Page 104 of Tear Me Down
A part of me really wants to wake him up and try to convince him to take his pain medication, but I know he’ll never do it. He refused them, saying that if I couldn’t take them, then neither would he. Would that incredibly stubborn man really sit there in pain for weeks, just because he doesn’t want a reprieve from the physical turmoil?
Yes. Yes he would, and I know a part of it is because he feels that he deserves it. I don’t know how to turn this around—how to make him see that he doesn’t deserve this level of self-harm. Perhaps it will take time; or maybe he will be more ready once he finally gets to enact the revenge he’s been dying to execute.
“Do you think he’s going to be okay, Carter?” I turn my gaze to the front, staring at Carter as he drives. He quickly glances in the rearview mirror, sporting a questionable look before he looks back at the road.
“Sure, Ash. He’ll be fine,” he replies, obviously trying to hide the doubt in his voice, but I can see right through it.
“You don’t say that with much confidence,” I admit.
“To be honest? I think eventually he’ll be fine. I’ve known him for years, but I’ve never seen him afraid of anything until you were poisoned. When they attacked you two at Cut Me Down, he was pissed—normal Damien behavior. But when we heard him scream the day you were poisoned? That shit alone scared me, and then when you were taken? Tenfold. He’s strong, and he always comes back from whatever shit he’s dealt. This time it might just take a while,” he says solemnly.
I don’t respond, already thinking of ways to make this easier for us. Even after he kills Dranan, there’s more to come. The traffickers, Avery, Popov, it’s all still waiting for us. Dranan is only one part of a fucked up, five-piece puzzle, but Damien is so focused on him, that he isn’t seeing the rest of it yet. Hopefully, once his head is clear, we can come up with a strategy. One that doesn’t involve my brother being up my ass twenty-four seven.
“Is everything from that night cleaned up at the house?”
“Yep, and Alex and Zander are reconfiguring the security system while we’re at The Attic,” Carter says more confidently, and I cut him a confused look.
“We’re going to base?”
“Yeah? He didn’t tell you?” he teases, and I shake my head as I notice the grin spouting onto his features. “We have a stop before then as well. Damien’s orders.”
Okay, now he has me stumped.
“Are you sure? I could’ve sworn he said we were going home.”
“Don’t worry, Ash,” Serena chimes in. “Damien didn’t want to take you home until he handled Hugo. He wanted to make sure you felt safe. As for the other stop? I think you’ll like where we’re going,” she taunts.
“Okay, this whole gang-up thing is not happening. Since when does my best friend conspire with my fiancé?”
“Since it’s good for you.” She giggles and turns her attention back to the windshield. I don’t even realize my jaw has dropped until I start drooling. Serena.Mybest friend. The woman thathatesmy fiancé. Conspiring against me? She’s been abducted by aliens. Either that, or this isn’t really Damien, and she’s tricking me with his doppelgänger. That’s the only logical explanation.
Okay, that’s dramatic, but what the hell could they possibly be planning?
I turn my focus back to Damien and lean against him, resting my head on his shoulder carefully. He doesn’t budge, thankfully, and I endure the rest of the car ride, trying not to overthink things.
It takes only another hour for us to make it back into the city, and my confusion only grows as we drive into deep downtown. Surely they aren’t taking us to the barber shop, and my assumption is proven correct as we drive right past it.
“D?” Carter calls from the driver’s seat, waking Damien up almost instantly. There’s no haziness in his eyes as he jerks awake, immediately on alert, but then he settles once he grips my thigh lightly and peers out of the window. After a few seconds he looks at me and grins, while I meet his smirk with narrow eyes.
“What are you planning?” I try to sound upset, but I can’t keep the façade up for long, and I catch myself smiling back at him.
“I said soon, didn’t I?” he teases, and when I look back out the window, I watch as Carter pulls into the courthouse parking lot. A warmth drapes over me, and I look back at Damien just as Carter turns the car off. He takes my hand and brings it to his lips, planting the softest kiss I’ve ever witnessed from him. “Marry me. Right now, today. I don’t want to go another hour without you bearing my last name.”
This man really is never going to stop surprising me.
My bottom lip trembles, but I bite it back, not daring to cry yet.
“You are crazy, you know that?” We chuckle in unison, and I shake my head, directing my gaze back out of the window and purposely avoiding Carter and Serena’s lingering eyes from the front of the car. I finally look at him again, smiling wildly as I’m greeted with that infectious curve of his smirk. “Where are we going to find an officiant in an hour?” I giggle.
“I already have one, and you willneverguess who I got,” He taunts, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Knowing you, it’s the damn Pope.” He laughs and shakes his head.
“No, definitely not. I don’t want to catch fire before our vows.” I laugh wholeheartedly, completely missing the pain that should follow. His eyes are shining so brightly that it makes my knees weak, and his genuine, hopeful grin just won’t go away. He moves his hand to cup myface, and his features soften only a fraction as he brushes a strand of my hair behind my ear. “What do you say, Mrs. Hartley?”
Our entire future sparkles in his eyes. The ones that I’ll wake up to every morning, the ever-changing globes that will probably be passed down to our kids, and that stare at me with such endearment it could destroy kingdoms.
“I say my crazy matches yours,” I profess. His smirk bleeds into a full smile, and Carter and Ser practically jump out of the car, whooping and hollering like drunken teens. Damien gets out of the car and holds his hand out to help me up. As I take it, I look up at him, freezing in time as his eyes pin me to the seat.
