Clarrisa's POV

"Why do you want to know?" He finally breaks the silence.

I inhale his scent once more, and I listen to his sharp intake of breath. "I just want to know," I answered.

I want to know because it would mean so much to me if it bothered you to see me with him. Again, I don’t say those words out loud for him to hear. I say it in my mind and hope that one day I will have the courage to tell him the truth.

"Ares Prince. A known womanizer. Brother of Carter Prince, someone I’m not very fond of for obvious reasons. I wasn’t upset with you, but I was upset about the situation. He’s the last person I want to see you with," he answers. "He’s not good enough for you, Clarissa. He’s an ass. He plays with the hearts of so many females, pretends to be interested in them, and moves on to another the moment that they fall in love with him. It’s all a game for him. It’s sick."

It wasn’t the exact answer that I was hoping for, but it still made my heart skip a beat.

"Out of curiosity, who do you think is good enough for me?" I ask. I wanted to ask as many questions today, I didn’t want this conversation to stop.

I knew he would never say the name I wanted him to, but I was still hoping that he would.

"So far," he whispers. "Fucking no one. You’re too good for all the men around you." I gasp. I couldn’t believe he’d actually said that.

"Don’t you think you’re setting your expectations too high?" I ask. "If you keep thinking that way, I’m not going to end up with anyone."

He growls, and I gasp as I feel the vibration from his chest on my body, "I only want the best for you. I will not let you settle for less than you deserve."

"Damon," I whisper.

"Yes, Clarissa," he answered.

I don’t know how he’s always so gentle and patient with me, but it’s part of the reason I was so deeply in love with him.

"You’re the only reason why I stayed," I whispered.

His body goes entirely still next to mine. He doesn’t respond immediately, but I feel the tension in his body. I wanted to kiss it away.

"What do you mean by that?" He finally asks.

"You stayed because of me? That doesn’t make any sense. When were you planning on leaving to begin with?"

I take a deep breath. I’ve never told him these things before. Damon and I have always been close, but there are so many things that I’ve kept from him. I don’t know where I’m getting the strength to finally tell him some of these things.

"When your family adopted me. I didn’t want to be here. I wasn’t sure that I would fit in. You were all so rich and different from what I was accustomed to. The constant bullying at the academy didn’t help either. But you, you made everything better; you made me experience true happiness. I’m happiest when I’m next to you." I confess. "I wanted to leave but the moment I saw you, the moment you protected me, the moment you fought for me, all of those times, you made me want to stay, just for you."

It wasn’t the full confession that I wanted to make, but it was the safer option for now. There’s another pause, and once more I wondered if I’d said too much.

"You’re being very honest tonight." He points out in a strange tone of voice.

I was expecting him to say more than that. Again, I was disappointed. What did I expect from him? Was I expecting him to say that I did the same for him? Did I want him to tell me that I made his life happier as he did mine?

"You’re suddenly quiet." He notes. "Did I say something to upset you?"

"No," I answered him. "It’s just that you had very little to say after I opened my heart to you."

"Clarissa," he sighs. "Isn’t it obvious that you’ve also been a big part of my life? Do I need to say it? I’ve never been this protective of another woman except for Anya. And she’s my mate; that’s expected from me. You, you’re not even my blood, but yet I would kill for you. I would lay down my life for you. Does that make you feel better?" I shake my head. "No. It does not."

My heart says otherwise, however. It wasn’t the confession I wanted from him, but it was better than nothing. I knew he would lay down his life for me. I knew he was very protective of me. Hearing him say it did give me butterflies in my stomach, however. At the same time, it terrified me. I didn’t want him to ever choose my life over his.

"I don’t ever want you to lay down your life for me, Damon," I add. "You need to stay alive, no matter what."

He chuckles, "luckily, most of the danger has left us for now. We don’t need to worry about anything crazy happening for a while. That means you don’t have to worry about me laying down my life for you, and I don’t have to worry about some crazy witch trying to kill you, either."

