Mr. Lawson's Assistant

Chapter 65

I heard Damon closing his car door behind me, and I wasn't more than a few steps away from the car, before I heard Damon chuckling.
Seriously?
I turned back, frowning.
Damon pointed to my bare feet. "Where's your shoes?"
My stomach twisted, and I inwardly groaned. "I took them off..." I trailed off, and Damon's lips rose into a smile.
"You lost them, didn't you?"
I felt my face flushing, and I pursed my lips.
Damon smiled faintly and strode up beside me as I turned back to walk towards my apartment. "It's fine, I didn't expect you to ever wear them anyways."
My eyes widened, and I gaped at Damon. "You spent that much money on shoes that you didn't even expect me to wear!?"
He shrugged. "You wore them tonight. It was worth it." He smirked.
I glared at Damon, but he ignored me and pulled open the apartment door for me.
"Relax," Damon laughed, "I picked them up."
"Damon!"
He winked at me when I turned around on the stairs. I was eye level with him on the next stair up. It was odd. "Where are they?" I crossed my arms, but Damon only shrugged one shoulder and held my gaze. I wasn't in the mood to play games with him. They were obviously in Kenya's car, where else would he have put them.
I'll get them tomorrow.
I clicked my tongue at Damon, but turned without another word and climbed the rest of the stairs.

