Love Me (Trust Series #2) (33 page)

She is absolutely seething, and I now know where this is going.

Damien calmly responds, “I had those made for Alli to match grandmother’s combs and necklace, which I gave to her as part of her wedding present.”

I want to nudge him for his tone as he is almost taunting his mother to say something else.

The look of disgust on her face increases. She might just rip these off of me if she gets the chance.

Meredith’s eyes go wide. “Do you know how much those are worth? How could you give them to her? They were meant for someone else.”

And we all know whom she is insinuating. She looks around again and gives someone a sweet wave.

What a fake.

Damien immediately pulls me to the side as he speaks at his mother, not caring who sees or hears him, “Mother, back off now, or there will be a scene here. It will ruin this party you’ve supposedly put on in our honor.”

She steps back as if she’s been slapped, still eyeing my jewelry with total contempt. Of course, Cassandra has cued a few tears on command.

“Damien, we are going to go mingle. Dinner will be served in half an hour. I’m so glad you both are enjoying the party,” his mother says.

What the hell? She’s crazy.

I rub Damien’s back as he watches his mother and Cassandra walk off.

He turns to me and gives me a kiss. “Sorry about that, baby.”

I just shrug. “Let’s just focus on us and what we need to do. Nothing else matters. We can’t change the delusion they are living in.”

If I verbalize how I really feel at this point, I won’t be responsible for what I say to Damien’s family. Someone behind us clears his throat to get our attention, or rather Damien’s attention.

I’m soon lost amidst all the people from Damien’s past coming to us in our little corner of the room. I answer at the appropriate intervals. Some of them seem like genuinely nice people. Some are just as fake as his mother. I’m so emotionally and sexually worn out by this point that I just want the night to be over. There have been a few jokes about our recent kiss, but the looks Damien gives in response pretty much have people changing the subject immediately. We are just about to head toward the dining area when a familiar face comes into sight. It’s too bad it’s not a familiar face I like.

“Mr. and Mrs. Wales, I received the invite from your parents. I apologize for my tardiness. Thank you for having me. I saw Mark and Dustin and a few of the other team members on my way over to you guys.”

Damien extends his hand, and it looks like an idea passes over his face. “Thanks for coming, Ben. We appreciate it. I have an announcement I need to make prior to dinner. I was going to wait until next week, but since you’re here, I think it’s as good of a time as any. If you’ll excuse us, Ben.”

Damien and I both know exactly why good ole Benny Boy is here, and it’s not to congratulate us again.

As Damien escorts us from the room, he stops to grab two glasses of champagne. Leaning in, he kisses my neck and then whispers, “Baby, just be excited about my next announcement.”

I give a slight acknowledgment as I smile at a guest walking by.

The next thing I know, Damien is clinking his glass and saying, “May I have everyone’s attention for just a moment prior to dinner?”

There’s one thing for sure. He has a commanding presence. Everyone moves to gather around Damien, and they are waiting with looks of anticipation.

He continues, “Good evening, everyone, and thank you for coming to celebrate my recent marriage to my wife, Allison. I consider myself the luckiest man in this room to have her as mine each and every day.”

We look at each other adoringly, and momentarily, we lose ourselves in each other’s gaze. He lifts his head back up to address the crowd. I’m anxious for this news myself.

What, oh what, could my darling husband be cooking up?

“Well, we have a big announcement.” He pauses and lets the anticipation build. “Allison and I have decided to move overseas for a few years to spend some time together. And who knows? I might look at expanding into European sports.”

Everyone laughs.

“This is a surprise to my second-in-command, Ben, but he will be helping me run things here while I’m spending time with my lovely wife. There isn’t a better man for the job.” Damien raises the flute in his hand. “Cheers.”

A unanimous “Cheers” rings back, but then the crowd is stunned into silence as someone speaks up. I have no idea who it is as the person is in the middle of the crowd.

“When are you leaving?”

“We hope to move in two weeks or less.”

I plaster the biggest grin on my face as Damien’s comment sinks in with the crowd.

My husband is a genius.
I’m about to potentially disappear overseas for a long time, and if anyone he knew just popped up over there, it would be pretty obvious.

He turns to me and says sincerely, “Thank you, Alli, for making me the happiest man in this world.”

I lean up on my tiptoes to give him a brief kiss. I know that this is a show, but he meant every word that he said to me. The kiss is over shortly after it begins, and I’m irritated at the loss of his lips. It does nothing to stave off this ever-building desire. We receive a round of applause, and I lean into his chest as we look out toward the crowd.

Now, we just have to get through dinner, and we will be able to retreat to the safety of our room.

Awkward is a little bit of an understatement for how dinner goes. We are seated with Damien’s parents, Ben, and Cassandra. Cassandra is seated next to Damien. He was going to refuse, but there was no way I wanted to end up next to her. I’m seated next to his father, who is the least vile out of all of them at this point. Damien has his back practically turned toward Cassandra. In all honesty, it’s a mess, and dinner cannot be over soon enough.

