16 CHAPTER 16

Damien woke up from his dream with a little start that had him kicking out in shock. It was accompanied by the loud and rapid beating of his heart against his ribs. Whatever his dream was, it must have been terrible since he was covered in a cold sweat. He couldn't remember anything. His chest felt heavy and it was a little difficult for him to breathe.

It took him a while to calm his breathing and open his eyes. For the second time that day, he was shocked. It was too bright to be early in the morning. Jesus fuck, did he have any class today? Panic rose to his throat but he swallowed it back down. It doesn't matter for now.

In his half-asleep state, he looked up at the ceiling and the light-blue color that had hints of a darker blue calmed him down enough to realize that the reason why his chest felt heavy was because of Lie. Half of her body was covering his. She was almost lying down on top of him. Her right hand was fisted on his chest as she slept.

This would be the first time for him to wake up before she did. Usually, she was either up or was already gone whenever he woke up. What an honor it was to see her sleeping face.

He stared at her.

Her eyelashes were shorter and thinner than he had first assumed. No wonder she was so envious of his lashes. Her cheeks were rounded; almost squishy. Her hair was an explosion of curls and waves around her face, and he had to gently push the strands away from her beautiful face even when he smelled its fragrance. Her lips were slightly parted as she snored the day away. Looking past those, he could feel how her body almost perfectly fit his. It was warm and quite sticky. Her leg was thrown over his hips and it was the only thing that covered his manhood.

He frowned at that. Where did the blanket go? He scanned the bed but didn't find it anywhere. His eyes saw a picture of an owl on the floor beside him and saw the crumpled blanket there. He must have kicked it in his dream.

His eyes went back to her body and slowly scanned it. He winced at all the bruises and bite marks that covered her. Realization and memory dawned on him. Jesus fuck. What has he done? What the fuck did he do? He would have sat up if she wasn't sleeping so peacefully on his chest. His mind raced and his conscience beat him.

Logic and emotion had a huge fight and he couldn't do anything to stop them. This was madness! There was no excuse for such actions. He was a damn animal. He'd have whipped himself if he could.

He had gone totally crazy on her and her body had suffered. Her wrist had the marks of his fingers around them. Her shoulders and neck had bite marks that were so bad he could see where blood had dripped from them. Her back had numerous marks from his hands and from the impacts it had when he had slammed her back to the floor.

He gently moved from under her so he could see more of the damage he had done to her. This was unforgivable, to say the least. He will accept any and all consequences that would bud from this.

She only gave a slight moan when he gently pried her off of him. She shifted to lie on her back, making her as exposed as ever since her right leg was thrown over a pillow and her left leg was just laying straight on the bed.

If he hadn't been feeling guilty, he would have been aroused by it and would have awakened her with a cock buried inside her still moist center. However, the bruises on her thighs and legs, chest and belly, hips and arms, were no joking matter. Even her garden looked bruised.

She looked like she had been battered!

He gritted his teeth and picked up the blanket. He gently threw it over her nakedness before he dressed up and went to the kitchen to get some ice and food for her.

He found Jonathan and Aurelium/Gold in the kitchen. What was his name really? The King called him Aurelium but Lie called him Gold. Seeing his face just jolted his anger back to life.

He walked past the two men who were having a drink at the kitchen counter and went straight to the fridge to get ice quietly. But he remembered that he needed food for Lie too so he left the ice for now and proceeded to prepare some porridge for her.

"Anyone sick?" Jonathan asked before nodding at the porridge Damien was preparing.

"No one, really," Damien replied and continued cooking while also preparing for an omelet. He put the carton of milk and orange juice on a tray.

"You sure?" the other man asked. His aristocratic brows were raised by now.

"Look, I just want to prepare breakfast for Lie," he replied, frustrated by the two men. "So can I be left in peace?"

Maybe the two men got the message and Damien didn't hear anything again. He brought his overly filled tray up to Lie's room and sighed to see her still deeply asleep.

Looking back, he had carried her to bed at almost 1 in the morning, and even then, they continued their action on the bed until almost 5 or 6 am. A look at the clock on the bedside table showed him that it was actually 2 in the afternoon. Motherfucker. He shook his head and proceeded to tend to the woman.

Lie woke up from her slumber rather slowly and heavily. Her whole body seemed to weigh a ton more than she was used to. She tried to lift her arm but it won't budge. She tried to move her fingers. At least, they moved so paralysis was out of the question. What the hell happened yesterday that might have caused this?

"It's good that you're awake," Damien's voice pushed through her blurry and confused mind. "Let me just finish cleaning you up."

She felt the gentle touch of a cool towel on her forehead and saw his face over her. The memory came in a full-wave. The encounter with her grandfather, the moments in the washroom, the groundbreaking sex in the bathroom, and the finale on the bed. Those were what happened yesterday and it seems that her body had succumbed to something. Maybe fever or flu. She tried to speak and was thankful that she could. "Good morning…" she smiled up at Damien. "Can you help me up, please?"

Damien slid his left hand under her nape and gently lifted her head before he helped her to a sitting position with pillows on her back. "How do you feel?" he asked, thumbs fidgeting on his lap.

She looked down at herself and smiled to find that he had actually dressed her up with something soft and fragrant. She wanted to thank him for that but one look at him stopped her.

