman.

“Come on, Gabriel,” I said, tugging at his arm desperately. “Let’s go.” The sooner we got out of here, the sooner I could crawl under a rock and hide.

Gabriel took a step back, his livid expression softening some and making it easier for me to drum up the courage to pull him away from the scene. To my relief, he didn’t resist and followed quietly as I led him down the ramp, away from Dominic and the hungry crowd of people looking for a show.

“Nice job, skank.” Nikki’s faux smile greeted me as soon as my feet hit the pavement. Morgan and Hannah hung on either side of her like a bad accessory. “It takes a special brand of slut to get in between two brothers,” she spat out venomously.

I wanted to shout in her face that what happened back there had nothing to do with me, and that in fact, I was nothing more than a spectator in some long-time-coming revenge plot between the two of them and mysisterover something that apparently happened long before I even got here, and that frankly, I didn’t have the slightest idea what was going on!

My mouth flopped open as I tried to edit the sentiment into something a little more condensed and less revealing, but was pulled away by Gabriel before I could get any words out.

“Thanks a lot,” I said as I fell into step with him. “You didn’t even give me a chance to defend myself!”

“You don’t need to defend yourself to her,” he said plainly. “We have more important things to contend with.”

“Starting with how you know my sister?” I yanked him back by his elbow, forcing him to face me. “You never did tell me how you two met.”

“What happened up there?” He gestured up to the Ferris wheel like an accusation. “What did he say to you?”

When I didn’t answer, he folded his arms across his chest. “This is important, Jemma. I need to know what he said.”

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