I didn’t want to think about the crazy witch and what she’d almost accomplished. I had to distract myself and Damon was the best distraction.

"This is nice," I say with a contented sigh. "I wish we could do this every night. Just you and me in your bed, talking."

Touching. Kissing. Making love.

"As lovely as that sounds, Clarissa, it’s just not practical." He answers me. "It can cause too many problems that neither of us needs."

He’s wrong. Those are the kind of problems I would happily accept.

"I wish—" I pause to yawn, and Damon pulls the sheets around me.

"It’s time for you to go back to sleep," he says before I can continue. "You’re tired, and if you have that nightmare again, I’m right here with you to keep you safe."

I wanted to continue our conversation, but I knew that it was useless at this point. I’d already gotten more than I’d ever hoped for. I could be content with this, at least for now. Maybe later, I could convince him to allow me in here for another time. I’m sure the nightmare trick would work again.

I snuggle closer against his chest and smile as I listen to the loud pounding of his heart. It’s the last thing I remember before sleep engulfed me.

"Damon!"

"Open the door!"

"DAMON!"

I frown as I try to figure out why someone is shouting Damon’s name so early in the morning. I blink once as I felt a warm body shift next to mine.

I slowly open my eyes, and I gasp when I find Damon next to me. It takes my mind a while to catch up to the view in front of me.

Last night wasn’t a dream. It had actually happened. I’d slept in the same bed as Damon and it was the best night of my life! Sleeping next to him in his bed has always been a dream of mine and it was finally a reality. This was crazy. I try to remain calm despite the excitement in my heart.

"DAMON!"

I gasp once more. Damon’s eyes which were just closed, slowly opened. He looks at me next to him and runs a hand down his face as he realizes the mess we were both in.

"Fvck," he growls.

We were in trouble. Plenty trouble.

"Damon, why the hell aren’t you opening the door?" Atticus demands.

"He can’t find you inside here," Damon mumbles more to himself than to me. I was aware of that. But what could we do?

"Get on top of me," he tells me.

"If you don’t open this door in the next minute, I’m breaking it down!" Atticus threatens him. What was so important that he was this impatient?

I climbed on top of Damon, so my legs were on either side of his waist, and my head was lying on his chest. He pulled the cover over my head to look like it was just him on the bed. His sheets were thick enough to keep me hidden without anyone being suspicious.

He pressed the button next to his bed that unlocked the door without him having to get up.

"Fvck Atticus!" Damon shouts. "Can’t I sleep in peace?"

The door flew open then, and everything went silent for a few seconds. I’m scared that Atticus would somehow know that I was here.

"Why did you take so long?" he demands. "And since when do you lock your door at night?"

I shifted a little to make myself more comfortable, and Damon hissed under his breath.

My eyes widen when I felt something hard between my legs.

Surely that couldn’t be what I thought it was? I couldn’t be that huge. I could feel my heart begin to race, and I didn’t try to move again after that. I stayed completely still, but that also meant I was directly on top of it. I could feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment.

I’ve heard about this. His body wasn’t reacting because of me, he’d just woken up, and that was the only reason why.

"Why is your face so fvcking red?" Atticus asks.

Damon growls, "can you tell me why you came here to wake me up from sleep?"

His face was red. Because of me? I try not to smile underneath the sheets. His sheets.

In his bed top of him. On top of Damon for the first time in my life. And it feels so good.

It would feel even better if there was nothing between us.

"I can’t find Clarissa anywhere," he tells him.

"She left the party early last night. We all thought she’d gone to her room, but when Autumn looked for her today, she couldn’t find her. It’s very unusual. I’m worried, the last person she was seen with last night was Ares Prince, and you know we don’t have the best relationship with his brother. I was hoping you’d know where to find her. Maybe she told you where she was going since she’s closest to you."

Damon’s body goes entirely still beneath mine. I feel him swallow before he says, "she left earlier this morning."

