Chapter 312
I stopped in the doorway and gawked. The bathroom was spick and span. It actually smelled like cleaning solution and not all of the other horrible things in public bathrooms.
“How’s it going?” I asked, my voice echoing in the space.
“Good,” he called back. He stepped out of the stall, wearing elbow-length pink rubber gloves and a sponge, sweat coating his brow. “I was just scrubbing graffiti off the stall door.”
“I see that,” I said, looking around. “Um… Wow. This is kind of impressive, Dominic.”
He puffed his chest out a little. “It is, isn’t it? You know, maybe I should make a business of this sort of thing.”
I couldn’t quite help the snort that came out of me.
“What’s next?” he asked, peeling off the gloves and washing his hands in the sink.
“I, uh… I didn’t have anything else lined up,” I admitted, scratching my head.
“Well, I’ll find something. Maybe the hedges need trimming.”
“Maybe,” I said.
Dominic shut the water off and dried his hands, turning. He smiled, a knowing glimmer in his eyes as he brushed past me. I knew right away that he was onto me. I sighed as I watched him march across the park, intercepting a guy who was carrying a rather old and rickety-looking wooden ladder toward the gazebo, presumably to put up some more banners.
For a moment, I just stood there,watching as he helped the guy carry the ladder over to the gazebo.
If this was a performance, then he was doing a good job. I had to give him that. The Dominic I knew never would have volunteered his time so freely, especially when it came to scrubbing public bathrooms.
The Dominic I knew would have gotten offended and gone on a rant about how Alphas didn’t clean bathrooms.
And yet, here he was, fooling me all over again. Just like the sleepover, just like the therapy, just like the coffee and pastries. He knew I was upset about Vivian, and this was his way of smoothing things over. Keep me compliant, keep me from making waves, keep me locked in this marriage until he was ready to discard me.
No matter how convincing, it was, though, I wasn’t going to fall for it again,
I shook my head, moving toward the entrance to get my next assignment. Across the park, Dominic and the other volunteer set up the ladder, leaning it precariously against the gazebo. I glanced their way as the other volunteer started to climb with one hand, holding the folded banners under his other arm.
“Excuse me?” a small voice asked then. I turned to see a young girl and her mother standing nearby. “Where is the bathroom?”
I pointed, smiling. “It’s right over there. Freshly cleaned, too.”
“Thank you,” the mother said. She took her daughter’s hand and began to pull her away. But the girl gasped, pointing over my shoulder.
“Look! Mommy, look!”
Just then, I heard a shout, and the sound of something cracking through the quiet air.
I whirled around just in time to see that one of the rungs of the ladder had snapped. The man, still holding the banner in one hand, slipped and lost his footing. The banner wrapped around him as he began to plummet downwards with a shout.
Suddenly, a blur moved from around the gazebo. I froze, watching as Dominic, almost in flow motion, dove forward with his
arms outstretched.
C
+30 Bonus
The man collapsed right on top of Dominic, banner flying. A sickening crunch that could have come from Dominic or the man, 1 couldn’t quite tell, split through the air. Both of them went sprawling across the grass, motionless.
My heart stopped.
Chaos erupted. I stared at Dominic’s unmoving form, laying on the grass, his head tilted to one side.
Then, I was running.
