Page 57 of Lumi

I heard Damian laugh, but I didn’t know if he had agreed or not.

Despite lying completely still on a sunbed listening to calming music, my mind and heart were racing as if I was running from the dangers in Storm’s and Serena’s upcoming movie.

The thought of Damian going home with some random woman to have sex was making my stomach churn in pain and my old habit of hiding from the world to lick my wounds made me wish I could unlock the handcuffs and leave. Stuffing my free hand between my knees, I curled up and fought back the tears that I didn’t want to shed.

It wasn’t Nathan’s and Damian’s conversation itself that made me so emotional. It was the old familiar pain that it brought out in me. I’d been here before, suffering from seeing Damian love someone else. My body remembered the despair and tears from my past, and I found it hard to breathe as memories transported me back to one of the worst days of my life.

Damian’s Wedding

December – Eight Years Ago

The charming venue was an old castle that had been turned into a hotel. I’d never been here before, but with all the tasteful Christmas decorations, this place was the perfect setting for a winter wedding. Sixty people or so stood in a long, slow-moving line from the hallway and into the gorgeous ballroom where round tables were dressed up like this was a royal wedding.

I stood with the rest of my family, but while they all smiled and joked with each other, I was fighting my urge to run away.

“It’s a lovely dress,” River whispered to me. “But who did Siobhan’s make-up? She looks five years older with all that rouge and lipstick.”

I only glanced at the bride before I looked to the floor again.

“You look pale, Lumi. What’s going on?” River tugged a strand of my long hair back behind my ear.

“It’s my stomach. It’s acting up.”

“Again?”

“What is it?” Liv asked with a worried expression. “Why did you leave during the ceremony?”

“She has problems with her stomach,” River explained while I kept my eyes on the old floorboards.

Liv touched my arm. “Honey, did you throw up?”

“No,” I lied because there was no way I could tell my family that less than four months ago, I’d slept with Damian and that seeing him marry Siobhan was making me physically sick.

When the line finally brought us to the newlyweds, my family hugged them and showered them with good wishes.

“You look beautiful,” River told Siobhan, who smiled at her.

My feet wouldn’t move, and with the way my head spun and the sounds around me rose and fell in volume, I worried that I was going to faint. There was no railing for me to hold onto to steady myself, but my hands fisted into the fabric of my dress along my side.

“Congratulations on the baby and the wedding,” Maximum said just in front of me and received a hug from Damian.

I was the last in line of my family. It was my turn to congratulate the happy couple, but even though I opened my mouth to speak, no sound came out. I squeezed my dress harder, not caring that I was wrinkling the beautiful gown.

Damian and Siobhan were looking at me now.

Everyone was looking at me!

My eyes darted around the room, and I swallowed excessively trying to create enough saliva to speak, but it felt like someone had stuffed cotton balls down my throat.

“Lumi, sweetie, say something,” Liv said with a concerned expression on her pretty face.

I opened my mouth again, my body feeling hot, like I’d been standing in the blazing sun for hours.

“Lumi.” Damian’s voice broke through my panic, and I looked at him. The happy couple suddenly reminded me of wax figures with their frozen smiles and tense postures.

A young girl giggled in the line of people behind me. “Why isn’t she saying anything?”

I couldn’t face the pity in Damian’s eyes, but shifting my gaze to Siobhan was a mistake too. Her grimace of a bright smile stood in sharp contrast to the cold hatred in her eyes.