"To go where?" he asks. "We don’t have to go to the academy today."

"To the beach. With some friends," he lies.

"The beach?" Atticus asks. "With friends? And you believed her?"

"Why wouldn’t I believe her?" Damon asks him.

"Clarissa barely has any friends from the academy. She spends most of her time with us."

Wow. Did he have to make me sound so pathetic? I didn’t need any new friends, the ones that I had were enough for me. Besides, Autumn was the best, and it was even better now that she was married to Atticus. I didn’t need anyone else.

She was both a friend and family to me.

"She has a few," Damon disagrees. "Not plenty, but they’re there."

"Do you want to head down there to ensure that she’s telling the truth?" he asks. "I don’t trust Ares. He’s Carter’s brother. I wouldn’t want her sneaking out to meet him. Those two seemed a little too close for my liking last night. Did you see the way Ares looked at her? Like she was his next target. I’ll much prefer that he stays far away from her as possible."

I could feel the anger radiating off Damon’s chest at his words.

"You don’t have to worry about that," he answers him. "I trust Clarissa. If she told me she was heading to the beach with some friends, I believed her. Would you get out of my room now that you know where she is?"

There’s a pause before Atticus says, "you’re acting weird today. It’s very unlike you to let Clarissa go to the beach unattended. What are you hiding from me?"

Damon sighs, "you should know by now that if I’m this relaxed, it means that Clarissa is safe from danger. If I didn’t think that she was safe there, I wouldn’t have let her go on her own."

"Alright." Atticus finally gives in. "I should also tell you that Anya is waiting downstairs for your date. Should I send her up to you?"

"No!" Damon shouts.

Atticus chuckles. "I’ll tell her you’ll be down in a few minutes."

They had a date today? Why didn’t I remember that? The news of their date had just fouled my mood. I was no longer happy to be in the same bed as Damon. Anya knew exactly how to ruin that.

As soon as the door shuts, Damon removes the sheets from my head. I placed my hands on his chest and slowly lifted my upper body so that I could look at him.

The slight movement caused some friction between us, and Damon hissed once more. He grabbed my waist and turned us over so that he was now on top of me. The sheets were between us this time, preventing me from feeling him.

"I’m sorry," he apologizes.

Why was he apologizing?

"It’s okay—"

"It’s not," he growls. "This can’t happen again, Clarissa. It’s not okay. Next time I may ask Autumn to stay with you if you’re having another nightmare. I’m a man. You’re a young woman. There have to be some boundaries between us no matter how close we are."

I bite my bottom lip in frustration.

"What was so wrong about last night?" I demand. "It was nice. Nothing bad happened. You just held me while I needed you. Why can’t it happen again?"

He sighed and pressed our foreheads together for a few seconds.

He doesn’t answer me. Instead, he let go of me and climbed out of bed.

"I need to get ready for my date with Anya. Atticus cannot see you for at least an hour. And he definitely can’t see you exit the room. I’ll look outside; once no one is near, you can return to your room. Maybe you can call Autumn and let her know you’re back home. Make it look like you came back from the beach."

His date with Anya. That’s all he cares about now.

I angrily climbed out of bed and stormed out of his room without bothering to see who was outside. I could hear Damon’s curses behind me as he followed me out of the room.

Luckily, no one was around to cause any trouble for us.

He grabs my waist and spins me around. “What the hell was that? Someone could have seen you.”

“Why are you acting as if something happened?” I demand. “We shouldn’t feel like we did something wrong when we didn’t. I’m going back to my room to stay there for an hour as you asked me to do. Have fun on your date with Anya. I can see that’s all you care about right now.”

“Why do you always do this?” he demands from me.

“Do what?” I hiss.

“You always get upset whenever I have a date with Anya. You always throw a tantrum,” he says accusingly.

I gape at him. “A tantrum?”

A tantrum?

How dare he say that!