Page 52 of Damon

We strolled across the graveyard hand-in-hand. My chest expanded with pride. I was ready to burst with happiness. Never before had I gone public with any guy. This felt special. I wanted everyone to know that I belonged to Damon.

Pausing on the edge of the crowd, Damon leaned in to kiss me. “I guess this is where I leave you for a while. Try not to miss me too much.”

My friends were already there, dragging me away from him before I could respond. “Girl time,” Ripley gushed.

“Let’s get a drink in your hand,” Codie added. “We just ditched the guys. Tonight is for the girls. We don’t do this enough anymore.”

She was right about that. Since everyone had started to pair off with their lovers, our quality time together had naturally decreased. As much as I loved being with Damon, I didn’t want to lose that time with my best friends.

“We need to make a point of doing this on a regular basis,” I said, letting them drag me over to a cooler filled with drinks. “I miss you guys.”

Luna nodded, her pink and purple curls bouncing. “Maybe we can set a date. Same time every week. We’ll do lunch or something.”

There was an exuberant rise of voices as everyone agreed. Once I had a hard lemonade in hand, we found a space in the grass on the edge of the party, sitting in a circle. It didn’t take long for a joint to start making its way around.

Even though I tried to resist, my gaze wandered across the graveyard to where Damon stood with Noah and Dom. Rebel and the other Kings were nearby, talking amongst themselves.

“How pissed at Damon is Rebel?” I asked Storm, needing to know.

She took a long toke off the joint, her face scrunching into a grimace. “Honestly? He’s pretty pissed. He ranted about it for a while after we got home. I wish those two were able to get along. I guess there’s just too much history there.”

I had expected Rebel to be furious, and I couldn’t blame him for feeling that way. Damon and his friends had caused a lot of trouble for the Kings in the past. Even though two of those friends were now dead and we’d all tried to move on, that was often easier said than done.

“How about you?” I turned to Codie, taking a sip of my drink. The sweet yet sour liquid was icy cold. Perfect for a hot summer night. “Are you sure you’re okay with me and Damon? I know he was pretty shitty to you.”

A while back Noah and Colt had grabbed Codie in anger after their friend River was killed. Damon hadn’t been part of that yet he still showed up on the scene. He tried to hurt Codie after she got away.

Codie shrugged, her lips curving into a smirk. “I hit him with a car that night soon after the Kings broke his arm. I’m not holding any grudges.”

“Oh yeah.” I laughed softly. “I forgot that you hit him with a car. Wow, our lives sure aren’t boring. Not yet anyway.”

Luna sighed, accepting the joint when it came her way. Leaning back on one arm, she took a puff, blowing the smoke above our heads. “I could go for some boring myself. Life with a Graveyard King is not for the weak.”

“Ain’t that the fucking truth.” Storm almost laughed out some of her drink.

The conversation took a turn as we laughed about some of the craziest times we’d all had with these men. Even though I was newer to my relationship than most of them, I still had my share of fucked up experiences.

And yet… I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

As the night went on, I realized I hadn’t seen Damon in a while. Usually, when I glanced over, he was there looking back at me. I searched the party for any sign of him. Nothing. Maybe he slipped away into the forest to take a piss or something.

When another twenty minutes passed and I still didn’t see him, I started to worry. I pushed myself to my feet. “I’ll be back, ladies. I need to talk to Noah for a minute.”

I weaved my way through the throng of people to where Noah and Dom were talking with Casper and Stray. A nervous feeling in my gut began to spread through the rest of my body, making the lemonade not sit so well.

Tapping Noah on the shoulder, I said, “I haven’t seen Damon for a while. Do you know where he went?”

Noah also surveyed the party before shrugging. “No. He never said anything to me.”

I gnawed anxiously on my lip. “Maybe he went to do that job. Do you think he’ll be safe alone? I’m worried.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Noah didn’t sound as if he were convinced.

“Maybe we should try to find him,” I suggested, unwilling to let this go. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Noah seemed uncertain. He glanced at Dom who said, “Let’s go find him. You can still track each other, right?”

That was news to me. Immediately my hopes soared. Especially when Noah nodded. “Yeah, we can track each other with our phones.” To me he added, “Are you sure you want to come? It might be dangerous.”