I sucked in breath in realization of what Bill was telling us. Chris was abused as a child by his mother. My mind started reeling with conflicting thoughts and emotions. On one hand, I still hated Chris with every fiber of my being for the things he’d done to my friends and other people; but on the other, my heart went out to a child like Buddy, who’d endured hatred and pain from the one person who should have been protected him. I heard Daemon shift where he was standing. Glancing up, I noticed that his face had taken on a pained expression. It was so discreet that most wouldn’t notice it as being any different from the blank expression he normally wore. His eyes were the giveaway. Those gorgeous blues would darken and churn whenever Daemon was upset.
Turning back to Bill, I asked, “How bad was the abuse, Bill? Obviously, if there were bruises, it was physical in nature, but did it go farther than that?”
Bill leaned back causing the back of the couch to groan in protest to the added weight. He took a minute to ponder my question. “I don’t think there was any sexual abuse happening, but the women ‘round the park told me that his momma got a special kick out of humiliating the kid every chance she got. She was mean as a snake, that one. She would scream at Chris, call him names, even push him around in front of everyone. They said that when he was younger, he would cry, and she’d keep on, causing him to cry harder. But as he grew older…well…let’s just say, women got scared. They told me the boy became quiet while his momma yelled at him. He was too damn big to push around physically, but that dumb woman wouldn’t let up on the other shit. The women ‘round here said something wasn’t right with him, but never did nothin’ about it. Said they would catch him out and about around the neighborhood staring at girls…sometimes taking pictures. Looking back on it, I noticed a change in that kid when he hit his teens, I just never was around enough to concern myself with it.”
I learned in that moment that one of the most aggravating feelings in life was having your heart break for a person that you couldn’t stand. I wanted to think Chris was born evil, but the picture Bill was painting for me was of a small, scared kid that got pushed around and embarrassed his entire life. No wonder he was as fucked up as he was. He didn’t know anything different. Regardless, just because Chris was abused growing up, it didn’t give him an excuse for the pain he was causing other people. I shook my sadness away to return to the task at hand.
“Was anybody ever hurt, you know, by Chris, when he still lived here?”
Bill lit up another cigarette before answering. “Not that I know of. But you know how that shit goes. Sometimes people don’t say nothin’. I don’t recall hearin’ ‘bout him hurtin’ no one, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”
“Do you know where we might find Chris?”
Bill laughed a deep belly laugh. “I couldn’t tell you shit about where he’d be. I suspect his ass is running scared at this point. I saw some shit on the news that police are looking for him. If I was him, I’d be holed up in the middle of the woods somewhere, or as far from here as I could get. Sorry, but I haven’t spoken to that fuck up in years…not since he took off after his momma disappeared.”
Daemon cleared his throat to get my attention. “Don’t you think it’s time we go, Jenny? I think Bill has given us enough of his time. I nodded and stood up.
“Thanks for talking with us, Bill.”
“Yep.”
As Daemon led me to the door, I remembered the absence of Bill’s name on Chris’ background report. Curious as to the reason, I turned to ask, “Hey Bill. Chris never told me he had a father. How is it, I’ve never heard of you?”
Bill cocked an eyebrow at my question. “Reckon it’s because that bitch never listed me as the father on anything for that kid. She didn’t give him my last name and she never married me. All I was to that bitch was a paycheck. I didn’t move in here permanently until after she was dead. Chris didn’t know me too well, either. I doubt that bitch even told him who I was. I’m sure he just figured me to be another one of her dealers or fuck buddies.”
I thanked Bill again as Daemon dragged me through the front door. We carefully maneuvered the porch contraption once again and were quickly in Daemon’s truck heading out of the park.
~
Daemon was distant and unusually quiet on the ride home.
My voice was soft as I hesitantly asked. “Everything okay?”
His expression was a mixture of sadness and anger. I wondered if he was having the same conflicting feelings about Chris after our meeting with Bill. Daemon didn’t immediately respond to my question, so I turned the radio down. Reaching over to touch his arm, I repeated, “Daemon? What’s going on in that head of yours? Everything alright?”
We were stopped at a traffic light and the red glow of the light shown through the windshield, casting his face in ominous shadows. Although the setting sun still lit the horizon, it no longer battled against the shadows that now consumed the interior of the vehicle. Daemon’s shoulders dropped as he let out a long breath and settled back further into his seat.
“Why him and not me?”
Daemon’s question took me by surprise. “What are you talking about?”
Daemon turned his head to look at me. “Chris. We apparently have one thing in common. Both of us had a really shitty parent. My father was apparently no better than his mother. So why did he become the way he is and not me? Shouldn’t we have turned out the same?” He let out another heavy breath, returning his attention to the road. Once the light turned green, I felt the truck jerk forward.
I was silent as I considered his question. He spoke again before I had the opportunity to respond. “Maybe we did turn out the same, but in different ways. I mean, it’s safe to say I’ve got one hell of a temper, I fought constantly growing up, even into my adulthood. Plus, the way I treated women…there was no respect there, no concern for the way I treated them. Not until you, at least.”
