Page 38 of Ink Deep Devotion

There is something so haunting about his beauty that it has a sharp inhale filling my lungs. He’s as magnificent as a mountain rising high and standing so strong no element persuades him.

“Hi,” he greets me in a voice that feels like a dark silk sheet slipping past my ear.“I’m Damian.”

“And I’m Titan.” The other man says. My eyes snap to the blonde hair shining like a halo under the fluorescent lights of the hallway. If Damian is vast darkness lurking on the horizon, then Titan is a blinding light that makes my mind fuzzy. Blue eyes glimmer like fresh morning dew drops that washed away the sins of yesterday.

Their handsome faces are so startling that it takes me a moment to remember even the calmest of waters can still drown you.

What do they want from me?

“I don’t have sugar,” Why did I say that?“I don’t bake,” I add.

Dear lord, help me!

“We’re not here for sugar.”

“I...I don’t have anything to offer you, so if you don’t mind, I need to get to class.”

“You have a lot to offer,” Titan purrs.

“We’re Dash’s cousins.” Damian states.

My fingers curl into my palms, an action not missed by either of them. Damian steps forward into my room.“We just want to talk.” He holds up his hands, but his eyes remain where my nails are digging into my palm as if my skin were a string that could release a safety net for me to jump into.

Fear takes over, and I’m stumbling another step back into my room.

Damian jerks forward, the tip of his toes brushing mine. Whoosh! It feels like I was just sucked into a black hole. Moving away isn’t an option. His presence consumes me. His eyes work like a pelting knife, trying to open me up so he can see inside. Then his pupils dilate on my fist, still clutch tight. Too tight. I feel the pressure now as his eyes turn, pleading for me to uncurl my fingers and allow my flesh to breathe a sigh of relief.

A warm hand grabs my fist and uncoils my fingers before I can.“Please don’t hurt yourself.” He whispers with a haunting grief that flickers in his hooded eyes.

It’s the way he says it that makes me feel shame, covering me like a full-coverage foundation. I want to scratch it off, be natural.“He…he told you.” The words trickle out from my lips like a slow-moving river on the verge of collapsing as it withers away and sinks too deep into the soil.

Can the earth just swallow me?

Dash told his cousins I used to hurt myself.

How could he?

Did he tell them about last night? Am I the center of their morning gossip?

Now that I’m older, I know that what I did was foolish. Hell, I knew at the time I pressed the needle into the pads of my fingers. I just needed an escape, but I was too broken to find a healthy path to walk down.I took what looked like the easy path out. Those only end with you stuck stranded on the side of a cliff with no escape.

Until Dash.

How can the man who fixed me break me so badly?

“It wasn’t like that.” Damian states in haste, his grip on my hand turns caring as if he and I are childhood friends embracing each other.“Listen, this is coming out wrong. We’re here because we need you to know what you did to Dash.”

“He had no problem telling me last night!”

“I’m not referring to you and that other guy. We,” he glances at Titan, who blocks my door,“don’t blame you. I’m talking about how deeply Dash loves you. You kept him alive. You are the reason he survived, Mila.”

His words feel like claws tearing into my chest to rip my heart out. With each tear that falls from my eyes, Damian’s face grows more pained, as if my sorrow personally affects him.

A tug of my hand, still trapped in his, has my feet obeying and stepping closer.“Just leave me alone,” I plead, my eyes cast down on his combat boots. They remind me that he’s not a normal student; underneath, he’s a soldier, a monster just like Dash.

“I’m aware that Dash can be quite stubborn. He’s hardheaded. He clings to hate first, then slowly warms up.” Titan says gently.

“Please don’t give up on him.” Damian blurts out, grabbing a hold of my shoulders.“I know whatever you feel now is only going to get worse.”I don’t think I can survive worst, Damian. “Dash is upset, and it takes him a long time to go from boiling to simmering. Just please ignore him at this point, and when he’s cooled off, then talk to him.”

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