Chapter 7

Chapter 7

-MILLIE-

I groaned, struggling to get my bearings together. There was a loud pounding in my head and my entire b*dy was so stiff, as if it had been cemented on the bed I was lying on. Each movement was an impossible feat, even opening my eyes to orientate where I was.

Light wrestled against darkness, cloaking the room in dimmed light. Vision hazy, 1 sought to take in my surroundings. The gray-painted walls immediately struck me that I wasn’t in my childhood room or my apartment. Both had Swiss coffee paint.

The mattress silently groaned as I shifted in my lying position. A beating ache in my head made me moan. A jackhammer was pounding my skull. My entire b*dy stilled when my butt rubbed against a solid wall of warm muscles. Then a big hand slid to my front, fanning on my belly, and drew me back.

The man behind me, whoever he was, had big hands and a solid b*dy. He was hard everywhere. If he wasn’t awake yet, a particular part of him was. His erection, as if it had a mind of its own. kept knocking on the cra ck of my as s cheeks.

Panic swelled in my throat.

Did I have S** last night?

I tried to scout my brain for answers and found nothing but a hazy vision of the reunion, never-ending glasses of alcohol. and strobes of red and green laser lights.

What the hell happened?

This was the downside of relying on coffee to function every f ucking day. My brain remained asleep even when my b*dy was awake, panicking no less.

I remember drinking wine – lots of it – before coming to the reunion. Then I met Madeline with Felicity and her minions, seeing Natalie walk in with Hunter oh g od. My lie and the hottest k*ss of my life came forth, my hands shooting up to my mouth. I k*ssed Damian!”

“What time is it?” Damian asked in a raspy voice.

I slept with Damian? S hit! Sh it! S hit!”

I should scramble to my feet and distance myself from my best friend’s stepbrother. But my b*dy and brain were at war. My brain knew that lie should’ve ended in that reunion and not end me up in Damian’s bed. My b*dy doesn’t seem to get memo, though. I was frozen, curled in a spooning position with Damian

He was so warm, very masculine, and hard everywhere. The knocking of his morning wood against my as s jolted me back to

life.

S hit!

I scooted away from him. If my skin could turn any redder, I’d spontaneously combast. To my relief, he released me. 1 clambered onto the edge of the mattress, cradling my face in my palm. The jackhammer pounds intensified with each move

I made.

Damian sat beside me; his chest was bare, and gray sweatpants covered the lower half of his b*dy.

“What happened?” I looked down at the white shirt I was wearing, my n*pples poking through its sheer fabric. I bite down the urge to cover myself.

If we slept last night, he’d seen everything by now. I was in his shirt for crying out loud.

“You don’t remember?” Damian’s mocking tone didn’t sit well with me. I pinned him with a stare, brows knitted together. He replied by chuckling, rising to his full height, and headed for his closet. It dawned on me that we were in their mansion. But

09:18 Sat, Feb 10 M

Chapter 7

I was unfamiliar with his room.

I’ve only been in Hunter’s bedroom, and Damian was very minimalist in comparison. He had a dresser, a desk with a desktop, and a shelf on the side stacked with books – lots of them.

“You were drunk as f uck,” Damian murmured, grabbing a shirt from his closet and dragging it over his head. I drank in the sight of his back muscles rippling until it was concealed beneath his shirt. “I had to drag your as s out of the hotel to keep you from embarrassing yourself.”

I hide my face in my palms. “G od. What did I do?”

“Apart from climbing me like a tree?”

“Oh, my G od.” Mortified, I looked into Damian’s eyes, perusing those green pools for humor, and found none.

Corded arms folded over his chest, a look I couldn’t identify sailed over his features. “You really don’t remember?”

I shook my head. The world spun as I did. Bile crawled from my stomach through my throat, I grimaced.

He looked the other way. If I didn’t know Damian, I’d say he looked disappointed. He blew a resigned huff. “Clean up. Get something to wear from Pigtails’ room. I’ll prepare breakfast”

Not waiting for a reply, he spun on his heels and left. Once the door slotted in its frame, I mulled over the conversation we just had. Questions swirled in my head as embarrassment sank into my flesh at the thought of climbing Damian like a tree. The biggest puzzle of all was how I ended up in his room, dressed in nothing but my panties and his shirt.