“Daemon. There’s a huge difference between you and Chris, and I’m a little shocked that you are even attempting to make the comparison. You’ve never forced yourself on a woman as far as I know…” I eyed him in silent question and he smirked and nodded in response. “…and I’m also assuming you’ve never beaten and almost killed somebody…” Eyeing him again, he nodded to confirm my assumption. “…so there’s no comparison. Not everyone who’s been abused is going to turn into a psychopath. Maybe Chris snapped due to the duration of time he went through it. I’m not saying it was advantageous that your dad killed himself and your mom when he did, but possibly that freed you from the abuse. However, even if he hadn’t, we still don’t know that you would have turned out any differently than you are. So, you’ve used women in your day. That’s not much different than a lot of guys out there. Trust me. Annie’s dated most of them. And the fighting? Again, that’s not completely abnormal.”
The silence between us was thick as Daemon considered my words. He reached one hand over to grasp mine and I squeezed encouragingly upon contact. “I know, Damsel. I’m not saying that I would ever become as depraved as Chris, I just don’t understand how I’m not more screwed up than I am. I was bounced around so often, barely loved by any of the adults who attempted to care for me. I was difficult as hell, and if it hadn’t been for Frank, I could be dead or locked up in some prison cell.”
“Maybe it’s because you had someone to kick your ass into being normal. You heard Bill. He didn’t give enough of a shit to step in and do anything for Chris, and neither did the other adults who witnessed what his mother was doing to him.” As I thought about it more, I was taken by a sudden realization.
“I wonder if Chris’ obsession with me had something to do with what Bill was telling us.”
Daemon’s eyes flicked to mine quickly as he remained quiet, waiting for me to continue. “Bill said that Chris’ mom used to publically humiliate him. Well, in a sense, so did I. I mean, think about it. That night at Tomb and then again at my apartment. Both times, the guy was tossed out like last
week’s leftovers only after being called every name one could possibly assign to a drunken bigot who liked getting touchy-feely. And whom do you ask was the cause of all that? Me.”
Daemon looked instantly distressed from my theory. “Paige, you weren’t the cause of that; Chris was. It was his behavior that got him tossed out.”
I shook my head. “I’m not saying that I was at fault, but in his head, I was the cause. He must have made a comparison between me and his mom on that first night. That’s why he was following me and using Annie to get to me.”
Daemon’s head shot to mine. “Using Annie? What are you talking about, Paige?”
I rehashed my conversation with Detective Troy at the apartment. Daemon’s face took on an interesting shade of scarlet, prior to his typical blank expression making its appearance.
Great. He’s mad.
Fiddling with my fingers, I attempted to avoid looking at him while he processed the information I’d provided. When he finally spoke again, I jumped slightly. “It pisses me off knowing Chris has been following you this whole time. I don’t fucking understand how he got your tag number. I followed you out that night to make sure you stayed safe!” His hand hit the steering wheel with a loud thump. Taking a breath to calm himself, he sagged back in his seat. “Regardless, you may be right about his reason for fixating on you. So, you need to keep that in mind at all times. No more fucking stunts on your own, okay?”
“I know, Daemon. I already promised that to you.”
Nodding his head, he turned the truck sharply into his garage. After pulling into a space, he turned the vehicle off, but didn’t move to open his door.
His eyes remained trained straight ahead as he said, “Damsel, if Chris were to ever get ahold of you again, he’s not going to play around with you anymore. You’ve escaped him twice, humiliated him four times, if you count those escapes. It’s unlikely he’d wait long before killing you.”
His head suddenly swung to look in my direction. The desperate plea in his eyes caused my breath to hiccup. “Paige, I can’t lose you, not like that. If I ever have to let you go, I want it to be when we are old and silver. I want a life behind us, memories behind us; possibly kids…who knows? All I know is that I would lose my mind if I lost you before then.”
My heart skipped, as my throat closed. Tears threatened my eyes and my nose became stuffy. I never understood why a heavy emotional reaction felt like an illness, but the symptoms were definitely the same.
Having no words in response to his, I lunged over. My hands buried themselves into his hair as my mouth took possession of his. My body prickled at the feel of his warmth mouth upon mine and I greedily sought more of him with my tongue. My chest heaved with intense desire, a churning sea of hormones and…love. Needing to be closer, I climbed over to straddle him. I pulled away from our kiss to look deep in to his sparkling blue eyes. When our gaze locked, heat bloomed throughout my body. My hands found the hem of my shirt and I pulled up on the material, freeing it before tossing it to the floor. Daemon’s hands instantly found my breasts, squeezing to the point of pain. Lightning shot through me from where he touched causing me to arch further into his hold. A moan escaped my lips as his mouth found my neck. This man did things to my body that I never knew were possible. He made me feel dirty, but in a way that was only meant for him. I lost all inhabitation around him, not caring about what I was saying or doing, as long as it pleased him. When he touched me it felt like my body melted to his, becoming one. His scent and the feel of his hard body against mine was all that was needed to completely sedate my mind, while at the same time awakening every naughty part on my body.
