Ch 6

LILY'S POV

I stood there, frozen under Damien's gaze, my breath coming in shallow gasps as if I had forgotten how to breathe properly. The cold air no longer mattered. The sounds of the night seemed to fade away, leaving only the heavy pulse of my heartbeat in my ears.

Damien was standing too close—too close for comfort, yet I couldn't bring myself to step back. There was something magnetic about him, something that I couldn't escape, even if I wanted to. His presence surrounded me, filled every corner of my mind, and I hated how much I welcomed it.

He hadn't touched me in any overt way, but his proximity was enough. The heat of his body was so intense, it was as if the space between us no longer existed. The faintest brush of his fingers against my arm had been enough to send shivers through me. His dark eyes never left mine, and I could feel them digging into my very soul, like he could see everything I was too afraid to admit.

"Damien," I whispered, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to sound strong. "What do you want from me?"

His lips curled into a smile—slightly mocking, but there was something undeniably predatory about it. "I thought i made myself clear, Lily. I want you. It's as simple as that."

I swallowed hard, the knot in my throat growing tighter. "I... I'm with Caleb, Your brother.," I tried to say, though the words felt weak, insubstantial. Caleb was supposed to be the one I belonged to. Caleb—who had hurt me more times than I could count but was still the one I thought I was supposed to be with. But now, standing here with Damien, the foundations of everything I thought I knew about myself, about loyalty and love, seemed to be crumbling away.

"Of course," Damien said, his voice dripping with disdain. "But you're not his, not really. Not in the way you should be. You're here, alone in the night, with me. And you know what? You want it. You want this just as much as I do."

I couldn't bring myself to argue. My pulse was erratic, my thoughts a chaotic storm, each one pulling me in a different direction. I wanted to be angry with him. I wanted to push him away, to scream, to remind him that I wasn't some object to be claimed, but I couldn't.

Because the truth was, his words were too close to something I couldn't deny. A part of me, the part I kept hidden, the part that longed for something more—something darker—was drawn to him. The way he spoke, the way he made me feel like I was the only person in the world, the way he seemed to understand me in ways that Caleb never had—it was intoxicating.

"I shouldn't be here," I said, my voice weaker now, almost as if I was trying to convince myself. I stepped back, but Damien didn't let me. He took one step forward, his presence consuming me like smoke, suffocating every rational thought.

"No," he said, his tone darkening. "You shouldn't. But here you are, Lily. Standing right where you belong."

I shook my head, trying to clear the haze in my mind. "Damien, stop. This isn't right."

He took another step closer, his hand brushing lightly against my cheek. I froze at the touch, my body betraying me with the heat that bloomed under his fingers. "You feel it too," he murmured, his voice low and hypnotic. "You've been feeling it for a while now. Don't lie to yourself."

I could barely think through the haze of desire clouding my mind. I wanted to pull away, to run, to scream, but his touch held me in place, like chains made of fire.

"I—I can't do this," I stammered, though I didn't know who I was trying to convince anymore. Him? Myself? Caleb?

"Sure you can," Damien replied with a soft laugh, his breath warm against my skin. "I'm not asking you to do anything you're not already doing. You came here because you wanted to be away from Caleb."

I shut my eyes, trying to block out his words, but they seeped into my mind, poisoning my thoughts. Every word he spoke felt like a revelation, a part of the truth that I wasn't ready to face. But the pull of it, the temptation... it was impossible to ignore.

"Stop," I said again, but this time, it was weaker. Desperation was creeping into my voice, the cracks in my resolve widening with each passing second. "Please."

But Damien wasn't listening. He never had to. He knew exactly what he was doing. His fingers lingered on my skin a moment longer before he finally stepped back, his gaze never wavering.

"You'll come to me eventually," he said, almost as if he were speaking a prophecy. "I'm not giving up on you, Lily."

And with that, he turned and walked away, disappearing into the shadows of the park.

I was left standing there, my body trembling, my mind spinning with a thousand conflicting emotions. The cold night air rushed back in, snapping me out of my trance, but the damage had already been done. Damien had planted the seed, and now it was growing inside me, twisting and turning until I wasn't sure where it would lead.

---

I didn't know how I made it back to the apartment. One foot in front of the other, moving through the night as if in a daze. The walk had done nothing to clear my mind. If anything, it had only intensified the conflict raging within me.

I opened the door to our apartment, half-expecting Caleb to be waiting for me, ready to ask where I'd been. But the apartment was quiet, as empty as it had been when I left. I could hear the sound of the television playing from the living room, but Caleb didn't call out to me, didn't ask me where I'd gone or why I had been gone so long.

I stood there for a moment, staring at the door, wondering what I was supposed to do now. My mind was still replaying every moment of my encounter with Damien—the way his words had seemed to crawl under my skin, the way his touch had felt like fire.

I had no answers. No answers for what had happened tonight, for what Damien wanted from me, for what I wanted.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside, closing it softly behind me. Caleb didn't look up from the couch when I entered, his focus still on the television.

"Hey," he said, his voice casual, but there was an edge to it, something I couldn't quite place. "You okay?"

I nodded, though I wasn't sure I was. "Yeah. Just needed some air."

He didn't ask any further questions. But I could feel the tension between us, thick and undeniable. He didn't know where I had been. He didn't know what had happened. But I felt like he would, sooner or later. And when he did, there was no going back.