“I love you so much, Damian Lawrence,” I whisper.
“And I love you so much, Sophia Reed.”
Chapter Forty
Damian
Sophie and I have been meeting at our special place for a few days. And it’s been the most amazing time of my life.
I’m smiling as I return home from one of our secret dates and park my bike in the lot. I feel like humming as I make my way to the apartment, twirling my keys between my fingers. Sophie said sneaking around would be a lot of fun, and she wasn’t wrong. I appreciated her so much, but now I appreciate our time together so, so much more.
She’s the love of my life and nothing will change that.
I enter my apartment and freeze when I spot Mom sitting on the living room couch. It’s not that strange for her to be home at this hour, especially now that she’s keeping tabs on me. What has me frozen is the expression on her face. It’s a mix of disappointment, frustration, and anger.
She slowly gets to her feet. “Where have you been, Damian?”
“Out.” I pass her to head to my room.
“Come back here.”
Letting out a grunt, I return to her and cross my arms over my chest.
“You were with Sophie, weren’t you?”
I tighten my arms, glaring at her.
“You purposely defied me,” she says. “I knew it was wrong to trust you, but I wanted to treat you like an adult. You’ve proven that you can’t be trusted. And because of that, Sophie will suffer.”
“You can’t stop us from being together.”
“Watch me.” She stalks out of the room.
I follow her. “Even if you kick her out of the school, we’ll still be together. You have no power over us.”
She whirls around. “No power? Did you forget who you’re talking to? I have the power to destroy her.”
I try to swallow the lump in my throat. “You wouldn’t.”
“I don’t want to, but it seems you left me with no choice.”
She turns around.
“What has she done to you? Why do you care who I go out with?”
She ignores me as she makes her way out of the room. I know she’s going to make phone calls or pull whatever strings she has to in order to ruin Sophie.
“Stop it! Just stop it!”
She faces me again. “Do as I say and nothing will happen.”
“I can’t believe you’d treat her like this after everything she’s done for you.”
Mom doesn’t say anything as she grabs her phone.
I inch closer to her. “I love her, Mom.”
She scoffs.
