Inside, Damian was slumped against the sofa, shirt half–open, eyes tightly shut.
Hearing me enter, he growled through gritted teeth.
“Get out.”
“Damian…” I called softly.
His whole body flinched at the sound of my voice. His bloodshot eyes flew open, glazed with both confusion and burning heat.
“Andrea?” he rasped.
“Yes, it’s me.” I rushed to him. “Are you okay?“.
Damian sat up suddenly, pulling me into a desperate embrace, burying his face into the crook of my neck. His skin was burning hot against mine, it makes me tremble. My whole body tensed at the feverish heat radiating from him.
“God Andrea… it’s unbearable…”
His voice was low and strained, lips brushing against my skin like he was desperately trying to ground himself. The contact sent a wave of goosebumps crawling up my arms.
“Can you stand? I’ll take you to the hospital.” But deep down I knew, this stuff–whatever they gave him–hospital won’t help.
Suddenly, he shoved me away, breathing heavily. “Get out. Lock the door behind you. Don’t let anyone in.”
“And leave you to suffer? No, I can’t do that,” I refute.
His teeth ground together. “It’s just a pill drug. I’ll fight it off.”
Said the man sweating bullets and pulsing with barely contained energy like he was about to combust. His entire body was trembling, veins bulging, breathing ragged. The raw heat rolling off him was almost suffocating.
Then his eyes locked onto mine–sharp, predatory, like a wolf cornering its prey. My stomach
twisted.
“Damian… you–are you still with me?”
He wrenched his gaze away, fighting for control.
And then–without warning–he grabbed a fruit knife from the table and jammed it into his arm. My breath caught as blood spilled freely. His body jerked, but in his eyes, for one brief second, there was clarity.
“Andrea, get out. I don’t want to hurt you.”
The sight of his blood pooling on the floor sent panic slamming into my chest. He would rather hurt himself than risk touching me under the influence of whatever the hell they drugged him
with.
In that moment, something inside me cracked.
I thought back on everything.
How Damian had stood by me through the worst of my scandals, defending me when the whole
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world was ready to tear me down. How he respected my space, never crossing boundaries, always putting my comfort first. Even now, in this mess, his only concern was protecting me.
He deserved more than me walking away.
I sat down next to him, gently taking the knife from his hand. I tore a strip off my dress and wrapped his bleeding arm as tightly as I could.
His breathing was labored, his voice hoarse. “Andrea… if you don’t leave now, I won’t be able to stop myself.”
cupped his face, brushing my thumb over the sweat–soaked skin. I kissed him softly on the cheek. “Do you want me to leave?”
He bit his lip, his voice strained. “Andrea, once you stay… there’s no turning back.”
I smiled softly. “I’m not going anywhere.”
With that, he pulled me into a fierce kiss. “You don’t get to back out here. For one last time, are you sure?”
I nodded.
The heat of his body enveloped me as he pushed me down, his movements both desperate and controlled. My strapless gown tore under his hands and I barely managed to gasp, “The door… it’s open-”
With a growl, he scooped me up, kicked the door shut and carried me to the massive hotel bed. The sheets were cool against my back, a stark contrast to his feverish skin. My hands slid over his wounded arm, smearing blood between us. I hesitated.
“Your arm-”
‘Not the time to worry about that,” he rasped, lifting my leg over his hip.
Driven half mad by the drug and the years of tension between us, his touch was wild. I arched against him, my moans swallowed by the intensity of it all. The ceiling spun, my voice hoarse from crying out his name.
