"I intend on winning this."
"Okay, I'm about to wither that little confidence you have going on there."
"Looks like you have yourself a challenge. Bet I'll win. I always do." He walked up to her until there was barely an inch between them, his hot b...
A continuous sharp pain behind her head and a bone penetrating coldness woke Lavender up. Having a hangover couldn't even compete with the aggressive throbbing that made sure to make itself known. The greeting of surrounding bright lights as she peeled her eyes open didn't help either. She felt exposed although she was still fully clothed.
The stale scent of blood wafted into her nostrils, forcing the urge to vomit. She shivered with pinched eyes. It took Lavender a full two minutes, maybe even more, to understand the reason for her pain.
Lavender's date with Damien was ruined by whoever decided to capture her.
How could I be so careless? Even the voice inside her head sounded debilitated.
She stumbled up, taking in her surrounding. Everything around her was cold.
Metal.
She tried to grope her way around the tight cell but was tugged down by a set of heavyweight chains around her ankles. In frustration, she jerked at the chain but to no avail. Peering closely, she noticed that the bolt in the wall that connected to the chain was loose by a centimeter. The frustrating thing about it was that although it was loose, it had a rigorous hold to the wall.
She slowly stood up, weighing her options of escaping only to be interrupted by a voice with no face.
"Finally, you're fully conscious. Took you long enough," a sarcastic voice muttered. Lavender involuntarily shivered. She didn't like this person already. The man's voice alone was audacious, pernicious, and obnoxious.
She sheltered her eyes from the blinding lights, searching for the owner of that despicable voice.
"What do you want?" she snarled.
"Damien snatched a feisty little one. Hmm, at least that weakling got something right for once. My wife must be so proud."
Lavender's fist balled. "How could you do that to your son, you imbecile?"
"You're right. How could I do that to my son? Only, he isn't my son."
"That's why you decided to punish him?"
Oh goodness! It all made sense now.
No wonder Damien said that nothing good ever comes out of loving him. It wasn't only because he sought sex from his previous lovers, but because he wasn't ever really showed love before.
And even if he did, he wouldn't know.
No wonder when that Caucasian bully said that the girl needed to be punished, it was like Damien turned into a deathly being.
He heard this his whole life.
Oh, Damien, her heart sobbed out in pain for the man she loved.
Lavender was indignant. She wanted to shelter Damien from that ferocious swine even in his absence. The reality of it though was that the damage was already done and irreversible. Damien had already gone through the fire and barely survived. Another lick of it and he would be perennially ruined in more ways than one.
"Damien was born in sin, therefore he shall be punished because of it." His tone was unforgiving, with no ounce of guilt. He must have not had a conscious.
He couldn't!
"What is that suppose to mean?"
Still, the devil failed to reveal himself as he calmly spoke over Lavender's incandescent voice. "Damien is the product of rape. My wife's father impregnated her. My sweet darling didn't deserve that, and Damien is just a constant reminder of such a sinful act."
Although she was already sitting, her knees buckled at the shocking revelation. That man was a walking terminal disease, leisurely torturing his victims. "How is any of this his fault? You are the sinner here, not Damien."
Something was thrown her way. It clattered until it was at the tip of her feet. "Eat," he ordered.
Lavender ignored the stiff looking mash potatoes, kicking it away. "You claim to love her, but yet you nearly destroyed her son's life? You're psychopathic. Where's your heart?"
"I'll keep you around until I'm bored. You're fascinating."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Lavender lost count of how many days she was in there, but her stench was convincing her that it was long enough. The pile of mash potatoes were increasing; inviting cockroaches, rats, and mold to keep her company in the already tiny cubicle. Everything stunk.
But in the short span of when she got kidnapped and now, this was her new normal for whenever. Her nostrils got immune to the malodorousness.
Maybe it could've been from the lack of sleep or food for that matter, but the pain behind her head was no longer throbbing. It now consistently moved in sync with her. It rolled around her head to even the tiniest of turns.
By this time, Lavender was too languid to finish what she had started with the bolt. There was no way that she was going to allow herself to crack. That man was not allowed to watch her break under his control. Not for him to swell in victory at another fallen victim.
The only thing that kept Lavender from blacking out was Damien.
She felt him in her blood as if an energy booster. She licked her chapped lips, imagining what it would feel like to taste him again. To feel his heartbeat against her chest as they entwined in an embrace. She weakly raised her hands up, almost feeling Damien's thick, soft hair.
The different layers of his skin; the feel of his scars.
The scent of his skin that hit too close to home. The scent that grew on her and was supposed to be her only normal. She may have been hallucinating, but she smelled celery and it was oddly comforting.
It was ironic how someone entered your life and suddenly they were apart of you. They became part of your most cherished moments and you couldn't imagine a time without them. Lavender never really understood the term 'How do I breathe without you?' But now it dawned on her in the sense it made.
Obviously, you breathe because of oxygen, but when that person enters your life and treats you with such respect and truly loves you; they're equivalent to oxygen.
Damien was no boy out of a book, but he loved her wholeheartedly. He annoyed her almost every day, but his good outweighed the bad. They loved each other past their imperfections, accepting the other as they are.
There was no need for her to be closed off around him.
There was no need for Damien to be cold and pretend that he didn't have a love for cartoons and was like a boy in a man's body. He could wear his scars proudly around her.
Oh, Damien.
Slowly, Lavender felt her eyes slipping until they became too heavy for her.
"Finally," she seemed to hear someone whisper in her ear, but she was already gone.
