Page 51 of Aine

Honestly, I’m just relieved he’s alive and standing. Especially considering just twenty minutes ago, he was begging me to take off his shoes.

Alex greets me with a wide smile, his expression happy despite the dark bags under his eyes. He looks like shit.

“Good morning!” He turns slightly to look over my body. “Jenna has ordered me to confirm you’re wearing sunscreen before allowing you to work.”

I grimace, embarrassed at having already forgotten to put it on. Jenna’s adamant I wear it, but it completely slipped my mind between moving into Damien’s house and my almost-murdering. Alex frowns as I admit I forgot, his hands meeting his hips as he evaluates my exposed arms.

My long sleeves are all dirty, and this t-shirt is the only garden appropriate thing I have left to wear. Damien has his laundry washed once a week, but I don’t have enough clothes to comfortably make it through. Especially since Freya took some of her things back during the move.

“I’m not excusing you if you get burnt again,” he warns.

I shrug, having figured as much.

Alex leads me to one of the back rows and shows me how to pick the ripe eggplants. It’s easy enough to do, and before I know it, I’m cruising my way through them. I continue to get distracted by the fighting beasts, my head snapping up every time I hear Damien shouting corrections.

He seems to take his training quite seriously, always yelling when the beasts do something wrong. Honestly, I think it’s a bit of an overkill. They’re already strong and could probably take down an entire human army without even breaking a sweat.

I wipe my forehead and neck with a quiet sigh. The sun is punishing today, and despite Alex’s promise not to excuse me from work, I might have to take off a bit early. I can already see redness spreading across my arms and have no doubt that by the end of the day, they’re going to be quite painful.

My lips purse as I begin to rush, hoping to finish the entirety of the row before asking to head out. There aren’t many people tasked with working in the gardens, and I don’t want to be the one person who doesn’t pull their weight.

“Aine.”

I freeze, sucking in a shaky breath before working up the courage to look up at Damien.

He grins, my jar of sunscreen held firmly in his hand. I stare at it in horror. This is the container Jenna gave me last night, meaning Damien went through the bag filled with sleeping medicine to get it.

“I went back to the house and got this for you,” he mumbles, holding the jar out for me to take. “You told Alex you forgot it.”

His kind actions have me suspicious, and I wait for him to comment on the contents in the bag before responding. He doesn’t say anything about it, though, his lack of response only worsening my fear.

Damien hums as he realizes I’m not going to take the sunscreen from him. With a snort, he tosses it toward me instead. It lands on the ground in front of my knees, and I stare at it with furrowed brows.

“I’ll wait here until you’ve put it on.”

I frown, glancing nervously between him and the jar. Has he done something to it? In an attempt to test it, I screw open the cap and sniff the contents. It smells normal and looks unchanged.

His eyebrow raises in response to my cautious actions.

“Would you like me to put some on my skin to prove it isn’t poisoned?” he asks, cocking his head to the side. “I believe we both know I’m not the one in this relationship who does that.”

My cheeks warm at his accusation, and I shake my head as I scoop out a glob of product. I suppose that answers my question on whether or not he realized what I’d done to his drink.

He’s going to punish me for that.

I’m tense as I spread the sunscreen on my arms and face. Each second feels like a year as I wait to see if I have some sort of reaction. I don’t trust Damien as far as I can throw him and wouldn’t be surprised if he mixed something painful in with the sunscreen.

After a minute or two, I feel myself start to relax.

Damien seems to sense it, too, as he chuckles and walks a circle around me. It feels threatening, but I know he won’t do anything with so many people around. He’s too desperate for everybody to perceive him as a good mate to hurt me in front of them.

“Let me put some on your back,” Damien offers.

I freeze as he ducks behind me, his body so close, I can feel his breath moving strands of my hair. His arm grazes mine as he reaches around and grabs the bottle out of my hand, and I can’t help but hate myself for the way my body enjoys it.

No matter what I do, I can’t seem to find it within myself to hate his touch. Even when he’s treating me like shit, a small part of me still enjoys the attention. It reminds me of how I felt when I first married Henry, the memory of how weak and naive I was filling me with rage.

Damien’s touch on my shoulders is gentle as he smears the cool cream to the exposed skin of my back. He’s efficient, not lingering in any one spot for too long, but I can just tell he’s finding enjoyment out of this. If not by touching me, then by watching me squirm.

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