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She stood there for a moment, waiting for me to say something, but I wasn’t sure what else there was to say. Truthfully, she made me uneasy. Something about her felt familiar even though I never allowed familiarity to be a part of my life. She smoothed her hands against her bare forearms and nodded once. “Okay, well, okay. Maybe we should talk and—”
I grimaced, feeling a knot in my stomach. “I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“For how I am?” It came out as a question even though it was meant to be a statement. I shook my head and brushed my thumb against my nose. “I’m sorry for making things uncomfortable. I, uh, I’m not used to living with people. I’m not used to biting my tongue. I’m not used to… this,” I said, gesturing around. “Interactions with someone like you.”
“Someone like me?”
“A good person.”
“I’m sorry you haven’t come across many good people in your life, Damian.”
“It’s okay.”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s not. But I understand. This whole situation is odd, so I get it.”
“It’s not just this situation,” I confessed. “I don’t do well.”
“With what?”
“Other humans.”
“Oh,” she said in understanding. “Well, people can be a bit overrated.”
“You love people.”
She laughed and shrugged. “For better or worse.”
The corner of my mouth twitched a little as I tried to pull my thoughts together. “I’ll do better, as I said with the vows. I’ll try to be better at not being the asshole that I am. I’m sorry I’m an asshole. I’m working on it. Just, please… Be patient with me.”
A softness found her brown eyes as she tilted her head to stare my way. Her mouth parted, and I traced the curves of her full, heart-shaped lips with my mind. It was amazingly easy for a human to set their stare on her and become fixated on her perfection. Stella looked like a piece of art that would be highlighted in the Louvre Museum.
Breathtaking.
Even when I was a dick toward her, a part of me noticed her remarkable existence. She didn’t know it, but sometimes it was hard simply being around her beauty.
“You’re not an asshole, Damian,” she whispered, her voice dripping with a kindness I wasn’t certain I deserved. “You just have asshole tendencies.”
I chuckled a little.
Her eyes lit up.
I stopped my laughter.
Her eyes dimmed.
“I wished that stayed longer,” she mentioned, speaking of my laughter.
I didn’t have enough nerve to tell her that I wished it had, too.
“I’ll let you get back to work, but please, Damian, truly,” she said as she walked away, “get a weekly massage. You’ll sleep better.”
“What makes you think I don’t sleep well?”
She smiled once, a very knowing smile, and then went on her way.
After she left the space, the room felt darker.
