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“I want to believe that. I want to believe there’s something good in me that you see. But...”
“But what?” she prompts when I trail off.
“But I’m scared,” the words tumble out before I can stop them. “Scared of being too much darkness or not enough light for you.” My hands shake slightly, revealing more of my vulnerability than I intended.
“Damien, we’ve both got our baggage,” she says gently. “Yours isn’t going to scare me away.”
I’m not used to this—someone wanting to carry some of the weight for me. It feels foreign but, at the same time, comforting.
“I don’t know about that.”
She sits forward suddenly, a smirk turning the corners of her mouth up wickedly. “So you think about us being together?”
The fact that this conversation went in that direction hadn’t even pinged my usually carefully maintained radar. I return the half-smile and sit tentatively on the bed with her. “Yeah. Is that okay?”
“It is.” Her words are hesitant and offer no insight into what she is thinking beyond her thinking it’s okay for me to want her.
I’m left feeling exposed, like a raw nerve. In the quiet, Ever shifts closer. Her hand is warm as it brushes against my arm, a light touch that feels like it’s searing straight through to my bones. This time, I don’t jerk away. I can’t move; I don’t want to.
“Your demons are strong, but you’re stronger, and you have me now,” she says softly, and there’s no pity in her eyes, just this fierce kind of understanding that knocks me breathless.
I swallow hard, struggling to maintain the walls I’ve painstakingly built over the years. But her fingers tracing invisible lines over my skin are dismantling them, piece by piece. There’s an ache in my chest, but it’s a different kind, one that spreads warmth instead of cold.
The room around us seems to retreat into shadows, leaving us in our own little world where herempathy lights up the dark corners of my soul. It’s terrifying and electrifying, this closeness, this shared solitude that wraps around us, binding us in ways I’ve never experienced.
The air between us is alive, buzzing with something unspoken yet understood. “You make it seem possible to be less fucked up.”
Our eyes lock, and the world falls away. It’s just me and Ever now, every other thought pushed aside. Her hand is still on my arm, her touch a steady anchor in the storm she’s stirred inside me.
“Damien,” she breathes out my name, and it’s like a key turning in a lock.
I lean closer, drawn by some force I can’t fight. Our lips brush, hesitant at first. Then, something ignites a spark I’ve never felt before, spreading through me like wildfire. This isn’t just a kiss; it’s a fucking revelation.
Time loses meaning as we melt into each other, our bodies pressed close in silence. There’s no need for words; everything is said in the pressure of her lips against mine, in the way her breath mingles with mine, in the way our tongues dance together perfectly. We’re lost in this moment, two people finding a strange solace during chaos.
The intensity of our connection is like nothing I’ve ever known, and in this stolen second, I’m not the intense, dark, almost weird guy or the Baron of Mere, not the enigma—just Damien, raw and real.
My hands slide down to Ever’s waist. I pull her closer; the touch is soft but firm, betraying apossessiveness that surprises her. She gasps into my mouth as I hold her even closer.
Desire mixes with an exposed vulnerability as we cling to each other, our kiss deepening into something that stirs the darkness into a frenzy. It’s pleasure and pain all rolled into one, and I want to hurt her at the same time as soothe her. I want to drag the blade that has tasted my blood across her delicate skin and kiss the wounds better. I want to know what it feels like to make her bleed while I lick her tears away.
“Damien,” Ever whispers against my lips, her voice a thread of sound in the quiet room. Her words are a spark in the dry tinder of my restraint, and something inside me snaps.
“Ever. We need to stop.” The taste of her, the press of her body against mine, is all-consuming, intoxicating.
A warning bell rings too loudly in my head. The cams. The sect. My jagged soul. Everything we are trying to achieve. This is dangerous, too fast, too much—but the feel of her in my arms, the scent of her hair, and the undeniable pull that draws me deeper into the whirlwind is screaming over the top of all of it. I’m not sure I’m strong enough to resist.
“Yeah,” she murmurs, breathless.
We separate; my gaze is locked on Ever’s green eyes, deep pools reflecting an unspoken bond that now threads between us, tangible and fierce. I see my chaos mirrored there, understood and accepted.
“Ever,” I start, the confession clawing its way up from the depths of my soul. “I’ve never been withanyone. I’ve never felt close enough to anyone to take that step.” My words hang in the silence, heavy with truth. Her eyes widen slightly, not with judgment but with a kind of reverence that sends a shiver down my spine. I’m frozen, my confession out in the open like some fragile thing that might shatter any second. But Ever just looks at me with those enthralling eyes, and I swear they’re not just one colour but a whole damn spectrum.
“I’ve never been with anyone either.” Her cheeks flush a soft pink, and it’s like a punch to the gut because it means something.
I want to tell her I already know, but that would be heading down an already weird path.
“Really?” The word slips out, rough around the edges.
