by Raquel Belle
She laughed again. “No. Physical blows aren’t the norm. And I wouldn’t call it abuse. Emotions have been running high lately, and I can never just shut up. I suffered the consequences of a loose tongue, I suppose.”
Damian sighed. “No one should ever put their hands on you. Except me, when we’re ... making love.”
“It’s making love now, is it?”
He was silent for a few seconds and then amusement gleamed in his eyes. “That is what you ladies like to hear, isn’t it?”
“So, that was purely to make me feel good?”
“Purely,” he said, bending to capture her mouth. In an instant, everything was forgotten. His troubled thoughts and emotions, the negative aftermath his actions would bring…were all swept away with that one kiss. Only he and Abby existed in their own small bubble for the time being. He wanted to get his fill of her in case, soon, he lost her for good. He managed to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach caused by his last thought and lost himself in Abby’s softness. Running his fingers through her now soaked tresses, he held her still so he could thoroughly explore her mouth until their breathing became ragged.
“Damian,” she whispered against his mouth, in that half sigh, half moan that he loved so much to hear…that never failed to send him into a lustful frenzy. He found her hips and easily lifted her. Her legs automatically wound around his waist, bringing her hot center up against his hard length.
“Hold on to me, Abby.”
Her arms wound around his shoulders, tightly.
He couldn’t wait another second to bury himself inside her warmth. He would have liked to take things slow, but it was impossible to control the burning need that always clawed at him when he was near her. He knew she was moist and ready for him. She always was. Surging forward, he let out a satisfied grunt. How was it possible to feel at home inside of someone? It felt so right to be with her, and the many times when he thought about it, he was nearly thrown into panic.
Damian buried his face between her neck and shoulders and soaked up the feeling of being inside of her without a barrier, something he never did with other women, and likely never would again. He’d done it more than once with Abby, and not once did he give a damn about the consequences. It seemed she didn’t either. He committed the incredible feeling of being surrounded by her to memory, as their wet skin slid against each other, creating an erotic friction.
Abby gasped and threw her head back, her arms and legs tightening around him. Her body speaking to him, telling him of her pleasure, that she was about to explode. He lifted his head just in time to catch the bliss careening across her face, as she shattered, shuddering against him. He didn’t want the moment to end but his body seemed to take control, moving faster and reaching for release. Her muscles clenching around him was too much, and he exploded with such intensity his knees weakened. It was a wonder he managed to hold them both upright as their unsteady breathing mingled.
“This is probably the best shower I’ve ever taken,” Abby said.
Damian smiled and dipped his head, the flash of regret in his eyes hidden in her hair. Perhaps he’d never have Abby like this in his shower again.
Chapter Eighteen
Abby
“Tell me why you hate my family so much, Damian.” Abby felt him stiffen beneath her so she rushed to explain. “I’m not fishing for information, I swear. I just want to hear your side of the story. I’m so tired of the hearsay.” She wanted it to end. The games, the deceit, everything. It was time to erase the stain from her soul caused by Celeste’s manipulations and her own stupidity and move on with her life, with or without Damian. Of course, she had a sinking feeling that it would be without because he would hate her once he found out what she’d been up to.
But she was done.
The opportunity to invade Damian’s privacy had presented itself when he’d been locked up in the bathroom for so long. The wretched laptop that he’d stared at most nights laid on his office desk but she’d only stood in the doorway and stared at it. She would find something there, she was positive. Elaina’s words had echoed in her mind. We all want Daddy’s company back …
Despite the revelation about Celeste, Abby wanted that, too, for her siblings’ sake. That desire, however, had been overridden by another desire—for Damian. She had a desire for whatever they had to be real and not some sick game that either of them was playing. So, she’d backed away from his office, resolved in her decision to forget about hurting him in any way, no matter if he was the ruthless monster most people claimed he was. Just as he’d stolen everything from her family, he’d also stolen her heart. She’d opted for joining him in the shower instead, to have him intimately close to her before she spilled her guts before she cleared her conscience and lost him forever.
Resting beside him with her head laid on his shoulder, she closed her eyes, “please, Damian. Tell me.”
He sighed, his tense muscles relaxing. “First tell me what happened to you this evening. You were in tears before I arrived at your place. I could tell.”
Abby’s eyes opened and she moaned. “Fine. I discovered that Celeste isn’t my real mother, and she isn’t Wyatt’s either. The story behind the entire mess is so unbelievable. It’s like something out of a ridiculous daytime drama.”
Damian tensed once again. “Oh?”
Abby lifted her head to give him a suspicious look and was taken aback by the obvious guilt on his handsome face. She didn’t understand why guilt would be present so she ignored it. “That’s all you’re going to say? Just oh? Aren’t you going to rejoice in the fact that the Aldridge family is as dysfunctional as families come?”
He cleared his throat lightly. “I would never rejoice in your pain, Abby. You seemed devastated earlier.” His eyes swept over her face. “You look much better now. Are you?”
