by KB Jacobs
I squared my shoulders, showing her I could be just as stubborn as her over this.
Finally, she shook her head and relented on one matter. “I’ll go talk to Virna.”
When the back door closed behind her, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket, pulling up Alex’s number.
“Hey, you,” she said softly when she answered.
Just like that, a shiver rolled down my spine. I wanted to see her again...soon. “I thought about your invitation, and I want to accept. I’d like to check out this movie theater.”
She drew in a little hiss of air like my answer surprised her. “Really? That’s awesome. I’ve got something I have to do tonight, but they’re doing a special, weeknight showing tomorrow night. I don’t think there will be many people there if you’d want to go then.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” Terrifying, but good.
“Excellent. It’s a date. Goodnight, Damian.” The line clicked of with the echo of my name on her lips sending goosebumps across my skin.
I closed my eyes. I had a date. It had been years. The last time I’d gone out on a date, I’d been whole and so happy. She’d been a gorgeous blonde—who actually looked a lot like Mackenzie. We’d received envious looks from both girls and guys as we walked around town for our date night.
But this would be different. Would Alex get glances of pity for going out with a guy who looked like me? The thought smashed any anticipation I’d been feeling to dust.
What was I doing? This had the possibility to be an epic disaster.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Alex
I stood outside the theater and watched the dismal crowd outside. A Tuesday night showing of Bring It On was hardly the social event of the season, but it made me sad to see such a small turnout. The last time I was here for a midnight showing of Titanic, I overheard the owners mentioning the possibility of shutting down. The building was as old as the town itself and in desperate need of repairs. They needed more patrons to afford the remodel and more current movies, but without the repairs and hot new releases, few people wanted to watch movies here. Most people drove the hour necessary to reach a real movie theater if they wanted to catch a new flick.
Still, the building had charm with an old-school marquee out front. The big, black letters announced the weekly show times. Plus, the popcorn couldn’t be beat. Even with the doors closed, the scent of butter, salt, and mystery seasoning seeped out onto the sidewalk and tempted my taste buds.
I scanned the sidewalk. Damian insisted he would meet me here even though we lived right next door to each other. It wasn’t worth pushing the issue, considering coming out here was a big step for him.
The theater doors opened, and the handful of high school students and one elderly couple made their way inside. I checked my phone, but there weren’t any messages from Damian. Had he decided not to come? Maybe suggesting driving separate was his way of getting out of our date.
I mean, I guess it was a date. I’d asked him, and he’d said yes, but...
A high-end mountain bike braked in front of me, nearly taking off my toes.
“Sorry,” Damian said, sliding off the bike and unclasping his helmet. He chained the bike to a lamppost and dusted off his hands. “I’m not great navigating sidewalks yet.”
I smiled, relieved that he wasn’t standing me up. “You know, I could have given you a ride.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I don’t really do the contained vehicle thing.”
“Oh, gosh.” Embarrassed heat flooded my neck. “Of course. You bike to work, but I just thought you enjoyed the exercise. I didn’t even think about the accident, and I can’t believe I—”
Damian held up a hand to mercifully cut off my rambling. “How about we forget about transportation and focus on amazing popcorn and your film debut.” He glanced up and down the empty sidewalk. “Did I already miss the press conference? I hope the paparazzi didn’t get too pushy.”
“Ha ha, very funny.” I took his offered arm and walked into the theater. “I’m beginning to regret telling you about that.”
“No way. That’s possibly one of the coolest stories ever. But you have to tell me. Did you have a big party when the movie came out?”
I paused in front of the tiny concession stand behind a trio of giggling teens. “That information is going to cost you a bag of popcorn. A big one. And I’m not sharing.”
Damian stepped to the counter and pulled out his wallet. “I need two of the biggest bags of popcorn you sell.” The popcorn girl turned to fill our bags, and Damian wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Now tell.”
I sighed, but it was only for show. Telling embarrassing stories was worth it to see Damian so relaxed out in public. “Fine. I went to the premier with my parents, and then we had a party at the Hilton with all the kids from my school.”
“And...”
“And it was cheerleader-themed with pompoms and megaphones everywhere. My dad had hired the UCLA cheerleaders to perform some routines, and he’d worked it out for me to join them in a cheer.”
“Yes.” Damian gave me a huge, satisfied grin as he took the giant popcorn bags from the worker and passed her a bill that more than covered it. “Keep the change.”
As we crossed the lobby, Damian stopped and gave me a pleading look. “Please tell me you have pictures of this party somewhere.”
“Um...we aren’t exactly a scrapbook kind of family.”
Damian winked at me. “There’s gotta be pictures somewhere, Alex. A man doesn’t rent out the Hilton for his baby girl’s film debut without hiring a photographer.”
I stole a handful of popcorn out of his bag. “I will neither confirm nor deny the existence of said pictures. However, if the pictures in question did exist, individuals would do well to leave them hidden from the public eye.”
“I guess I’ll just have to use my imagination.” Damian pushed through the crooked swinging doors leading into the actual theater. “Of course, now I’m going to spend the whole movie picturing you jumping around in a short, cheerleading skirt. Did you have one of those bows as big as your head?”
