When love happens

Chapter Three

The drive to the reception was extremely tense.

One could tell that he was very angry, raging and furious even. His jaw was clenched so tightly I wondered if he wasn't hurting, gripping the steering wheels a little too tight as well.

We were bombarded by paparazzi and well-wishers the moment we arrived at the venue. The different lights from several cameras stung my eyes. You could tell I wasn't used to this.

I felt an arm gently grab my waist and I was pulled into the venue where the reception would take place by Damien. He was putting on the role of a caring husband and he was playing it well.

I looked at him, and although he was putting on a show because of the large audience that surrounded us, a part of me chose to believe that somewhere behind this cold and heartless facade he was putting on, somewhere behind all that, was a man who was warm and vulnerable and just wanted to be loved.

But who was I to poke or meddle in his affairs? This was just a loveless arrangement. An arrangement that was never supposed to happen had Ava been a little more honest about what she wanted.

I hoped she was alright and I hoped she'd come around after this wedding fiasco had died down.

The reception kicked off with our arrival and we did several things, from games to cutting the cake, to speeches, it was one fun-filled reception, too bad I wasn't enjoying myself.

It was now time for something I had been dreading all day. It was time for our first dance as a couple. There was no way to avoid it, might as well just get it over with.

We reached the middle of the dance floor and Damien outstretched his hands to me and smiled. I knew it was all for show but for a moment, I was stunned and blown away by his smile.

I slipped my hands into his outstretched own and so we started to dance. It was relaxing and calming until I felt something start nipping at my neck.

I tensed up immediately, "W-w-what are you doing?" I asked shakily.

"Shhhhh, relax." He told me and I did.

We continued to dance and his assault on my neck continued. People gushed at the intimacy of our position, if only they knew what was going on.

He continued to nip at my neck and he bit it gently at some point, I didn't know what came over me but I found myself moaning out. This caused Damien to chuckle.

"What's funny?" I asked.

"You're just so easy don't you agree?" He told me and I stopped moving immediately, "No. No. Don't stop now, people will think something is wrong." He urged me gently and I continued dancing.

"As I was saying my beautiful wife," he smirked sarcastically at me, "I thought unravelling you was going to prove to be a tedious task but after one meaningless act of intimacy, you're more than ready to give yourself to me."

I felt my eyes start to well up at his embarrassing words. He looked at me and when he saw the tears in my eyes, he tipped his head back and laughed heartily.

Everything going on right now was sending a different message to the audience in front of us.

"You're so pathetic. Did you and your parents think you could pull a fast one on me and get away with it? They might get away with it, but you, not so much."

"It's not my fault, I'm also a victim like you are," I told him.

"A victim like me? That's laughable, I will advise you to tread carefully with your choice of words Miss Lillian." He growled in my face.

"I'm sure this was all a part of your plan, both you and your parents from the beginning."

He had concluded in his mind and I wanted to tell him he was wrong but the song we were dancing to ended and we had to separate. The audience cheered for us as we were leaving the dance floor.

There wasn't much left to do after Damien and I had danced, including the cutting of the cake. Before I knew what was happening, the reception came to an end.

Damien didn't even wait till all the guests were out before he shot up from his seat and left the hall. I followed him immediately, I knew he was more than capable of leaving me stranded in this place.

I found him in our room, stuffing some clothes into a suitcase and picking up the items he had used. He went into the bathroom and emerged in a different shape of clothing.

He had ditched his suit for a white long-sleeved shirt which he paired with black trousers, he didn't bother to wear a belt, the trousers were secured firmly around his slender waist. He looked good.

"Are you going to get changed or you'll just continue to sit there and ogle at me?" He asked, the shocking thing about his question was that his back was turned to me.

How did he know I was looking at him?

"I wasn't ogling at you," I muttered quietly under my breath and he scoffed, obviously not believing what I said.

"Are we going somewhere?" I asked him.

He sighed heavily before turning to me, "Obviously, you are not aware of the plan because you're not supposed to be here but we're going to Paris. We have to go on a honeymoon, don't we?"

"Yes, we do." The mention of Paris immediately got me excited, "but I don't have anything to change into." I pointed out to him.

A lot of unplanned events had been thrown my way today and it wasn't like I carried a change of clothing with me every time I went to an event.

"They've got you some clothes. Check the closet." Damien said curtly and disappeared into the bathroom again.

I did as he told me and sure enough, there were some shopping bags in the closet, I went through them and eventually settled for an off-white lace bodice top and paired it with some jean pants.

I laid the clothes on the bed, debating on whether or not to get changed in the room or wait till Damien was done in the bathroom.

I didn't want to change in the room because Damien could come out any moment and I didn't want him to see me half naked, although he was my husband on paper, I didn't acknowledge him as one, he was still a stranger to me.

I decided to pull myself together and mustered up some courage, and I went to the bathroom door and knocked on it. I stood there waiting for a response but I didn't get any.

I was about to knock again when the door was yanked open and I was face to face with Damien and he had an irritated look on his face.

"Speak!" He barked at me.

"Oh um, I was–I-I-I.." I tried and failed woefully to make a sentence. I didn't know why I was stuttering and I didn't like that I was stuttering.

"What do you want, child? Are you suddenly not capable of speaking again? I don't have time for this, you know?" He said harshly and his words stung me, but I told myself not to let it affect me.

"I was wondering if I could change in here? I don't want you to walk in on me while I'm dressing up." I got the words out finally, without stuttering.

Damien laughed when I was done, but it wasn't because I said something funny, it was a condescending laugh, "So you want me to excuse you right?" He asked and I nodded.

"Speak when I ask you a question." He barked at me again.

"Yes."

"You have nothing to worry about because, as far as I'm concerned, you're not a woman, not in my eyes at least. So you don't have to worry about me making a move on you, I'd rather cut off my limbs than do that. Go get changed if you're done bothering me." He rushed out all in one breath and slammed the door back in my face.

I was never a fan of confrontations. I tried my very best to hide my insecurities, that was why I stayed away from people, but I had a feeling Damien had seen me for who I truly was, and he wasn't going to stop until he had successfully broken me.

I staggered back into the bedroom and got changed like he had asked. I sat in front of a mirror to retouch my makeup.

As I was looking at myself in the mirror, Damien's words came back and I tried, I tried to hold back my tears but it was of no use.

One teardrop slid down from my face and another followed and before I knew it, I was a crying mess.

I continued to lightly dab tissue paper on my face not wanting to completely ruin my make-up, when the door was pulled open and Damien stepped out of the bathroom. I ducked my head, not wanting him to see that I was crying.

"Get your things, we're leaving now." He said curtly then reached for his suitcase and wheeled it out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

I sighed and stood up, and also packed some other stuff into my suitcase before closing it up and wheeling it out of the room too, Damien was still outside when I came out of the room, I thought he had left.

He looked me up and down disapprovingly, "That's what you're wearing? We'll have to settle for this, it's too late to ask you to change, let's go." He said and in a move I wasn't expecting, he reached for my hand and laced it with his.

I wanted to yank my hand away from him but he said, "I'd like to stay as far away as possible from you too believe me, but when we're out in public, we have an image to keep up with, so we have to play the part. Do you understand all that or do I need to repeat myself?"

"I understand," I answered quietly.

"Speak louder." He demanded I raised my voice louder. When he was pleased, we went to the lobby. The car that had driven us to the reception was parked at the entrance.

Damien shoved me into the car and closed the door behind me and the car sped off to only God knows where.