Ghost City

12

Baffled, I was. Shock and hurt, I was too. I couldn't even speak, despite my mouth parting. All I could do was hold the spot he slapped as tears brimmed my eyes from the pain. He released my wrist as his lips parted to probably apologize, but I didn't wait to hear what he had to say. Rather, I immediately slapped him across the face again because I couldn't believe the asshole actually slapped me after he had hurt me first. I knew the second slap I gave him was much harder than the first because it even left my hand hurting and had his head turning in the other direction. Damien huffed as he stared at the ground before letting his eyes slowly meet mine, and I just knew he was about to fuck me up.

He fisted the end of my shirt and pulled my body toward his before slamming me into the wall, and I shield my face by putting my arms up. I waited for a slap or even to be choked, but nothing came. I could hear his heavy breathing, and I just knew he was still pissed. I peaked outside of the shield I made with my arms and noticed him angrily staring at me. He grabbed my arms and pinned them above my head, and I began taking deep breaths as I closed my eyes in fear of what he'd do to me. Would he actually hurt me? Would I seriously have to fight Damien? Why was he taking so long to hit me?

I felt his thumb graze my cheek, and I opened my eyes only to find a bunch of tears welling up in them. A few had escaped without me knowing, and his thumb had been wiping them away. He then cupped my chin and aggressively tilted my head upwards so that I was staring into his eyes. Fury was still evident in them, but mostly, I saw hurt.

His eyes flickered to my lips before meeting my eyes again, but I didn't wait for him to kiss me. I found myself kissing him as more tears rolled down my cheeks. Damien pulled away and shook his head. "You don't get to slap the shit out of me and then kiss me to make up for it," he said, anger still in his voice. "I swear, if you weren't a female or someone I care about..." he said as he released my hands and backed away while shaking his head.

"You hurt me first," I sniffled as I held my wrist, which was still slightly aching. He took my wrist in his hand and soothingly rubbed circles into it.

While staring into my eyes and still massaging my wrist, he apologized, "I'm sorry. I didn't think I was squeezing so tightly." I sniffled and nodded before looking away and pulling my wrist out of his hand. He put the AirPod that he took from me into my ear and sighed.

"I'm sorry for slapping you," I sniffled as I took both of the AirPods out and placed them in the case.

"I'm sorry for slapping you too," he said while lightly tracing my left cheek with his fingers.

I admitted, "I thought you'd hit me again."

He huffed, "I wanted to. My cheek's still stinging..." I looked into his eyes, which no longer held any anger in them. "You're a good kisser though," he teased, and I slightly smiled as I sniffled again. "I'm sorry, really."

"Me too," I nodded, and he pecked my lips before wrapping me into a hug. "Can you just give me a heads up the next time you leave so I don't have a panic attack?"

He nodded while softly replying, "Okay." I then buried my face into his chest as I inhaled his scent, which always had a soothing effect on me.

After a while, I pulled away front the hug and said, "I'm gonna do some shopping for the sleepover from now since I'm not on the mood to exercise anymore."

"Sleepover?!" Damien frowned.

"Yeah, for Aurora," I answered.

Damien shook his head, "Oh nah. Cancel that."

"What? Why?" I frowned.

He answered, "She's four years old. She don't need no damn sleepover. Plus, I don't trust leaving our child at some stranger's house."

"The sleepover is gonna be here," I informed.

"Still, she's too young to be having a sleepover. She's gonna make a habit out of it when she grows up," he shook his head.

"You sound like my dad," I chuckled, "only he didn't like sleepovers because he thought someone would try to use their kid to get into our home and attack us from the inside or I'd go to someone else's home and end up being used as leverage."

He shrugged, "Which actually makes sense and can be applied here too."

"With four year olds, Damien?" I asked, amused. "Besides, Aurora hasn't been having the easiest time making friends. She recently started stepping out of her shell. I think this sleepover will be good for her."

"I guess," Damien sighed. "Why hasn't she been able to make friends?"

I sighed, "Well, besides the fact that she's shy at first, a few kids were bullying her two months ago-"

"Nah, who's parents I gotta go fight?" Damien frowned. "Ain't nobody bout to be bullying-"

"I handled the situation already. The kids had overheard their parents talking about you not being around and was mocking Aurora about it. I already checked their parents and Aurora said that the kids that had been bullying her stopped. She used to let the bullying from a certain few kids stop her from making other friends, but now she's getting comfortable with the other kids," I explained.

Damien nodded in understanding before questioning, "None of the bullies coming to the sleepover though, right?"

"Correct," I nodded. "She only has three friends, and they'll be the only ones coming. I'm cool with those kids' parents too."

"Good," Damien nodded. "Why didn't you mention the sleepover sooner?"

While exiting the gym room, I teased, "If you replied to my texts..."