“Damian.” I walked to an empty seat right in the middle of the theater.
“Yep, you totally had a big bow. Probably little pom poms on your shoes, too. And glitter. No self-respecting cheerleader would be caught dead without glitter.”
“Okay, laugh it up, funny man. Maybe I need to go pay a visit to your mom.” I nudged his foot as he sat down next to me. “I bet she has a ton of precious stories about her sweet Damian growing up.”
Damian choked down a piece of popcorn. “Okay, truce. There’s no need to involve my mom in this.”
“Agreed. Truce.” I held out my hand, and he took it to shake, but instead of letting go, he pulled me closer so his mouth almost touched my ear.
“Can I just get a really quick ‘rah rah, sis boom bah’?”
“That’s it.” I pulled my hand away and gave him a devilish grin. “I’m going to make you pay for that.”
Damian’s eyes darkened as the lights went down and the screen came to life. He leaned closer and whispered in my ear, “Promises, promises.”
I swallowed down the lump in my throat as he sat back in his chair and laced his fingers through mine.
Heaven help me, but this was absolutely a real actual date. Because there were the butterflies dancing in my belly to the peppy, opening credit music. And my skin tingled where Damian’s thumb traced little circles on the back of my hand. Not to mention the heat flooding my neck, chest, and more southern locations.
But even if I still wasn’t one hundred percent certain, and all those little warning signs weren’t clear enough, one thing would make it perfectly clear that this was a date and that we were heading into dangerous emotional territory.
The hand holding mine was ridged and puckered.
Damian was touching me with his burned hand.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Damian
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We’d stayed through all the credits for the movie without discussion. It made sense with Alex’s background that she’d wait to see all the end credits roll by. Those people were her friends and family, and they deserved the acknowledgement of their work on the movie and the respect that came with waiting for that. When her name scrolled by, I squeezed her hand and kissed her temple.
The lights came up in the old auditorium. As we stood, I ignored the prickling on the back of my neck that told me someone was looking at me. There was still a family in the theater with us, and I didn’t want to see their pity or revulsion. Instead I looked at the old architectural details as we slowly walked down the aisle. “Do you know when this was built?”
The art deco details were worn but fantastic. There were even murals of family-oriented scenes—all scenes from the city park, including the old gazebo with a band playing and the old carousel—painted high on the ceiling with gilt moldings surrounding them.
“It’s gorgeous, right? I looked it up after the first time I came and couldn’t find the exact date, but it looks like it was built around 1912 to 1915, so it would have been a silent movie theater.”
Just like my renovated house in Denver. While I loved my house, it hurt my heart that it might have once had details like this that were now lost to the world.
Peeling plaster and the damaged velvet curtain at the sides of the stage showed where rain had leaked through the roof. The entire place had a tired, worn appearance. With a little TLC and a lot of money, it could be brought back to its former glory. That needed to happen soon, or the theater would fall too far down the road of disrepair.
Alex threaded her fingers through mine as we came out the door to the lobby, and I smiled at her. That being-watched feeling was still there, but I refused to let it hamper this night out with her. I just had to ignore it.
But then someone tugged at the hand on my burned side. I hissed in reaction just as a small voice spoke.
“Hey, mister.”
I looked down to a small elfin face scowling up at me. She couldn’t have been more than five or six with a small upturned nose, curly blonde hair, and a single shining blue eye. A red, sparkly eye patch covered her other eye. It matched the long flowing red cape she wore.
She continued to pull at my arm as her mom reprimanded her. “Livy, leave the man alone.”
“No, Momma.” She grabbed my hand with an even fiercer grip. “He needs our help. That’s what I do. You promised.”
I glanced at the mother who looked completely mortified as she gently rocked a small baby in her arms. Her husband touched her shoulder as a signal to let their daughter continue. There wasn’t going to be any help from that quarter.
So I gave in and squatted in front of the small girl. “Hi, Livy. I like your cape. What can I do for you?”
She reached up and softly touched my scars. I had to work hard not to flinch from her fingers.
She frowned. “Does it hurt?” Pure concern and empathy shone from that single eye.
“No, it happened a long time ago. It doesn’t really hurt anymore.”
Those small fingers of hers touched the edge of her eye patch. “Mine doesn’t hurt anymore, either, but people look at me weird.” Her little mouth turned down for a split second before she broke into a huge grin. “But my mom made me this.” She pointed at the patch. “And it helps.”
I tilted my head. “How does it help?”
“It sparkles.” She said it so matter-of-factly as if sparkles fixed everything in the world.
And maybe they did, because she was cuter than ever. “Aw, my mistake. I forget how important sparkles can be in life.”
She nodded sagely, and then she lifted up on tiptoes to kiss my scarred skin. “Never hide your sparkle,” she whispered and then skipped out the door with her mother chasing behind her.
Her father lagged behind and gave me an apologetic smile as I stood up. “Sorry about that, but thank you for humoring her. She’s had a hard time adjusting to the patch since she lost her eye.”
