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He gave me a small smile. “Shit happened that changed me, Hayley.” I opened my mouth to ask him what happened to change him, but he just shook his head. “It’s a story for another day, baby girl.”
I nodded, trusting that he would tell me when he was ready. I allowed him to finish undressing me, watching his eyes as they darkened, and he sensually ran his eyes over me. My nipples hardened under his gaze, and he groaned softly.
He cupped one of my breasts in his hand, and I quietly moaned, softly crying his name out as he brushed the pad of his thumb over the hardened nub. He slowly slid his hand off me with a small shake of his head. “If I don’t stop, I’m going to fuck you hard and forget about this bath you need,” he warned me.
He gently slid my panties off me, managing to not hurt my leg. After lifting me into his arms, he carried me to the bathroom. “I’m going to ease you into the tub, but your injured leg needs to stay on the side of the tub so that it doesn’t get wet.”
I nodded. He set me on the side of the tub first, and after situating my leg so it wouldn’t get wet, he eased me down into the water. He took his towel off, and I bit my bottom lip, my eyes instantly going to his cock. Damien groaned, making me flick my eyes up to his face. His eyes were closed as he drew in a deep, calming breath.
“Looking at me like that doesn’t help me refrain from touching you, babe,” Damien told me, opening his eyes to meet mine.
I cast my eyes away from him and listened as he slid into the tub behind me. I sighed softly in contentment as he wrapped an arm around my torso under my breasts and pulled me back against him.
“I am sorry about what happened to Lacie,” he told me softly, pressing a kiss to my temple.
A wave of several different emotions ran through me, and I bit my lip to hold back the tears. “I always thought Drake was the one that hurt her,” I confessed in a whisper. “I always thought that he was the one who killed her.”
Damien sighed. “I believe that Drake did love Lacie very much,” he told me gently. “But if you ask me, he definitely could have done a better job at protecting her.”
My bottom lip trembled, and a tear slipped down my cheek. “She came to me for help,” I croaked. Another tear slipped down my cheek. “I could have protected her if I had tried harder.”
Damien pressed his lips against my temple again and held them there. “There’s nothing you could have done for her by that point,” Damien eased. “She was in a bad spot—a tight bind. The only people that could have helped her were people with connections. You didn’t have connections, Hayley,” he gently reminded me.
A sob ripped from my throat. “I miss her, Damien.” I sobbed, the tears now freely flowing down my cheeks. Damien tightened his arms around me. “I knew Drake was bad news, and he may not have killed her, but he got her caught up in bad stuff that did eventually kill her. I should have tried harder to protect her,” I cried.
“No, baby, don’t cry,” Damien begged, sounding pained. “Please, baby. You couldn’t have stopped her if Drake was what she really wanted. Plenty of people tried to warn you against me, remember?”
“But besides you and Lacie, I didn’t have anyone else,” I cried. “Nobody wanted me.”
“But Lacie knew the kind of shit I would get you into, baby girl, and you didn’t listen to her either. Lacie wouldn’t want you to beat yourself up like this. Please stop crying,” he begged me. “I hate seeing you cry.”
“It just really hurts,” I whimpered.
“I know, baby girl. I know,” Damien soothed.
Once I had expelled all my tears, Damien helped me bathe and wash my hair. After I was dry and in clean clothes, Damien carried me into the living room where he set me on the couch.
“Grilled cheese still one of your favorites?” Miles asked from the vicinity of the kitchen.
I released a bit of an incredulous laugh. “You remember that?” I asked, my voice showing my surprise.
“Duh,” Quinn said as he came in through the back door. “You begged for them numerous times after you got pregnant—"
"What?" Damien snapped, cutting Quinn off at the news of me being pregnant.
I squeezed my eyes shut, clenching my hands together in my lap. Damien had never known I was pregnant with his kid. I hadn’t found out until two days after he had been arrested, and a month and a half after I’d found out, I had miscarried from stress.
A day after that, I went and visited him to end everything.
“Why the fuck didn’t I know?” Damien demanded harshly. “Fucking open your eyes and look at me goddammit!” he roared at me.
I opened my eyes, swallowing hard as tears filled my eyes. Damien’s expression was torn between being furious and being hurt. “There wasn’t any point in telling you,” Miles interrupted as he came into the living room, coming to my rescue as he had always done when Damien and I were about to have a fight.
I snapped my eyes to Miles at the same time Damien did. “Why the fuck not?” Damien snarled, clenching his fists.
Miles sighed. “Damien, Hayley was under so much stress that the doctor told her it would be pretty much impossible for her to make it out of her first trimester. She miscarried a month and a half after she found out, and then she broke things off with you.”
Miles had been there. He always cuddled with me while I slept because I was so miserable, and he had been the first one—besides me—to see the blood, and he had been the one to take me to the hospital.
Damien sat down heavily on the couch and dropped his face into his hands. I stared down at my lap, forcing myself to hold in my tears. I wouldn’t cry.
It had happened four years ago. There was no point in crying over it again.
“I really did ruin you, didn’t I, darlin’?” Damien asked softly.
The tears flowed freely down my cheeks after that question.
