Page 63 of Knight

“What the fuck do you mean ‘you can’t’?” Damien stands, fist banging on the counter. “So much for fucking loyalty, Johnson.”

“I’m in love with her.”

“You what?” I ask.

“You’re fucked,” Damien scoffs, his hands already in balls like he’s ready to wail again.

“Man, I knew you guys wouldn’t get it.” Isaac pushes off the counter, walking into the living room, hand to his head.

Damien calls him, “Get the fuck back here, Johnson!”

Rolling my eyes at Damien’s demand I follow Isaac onto one of the yellow sofas in the living room. He’s laying on his back, ice-pack against his head, eyes to the ceiling as he lets out a groan.

“You’re in love with her?” Taking my time, I sit down beside him, the stiff cushion in the sofa hardly moving under me. “Like, real love?”

“Yes, really.” He sounds annoyed.

“Hey, I’m just asking.” Leaning back, I cross my arms. “Because right now Marion doesn’t sound any different than Mr. Trout.”

Damien stands by the entrance, keeping himself back so he doesn’t go at it again. But he doesn’t look at Isaac the same way he looked at Zane or Luca. There’s a brothership there, something that makes Damien stop his mania.

“Because she is, Jo,” Isaac groans. He’s not ready to talk about it, and that I understand.

“When did this even start?” The question slips out anyway, curiosity getting the better of me.

“After the funeral.”

“What?!” Damien’s voice booms.

“I was only flirting with her to be a little shit, but when she returned it, there was no way in hell I was gonna say no,” he explains. Glancing at his friend, he leans up on the sofa, wincing. “But then she started spending time with me here. Hanging out. Making dinner. It was nice to have someone to come home to.”

“So you’re fucking my aunt because you have mommy issues?”

“Nah, dude!” Isaac’s fist hits the cushion. “I’m in love with Marion.”

That gets a scoffing snort from Damien, “Definitely not.” I shoot him a look but he doesn’t seem to care. “She can smell your dad’s platinum record dick from Paris.”

“What?” Isaac sits up, his long face tensing. “She’s not like that. It’s not like she’s from the fucking Gr—” I arch an eyebrow that Isaac seems to catch. At least it gets him to take a breath. “It’s not like she’s poor.”

“Did you even do your due diligence before you stuck your dick in a gold-digging whore?” Damien takes his phone out of his pocket, swiping on the screen before tossing it to Isaac. He catches it with ease, fortunately for his face. He looks at the screen while Damien continues, “She wants to take my dad’s company and move the operations to Paris. It’s all there. And she took my coin.”

“Where’d you get that?” I ask, Isaac leaning the phone to me so I can look at the screen with him. It’s a picture of a document detailing the plans Damien explained. Marion’s signature sits next to another I don’t recognize. Cindy’s is on there too.

“That’s where I went the night you chose to shack up with my best friend,” Damien says, his eyes boring into mine like he was hanging onto this ammo.

Fuck. Why does that make me feel bad?

Isaac takes a second to read whatever’s on the screen while Damien keeps talking, “She wants me out of the way so she can run my dad’s business into the ground. My business. And she’s manipulating you. Help me get her out of Eden and I won’t put my foot through your face.”

When Isaac hands the phone to me, Damien takes it out of my hand. “What are you gonna do?” Isaac groans, his back hitting the sofa again.

“Tell her to leave and if she does, you won’t tell everyone what’s been going on between you two.” It fires out like he’s thought this through.

“You want me to threaten her?”

“If that’s what you want to call it,” Damien says, kicking his boot up against the wall. “But she’s the one exploring criminal activity.”

“I’ll be eighteen in four months. I’m already an adult.”

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