Damien
When her hand collided with my skin, it hurt-more than I’d expected. A sharp, searing pain, but nothing compared to what I felt inside. But…. A part of me was satisfied. I deserved this. Hell, I deserved worse.
But Hailey… Hailey at least had the strength to fight back. To stand her ground. To stay stable when everything was crumbling.
My head snapped to the side, and instinctively, my fingers brushed the burning spot on my cheek. The sting spread, but it was nothing-nothing compared to the inferno in my chest. My heart was burning-fucking burning-The one that had driven me here, to her room, to wrap my arms around her like I’d always fucking wanted. But when things spiraled, I knew-I could use this mistake to my advantage.
I had to fucking break her to make her. Turn her into someone I wouldn’t even recognize. Someone who wouldn’t trust an asshole like me. And that would help me breathe easier.
My gaze lifted. She stood there, trembling, her breath uneven. As shattered as she looked, she had the fire to tear me apart. To break me into pieces too.
And yet-
The sting of her slap was nothing. Not even close to the agony of watching those tears race down her cheeks.
She didn’t deserve this.
But I was a selfish bastard, so I was going to do it anyway.
“Just that?” I let out a laugh, jagged and sharp, scraping against my own skin like nails on rusted metal. “Just a slap for taking your virginity? For using you like my whore? For-”
Sting.
Another slap. Harder this time. The sharp crack echoed through the room.
“Get out, Damien,” she said, her voice unsteady, her hand trembling-red from the force of hitting me. I wanted to grab it, kiss away the pain. Instead, I stood there, watching the fury burning in her eyes. “Get out before I lose it and do something I don’t want to. Get out!”
“Why, Bunny?” I took a slow, deliberate step forward. “Scared of a little truth?”
Her glare sliced through me, and for a second, I almost believed she could reduce me to nothing. Ashes, scattered at her feet.
Those tears… they wrecked me. And what cut even deeper was knowing I was the reason behind them.
But-
I was saving her. A little pain now to protect her from something far worse later. Wasn’t I?
She’d never let another man hurt her again. She’d know better.
But if I weren’t such a fucking coward, I wouldn’t have to destroy her just to keep her safe, would I?
“No, I am not scared of a little truth, Damien,” she spat. Her voice was venom, her hands curled into fists. “What I am scared of is you! The fact that I laid my heart at the feet of a fucking monster who-after crushing it, after grinding it into the dirt-is still choosing to burn the last pieces into ashes!”
That’s it, baby.
Hate me.
Fucking hate me.
She stepped closer, her breath ragged, her eyes locked onto mine like a storm ready to consume. And she didn’t know, infact she’d never know that I’d let her kill me with a smile if she wanted to.
“What I am scared of,” she whispered, voice trembling but sharp as a blade, “is the regret I know will settle into my bones, seep into every inch of my flesh-because I let myself fall into the hands of someone as tainted as you.” Her finger jabbed against my chest, each word like a hammer striking down-she didn’t know she was leaving wounds that’d take forever to heal with those soft harmless touches.
“What I am scared of is the disgust that will never leave me, knowing that you have touched every inch of my fucking skin.”
And you have touched every inch of my fucking soul, Hailey.
I wished you hadn’t. Because if you hadn’t-maybe we wouldn’t be here. Maybe I wouldn’t have to destroy the only thing I ever wanted to hold onto.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing a smirk onto my lips. The kind that cut like glass.
“So,” I murmured, cocking an eyebrow, “don’t want to be touched again?”
My hand lifted, just a simple movement-brushing away a stray strand of her hair.
But before my fingers could graze her skin, she swatted my hand away with a growl, like the thought of me even existing in her space was revolting.
“Touched by a filthy animal?” She let out a cold, hollow chuckle. “No. Not in this life, not in the next, not even in the afterlife.”
Each word hit harder than the slap before.
“It was a mistake-” she spat, eyes blazing, voice shaking. “Having any fucking feelings for you was a mistake. Trying to see something good in someone as repulsive and disgusting as you? A fucking mistake.”
I felt it then. The final crack in whatever was left of my soul.
“I don’t repeat my mistakes,” she whispered, venom dripping from every syllable. “That’s what I’ve learned from my life.”
A breath.
A pause.
And then-
“So now-get the fuck out.”
Yes.
That is it.
Never even look at me. Never let me in again. Hate me. Despise me. Feel nothing but revulsion when you think of me. That’s what’s best for both of us.
I forced a grin, though every inch of me was bleeding out. Maybe my heart was blackened, ruined, rotting in filth-but it still beat for her. Only her. And perhaps, would only ever beat for her forever.
I wished I could tell her. I wished I could carve the truth into her skin so she’d never forget.
But I couldn’t.
So instead, I shrugged, my voice light, my words heavy.
“Fine then.” A pause, then a smirk. “Jenna’s a better fuck anyway.”
And just like that, I probably killed whatever we had left.
I turned to walk away, but her chuckle-sharp, bitter-froze me in place.
“And I bet,” she murmured, venom lacing her voice, “I’ll find much better fucks than you, brother.” The word sliced through me like a blade, dull and cruel, “Bigger cocks, better faces, definitely a better attitude. And a heart,” she added, her voice dripping with mockery. “Imagine that. A man with a heart.”
My body went rigid.
The thought of someone else touching her-of their hands tracing the same paths I had, of their lips marking what was mine-set my blood on fire.
I wanted to spin around, grab her, force her to look me in the eyes and see the truth I could never say out loud. I wanted to tell her that she was never meant to be with anyone else. That she was only ever meant to be mine.
But I’d lost that right.
This morning, when I walked away.
Or maybe the moment I texted Jenna and set the date for our engagement.
So instead, I laughed. Forced. Hollow.
“Good luck with that,” I said, glancing over my shoulder. Our eyes met for a fraction of a second-long enough for me to see it. The pain. The anger. The way they blurred together, indistinguishable from each other, “Better not get used again, Bunny.”
And then, I walked out.
But just as I reached the door, her voice rang out behind me.
“Good men aren’t hard to find,” she said softly. “It’s girls like me who make the mistake of always choosing the wrong one.”
A quiet. Shattering. Truth.
She was right.
She chose the wrong one.
But no matter how many better men she found, no matter how kind or worthy or whole they were-none of them would ever fucking love her like I do.
And she would never know.
Because we were never meant to be.
I never wanted to see the light. And she-she was the moon. The most beautiful light I’d ever known. And I was the darkness that would never deserve her.