The Devil Behind Me (22 page)

Dealing with Daimon was like dealing with the devil himself, just when I thought everything was done, he threw me a curve ball and laughed at my expense.

“I can’t believe you had me come down here for this
.” I looked at Daimon with daggers flying out of my eyes as I watched him and his snide smirk, which was beautifully placed on his well-chiseled face. Oh how I wished I could slap it off. He demanded that I come down to his office and iron out more of ‘our contract.’ I thought we completed that the other night, but Daimon being Lucifer decided otherwise.

“Addie, you can’t think I’ll agree to all your demands witho
ut countering them with my own?” he then threw a manila envelope in front of me. “How were my demands so out of the ordinary that you had to counter them? I seem to recall you were the one with more demands than me.” Daimon said nothing as I reached for the envelope and walked over to his leather couches. I sat down and began to mentally prepare myself for whatever he was about to inflict on me. 

I read through the contract and it was
exactly what we had discussed. He even relented a bit with my family and said yes to at least twice a month. I guess to Daimon this was a game. At least I was happy that he didn’t add anything too extreme. There were a few added points, one being no man or woman was allowed in our home. 

“What does
this mean?” I asked pointing to it. 

“What?”

“Article 2 Section 12.”

“Our
home, is our space. I don’t want a man you pick up at some sleazy bar in our home,” he said rather coldly.

“Woman?”
I asked.

“If I ask
that of you then I have to abide by the same rules,” he shrugged. “Plus, I seem to recall a little incident with the dog walker which made you go nuclear on her and myself. I don’t really want that happening in our home.”

Our
home? I stopped for a mere second. How could he say it so easily? I continued to read and finally at the bottom was the usual stipulations. No one was to find out about this. If one of us were to break the contract then the other gets nothing. 

“What about your parents?” I asked as I signed the contract.

“What of them?” he asked.

“Did you tell them?” I asked, now looking at him from across the room.

“No. They will find out tomorrow when it’s announced in the society page. Which reminds me, we need to take some pictures for our official announcement for Sunday’s New York Times.”

“What? Wh
y do I need to do that?” I asked, seemingly terrified about the whole notion. Thousands will read about this in the paper and it will be official. “Relax, Addie. It’s normal, well at least for us rich folk. I need to do this and you will fulfill your duty perfectly. Unless you want to back out now and pay for everything yourself?” he taunted.

I
bitterly agreed to everything and left.

My father had avoided me. He turned in early every night and pretended
to be sleeping when I got home. I had been working at the bar every night of the week. I made sure that I took off the ring Daimon had given me. I wasn’t prepared to tell everyone and thankfully Daimon hadn’t shown up. He even postponed our announcement by a week. He said he’d give me another week and then my world would be his. 

“So how’s your dad?” asked Darren.

“Avoiding me. The man is angry at me, but he won’t admit it. I sold his diner and now he’s left with nothing to do,” I said as I put down my tray.

“Just give him time.
He’ll come around,” Darren said as he put his hand on my shoulder to try to reassure me.

“Darren, do me
a favor and don’t touch my Addie without my permission?” Daimon’s voice was so loud and clear that I hardly heard the music that was playing.

“Relax
Daimon, remember we all went to the same high school. I'm Addie’s friend,” Darren said but didn’t move his hand off me. 

“You might b
e her friend, but she’s mine. I don’t like to share,” Daimon hissed as he moved closer behind me. 

“Yo
u never did when it came to her,” Darren bit out. I stood there between them, lost at what was happening.

“Holy shit!”
was all I heard from Jace who was standing behind the bar. 

“Why would I?”
Daimon said nearly losing his cool.

“Addie is allowed to have friends
, Daimon. It’s not like I'm going to take her away, not if she doesn’t want me to,” Darren took his eyes off Daimon and looked at me smiling.

“She’s going to be my wife. So I highly doubt my girl would leave me for you.”

“Daimon,” I hissed. Darren laughed, but there was no humor there, only a quiet anger seemed to reverberate from him.

“You’ve always wanted Addie to yourself
, never giving anyone else the chance to have her. But you’re going to fuck up, Daimon, and when you do Addie will finally be free of your bullshit. That’s when I'm going to go after her. I'm going to show her what a real man can do,” Darren said still looking right at me. “How could you, Addie? I mean, really how could you? After everything he put you through in high school,” Darren said disappointed in me.

“What did I do to her in high school?”
Daimon nearly shouted.

“See? He doesn’t even know.
Then again why would he? If it wasn’t about him why would he care for you, Addie?” Darren took his hand off my shoulder and reached for my face, but Daimon pulled me back.

“Get back to work
, Addie. I’ll make sure your hubby-to-be gets his drink.” Darren nudged his head toward the front of the bar. I could feel the sense of disappointment Darren felt. I never once thought of Darren in that way, but it still wasn’t fair to him. I sought him out almost all the time when I needed a friend.  I was selfish when it came to our friendship. I looked to see Daimon’s face had contorted with anger.