He looked so guilty that Lie couldn't help but feel sorry. Looking back to the day before, she remembered the moments in the washroom that led to their actions here too. She focused on the memory here in this room that could make or break their relationship and friendship.

He had looked guilty yesterday too while he was sitting on the bed. And when she asked him if he would join her, she had seen a glimpse of heat in his eyes. It had sent a shiver down her spine. She wasn't afraid of him. She knew that there was nothing to be afraid about. He had feelings for her. She's not yet sure what kind of feeling he had for her but she knew that it was enough for him to care for her.

She wasn't surprised at how rough he had handled her in the washroom. She knew that behind his calm demeanor, there was a wild animal just waiting to be provoked. That show in the washroom was just the tip of the iceberg. So when he had grabbed her at the door of the bathroom and said, "tell me if you want me to stop," she knew that she was in for the blast of that wild animal. It didn't scare her. It excited her. It was another proof that he was more than just sexually invested in their relationship.

Every movement she made had sent jolts of pain throughout her body but when he handled her once again, those pains were replaced with arousal. His kisses were much hotter and more possessive than ever before. His grabs and grips and pulls were harder and rougher too. Those were the roughest and hardest he had ever handled her with. But even through those, she had felt that there was something wrong with him.

When he stopped on the process of parting her lower lips with his thumbs, she had looked down at him, and she had seen the wince and the guilt. She just had to calm him down. Maybe he felt guilty for the marks but he shouldn't. She had wanted them. She would have told him to stop if she had wanted him to. She would have pushed him away if she didn't like being handled the way he had handled her. So she had reached down to touch his head and asked what was wrong before sitting on her heels in front of him. It couldn't be just the bruises. It seemed there was so much more there.

She had cupped his face gently to show him that she wasn't angry, to assure him that she was there for him. After all, he's still just a student. He's still younger than she was and she had to know what was going on in his mind if she wanted to understand him. "Tell me, Damien… I won't know if you won't tell me." To be honest, one part of her wanted him to tell her that he was jealous and that he wanted her all for himself. One part of her wished that he would tell her how much she meant to him.

"Nothing. It's nothing," he had replied instead.

It was such a disappointment but she kissed back when he pressed his lips against her pouty ones. She wanted to know the answers. She wanted to push for them but she also believed that people would open up once they were ready so she had wrapped her arms around his neck and mumbled, "If that's what you say."

It was usually a line she used towards Gannie if she wanted to pry answers from her twin. It was petty manipulation and it had always worked on Gannie and some of their brothers but Lie didn't expect it to work on Damien too.

He had gently pushed her away from him and gave her a look that jabbed at her conscience. Shit. She used the wrong words on this one. She was sure of that. She should have used different words than those. She had not intended to guilt him into answering. When he took a deep breath, she was sure he was going to tell her off on her bullshit.

"I was jealous," he had mumbled and her world had stopped revolving. All the voices in her head got quiet. All of her questions got answered.

"I know that I shouldn't be," he had continued and Lie was still speechless."He is your brother and I am not your boyfriend. I don't think I have any right to be jealous because you and I are just—"

She had stopped his words with her finger. She hadn't wanted him to overthink then. She had just wanted him to show her how much he wanted her. She had wanted to see how far his jealousy could bring him. She had just wanted him to think of her. Just her. No tomorrows, no yesterdays, no worries. Just her.

She had pressed her lips with his before capturing his lower lip. For some reason, it tasted incredibly sweet. She gave it a suck before letting it go with a pop. Her lips had curved at the thought of him being jealous. She had never thought that she was special enough to have someone getting jealous over her.

"What?" he had asked, his brows furrowing in the process. It had added to her excitement.

"Show me what you'd rather do to me now." Where the fuck had that come from? Why had she been cupping her breasts and giving them a squeeze as she looked at him? Gods… she had wanted him even more than before. "Show me how much you want me, Damien. Today, this body belongs to you without any question or protest. It belongs to you to use as you see fit."

And logic had been thrown out of the window last night.

She looked at Damien once again and smiled. "What's going on with you?" she asked, her hand covering his. Gosh, this kid really worries a lot, doesn't he?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go overboard. I should have controlled myself but I couldn't. I just…" he shook his head while rubbing his curly hair angrily. "I was just so fucking jealous I couldn't help it. And I'm sorry that your body had to suffer because of all of it."

She knew it was one of those times when she had to listen closely if she wanted to understand everything. She wanted to assure him that everything was alright but she also knew that he needed this moment to pour out his thoughts.

"I know that we're just sex friends. I understand that. I have no right to be jealous and to throw a damn tantrum just because you kissed a guy. I shouldn't be throwing hands or whatever. I shouldn't be hating people who might be interested in you. Besides, you explained that he's your brother. That should be that. But…" he paused and scratched his head hard. "But it's still bothering me that someone kissed you in front of me. I hate that. Maybe if I knew that he was your brother beforehand, I wouldn't have been bothered as much but that wasn't the case. I was already struck with a huge wave of jealousy before you explained it. And it's difficult to get over that."

Can he hear how much her heart was beating? It was possible that he could hear it coz it's so friggin loud that it was deafening.

When he turned those golden-brown eyes on her, her heart stopped.

"I don't know what I'm feeling towards you. I don't know if it's what they call love but it's there. It's not just lust. I have feelings for you and I'd like to explore them. I'd like to know how far and how deep they go. I'm leaving the decision to you, though."