Back inside mine and Soma's apartment, Kenya was eating a bowl of cereal, and David was lounging on the couch in only sweatpants, gauze wrapped around both his hands. When Damon and I walked through the door, both David and Kenya gave us looks.
"What?" I frowned at David, and he shook his head, turning back to the TV.
"Are you going to explain?"
I exchanged glances with Kenya, but she said nothing and just gave me a sympathetic head shake.
Inhaling, I faced David and nodded, walking towards the couch.
"I'll see you later." Damon mumured to me as he turned and left the apartment. Kenya put her bowl in the sink and followed suit.
I slowly took a seat on the couch with David, and he shifted so that we were facing each other on opposite ends of the couch. "Where do you want me to start?" I pushed my hair out of my face and pulled my knees up to my chest.
David's forehead wrinkled in thought as his eyebrows drew together. "Why did Pedro come after you? And don't give me any crap this time." He crossed his arms, staring at me hard.
I took a deep breath, then began. "I accidently opened a blackmail letter that Pedro sent to Greyson Lawson and he found out. When Greyson and Damon tried to reason with him, I guess he figured that he could use me as leverage..." I blinked back the sudden, unnecessary tears that stung my eyes. The memories were harsh.
But it ended well.
My brother sat back and adjusted himself on the couch. "Kenya told me that she met you on Damon's yacht in Cape Trent," David's brown eyes darkened, "You told me that was a paid work vacation."
"It was...but Greyson gave it to me early so that I could leave town while he smoothed things over with Pedro." I hated the way that David was looking at me, but I knew I deserved it. I'd lied to him.
"He sent you out of town alone?"
I shook my head, inhaling. "Damon came with me." I watched David's eyes turn from brown to black, and anger flashed across his face.
"So you slept with him in his yacht?" David looked angrier than I'd seen him in years.
"No."
David slammed his left hand down on the couch arm. "What do you mean no? Kenya told me that she saw you leave his room!"
That stung. Kenya thought that I'd been sleeping with Damon? Why hadn't she told me what she thought? Why hadn't she told me that she was going to tell David?
He should have heard this from me.
I pushed my thoughts aside and looked David in the eyes. "I never slept with Damon, David. I accidentally fell alseep in the wrong room, and when Damon woke me up, I left." When I saw the look that crossed David's eyes, I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm not lying."
"How should I know? You've been lying to me for weeks, Oana!" David threw his hands up and leaned forward, setting his head in his hands. "You told me you stayed at a beach house." He murmured through his hands.
"I did. Sara found the house and brought her dad's men to catch us."
David groaned. "Who's Sara?"
"Pedro's daughter."
"Kenya said she was blonde."
I shrugged. I hadn't thought about that. If Sara was Pedro's daughter, why did she have blonde hair and blue eyes?
That's not important, Oana.
I leaned forward and set my hand on David's shoulder. He tensed and rubbed his hands over his face.
"So, men from the mafia came after you and you didn't think that telling your brother, who, by the way, is in the military?" David sounded more sad than angry, now. My chest ached.
"You know why I didn't tell you, David."
David sat up and looked at me. "I'm still mad that you didn't." His voice carried an edge that I chose to ignore. "I feel like you tried to keep this from me, because you didn't trust me."
"David-"
He cut me off. "And the fact that Damon has been involved all along, pisses me off even more." David turned to glare at the black TV screen. "I'm supposed to protect you, Oana. Not Damon."
I couldn't stop the tear that dripped onto my cheek. David was upset because he couldn't protect me when I'd lied to him.
I raised my hand up to wipe my tears, and David turned to me, his eyes a shade lighter than they had been. "You know that I love you more than anything, Oana. If you'd have been hurt- or killed even- and there was something I could've done..." David stopped, shaking his head and dropping his head back into his hands. "I wish you would've told me." He murmured, his voice rough with the emotion he was trying to contain.
"I'm sorry. But I couldn't." I exhaled, shaking my head. "If you were in my position," I locked eyes with David as his raised his head again, his own eyes red, "you wouldn't have told me either."
He scoffed. "That doesn't mean it's OK, Oana."
I nodded slowly. "I know. I'm sorry."
David held my gaze for a moment, then shook his head. "Now, what?" He didn't have to specify, I already knew he was talking about the theater incident. As much as I wished I could ignore it and move on, I knew that seeing Sara today had probably rekindled some issues. Issues that related to me having her father thrown in prison. Of course, I hadn't been asked to testify in court, because the police already had numerous witnesses to testify, but I had been the one to have him arrested. That had to count for something.
I realized that I hadn't yet answered David and shook myself out of my troubled thoughts. To my dismay, David appeared to be having the same thoughts.
"Let me call Damon-" I started, reaching for my phone, but the look that David gave me made me pause. "David, he's as much involved in this as I am, whether you like it or not." I said.
David's mouth tightened. "I don't like that he helped you keep all of this from me. I don't like having my trust in someone broken, then having to trust them again."
I knew he hadn't meant the words to be for me, but the way that my stomach lurched made me feel as though he had.
"Would you prefer that I called Greyson?" I sat back slowly, crossing my arms across my stomach. 
David's eyebrows furrowed. "No, I don't even know him." When he saw the look I sent him, he growled, "Fine. Call Damon."
The phone didn't ring more than twice, before Damon's voice sounded on the other line. "Oana?"
I inhaled, "I told David everything."
There was a long pause, before Damon answered. "I'm glad."
"What are we supposed to do now?" I pushed away the thoughts that nagged and told me to call the police. They wouldn't be able to do anything about Sara yet. Tasteless threats didn't normally get people arrested.
Unfortunately.
Damon's voice was calm when he responded, "I just got off the phone with Greyson. He suggested that we reach out to Sara and ask for a meeting with her to possibly sort things out." By the way that Damon said the last sentence, I could tell that he wasn't expecting me to take the opinion well.
"Alright." What I said surprised me more than it surprised Damon, and he was shocked if the silence on the other line meant anything. "Can he get in touch with her?" I asked, glancing at David who was watching me quizzically.
"No..." Damon paused as if choosing his words wisely, "but I can."
I thought back to the night I'd been shot at the buisness party, remembering how Damon and Sara had been talking. I was almost positive that they'd dated at one point, and I resented the twinge of jealously that struck me at the thought. Of course he would have his ex-girlfriend's phone number- because his brother was doing business with her and her father...right?
Uh, yeah no.
I shook my head once and remembered that Damon was still on the other line, quietly waiting for me to answer.
"Let me know when she answers." I said quickly, waving my hand dismissively, even though I knew he couldn't see me. The action helped me mentally dismiss the matter.
I hung up before Damon could say anything else, and turned to David abruptly. "He's getting in contact with her, and we'll go from there."
David shook his head and reached for the TV remote. "What a wonderful way to end a date night." He muttered.
"What are you doing?" I said, amused as he switched on the TV and began surfing through the channels.
David shot me a look. "Trying to ignore everything that you just told me." he flippantly dropped the remote on the couch when the channel stopped on Fox Sports. "Not like it's working," he glanced down at his bandaged knuckles with a snort, before he settled back against the couch.
After a moment, when he felt my eyes on him, he sighed and faced me again. "You good?" He asked, intending to sound impatient, but sounding more gently concerned.
I gave him a long look, fighting to keep my expression neutral. It was hard for me to switch gears so quickly after such a tough discussion, but the last thing I wanted was to drag the past conversation out. I nodded. Slowly, I tucked my legs up under myself and leaned against my side of the couch. David rolled his eyes and patted the cushion next to him.
"Ew, I'm not sitting that close to you." I muttered, hugging a nearby pillow to my chest. But David knew me too well, and when he shrugged and faced the TV again, I blew out a short breath before I shifted and moved up beside my brother. He dropped his arm over my shoulder, letting me lay my head on his chest, and we settled for letting the TV fill the silence between us. It wasn't long before my eyes grew heavy, and I drifted off to sleep.

First of all, I'm terribly sorry about the time between updates, life seems more busy in the summer than during the school year...Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying the story, be sure to leave some comments on what you like/dislike and what I should fix/keep! Also, it would be AMAZING if you voted and shared this story with your friends! I'm SO grateful and humbled that "Mr. Lawson's Assistant" has reached 1.51k reads!! Thank you guys so much!😜