Mr. Lawson's Assistant

Chapter 29

Damon's green eyes were focused on the man, and his face expressed little emotion.
"Go get your stuff." He told me quietly. Something in his voice made me stiffen. For a minute I couldn't move. I had a terrible feeling that he was going to do something that would leave this man dead- and by the look in his eyes, my thoughts weren't too far from the truth.
"Don't you dare kill him." I breathed, but Damon wouldn't look at me. When I didn't move, he finally switched his eyes to me and I shuddered. Before he even spoke, I was moving to obey.
"Go."
I turned and moved down the hallway quickly, avoiding the body of the other man.
It felt like the seconds ticked by like hours until I was finally in my room. Once inside, I closed the door and covered my mouth, leaning forward against my bed. The image of the dead men burned in my brain like a scorching brand. I shook my head, trying to force myself to think about something else. I knew I'd lose it if I didn't. After a moment, I sucked in a breath, and pulled myself together.
I'm fine. I'll handle this after I'm safely out of this house.
I thought with a breath, standing up and moving into the bathroom, closing the curtain on the window on my way. The sunlight made my head spin.
When I saw myself in the mirror, I cringed at my appearance. My hair was tangled and wind-dried, and my forehead sported a small trickle of blood down the left side. Not to mention the ugly, bruise at the top of my forehead just before my hairline.
Ew.
Combing my hair back into a low ponytail, I moved back into my room to pack a few clothes into my beach bag.
*
"Where are we going?" I asked, blinking at the last few rays of sun that dipped behind the sand dunes.
"To the docks."
"I thought-" Damon adjusted his grip on the steering wheel, and I stopped. Obviously, asking questions wasn't a wise choice at the moment. "Nevermind." I muttered, laying back against the leather seat and closing my eyes. A few minutes later, I felt the car rolling to a stop, and when I opened my eyes, we were parked in front of a large metal ramp that lead out to a dock. In the water, was the biggest, private yacht I had ever seen. Damon strode around the car and opened the door for me, and instinctively, I shielded my eyes from the setting sun. Steeling my expression, so that Damon wouldn't ask questions, I stepped out of the car and blinked repeatedly. Once my vision was normal again, I glanced at Damon for direction. He shoved his phone into his back pocket, feeling my questioning gaze, and gestured that I follow him.
We headed down the metal ramp, and as we stepped onto the dock, the ramp from the yacht lowered.
"Holy cow." I muttered under my breath, my eyes widening as Damon stepped up onto the footramp and began ascending into the boat.
He owns this thing?!?
Biting my lower lip, I hesitated, before I stepped up onto the ramp, and followed Damon upward. It took every ounce of self-control I had, to keep my mouth from falling open, as I stepped into the second level of the boat. It had three levels, from what I could see; a basement, a middle and a top. The top was only half covered because there was a large sun deck on the latter half, with shuffle board and what looked like a mini golf station.
Mini gulf? Seriously?
I was so busy checking out the boat, that by the time I remembered that I should have been following Damon, I'd lost him. That's also when I realized I left my phone at his house.
Perfect.
Deciding that I would just wander around and hope to find Damon eventually, I smiled to myself. I'd just given myself a chance to explore sthe boat without being nosy. If he or someone else caught me, I could just say that I was looking for him.
The first door that I came to I entered. Through that door was a hallway that lead to what appeared to be the living area.
There were tan leather couches placed about the room, and a large TV that covered the whole front wall of the room. If that wasn't enough, there was a small bar in the corner of the space as well.
Because why not put a bar in your living room?
Awestruck, I walked through the living room and out into the outdoor living room. The Lawsons didn't spare any expenses when it came to personal comfort, apparently.
I feel like a jealous middle school girl.
I frowned to myself, taking a moment to stare out over the vast, blue ocean in front of me.
Once I made my way out of the living rooms- plural- I wandered back inside. Through the next door I found a hallway that lead me to a narrower passage way with doors on either side. I peeked inside of the first room and gaped. The room was nicer than most hotel rooms! I adjusted my hold on my small backpack and checked the hallway. There were at least four more rooms in this hallway alone, so I decided to leave my stuff in this room. It wouldn't matter which one I picked if there were four others just like it, unless Damon's boat had another level with bedrooms on it. As I threw my bag onto the bed, I noticed that a sliding glass door on the left of the bed opened up onto a small balcony/ hallway that served as the outdoor area for the two other rooms that were on this side of the corridor. This room had three windows behind the bed, and a sort of rounded hallway into the elegant bathroom. As I moved towards the balcony doors, I noted the luxurious bed and the mood lighting that was placed strategically about the room. If you got up in the middle of the night, you could easily walk to the bathroom with stubbing your toe in the dark.
