Casually, I say, “I’ve always wanted to travel extensively and now seemed like a good time.”
I continue eating my dessert as if nothing is wrong, pretending I don’t have three other people sending daggers my way.
Damien breaks the silence by saying, “It was an excellent idea, baby.”
Thank goodness the evening is coming to an end. I’m mentally exhausted, sexually frustrated, and emotionally strung out.
As we are leaving and heading toward the stairs, away from any of the remaining guests, Cassandra runs up to Damien.
“Can we talk for a minute—alone?” she asks. She glances my way as if I’m the third wheel in this scenario.
Damien responds, “Cassandra, we’ve been through this. If you have something to say, you can say it in front of my wife.”
I hope she listens to him because he has adopted his no-nonsense tone. She pouts her lip and cocks her hip to one side. She is definitely one of those people who is beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside.
She leans in, closer to the two of us, and says, “Fine, Damien. I just want you to know that there’s no way she can satisfy your needs like I did. We both know it. I don’t want to do this, Damien, but I will show her what you were like before you decided not to do multiples, domina—”
Damien cuts Cassandra off before she has a chance to finish that thought. I’ve never been happier in my life because I don’t want to hear about any of that.
Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. I hope I never hear the ending to that sentence.
“Listen here, bitch, she knows most of it, and she doesn’t care. I never want to see you at any function I ever attend again, or I will have you thrown off the premises, sparing you no humility.”
“I’ll take it public,” she threatens.
Bad move on her part.
She crosses her tan arms across her chest, trying to make her chest ginormous. She’s definitely had implants.
He takes a step forward and lowers his voice as he says, “Go ahead. Just be prepared to reap the consequences. This ends tonight, Cassandra. Call my bluff if you want, but I swear that I will follow through. You will not be welcome in any social circle after I’m done. I’m done fucking around with this. I should have put a stop to it sooner.”
Cassandra’s eyes go wide at his statement. It’s amazing what things cause people to take pause. This shows just how shallow she really is.
She drops her arms and gives the best puppy-dog eyes I’ve seen. She adds a lip quiver for good measure.
“Damien…”
Damien’s right hand slices through the air. “I mean it. Don’t ever contact me again or be prepared for what I’ll do.”
Damien turns, and we start heading for the stairs. Cassandra is absolutely stunned.
I wonder if this will be the last we hear from her. I hope so as this little song-and-dance is getting old.
We climb the stairs and make it to the first landing to see Damien’s mom standing there as if she were hiding in the shadows, away from everyone, waiting to attack us.
Fantastic.
She pats her head as she casually looks around, like she’s making sure that no one is close enough to hear her. Sweetly, she says, “Damien, I just saw how you spoke to Cassandra, and that was unforgivable.”
Damien’s about to unleash holy hell on his mom when I step up to the plate.
Enough is enough. She has caused me to reach my limit with her tone.
Calmly, I say, “Mrs. Wales, with all due respect, I am tired of putting up with your charade. You either need to accept the fact that we are married and treat me with respect as his wife, or you can completely vacate our lives. Damien and I have been very tolerant with you and your antics, but they end tonight. Before you respond and seal the deal, I would suggest sleeping on it. The choice is yours. Good night, Mrs. Wales.”
Her mouth drops open before I walk off up the steps with Damien guiding me from behind. I think he’s a little taken aback as I normally just try not to make waves and be as easygoing as possible since we rarely see them. I guess the culmination of today just sent me over the edge.
He pulls me into the room as he says to the security team, “Alli and I are turning in for the night.”
As soon as the door closes, our need for each other ignites into a raging inferno. As Damien goes to pick me up off the floor, he knocks over a large vase. It crashes to the floor, sending water and glass all over the place.
“Shit, hold on, baby.”
He puts me on the bed as security knocks on the door.
“Mr. Wales, is everything all right?”
“Yes, Jeremy, I knocked something over.”
“Very well, sir. I apologize for the disturbance.”
“Carry on.”
He’s picking up the glass as quickly as he can. I would just leave it, but I know he’s probably nervous that I’ll forget and go traipsing through the floor in the middle of the night to the bathroom.
I decide it’s time for a little payback after all the sexual teasing I’ve had to endure. Quietly, I get out of all my clothes, leaving myself completely nude on the bed. At what seems like the hundredth trip out of the bathroom, Damien emerges with his shirt off. His muscled V teases me as it disappears underneath his black plants. I cannot help but lick my lips.
Did it suddenly get hot in here?
He’s in deep thought, looking for any missing pieces of glass on the floor.
He lifts up his face to say something, but then he pauses and just stares at me. “You get more and more beautiful every day.”
I smile at him and decide it’s time that I do something that I’ve never done before because Damien is always there to satisfy my needs. After the hints I’ve been getting from Damien, I think he’s going to love it. The book Sam got me says guys love what I am about to do.
We are still just staring at each other, not moving, as we drink each other in. I lie on the bed and let one leg fall open, exposing my sex. Moving my hands slowly down my neck, I start to trace my collarbone. He’s gone absolutely still as my hands move farther down my body. I roll each nipple between my thumb and index finger, arching ever so slightly at the sensation, and a small moan escapes me. Damien springs into action and starts to charge my way.
