Page 70 of Curse of Immortality
“Did you pay him to punch you?” she asked.
Damon tried to keep his cool and put on his flirty smile that usually worked so well with ladies. “Nooo,” he assured her and tried to be smooth. “I’m talented like that.”
“I think you’re talented at lying in general. It probably comes with being a Fader.”
Her words triggered him because one thing Damon hated was lies. He was forced to pretend with Charles for survival, and there were situations where his lack of aging required him to lie as well. But other than that Damon preferred the truth. “You lie too, Althea.”
She pulled back a little.
“Don’t pretend like you’re perfect because you’re an Earthen. You lie all the time.”
“I have never once lied!” Althea lied.
Damon’s eyes widened in shock as he put a gentle fist on the table and laid out the facts. “How many times have you told people that Annabel was your mother, and later grandmother, when you weren’t blood-related at all? And what about all the lies you tell to make hopeful men stop coming on to you? You even have a fake wedding ring.”
Blinking her eyes, Althea breathed, “How do you know that?”
“I told you I couldn’t forget you.” With a small shrug, Damon admitted, “I checked in on you from time to time. Just to make sure that you were comfortable.”
“You spied on me?”
“It wasn’t like that. I wanted to be close to you, but I knew you would reject me if I approached you in my normal body.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Damon scratched his thick, dark locks of hair as he was beginning to see that his strategy of declaring his interest was going astray. “Ehm… it means that I sometimes spend some time with you in a different form.”
Althea raised her eyebrows with a hard glare and asked, “Like a bird?”
He looked to the side, avoiding her gaze. “Yes. Or a fox.”
Althea’s eyes grew large. “Did I ever talk to you?”
Damon tried to calm her by looking deep into her eyes and staying relaxed himself. “Sometimes.”
Remembering talking to a fox at one point, Althea’s voice shook a little when she asked, “Were you there when I bathed?”
He could see color rise in her cheeks, and hurried to say, “Look, Althea, I’ve been around for more than two hundred years. I assure you that I’m very familiar with the female physique and I’m used to…” He didn’t get to finish before she stood up.
“I don’t care how many women you’ve been with. I never chose to show myself to you and yet you’ve seen every part of me.” Her voice was raised, which made a few of the tipsy men who were singing quiet down and look their way.
“What was I supposed to do?” Damon whisper-hissed.
“How about respecting my privacy?”
She tried to get up but once again, Damon touched her arm and asked, “I’m sorry. Please don’t go. How can I make it up to you? What if…” Damon threw out the first thing he could think of. “Would it make you feel better if I let you see me naked?”
Althea’s first instinct was to say no, but then she looked around the busy inn and thought about his offer. It seemed childish, but she liked the idea of humiliating him in front of everyone in the tavern and maybe even throwing away his clothes and leaving him stark naked. “Actually, yes. I think it would make me feel better.” Holding out her hand, she looked him dead in the eye. “Give me your jacket.”
First Damon smirked, but when he saw how serious Althea’s face was, his smile dropped, and he leaned closer. “I was thinking we could go someplace private… and I promise I will make it up to you.”
His handsome brown eyes sending her flirtatious signals made Althea want to gag. Everything about Damon and his arrogant face made her want to roll her eyes. “If you think I’m going anywhere alone with you then you’re delusional.” She leaned in, so that their faces were only a head apart, and then she spoke with grit in her teeth. “If you want to make it up to me then you’ll get undressed right here and give me the satisfaction of seeing you humiliated.”
Damon hesitated for a moment. In his mind he cursed Charles for giving him this assignment to begin with. But knowing that failure wasn’t an option he began to unbutton his jacket and took it off. When Althea reached for it, Damon pulled the jacket back and reached into the left pocket. “I’ll just keep this,” he said and put Charles’ compass on the table.
“Now the rest of it,” Althea ordered.
Scrunching his nose up, Damon scanned the room. “You’re really going to make me strip in front of all these people?”