I stilled. “Lost her eye?” I’d assumed she wore the patch to correct a lazy eye like some kids did at that age.
“Yes, we had a puppy who didn’t take well to the baby crying. Livy got between the dog and the baby, protecting our son. That’s why she wears the cape. She’s our little heroine. Without her, I doubt our son would still be alive.”
I was stunned silent, but the father didn’t notice.
“But anyway, thanks.” He started to walk away but then stopped and turned back to me. “I know who you are. I’ve seen the articles about what the charity you run is doing for the brewery in Jimmy’s memory. I went to school with him. In fact, I had a beer with him after your first deployment. He talked about the legendary Double R and how many times you saved their asses over there.”
My gut clenched. Double R was the nickname the guys in the squad had given me. It stood for Richie Rich, because with all the perks my mom had managed to get for us, there’d been no hiding I came from money.
“Despite how that final deployment went,” the father said despite the emotional crack in his voice, “you were his hero, too. He’d lived several more years after that first deployment because you had served by his side and had saved his life many times. But eventually, even superheroes have an off day. She’s right. You deserve a cape. Don’t let the world dim that sparkle Jimmy saw in you.” He winked and swung his gaze to the empty door. “I have to go. Have a great night.”
I stood staring at the empty doorway. How could anyone consider me a hero when they’d all died?
“Are you okay?” Alex asked.
“Um, yeah.” Not even close. I shook myself. “We need to get out of here so they can clean up.”
We walked out the doors and then came the awkwardness of dating me...not that it hadn’t already turned incredibly awkward after that scene. She had a car to drive home. I had my bike. But maybe that was better. While I definitely wanted a replay of our sexy night, I wasn’t exactly in the correct headspace for that.
“You want to meet me at my place?” She looked up at me with a cautious gaze as if she couldn’t read my mood.
I couldn’t blame her there. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling, either. The only thing I knew was that I wanted to sink into her safe embrace, but she deserved better than what I could give her tonight. “Can I get a rain check? I think it might be better if I just went home alone.”
Her brows furrowed as she searched my face, but she nodded. “Sure.” Disappointment colored her voice, and I hated that I’d ruined our night.
“Thanks.” I kissed her, a quick meeting of lips that felt hollow and cold. “I had a good time tonight.”
She nodded silently. “Okay, well I guess I’ll see you at the brewery tomorrow.”
I made sure her car started, not that unreliability was probably an issue with her expensive Aston Martin. Dang, watching that piece of machinery surge out of the parking lot almost made me wish I could ride in it. Almost.
But what I really wanted was the presence of the girl by my side in the car, and I was letting her drive away. I was an idiot. I knew it before the red of her taillights faded off in the distance.
I berated myself the entire ride home. So when I turned onto our road, I guided my bike into her driveway, not mine. A light still glowed from inside, so hopefully she hadn’t already gone to bed. I knocked lightly on the door.
It opened almost like she’d been waiting for me.
“Damian.” Her voice was breathless with relief. She grabbed hold of my shirt and yanked me inside, wrapping her arms around my neck as I entered her house. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered into my ear as she kissed up the side of my neck.
“I’m sorry.” My voice turned husky at the touch of her lips on my skin. “I don’t know what I was thinking. There’s no place else I’d rather be. That scene at the theater just threw me off.”
Her eyes darkened as she leaned back to examine me. Then
she reached up and very methodically cupped the scarred skin of my face. “That little girl saw exactly what I see in you...a hero, a man who sparkles from the inside out.”
My throat grew tight, and I couldn’t speak, so I just leaned down and kissed her. It was automatic to want to argue. I wasn’t a hero. I was just a normal guy who’d been doing my job. Before that mission and then when my world went to hell. I’d just been trying to survive, praying without hope that my friends did, too.
I’d lost my hope that day and had never gotten it back.
Until Alex.
The same Alex took control of this situation tonight.
She shoved me back against the door, peeling off my jacket and then slowly unbuttoning my shirt, tracing her lips over the scars as she did so. She was slowly making love to the torn, ragged, broken parts of my skin.
Something inside me broke. The walls I’d built up were slowly coming down one kiss and caress at a time.
That skin was so damaged it was halfway numb, but that just seemed to make it more sensitive to her touch. Up until this point, she’d mostly stayed away from my scars, but now her lips and tongue traced over the skin, leaving ripples of awareness fanning out from her touch...all leading straight to my cock, hard and throbbing against the tight placket of my jeans.
My breathing ragged, my pulse rate skipped a beat every time she glanced up at me with her heart in her eyes. With her, it wasn’t pity I saw there as she became intimately familiar with every puckered line on my skin. It was something so much more...something powerful enough to steal my breath and replace it with something else—hope.
By the time she finished with me, I was stripped bare, both body and soul while she was still completely dressed. Nobody got to see me like this, not anymore. In fact, I even shied away from mirrors so I couldn’t see myself naked. But this one woman had taken all my walls away.
She skated her hands along my skin, cupping both the damaged and the undamaged parts of me.