Stained

Chapter 141

"I—."

My phone buzzes with a message, interrupting Damien. My heart pounds so hard and heavy in my chest I'm almost surprised I heard it.

With shaking hands, I lift the phone up between me and Damien to check. It's from Hannah. The message reads: u can come down now lol.

"I should go," I mumble unsurely. I'm battling within myself because I don't want to go but I know I should.

"Two minutes, please. I just need two minutes." I hold my breath as he bridges the distance between us, traps me in his arms by grabbing the railing behind me. The proximity lights up a fire only he has the power to ignite.

He glances at my lips, licks his.

'No! Snap out of it, Hazel! He's most likely going to say something blunt that's going to tear your heart apart.'

"Damien," I whine, tilting my head to the side. I can't handle more heartache especially now, when I was slowly starting to accept the fact that he's never going to be mine.

"Please," his anguished blue-greens plead with mine.

My heart melts to the ground before him and just like that, I give in. I sigh. "Okay fine, but only because you said please."

Damien opens his mouth to say something but my phone buzzes with another message. He huffs as I bring it up to check. I left Hannah alone once, I'm not going to make the mistake of ignoring her message in case she needs me.

The message reads: BITCH U BEST NOT BE RESPONDING BECAUSE U HAVE UR TONGUE HALFWAY DOWN DAMIEN'S THROAT!?!?

My eyes bulge only to widen more when I look up at Damien and see he's already looking down at my screen. Though it was inevitable with the way I'm holding the phone.

He chuckles, amusement glinting in his eyes.

Harder than necessary, I press the phone against my chest.

"I'm down if you are," he boasts.

My jaw hits the ground. He winks at my shocked nuance and I swear my heart stops dead in my chest.

I quickly compose myself, purse my lips and angle my head to the side with displeasure. "For that, I'm giving you one minute." I wink back at him, mockingly.

He smirks and nods his head in the direction of my phone. "You want to put a timer on?"

I narrow my eyes at him and open my mouth to snap back a snarky response but the words die in my throat when he brings a hand up to my face and pushes a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "I've missed this," he says, affectionately smoothing my hair down. He meets my eyes and his pupils dilate. "I miss you. Every second of the fucking day I—."

My phone buzzes with another message. Damien glares at my phone.

Despite the fury of emotions running through me I can't help finding his annoyance funny. Tucking my lips in to suppress a laugh, I turn the screen a fraction to conceal it from Damien's prying eyes but enough to see it —which actually isn't much considering he's inches away from my face. Not that I'm complaining, albeit  I would prefer it if our skin was meshed toge—.

Focus Hazel! Right yes. I have a message. Who was it from? Oh, I was just about to check.

Of course, it's from Hannah again. Stomp ur heel twice if u want me to come save u from the big bad wolf 🐺.

A giggle bursts out of me. I raise my eyes from my phone and my laugh dims within seconds from the look of pure awe marking Damien's expression. Strangely, that look alone seems to pierce into my soul.

He said he misses me. Damien Axel Hunter misses me, Hazel Klynn. I find it so hard to believe. The voices are making it so difficult for my mind to cling to the declaration like my heart so desperately is.

My phone distracts me by pinging again. For the first time since Damien came out of that room am I glad for the intrusion of my phone. Clearing my throat, I use Hannahs pestering as an excuse to jerk my gaze away. "I probably should respond before she comes upstairs."

My fingers won't stop shaking as I type and my hands feel clammy. I'm...sweating. Seriously, now? When he's right up in my space. But I can't help it. My heart is wild in my chest, beats a thousand beats per minute.

Her next message eases some of the weight off my chest. Don't tell me the fuckers already consumed my free fucking therapist! I would laugh if I didn't have all these feelings swirling through me like a tornado with no sense of direction.

I get another message. Bark in the wolf's face if he tries to kiss u, it for sure will scare him off.

I roll my eyes.

I finally manage to type the whole message. Nothings happening. I'll be down in a minute.

I'm obviously going to tell her later.

I'm about to press send but Damien's next words cause my finger to stumble on the screen. "I've been beating myself up for the longest fucking three weeks of my life. Wishing I hadn't walked away, wishing I hadn't gone to her house, wishing—."

I raise my eyes to his and he stops talking.

"Wishing..." my voice cracks. The look in his eyes — the hopeful, terrified look in his eyes — nearly kills me more than his confession.

My phone rings and I instantly silence it without looking at the screen. Though I couldn't if I wanted to. Somehow my heart has taken control which hasn't happened in... forever. 

He cups my cheeks, his long fingers tangle into my hair as he rests his forehead against mine. "Wishing I hadn't fucked up the only beautiful thing in my life." A pause. "You, Rose." His voice is laced with so much pain my chest constricts which makes it extremely difficult for my crazy heart to function. As if it wasn't already struggling from the brute force of Damien's words.

My phone rings but this time, I don't have the energy to silence it. I can barely hear it because my mind won't stop repeating what Damien said. Overthinking every word. Every letter.

"Rose—."

Damien gets cut off by my phone ringing again. I angrily answer it without bothering to look at the screen. I already know who it is. "God Hannah! The wolf hasn't consumed me and neither is my tongue halfway down his throat!"

Having said what I needed to, I move to cut the call but freeze when the voice that responds isn't Hannahs.