Damien: Billionaire Bad Boy Romance (14 page)

When the words came from Damien’s mouth, they were softer than before. “I didn’t mean to offend you,” he said. “I just wanted you to know that you deserve nice things, Audrey. I thought it would bring you joy if I helped you with that.”

I scowled. He definitely hadn’t brought me joy, but his confession had made me feel like there was a chink in Damien’s armor. I had to believe that he didn’t confess his poverty-stricken childhood to every woman that he slept with—it wasn’t Damien’s style, not by far. And somehow, the fact that he’d told me the truth made me feel even more warmly to him.

You love him
, a little voice in my head said sharply.
And you’re a fool if you think you don’t
.

I felt an uncomfortable feeling in my chest, like my heart welling up with unwanted emotion. It was true—I was falling for Damien. I loved him. So why couldn’t I let myself just fall all the way?

Damien

I couldn’t even think straight. I was so angry—at Audrey, at Hodges, at myself—that I couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation. Deep down, I knew that Audrey really wasn’t to blame. Even though she lived in a shitty neighborhood, the chances of her place being broken into were fairly slim. It wasn’t like her windows were filled with ostentatious displays or anything like that. I had a feeling that Hodges had known
exactly
when to wait and attack.

It was like he’d known that she was going to be with me, that she’d been with me all night.

I clapped my hand to my forehead and growled.

“What is it?” Audrey’s voice was quiet and meek. “Damien, what’s happening? What are you thinking about?”

I sighed. “We need to get going,” I said sharply. “We need to get back to my place and then go into the office and figure out some kind of plan.”

Audrey stared at me. “Damien, I’m not moving in with you,” she said nervously. “I can’t…I mean, I can’t leave this place. It’s under my name, and I’m responsible for it.”

“Audrey, for fuck’s sake, it’s not like you own the damn place!” I stood up, gesturing around. “This place is a shithole! Get over it, pack a bag, and come with me!”

Audrey crossed her arms over her chest. She was still wearing her jumper and turtleneck and even though her bare legs were alluringly pale, I knew that I couldn’t give in to desire again. Not so soon.

“No,” Audrey said firmly. “I’m not leaving.” She blinked and wiped at her eyes. I realized that she was tearing up and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “This is my home, Damien.”

“And someone broke in!” I hissed, gesturing around to everything broken and ruined around us. “Someone broke in and ruined all of your things! Are you saying that you just want to hang around and wait for him to come back and grab
you
?”

Audrey looked at me in disbelief and exhaled loudly, blowing her bangs high into the air. “No,” she said sharply. “No, but according to you, he got what he was looking for, right? So he won’t come back!” She looked at me triumphantly. “I don’t have anything to worry about. And Pepper’s here! Pepper!” She called loudly. “Pepper girl, come here!”

There was a low, canine whine and I saw the ancient mutt pick herself up off the ground and trudge towards Audrey, tail wagging almost imperceptibly between her legs.

“Pepper will protect me,” Audrey crooned, more to the dog than to me. “Isn’t that right, girl?”

“Look, Audrey,” I said, exhaling sharply, “I’m not trying to be the asshole here, but I really don’t think that dog is going to protect you against an intruder. What about a gun? Do you have a gun?”

Audrey’s mouth dropped and her blue eyes opened wide. “Are you kidding me? Of course I don’t have a gun,” she said sharply, reaching out and patting the dog. “Why would I have a
gun
? Do you think I’m some kind of criminal?”

“Jesus,” I said as I buried my face in my hands. “No, Audrey, I don’t think you’re a fucking criminal. But you live in one of the worst neighborhoods in Chicago, and unless you have one, I don’t think you should stay here. Hell, even if you did have a gun, I wouldn’t let you stay here alone.”

“I’m not alone,” Audrey said stubbornly. “I have—”

“Pepper,” I said sharply. “I know, I know, you have a fucking dog. Big whoop. Don’t you realize they could take her out in, like, five seconds?”

Audrey looked shocked. She pulled the dog close and hugged her. “Pepper, don’t listen,” she said fiercely. “Damien doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

I rolled my eyes. Exasperation and anger surged through my body. “Audrey, Jesus! You have to stop being so fucking stupid! This is your safety that we’re talking about here, don’t you get that?”

Audrey glared at me. “You’re being an asshole,” she said sharply. “And I don’t have to listen to you if I don’t want to.” She stood up, reaching for her awful leggings and pulling them on. “I don’t have to do anything!” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And I don’t have to go with you, and there’s no way you can make me!”

I sighed as I raked a hand through my hair. “Audrey, look, I’m just trying to convince you that it’s for your own good.” The dog whined. “And for you, Pepper,” I added, feeling like a complete moron. “Audrey, Pepper can come with you. It’s not like you have to leave it here.”

