Chapter 23 Xave #2
“I still can’t believe someone is trying to kill me,” he says, taking a few more sips of his water before capping it again.
“Can you think of anyone who’d want to hurt you? Anyone who’s threatened you or would benefit from your death?”
He shakes his head. “Literally no one.”
“What about one of your father’s enemies? Something tells me he has a few of those.”
Damon snort-laughs. “Definitely more than a few. But anyone who knows him would know that using me to get to him is pointless. He only claimed me because he needs an adult heir to take over the family business. And he probably would have still claimed me even if my sisters were older because he’s a misogynist who thinks my sisters’ role is to be good housewives and pop out genetically superior babies, so he can’t even fathom one of them taking over when they’re older.
Plus, he’s almost sixty-three, so hopefully he won’t be around long enough to see them get older.
But that’s pretty much the only reason he bothered to claim me after my mom died.
I’m male, and I’m the oldest of his heirs.
He doesn’t give two shits about me, and everyone knows it. ”
“Is there a chance he had something to do with your mom’s death?” I ask gently.
“I doubt it.” He flicks his lip ring a few times. “You didn’t look into what happened to her?”
I shake my head.
He looks down at his bottle and swirls the water around so it creates a little tornado inside it.
“She technically died of an overdose, but it’s not like what most people think when they hear about a young model ODing.
She got hurt on a photo shoot about a year before she died when a piece of the set fell on her and crushed her leg.
She had to have multiple surgeries just to be able to walk again, and she got addicted to pain pills.
Her doctor switched her to a different type of meds to try and wean off the opioids he had no issues prescribing to her like candy for almost a year, and she had a reaction to them that caused her to have a heart attack.
It was his fault,” he says, his tone bitter and angry as he squeezes his water bottle so hard the plastic cracks under his fingers.
“He miscalculated her dose and she ended up taking more than double what she should have been prescribed even though she followed his directions and did what she was supposed to do. I lost my mom because that fucker couldn’t be bothered to check his math, and her pharmacist didn’t catch the error, either.
Two medical professionals made careless mistakes because they wrote her off as a junkie when she was just trying to recover from a horrific injury that left her in constant pain, and my mom paid with her life. ”
“I’m sorry,” I say softly, not sure what else I can, or should, say.
He stops squeezing the bottle and taps it against his thigh in a steady 4/4 beat. “I’ll never forgive either of them. And the only thing that gives me any sort of comfort is the fact that her doctor died a few months after my grandparents won a multimillion-dollar malpractice suit against him.”
“And your mom’s family? Would any of them want to hurt you?” I ask.
Jace already looked into them, but there’s always a chance that Damon could have some insight that Jace wouldn’t find online.
He huffs out a laugh and uncaps his water again.
“Pretty sure most of them would love to see me get offed if it meant they’d get some of my money, but I doubt any of them are involved.
They don’t have the connections or the capital to hire people to take me out.
And none of them would get anything anyway.
I have things set up so everything goes to into a trust for my sisters if something happens to me, and it’s been like that since I turned eighteen.
” He drinks some of his water, but I can see that he’s shutting down, both physically and mentally.
“How about we go to bed?” I suggest. “It’s getting late, and I think it’s about time for today to be over.”
“Couldn’t agree more.” He tips his head back and finishes his water.
I drink down the rest of what’s left in my bottle, and we both stand.
“I’ll get rid of these,” I hold my hand out for his empty water.
He gives it to me, and I meet him at the bottom of the stairs after I’ve tossed them in the recycling bin.
“How many bedrooms does this place have?” he asks as we climb the stairs together.
“Three,” I tell him as we reach the top of the stairs. “We’re sleeping in that one.” I point to the far room.
“I have to warn you,” he says sheepishly. “I don’t really sleep with people, ever, and I’m not just a blanket hog, I’m also a pillow thief. So you might change your mind about sleeping with me after tonight.”
I laugh. “Not gonna happen. I don’t sleep with people either, but I did enough sleepovers with my cousins when I was a kid that there’s literally nothing you could do that would change my mind about sleeping with you.
” I push the door to the far bedroom open.
