Page 10 of Filthy and the Beast

My mouth feels strange. Warm.

I plant my feet, steady on the ground, and straighten my spine as my body screams in protest. Carefully, Damian steps back, keeping one hand on my side.

“You good?”

I thrust my chin at the cupboard. “Towel.”

“Right.” Damian spins to get me a proper bath towel. As he hands it off, he keeps his eyes conspicuously locked on mine, not down. “You know, for what it’s worth, nudity doesn't embarrass me.” I roughly wrap the towel around my midsection. “If you’re bad enough off you’re yowling in pain, I don’t care what you’re wearing. It’s a bit silly for modesty to get in the way of your recovery. You’re fun to look at, too. Tattoos and muscles and scars. What’s not to love?”

I’m huffing, my chest heavy as I try to process everything he’s saying.

Fun?

I finally gain a clear thought. “You fed the dogs breakfast?”

Entertained by me or some shit, Damian purses his lips. “Yes. And now I’m walking you back to your bed.”

I squint. “You’re not going into my bedroom.” Having someone in this wing of the house at all makes me anxious, and I keep my brow tight so he knows I mean it.

He rolls his eyes, totally unbothered. It’s infuriating and… infuriating.

Can’t even go have my private time at the lake right now, and he wants to take my bedroom sanctuary away from me, too?

“This is what I’m talking about.” Damian leans back on my bathroom sink. “You’ll probably prolong your injury even longer because you refuse to let me waddle your muscley butt safely to bed. Isn’t that a little silly?”

“I like my privacy.”

“Apparently. I hope you’re at least doing something interesting back there.” He studies me. “You won’t let me help? Fine. I’m watching, though.”

I growl. People never boss me, and I want my pain pills, so I growl.

Damian doesn’t budge.

I sigh. “From the end of the corridor. You can watch me from there.”

I can’t believe I’m standing here negotiating this.

“Deal.” Damian quickly steps out of the bathroom. “You’ll probably be glad to know you’ll have some actual privacy soon. My best friend Nico is making me dinner at his place on Tuesday, and then I have a date on Friday.”

I bristle. “Okay.” I start walking, each step slow, one hand fisting the gray towel in place around my waist. When I give the girls a nod, all three dogs scurry ahead into my room. “Fine.”

I shouldn't have any reaction. He can do what he wants with his time.

Dates. Whatever.

Fine.

Eyes on me, Damian lingers. “It’s like a date-date, but I won’t be out all night. He’s this guy a regular at the game café is trying to hook me up with. Celia—my friend from the game café—she says Caeleb would appreciate my sense of humor. And Caeleb is apparently super sweet and trustworthy. I think, since I haven’t tried to have a boyfriend in a long time, that sounds like it would be good for me.”

I try to shuffle faster.

He stops talking, maybe to get a breath, but when I look over my shoulder, he starts up again.

“That’s how I know I won’t be back late, since I’m not going to have sex with him. It’s kind of a new thing for me. I meet a lot of people who I don’t have sex with—that’s not strange. But usually, if I think I might have sex with someone, I just do it right away. Except I’m trying to build some more stability in my life now. I’ve been trying ever since Mr. Pearson, the guy who owned the game café, Pearson’s, decided he wanted something more from his life and closed it.”

My brain breaks. Everything Damian says sends me into an unreasonable emotional spiral. Instead of hollering at him to shut the fuck up, though, I’m grinding my molars and sweating and fighting like hell to play nice.

One hand on the wall, I stop making my aching way to the bedroom and look at Damian again. His head is tilted to the side, his eyebrows raised in slight concern. “That okay? If I have those nights off?”

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