Page 33 of Damon

Damon shook his head. “I have a younger sister, but we’re fourteen years apart. We don’t really have much of a relationship. She and my mom live with my mom’s husband in Vancouver. They moved there a few years ago when his job transferred him.”

I’d never had the sibling experience. The closest thing I’d had to siblings was when I became close with Storm. Her brother Chase had been a real handful, accepting me into the family like I was his sister too. Thinking about him made me sad. What happened to him was beyond horrific, and Damon was part of the group responsible for that.

A surge of anger hardened my tone when I snapped, “Storm and her brother were like siblings to me growing up. But you and your friends killed him. Cut his life short. Do you expect me to just forget about that?”

Damon appeared unaffected by my sudden outburst. Shoving a hand through his unruly black hair, he gave a half shrug. “I had nothing to do with that. River was behind all of it. He confessed to Rebel and he paid the price.”

“You were River’s friend.” My voice shook. How could I have possibly started to let my guard down with this man? He was a murderer. “You knew about it. You probably helped him. You are not a good guy, Damon. I will never forget who you really are.”

As I moved away from him on the couch, he moved toward me. Grabbing me by both arms so I couldn’t escape. I watched with horror as his pupils dilated dangerously.

Damon spoke between clenched teeth. “River killed Chase. River plotted the entire thing, hoping to pin it on Rebel. I had nothing to do with that situation. Yes I knew about it, but I wasn’t there, and I do not have Chase’s blood on my hands. Do you think that I don’t know I’m a bad man? Trust me, muffin, I know exactly who I am. You don’t have a problem with that. You have a problem with the fact that you love it.”

“You’re fucking delusional if you believe that,” I spat. The more I tried to escape his grasp the harder his fingers dug into my skin. “I don’t love anything about you. You’re a criminal. A killer. I could never—”

His lips were on mine before I finished, silencing the rest of my claim before I gave it life. I’d been about to tell him that I could never love a man like him. Something I continued to tell myself every day since he barged into my life. There was no future with someone like Damon. Only danger and the possibility of prison. Who wanted to live that way?

My entire body lit up as he devoured my mouth. Kissing me with an intensity I felt in every fiber of my being. Sending shockwaves of excitement into the pit of my stomach. The way he so masterfully took control, sliding his tongue between my lips, it left my head spinning.

I didn’t want to kiss him back. In fact, I tried to resist participating at all. I failed miserably. Once he slid a hand around my throat, I was done for.

Gripping hard enough to cut off my breath, Damon pulled back to murmur against my lips. “Be careful what you say, beautiful. You can’t lie to the devil himself. You should know better than that.”

We were interrupted by the arrival of our food. There was a tense moment where I sensed that Damon didn’t want to stop. That he wanted to push me further than he had before. Part of me wanted that too.

Reluctantly, he released me and pulled away. “To be continued.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

DAMON

Pulling myself away from Athena long enough to retrieve our food was harder than it should’ve been. She was the only thing I wanted to eat up right then.

We’d started to get somewhere with each other. Talking and sharing. I didn’t want to ruin that despite the way my cock made its demands, pressing against my jeans. She started to open up. Sharing personal details about herself. I realized that I wanted to know more. To keep discovering things about her.

So as much as I wanted to absolutely devour her, I somehow restrained myself. We got settled on the couch with our Chinese food and a comedic action movie on Netflix. The movie mostly provided background noise. As we ate, we talked some more. Getting to know each other better.

Definitely not something I was used to. The only person who really knew me now was Noah. I’d been content with that. Preferring it really. Yet telling Athena about my upbringing, sharing insignificant details like my favorite color—green—or band—Mariana’s Trench—felt kind of nice. Like maybe connecting with other people wasn’t so bad after all.

No, scratch that. It wasn’t about other people. It was all about her. Athena Spencer had done something to me. Gotten inside me in a bad way. When I chased her through the woods, I never saw myself here right now. On her couch eating while we chatted and actually laughed.

She seemed reluctant to let her guard down. As if she felt like she needed to hate me no matter what I said or did. No matter how I made her feel. But I knew that I’d worked my way inside her.

“Holy shit, look at the time. I need to go to bed.” Athena rose and began to gather the empty food containers.

I stood up too, helping gather the garbage. “Sounds good. I’m beat. Let’s hit the sack.”

She did a double take. “I’m not having sex with you, Damon. Not tonight. I can barely keep my eyes open.”

I pressed my lips together, pretending to consider her statement. “Not a dealbreaker. I can work with that.”

Laughing, she slapped me in the arm, almost dropping an empty noodle container. “That’s not funny.”

“Then why are you laughing?” I followed her to the kitchen, stacking the empty containers before fitting them into the trash.

“I guess you can sleep on the couch if you want to stay.” She sounded uncertain.

“Or I could sleep with you in your bed. It’s big enough.” Not waiting for a response, I headed down the hallway toward the bedroom.