Page 26 of Tear Me Down (Descent to Darkness Trilogy #2)
Chapter twelve
Ashia
We walk back into the training area, and none of the men even attempt to look in my direction, which both excites me and makes me anxious.
This shouldn’t have happened. It will create such harsh tension whenever I’m around, but I’m hoping it’ll settle down after a few days.
Men are normally a ‘brush it off’ type of people, and I’m hoping that’s the case here.
Damien needed support in trying to bring the new soldiers and his men together, and now I feel like I ruined that.
Making my way back to my spot, I look up towards the other women as Damien walks over to the shooting range, acting like nothing happened.
Dani and Mel take a quick glance and then look away, surely wanting to say something but refraining.
On the other hand, Serena widens her eyes at me before I take my position next to her, trying to portray the same level of indifference as Damien but failing miserably.
“Jesus Christ, Ash. You look like the devil doesn’t have a preference.
It better have been amazing with the way you look.
” She pokes her hip out and stands with her hands planted on them, like she’s a mom and caught me coming home late.
My hair is now in a matted bun, my body and face are red, hickies are forming on my neck, not to mention the bite marks on my shoulders and ass—and she doesn’t know it, but his cum is leaking out of me. Though, I don’t really care.
I never thought I’d love feeling so dirty.
“Oh, it was celestial. I'm such a whore for him,” I say to her, and she giggles.
“A compliant, people-pleasing whore,” she adds mockingly, causing Melanie and Danielle to laugh along with her.
“I hate you,” I snap playfully but join in on their laughter.
“You love me.” She nudges my shoulder. “How does it feel to be queen of DH?” she taunts, almost sarcastically.
“Way better than it should,” I say honestly, making her laugh again. Dani and Mel chuckle as well before going back to sifting through the paperwork and trying like hell to stay on task. “How was everybody after we walked out?” I whisper to Serena.
“D’s guys? Fine. It's almost like nothing happened, which might be more unsettling than the alternative. The other guys? On edge, and rightfully so. That display was definitely a little over the top and fucking psychotic.” She rolls her eyes and shivers a little, making it clear that we have very different opinions on the situation.
Her shoulders relax, like she’s forcing herself not to say anything further.
“I overheard two of them talking, and they said Damien might be worse than his dad.”
That makes me cringe.
“That’ll strangely make him feel better, but he doesn’t want them to feel that way. He likes how comfortable his guys are with him. It’s how they work so well together.”
“That’s not going to happen immediately, and I’m sure reducing one of them to a bloody mess didn’t help,” she retorts, shaking her head repeatedly in disbelief. “Even though that somehow turned you on,” she throws in there.
I glance over at her and try to get a good read on her real thoughts with that last comment.
She looks tense, almost agitated, and she’s purposely looking away from me.
Did I say something wrong? She’s clearly holding her tongue, and right now really isn’t the best time to dissect what’s going on in her head.
So, for now, I look away as well and go back to the current issue.
I wonder how we can make everyone feel a little more comfortable here, and fix this somehow—especially after one of their own was beaten to a pulp.
Perhaps I can solve two problems at once and ease Ser’s hostility as well.
Damien doesn’t want to run a tight ship.
He’s never had to before, but he’ll also be a hard ass until he feels he can trust them.
How did they all get so close? I remember the photos at Henry’s funeral: the fun times and all of the activities.
So, blowing stuff up, fishing, and working on cars.
They talked about the pranks they’ve done, scaring the shit out of each other and humiliating one another, but that’s for when they’re comfortable.
What do guys like to do? I would think cutting men’s hair for years would help me with this question, but I can’t seem to put a finger on something I hear often.
What if we get everyone together in a more fun environment?
Away from the training? Guns and sparring don’t sound amusing to me.
It might be to the guys, but everyone was tense before the fight, and I feel like too much of it will only escalate things.
We played football at Damien’s parents’ house, and his cousins seemed to have fun.
But what, we just invite everyone over to play football?
That seems a little weird. I suppose we could have food and stuff.
A light switches on in my brain, and I get an idea.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Ser, and I start walking over to Damien, sure to keep my gaze solely on him. He turns to me, somehow already sensing my presence, and flashes those dangerous teeth at me.