I lift a hand, halting his progress, as I say, “Wait—stop. No farther, or I’ll quit doing this.”
He looks at me incredulously, and I raise my eyebrow, daring him to try it. He stops and is only about three feet from the side of the bed at this point. His hands are fisted at each side, and I can see his veins popping on his neck as he restrains himself.
I continue my assault. It feels incredible having him watch me. I am careful to show him every single move and how it affects me. He starts to move again, and my eyebrow raises at him in warning. He stops and emits a frustrated groan.
Continuing my journey, I move my hand down my stomach and tease the tops of my folds. “Oh, Damien, this feels so good. I wish you could touch me to see how wet I am.” I slide my hand farther down into my slick sex, teasing my clit.
“Fucking hell, Alli. You’re killing me. Just say the word, and I’m there.”
My eyes flutter shut as I let out a sound of pleasure. I keep rubbing and massaging my breast with my other hand. When I open my eyes, I see Damien is about to lose all control. The beast is out in full force today, his eyes on fire.
I dip my first finger into my core, and he sucks in a harsh breath.
“Alli, I’m about to fuck you senseless. Be prepared.”
I look at him and bite my lip as I plunge a second finger inside me. Bowing off the bed, I moan, and in a breathy voice, I say, “Not if I finish myself off first.”
And with that threat, I lose all control of the situation. Damien strips off his pants and rushes to me on the bed. He climbs up my body until his knees are resting at the apex of my sex. He stops at my breast and sucks my nipple hard while his hands caress every part of my body. Next, he takes my mouth with
his, and his tongue strokes me into submission.
My body is his for the taking. One of his hands moves to my core and begins to tease me. I’m in need of a release right this instance.
In his crouched position between my legs, he picks me up, and I wrap my legs around him. He pushes his length inside me to the hilt in one single motion.
“Damien, that feels incredible.”
“Baby, you have no idea.”
He starts to move me up and down. His pace becomes more and more frantic. I grab his shoulders in order to stabilize myself as I lean back and slam down on him harder.
This is intense. There’s something so erotic about hearing skin on skin slamming together as it meets during sex. When Damien is about to climax, he lays me back on the bed and moves into me hard, igniting that spot that sends me spiraling out of control. He continues to thrust until he empties himself into me.
He falls on me and immediately rolls over, bringing me with him until I’m on top.
I giggle. “I would consider myself fucked senseless.”
Seductively, he purrs, “You’re wrong. You’ve only been fucked. The senseless part is still to come.”
With that, my body prepares for another round. I hope we barely get any sleep tonight.
We are in the plane on our way back to Atlanta. Only Bane is riding with us. The rest of the security team is on a commercial flight with some security on standby when we land. It must be exhausting, constantly coordinating everyone with our ever-changing schedule.
Bane and Damien have been scouring through the diary Bane found last night in Rebecca’s room. It was right where Damien had thought it would be. I’ve been looking at the yearbooks they took on a whim. They had taken Rebecca’s copies and replaced them with Damien’s in case anyone was watching her room closely.
The entire situation with Martin and what we are facing all seems surreal sometimes, like this isn’t really my life. Having these last pieces though gives me hope that we are close to having some kind of normalcy.
“Motherfucker.”
I look up at Damien and Bane seated in the row ahead of me. Their chairs are swiveled out at an angle to where I can see them.
Damien is all kinds of agitated. “It just ends. She says she’s pregnant and not in love with the guy, and then it just ends. What the hell?”
Bane’s voice calmly responds, “Sir, we at least now have the initials C.P. That’s what she referred to the father as in her journal. In addition, we know that she told him she was pregnant, but she didn’t love him.”
Damien leans back and rubs his forehead. “Damn it to hell. This is frustrating.”
I start looking again through the yearbook at all the people with the initials C.P. “Hey, Damien and Bane, there are four possibilities in her yearbook with the initials C.P.—Camden Prince, Chris Puckett, Colby Pruitt, and David Corben Powell. Oh, sorry, David is not a C.”
“Baby, let me see that. All those names sound familiar. Becky hung out with a lot of people.”
I hand it to Damien.
“Bane, let’s look into the three guys to start.” Damien starts looking through all the signatures in the book and then reads one aloud, “I will always love you regardless, C.P. This has got to be him.”
Damien hands the yearbook to Bane, and he starts taking scrupulous notes. I start thumbing through the other yearbook, and in one of the pictures is someone who looks familiar, but I can’t place him. He’s a gangly kid with blond hair and brown eyes. It’s as if I should know who he is, but I don’t. I rack my brain, but I cannot place this person to save my life. It’s as if I know him but don’t.
With the situation we are in, I go ahead and give it a shot. “Damien, do you know who this person is? He looks familiar but doesn’t, if that makes sense.”
Damien takes the book and looks at it. “That was David Powell. He died in a car accident shortly after Becky died. He used to run around with Becky all the time.”