“Now
, Addie!” Darren nearly barked. I walked away from both of them and walked over to where Elissa was waiting. 

“What was that? And did I hear correctly? Are you marryi
ng Daimon?” she demanded.

“Yes
,” I said faintly.

“Damn
, girl. Why?” Elissa looked at me with a stupefied look on her face. “I mean I get that you two got that sizzle, but I always thought it was Darren who was going to be your main man.” 

“What? Why?”

“Come off it, girl. You’ve always known how much he cared for you. It was always Addie this and Addie that. You always came first with him.” Elissa was seriously enlightening me. I hardly ever saw that. What I saw was an old friend from high school who helped me when I needed him.

“You’ve got it wrong
. Darren cares for me as a friend, nothing more.” I shook my head in disbelief.

“Whatever
, girl. As long as you’re happy, I'm happy,” Elissa said as we headed to our tables. “You realize you’ll have to take me with you when you’re shopping for your dress?”

“Of course I will!” I shouted over the crowd.

The night was excruciatingly long. Not because of the patrons, but because of the unfathomable amount of male testosterone coming off both Daimon and Darren. Daimon made sure he was there the whole night, watching me like a hawk while Darren brooded in the corner attempting to fill out his inventory forms. It was completely ridiculous watching them both. They were friends from high school and I couldn’t believe they were acting this way because of me. It had to be because of some male ‘I got a bigger dick than you’ bullshit.  

“You
can’t be seriously pissed at me,” I said without thinking the moment I saw Darren in the corridor. It was the end of my shift and I was beat physically and emotionally. I didn’t want someone who I cared for being angry at me for something I needed to do. I had signed that stupid contract and given my word so I couldn’t tell him what was really going on, but I didn’t want to lose my friendship with him over this stupid deal I had with Daimon.

“Mad? I'm not mad,” h
e scoffed. “I just wish I was the one to see you first, the one to be whatever the hell Daimon is to you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked
, surprised by his tone.

“Come off it
, Addie. Daimon was the biggest asshole to you and yet you always sought him out. You two are like magnets to each other. One minute you hate him the next you want him. I can see it, everyone can.”

Ok
ay, Addie. Don’t lose it, not now, you need Daimon and a deal is a deal.

“What
Daimon and I have is rare and different. I don’t expect you to understand and I most certainly don't have to account for what goes on between us, but you and I have been friends for years. I don't want to lose our friendship over this.” I watched as Darren’s face changed and a darkness took over, one I had never seen him have before. Darren was always smiling and happy, this Darren was not the one I knew. 

“You can’t have me as your safety net and then go running to
Daimon when you want to fuck.” Darren grabbed me by the shoulders and held onto me as he pushed me into the wall behind me. “Addie, choose me,” he growled low in his chest.

“Darren
, get off me,” I choked out.

“
Addie,” he pleaded.

“Please?”
I managed to say as I tried to fight him off. Darren slowly released me and looked down at me, his face solemn. 

“
Daimon will fuck up and I will be there to take you away from him.”

“Fuck,” shouted Daimon the moment we walked into his penthouse. He drove me back here in silence. I was beginning to understand him. When Daimon was angry he liked to be left alone, but made sure I was around the moment he needed to vent.

“I
fucking will not allow you to work there anymore,” he cried out. Drako, seemingly scared, came running behind my legs away from Daimon. “I fucking hate it. Do you understand I hate how he slithers around you with his smiles and happy self while I look like the fucking asshole? You are supposed to act like you love me, Addie, yet you act like I'm repulsive in front of him.” I waited knowing he wasn’t done yet. “I hate your relationship with him. I don't give a shit that you’ve known him since high school, he’s off limits,” he bellowed at me.  Daimon’s chest was heaving as he glared at me waiting for my response.

“Are you done?” I asked calmly.

“Are you going to keep working there?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then I'm not fucking close to being done. I want you to be planning the wedding with the wedding planner. I even gave you an extra week. You think I can so easily move things around when it suits your needs. What about my needs, Addie? I paid you to be mine and yet here you are acting like you’re doing me a favor,” he hissed.

“I'm going to be good and act like this whole thi
ng never happened,” I said, not bothering to deal with his overbearing attitude. 

Daimon
was being far too much for me and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with his childish behavior, especially when it came to our friend. I turned around to leave, but Daimon wasn’t going to have that. He came at me and took my arm, pulling me to him.

“Do you think
you can just fuck with me? That I'm somehow your bitch? I don’t think so, Addie. You are mine for the next three years and no matter what you do I will remind you of that,” he gritted through his teeth. 

“Let go of me!” I shouted.

“Fine, Addie, go.” he nudged his head to the elevator.

