my bags, pulled out my chair, and anything else that died out in the 50s. And if he’s just trying to make up for treating me horribly when we were younger, he’s doing a great job so far.
He followed me into the house and, immediately, headed for the bedroom to put away our bags. The comfort he exuded in my home made me both smile and feel uncomfortable. I couldn’t shake Vicky’s words about Damien being in love with me.
I walked in the bedroom behind him and sat on the bed as I watched him unpack my bag first. “I can do that, you know.”
He didn’t stop what he was doing as he responded. “I’ve no doubt you can, but why don’t you go take a shower or bath and relax while I take care of all this.”
“I’ve recently discovered that showers and baths are much more relaxing if someone’s in there with you to wash your back,” I flirted. I mean, I was actually flirting with Damien Greystone!
Damien stopped unpacking my bag and came around to stand in front of me. He dropped to his knees in front of me forcing me to have to spread my legs to accommodate him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and, while I still had to tilt my head a little bit, we were pretty much face-to-face. But the knowledge that this powerful, rich, strong man would be on his knees for me had my female self-esteem riding a high that rivaled heroin use. “You need someone to wash your back for you?”
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “No. I need you to wash my back for me.”
He lifted the corner of his mouth in a smirk. “Good answer, baby.”
My phone started ringing in my purse and the sound of the personalized ringtone made me sigh.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as he saw my demeanor change. “Who’s calling?”
I gave him a smirk back. “What, you don’t already know?”
“Okay, smartass.”
I gave him a pointed look. “Seriously, Damien, at some point we’re going to have to talk about the PI you claim you have watching me.”
He kissed me on my forehead. “I know, Halloween. And we will, but for right now why don’t you tell me who’s calling.”
I gave him his reprieve. “It’s my mom’s ringtone.”
Damien got up off his knees and sat down on the bed next to me. “What’s going on?”
I hung my head as I explained, “I haven’t spoken to either my parents in over a week.”
I could feel Damien tense up next to me. “Why?”
“When they told me about the…the, uh, money they owed, I told them I wasn’t going to help them and my dad slapped me when I said they were shitty parents for asking me bail them out.”
Damien jumped up off the bed and started pacing back and forth. “That sonofabitch hit you?”
Shit. “He didn’t hit, hit me,” I clarified. “He slapped me.”
Damien stopped in his tracks and the look on his face was pure outrage. “What the fuck is the difference, Fiona?”
“Well, a hit is like when you swing with your fist like in a real fight. A slap, well it’s a-”
“It’s goddamn abuse no matter if it’s a hit or a slap, Fiona! And I don’t give a fuck that he is your father, no one touches you. Do you hear me? No fucking one!”
“Damien, calm down. I’m fine. You-”
“Sit down, Fiona. I have a story to tell and you’re going to fucking listen,” he interrupted.
Well, hell.
Chapter 18
She still doesn’t get it Part 2.
Damien~
I didn’t want to have this conversation, but she deserved to know why I treated her the way I did all those years. This was going to suck, but if anyone deserved to see my skeletons and scrape me raw, it was this woman.
“I know everyone in school thought I had the perfect life. My parents had lots of money, I was a straight-A student, the sports, Yale and all that, but my life was not perfect, by any means.” I looked down at her sitting next to me and I could see I had her complete attention. It was almost as if she’d been waiting all her life to hear my story.
And maybe she had been.
“My father used to beat on my mom. He might still, but I wouldn’t know since I haven’t spoken to either of them since I ruined my father’s empire and never looked back.”