“Back for more, baby girl?” he says quietly as I wrap my arms around his neck.
“Unfortunately, not right this second. I wanted to run an idea by you.”
“Shoot.” He nods as he speaks, ushering me to continue.
“Why don’t we have a cookout at the house? Have all of the men come over to hang out. The ones that have families can bring them. Kind of like your parents had. ”
“Why would we do that? Why at the house?” He smoothly shakes his head and narrows his eyes, opposing the idea.
“Because it’ll ease tensions, and inviting the newbies to our home will show them that you’re at least willing to try and trust them. It’ll just be a fun time. No need to prove themselves or worry about looking tough in front of you.” I try to convince him, but he locks that serious gaze on me.
“Ashia, someone just broke into our house and poisoned you, and you want me to invite a bunch of strangers over?” He raises a brow.
Well, it sounds like a bad idea when you say it like that.
“Well, to be fair, he’s dead now.” I smirk, and he has to bite the inside of his mouth to stop himself from laughing.
“Ashia.”
“Fine, damn. Yes. That’s exactly what I’m proposing,” I say more confidently.
“I’ll go and buy everything the night before, we’ll have bottled beer, and we’ll cook everything.
No poison.” I smile at him as I bat my eyelashes, and he nibbles on his bottom lip, clearly wanting to say no, but I know how hard it is for him to deny me anything.
“You make it really fucking hard to say no to you,” he replies through gritted teeth, and I smirk at him.
“Not that I enjoy that or anything.” I barely stick my tongue out at him, and he reaches down to kiss me—a sweet, soft, and quick graze of our lips before he pulls back and takes a defeated breath.
“How about we compromise?” he suggests, and I nod.
“I love those.”
“Why don’t I rent out Until Dawn for an evening?
There’s plenty of room and an open bar; Ty already has catering, I trust his employees to make everything, and there are no strange people in our home.
Plus, have you ever cooked for over a hundred people before?
I'm not sure you know a hundred people,” he teases, almost sarcastically, and I playfully nudge his shoulder.
“I know a hundred people now .” We chuckle a little, his coming out a little warmer than mine. “Fine, that’s a good compromise. How much does Tyler charge for an event like that?”
“Doesn’t matter,” he retorts immediately like he already thought of the right response in his head. I rear back a little.
“Yes, it does. I need to know how much it’s going to cost.”
“You think you’re paying? You're so cute,” he coos, and I narrow my eyes at him. “You want another piggyback ride?”
“We’re going to fight today. I can tell.”
“Is that an invitation?”
I roll my eyes but can’t soften the grin that sprouts on my lips .
“I'm not going to spend your money, Damien.”
“ Our money, and you don’t even know how much we have.”
“I don’t need to know.”
“You are going to be my wife. Which means what’s mine is yours. You're never going to have to pay for anything ever again. If you don’t want to know exactly how much money we have, that’s fine, but you'll spend it,” he says in a firm tone to drive his absolution home.
“Okay, well, can I have a limit?”
“Nope,” he says, popping the ‘p’ like a smartass.
“You're so aggravating.” I nudge him again, and all he does is chuckle as he rubs the spot on his shoulder, feigning pain. “What if I decide to spend one hundred grand on this party?” He runs his large, callused thumb over my bottom lip. Eyeing it like he’s going to put it between his teeth.
“Pocket change, baby,” he whispers, and I immediately feel myself trying to cower into my own body.
One hundred thousand dollars is pocket change?
I'm not even sure what to say to that. He’s joking, right?
That’s an exaggeration? “Have you not seen our house?” he adds, actually looking a little confused. Yep. Nope, he’s not joking.
“Yeah, and I love our house, but I can only imagine how much a month it is.” The way my voice squeaks is borderline embarrassing.
He deepens his confused features and shakes his head.
“I paid for it all in cash.”
My eyes widen at his confession, and suddenly I'm nervous again. I figured he had some money, but THAT MUCH money? I mean, yeah, he bought a brand-new car so I didn’t have to look at an Audi, but I just figured he traded the old one in.
Of course, DH needs money to run efficiently, but that’s not his money. Is it?
“We need to have a serious conversation about a lot of things.”
“I can have Melanie go over our finances with you.” He smirks.