16. On the Line #2
“How is this possible?” I yelled out, holding up a half full carton of juice and a pack of cheese. What the fuck did we even have housekeepers for? Weren’t they supposed to take care of this?
“I suppose we should ask the maid to go shopping,” Damian mumbled from the other side, swatting his hand dismissively. He hadn’t even glanced up from his book.
I poked my face around the corner. “Hey, if we need groceries, I can go. I need to get out of this house, anyway.”
Apparently, I seemed entirely too eager, because Damian’s eyes narrowed in a thick suspicion. “Well, you can’t go out,” he answered sternly. “You have homework, right?”
I rolled my eyes. “I can do it later, can’t I?”
“No,” Damian spoke firmly. “Complete your priorities first, Noah. The last thing you need right now is to be kicked out of college because you didn’t do your work.”
Placing the two useless items back into the fridge, I muttered, “Fucking dumb.”
“What was that?”
I grimaced, quickly trying to throw out his cover-up. “Nothing. Anything interesting happened to you today? My professor’s pretty cool, I guess.”
It grew silent.
“Damian?”
“Mr. Thorne called the house today.”
I bit my lip and tried to make myself sound busy in the kitchen. Shuffled some pans and shit. I already knew what Damian must think of me. I really didn’t want to start this conversation, but I had to know why Silas called.
“What did he want?” I placed my palms on the counter and waited for the answer.
“It was more of a who…” Damian turned the corner, slowly sauntering into the kitchen, his arms crossed. “...then what.”
I made an effort to swallow down the lump forming in my throat. I somehow knew this would happen. The tears I had shed in front of him, the intimate moments we had shared… I should’ve known giving into him would have made him want more.
Even though I felt anxious about Damian’s response, I couldn’t help but smile at the thought beginning to form in my head. Imagining this conversation amused me. “What did you do?”
The space in the air around us grew tense. I waited, not knowing if Damian would even answer the question honestly.
“I told him that I didn’t care for the disorderly and disrespectful encounter from beforehand,” Damian took a deep breath. “And that if he continued to call our residence seeking you out, there would be consequences.”
You told him what to do? I smirked. “And what did he say to you?”
“Words I will not repeat. Then he hung up the phone.”
“Wow, sounds like he was really pissed,” I muttered before awkwardly squeezing past Damian to get out of the seemingly shrinking space. “I– uh, I’m going up to my room. Maybe we can order something out?”
I made it up six steps of the stairs.
“Noah.”
Shit. I halted.
“Yeah?”
“Did he,” A pause. “Did that Thorne rape you?”
I cringed.
“No,” I shook my head and inhaled deeply to prepare for the next part of this embarrassing conversation.
“He didn’t, no. He wouldn’t–” Knowing that I was ready to defend a man who could have and would have carried out an assault, I stopped myself in my tracks.
Even though the next statement was true, I couldn’t help feeling a deal of shame as I stumbled on the words, “I-It was mutual.”
I didn’t have to look back at Damian to know that there was a disappointed frown plastered on his mouth. I also knew that there were many more questions that he wanted to ask me, but for the sake of us both, I prayed that my reply appeased him, and we could leave the rest for another day.
“Ok. Thank you for telling me. I’ll see what I can do for dinner.” Damian spoke softly, his voice retracting as if he were walking out of the room.
I sighed in relief and was about to take another step when my cell phone began to ring from my pocket.
I cursed and pulled it out.
“Who is it?” Damian’s voice boomeranged, returning closer.
I thought fast. “Her name is, um, Chelsea. I met her today in class. First friend, I guess.”
I waited to see if Damian bought the lie, frozen on the step.
“Well, don’t be on too long,” were his last words before returning back to the kitchen.
I pushed the green talk button and placed the phone to my ear. “Hello? Chelsea, yeah, I’m here.”
As quickly as I could, I climbed two flights of stairs until reaching the closure of my bedroom, shutting the door quietly behind me.
I exhaled deeply, sliding down to the carpet with my back pressed against the cool wooden door.
A low laughter filtered out through my phone.
“The fuck kind of name is Chelsea?”
I spoke in a hushed tone. “Why are you calling me?”
Silas.
“I miss you.” His voice was gravelly and seductive.
I rested my face in my free hand. This was more problematic than I thought.
“Didn’t my brother already give you a piece of his mind?”
“Oh that asshole? Hm, I suppose so. But here’s a secret for you,” The phone made a crackling sound as I presumed Silas leaned closer to it. “I don’t care.”
“Well, you should. If he ever finds out–” my voice dropped to a whisper. “If he ever finds out that I’m talking to you, he is going to do something crazy.”
“Hah, like what?”
“Umm, let’s see, I don’t know– Jail you idiot!”
“Mmmm, is that...worry...I hint in your voice, Noah?”
I shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe it is.”
“Ohh, say it again for me.”
I scoffed and pulled the phone away from my ear, ready to be done with the games. “Get lost.”
“Wait,” It was a light murmur that I happened to catch right before I pushed the red button to end the call.
“Don’t hang up.” The velvety voice compelled my return, his soft command tempting me to obey.
I thought about it. I could end the call right now.
Just hang up.
But I couldn’t. He was so damn addictive. That same rush of adrenaline started to pulse through my veins again, that same sensation when he leisurely followed me up the stairs to my room where we…
I clenched my fist and brought the phone back to rest by my cheek. “Why are you calling me, Silas?”
“I want to see you again. Soon,” he breathed effortlessly.
“First off, if that Thorne trash ever lays a foot on our land again, I’m going to arrest him. You got that?”
“Not going to happen.”
“Heh. Playing hard to get, are we?”
“I don’t want to see you.”
“We’ll see about that. I’ll believe it if you say that to my face.”
I grit my teeth. I couldn’t imagine having to face him again.
The encounter between us was only meant to be a singular transaction.
One and done. What could I say that would make him keep his distance?
It seemed as though whatever came out of my mouth only fueled the fire.
No matter what I said, I was making this worse. I was initiating a chase.
A game.
“You think this is a game.” Damian’s voice rings in my head.
My whole life is one.