Broken Rings

Chapter 28

Autumn POV:

As we lay on the bed, we said nothing at all, other than Damian asking me if I would like to wear one of his shirts to cover up and I said 'sure'.

But it's not that awkward silence, it's a silence where we take comfort in the background noise and not much is needed to say.

We just hear the TV play throughout the room, occasionally Bunny meowing at the door, but then he just goes quiet for a moment. Neither one of us gets up because of how fairly tired we are.

I flinched a little in surprise as Damian wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me into him, making me rest on his chest, my head just below his chin. His head rested against his headboard as he said nothing more.

I hear his heart beating fast, I could say the same thing for mine, but my guilty conscience creeps in at the worst time, I haven't been entirely truthful to Damian about Matthew and the whole thing. I thought I could handle it on my own but turns out,  it was more than I could handle.

So much so that it caused Damian to bring it up during our argument and that's why he walked off.

I mean, should I tell him now? After we just had sex, I don't want to ruin the moment, but it's like the longer I wait, the more guilty I feel about not telling him.

Damian's arm tightened around me, "What's wrong?" He suddenly asked.

"What?" I question him.

"I don't know" He shrugged, "You kind of just went stiff, like your vibe is off"

I look up at him as he explains it, he then looks down at me with eyes of worry or maybe fear.

"Do you regret it?" he quietly said, "Having sex with me?"

I sat up quickly as soon as he asked that, was my vibe really that off that he would ask me that? He continued looking at me, waiting for an answer.

Cupping his cheeks, "No, no Damian, I don't regret" I ushered, "It's not that, it's just something else on my mind"

"What is it?" I mean you don't have to tell me, but if something is bothering you, then I want to be there for you"

Dropping my hands, I took a shaky deep breath in and leaned back against the headboard next to Damian.

"You know, before you punched Matthew? He was saying all these things about wasting his time and that he and his wife had waited and waited?"

"Yeah, what was he going on about?" He asked, confused.

"Well, a few months back, Matthew texted me, I don't even know why I still had his number, but he said that 'We have to talk', and I wanted him to leave me alone, so I agreed and when I got to a cafe where we were meeting, he basically acted like he did nothing wrong" I closed my eyes, recalling the events, "And just when I was about to leave, he finally announced that he needed a baby"

I continued, "Basically he explained that his parents paid him to cancel the wedding and wanted him to marry someone else"

"Wait, why would they want that, I mean you're like the perfect daughter-in-law" Damian shockingly said.

I blushed at the compliment, so I explained, "His parents are really strict and they wanted the 'standard' marriage for us, when I met his parents years ago, they told me that I would have to give up my career and just be a stay at home wife, which obviously I wasn't okay with, they wanted someone with the same beliefs they had"

Now that I think of it, Matthew's parents were probably looking for another wife when I left their house, which is really sad.

"You remember when we went to the club with James and Noah? And I went to the bathroom for a really long time and I was a little shaken up when we left?" I asked.

"Yeah, I kinda remember that you kept looking back at something when we were leaving" Damian says.

"Well, I don't know how but I met Matthew's wife in there"

"No fucking way" Damian said, his eyes widen with curiously.

"Yeah well, at first she was crying and I wanted to check in on her, to make sure she was safe and she basically ranted at me at first about her husband's ex-girlfriend is not giving in about giving them a baby, because she can't have children and they really wanted a family"

I cringed as I explained this, "I was understanding at first, but then the situation she describing sounded like a lot what Matthew was saying" I sigh deeply, "So I stupidly asked her if she was Matthew's wife and she confirmed that she was, but then I fucked up by telling her that I was Matthew's ex-girlfriend and it just went downhill from there"

"What happened then?" Damian asked.

"She tried to convince me to be their surrogate and when I said no, she basically began yelling at me and begging for me to go along with the whole messed up situation" I looked up at the ceiling, "And I just been fearful that they never leave me alone after that"

We were silent for a long time, which is completely fine, he is most likely taking in everything I just said.

Suddenly he speaks with caution, almost like he was afraid to ask me something, "Why...didn't you tell me?"

He looked at me while he asked this, I looked down to avoid his eyes as I responded, "You were dealing with things with your brother, and I didn't want to put more things on your shoulders, and honestly..." I paused, "I didn't want to burden you with whatever was going on"

I then look up, focusing my eyes on the wall, "I thought I could handle it on my own, but it became too much and I didn't want you see me suffering over some guy that I should have gotten over"

I then felt my cheeks turn sour from the embarrassment, maybe because I admitted that I wasn't strong enough to stand up towards people who mistreated me.

Damian then cupped my cheeks, turning my head to make me look at him, "You know I don't like it when you are hard on yourself, you put so much pressure on yourself for no reason Autumn" He pauses, maintaining eye contact, "No matter the situation, you can always come to me with it, I'll listen, it doesn't matter if I'm dealing with something or not, I'll always be here"

"Okay, you promise you'll do the same?" I question, smiling at him, already knowing his answer.

"Yes, I promise that I will do the same"

I held my pinky out, waiting for him, Damian looked at me, then back at my pinky, and intertwined his with mine, squeezing it tight.

Without letting go of my finger, he pulled me towards him and kissed me softly on the lips. And without a beat, he pulled me into his lap as I smiled into the kiss.

The truth is finally out. We love a supportive boyfriend.

-Summer Roe