“I guess,” she said. “I mean, after crying for hours and feeling as if my entire life was a big lie, I realized that maybe I’m better off with Celeste not being my mother.” She didn’t bother to add that she was disappointed in her father as well. “I’m still so hurt by everything I found out and everything she said to me. She was horrible. My biggest concern now is breaking the news to my brother. He doesn’t need the distraction while he’s at school.” Her relationship with Wyatt was still on the rocks but at least he accepted her calls. After she confessed her sins to Damian, the next step was repairing her relationship with her brother.
“You’ll be okay, Abby,” Damian said softly. He trailed a finger over her bruised cheek. “I should have Celeste’s fingers amputated for this,” he said absently.
“Please, don’t prove my theory that you are, or were, a mob boss.”
His brows shot up. “A mob boss?” Damian’s roar of laughter made her smile. “You certainly do have an active imagination, Abby. I’ve haven’t done anything illegal since I was seventeen.”
Abby froze. “What did you do?”
There was a brief moment of hesitation. “I wasn’t really arrested, just taken in by an officer for fighting.”
Intrigued Abby propped herself up on an elbow. She trailed a finger over the scar on his upper lip, the one that added to his tough guy demeanor. “Is that how you got this?”
“Yes, along with a broken nose. Mother was livid, but she calmed down a bit when she found out why I got into that fight. She did raise me to be a gentleman after all.”
The mention of the warm woman whom Abby liked quite a bit made her grin. She could picture the fiery Cuban lecturing a young Damian in rapid Spanish. “What were you fighting for?”
“A lady’s honor,” he said with a boyish grin. “I couldn’t very well stand by and watch a lady get harassed by a group of idiots.”
“You fought a group?”
He shrugged. “Hey, I was a hot-headed teen, I wasn’t big on logical thinking. And, I thought the girl was hot.”
Abby punched his arm playfully and he chuckled. “How noble of you.” Her smile faded as she held his gaze.
“But you would have fought to protect a girl even if you didn’t find her hot, wouldn’t you?” She knew he would. Getting to know Damian, the little she did know about him, she’d found him to be a good man. He was a walking contradiction to what Celeste and Elaina said about him.
“I would,” he said. “I hate bullies and people who think they can hurt whomever they want and get away with it.” The chill in his tone and the way his eyes became stormy made her shiver. Clearly, they were no longer talking about him fighting for a cute girl as a teenager.
Abby swallowed and slowly pulled away from him. Her heartbeat accelerated and her hands became clammy. She was about to lose Damian. “Is that what happened with your father? Did my father …?” She felt sick and couldn’t continue.
Damian’s eyes locked with hers. “Let’s not do this now. You’ve already been hit with bad news today.”
“It’s okay. I can take it. After the small insight into my parent’s relationship, I’m starting to see that maybe my father wasn’t the saint I thought he was. I really need to know, Damian.”
Reluctantly, he sat up. “I didn’t see this coming.” He laughed, but there wasn’t the slightest bit of humor in his eyes. “I never thought I’d ever be in bed with Caleb’s daughter dishing out his sins.” Damian seemed to turn into himself while Abby studied his vacant expression. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he said, more to himself than to her.
“What happened between our families?” she asked.
“Your father and mine were best friends. They worked together and were planning to start a business together. My father invested a lot of money, more than Caleb, into their startup venture. I was around eight at the time and I remember him working so hard and being so excited and hopeful about the better life he’d be able to give my mom and me. Your father stabbed him in the back, Abby. His best friend whom he trusted, who was often in our home.”
She pulled in an audible breath. “What did he do?”
“Caleb was taking part in a few unsavory business deals to push ahead, a fact my father was ignorant of. When things caught up to Caleb, he threw my father under the bus. It was my father’s company for the most part…at the time, having put up front most of the money and effort. Caleb had good ideas and he had vision, but handling the financial aspect of things wasn’t his strong-suit. My father’s name was on everything. He went down for fraud. There wasn’t much money to hire a good lawyer to prove his innocence. He’d drained his savings to start that business. Instead of Caleb coming forward, he took their business and went on as if nothing had happened, turning it into Aldridge Enterprises with the help of your conniving stepmother, Celeste, and a few others who’ve recently been shown the error of their ways.”
Damian ran his fingers through his hair. “I spent seven years without my father, watching my mother struggle, barely able to put food on the table while Caleb’s fortune amassed on the money and sweat of my father. When my father was free, he went to Caleb to get back what was owed to him, but Caleb didn’t have a conscience. My father was never the same again. He killed himself a year later. I think he was ashamed. He was a man who believed in providing for his family. But, with his record, he couldn’t get a job. When he couldn’t provide for us, he didn’t want to continue living. It was selfish of him and very weak. My mother and I were so happy to have him back, we weren’t thinking about what he couldn’t provide financially. I found him in the garage slumped over a table in a pool of blood with a gun in his hand. I was sixteen.”
“Oh, Damian,” Abby said. She clutched the sheet to her chest and stared at him in horror. “I ... I’m so sorry.” She winced. As if her apology was worth anything.
