Chapter 6 - In Our Dream

She smirked at his words, but did as he said.  At first, she didn’t see anything and thought she wasn’t doing it right, and then images started to come forward.  Images of a tall, chain-link fence, of men wandering around in the cold.  The men were dressed in the same dark blue jackets, and many wore the same dark blue hats.  Her heartbeat sped up when she recognized the next thing she saw.  A guard tower standing high above the tall fence.  It was a prison, and if she wasn’t mistaken, it was Wyestate prison. 

She opened her eyes and the images left all at once.  She swallowed.  “Are you a guard at Wyestate?”  Another long silence.

“Jennah...”

She shook her head at the pleading way he said her name. She was all too familiar with that pleading tone, and she was not falling for it ever again! “Are you?”

“No.”

She closed her eyes and tried to fight the crushing feeling that was taking over her chest. “Are you an inmate, Dominic?”

“It’s not...”

“Are you?”

“Technically, yes.” 

She tried to take a breath, but her lungs felt like they were closing on her.  Everything was closing in on her. She’d been here before, too.   “Goodbye, Dominic.”

“Jennah...”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She pictured a door slamming closed and locking.  Even though the image was inside her head, the sound echoed, and it felt so hollow inside of her now.  She sat there with her eyes closed for a few minutes more, waiting to see if it had worked.  She wasn’t sure how much time went by, but there were no more words from Dominic.  No sound of any kind.

~

Dom stood there and stared at the white ground.  Dammit!  Why hadn’t she listened to him for two more seconds?  He ran a hand down over his face and briefly glanced around the yard to make sure he was still in a safe position.  He should have told her sooner, explained it to her that first night or at least on the second one. 

He slid down the icy wall and squatted with his back against the wall, looking down at his clasped hands.  He’d felt the pain from her, the feeling of betrayal, and it had crushed him to be the one that had caused it. She had invited him to spend Christmas with her!  He wasn’t a cheery Christmas kind of man, not since his parents were both gone, but he wanted to spend it with her more than he wanted anything right now.

“Palmer, you okay?”

Dom looked up quickly to see one of the guards standing on the other side of the fence a few feet away from him.  “Yeah, just freezing my nuts off out here.”

The guard, whose name he couldn’t remember, laughed.  “It is cold out today, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”  He didn’t move to stand. He didn’t want to be seen talking to a guard. He had enough problems.

“Listen...”  The guard peered around and scowled before he looked back at him.  “Normally I keep my ass out of things around here, but I needed to warn you.”

Dom glanced around the yard and noted no one was really paying attention to them.  “About?”

“They’re onto you. Watch your back.”  The guard reached down to fix the pant cuff tucked into his boot.

“They?”

The guard straightened and shot him a quick glance.  “The cons and the guards.”

“Fuck!”  He dropped his head back down.

“Watch your ass and get your handler to get you the hell out of here.”

“Thanks.”  He lifted his head to ask him if he knew how, but the red-headed guard was walking the other way.  Shit!  Now he was in way over his stupid head.  Which brought him right back to Jennah. He should have told her. She could have helped.

Checking to make sure he was still in the clear, he took a deep breath and reached for her.  “Jennah?”  He waited. Maybe if he just kept quiet for a few minutes and let her cool down she’d come back.

Standing, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and sighed.  Who was he kidding? She wasn’t coming back.  She thought he was a criminal.  Dammit!  He sighed when the bell went off for them to all go back inside.  He needed to come up with a plan, and he needed to do it soon.

~

Jennah pushed the boxes back into the corner as she swatted at the tears running down her cheeks.  She was acting like a twit and she knew it.  So some lonely con had taken her for a ride. It’s not like she’d fought it in any way.  Part of her needed it as much as he probably did.  If he’d been inside for a long time, then he was most likely lonelier than she was.

It was her repeated poor judgement that was bothering her the most.  The first man, flesh or dream, that she had opened herself to since Dalton and look what had happened.  She should have pushed for answers with his vague and evasive responses.  She knew better.

It was just as well they’d never met. Even in her mind everything about him called to her, and she responded to everything to do with him.

Walking into the kitchen, she stopped and looked around, then sighed and walked back out again.  She headed toward the bathroom and decided nothing fixed heartache like a bubble bath.  A bubble bath, and then she’d either have a good cry or clean something. Either would help fix this in a hurry.