Closing the sliding door after I checked out the balcony, I turned and wandered back out into the hallway, curious to see what else I would find on this hotel of a boat. I didn't feel guilty snooping around the Lawson's boat, because Damon had left me in the first place. As I walked, I thought that it probably was better that I had lost Damon anyways. I'd never seen him this upset- actually I hadn't really seen him upset at all. Maybe with the exception of that night at the party, but this time he seemed much more bothered.
Maybe because three men are dead?!
Shaking my head, I turned a corner in the hall and started up the set of steps. At the top of the stairs, I smiled a little and stared into the fancy, yet still comfortable dining room. Surprisingly, there was only one table. One big table.
Because I could already look into the dining room through the glass window on the swinging doors, I skipped walking through it and headed out towards the shuffle board. As it turned out, there wasn't a mini gulf station, it was an actual waterfall that flowed into a hot tub.
Why not right?
The hot tub was nice though. Glancing over the railing, I scanned the ocean, until my eyes stopped at the docks. It had to be the largest dock I'd ever seen, especially for such a small town.
I would've thought that with so many rich people surrounding and funding the town, that it would have been bigger. Perhaps they were all too busy spending money on their houses and yachts to worry about the actual town.
Feeling the boat shift slightly underneath me, I stumbled and quickly caught myself on the nearest deck chair, which happened to be untied.
I didn't know that.
Flailing, I grabbed the chair to keep my balance, but it tipped over and crushed my foot.
"Ow!" I fell on my butt, tripping over the chair, and trying to check my toe at the same time.
"Take it easy on the boat there, Thumbelina." Someone laughed, and I turned to see a woman a little older than me, with arms crossed, smiling down at me. Pushing myself to my feet as gracefully as I could, I picked the chair up and set it onto its right side.
I grimaced, feeling my toe throbbing, and my head pulsing from the jarr. "Sorry..."
"We all do it..." The woman laughed, and when I raised my eyebrows, she shook her head and snorted. "Just kidding hon, no one has ever done that." She chuckled, and I managed a small smile. "I'm Kenya," the woman smiled, offering me her hand.
She had dark, coffee-colored skin, with the most beautiful hazel eyes I had ever seen. To accentuate her glowing skin tone, she wore large golden hoop earrings in both ears, and several golden rings on her fingers. By the looks of her jewlry and her clothes, she had traveled a lot. The jewlry was very unique, and all of the pieces had images carved into them, embedded with jewls for decoration.
"Oana," I took her hand, and she raised her eyebrows.
"So you're the woman the Mexicans want, huh?" She asked, and I frowned. "Damon's mother is my mom's best friend. We grew up together." She shrugged. I was going to ask her what she was doing on his yacht, but I decided against it. "I'm not sure if you know this," Kenya said after a moment, as I awkwardly glanced down to my foot, "But your head is like...yeah, it's bleeding." She raised a hand to point to my forehead, but curled her hand back and bit her lower lip.
"Again?" I muttered reaching up to dab the bruise with my hand.
"Again?" Kenya raised her eyebrows, but I just shook my head- regretting it instantly.
"Its been a long day."
*
"Thanks for this." I raised my hand, gesturing to the ice pack that Kenya had given me, as she lead the way back to my room.
"No problem, if you need another one just ring the bathroom bell, and someone will bring another." She smiled. Her smile faltered when I stopped outside the bedroom door where I'd thrown my stuff. "Is this your room?" She asked me, and I shrugged.
"I guess...why?"
Why is she looking at me like that?
Kenya opened her mouth to answer, but her phone began to ring, and she checked the screen quickly, seeming relieved.
Turning back to me, she sent me an apologetic smile, "I gotta go, duty calls." She whispered, waving to me, before answering her phone and walking down the hallway. As Kenya disappeared around a turn in the hallway, I stifled a yawn. I opened the door to the room, stepping inside and closing the door behind me. I seriously needed a nap.
*
"What are you doing in my room?"
I woke with a start, grimacing when my head began to throb. Throwing myself into a sitting position, the first thing I noticed was that the room was very dark. The second thing I noticed was that Damon was standing beside the bed, very shirtless.
"Your room?" I reached up and shoved my hair out of my face. "I was in here first." I snapped, still slightly groggy from sleep as I squinted against the dim mood lighting.
Damon worked his jaw. "It doesn't matter who gets here first, sweetheart, it's still my room." He crossed his arms in front of his chest, adjusting his stance. My eyes slowly started to adjust to the darkness and i paused. Damon's eyes were dark and fixated on me, but that wasn't what shocked me; it was the way he looked absolutely and utterly exhausted.