Page 25 of Her Big Bad Mistake

Becky looked at Jacob. A time or two she had wished she’d fallen for him and not Damon, especially when she saw a magazine with Damon in it with a sexy blonde. “But I love Damon. You and Caleb are my friends and I love you like brothers, but from the start it’s always been Damon.” Becky looked over to see what Damon thought of her words. He wasn’t there. She saw him enter his house.

Closing her eyes, she turned back to Jacob. Opening her eyes, she sighed. “I’m sorry, Jacob. I hope you didn’t think I encouraged you. I truly didn’t mean to hurt you. I figured out a lot while I lay in hospital last night. I was scared. I ran because I started to see what your life was really like. I figured out who you were. I started to become unsure of myself. I questioned things I haven’t since I was younger.” Becky needed to find Damon and tell him all this. “I saw what my life could be like.” She left it at that. Becky needed to talk to Damon. She couldn’t run anymore.

She’d wandered through the house and her heart sped up as she walked into a big room with photos and trophies. Hanging on the wall was a picture of her and Damon with Belle and the Beast. Becky found Damon in the back of his house, in his backyard. Damon was surrounded by a group of guys. He had a bottle of vodka in one hand and each man had a shot glass. He caught her gaze and nodded, and poured the vodka in the shot glass he held with his other hand, and then filled his friends’ glasses. Damon stared at her for a moment, then one of the men said something and he raised his glass in salute to her and swallowed it.

Groaning when she realized she’d done this all wrong, Becky turned and went back inside. She’d made a mess of everything. Damon had taken what she’d said to Jacob wrong. She knew his history. She shouldn’t have said anything. She should have waited to talk to Damon first and told him why she ran. Going back to the room with their picture, she told herself she wasn’t running again, that she was giving time for Damon to cool down. Sitting on the black leather sofa, she sat there staring up at the photo.

* * * *

Becky didn’t know what time it was. She wasn’t sitting up anymore but lying on the sofa with a blanket over her and her shoes off. She remembered lying down and staring at the photo. She didn’t remember closing her eyes or putting a blanket over herself. Opening her eyes, she slowly sat up and stretched. Easing herself off the sofa, she stood and folded the blanket. She needed to find Damon. The house seemed quiet, too quiet. What happened to the barbeque?”

Padding around the house on bare feet, she froze when she heard voices. Sneaking closer to the voices, she listened.

“Imogene, how did you get in here? I sent everyone home. I’ve never brought you here. You need to leave.”

“Dammy, you don’t ever turn me down. Come on. I waited until everyone left so no one would know you’re with me. I don’t believe what everyone is saying. I know it’s a promo stunt, because they want you to act better.”

“Get your fucking hands off me, Imogene. All I’ve done for the past couple of months is turn you down. So get the fuck out of my house. I’m married.”

The woman giggled. “Dammy, you’re not the marrying type. I don’t see any wife. Why isn’t she in bed with you now?”

Becky gripped the wall and a sob escaped. How dare this woman come in and try to take her man. She was going to go in there and rip her apart. Damon was hers. She needed to make it known.

“Touch me again and, woman or not, I’ll break your wrist. My wife fell asleep on the sofa. I didn’t want to disturb her so I didn’t move her. So get the hell out of my house.”

“No. Come on, Dammy. I can make you want me. You always have.”

“Imogene, you’re nothing to me other than someone I used to fuck. I didn’t invite you into this house because I only let my friends and loved ones here and you are none of those. I don’t want you. The only woman I want I love. I love my wife. She is everything you’re not. See, she will be forever over my heart. You need to get the fuck out.”

Smiling as she reached for the door handle, Becky felt more secure with her place with Damon as she heard his responses. The door to the room opened as she turned the knob and she stumbled back as a shirtless Damon dragged the skinny, naked blonde out of the room. Becky stared stunned for a moment and then she saw Damon’s chest. “Damon.”

Damon’s eyes widened. “This is not what it looks like, angel. She let herself in here. I don’t know how she got in here. I promise.”

