Page 55 of Rat Park
“Hey, I was thinking,” Prince started, but Dominic never found out what had been on his mind, his thoughts lost in the sound of the door bursting open. A cloud of white dust erupted from Prince’s hands as he startled.
“Police!” The person barrelling through the door screamed, followed by two more. Prince lunged away but Dominic didn’t even try to escape. He stared at the uniformed woman and for a second, he was sure it was Cat, but as she got closer, gun pointed at him, he realised it was just a stranger in a uniform.
“On the ground!” she told him.
Dominic got on the floor, hands laced behind his head, and closed his eyes.
This was exactly how his story should end.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Dominic sat in jail, waiting to be processed, his head like an echo chamber garbling any thought that spoke up.
He remembered one of the books he’d read as a kid, a tale of fantasy instead of sci-fi for once. A story about a boy, or a girl, he couldn’t remember. They had slipped into another world, where there were fantastical creatures and magic, where everything was different but the same. It hadn’t been their world, even if they pretended for a while. When they got back to earth, to their own dimension, everything had been just as they had left it, even if they thought they themselves had changed.
As Dominic looked around at the unfamiliar but familiar cell, he realised this was exactly what had happened to him. Only this wasn’t the strange world. This was his own dimension. It was Cat and Esteban, it was having a job and an apartment, it was sweet things and soft sheets, it was Flor. Flor and his eyes and his freckles and his smiles, the way he would tease Dominic and rarely let up, the way his lips had looked kiss-red, the way his hands had been gentle and kind. That was the other world.
Dominic had been able to pretend for a while. He’d been able to fake that he was fit for that adventure, for that world of soft and good things. That he could win. But now he was back in his own world and he could see he had pretended things had changed, thathehad changed, but he hadn’t.
And now he was back where he belonged.
**********
Cat was the first to visit Dominic in prison. When he was called to the visitor’s room and told Catalina Romero was waiting for him, Dominic’s brain had stuttered. His first instinct was to say no, to tell the guard to turn her away, but he was on his feet before he could tell his body to stop.
He waited with the other inmates until they could go in, and then filed inside, finding the table Cat was sitting at instantly. He looked down before she could catch his eyes for more than a second. He slid into the seat opposite her, his head filled with damp cotton.
There was a long moment of silence as he stared at the table. For one insane moment, Dominic thought about telling her everything. How he had slept with Flor and then left him in the night. How he had used and was a piece of shit and how she should leave and not trust him, how she should have never trusted him in the first place.
“How you holding up?” Cat asked, splintering his thoughts into shards that hurt but made no sense anymore.
Dominic raised his eyes. Her expression wasn’t what he had expected. There was no disappointment. Instead, she looked concerned.
Somehow, it was worse.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Dominic said lowly. There was a pause.
“And why not?”
“Your job. You shouldn’t associate yourself with criminals. You shouldn’t associate yourself with—”
“I think I am quite capable of deciding whom I associate with, Dominic,” Cat cut in. Dominic’s mouth clicked shut. “Now, tell me how you’re doing.”
“Fine. It’s fine.”
“How long are you in for?”
“Not sure. A few months, a year. I’ve got my hearing tomorrow for sentencing, but they moved me out of jail and into prison ’cause it was a done deal.”
“Okay. What are they charging you with?”
“Accessory. I wasn’t high or in possession but even though I was off parole, I’ve got a record, so…can’t you find this all out yourself? You work at the precinct.”
“Yes, but that would be a violation of your privacy. Or do you want me to help out?”
“No! No. Don’t get involved.”
Cat sighed. She searched his face, although Dominic had no idea what she was looking for.
