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“Need a ride?”
His offer caught me totally off-guard. Despite his typical attitude, it actually sounded genuine.
I pointed to my car.
“I have a ride,” I said, opening the door. "I thought you wanted to challenge me to a race. I have no problem taking you on." I gave him a smirk.
Damian laughed, and I have to admit it was good to see him that playful after the intense session we just had. “That thing doesn’t look like it’ll get you very far, very fast. No offence,” Damian yelled through his open windows. Now that he couldn’t see me, I was free to roll my eyes.
I turned the key and…nothing.What?I was ready to pull my hair out. I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Damian smiling big, hanging out of his window, and giving me a playful wave.
Slowly, quietly, full of humiliation, I slid out of the car, locked the door, and closed it. I pulled my bag higher on my shoulder and walked over to Damian’s car.
He shrugged before slipping his sunglasses off.
“Offer still stands.” He had that usual snarky and mischievous smile that seemed to be plastered over his stupidly beautiful face.
I let out a deep breath, knowing my only chance at getting there on time was Damian. There was no way I could get a taxi or rideshare here in time, not to mention it would cost a fortune.
I quietly slipped into the passenger side of the car and took a deep breath, the smell of expensive leather slamming into my senses.
“Thank you,” I said simply, trying to play it cool. Damian’s low chuckle confirmed that he could see right through me.
“Okay, where to? Where do you live?” He asked, heading toward the exit of the parking lot. This car was definitely top-tier, but more in a functional way. I didn’t feel too out of place, even though this was my first time riding in such an expensive car. It was the perfect mix of comfort and luxury.
“I’m not going home yet. I have daycare pick up first – in Van Nuys. I’m running late.” He turned to look at me, shocked. I held my breath, knowing this was the first time I told him I had a child.
Would he remember now?I internally shook my head at the thought. If he hadn’t remembered me, he wasn’t going to remember me.
Damian turned and slid the car into traffic, focused on the road. His muscular arms were on full display as he drove. My eyes were unable to stop looking at his fingers and thinking about what they could do to me.
“You could have told me that you had to get back,” he said, his voice low. “I would have let you go earlier.”
His voice was almost inaudible, but I knew what I heard. I kept looking forward.
“So, you got a kid, huh?” Damian’s voice returned to his normal volume, though it was clear something about the situation distracted him. Weird.
I inhaled quietly, I really didn’t want to be talking with him about this because it opened up too much. But the cat was already out of the bag, and it would look strange to shut the conversation down.
“Y-yeah. She’s in preschool,” I said, picking at the cuticle on my thumb in anxiety. “Some days she’s in daycare after, some days my sister watches her.” Why was I giving him extra information?
“Ah, preschool,” Damian continued to drive north on the one-oh-one, traffic annoying as usual, but at least it was moving. The summer sun was sinking down toward the horizon, telling me I didn’t have long to make it to get to Luna. “I’m pretty sure I was already a menace by preschool.” I was surprised by Damian’s admission and his bark of laughter, almost as if he was lost in a memory. “I don’t remember much of then, but I do remember my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Howard. She would always complain about headaches wherever I was in a mood to stir some shit. Which was often.”
I assumed this was all just small talk, like he was passing the time by not letting awkward silence take over. But he continued talking, and so I just listened.
“By third grade, though, I discovered my love of music and I could channel some of that energy and actually start behaving.”
None of this was much of a revelation because he had told me all of this before. Five years ago, when we were still dating. I turned to the window and watched the scenery slowly slide by, trying to ignore the hurt starting in my heart. I didn’t want to feel this way. But Damian was sitting here, reminding me that he had completely forgotten about me. He’d forgotten about that part of his life.
And, damn, it hurt like hell.
How could he sit right next to me, like we did a million times in his old shitbox car, and talk to me about his life so nonchalantly? Like I was a stranger? It made me think of all the other girls in his life that he had mindlessly told about his life. I'm sure he left the part about me out.
How could he work so closely with me every day and not remember how it felt when we’d spend the whole day in bed, lost in one another?
How could he just…set me aside like that?
A painful rock sat in my throat. My eyes were stinging with unshed tears. And I blinked to keep them unshed.
