Page 8 of Crossing the Line

Turning my head, I locked eyes with Damien. He was standing on the other side of the long table, and the expression he wore was one that I’d never seen before. Discomfort, guilt, and annoyance tightened the lines of his face. His brows were drawn together in a sharp ‘V,’ and his mouth was tightly compressed in a thin line. His eyes shifted away from mine, darting to each side of me, where the chairs were occupied.

Act normal. Treat him like a friend.

I offered Damien a plastic smile that he could probably tell was fake, but it was the best I could manage. With stiff movements, he pulled out the chair across from me, and I felt like I’d swallowed a boulder that sat heavily in my stomach. My breathing was a little heavier, and my body felt colder.

This wasn’t how being around Damien was supposed to make me feel. He was always warmth and comfort and longing that felt inevitable instead of foolish.

Everything had changed.

I wished he wasn’t sitting directly across from me. I didn’t want to look at him during the whole meal and think about how much his rejection hurt.

But as the meal began, I didn’t actually have to worry about it too much. Half the people at the table were friends and family that I shared with Leanne, so there were plenty of others to talk to. I turned my attention to them and tried not to think too much about Damien.

The only problem was that I kept feeling that sensation of being watched, and every time that I glanced in Damien’s direction, his eyes were on me. He didn’t say anything to me, but he didn’t look happy.

I could only think that he was curious about how things stood after last night. Despite my massive miscalculation about his feelings for me, I knew Damien better than anyone, and I knew that it was probably bothering him that we hadn’t talked since our awkward conversation this morning.

“What did you order?” Gordon asked when our food arrived.

“Seafood risotto. You want to try some?”

Gordon leaned in close as if he expected me to feed him from my fork. I chuckled and put a small portion onto the edge of his plate. That led to Gordon cutting a piece of his seabass for me.

“You know, I don’t just share my food with anyone,” he said with a cheeky grin. He held out his fork for me, but I just lifted an eyebrow until he placed the small portion of fish onto my plate. “I guess we’re officially new friends.”

The sound of someone clearing their throat on the other side of the table drew my attention to Damien. This time, his eyes weren’t on me. He was staring at Gordon with a deep frown on his face.

“I don’t think we’ve met,” he said. “I’m Damien.”

“Gordon, Ryan’s cousin. He told me about you. You guys work together at the firehouse, right?”

Damien nodded, but there was no friendly smile on his face, no polite small talk. Instead, the moment turned tense as he studied Gordon with a piercing gaze that bordered on rude.

That wasn’t like Damien, and I didn’t understand what was wrong with him. Was he really that upset that I didn’t save him a seat at my side? Even though I usually did, I couldn’t see how it would be a big deal for him either way.

“How was the boat excursion?” I asked, hoping to break the strange tension. It was the first thing I’d said to Damien since I practically fled his room this morning and emotion tightened my throat, making my voice sound strained.

God, this is all wrong. Damien and I aren’t like this.

But maybe we were now. Maybe we would be for a while.

“It was great,” Jake said from Damien’s side. “When we stopped to swim, a boat full of women came by, and I’ve got a date lined up with one of them later tonight.”

Further down the table, Ryan chimed in, teasing Jake about only agreeing to be a groomsman so that he could pick up women all week. From there, the boat excursion became a group discussion, and I found myself laughing as Ford made fun of Ryan screaming when a piece of seaweed brushed his foot in the water.

But in the middle of it, my eyes met Damien’s once again. There was no amusement there, no laughter. He didn’t participate in the conversation. I didn’t think anyone else noticed, and I was glad. I didn’t want anyone to question his strange behavior or pick up on the distance between the two of us.

This week was about my cousin marrying the love of her life, not my unrequited love for my best friend. For the sake of what remained of my pride, no one else ever needed to know.

Chapter Five: Damien

Dinner seemed to drag on forever. The whole time, I sat across the table from Kelsie and felt a sense of unease that reached my soul.

Why didn’t she save me a seat? She always did that.

That wasn’t the only thing off about her tonight. When she smiled at me, it didn’t touch her eyes. But it seemed that she was only like that with me. That asshole Gordon got her real smile and her bright laughter.

I didn’t like that. She didn’t even know the man. The fact that he was related to Ryan didn’t automatically make him a stand-up guy. And he was a little too flirty, as if he did it all the time.