‘Did we have S**?”

I groaned. I need a f ucking coffee.

Twenty minutes later, dressed in Candice’s sweater and shorts, I entered the kitchen and instantly fell under Damian’s watchful stare. He scanned me over the cup of coffee licking my bare legs with his gaze as I sat on the barstool across from him. Candice was five-three, and I was five-six. The only clothes we shared were oversized sweaters.

I silently filled a mug with coffee, shoulder relaxing as I took a sip. The caffeine rush in my b*dy was like a drug, kick- starting my brain to work.

“Have you seen my phone?” I asked, reaching for a piece of bacon from the breakfast platter.

Damian was one of those boys that could cook. It’s one of the perks of being best friends with Candice; I get to see Damian in a way everyone at school cannot. I’m not even surprised that it hasn’t changed over the years.

He pointed towards the counter, where it was charging. I rounded the island and grabbed my phone, grimacing at the number of notifications on the lock screen.

‘Can’t these people let me have a peaceful weekend?”

They all could wait. I need to have food in my system first before dealing with this mess I call life.

“So, how did I end up in your bed?” I tried to sound nonchalant. Not remembering if we had S** or not is bugging the hell

out of me.

Damian’s gaze was the epitome of calmness and serenity. “I didn’t want to take the chances of you burning the mansion down.””

I choked on the coffee I was sipping. “What?!”

He reached for the newspaper on the countertop, unfolding it. “You were very unpredictable, Millicent. I’m all for living in the

moment, carpe diem, and YOLO sh it kids these days call it, but you put yourself at risk last night.” That calm tone, borderline concern, and scolding reminded me so much of my dad.

III ။

18 Sat,

Chapter 7

I

“Put myself at risk?” I parroted, my voice rising a pitch higher.

28%.

He sighed, meeting my eyes. It was hard to be annoyed at him when he looked like that. He was good enough to be my breakfast with that disheveled dark gray hair. In the light of the day, his scruff seemed to rough I imagined him rubbing it against my skin. I’m a s ucker for scruff, and his was epic.

“You were very drink. You don’t even remember half of what you did. What if I wasn’t there with you? “Someone could’ve taken advantage of you. There was an odd punch in “someone”

I frowned, understanding where he was coming from. He’s been overprotective of Candice, and his brotherly protection also extended to my welfare.

Bining my l*p. I glanced down at my coffee, making out a blurry outline of my messy hair tied in a bun in the dark liquid. “Thank you Things just got out of hand. It was supposed to be a quick in and out, you know.”

“Drink what you can handle. The pinch of annoyance in his calm tone rubbed me the wrong way. He had more to say, but the shrill sound of my phone ringing cut him off.

It’s Candice.

Damian rose and exited the kitchen, silently bidding for me to answer Candice’s call.

“Millicent,” Candice’s motherly tone made me sit up straighter. She only calls me by my full name when something is

WTONE

“Good morning” My composure was a hoax, and she knew it. A heavy sigh belched from her end. My brows furrowed. “Is something wrong?” worry laced my tone.

“Seriously? How much alcohol did you drink last night?” Clutters of silverware against ceramic accompanied her groan. must’ve been dining with Aaron and covered the mouthpiece with her hand because I heard her muttled mumble that she needed to talk some sense to me.

“Let me guess, you don’t remember what you did last night, she murmured accusingly.

My frown deepened. Damian telling me that was one thing, but Candice was oceans, Dread sheathed my entire b*dy, my heart pounding in my cats.

Candice took in my silence as confirmation. “Oh boy, this is gonna be interesting, You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, but I can wait. First, check your Instagram account, then call me.”

Fingers trembling. I did as I was told and gasped in horror at what I saw

My profile, which I had been using for the past six months, has now been changed to a photo of Damian and me

Damian’s cheek rested against my forehead, our eyes were closed, and our toothy grins appeared as though we were laughing about something so freaking hilarious

I haven’t seen myself this content and happy in a long time. But Damian, he’d always been handsome. The longer I stares at

picture, the stronger this unsettling feeling in my gut got

the

We were the epitome of a happy couple.

The comment section kept growing like it was counting each millisecond that passed by The hearts the photo received were more than I got in a mouth with daily uploads combined.

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