Page 22 of Origins
What did this mean? I was still trapped at the end of the aisle between him and the bookshelves. Finn could find us there at any second, and Damen didn’t seem to care. When that happened, Finn would not only know that I had disregarded his wishes, but that I hadn’t listened to him about thatother topicas well.
Every worst-case scenario flashed through my mind, and I started to panic.
“But he does scare you,” Damen said suddenly.
I blinked, his words crashing through my agonized thoughts. I was so fixated on Finn that I had completely forgotten Damen was even there. Watching me.
He didn’t look very happy either—his face a mask of concern and fury. “Something stupid like this, and you’re afraid that you might anger him. What did he do to you?”
Oh no. No, no, no.
My eyes widened, as I looked up at him. “I’m not scared,” I explained. “I’m just trying to prevent a confrontation. Can we leave,please? Before he finds us?”
Finn called out to me again—he had to be only seconds away.
I flinched. We had to movenow.
“Liar.” Damen tore his eyes from mine and grabbed my hand. He seemed to have made up his mind. And I was too stunned at his sudden action, so ended up just following along.
He pulled me after him, quickly approaching an opening between the bookcases to an adjacent doorway reserved for the library staff.
“I’ll help you,” he said, pulling me behind him, “but rest assured that we will be discussing this later. You deserve better than this.”
How…caring?
There wasn’t anything to do at this point but to allow him to lead me through various hallways and down staircases until we exited the building. I noticed that we had reached a mostly-private faculty parking lot.
We were safe. But where was Damen leading me?
“Wait.” I tugged my arm, but Damen’s grip was solid. He did, however, stop walking.
So what now? “Where are we going?”
He shot me an incredulous look. “Unless I’m mistaken, you said that you didn’t want Finn to know you were with me. Am I right?”
“Yes, but I’m still with you,” I pointed out. “So, you are now kidnapping a university student. That won’t look good on your resume.”
One of his eyebrows shot up, and I mentally chastised myself for finding the action attractive. “Kidnapping?” he asked, amused.
“Yes.” I pointed at him with my free hand. “Don’t think I don’t know what you are up to. You still have revenge on your mind. Titus had it coming. What else was I supposed to do?”
Damen’s mouth twisted into a grin before he dropped my arm, turning to face me fully. “I know he had it coming and I’m glad.”
I’d never admit that I was wrong about what I did to Titus! He was harassing me and I was just trying to survive. Besides, you can’t treat women like that. “I don’t regret it—” I continued, arguing my point. But then his words penetrated through my thoughts. “What?”
“A woman walking through an unknown neighborhood alone. If someone like Titus wouldn’t back off, then I’d have maced him too.” Damen was still grinning.
I frowned, recalling the secondary wrong that I performed toward aforementioned man. “But… I kicked him in the…male parts too!” I whispered, my voice softened.
Damen seemed as if he was about to burst out laughing. “Yes, but you were already uncomfortable. Plus…” he leaned in toward me and touched my nose with his finger, “…itwasfunny. Actually, you fit in our group quite well. It will be helpful when we work together.”
I jerked back, covering my face with my hands. I couldn’t handle this much…flirting. That’s what it was, right? I didn’t even know.
So I wasn’t going to die? The Mafia isn’t going to torture me for my wrongs? Even so, Titus had to hate me now. That hadn’t been a nice thing for me to do to him.
“How are…” I trailed off, unsure of what to say. ‘Titus’ balls’ would have been crude, so I went with the next best phrasing. “How is Titus doing?”
Damen flung an arm over my shoulders as he began to lead me through the parking lot. Now that I knew he wasn’t angry with me, I didn’t protest. For some reason he seemed to want to hang out with me…
