Epilogue 2 - Damien #2
“Hey, Daddy. Can I ask you about something?” She leans against the counter next to Henry, who’s now glaring at her from the corner of his eye. I’m taken aback by it, because they’re normally so close. I’m not sure they’ve ever really been mad at each other. This tells me otherwise.
“Sure, princess. What’s up?” I ask lightheartedly, but I notice Ashia’s cautious glance in my direction. She steps up beside me and lightly bumps my hip with hers like she’s preparing me for something. Was this what she was talking about earlier when she told me to ‘keep an open mind’?
“So… I was wondering…” Emma starts carefully, picking at her fingernails—another thing she picked up from Ashia. “If I could go to prom again this year?”
I raise an eyebrow. That’s what the big deal is?
She got to go last year. Her and all of her friends dressed up, took pictures, and went to the dance.
She looked so beautiful… I think that’s when I really realized she was growing up, and I didn’t take it well.
Apparently, I was a great dance chaperone, though.
“Yeah, of cour—”
“With a boy,” she finishes rather quickly and my muscles react before my brain does. I squeeze the plate in my hands so harshly that it shatters in my grasp and falls to the floor. That warmth in my chest quickly turns into a fire, and my hands shake.
“Damien…” Ashia warns me quietly, reminding me to get my shit together. I lock my gaze on my daughter, hoping that if I stare at her long enough, she’ll tell me everything I need to know.
“A boy?”
“Yes…”
“Which boy?” I ask through gritted teeth. Ashia then holds my water bottle in front of my face, and I take the hint and grab it, taking a few harsh drinks without tearing my gaze away.
“Just a friend…”
“Friend, my ass,” Henry cuts in angrily. “He’s practically stalking you.”
I fucking choke. My lungs burn when I draw water in and I turn to lean over the counter, hoping that either I spit it back out or fucking die from it.
Ashia giggles softly beside me but stops the moment I cut my watery glare to her.
I know exactly what stalking entails, and I’ll be damned if my daughter has a stalker of her own.
“Henry! Language!” Ashia scolds him again, but it’s through repressed chuckles.
“What’s funny about that, Mom?” Henry asks in a worried tone.
“Nothing, sweetie. Don’t worry about it,” Ashia replies and chews on her bottom lip, trying not to continue laughing at my demise.
“You know what, forget I even asked.” Emma’s tone is innocent, like she had no idea this would give me a fucking heart attack. “I can just go with the girls like I did last year. No big deal.”
No big deal?
NO BIG DEAL?
“I’ll talk with him about it, honey. Go play with your cousins and your siblings.
We’ll be in there for the movie in a bit,” Ashia tells her as she rubs my back, trying to force the water out.
Emma scurries away and Henry gives me a look that says ‘it’s not fucking happening’ as I turn back around—and I couldn’t agree more.
“You okay, baby?” She looks up at me, and it takes everything in me to sputter out a response.
“Yes, my love. I’m alright.”
She nods and walks over to the closet to grab the broom, and I lean against the kitchen island next, already pulling out my phone to check for this possible boy, when Henry grabs my attention.
“Don’t worry, Dad. I’ve got it covered. Check your inbox.”
I raise a brow, wondering how fucking long this kid has been interested in Emma. Whoever the poor soul is has no idea what kind of family he’s fucking with.
“I see our hacking lessons have been put to good use,” I say back to Henry, and the pride I feel for him explodes at the sight of his shit-eating grin. A new email notification sits at the top of my screen, containing files on a boy named Elijah Torres…
Torres…as in Grease’s legal name, Torres?!
My baby girl wants to go on a date with Grease’s fucking son?!
“Is this who I think it is?” I’m sure the face I give Henry scares him a little, because his eyes widen the moment we make contact.
“Yes, sir.”
“He graduated last year…” I seethe.
“Yes, sir,” Henry confirms. I turn my head to watch Ashia walk back in with the broom and feel something inside me snap.
“Go hang out with your cousins. We’ll talk about this more later.
” He just nods once and makes his way to the living room.
Once Ashia gets close enough, I gently take the broom from her and clean up my own fucking mess.
This whole thing is a fucking disaster. How could I have missed that Elijah fucking Torres is interested in Emma?
They’ve been friends since they were little, but we don’t see them all that often.
Grease and I still chat for work purposes, but it’s not like we’re friends.
“Does Grease know about this?” I ask my wife.
She sets the broom and dustpan aside for me and wraps her arms around my neck.
“Just relax, baby. It was only a question.”
“Stalking is not a question.”