“Her,” Audrey corrected immediately. Her lip trembled and quivered and for a moment, I was terrified that she was going to burst into tears. “Pepper is a
girl
, Damien.”

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and trying to exhale. “I get that,” I said sharply. “But come on, Audrey. This isn’t even a choice! It’s like choosing to die or choosing to live! Are you really that careless with your own life? What would your parents say? Or that old homeless guy at the food pantry? What’s going to happen to them if some asshole burglar breaks in and kills you?”

Audrey sighed. Her face softened and she wiped a tear away from her cheek. “I guess I didn’t think about it like that before,” she said softly. “Okay.”

I stared at her. “Okay, so you’ll come?”

Audrey sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay, I’ll come,” she repeated. “But I want to pack some things and call my landlord first, okay?” She was tired—I could tell because her hideous Wisconsin accent was starting to emerge.

I shook my head. “No,” I said sharply. “We need to leave now, and I need to get into the office as soon as I possibly can. This isn’t a good time to hang around, Audrey.”

She glared at me. “But it was a good time for you to fuck me?”

“Audrey, come on,” I insisted. “Don’t be like this. Everything’s going to be fine, just come with me.”

“Don’t treat me like a child!” Audrey snapped. “I’m not a little girl! I’m a woman, and you have to respect my boundaries!”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, okay,” I told her. “Look, I’m sorry. But we really need to go. If it was Hodges, he’s probably going to get bolder and come back. There’s a lot of really sensitive information on that computer, and the sooner we try to track it, the better.”

“It’s not my fault that he broke into my apartment,” Audrey snapped. “Maybe if you’d actually taken his calls and dealt with him, this wouldn’t have happened!”

Rage and anger rose in my body and I fought hard to keep them down. I wanted to snap at her, tell her the only reason that she was safe was because of me, but I didn’t want to push the situation and make it worse. She was already treating me like shit because of the break-in, and I knew that I had to diffuse the situation and get her to calm down as soon as I could.

“Audrey, come on, calm down,” I said in a soothing voice. “Come on, just grab a bag and whatever you need for the dog and we’ll go, okay?”

Audrey’s blue eyes flashed with anger. “No!” Her voice was forceful, almost a yell. “No, Damien. No, I can’t go with you. This is all your fault!”

“Audrey, look, I couldn’t do anything about Hodges until I figured out what he was trying to do!” Even though I was trying to stay chill, I couldn’t help it—Audrey’s angry tone and accusations were making my anger boil over the edge. “And if we want to talk about whose fault it is, maybe I should have fired you for mixing up his name! Hotchkiss, remember?”

Audrey recoiled as though I’d slapped her. “Fuck you,” she spat, grabbing Pepper’s leash and stalking into the next room.

Shit
.

Audrey

I locked myself and Pepper in the bathroom, away from Damien and his stupid anger. Pepper was upset—she could tell something bad was going on—and kept pacing in little circles, whining and drooling all over the bathroom floor. I didn’t have a huge bathroom, nothing like Damien’s, only a tiny grubby shower stall, a toilet, and a sink with a mirror over the top.

I couldn’t even stand to look at myself. I flopped down on the edge of the toilet, feeling the cheap plastic seat begin to give way even with my light weight. Pepper came and rested her head in my lap, looking up into my eyes with her soft brown gaze.

“This sucks, Pep,” I told her as I rubbed her ears. She closed her eyes contentedly but didn’t move away. “I don’t know what to do.”

Outside the bathroom, I could hear Damien pacing around. My stomach knotted and twisted and for a moment, I thought I was going to be sick. Then I remembered everything that I had to get. There wasn’t a lot of things in the apartment that I cared about. My mom’s old blazer, for one, and I had some cheap costume jewelry that had come from her collection. I didn’t really have anything valuable. Truth be told, the only thing I had that was worth more than a hundred dollars was probably the laptop that the robber had taken.

Maybe that meant it wasn’t Hodges after all!

Grabbing Pepper’s leash, I opened the bathroom door and stalked into the living room. Damien was sitting there, aimlessly picking stuffing out of one of the slashed-open couch cushions. He didn’t look up at me.

“Damien,” I said sharply. “I don’t think it was Hodges.”

His head snapped up and he looked into my eyes. His expression was completely unreadable—it was like the first day I’d seen him, when he’d been balls deep inside of Karen.

“Why not?” His tone was wary. “What happened?”

I swallowed hard, blushing furiously. “Because I don’t really own anything that’s worth any money,” I said softly. “Even the television was a present from someone I work with at Helping Hands, it was used when I got it and that was years ago. The laptop was the only thing I had worth more than a hundred bucks.”

