Keeping Her Safe

Damon was having a good time with his best friend Carlos when his phone rang all of a sudden.

"What?" he breathed into the call. The truth was that Damon wasn't in the mood for any of his mother's lectures this afternoon. 

"I need you at the hotel" Mother dearest ordered like the commander she was. 

"What for?" He was having so/much fun with Carlos right now.

"You'll know when you come…," she was still saying when Damon hung up on her. 

What was that witch up to this time?  The last time they had a normal conversation, she ended up setting him on what was his worst date in the history of his "singlehood".

"She may be that special one, you know?" Was her usual excuse and that marked the end of a normal conversation between them.

"I should go," Damon said to Carlos and he nodded approval barely taking his eyes off his phone. 

Carlos was addicted to social media and the time they hung out, didn't haven't take his eyes off his cell phone. He was chatting with some babe he met on Facebook and soon enough Damon became his adviser which hasn't happened in centuries. Carlos is usually the adviser while he's the receiver of that advice.

"Bye then," Damon said, grabbing his jacket off his sofa and was about to head for the door when he heard "wait". 

A what-in-the-world-are-you-doing expression appeared on his face, and  turned to face him  with a "What now?"

"She asking about my hobby?" Carlos asked, looking at him as if he was some sort of wise sage that had all the answers in the world to his questions.  

"I hate it when I'm the one giving the advice" He moaned in irritation while Carlos rolled his eyes comically. 

"Just come up with one," the boy went ahead to give him his puppy look. 

Unfortunately, that didn't work on Damon. He threw his hand up in exhaustion, "Just tell the girl your hobby, what's so hard about that?" Damon couldn't understand his friend sometimes. 

But Carlos gave him a deadpanned expression " Dude, I don't even have a hobby that doesn't involve having a cutie on my bed," Carlos reminded him, causing Damon to mentally facepalm.  Speaking of which, how did this casanova even become his best friend?

I shrugged "At least that's a hobby ..."

"Normal people don't engage in," Carlos interrupted with a glare as if he was responsible for his predicament. Well, he sucked at the advice department

Damon shrugged, "Just tell her shopping then"

"Do guys even love shopping?" He retorted with hands flying in his direction

"The rich guys?" Damon grinned at him. 

"Fine, just get your ass out of here, you're of no use to me at the moment " Carlos dismissed him with a wave.

Although he cheered silently, Damon still feigned a pained expression, "Ouch, that hurts," He had his hand across his chest. 

Carlos's glare intensified. 

"Fine, see you around, baby, " Damon intentionally taunted Carlos, scurrying off before he kicked his ass out by himself. 

Thankfully, there was no traffic on his way so he arrived at the hotel in a little time. Some of the workers who knew Damon greeted him as he passed by, he smiled back in return. That's common courtesy, baby.

He stepped into the elevator and pressed for the tenth floor. His mother's office was located around there just a few passages away from the kitchen

"You came?" Damon's mother awkwardly welcomed him as soon as he stepped in.

"And you called. Why?" Damon asked, staring at the armchair facing her desk, contemplating sitting or not. He didn't trust this woman one bit. 

"Do I need a reason to call my son?" She asked, giving him an innocent smile but Damon knew better than to trust that expression. 

"Not when you have ulterior motives behind every calls" He retorted staring her in the eye but she cut the contact promptly

"Damon," She breathed, "I want us to talk, mother and son with no fight or argument "

"Fine, what do you want to talk about?"

"Not with you standing. Take a seat, Damon," she gestured to him and he obeyed, but without taking his eyes off her. She had something up her sleeve, he can feel it

"Now, talk turkey," Damon was all business. 

His mother licked her lower lips and began, "I know we haven't had a good relationship recently but I want to make changes… " Interlocking her fingers, she pressed it on the desk, "I wasn't a good mother enough for you or your brother, I was just interested in helping you both break the curse that I didn't notice my kids were hurting inside"

Damon stared at her not getting why she was bringing up this stuff now. There was something absolutely weird, why would she invite him to her office just to say this? 

He stood abruptly "Mom, you know what? Let's discuss this at home"

She stood as well,  "No wait, Damon" his mother called out before the door snapped open and a tall slim unfamiliar brunette stepped in muttering "Hi Damon"

Horrified to the marrow, Damon turned with excruciating slowness to face his mom. He had an expression of sheer  disbelief, he got fooled again

"She makes good company Damon and she's extremely humble" She gave him her pathetic excuse again. 

Damon turned to leave but she grabbed his arm, "She may be able to break your cur - "

"Don't!" He hissed furiously, cutting off the rest of her words, "You. Ever. Touch. Me. Again" he warned threateningly, yet her grip on his arm didn't loosen at all.

She stared him in the eye saying desperately, "Don't give up your chance of living. This could be it, Damon. Just this once. I know you can do that "

Damon stared at her hard for a while and watched her tension ease before flashing her a grim smile "Then I guess you never knew me at all"

Jerking her hand away, he strode out of her office without even giving her a side glance. How could she do that to him? Damon could sense his heart shredding into pieces, was she that desperate to help him break the curse that she didn't care for his feelings?

Frustrated, he headed to the elevator and saw an available one almost closing up. He ran and put his hand in the way, tearing it open but didn't expect the figure already there. 

Damon couldn't respond, what was she doing here? He was almost close to suspecting she was following him until he recalled her mother worked here - the star chef. First his mother, now her. The universe is set on ruining his day​​​​​​​.

He contemplated leaving the elevator for her but all elevators leading to the lobby were occupied. Moreover, why should he leave the elevator for her? He didn't do anything wrong and it seems he was too hurt by her action that day she no longer means anything to him. 

So, Damon stepped in, looking ahead with an indifferent look. The tension in the air was thick, and he could feel the nervousness reeking off her. At least she was remorseful. But it was too late. 

Suddenly, Damon heard her mutter "Hey, I -" but he interrupted her by stuffing his ears with my earbuds, not wanting to listen to whatever she has to offer. His mom just fooled him, he doesn't think he could take her fooling me as well.

Damon was so engrossed in his thought that he didn't notice the elevator stop with a heavy quake. Was there a glitch in the system? Well, it will be repaired soon anyway. 

However, he did notice Red shaking and looking around as if searching for a means of escape. What a drama queen? Maybe she was doing this to grasp his attention. Hard try. 

He looked away uninterestedly, knowing it was a minor malfunction and would be repaired right away. However, her sudden gasping caught his attention.

Damon watched Red in confusion as her leg gave out. She held her heart gasping for breath and shaking terribly. Was this still acting because it was getting surprisingly real? Red was raving incomprehensible words and he knew at once something was wrong.

God, you'd regret this. 

Damon knew that yet pulled her into a hug anyway, rubbing her back while his other hand gently raked through her hair as he said, "Don't be scared, I'm here. You're safe with me, " 

The funny thing was that at that moment, Damon couldn't even remember why he was mad at all in the first place. All that mattered was keeping her safe. Yes, keeping her safe