“And we would know all about that, wouldn’t we?” She cocks her head to the side, looking up at me so lovingly that I melt. I pull her in close and rest my forehead against hers, needing to breathe her in and feel her warmth. “Emma’s a smart girl, baby. We have to trust her.”
“I do trust her. It’s that little fucker that I don’t trust.”
“Henry was friends with him, and we know Grease. Elijah is a good kid.”
“Right, was, and this finally explains what’s been going on with him. Plus, kid my ass. Elijah’s nineteen,” I argue back.
“Emma’s eighteen,” she points out, and I scowl.
“That’s not helping.”
Her face softens and she turns in my hold, pressing back against me and looking around our home. My arms stay locked around her, keeping her as close as possible as I breathe her in.
“Things have certainly changed around here.” She sinks against me and I just tighten my hold, burying my face into the space between her shoulder and neck. “We have the perfect life.” I grin against her skin.
“Yes, we do.” I kiss the sensitive spot on her neck, and move to her jaw, then her temple. “I love you all so fucking much.”
“We love you, too, Damien.” She wraps her arms around mine and squeezes, hugging me as tightly as she can as she backs into me more.
Her ass rubs against my dick, immediately making my libido forget all about my emotional turmoil.
“You are an amazing dad, baby. If Elijah really is trouble for her, then you’ll stop him.
But I think we both know that’s not the case. ”
“I see what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work,” I tease her, because of course, I’ll give in.
Ashia knows that she runs this house, and if my queen deems that Emma can go to prom, then she goes to prom…
but not without argument or unseen surveillance.
“All you’re doing by grinding your ass into me is reopening our conversation from this morning. ”
She snaps around and looks up at me with wide, feral, ‘fuck me’ eyes, despite her denial.
“Do not say it out loud.” She points her finger at me, but I don’t miss the curl to her lip.
“Why not?” I taunt and tilt my head, knowing damn good and well who’s going to win this argument.
“Because every time you talk about having another baby, I end up pregnant.”
“Damn right, you do.” I can’t help it, really. Our connection is just extremely potent, I suppose. “You know, the boys severely out-number the girls, and we have two more bedrooms to fill. I’m sure we can get two at once again—” She places her finger on my lips, making me shut up.
“Don’t. You. Dare.” She raises an eyebrow and clenches her jaw so tightly that I’m afraid her teeth will crack, but only because she’s trying like hell not to smile from ear to ear. She’s failing. I move my lips down to her cheek and nudge into her until I make it to her ear.
“Admit it, baby girl. You love being full of my babies.” I kiss her temple.
“You love seeing me hold their little bodies against my chest.” My teeth graze the shell of her ear, making her shiver.
“You love our kids.” I trail my hands down her body and squeeze her ass, pulling her so close that she can feel my rock-hard dick against her stomach.
“And most of all, you love being a mommy.” I kiss down her jaw and onto her neck, reaching up to grasp her pretty little throat and force her to look at me as I pull away.
“If you don’t want another baby…or two…why didn’t you take the nursery down like you said you would? ”
She whimpers in the sexiest way, sending a thrill through my spine. Her tongue darts out to faintly grace her lips, but she doesn’t answer. She can’t, because we both know the truth. She’s not ready to be done with babies yet, and frankly, I’m not either.
I’m knocking up my wife tonight.
“You know, it’s been a long time since we’ve been on a walk.” Her eyes widen at my suggestion, and fire ignites in those ember eyes.
“Tonight?”
“Damn right, tonight. Everyone is preoccupied, the little ones are constantly being watched, and it won’t take me long to have you in the dirt, shaking beneath me,” I promise her.
She presses into me even more and gasps softly, heating up beneath my touch.
My girl is ready for me, and I never leave her wanting for too long.
“Thirty seconds, little wolf, and I promise, I won’t keep you waiting.
” She crashes her lips to mine in a hot, searing kiss.
Her body rolls into me before she barely pulls away. “One…”
My growl shakes against her lips, and she takes off, darting out of the kitchen, towards the back door. It only takes two strides for me to catch the perfect view of her sprinting down the hallway and out of the back door with her long, wild hair flying behind her.
I watch every step she takes, knowing that no matter where she runs, I’ll be able to find her.
This one little glimpse perfectly portrays our entire life, how happy and excited we’ve lived.
I’ve chased her through space and time, coasting through the ages to find her, and I’ll do so for eternity.
Wherever she could go, I’ll willingly follow.
I told her that she would never be able to escape me, and that promise is fortified by unmatched divinity.
Ashia Morgan Hartley owns me. We’ll hold each other’s hearts and souls forever, standing together as the epitome of love in the heavens.
It may have started with glimpses of gold and impending nightfall, but it will never end, and as I step after her, I become even more determined to prove it.
“Two.”