Destroy Me

by Laura Bailey

  As she waited for the kettle to boil she realised that Damien had slept through the night with her. He hadn’t left her. They had spent their first complete night together.

  Taking his coffee and a tea to the bed she saw him propped up on the pillows looking relaxed.

  “I can’t believe we slept so late Damien!”

  “Well, we were very busy last night. I think we needed the rest.”

  He smiled at her as he took the coffee from her.

  They spent the morning in bed, neither willing to release the other, their passion for each other unrestrained and inextinguishable.

  Getting up to make them another drink, when she returned to the bed he pulled her across his lap, pushing her head towards his cock, already rigid for her.

  “Suck me.”

  She took his cock into her mouth, and as she sucked it, he told her to get onto her knees on the bed.

  “You need spanking,” he told her.

  With her head in his lap he pulled her buttocks up toward him so he could spank them.

  Pushing her legs wider apart, her pussy lips hanging there open for him, his hand went to them, slapping her there as she sucked harder on his cock, moaning for him, her cunt throbbing with need for him, but he wouldn’t fuck her, wouldn’t release her as he held her head down onto his cock, thrusting it upward into her mouth, burying himself in her mouth as he pounded her clitoris with his hand, knowing her would take her to orgasm, wanting to watch her pussy as he spanked it and took her to orgasm, wanting to feel her mouth around his cock as she came, and unable to move, she felt her body explode, her throat opening as she moaned aloud in release and he thrust deeper into her, his come shooting into her throat as he came hard inside her mouth.

  Releasing his hand from her head as she recovered, her breath was hot against his cock as she kept her head there, not wanting to move, wanting nothing more than to stay in bed with him forever. His hand stroked her hair as she lay there.

  “We will need to get ready soon love. I’ve arranged for you to see my Lawyer at two today in my office. I’ll be there with you.”

  “Ok.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Starving.”

  “Good.”

  He reached for the phone and ordered a selection of food for them to be brought up. They lay in bed until it came.

  He’d ordered a selection of wraps with salad. He went straight for the meat filled wraps, needing to restore some of the energy she had drained from his body, and they both devoured the food ravenously as they sat at the table, robes thrown around them.

  “You need to know Tara, much as I don’t want to now; I have to go away overnight. It’s a job I committed to doing a couple of months ago, before we met. I don’t like to let people down so I’m going to go ahead, but I’ll be back tomorrow, ok? Come and shower with me now.”

  As they washed themselves, she watched him, glorious in his naked state, the stunning form of his body never ceasing to astonish and arouse her.

  He reached for her face, stroking the side of her cheek as he looked at her. He didn’t think he could ever get enough of this woman, the way she responded to his touch, the way she gave her body so generously to him, the things she did to his body, things he’d never felt before, never anything close.

  Filled with need again, turning her gently around, he bent her over, opened her legs and thrust inside her, his hand wrapped in her long hair. Feeling the heat of her inside as she took hold of him, taking him all the way deep inside of her as he fucked her, her voluptuous soft buttocks bouncing against him as he pounded into her, pumping his cock fast inside her, he exploded, her moans for him loud as he and felt her climax against his cock as he filled her again.

  They were going to kill each other if they carried on like this, he thought with amusement.

  “We need to get ready to leave shortly, or we’re really going to be late.”

  Stepping out of the shower they dried off quickly.

  “I wish we could just stay here all day; never leave.”

  His eyes were filled with warmth as she said it.

  “I know.”

  She dressed in her one clean dress left, realising she had left her new clothes at Damien’s office the night before.

  They left the hotel and walked the few blocks to his office.

  “I wish you didn’t have to go away tonight. I wish you could just stay with me.”

  “It’s my job. It’s just one night.”

  He didn’t even need the money, she thought to herself, but to a man like Damien it was more about his word and the principle of it. She respected him for that, and she knew it was one of the things she so admired about him.

  Inside Damien’s office, Anthony DeVere, Damien’s Lawyer, greeted them, having arrived a few minutes earlier. He was a man in his late fifties she guessed, with grey hair and grey eyes. He was incredibly well dressed. Tara guessed he must work with very wealthy clients.

  The meeting lasted perhaps thirty minutes, during which time Tara kept as quiet as possible, listening to the Lawyer’s expert advice.

  He expressed the opinion that he thought it unlikely they would have gone to the trouble of extraditing Tara at this stage; more likely questioning her in London first to establish her guilt or innocence. As far as he had been able to gather from his sources inside the police, who he considered highly reliable, they were currently considering it a missing person’s case rather than a murder case, due to a lack of evidence that a crime had taken place, and certainly he said, there were no witness statements or physical evidence pointing to Damien.

  He agreed it always paid to err on the side of caution, but he concluded that unless significant evidence to the contrary surfaced, such as Chambers’ body, or damning physical evidence of Damien’s DNA, then certainly at this time, there was nothing for the police to go on.

