Page 111 of Cut Me Down

“Sorry, mom. Alright kiddos, the monster needs a break.” They all exclaim with their disappointment and run back outside. He walks up to me and grabs my hips from behind, lightly resting his head on mine.

“You should feel special, Ashia. He’s never brought a girl home before.” She raises her eyebrows and winks at me.

“Mom.” He says sternly.

“Don’t mom me, mister. She should know how special she is.” She points at him like he’s a kid, and I'm taken aback by her swift change in demeanor. “What have I always told you? You don’t tell a woman her worth…”

“You show her.” He finishes for her.

Showing is better than telling…

“He does. Show me, I mean.” I say to her. “He’s very loving.” I look up at him and he smiles back at me.

“Well good, because if he brought you today, you must mean a whole hell of a lot to him.” She walks away and starts talking to other people in the room. The moment she’s far enough away, I look back up at him.

“You are in trouble.” I whisper to him.

“I am?” He says to me in a confused tone.

“Yes, why didn’t you tell me today is also your birthday? That’s like the third thing you haven’t told me about today.” I squint my eyes as I interrogate him.

“Ah, so the cat’s out of the bag?” He smiles and rests his head on mine again. I go back to looking at all of the photos.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” I ask him genuinely.

“Because I don’t want today about me. I want it about Emma, and I want it about you. I brought you here to show you my life. I want you to feel like you know me. I don’t want the fact that it’s my birthday to overshadow that.” We continue looking at all of the pictures on the walls and shelves, and my eyes are brought back to the one of him and his sister.

“I’m sorry about Emma.” He tightens his grip on me.

“Me too.” He plants a gently kiss to the top of my head.

“Ashia! Come play Twister! I stole a pair of Damien’s old basketball shorts you can wear!” We snap our gaze to see Danielle yelling at me from across the room.

“She’s drunk.” Damien chuckles.

“Good, then she won’t remember how bad I am at Twister.” I slightly cringe inside.

“I have a hard time believing you’re bad at Twister with how flexible you are.” He laughs as I hit his shoulder.

“I'm keeping those shorts.” I say as I reach up and kiss him on the cheek before walking over.

I might throw up. His mom’s food is so good. I can see where he got his cooking skills from, but with how much she’s made me eat I feel like a bloated mess. Vomiting at his parents house the first time I meet them would surely send me spiraling into a nervous pit, so I'm fighting like hell not to.

Most everyone is pretty drunk, and the men have moved into his dad’s office to play poker. The women and kids stayed out here, and I recognize a few of their names from Damien’s conversations with Carter.

I think Danielle and Lauren help handle the women and kids they rescue, and I could see that from them. Danielle doesn’t have kids, but she is a very open, comforting person, and Lauren has four children ranging from age two to eight. She’s so good with them. Patient and kind, and in some situations I’ve seen today I’d expect her to lose her temper, but she hasn’t. I admire that because I don’t know if I'll be that patient with our kids.

Kelsey is Zander’s sister, and she helps him with the fake ID’s and documentation they create. Melanie was over seeing their new housing project for the women they rescue, but she had her baby about a month ago, and that’s when Carter took it over. She normally handles Damien’s real estate and finances. She helped him buy and set up The Basement and now The Attic, is what they’re calling the new ‘HQ’, and assisted in the construction of his house and found the land for him.

They are all very close, and it’s so comfortable here. They all act like they’ve known me forever. Very wide open people. Their other cousin, Rachel, asked Danielle what happened to Damien. Why he was so bruised and cut up and she told her I beat him. Which of course she made very clear that it was just a joke, but it about sent me spiraling until they laughed.

“So, Ashia, how did you and Damien meet?” Amy, another cousin who isn’t involved, asks.

“His friend came and got his haircut a couple of weeks before we actually met, and he came with him the next time. He found me in a bar that night while I was out with my friend.”

“He crashed girls night? How rude.” They all laugh.

“It was fine. I kind of felt bad because he asked me out while his friend was getting his haircut, and I turned him down.”

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