“I know.”

His mouth opened and shut a couple of times. Imogene yanked her hand from Damon’s hold. “You can’t be serious. No way did you marry this…this…” Imogene pointed to Becky.

“This what? This gorgeous woman?” Damon glared at Imogene.

Becky narrowed her eyes on the bitch before her. “Stay away from my husband.” Becky grabbed Imogene and dragged her down the hall. Imogene fought her, but Becky was pissed—she knew what she wanted and Becky wasn’t running this time. “Next time I see you I will call the cops on your arse. And I swear if I see you anywhere near my husband again the police won’t be able to find your body.”

Damon chuckled behind her and Imogene’s eyes widened as Damon opened the front door and Becky shoved her out. Then she slammed the door. Becky didn’t care Imogene was bare-arsed naked. “Show me every door and window. I want to make sure that bitch can’t get back in here.”

Damon’s eyes were alight with laugher as he nodded at her. “Sure thing, angel.” He gathered her to him and kissed her. She melted into him, letting herself go. When they pulled away they were both panting for breath. Damon held her hand and walked quickly around the house, checking all the doors and windows. When he was done he took her to the room he came out of with Imogene.

Entering the room, she was surprised. It wasn’t what she was expecting. In the middle of the room sat a large, king-sized bed. A dark wooden dresser sat against the wall with a picture of her above it. “You kept my photos? You put them up?”

“Yeah, I did. You are the first genuine woman I’ve been with in over fifteen years, Becky. You’re like a breath of fresh air. When I’m with you I feel light and happy. When you’re not driving me crazy I’m thinking how lucky I am to have a great woman. You’re always willing to help people like the boy at Disney, the couple at the restaurant and the lady who couldn’t pay for her groceries. You help without even expecting praise and thanks.” He laughed. “You didn’t let us pay. I remember you thinking that I must live on a budget as all I did for a job is play hockey. Even when we told you that we made damn good money you still paid your way and didn’t let us pay for you. The more time I spent with you, the more I fell for you. I knew you were, are, too good for me, but I’m selfish and I want you all to myself.”

She hugged herself and let everything she wanted to say out. “You think I’m this great woman? I’m not. I moved to America to teach for a couple of years because I could. I have no obligations. You know I’m not close to my mother, and I really only have my sister. My mother is always calling me flighty, she says I don’t like to stay in one spot and I never commit to anything.” She gave a hollow chuckle. “I finished the teacher course to prove her wrong. I’m glad I did. I love it, but I love the freedom it gives me. I have three months off over here when you have summer holidays. I planned to spend all my holidays being flighty, as my mother calls it. My sister thinks I could be a gypsy traveling the world. As for helping those people, I felt sorry for them. It’s only me I have to worry about. My money only pays for me. I don’t have a lot of expenses. I can help someone here or there. I know if I was in the same situation I’d wish someone would help me.” Becky sat on the bed. “I really wish I didn’t run. I regretted it almost as soon as I did it. You made me wish for the first time I could stay and settle down. I felt at home with you. I got scared with the feelings you make me feel.”

Damon came and pushed between her legs. “What did you have to be scared of?”

“When you weren’t there in the morning, I thought you’d left me. I thought you’d gotten what you wanted and left me. Then it came back to me and I got so scared. I’d had unprotected sex with you. I’d married you. Then all the women I’d seen you with flashed before me. My heart broke. I couldn’t face you. I couldn’t have you tell me it was all a mistake.” She trailed her hands up his chest, pausing to lovingly trace over the large letters across his chest. There was no denying what it said—Becky. It didn’t look like a new tattoo. “When?”

Damon looked down at her and shrugged. “When I got home. I was going to come after you. I realized you didn’t need me and my problems so I left you in peace, hoping you’d come to me when you were ready. I never thought you would. I did this…” Damon held her hands over his tat, “because I love you. When I see it, it reminds me of you.”

She choked back a sob, not believing what she was hearing. “You really love me?” He shrugged again. Becky hated it when he shrugged.

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