My hands reached for Daemon’s shirt. Lifting it up over his head, my fingers ran across the deep ridges of his abdomen before gliding across the smooth skin of his chest. After freeing his shirt, my hands slid back down to undo the button and zipper of his jeans. Removing my jeans was a little more tricky and required a brief return to the passenger seat of the car. Once I was stripped bear, I straddled him again and freed him from his jeans. I went up on my knees to position the tip of him at my opening.
I placed my hands on either side of his headrest before looking deep into his eyes. My chest heaved with my erratic breath. Barely whispering, I said, “I love you, Daemon” before taking him deep within me.
We both cried out as he filled me entirely. I took a moment to adjust to the stretched feeling, but then started to circle my hips, pushing him back and forth against my inner walls. Daemon’s hand was suddenly in my hair as he pulled my head back, causing my body to arch forward. The tip of my breast was assaulted by his tongue as he bit down softly causing me to grind down on him, forcing him deeper.
“Fuck! Paige, you feel so fucking good.” The baritone quality of his voice vibrated every part of his body sending a wave up my core and through my abdomen. I was heady and intoxicated, no longer operating on anything but the need to devour him. My mouth caught his as my hips continued to gyrate on his lap. He kissed me deeply, eventually finding my hips with his hands and forcing me even tighter against him. His fingers dug possessively into the sensitive flesh of my hips and ass. My release crept up on me, causing my muscles to quiver and roll along his length. I was instantly taken over by a peak so intense, stars appeared in my vision and my ears rang from the surging blood in my head. I floated within a warm soft place for a brief moment, before finally allowing myself to breathe again and come down from pure ecstasy.
My head rolled forward on my shoulders and when I peaked at Daemon from behind my hooded lashes, he growled before increasing the tempo between us. The truck shook slightly as the windows fogged from our heavy breathing. The steering wheel dug into my back, but I didn’t care as long as Daemon continued driving me higher and higher, once again pushing me over a peak so steep, my eyes had no choice but to roll up in response. I screamed out again as he found his release, his hands moving roughly over the sweat soaked skin of my body.
“Absolutely beautiful.” His eyes raked over my skin, now marked with light red trails from where his hands had traveled. I was on fire for him, my love, lust and total abandon creating a raging inferno in the deepest pits of my mind, body and soul. My eyes watered from the rush and I was breathless as I fell into his embrace.
We held each other for who knows how long before he spoke again. “Not that I’m complaining, Damsel, but where in the hell did that come from?”
A smile crept over my mouth. “I love you Daemon. I had to have you. There was no time to walk upstairs. I feel like a woman possessed when I’m near you.”
He grinned up at me and was about to respond when a loud knock occurred on the passenger side window. Our heads turned in the direction of the sound, but we were unable to see anything outside the vehicle due to the fog on the windows.
A disembodied male voice spoke from the exterior of the truck. “Sorry to disturb your…uh…time together folks. But you really need to be moving that upstairs.”
Daemon’s head fell back as his body shook with laughter. “Oh shit, Damsel. I forgot that Detective Troy has a cop patrolling the garage.”
My entire body blushed a fierce red when I realized we had an audience…again! I climbed off of Daemon’s lap, only to fall ungracefully into the passenger’s seat. Daemon continued laughing while I quickly pulled on my clothing. Once we were decent, Daemon and I climbed out of the car. I glanced over to find the officer standing against a wall several feet from the car. His mouth was quirked up into a thin line as he attempted to keep from smiling about what he had found us doing. Nodding once in his direction, I felt Daemon’s hand come up to the small of my back as he led me to the elevator. Once we were safely inside, I couldn’t contain my laughter any longer. I looked up into Daemon’s gleaming eyes just as his mouth came down to claim mine briefly before he pulled back and said, “I’m going to love my life with you, Paige. There’s never a dull moment when you’re around.”
Chapter Eight
David was oddly abse
nt from the apartment the following morning as I readied myself for day two of training. I threw on a pair of spandex shorts and a tight sports bra, which I then covered over with cotton shorts and a tank top. Walking out into the living room, I found Daemon in the kitchen preparing coffee. I quickly took my place in front of the machine as Daemon stood behind me and chuckled. He seriously needed to get past his amusement with my reaction to the black caffeinated nectar. This is an addiction. One which should be taken seriously and not mocked. Little did he know, that without my daily pot of coffee, I wouldn’t be able to formulate complete sentences and my coordination would be so stunted, I’d be toddling around like a one year old learning how to walk upright. I’ll be the first to admit it, I have a problem.
“Where’s David?” I turned to look at Daemon questioningly as his mouth quirked up into a funny grin. My eyebrow arched at the guilty look on his face.
His arms came around me, pulling me to him before he responded. “Not sure, Damsel. He said something about running errands with Matt before he took off this morning. Speaking of which, after the gym, we need to go out to your parents to drop off Annie’s things and help her get settled.”
My heart dropped into my stomach; but not because of Annie. I was super excited to help my friend get started on the final chapter of her recovery, but I was NOT looking forward to facing my parents for the first time since discovering their deceit throughout the years. I knew I would have to face them eventually, but I was hoping to stall that meeting for another couple of weeks.
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