AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘But, like you said, it’s there between us. Always.’
Crossing his arms over his chest, he dug his hands into his underarms and a ripple of foreboding shot through her.
‘There are some things that I would like to tell you...to explain, if you’re willing to listen.’
Carrie was only used to seeing him in supreme control, assured and solid, so that witnessing him on a lower vibration was unsettling. But it was clear that whatever was on his mind troubled him, and she wouldn’t refuse him the opportunity to unburden himself. Nor would she deny herself the opportunity to maybe finally understand him better.
‘I’ll listen,’ she said, meeting his eyes properly for the first time since entering the kitchen and feeling the expected shiver slither through her.
Damon gestured to the patio. ‘Let’s sit outside.’
Carrie instantly tensed at the thought of taking the same places they had the previous night, but Damon led her to a more casual seating space that overlooked the pool and towards the mountains.
As they both sat he leant forward, legs splayed, elbows balanced on his knees and his head bowed, as if physically burdened by whatever he was on the point of revealing. The forlorn sight hollowed out her stomach, and with a fretful leap Carrie’s heart launched itself into her throat, its uneven beats escalating more the longer Damon went without speaking.
But whatever this was, she sensed that he needed to begin in his own time, when the right words came to him.
She only had to wait a few more minutes.
‘The day everything happened in Chicago...the day my father died,’ he began, looking down at the ground. ‘I was there.’
‘You were there?’ she repeated, floored by the confession.
How had she not known that? Since meeting Damon she’d scoured through everything she could find about the scandal, wanting to know it all, attempting to understand him.
‘Nothing I’ve ever read about that day said anything about you...’
‘My family kept it out of the press and convinced the authorities to do the same. They thought I’d been traumatised enough, witnessing it, without my name being in all the papers and having reporters clamouring for my story,’ he explained dully. ‘But I thought you had a right to know. And after last night, the way I reacted to the mention of your father, I wanted you to know. So you could understand why I...why I reacted the way I did. The way I always do.’
Her skin chilled as the truth sank in. He had been there. He’d watched his father die.
‘Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?’
‘I’ve never talked to anyone about it.’
Being lumped in with everyone else hurt, even though Carrie knew that the momentous shift of emotion she had experienced upon meeting him had only ever been one-sided. For him it had been a bolt of attraction that, once fulfilled, had quickly expired. Not life-changing, as it had been for her.
‘I never speak about that day. I rarely talk about my father. That night at the chateau with you was the first time in a long time I’ve spoken to anyone about him.’
The memory of that magical night made Carrie ache all over and she hugged her arms around herself.
‘All this time I’ve not really understood why you have so much anger towards him. But the fact that you were there, that you saw it—’
She broke off, pressing a hand to her mouth, incapable of saying anything more. She didn’t know what she could say. Her head was buzzing, her thoughts too.
He’d been there.
At last it all made sense. Damon finally made sense. His hatred, his anger. That one moment, so destructive and yet so pivotal. All her questions answered in that hidden truth.
‘It was awful. It was like a nightmare.’
He swallowed and looked off to the side, and when he drew a desperate breath it wasn’t to draw the conversation to an end, as Carrie had fully expected, but to resume sharing.
‘He would never have taken me with him if he’d thought there was any danger. He thought he’d smoothed over all the problems, that he could get everything back on track. It was meant to be a half-hour meeting and then he and I were going to spend the day together. He was going to take me to a ball game. But when we got there the crowds were already gathered. My father had security, and they tried to rush us in, but it was still chaos,’ he recalled with a wince. ‘The shouting, the protesting. The jeering. And then the firing. Just two shots. That was all. Everything went silent, like time stopped. And then it all came back into focus. I had been thrust to the floor. Everyone was screaming, bolting in different directions. I looked around for my father. He was lying on the floor, a few feet away from me. I thought he was okay... I started to crawl towards him, wondering why he wasn’t getting up...and then I saw the blood.’
Damon’s eyes swam, but his gaze was far off, back in that day. Carrie couldn’t move, could only listen, even though she knew how it ended.
‘All of his chest was red. I tried to stop it with my hands, but it was everywhere...pumping out of him. He said my name and reached out his hand for mine. He said “It’s okay. I love you.” I kept holding his hand. I didn’t take my eyes off him. But he was gone by the time the paramedics got there. And I was still holding his hand.’