  Damien had been very careful that night at Chamber’s house. He had not entered Chamber’s premises. Though Chambers had been well guarded, he had made the fatal error of standing by the back door in the early hours, very briefly, to call one of his dogs inside. Damien had struck from a distance, his patience in the darkness serving him well. They would find no DNA at all.

  Shaking hands, Damien escorted Anthony to the elevator.

  Left alone, Tara felt enormously relieved that the most ominous of threats seemed to have been lifted from them.

  When Damien returned to the room she had the biggest smile on her face and yet his held a very serious expression.

  “Don’t get too relieved Tara. It only means it hasn’t happened yet. Not that it won’t ever happen. No one has come forward with statements yet. It doesn’t mean they won’t. They will never find any DNA evidence, nor Chambers body, ok, but as I told you before, people have gone down for murder without a body being found, on the word of a witness. It just takes someone else with a grudge to give a statement and they start to build a case very quickly.”

  “Don’t you think you might be over-estimating things Damien? Anthony said it couldn’t happen. And if they won’t find evidence, then surely you must be in the clear?”

  “In the best scenario, yes. That was what he was presenting you with Tara; the best case, not the worst. The worst could be yet to come. You just never know. But he did mention something else to me. Something I think perhaps you should consider.”

  He didn’t state it immediately. He went to the window and stood looking out of it, his back to her.

  “What did he say?”

  “He suggested we get married. A Wife cannot be made to testify against her Husband in an incriminating way, and likewise.”

  An excitement like nothing she had ever felt spread through her at first. She wanted nothing more than the thought of being able to spend the rest of her life with Damien; despite the difficulties they often had with each other; he was the most exciting man she had ever met, and the last twenty four hours with him had been perfection. However, she hadn’t expected this. A
marriage of convenience which held no roots in romance or feelings.

  As the reality hit her, she felt like crying and she was thankful that Damien couldn’t see her face.

  In the silence of the room, he turned back around. Todd was standing in the entrance of the office, keys in his hand, waiting for Damien.

  “How practical,” was all she said.

  “Tara, Todd’s waiting, I have to get going now to do the job I mentioned. I’m not going to be contactable for the next twenty-four hours.”

  He held out a business card to her. She failed to take it and he looked closer at her. He saw the anger in her eyes, fire radiating from them as her tears threatened to spill.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow night, ok. I will come to you. In the meantime, if anything happens and you need help, call Brenton immediately, no matter what time it is. Ok? And Tara, be sensible. Don’t let your temper get the better of you, please.”

  He came around the side of the desk to her, lifted her face up in his hands and kissed her softly on the cheek as she kept her eyes down, refusing to look at him.

  Leaving her, he walked in fast strides out of the office with Todd, in operational mode.

  Tara remained seated for a while, upset at the turn of events when she should be feeling relieved that they could be safe now.

  Getting up she left his room, aware that she was constantly upset by one thing or another when she was in this building; when she was around Damien.

  He had a nerve, she would give him that, but she knew he was nothing but stone cold. Why did this even surprise her?

  She headed straight to the nearest bar. She needed a drink.

  Inside, she took the whisky to a booth and sat down, the bar quiet and for that at least, she was glad, but sitting there on her own was doing nothing to cheer her up.

  She walked slowly back to her hotel room, stopping to buy a couple of books on the way, a feeling of being completely lost enveloping her. These last few months, it seemed that she’d been living permanently in a state of limbo; first waiting for her American visa and then all the madness with Damien that had got her life even more screwed up than ever.

  Why was she even staying here now? It seemed the threat had lessened from what they had thought was going to be the imminent arrest of Damien. Damien wanted her now only as some kind of insurance against a future potential arrest. Again, trying to arrange her life for her. Without consultation and without feeling.

  She needed to leave and return to London, and yet the thought of doing so filled her with embarrassment. Damien had only just called Joseph and told him she had accepted his position and was here already. How could she turn up back at work in London, again? Not only that, until Damien said she could leave, she had no doubts he would only demand her return if she did leave for London. He didn’t believe the threat was gone. He would not let her leave until it was over.

  She spent the rest of the day in her room, attempting to concentrate on reading a thriller to keep her mind occupied, and thoroughly intending to have it out with Damien when he got back. He couldn’t keep her here indefinitely. Treating her this way.

  She ordered room service when she got hungry and went to bed early, tired from the night before with Damien and the lack of sleep they had both got.

  She missed him during the night, when she woke and remembered where she was.

  She spent the next day going to the park for a long walk, attempting to walk off her frustration and restlessness. She had lunch out, and when she returned to her hotel room, she went straight back to reading the book.

  She knew Damien had told her to expect him tonight when he got back from wherever he had gone. She had no idea where she would go from here, but she was not engaging in a marriage of convenience.

  As she read it got dark outside, and she wanted to go to bed. She had no idea what time Damien meant to call round, but she wasn’t prepared to wait up for him all night.

  After a hot shower she went to bed around one, her body aching for Damien’s touch but denying it to herself and falling asleep at some point.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  A sound woke her suddenly and she looked around in the dark, realising it was her phone. She reached for it.

