Chapter 36
This chapter contains trigger themes. Please proceed reading with caution..
-MILLIE-
“So, how was it?” Damian asked as we ascended the porch landing of my parent’s place.
“The movie?” I asked, hunting for the keys inside my messenger bag.
It was a good thing the Drive-in movie they played was Ghost, starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. If I hadn’t watched that movie a million times. Damian would have caught me red-handed watching him the entire night instead of the movie.
Who wouldn’t? He admitted wanting to kiss me. After that confession, nothing apart from him made sense. I was starving. but even the food tasted bland
“That.” Damian parked himself on the side of the door as I slotted the key in the keyhole. his gaze burning the side of my face. He shoved his hands in his pocket and continued. “And the dinner date.”
I bite my lower lip, concentrating on slotting the freaking key into the hole as though opening a door needed my one hundred and ten percent attention. I badly needed to get inside the house, run to my room, and hide under the blanket. My hands were shaking. Hell, my entire body had been in shambles since that almost kiss,
“Date” a tense laugh fell off my lips. “I thought that was only dinner. I peered at Damian, finally able to slot the key in. Wrong move. The intensity of his eyes quickly sucked me in. “Not a dinner date….”
He shrugged. leaning against the door frame. “Isn’t that a thing lovers do?”
Once the door unlatched, I lifted my chin and gave Damian a steady look. “Damian, we talked about this.”
“We did.”
“So stop giving me the wrong signals.”
This was starting to feel real, like he was truly mine. It’s getting hard not to step over the line of our deal. He takes care of m the way a lover would. We were fake dating, and he made wild promises of protecting me when I needed it the most. He admitted he wanted to kiss me, and right now, he was looking at me like I was the only girl in the world, yet the fact remain that we are only together because we were faking things.
Damian stood straight, his broad shoulder squared. “What signals are those, exactly?” He looked confused.
I searched for the right words, my forefinger pointing at him and me. “This the date, the protecting me. This is starting to feel real.” His eyebrows creased. “Like… like you really care for me, more than a friend should.”
The air between us shifted. Damian’s eyes darkened. He removed the distance between us in one steady step. “We are more than friends, Millicent
1 stepped back. His arm coiling around my waist prevented me from doing so. “Damian.”
“What the f uck do you think we’re doing?” he rasped.
“What we have is not real,” I reasoned, lifting my hands to his chest, pushing him away.
He didn’t let me. Instead, he drew me clover to his body. A surprise squeak got trapped in my throat. Damian’s pine and waterfall scent intoxicating me. “Does this feel unreal to you?”
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Chapter 36
His question clouded my reasoning. Was his question rhetorical? But then he lifted a hand to my check to my jaw down to my chin with his knuckles.
face, caressing the slope of
“Does this feel unreal to you?” His actions conveyed a different meaning to his questions. His green eyes rested on mine, reading my soul. “Because this feels real as you and I, Millicent.
He got my mind reeling with his statement. This had been real to me since the beginning. I was just too stubborn to admit that to myself, afraid I’d fall and Damian wouldn’t be there to catch me. Does this mean he’d be there to catch me? Was he implying that we make everything real and forget about our deal?
The incessant ringing of his phone cut off our staring contest. He huffed, releasing me, answering the call.
I remained rooted in my spot, rubbing my hand over my forearms as Damian talked to his assistant. It sounded urgent.
“I have to go.” Damian removed the distance between us once again and kissed my forehead. The gesture was so guileless it felt like we’d been doing this before. “You go inside. I’ll pick you up tomorrow.
I nodded and followed suit, grateful to be finally alone. Inside, I headed straight to my room and stayed under the shower until my skin pruned. A white towel wrapped around my body, Ilanguidly walked back to my room, my mind still busy processing everything Damian had done and said.
While I plucked out underwear and nightwear from my closet, the hair on the back of my neck rose. The feeling of being trapped and assaulted in the bathroom was still fresh in my memory. I stiffened, suddenly aware of my surroundings. The only light inside was coming from the bedside lamp. There was nothing but clothes and hangers inside my closet. I stepped back from the closet, aiming to make a run for the door, but a shadow emerged from the side of my closet.
Huge hands coiled on my waist and neck, trapping me in a chokehold.
“I warned you. I’d recognize that voice anywhere. It was the same guy from the hotel. His wall of muscles kept against his front as he switched our position and shoved me into the closet door.
I clutch the towel on my chest, clawing at his arm around my throat
“I never said anything to the cops!” My angry tone opposes the trembling on my hands and legs.
me secured
“You were told to f u cking stay away from Damian, he groaned, pulling me away from the closet door only to slam me back on it. My forehead hit the wood. I cried, a biting pain registered on my head, my vision blurring.
“What do you want from me?!” I yelped. “Ah!” He slammed my head on the door, then he tossed me like a rag doll on my
bed.
The towel slipped from my hold. I scrambled back from the guy and secured the towel to cover my upper region. I’ve neve gotten a good view of him in the hotel. He was larger than I remember, wearing all black. The hood of his jacket shadowing his eyes. There was a cut on his upper lip, and his menacing sneer as he licked his lips sent fear vibrating through my entire body.
“You’re a pretty little thing,” he murmured, stalking around the bed like an agile lion taunting its prey.
I hopped out of the bed, my back hitting the wall, the curtains on the window dancing gently with the summer night wind. No one had resided in this house since I graduated from high school. The alarm replacement was a decade too late. No wonder he got in and out without triggering the alarm.
He paused for a moment, head tipping to the side. His wicked stare licked me from head to foot. “He never said not to play with you.”
“F uck you!” I screamed and made a run for the open window. It didn’t matter to me if I would break a bone or two from the fall. All I cared about was escaping from this monster!
He lunged at me. His rough hands locked around my ankle. Dread spiraled through my body from his touch. He pulled me away from the window, hurling me down to the floor. The back of my head hit the bedside table on foot and the bed. I hissed from the pain, my vision turning dimming, but my other senses were hyper aware of my surroundings.
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Chapter 36
I kicked him, my hands flailing against his face as he straddled me on the waist. “Feisty. You’re getting my dic k harder.”
“F uck you!” I kicked and screamed, but he was bigger and stronger than me. My towel had long flown away from my body. and he was feasting on my nakedness like a starved man. One moment, I was fighting him with everything I had, and then his huge body pinning me down was no more. Nothing but cold air was licking my skin.
I grabbed the bed covers and wrapped it around my body, trying to assess what was happening. Two bulky guys were brawling at the foot of the bed. Though the room was dimmed, I quickly recognized Damian jackhammering his fist on the guy under him. He reminded me of a killing machine. He didn’t flinch or grunt when the guy managed to land a punch or two. He didn’t stop until the guy was unmoving beneath him.
“D.. Damian…”I called. I was surprised he even heard me. Anger, menace, and danger swirled in his eyes as he looked over his shoulder. It quickly morphed to concern once he took in my state.
Abandoning the unconscious body behind, Damian rushed to me. His wet hand cradled my head, guiding my forehead to his chest. My knees gave out, and the last thing I remember was Damian’s words. “I’m sorry. I’m so f ucking sorry, baby.”
ND GIFT
