“She could have left me to rot.” There’s a smile on his lips but his eyes are dark. “Mon petit ange has a soft heart. Anybody could take advantage of her.”
I bristle at the words. “It’s just for a week and then he’s gone.”
“You took a stranger into your home?” I don’t understand the displeased look on Dr. Greer’s face. It’s none of his business. How would somebody like him even begin to understand my desperate circumstances.
“He was hurt,” I say, simply.
“You could have brought him to the hospital.”
I stay silent before saying, “Either way, he’s doing better.”
“This was very unsafe.”
Damien scoffs, a glint in his eyes. “What are you, her brother?”
Dr. Greer pales at that and then turns to glower at him. “I could very well let your brother know where you are.”
I don’t know why that sounds like a threat but I’m beginning to get a headache with all this testosterone flying around the room. “It’s really late. And I don’t even want to know what’s going on between you two but I want to have dinner and go to bed.”
When Damien winks at me I growl, “Alone.”
Dr. Greer’s face is slowly getting red and I have a feeling that he’s seconds away from throttling Damien. He gets up, however, and says, stiffly, “I’ll pick you up in the morning.”
“What?” I stare at him.
And he says, slowly, as if he’s thinking through each word. “Since Damien is injured, I’d like to check in on him. We can just go to work together then. It makes sense.”
It does make sense.
I glance at Damien who has a faint smile on his face as if he’s discovered a new game.
“I—All right.”
How long can he keep up with this? A week?
I see Dr. Greer out and he pauses in front of my parents framed photograph. “These are—?”
I look in the direction he’s gazing and a sad smile crosses my lips. “My parents. They passed away.”
“I see.” His tone is heavy. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
Once I close the door after him, I return to the living room.
Damien meets my gaze with an amiable smile on his lips. My hands go on my hips and I growl at him. “Do you enjoy being difficult?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, mon chéri,” he replies, innocently.
“What was that whole thing with you and Dr. Greer?”
Damien maintains that irritating smile of his that is wreaking havoc on my senses. “I was surprised to see an old friend.”
I stare at him and he stares back, and I know I won’t get anything out of this man who is closed up like a clam. My shoulders droop and I run my fingers through my hair. “Fine. Whatever. Are you hungry?”
“Starving, mon chéri.”
We eat in silence and after dinner, I wash the dishes, my ears on the sound of the television blaring in the background. There’s a movie playing.
“You know you have to take it all back when you leave?” I say, casually, and I can feel when Damien focuses his eyes on my back.
“Why?”
“Because it’s not mine.”
My tone is testy and defensive and I hear him chuckle. “Well, it is now. I told you that I will take care of any damages while I was here.”
I wipe my hands on the towel and turn around, my eyes narrowed. “You never said that.”
He looks entertained. “It was implied.”
I tighten my jaw, knowing that I’m being unreasonable and that I should just accept these things instead of looking a gift horse in the mouth, but pride is a dangerous thing, and the only thing I have left at this point.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
He just bares his teeth in a smile that makes my insides feel all sorts of warm. “It makes sense. If I break your things, I need to replace them.”
“They were already broken.”
He puts on a regretful face which is so utterly fake since I can see the enjoyment dancing in his eyes. “Well, I damaged them beyond repair. After you left, I stumbled on to the table, breaking its leg and then grabbed the TV for support, making it crash onto the ground.”
I blink at the shameless lies that are spilling out of his mouth one after the other, and my tone is sarcastic. “And what, the couch just got up and threw itself against the wall? The carpet started unthreading?”
His lips twitch. “You’re so perceptive, darling.”
I give him a bland look, my expression conveying that I’m not buying his brand of bullshit. However, he’s adamant on sticking to his story and I’m too exhausted to argue.
I’m about to head to the bedroom when something occurs to me, a thought that I had discarded before. “The elevator and the heating. You didn’t have anything to do with those, did you?”
He gives me a pleasant smile. “Did I?”
Arrogant, smug bastard.
I stare at him, not knowing what to say.
Seeing Dr. Greer first thing in the morning is strange, especially when the doctor comes armed with freshly prepared bagels and pancakes. I see something akin to satisfaction in his eyes when Damien complains about his presence.
“Alex can do this just fine. I don’t—”
He isn’t allowed to finish his sentence before he is manhandled onto the sofa and his shirt lifted. It’s probably because he’s weak right now with his injuries that Dr. Greer is able to get the best of him, otherwise from the way he moved that night when attacking the mugger, I have a feeling that Damien could easily take the doctor in a fight. However, I’m more taken aback to see Dr. Greer manhandle a patient in this manner.
“The bruises on your face are healing quite well,” I tell Damien as I hand him coffee, pretending I don’t see the dark look in his eyes as he glares in Dr. Greer’s direction. My lips twitch at the sulky behavior he displays. “Cheer up. You can start having solids tomorrow.”
He glowers at me and I have to suppress my laughter. Without thinking, my hand reaches out and ruffles his hair which is left down and kind of messy. We both freeze and then, before I can so much as move, Damien‘ s hand is on my wrist and he’s yanking me forward and I fall into his lap. Mindful of his injury, my hands go on either side of his legs, until my face is not even an inch away from him, and I see the pleased look in his eyes.
My reaction to him is volatile.
It always is.
A quiet gasp leaves my lips and I go still, a ravenous hunger uncurling in the pit of my stomach, and my eyes widen. He doesn’t miss the effect it has on me and a smirk plays on his lips. My eyes dart to those thin cruel lips and I ache, wanting something I have no right to take without putting a label on myself.
It’s the soft snarl from the side that breaks into my psyche and I feel appalled at myself, immediately straightening myself, batting away Damien’s hands when he tries to help, a mischievous glint in his eye.
“What did I say about getting handsy with me?” I glower. “I will stab you.”
He laughs at the threat as if the idea of the threatened violence both excites and delights him at the same time. His tone is affectionate. “Of course, mon petit monstre.”