Page 31 of Sticks & Serpents

“Stop calling me that,” I snapped, attempting to mask the vulnerability creeping into my voice.

His laughter echoed in the hollow space around us, mocking and full of something darker. “But it fits you so well.” He stepped forward again, closing the distance like he had some right to invade my space.

I could feel the walls closing in as he moved closer; his presence loomed large over me. I took another step back, trying to put distance between us, but it felt futile. The more I resisted him physically, the more he leaned into that control he always seemed to wield effortlessly.

“You think you can just walk back into my life and act like nothing happened?” My words dripped with defiance despite the turmoil inside me.

He tilted his head slightly, studying me as if I were an enigma he couldn’t quite solve. “Why not? You’re still here.”

I turned on my heel, the urge to run battling with the need to hold my ground. I stepped away from Damien, determined to walk out of that rink like I hadn’t just been shaken to my core. It felt like I was moving through molasses, each step weighted by the intensity of our encounter.

As I reached for the vendor list hanging on the bulletin board, my fingers trembled slightly. I cursed myself for letting him get to me. For every ounce of anger I felt towards him, there was an equal measure of heat simmering under my skin—something that left me both furious and alive.

I grabbed the list and turned back toward the exit, stealing a glance over my shoulder. Damien still leaned against the wall, arms crossed, an infuriatingly confident smile playing on his lips. He watched me leave as if he’d orchestrated this entire encounter—a game where he was always one step ahead.

It didn’t feel like a victory. Not at all. It felt more like he had let me go, as if he knew I would come back eventually, drawn into his orbit once again. That thought twisted in my stomach like a dagger; it made me want to scream and laugh all at once.

I stepped outside into the fresh air, inhaling deeply as if it could cleanse me of the heat still lingering from our interaction.

“I hate him,” I muttered under my breath, trying to convince myself as much as anyone else.

But with each word came that infernal warmth creeping back in—my body betraying me with memories I wished I could erase.

I headed toward my car but found myself glancing at every shadow, every movement around campus. His presence hung in the air like a storm cloud waiting to burst; it felt inevitable, even as I drove home.

The vendor list crumpled slightly in my hand as I clutched it tighter than necessary.

I pushed through the front door of my house, relief washing over me when I realized my father wasn’t home. Thank God for that small mercy. The last thing I wanted was a lecture about responsibility or another round of how to manage Damien Sinclaire. I headed straight to my room, closing the door behind me and locking it like it would keep the chaos outside at bay.

Once inside, I turned off my phone; the screen going dark with a finality that felt oddly comforting. I sank onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Shadows danced in the dim light filtering through the curtains, and silence enveloped me like a heavy blanket. But as much as I craved peace, sleep eluded me.

I tossed and turned, fighting against the memories that swirled in my mind like leaves caught in a gust of wind. Every encounter with Damien played on repeat—the way he’d leaned against the wall, that infuriating smirk on his face, how effortlessly he invaded my thoughts.

I wasn’t afraid of what Damien might do to me; I knew him well enough to recognize that he thrived on mind games and manipulation.

No, what kept me awake was far more unsettling—what I might let him do.

Each thought twisted in my gut as if it were tightening around me like a noose. The pull toward him was magnetic and terrifying all at once. Deep down, beneath layers of anger and hurt, there was a flicker of something else—a flicker of desire that made my heart race even now. The way he commanded attention, how he could slice through silence with just a glance… it unnerved me.

The night dragged on with an agonizing slowness. No matter how many times I told myself to breathe deeply and relax, my body refused to comply. Each minute stretched into an hour as shadows morphed into ghosts from our past—the laughter we shared, the whispered secrets under stars that felt so distant now.

Eventually, exhaustion crept in but sleep remained elusive; all I could think about was Damien’s smirk and those stormy blue eyes piercing through every pretense I held onto.

Chapter10

Damien

Restlessness clawed at me, a familiar itch I couldn’t scratch. The memory of Holly’s face near the rink played on repeat in my mind, her eyes wide with surprise and a hint of something deeper. She thought she was fine. Thought she could move on from me like I was some bad dream she’d wake up from. But I knew better.

She was lying to everyone—her friends, her father, even herself. She stood there, pretending to be indifferent, but the way her fingers trembled told me everything I needed to know. The moment our eyes locked, a crack appeared in her carefully constructed armor.

I paced my room; the shadows shifting across the walls as I moved. Each step reminded me of that day on the ice when she watched Logan take a hit—a hit meant for him but aimed squarely at her heart. That flicker of recognition in her eyes had been electric; she hadn’t just seen me as a player or an enemy but as the force that had once pulled her under.

Her façade slipped away when no one was looking. Underneath it all, she craved the chaos we’d once shared, and it twisted inside her like a living thing. I could feel it—the way she teetered on the edge of remembering who we were before everything fell apart.

I stopped in front of the mirror and leaned in closer, studying my reflection as if I could see through to what she felt. Confidence radiated off me like heat from a flame, while Holly pretended not to notice how easily I could draw her back into my orbit.

She might act tough, keep busy with planning meetings and flirt with Logan Hartley to convince herself he was enough.

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