“I remember this one time when I was around ten when I stayed over at the twins’ house and fell asleep before they did.
Jace literally glued me into the sheets, and when I was trapped, Jax dropped a mouse on me.
They laughed their asses off while I flailed and tried to get free. ”
“He glued you into your sheets?” Damon asks, tossing me an amused look. “How did he do that?”
“He used super glue to glue my sheets together so they made a coffin shape around me.”
“And Jax just happened to have a mouse handy?”
“They were resourceful, even at eight.”
“Eight?” He sits on the edge of the bed and unzips his boots. “Aren’t you guys a year apart?”
I pull off my hoodie and toss it onto the dresser. “I’m two years older than them.”
“But you’re only a year ahead of them in school.” He tosses his boots aside. “Did they skip a grade?”
“Nope. The twins easily could have, but I repeated the sixth grade.”
He pauses pulling his shirt off and shoots me a confused look.
I strip off my own t-shirt. “I didn’t fail sixth grade, but I got to repeat it because that’s what everyone decided was best.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It didn’t take long for everyone to realize that the twins are different, but they didn’t get diagnosed until they were nine. Our family thought it would be best if I was only a year ahead of them in school so it would be easier for me to keep an eye on them and help them stay in line.”
“How did you repeat a grade if you didn’t fail?” he asks and undoes his pants.
“One of the reasons the twins got diagnosed so young is because of all the trouble they got into. Our family decided it was best to move us to a different school after they were officially diagnosed to give us all a fresh start. The only difference is they got to move on to fifth grade, and I got to repeat sixth grade.”
“That sounds like a lot of responsibility,” he says sympathetically as I strip off my pants. “Especially for a kid.”
“That’s what it means to be the oldest.” I toss my pants onto the dresser and watch as Damon pushes his jeans down his legs.
“I didn’t really mind, and I still don’t.
That’s what family does, but it would be nice if my entire life wasn’t planned out so I could be their keeper and not just their cousin. ”
“That’s still a lot to put on a kid.” Damon tosses his pants on the dresser next to mine.
“It is what it is.” I look him up and down, and my cock thickens in my briefs. “Do you have any idea how hot you are?”
“Would it be arrogant to say yes?” he asks with a playful grin.
“Nope.” I close the distance between us and pull him into my arms. “Not arrogance if it’s the truth.”
His hard cock bumps against mine, and I give him a deep kiss.
When we finally pull apart we’re both a little breathless and rock hard.
Unable to help it, I give him another scorching kiss, then turn on the bedside light and flip off the main one. When that’s done, I pull down the covers and slide under them.
Damon’s smile is sweet and a little shy as he climbs into the bed with me, and even though it’s a king, I pull him into my arms and settle him in front of me so we’re sharing a pillow.
“I’ve never been the little spoon before,” he muses and nuzzles his cheek against my shoulder. “I like it.”
“I like this too.” I rest my chin on his curls and hold him tighter against me.
“A part of me wonders if I’m crazy,” he says softly. “I don’t really know you, but I feel like I do. And we can’t even be out in public together or go to each other’s rooms. How are we supposed to spend any real time together?” He gently rubs his fingers over my chest in a lazy circle.
“And things between us have never been normal,” he continues.
“We were virtual strangers who got kidnapped together, then you stalked me, and then we spent the past few weeks getting our freak on in the dark and hooking up in the woods and around campus. All of this is the plot of some horror movie or true crime documentary, but it feels right.”
“It does.” I press a kiss against his hair.
“And you’re not wrong. It doesn’t make any sense, but my gut has never steered me wrong, and it’s telling me that you’re someone I need in my life, so I’m running with it.
Fuck societal expectations and traditional meet-cutes and our frats.
I’ve never wanted more than a night with anyone before you, and now I can’t imagine being with anyone else.
That means something, and I’m not about to let anything get in the way of what I want. ”
“I wish I had your confidence in things, or in me,” he says softly. “How do you know I’m worth it?”
“Because you’re mine.” I press another kiss against his hair. “And you’ve been mine since that night at the rave. That’s all the reason I need to know that whatever shit we might have to deal with is worth it. That you’re worth it.”
He tips his face up, and I drop a kiss against his lips.