Chasing Demons (Book 2) Rated R

Chapter 6

"You have to say something," I said to Damian. "You can't just sit there and glare at me all night."

When he didn't respond, I went to his bed and sat down, cross-legged, watching him as he paced the room.

His eyes grew dark and his mouth opened into a small o of surprise.

Or maybe it was disgust. Hell if I knew.

"Fuck, Aimee. Tell me you didn't. Please tell me you didn't go off and get bonded to the bloodsucker?"

"Well, if you must know, it was a life-or-death situation. Now can you tell me how to get rid of it?"

"You--you don't. At least not any way that I know of." He stuttered as he ran a hand over the length of his face and took a deep breath.

"Fucking hell. What else did that bastard do to you?"

"Jeez, Dai, chill," I said, frowning as I wrapped my arms around myself. Because the way he was looking at me just now made me feel dirty. "Nothing else." I lied. "And please, don't pretend like I'm some helpless girl that any man can take advantage of. You know me better than that."

"I just don't understand what could possibly make you think it was okay to..." He turned away from me again. "To let him drink your blood. To drink his, for that matter. I know how the bonding ceremony works." His blue t-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

Slowly, he glanced at me over his shoulder, his voice small.

"Do you...do you love him?"

It would have been easier not to respond. Not only did it hurt to admit it out loud but something told me it wasn't what Damian wanted to hear either.

"Yeah." I finally responded after a long pause.

"Jeez." He breathed.

He paced the length of the room, pausing a few times. In those moments, when he said nothing and only looked at me, mouth floundering, he reminded me of a fish. One I was trying really hard not to lose my patience with.

"Dai..."

"Hold on. I'm just...I'm trying to make sense of this. Is it a bad case of Stockholm syndrome? Do you need some help? Because Aimee, that's the only thing that would make sense right now."

"Alright," I snapped, rising from my perch on the bed, patience depleted. "That's it. I'm not going to sit here and let you talk to me this way. The hell if I know the why to anything anymore but what I do know is that the last thing I need is for my best friend to be judging me."

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm just having a hard time understanding, Aimee. For fucks sake, he killed your father."

"Do you think, for one second, if I'd known that, I would have ever fallen in love with him? How little do you think of me?"

He turned away again and stared at the bathroom door.

"Damian!" I snapped, growing more upset by his silence by the second. "Talk to me. Do you know someone who can help me get unbonded from him? Yes, or no?"

"Talk to you? Aimee, I can't even look at you right now."

My mouth opened into an o of surprise while he continued to give me the courtesy of his back.

"Wow, Dai, tell me how you really feel. Is this even about Luke anymore?"

"What sort of question is that?" He scoffed. "Of course it's about Luke. But I'm not gonna lie. It's also about him. This man you love is an abomination that drinks blood for goodness sake."