Chapter 3 Growing Tension

Hailey

Time drifted as we placed our orders and the dishes arrived, the waiter attending to us. Damien Black seemed preoccupied, his attention split between his phone, intermittent calls, and three glasses of wine that adorned the table by the end of our lunch. He barely spared a glance in my direction, yet I found myself stealing looks at him, sizing him up every now and then.

And the conclusion was infuriatingly clear-he was flawless.

Throughout the meal, I'd been desperately searching for imperfections. Why, I couldn't quite fathom. Perhaps it was a feeble attempt to convince myself that he was human, fallible, or maybe-more plausibly-the reason I refused to acknowledge: to give myself cause to deny...liking him.

I didn't know why I wanted to dislike him. But I just wanted to. Real bad.

This whole situation was fucked up, and I was acutely aware of it. But awareness did little to guide my actions.

I was not naive. I knew my stuff. I knew when I was attracted to a man and right now, the man before me, I was attracted to him in ways I couldn't fathom. To the point that I could imagine him when fingering myself-well, call me shameless but that's what I felt. He truly had the kind of face girls would love to imagine between their thighs.

"Well, Damien, Madison, and I are planning to take a drive. Could you possibly drop Hailey off at the apartment on your way to the office?"

Coby's announcement caught me off guard, nearly causing me to choke on my food. I shot wide-eyed looks at him and then at Mom.

"What?"

"You never let her in on the plan in advance, do you?" Coby chuckled, glancing at Mom as he stood up.

"If I had told her, she wouldn't have come," Mom chuckled too, rising from her seat. So, this was their ploy? They'd ordered lightly for themselves, scheming to bond with my newly discovered older brother of seven years?

Shit! This was messed up. I couldn't bear to meet his fucking gaze, let alone share a car ride with him.

Tugging at Mom's dress , I shook my head in a silent plea to dissuade her. Damien noticed, yet he chose to remain silent.

What was he thinking? He'd been ominously quiet throughout lunch, and I could only imagine the tension building during the impending car ride.

"Damien, honey, do you have time? I don't want to cause any trouble for you. If you're too busy, Coby and I can drop her off before we head out," my mother said.

Given Damien's preoccupation with a string of important phone calls since the beginning, I anticipated a polite refusal. However, to my surprise, he nodded. "Sure, I can drive her home. It's no problem."

A smile spread across my mom's face at his response. "Thank you, honey, and I apologize for the trouble."

"Great! Then Madison and I will head off," Coby announced, patting Damien's back, whose unexpected gaze had locked onto me, unyielding. Mom leaned in and placed a kiss on my cheek.

"Finish your lunch and then head out, alright?"

"I can just take a cab. He seems busy anyway," I stammered, desperately trying to avoid this unwanted journey home.

"Cab? No way," Coby intervened firmly. "Damien has already offered. It's not a big deal. You don't need to worry, Hailey."

"B-but..."

"Do you not want to share a car with me, Bunny?" Damien's voice interrupted, seemingly unaffected by our parents standing nearby. "Or is there someone else you'd rather be with?"

His words now hung in the air, charged with an unexpected intensity. My heart raced, caught off-guard by his directness, his gaze piercing through my defenses.

My cheeks burned red.

This jerk.....

Why did he have to say that before both Coby and Mom?

"No! It's not like that. I just..." My attempt at coherence faltered as I struggled to articulate the truth. I didn't want to share a car with him, but admitting that outright was out of the question. His towering figure, rippling muscles, and simply his presence hinted at an effortless ability to throw me off of this fifteenth floor and the thought sent shivers down my spine.

"So, it's a boyfriend thing," a sly smirk played on his lips.

"No! It's not that. At all," I blurted out.

God. It truly wasn't about having a boyfriend....because I never had one. Well, I had a few flings, few kisses and makeout but nothing more that.

"So, what is it then?" He arched an eyebrow, folding his arms across his chest, his smirk a constant fixture on his face.

This man was devilishly clever, a different breed altogether. A type of devil I hadn't known existed till now at this very moment as I watched him.

So, devils could exist beneath human skin. And Damien was one of them.

"Hailey has never been in a relationship, Damien," my mom intervened, chuckling lightly. "I can assure you, it's not that. She's just a bit nervous, but she'll take the ride, won't you, Hailey?" Her stare communicated a clear message-don't mess this up.

Was she genuinely expecting me to foster a good connection with this demon? He was too captivating to be real and too intimidating to handle. I didn't want to be in his presence, let alone share a car ride without damping my panties.

But fuck! What option did I have? I was screwed.

"Fine, I'll go with him," I finally let out a defeated sigh.

I mean there was no point in arguing cause I literally had no fucking options left.

"Good," Mom's smile mirrored Coby's as they bid us goodbyes and disappeared from view.

Now, it was just Damien and me.

Our eyes locked, and I felt my breath catch.

"Um...shall we go?" I ventured, breaking the silence that hung between us.

"Your mom instructed you to finish your lunch," came his straightforward response.

"I'm full."

"You don't appear full, and you've hardly eaten anything. So, cut the act and finish your lunch, Bunny."

What was with that nickname? Did I resemble a bunny? No chance. I gave myself more credit than that.

"Don't call me that..." I murmured under my breath.

"Why not? It suits you," he chuckled softly, his voice carrying a husky undertone that sent a shiver down my spine, threatening to raise goosebumps on my skin, "By the way....Do I really make you nervous, Hailey?" My request to refrain from using the nickname suddenly felt like a terrible mistake.

I never would've asked him to call me by my name if I knew it would sound like that.

Fuck! I really needed to get a hold of myself.

"Not at all," I stammered, attempting to deflect, "My mom just said nonsense. I'm not nervous."

"Okay then. Finish your lunch," he shrugged, surprising me with his quick agreement. I observed as he returned to his phone, engrossed in his own affairs.

Deciding to keep to myself, I focused on my lunch, attempting to ignore the persistent flicker of nerves dancing within me.