I’m trying to let this just roll off my back, but his mother is becoming infuriating to say the least. I don’t want a scene in front of all these guests. All the outright disrespect and insinuations about Damien and Cassandra are total bullshit. They aren’t blatant, but the comments are just obvious enough for me to get the implication. Damien has begun to give his mother what I’m sure is an unpleasant verbal lashing several times, but I just keep squeezing his hand. We still have a mission to accomplish.
I just want to get through the night.

Ben has been asking an exuberant amount of questions about our plans to move. He’s probably really excited at the prospect that Damien will supposedly be out of the picture, leaving him a vast empire to run. Damien gives just enough detail, making even me believe that we are truly moving.

I’m lost in my own thoughts when Ben actually addresses me, “So, Allison, are you excited about the move?”

That’s an odd question, coming from Ben. I think it even makes Damien take pause because Ben has never talked to me so casually before.

“Yes, I’m actually ecstatic. It was my idea after Damien had mentioned that he would like to one day expand overseas.”
I have no idea why I just said that. It was the first thing that came to my mind.

His mother responds, “Why in the world would you suggest something like that?”

Everyone’s fork stops mid bite as eyes focus on Meredith and me.

Oh hell, stirred a hornet’s nest with his mother. She probably thinks it’s a scheme to steal her son away from her.

Casually, I say, “I’ve always wanted to travel extensively and now seemed like a good time.”

I continue eating my dessert as if nothing is wrong, pretending I don’t have three other people sending daggers my way.

Damien breaks the silence by saying, “It was an excellent idea, baby.”

Thank goodness the evening is coming to an end.
I’m mentally exhausted, sexually frustrated, and emotionally strung out.

As we are leaving and heading toward the stairs, away from any of the remaining guests, Cassandra runs up to Damien.

“Can we talk for a minute—alone?” she asks. She glances my way as if I’m the third wheel in this scenario.

Damien responds, “Cassandra, we’ve been through this. If you have something to say, you can say it in front of my wife.”

I hope she listens to him because he has adopted his no-nonsense tone. She pouts her lip and cocks her hip to one side. She is definitely one of those people who is beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside.

She leans in, closer to the two of us, and says, “Fine, Damien. I just want you to know that there’s no way she can satisfy your needs like I did. We both know it. I don’t want to do this, Damien, but I will show her what you were like before you decided not to do multiples, domina—”

Damien cuts Cassandra off before she has a chance to finish that thought. I’ve never been happier in my life because I don’t want to hear about any of that.

Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.
I hope I never hear the ending to that sentence.

“Listen here, bitch, she knows most of it, and she doesn’t care. I never want to see you at any function I ever attend again, or I will have you thrown off the premises, sparing you no humility.”

“I’ll take it public,” she threatens.

Bad move on her part.

She crosses her tan arms across her chest, trying to make her chest ginormous. She’s definitely had implants.

He takes a step forward and lowers his voice as he says, “Go ahead. Just be prepared to reap the consequences. This ends tonight, Cassandra. Call my bluff if you want, but I swear that I will follow through. You will not be welcome in any social circle after I’m done. I’m done fucking around with this. I should have put a stop to it sooner.”

Cassandra’s eyes go wide at his statement. It’s amazing what things cause people to take pause. This shows just how shallow she really is.

She drops her arms and gives the best puppy-dog eyes I’ve seen. She adds a lip quiver for good measure.

“Damien…”

Damien’s right hand slices through the air. “I mean it. Don’t ever contact me again or be prepared for what I’ll do.”

Damien turns, and we start heading for the stairs. Cassandra is absolutely stunned.

I wonder if this will be the last we hear from her.
I hope so as this little song-and-dance is getting old.

We climb the stairs and make it to the first landing to see Damien’s mom standing there as if she were hiding in the shadows, away from everyone, waiting to attack us.

Fantastic.

She pats her head as she casually looks around, like she’s making sure that no one is close enough to hear her. Sweetly, she says, “Damien, I just saw how you spoke to Cassandra, and that was unforgivable.”

Damien’s about to unleash holy hell on his mom when I step up to the plate.

Enough is enough.
She has caused me to reach my limit with her tone.

Calmly, I say, “Mrs. Wales, with all due respect, I am tired of putting up with your charade. You either need to accept the fact that we are married and treat me with respect as his wife, or you can completely vacate our lives. Damien and I have been very tolerant with you and your antics, but they end tonight. Before you respond and seal the deal, I would suggest sleeping on it. The choice is yours. Good night, Mrs. Wales.”

Her mouth drops open before I walk off up the steps with Damien guiding me from behind. I think he’s a little taken aback as I normally just try not to make waves and be as easygoing as possible since we rarely see them. I guess the culmination of today just sent me over the edge.

He pulls me into the room as he says to the security team, “Alli and I are turning in for the night.”

As soon as the door closes, our need for each other ignites into a raging inferno. As Damien goes to pick me up off the floor, he knocks over a large vase. It crashes to the floor, sending water and glass all over the place.

“Shit, hold on, baby.”

He puts me on the bed as security knocks on the door.

“Mr. Wales, is everything all right?”

“Yes, Jeremy, I knocked something over.”

“Very well, sir. I apologize for the disturbance.”

“Carry on.”

He’s picking up the glass as quickly as he can. I would just leave it, but I know he’s probably nervous that I’ll forget and go traipsing through the floor in the middle of the night to the bathroom.