Page 30 of Tear Me Down

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 totryand 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 peoplenow.” 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.”

“Ourmoney, and you don’t even know how muchwehave.”

“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 moneywehave, 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?”