But I was no damsel in destress.
There was always a way out, and if not, I’d go down fighting.
I bit his lip as hard as I could.
“Ah!” He shouted as he pulled his face from mine. I watched as blood began to pool then drip down his chin.
“Fuck. You. Elijah.”
“I’ll make you pay for that, you stupid whore.”
“Cadence?!”
I barely had time to register Damien’s voice before Elijah growled. Damien grabbed the neck of his suit coat and yanked him away. I rubbed my wrist as Damien threw a right hook and hit Elijah in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.When Damien closed on Elijah again, I moved between them.
“Stop this!”
“Cay, how can you defend him? I saw what he was trying to do to you.”
“I’m not defending him. I’m defending myself. And I don’t have the mental capacity to deal with any of this right now. I need you both to leave.”
My body trembled, adrenaline and shock wreaking havoc on my nervous system. I needed to get them out before I crashed.
“I’m not leaving you here with him.” Damien said at the same time Elijah said, “Tell him to leave.”
“It’s pretty brave for you to show your face here,” Elijah snarled at Damien.
Damien moved to grab Elijah once more but I grabbed his arm. “Leave Elijah!”
“Cadence—” Elijah began.
“If you don’t get out of this store right now, I’m going to call the police and report you for sexual assault. The Powells have no influence here and the press will have a field day withthose headlines.”
“You have no power over either of us, anymore.” Damien’s words barely registered as I watched Elijah’s gaze bounce between the two of us. His lips twisted down, but thankfully, he understood. Elijah wouldn’t do anything to tarnish the good Powell name.
Once he was out the door, Damien’s hands were on me. He cupped my cheek while his gaze took inventory of my body.
“Are you okay? Jesus, I’ll fucking kill him.”
“Damien…”
His hands moved down my neck and onto my back as he pulled me into his chest and his familiar scent enveloped me. I wanted to surrender to his comfort, collapse into his strong arms and let him hold me until the storm within quieted and my resolve to take on the world again returned.
But my heart had already been shattered into millions of pieces.
He’d already broken it.
The only person who I could count on to put those pieces back together was me.
I sniffled, quieting the sobs that racked my body. I put my palms on his broad chest and pushed him away. “Now, your turn.”
“Cay…”
“How dare you come here after how everything played out. Why come now?”
“I have to tell you what happened. I need to explain myself.”
“No, I’m done. I need to find myself and be who I want to be. I loved every second we spent together, but all it did was make you important to me. And now I see that I’m not important to you. I’m not special, and that’s okay. But I can’t be your friend anymore because I’d give you the world, Damien, and that scares me.”
