Kiss me, Mr Steele

09

NINE

LILY

Sarah took one look at me as she opened the door and it was like she could see through every c***k that I had been desperately trying to hide all day. I hadn’t realized how tightly I had been holding myself until that very moment. Perhaps it was my face that gave me away at the end of the day; I had always been terrible at not wearing my emotions on sleeve afterall. Her expression softened immediately as she looked me over once again, still in the outfit I had taken from her this morning.

“You certainly aren’t good, are you?” she asked,

I felt myself nearly come undone as I stepped inside and kicked the door shut behind me. The smell of ginger and butter hit me immediately as I took off my coat.

“It smells amazing in here.” I said, an attempt at deflecting because I was not sure if I even wanted to have that conversation right now.

But genjutsu of that level certainly didn’t work on Sarah at all.

“How did work go?” she asked gently.

I let out a huge sigh, as I made my way to the kitchen to get myself a glass of water.

“Somewhere between a disaster and… I don’t even know.” I said, “I am not entirely sure yet what to make of today or even yesterday. Its like my brain hasn’t fully registered everything yet.”

“I had a feeling it might turn out like that.” She said, “Especially after what you told me this morning.”

She walked past me and grabbed the jug from the fridge before I could. It was like she was reading my mind and knew exactly what I needed.

“So,” she called over her shoulder, a bit cheerfully, “I made provisions to at least fix that in a way. Come on.”

I followed her in and was greeted by a full table with bowls of food and wine. My eyes instantly went to the bucket of ice cream which was seating right at the edge of the table. I could feel tears coming to my eyes as I looked at her with my pouted lips.

“You are going to make me fat.” I said,

She grinned at this, “You need to put on some weight anyway, so really I am doing you a favour.”

“Unbelievable.” I said, as we both laughed for a few seconds.

This short period was the most I had smiled in the past how many hours, perhaps even all week. I had not even noticed I was crying until Sarah was in front of me, pulling me into a hug,

“Hey,” she murmured into my ear. “Come on, you can tell me all about it now.”

I let myself sink onto the chair, as my head rested on her legs. I was finally processing every single thing that had happened and it was now finally dawning on me how crazy it all was.

“He was cheating on me,” I finally said, at least that could quantify everything I saw at the club.

“Oh,” she said,

I began to tell her everything about how I had seen the invite to the club in his clothes and how I had followed him. I could see the look of shock on her face as I told her what he was doing in the cage. It had been the same look of disbelief I had on my face.

“Oh my God.” She let out,

“Yep,” I went on, “I didn’t even recognize him at first, not with the crazed look he had on his face as he did those obscene things with those girls.”

Sarah shook her head slowly.

“I knew there was something off about him.” She said, “I never liked him. Ever.”

“I wish I had trusted your gut feeling,” I said, “Perhaps I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“This was not your fault at all.” She said, “he is just a disgusting pig and in retrospect, being behind bars just might be best suited for the animal he is.”

I laughed a little bit at how angry she had gotten now. She was perhaps even angrier than me.

“I can’t stop thinking about it.” I finally said, “About how blind I was to everything. To think that just yesterday I was engaged and planning a f*****g wedding and now I’m here. With nothing.”

“You aren’t with nothing.”

“It sure feels like it.

“You are the best lawyer in this city,” she said firmly as she crouched down to look me in the eyes. “Even if you hate admitting it.

You have something that a lot of people would die for and your sense of worth is in no way linked to that animal who enjoys f*****g people in cages.”

I smiled at this,

“When you put it like that…”

“You see?” she said, “Its just really annoying that you get to see him every day.”

“Yeah.” I nodded, “That’s not even the most uncomfortable part of this entire story.”

“Wait, there is more?” she looked surprised.

“There’s someone else.” I sighed,

I watched as she leaned back, looking at me with renewed interest,

“There was this guy at the club.” I began to talk, as I told her everything I knew about Damon, which in reality was not so much. I told her about how he had helped me when I fell and how I had practically thrown myself at him and now he was my client.

Sarah looked at me in complete disbelief when I was done.

“Let me get this straight,” she said, as she twirled the wine in her glass which she had poured mid convo. “You practically stood naked in front of this guy and he refused to f**k you?”

I nodded, renewed embarrassment hitting me as I heard her say it out loud.

“Is he gay?” she asked, laughing.

“I have no idea. I hope not.” I said, as I stared at my own glass, “And now he is my f*****g client.”

Her lips curved slowly and I frowned.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Because,” she said carefully, as she continued to look at me. “there is a little twinkle in your eyes which I have not seen in quite some time.”

“Stop.” I said, as I felt my cheeks warm up instantly,

“You lit up when you were talking about him to me just now.” She pressed on,

“That’s ridiculous,” I said, “I practically embarrassed myself in front of him and now I work for him. That is basically a living nightmare right there.”

“All I hear,” she said calmly, “is that there just might be a chance to redeem yourself.”

I laughed at the mere thought of this. “You’re unbelievable.”

“And yet,” she said, with a smug grin on her face. “I am always right.”

She reached across to me and squeezed my hand.

“If there is anyone that can figure this mess out, it’s you.” She said, “And you’re staying here. There is no way I will have you staying on your own in the state you are.”

“I am fine,” I lied,

“Yes, which is why you are staying.”

I didn’t argue because I could already tell that there was no point in doing so.

As I lay in bed that night, staring up at the ceiling. I knew that the one thing that should have been at that mind at that point was the fact that my engagement was now officially over. The years I had spent building a life with someone who I now knew had been a

complete stranger had practically evaporated into the air.

But, that wasn’t what filled my mind.

Damon.

He was all I could think of.

The way he spoke, his eyes when he looked at me and that dangerous, yet inviting aura all around him.

“What the f**k is wrong with me?” I whispered into the dark.