Damian shook his head as if shaking off the ghastly memory. “Do you see now, Abby? Why I detest your parents? I’m pretty sure it was Celeste who encouraged Caleb to let my father take the fall for his crime. That woman will step on anyone to stay rich and maintain her social status. That’s how some of the old-money types behave. She even came to our house and threatened my mother to stay away from Caleb. As I said, Caleb spent a lot of time with us. He and my mother were friends as well. But my mother doesn’t have a vengeful bone in her body. Her only thought was of me. I spent years taking down everyone who refused to help my father and prove his innocence, years planning and orchestrating until your father had nothing left. I knew his weaknesses and his careless nature when it came to money and his flashy wife. I stayed behind the scenes, while I commanded several institutions I’d gained power over to drain Caleb’s finances. I only showed my face when it was time to take the company that was rightfully my father’s away from him. That day, he knew exactly why he’d been destroyed and by whom.”
Slack-jawed, Abby continued to stare at Damian. Her heart pounded so hard that she could’ve sworn she could hear her blood rushing to her ears. How could her father have been so … evil? All along, the story had been flipped. It wasn’t Damian and his father who were the heartless villains. She believed Damian. Wholeheartedly. Regret for ever even having the slightest inclination to hurt him consumed and overwhelmed her in an instant.
“Go ahead, Abby, tell me what a merciless bastard I am.”
His dark eyes bore into hers. “No,” she said, “because you’re not. I don’t blame you for anything that you’ve done to my family. They deserve it. We deserve it.”
Damian blinked, his disbelief evident. “I definitely didn’t see that coming either.” He wiped a hand over his face. “You don’t deserve anything bad, Abby. Hell, you weren’t even born when your father did what he did.” He reached for her hand. “You’re innocent. You and your brother.”
His belief in her innocence hit her like a ton of bricks. Slowly, she edged further away from him. “Celeste did something else didn’t she? Something more than playing co-conspirator with my father.”
Hate gleamed in his already-cold eyes. “Celeste tried to do to me what was done to my father—send me to prison for false crimes. She assumed with all of her powerful family and friends that she could pull it off. If only she’d known that I owned those so-called powerful family and friends. One must be very thorough when going about destroying every indelible aspect of someone’s life,” he said. “Your father refused to go through with it, according to that rat-bastard lawyer, Henry Sullivan. It’s amazing how quickly some people will betray a friend when money is involved.”
Abby thought of Henry with pure vitriol. He really was a rat. It was also clear why Celeste had made the comment she had. If her father had listened to her and gotten Damian out of the way after he had bought the company, he would still be alive. That only showed how dense Celeste was. Falsified documents and claims would have been exposed eventually, and she was no match for Damian’s wit. A bittersweet swell of pride to her came out of nowhere. After everything that had been done to his family, he deserved to win. “And Elaina, why do you hate her?”
“Jesus, Abby, why are we doing this? Aren’t you satisfied with knowing the truth about your father?”
“I want to know everything. I need to know.”
He looked skyward and let out a frustrated grunt. “She tried to seduce me. Probably to find out something to use against me or to try to get me to go easy on the family. That’s still a mystery. I can bet it was Celeste who put her up to it. When I refused to even touch her, she spat threats of sullying my name with accusations of sexual assault. I suppose most people would believe the pretty socialite with the prominent name over a man from the other side of the tracks with a father who was deemed a criminal.” He shrugged. “The thing is…when a woman like Elaina shows up at your hotel room and you let her in, out of curiosity, of course, you press the record button on your phone …” Damian’s low chuckle filled the room. “The ego on that woman is something else. I’m guessing most men never say no to her. When I replayed her entire rant she was livid. Another plan orchestrated by an Aldridge failed.”
Abby let out a mirthless laugh and swept a hand through her hair.
She couldn’t deny that she was relieved Elaina and Damian hadn’t slept together, there mere thought of it had been driving her crazy. “Wow. This is all a lot to take in. You certainly are a mastermind, Damian.”
He cocked a brow. There was no air or expression of self-praise. “Money made things easy.”
“If you were as thorough as you claim, surely you knew about every buried secret my family had.” He hadn’t seemed all that surprised when she revealed Celeste wasn’t her mother. Abby waited for his answer with bated breath.
“I did.”
Her breath escaped in a whoosh. “You knew that Celeste wasn’t my biological mother all along?”
“No. I had no idea when we first met. That piece of information came along later.”
Nodding, Abby slid out of bed, still clutching the sheet to her front. She had to find her clothes and get the hell out of there, but first, she had to come clean. Damian moved to get up, and she held up a hand. “Please, just stay over there.”
He frowned but surprisingly, he acquiesced. “Abby, I know you’re hurt and angry, but we can work this out.”
“No we can’t,” she said, her eyes already filling with tears. “You’re going to hate me too.”
“No, you’re different. You’ve never …”
“I played you, Damian.” She dashed away a tear. “At least, I tried.” His confused expression made her confession so much harder. He truly believed she was innocent. “The night I showed up at your event, I was told to get your attention, get you into bed, and see what I could find to blackmail you.”
Slowly, his bewildered expression turned to a deeper frown. He gazed at her with blatant shock, and then, recovering with speed, his face became a stern mask. But, Abby would forever remember the way his expression had crumbled…before he became the man she’d met after their tête-à-tête on that balcony- guarded and aloof.