Damien gaped at me. “And you think maybe someone took it for drug money?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t want you jumping to conclusions about that Hodges guy. Maybe he’s not really doing anything that bad after all.”

Damien shook his head. “Audrey, don’t do this,” he said in a warning tone as he stood up and put his hands on his slender hips. “Hodges is a bad guy. Even if he didn’t do this, that doesn’t make him a good guy. He’s out to get me, and if he knows anything about you, you’re probably on the list.”

“Why?” I stared right at Damien. “Why would you say that? What would he possibly want with me?”

Damien’s mouth opened and closed but no words came out, and for once I had the feeling that I’d rendered him completely speechless. “It doesn’t matter, Audrey.” Damien replied stiffly. “All that matters is getting you out of here, which we’ve got to do immediately. Don’t you know that? Don’t you know you’re in danger if you stay here?”

I shook my head, feeling less and less certain about Damien with each passing second. He was rich, he was an egomaniac, so it made total sense that he’d worry about someone out to get him when really nothing was going on.

“I think you’re being paranoid,” I said. “Look, I’ve lived in a house that got broken into before. It looked pretty similar to this, and there was nothing that sinister about it. People do fucked up things. It was cold last night—maybe someone just wanted a place to sleep.”

“So they ripped up your couch?” Damien shook his head. “Look, Audrey, I know you have a soft spot for homeless people but they can be vicious. And I still think this is related to Hodges, it makes too much sense not to be.”

I frowned. “Why? What makes you say that?” I stared at him. Damien looked uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure why I was pushing him so hard, but I felt like suddenly, Damien was hiding something from me. I could tell there was something he didn’t want me to hear, or at least something that he didn’t want to say.

“Because you were with me last night and then randomly, your place gets robbed,” Damien replied coolly. I could tell he was lying. “You’re here every single night. And the first night you’re gone, someone comes for the laptop.”

“But if it was Hodges, why wouldn’t he just try to rob the office?” I put my hands on my hips. “It doesn’t even make sense, because he shouldn’t have known that my laptop was here! I never should have left it behind.”

Damien shook his head. “Unless he was watching you,” he said in a sinister tone. “Which he may be doing. He may even be doing that right now. And the offices of LennoxCo are far too protected. Plus, Hodges is on the guard’s watch list.”

“Not because you care about me?”

“What?” Damien looked at me stupidly. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“What would Hodges want with me, unless it was because he knows that you care about me,” I said. Suddenly, my feet and hands felt numb and shaky. My mouth was dry and it was hard to get the words out. “Unless you can’t admit that you have feelings for me.”

Damien shook his head. “That’s not it at all,” he replied coldly. “Hodges is sly. He’d try anything to get to me.”

The bad feeling in my body continued. “I can’t do this anymore,” I said softly.

“Right, me either,” Damien replied. “I hate arguing. Get your stuff together and let’s go.”

“No,” I said softly. “You don’t understand. I mean you. I can’t be with you anymore.” Tears welled up in my eyes and I swallowed hard against a giant lump in my throat. “I can’t do this, Damien. I don’t even feel like myself when I’m with you!”

“That’s the point of dating someone, to get a new perspective on things!” Damien shot back. “Audrey, you’re being so stupid about this! Just relax and let things happen!”

“No! I hate you! And I hate myself when I’m with you!” I sniffled, burying my face in my hands. “I feel like someone completely awful and selfish and self-absorbed! I hated those stupid rich clothes you bought me because you’re not comfortable with me being me! You want to change me; you want me to be someone else!”

“Audrey, that’s not true.”

“I want to quit being your secretary, I want to be left alone! Don’t you get that? I don’t want anything to do with you anymore! I want to be on my own!”

Damien stared at me. “Audrey, come on,” he scoffed. “You can’t possibly mean that.”

A tear dripped down my cheek, hot against my cold skin, and I shivered. “I do mean that,” I said softly. “I hate myself for being with you, I hate myself for having sex with someone like you.”

Damien narrowed his eyes. “Someone like me? What the fuck does that even mean?”

“It means…someone like you!” I exploded. “Someone who doesn’t care about their family, or send money to their poor parents! Someone who hates dogs! Someone who ruin the lives of perfectly innocent women just because they happen to work for him! Someone who doesn’t even respect himself!”

Damien shook his head. “Audrey, you have this all wrong,” he said, but even I could tell that his voice was shaking. “I know you’re stressed, and this has been a scary morning, but please calm down, I promise you’re overreacting.”

“Oh my god,” I snapped. “Yeah, that’s it! A woman decides that she doesn’t want to fuck you anymore and suddenly she’s the one who’s overreacting!”

Damien swallowed. His face composed itself into a neat mask of calm. “Fine,” he said smoothly. “If that’s what you want, so be it.”