He hands it back to me.
It was worth a shot.
They continue perusing through everything while planning their next actions. No one is saying the obvious—that if Martin is right, whoever this is will be making an appearance in less than two weeks because of Damien’s announcement last night.
I’m trying not to let my fear of the unspoken take over and rule me. I’m safe.
After looking at the book until I feel like my eyes are going to cross, I fall asleep to murmurings of plans and the sound of the roaring engine.
Making love all night long can take a toll on a person.
Finally, we are home.
As we walk into the house, I tell Damien, “I’m going to take a shower to get all the travel grime off.”
There’s even more security in place here. The only thing that is keeping me from being scared shitless is that we are hopefully going to be at the end of this soon.
It’s going to be okay.
It has to be okay.
It might be naive, but it’s better than me completely breaking down and not being able to function in the slightest. My emotional meltdown is probably just around the corner, but I’m doing okay for now. I just hope that I can stay sane until it’s all over with.
Turning on the showerhead, the water begins to warm and steam. It feels like heaven against my skin. With my eyes closed, I massage shampoo into my scalp, letting the heat of the spray work through all of my tense and sore muscles.
I crack open my eye and cannot stop the scream that emerges as something jumps at me, “Ah!”
I jump back, scrambling away, and slip on the tile. It’s not stopping its advance toward me as I continue to scream, moving as quickly as I can on the slippery floor. Part of my brain is telling me to stop. The other part is in the flight-or-fight mode and doesn’t give a shit about the rational part of my brain. The door busts off the hinges, and the room fills with the security detail.
I’m so glad that my subconscious reflexes click in, and I grab the towel to cover myself before they see any of my unmentionables. There’s no telling how I look, standing here in the shower, soaking wet, with my head full of shampoo as it drips down my face and body.
Damien is at the front of the group, and he charges into the shower as my face heats. I must be ten shades of red. From the corner of my eye, I’m still watching for any other unwanted advances from the intruder.
Damien shakes my shoulders, causing me to look at him for a brief second. “Alli, what is it? What happened?”
And with that, the little beast jumps again toward me, and I scream and jump into Damien’s arms. He is now a wet mess along with me. I point at the little creature that is trying to have me for his lunch.
“Alli, what the fuck?” He looks in the direction of where I am pointing. “Shit, you gave me a heart attack. Bane, it’s fine. I forgot about my wife’s extreme fear of crickets.”
I put my head on Damien’s shoulder to hide my face from the security. After everyone leaves, he puts me down and takes that horrid animal off to be disposed of. I hear the toilet flush.
Thank goodness.
I lean back against the wall, trying to get my heart rate under control, as I breathe a sigh of relief. I hate those things with a passion—always have, always will. My dad used to get so irritated with my response to them when I lived at home, considering they are everywhere on a farm. It doesn’t matter to me. They are wretched.
Damien comes back in the shower, already soaked, and he smirks at me from the other wall. The ridiculousness of the situation is dawning on me as I think through what I just did, considering the situation we are in.
“Damien…I’m so sorry…I did not mean…”
“Alli, you take on overbearing guys, a mother who can spit fire, and an ex-girlfriend who is completely crazy, yet you lose your cool over a cricket.” He barely finishes as he starts laughing.
“Damien, this is not funny. I cannot believe I just did that. Those things are so...”
I shudder and
decide not to finish my sentence as he starts laughing even harder at me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this tickled at me. It causes a giggle to escape me.
“Stop, Damien, it really isn’t funny.”
That sends him into more hysterics, and I walk over to him to give him a light slap on the chest, but then my feet slip, and I start to slide again. He catches me, and we both are now on the floor, laughing uncontrollably. It feels cathartic.
After I regain myself, I say, “That was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.”
“Well, that was one the funniest moments of mine. I believe you said that when you fainted after being sideswiped by a scooter at the beginning of our relationship.”
I give him a mocking glare as I move my hair from my face and then remember my hair is still full of suds.
“Baby, let’s get that washed out.”
We both stand up as I drop my towel. I go to stand underneath the water as Damien washes the rest of the shampoo out of my hair. After he’s finished, he turns off the water and strips himself. After drying off, we head to our bed.
We are lying there, intertwined, lost in our thoughts. Our noses are touching.
“Alli, I died a thousand deaths when I heard you scream.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think.”
“I know. The reality of what it would feel like to lose you is just sinking in, and I can’t let that happen, Alli. I need you to be patient with me over these next two weeks. He’s getting more desperate.”
I raise my head to look in his eyes. He’s so distraught.
“Did something else happen?”
He closes his eyes briefly. “I got a message today, right before you screamed, that said I would never get you out of the country.”
I suck in a harsh breath as I realize what this means. My mind starts racing as I clutch Damien’s arm in desperation. “He’s going to try to kill you if he can’t get to me. Damien, you have to be careful…I would never survive without you…I cannot lose you.”
And that’s all I get out before I start sobbing into his chest. The thought of losing the only thing that tethers me to this world is more frightening than this guy getting to me.
Love Me (Trust Series #2) Page 23