“You’re unbelievable, you know that right?” I shook m
y head at him and left. I couldn’t believe how he was acting.

I
arrived home to yet again a quiet house, my father fast asleep. The porch light had not been lit for me. Yeah. My passive aggressive father was still angry with me. It was my fault, it had been a few days and still we hadn’t had a real conversation about the diner. Here I was too busy with Daimon and my job to not realize he was stuck at home with nothing to do for the first time in his life. Tonight took me by surprise to say the least. Darren admitting how he felt really bothered me. Was I so blind not to see it? Did I really take advantage of him and our friendship? By the looks of it, everyone else knew but me. Thankfully, I didn’t have to work the next two days. I would spend tomorrow with my father and try to salvage what I had done. Hopefully Lucifer would leave me alone tomorrow, but knowing him, he wouldn’t stay still when he’s angry. I guess I’d have to wait and see.

“Daddy?
” It was late in the afternoon. I had slept in, not realizing how tired I was. My body felt groggy from such a heavy sleep, but I really wanted to see my father and speak to him. This ignoring bit was getting out of hand. “Daddy?” I walked around to the kitchen but he wasn’t there. I picked up the pace and walked around the house, but I couldn’t find him. I went up to his room and opened the door. My dad had left. I had no idea where he was. My father usually stayed home and rarely went out. His attacks happened at any time so if he wasn’t at the diner he was home nursing his pain; then again he wasn’t sick anymore. Fuck. Where did he go? My shoulders slumped and I felt sick to my stomach. My father never went to this extreme when he was angry with me. I went to the kitchen and made myself breakfast. My stomach growled the moment I started making food. Man, I was hungry. I sat down at the table and picked up my phone. No messages from Daimon. At least this day had a silver lining.

I had finished my f
ood and wound up on the couch. The images of Darren’s face came to my mind as I was channel surfing. I had never seen him look at me like that. What the hell was I going to do now? My attention was diverted when I heard the front door open and my dad walk in with bags full of food.

“Dad?”
I called out as I stood up to help him with the grocery bags. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Getting us
food,” he said as he walked in. I took some of the bags back to the kitchen and placed them on the counter.

“I thought you left to avoid me,
” I said quietly, not realizing I was crying. My father gently placed the rest of the bags on the table and slowly made his way to me. He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it.

“I understand why you did what you did and as each day
goes by and I feel better, I know you did the right thing for me. But I need time, time to understand what happened and why it all went wrong. I failed your mother and our little dream and it hurts to know I did that,” he said ruefully.

“You blame me.
I know you do,” I said without looking at him. 

“Part of me did, but only because I
needed to be angry at someone. I'm sorry, Addie. I’m sorry you had to go through this all alone. I’m sorry I put you in that position.” He pulled me closer and hugged me.

“It’s ok
ay,” I murmured as I held onto him. I never realized how much I needed my father’s arms around me, holding me close and making me feel safe.

***

Two days went by without one word from Daimon. Not until Sunday morning that is, when my father called out to me, “Addie, hurry up and come downstairs.” I managed to make it downstairs to my father, who was holding a bottle of champagne in one hand and a New York Times in the other. “It was delivered for you,” he said gesturing for me to take the items. I took the bottle and placed it on the floor. I looked at the newspaper and wondered. He couldn’t have, could he? I pulled out the sections and found what I was looking for. 

The groom, wealthy entrepreneur Daimon Evans owner of Evans Industry and Evans Investment Group, is marrying Addie Sakis. Both met in high school and have kept in contact ever since. “I loved her from the first moment I met her,” Daimon said with his eyes beaming with love for his childhood sweetheart. “She’s changed me and I could never let her go. Addie is the greatest thing that could have happened to me.” The bride-to-be’s father owned a quaint ethnic restaurant. Both her mother and father came here to live out the American dream and find a better life for their children. Sofia, the younger sister is attending Yale, living out the dream for Addie, who had to miss out on the opportunity because of her mother’s passing. “Addie deserves the best and I’ll make sure I give that to her.” Daimon continued to smile as he talked about his future wife. “Daimon is a dream come true and I thank the heavens for him every day,” Addie didn’t shy away from how she felt about her man. “He takes good care of me and I love him more every day that we are together. I can’t express how much I want to be married to him right now, that’s why we both can’t wait any longer and are going to be married next week.” It might seem rushed by our standards, but these two lovebirds have been in love since high school. “No point in waiting any longer. My girl and I will live out our lives together from now on.”  

“SON OF A BITCH!” I shouted out. Not only did the fucking asshole put our wedding announcement in the paper, he fucking moved up the date. We had agreed on next month. 

“Is everything al
l right, Addie?” my father asked as he came running out of the kitchen. 

“Yeah
, Dad. Everything is fine. I just need to see Daimon.”