Page 107 of Watch Me Burn
When the food’s ready, she demands we take it back to the porch, and I go along with her need to avoid the scene of the crime. I watch her slip pieces of bacon to Shadow and the cats when she thinks I’m not paying attention.
My thoughts drift away from the food. Beyond all the lying, the manipulation, and the total implosion of my reality. I keep circling back to his kiss, to finally feeling his bare skin under my hands, tasting his mouth, and having him look at me like I was his entire world.
Before I said his name and shattered the illusion.
Chapter twenty-six
Damien
Istare at the bottom of my empty whiskey glass, watching the amber residue catch the morning light slanting through the tall windows behind my chair. My hand trembles enough that I notice.
My fingers, toes, and balls still throb from the frostbite I earned running naked through Luna’s snow-covered property at one in the morning. At least I had the presence of mind to cup my cock with both hands during the sprint.
Thank fuck I parked halfway up Luna’s driveway last night, the snow blocking my usual path through the woods. Less than a minute and a half from her back door to the Range Rover. I dove inside, calling Cade and telling him to drag my personal physician out of bed and get him on the helicopter. I’ve never been more grateful that I left the doors unlocked, considering I abandoned everything at Luna’s, every piece of clothing I wore there except my goddamned socks.
They arrived a little after 3 AM, and the doctor just left a few minutes ago, after giving me a three-hour lecture on the dangers of exposing my naked genitals to thirty-two-degree temperatures.
No fucking shit, Sherlock!
The frostbite might be mild, but every sting reminds me how catastrophically I ruined things with Luna. Running naked into a snowstorm was the least of my fuckups. My reasons for it, buried under the layers of lies and deception I’ve spun, outweigh it by a mile.
Cade sits rigid in the chair across my desk, arms locked over his chest, eyes sharp as vultures. The silence between us is thick and suffocating. Athena curls atmy feet, her warm weight the only thing keeping me tethered. But she’s restless, whining and thumping her tail, as if she can sense every jagged piece of my guilt.
“You gonna tell me what happened?” Cade’s rough voice cuts through the noise in my head. “Or should I just watch you drink yourself stupid? You realize it’s only 7 AM, right?”
I slam the glass down. The sharp crack echoes off the wood.
“She knows.”
Cade doesn’t even blink. “Course she does. Told you this would blow up in your face.”
I surge to my feet. Athena lifts her head with a grunt as I stride to the window overlooking the helipad, each step a stabbing reminder of my stupidity.
“She said my name, Cade. Looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘Damien.’ She's had suspicions for a while, but the second I kissed her, everything clicked.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have kissed her.”
I spin toward him, heat exploding in my chest. “I fucking had to. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Cade leans back, his expression unchanged. “What now?”
“Fuck if I know. Maybe I can convince her she’s wrong.” Even as the words leave my mouth, I hear how pathetic they sound.
“Why would you do that? I thought you were trying to come clean?”
“I am. But she’s been through enough. She doesn’t need my deception to add to it. Besides, she was overwhelmed, caught up in the moment. People say all kinds of shit during sex.”
“Bullshit!” Cade stands, his presence suddenly dominating the room. “That woman’s smarter than half the people we both know, and you’ve been playing a dangerous game for months. You really think she hasn’t noticed how similar you are? The way you move, touch her, even fucking breathe? Christ, Damien. I’m shocked it took this long.”
My hands ball into fists. I welcome the pain as my fingers ache. “I did what I had to do.”
“You did what you wanted.” His tone stays flat and factual. “You got obsessed, but you couldn’t just watch from the shadows. You had to have her.”
We’ve had this fucking conversation what feels like a dozen times, but I thought he finally understood that wanting Luna and loving her aren’t choices I made. They’re facts of my existence now.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this.” I drag both hands through my hair and yank hard enough to hurt. “I was supposed to come clean first.”
I drop onto the bench below the window. Athena pads over and nudges my foot. Pain shoots through the frostbitten flesh, and I jerk back. Fuck, I hope I can wear shoes.
