Page 17 of Deathless & Divided

“Didn’t think you were the marrying type, D.”

Damian chuckled dryly. “I’m not.”

“Then—”

“Dino,” Damian interjected simply.

Damian knew he didn’t have to say more and Tommas wouldn’t question him further on the statement. Tommas was aware that Damian had been indebted to Dino for a long time though the two men didn’t discuss it.

“Well, she’s pretty,” Tommas said.

Damian sighed. “Yeah.”

If being pretty was the only thing a girl needed to make her something special, then Damian had seen more than enough of those kinds of females in his life. He wasn’t interested in having another one. Lily was beautiful, though. Damian couldn’t deny that.

Her brown eyes sparkled, especially when she was animated about something. He noticed while watching her during the dinner and party that Lily didn’t smile a lot, for whatever reason. But when she did, her plump lips curved in the sexiest way. With high cheekbones, small features, and standing a good six inches shorter than him in her heels, she wasn’t exactly what he would call a common beauty.

No, she had classic beauty. Like an old black and white movie actress.

She was not the kind of girl he’d go for. He didn’t like the combative, stubborn type. He intended for his agreement with Dino about the marriage to be solely business. Damian owed Dino, this was what his friend demanded from him to pay it back, and Damian planned on following it through to the end. Every last bit of it.

Lily wasn’t the least bit afraid to show her emotions. In a world where everybody wore a mask, Damian liked genuine things.

“I think she might be feisty,” Damian said.

Tommas laughed lowly. “Trouble, you mean.”

“No, she’s not trouble.”

Lily, no matter how much time she spent away from the Outfit and its suffocating rules for the women in the family, knew how to behave. Damian kind of liked that, too. He wondered what it would take to get her to let loose.

“What does Theo think of this?” Tommas asked. “I know he’s fond of her. At least he always talks about her like she’s still a kid instead of a twenty-one-year-old woman.”

Damian shrugged. “What does Joel think about you fucking his little sister?”

Tommas choked on air. “What the hell, man?”

“Just saying, Tommy. I imagine Theo feels the same way about Lily being made to marry a man six years older than her, one she barely knows for the sake of business, as Joel feels regarding you and Abriella.”

“Joel doesn’t know about me and … yeah, he uh … nobody does, shit, I thought you didn’t.”

Damian scoffed under his breath. “Yeah, I know.”

“How?”

“You smell like that fucking shit she wears—perfume or whatever—when you come into the club first thing in the morning looking like you didn’t sleep all night. And I saw your car parked down the street from her parents’ one night when Terrance called about something and I had to head over there.”

Tommas cursed. “Have you told—”

“No,” Damian said quickly. “I won’t, either.”

“Should I say thanks or what?”

“No, but she’s eight years younger than you, Tommas, with a mob boss for a grandfather and a fucking idiot for an older brother. They’re looking at men for her and you’re not one of them. You should clean house of that nonsense before it becomes a habit you can’t break and she gets you killed.”

Guessing by the look on Tommas’ face, it was already a damned habit.

Perfect.