Page 99 of Ghost

And Damen?

Well, apparently the sight was so awful that he seemed about to cry.

“Damn it, Maria!” Damen’s voice shattered the heavy silence like a whip, causing me to flinch. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“What’s your problem?” Maria crossed her arms, glaring. “She looks adorable, and she likes it. Suck it up and be a gentleman.”

Damen was rubbing his eyes with his fists, as if purging the sight of me from his retinas. “You know what my problem is!”

Julian snapped into attention, his vision drifting between me and Damen. “Damen, wait. Think before you—”

“I don’t care what you think,” Damen growled, ignoring Julian. He pointed in my direction. “You can’t expect me to stay around her when she looks like that. It’s torture.”

Torture.

Tears filled my vision as his words cut through me. “I’m sorry…”

I thought there was a chance to be myself because they had seen me basically naked before. And besides, I was still completely covered. But now I knew they had acted kindly because they were nice people.

Everyone’s eyes snapped toward me, and Damen—in particular—paled.

“Hold on, baby girl. That’s not what I…” He shot out of his chair, reaching toward me. But I stepped back, not wanting to be touched.

“You idiot!” Julian hissed, glaring at Damen. “What happened to your smooth-talking flirtations?”

Miles, in the meantime, appeared to have been struck dumb. While Maria covered her face with her hand.

Damen ignored Julian and took another step toward me. I couldn’t breathe, the look on his face brought up too many memories. The instinct to flee was overwhelming now, so I dodged his hand, rushing to make this better.

I would never do this again. “I’ll go get changed.”

Damen was in front of me now, and his eyes began to shine with determination. “Hey—”

But I didn’t hear what he had to say, I was already gone.

The door slammed shut behind me, and I slumped to the floor, hugging my knees to my chest. I was one hundred percent, completely and irrevocably, an idiot.

It wasn’t even a full minute before there was a knock on the door.

“Bianca,” Damen said softly. “Please open the door.”

“Go away,” I responded, horrified. “I told you that I’ll get changed. Give me a minute.” I had to preserve the little dignity I had left.

“Baby, open the door,” he said. “I need to talk to you.”

“No.”

His voice was softer now. “Please?”

It was the plea that got to me, causing me to raise my head from my knees. It felt wrong, he didn’t seem like the type of person to beg.

It was stupid, but I pulled myself up and opened the door—just a crack.

Damen was there, of course, and as soon as the door had given an inch, he pressed into the room. Before I could move, or even hide, my hands were grasped in his. He gazed down at me, his face sad. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that at all.”

“Why did you call me ‘baby’?” I asked, my mind trying to grasp onto anything other than my humiliation. “Aren’t you angry?”

Damen’s brow furrowed. “What?”