HOPE WIN

Wilona's P.O.V

I can't help the humorless chuckle I release, if he looked like a kicked puppy now he'd look mutilated when he found out what kind of assholes they were.

"You don't have to talk about it, banshee or not," Damon says, leaning forward and placing a supportive hand over my own.

I smile gratefully at the gesture and put the discussion to rest with relief.

It still confused me a little that Damon described his parents with obvious love that I could never even fake if I tried. Yet, he still sounded pained and tormented, still looked uncomfortable at the memory of them.

"Let's go for a walk," Damon says pulling himself from my lap and to his feet, stretching with a loud groan before turning and pulling me to my feet within an instant. "We can even take your stupid dog with us."

He tries to kiss me but I put my hand between us, chuckling a little when his features distort into a look of betrayal.

"You can't seriously expect kisses after insulting my dog yet again," I reply with a quirked eyebrow as he pulls me to him.

"Bgju she id sjug." He tries, his words coming out distorted against my hand. I remove it and he flashes me a thankful look before trying again. "I said, that she is stupid."

"Damon do you want me to call animal control on your rabbit because I fucking will." I threaten, snickering as he does at the use of my name as a word. It's something neither of us could seem to get over whenever it arose which was a lot.

"He's a bunny, first of all, a-"

"Same thing." I cut in.

"No, they're not," Damon argues before releasing a sigh. "I'm not going to argue with a human, lost cause. Let's just go for a walk."

"The sun is going to be coming down soon," I argue nervously, glancing to the window to see the afternoon sky still bright and deceptive. "I usually walk her in the morning, when it's bright out."

"I'll be with you," Damon replies encouraging, giving me a look that practically screamed for me to trust him as if he somehow knew the doubts I'd been having this past week.

"Okay." I agree begrudgingly, pushing down the alarm bells as far as I can.

He leans down and I don't hold myself back anymore, let the doubt go as I melt into him. Responding to his kiss with equal fever as I thank God for sending me someone so perfect.

--------

Damon's hand stays tightly clasped with mine as Sassy runs in front of us, her generous size big enough to intimidate the usual dogs she ignored. She seemed to like it though, growling low at any who even looked at her, when they cowered she held her head up and kept walking with evergrowing dignity.

My eyes keep track of the sky and the slowly descending sun, we weren't quite approaching sunset but we weren't far off either. But Damon knew that, that's why we chose to stop walking when we reached the town park, circling the area for Sassy to enjoy her brief reign over all the other dogs here. Every now and again Damon would pick up a stick and throw it for and every time she'd watch the stick fall before she kept walking at a leisurely pace.

"Never have I ever stolen something," I say and widen my eyes when Damon hums his guilt. "Like candy from a store?"

"Yeah sure when I was five." He says scratching at the back of his neck. "With age, the heists got grander."

"What exactly have you stole?" I exclaim but he swats me off before quickly sidestepping to something else.

"Never have I ever received nudes," Damon says and I hum making his eyes almost roll out his head, his grip on my hand tightening to the point of pain. "By who?"

"Guys," I answer with a shrug, honestly not knowing the name of a single one. "It happens when you're alone and single."

"Do you still get nudes from other men?" He asks, his voice low and dripping with annoyance.

"Well, I am still single," I reply before using his tactic to move to another question despite the answer being no. "Never have I ever done drugs."

When Damon doesn't hum I quirk a brow, slight surprise weighing in. It's not that I thought Damon did any crazy shit in his spare time, but the fact that he never did any at all was mildly surprising.

"Who do you think I am?" He exclaims when he sees my doubtful look. I laugh helplessly, making a motion of zipping my mouth up and tucking the key in my pocket. "You're the worst, no I have not done any drugs, ever."

I pull the key back out and unzip my lips, making a big show of taking a breath because I liked being over the top sometimes. Damon didn't mind, in fact, he seemed positively amused as he just laughed and shook his head.

"Never have I ever lied in never have I ever," Damon says before consequently humming the same moment I do. We both laugh, me toppling over a little while Damon covered his mouth.

"We should head back, it'll be dark soon," I say with a broad grin as I look up at the colorful sky.

"Damon."

We both look up at the new voice, laughing fading as a man stood in front of us. His skin seemed tanned in complexion but I couldn't make out anything else about him, the blurred image of him disabling me from examing him any further. He was tall, almost Damon's height but was much skinner, with layers of clothes that should weigh him down, but he stood tall defying them.

Something was wrong. He was panting as if he ran here, and he was staring in Damon's direction as if he held all the answers to something that'd chased him here. Damon suddenly tensed up as he locked his jaws together, any hint of the laughter that's been between us gone within an instant. I look back to the random guy just in time to find him studying me.

He looked to be taking me in, or so I assumed, I could tell by the slight, tilt of his head that I confused him. Questioning eyes that I could practically feel running over my skin as if peering into my soul. I rub Sassy for comfort feeling uncomfortable under his piercing gaze.

Then his eyes traveled down to our joined hands, I caught the moment his head shifted that way. That's when the real look of sheer surprise came out, as he stepped back. I couldn't tell if he was disgusted at what he was looking at and didn't really want to know. Confusion seemed to be the main emotion but before I could examine the emotion any further, Damon was pulling his hand away from mine.

I glance down at the action, body stilling with silent agony at the clear line he was drawing between what I knew us to be and what this guy knew him to be. I let my eyes pull to him, catching the look of guilt on his face before my blurred splotches of him covered my sight completely.

Cutting me out and leaving me feeling truly blind for the first time.

I look down, letting my empty fingers hang while the others clenched onto Sassy's fur desperately. Needing her warmth to fill the sudden cold that was rushing into me, filling the space that Damon had kept closely guarded until now.

He changed his mind.

"Don't fucking touch me, you btch!" Liam shouted as he pushed me away before coming at me with all rage and bruising fists. "I can't believe I let a piece of shit like you into my house." He spat before showering me with a never-ending cycle of pain.

"What are you doing here Mekhi?" Damon asks the guy who he was apparently familiar with. His voice void of the gentle caress I'd grown accustomed to, replaced with something cold and dark that I didn't like.

"I need to talk to you and it can't wait." The man replies breathlessly, his tone revealing just how frightful he really was.

When I'm sure I've concealed all of my hurt, I look back at this Mekhi, focusing on breathing rather than the sadness that was making itself known closely behind the barricade I was rebuilding.

"I can't talk right now, later," Damon says before turning to me but I don't look at him, I couldn't.

"Couldn't you just hide it, Wilona, now look what you've made happen." Mother cried as she clenched my hand in the hospital.

I wince slightly at mother's tone that rings through my mind, joining Liam's to pull me into a ring, facing a battle I had no hopes of winning.