“I’m not saying your feelings aren’t valid,” I tell him. “I’m just saying that there’s nothing wrong with being into stuff that other people don’t understand. And there’s nothing wrong with you for liking any of what we’ve done.”
He holds my gaze for a few beats, and I can see the moment he lets go of whatever was holding him back from accepting that his kinks don’t define him as a person.
“You should be a therapist or something because you just undid about a decade of emotional trauma and self-flagellation in about two minutes of conversation,” he says, a smile tilting the corners of his lips.
“Pretty sure I’d make a terrible therapist,” I say with a grin. “I like chaos, and I get bored easily. That’s a bad combo for someone who’s supposed to be the voice of reason.”
He chuckles. “Yeah, that might not be the best idea then.” His smile fades, and he flicks his lip ring with his tongueabsentmindedly as his gaze goes thoughtful. “Why did that guy try to kill me?”
“Because someone hired him.”
His eyes widen. “Seriously? I mean, I kinda figured it was something like that because of the whole ‘who sent you’ thing while your cousins were doing their interrogation, but I didn’t really believe it was true.”
“Believe it,” I tell him grimly. “And I know about you getting jumped back when school started up again.”
“You do?” He shoots me a confused look. “But that was weeks before you started following me.”
“I saw the videos of it,” I tell him. “That’s how Jordan found out about you and Eden. He showed me the security footage of her helping you to Romeo House and going inside with you.”
“Wait, how did he see her going inside with me? You mean he saw her go through the gate and assumed she came inside because of how long it was before she left through the gate again?”
I shake my head. “We have an entire surveillance network on top of what the school already has. And we also have access to your network thanks to a crack in your security that Jace recently found.”
He stares at me for a few beats, confusion and shock written all over his face. “Why are you telling me this? That sounds like something you could get in a lot of trouble for telling a Keeper.”
“It is,” I say. “But I’m not telling you as a Keeper. I’m telling you as Damon.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Because I trust you.”
His eyes widen again, and he kind of reminds me of the shocked-face emoji. “Really?”
I nod.
“But you don’t know me.”
“Maybe not, but I don’t need to know everything about you to know I can trust you. My instincts tell me I can, and I always trust my instincts.”
“Do you trust many people?” he asks quietly.
I shake my head. “Only my family. And you.”
“Really?”
I nod. “Do you trust me?”
He lets out a little snort that’s not quite a laugh. “Yeah. I kind of have to trust you to do what we’ve been doing.”
“And beyond what we’ve been doing?”
There’s a very real chance that I’m reading the room wrong and Damon doesn’t feel even a fraction of what I do, but right now, that’s a chance I’m willing to take.
I’ve never met anyone who makes me feel what he does, and he’s the only person who’s ever gotten under my skin like this. That means something, and my gut is telling me it means something to him too.
“Yeah,” he says softly. “I liked knowing that you were following me. It made me feel safe. And it made me feel special.” He slides his gaze to the fireplace. “I know that’s not the same as trust, but I wouldn’t have felt those things if I didn’t trust you.” He blows out a slow breath. “I don’t have a lot of people in my life I can count on. Even my best friend is too busy for me now, and my only other friend has her own shit going on. You’re the only person who seems to give a crap about me, and I’d literally be dead multiple times over if it wasn’t for you.” He slides his gaze back to mine. “Why is someone trying to kill me?” he asks, his voice small.
“I don’t know,” I tell him gently. “But we’re going to figure it out, and it’s going to end very badly for them.”