  “Hello.”

  “Tara?”

  “Who is this?”

  “Brenton.”

  “Brenton?”

  She was still half asleep.

  “Tara, listen, Damien’s been rushed to hospital. He asked me to call you.”

  She shot upright in bed.

  “Is he ok? What’s happened? Is he alright Brenton?”

  “Just listen to me. He was shot. He’s going into surgery asap. He wants to see you before he goes in. Just get here as soon as you can.”

  “Is he going to make it? Oh my God, where is he?”

  Brenton gave her the address.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Is he going to be ok? I’m getting a cab, now.”

  “Just get here.”

  Throwing on her dress quickly, she grabbed her shoes and handbag, and throwing her phone into her bag she ran to the elevator barefoot.

  She was panic stricken. She tried calling Brenton back, she needed to know Damien was going to make it, she needed him to promise, but he wasn’t answering.

  He couldn’t die; she couldn’t be without him.

  She ran through the lobby downstairs and out onto the sidewalk.

  She looked around for a cab, running into the road to see if she could spot one, seeing one further down on the opposite side of the road and she ran across toward it.

  The hospital was in central D.C. At that time of night, it took only a few minutes to get there.

  On arriving she paid the driver quickly and ran into the hospital, going straight up to the desk, asking them to tell her where to find him, not listening properly to the directions the lady behind the desk gave her in her panic, and having to ask her to repeat them.

  She ran through the hospital into the Emergency department and searched the cubicles for Damien until she found him in a room at the end, with Brenton by his side.

  He looked barely conscious, blood all over his chest. They both saw her as she rushed in and she went to Damien immediately, reaching for his hand.

  “Can you talk?”

  He smiled at her. “Yes.”

  “Just.” Brenton added. “Save your strength Damien. He’s been shot in the chest, missing his heart by millimetres, thank God. He should have let them do it sooner but he refused, wanting to see you first.”

  She realised the job must have been in D.C. He must have been close when it had happened.

  “I’ll give you two some privacy, but they’re waiting to take you in Damien,” Brenton warned him, irritated with him for delaying things. The Doctors were outside, ready to take him into surgery.

  “I know.”

  Brenton shook his head as he left the room.

  “I needed to see you Tara; just in case.”

  “No, Damien. You’ll make it, you have to.”

  She felt him squeeze her hand though she knew it must hurt him.

  “I will. Don’t worry Tara. I want you. I always will. I need you to know that.”

  “Damien. I love you.” She bent to kiss his hand as he held onto hers. “I love you and you will be ok. I’m going to be here waiting for you.”

  Brenton was hovering in the doorway, pacing impatiently.

  “Damien, for God’s sake, come on.” He turned his head. “Doctors, please get this man out of here!”

  She leaned down and kissed his face softly.

  They entered the room, keen to proceed with the surgery, needing to see the damage the bullet had done internally and try to repair it as best as they could. The longer they delayed, the more internal bleeding could occur. At the very least he would need a transfusion.

  Tara stood back to let them take him away.

  “Damien, I’ll be here.”

  As they wheeled him out into
the corridor she watched them, panic stricken.

  Brenton put an arm around her shoulder. “Let’s go get some coffee. It’s going to be a long night.”

  He led her down the corridor to find the cafeteria. They had no idea how long Damien would be in surgery for, but neither of them would leave the hospital until they saw him again.

  Finding the cafeteria Brenton fetched them coffee from a machine as she sat at a table.

  It was around three am but there were other people in there, friends or relatives of others who were sick, their faces as gaunt as Tara’s.

  “Brenton, what happened? How badly is he hurt, inside?”

  “I wasn’t with him Tara. I don’t have the details and I couldn’t tell you if I did. Obviously it went wrong somehow. I don’t know what internal damage he has. It has probably punctured a lung at the least, given the location.”

  “He’s not going to die is he?”

  “No. He would have died there, if he hadn’t managed to get out of there. God knows how he did it with that injury, but fortunately the bullet went through him. If it had lodged inside him he’d probably be dead now. As long as he makes it through surgery he’ll be ok.”

  “Why wouldn’t he make it through surgery?”

  “Tara. I don’t know. I’m not a Doctor, but he’s lost a lot of blood.”

  Brenton ran his hands through his hair. He was supposed to be calming her but he was worried as hell.

  “How long will he be in there?”

  “I don’t know. We just have to wait. He’ll be ok.”

  Tara felt as though he was telling himself that, trying to convince himself as well as her. She said a silent prayer, please God don’t let him die. He was a good man, not a bad man; he didn’t deserve to die. He was a protector. She needed him. She loved him.

  “Why do you do it Brenton? The danger...”

  “It’s what we’re trained to do. It’s our job.”

  “Can’t you stop? You could die. Damien could die.”

  Brenton didn’t answer her.

  They sat in silence for a few moments, staring at each other, then staring at the walls, neither knowing what to do with themselves.