The Devil Behind Me (8 page)

“
Let her go now,” Daimon ordered.

“
Okay, Daimon.” Anthony released my arm and I yanked it back to my body. Daimon stepped between us and towered over him.

“
Let me explain to you who she is. She is mine. My woman. My lover. No one else’s,” Daimon barked. 

“
Okay, Daimon. Listen, I meant no harm.” Anthony backpedaled. “It’s just that I heard she was an escort,” he said low so only Daimon and I heard him. 

“
Who the hell would say such a stupid thing about my Addie?” Daimon questioned and demanded an answer. 

“I
was over speaking to Clara and she seemed to imply in strong words that was her profession,” Anthony admitted. 

“
Well it’s not,” Daimon refuted.

“
My apologies, Addie.” Anthony turned to me, but Daimon pushed me to the side. 

The man left
with his tail between his legs, but Daimon wouldn’t stand down from this. Daimon stood there not even looking at me. All he did was try to reign in his ragged breathing. When he did, he turned to look for who I would assume was Clara. Once he zeroed in on her he stalked off. 

“
Daimon.” I seized his hand and pulled him back. He turned his head. The liquid ocean of his eyes was now ice cold, frozen with anger.

“
Daimon,” I said soothingly. “She’s not worth it, at least not here,” I said to him, trying to remind him of all he was doing with his businesses. He bit hard on his lips and spat out a low “fuck.”

“A
ddie, I will not allow anyone to—” I took his other hand and held it.

“I know it
’s not good for your reputation to be seen with what she’s calling an escort,” I said with a smile plastered on my face, only because I was afraid of causing a scene.

“Don’t say such stupid things. You
are not a fucking prostitute!” Daimon barked. I stood taken aback at what he said to me. His body shook as he glared at me. 

“
Daimon,” I whispered.

“
No, Addie, no. No one is allowed to say such things about you. Not her, not anyone,” he said angrily.

He pulled away from
me and started to gain momentum, he was heading straight for her. I saw the stupid smile on her face. This is what she wanted. She wanted him to humiliate himself, to ruin his chances in front of other business associates. Fuck! I ran up to him and caught his wrist. He stopped and stared at me. Fury and anger ruled his face. I pulled harder, propelling myself closer to him. I reached up, took his face into my hands, and gently kissed his lips. My mouth lingered on his. I began to move my lips slowly and leisurely. His mouth was hard and ridged, surprised at what I had done. I moved away gradually and glanced up to see Daimon looking down at me. His anger and fury were now mixed with shock. At least I was able to stop him. I didn’t get what the big deal was. A small peck didn’t mean the world would end. I took his hand and kissed the inside of his palm. I could feel his stance relaxing. A sexy little grin began to appear on his face.

“
See? You’re my lover,” he said in a hushed voice as he brought his hand to my face and feathered my jaw line.

I could see Clara
out of the corner of my eye, not the least bit happy about our PDA.  Which I’ll have to admit, I liked. I closed my eyes as Daimon continued to touch me. 

“Let’s go home,
” he whispered.

“
Hmm.”

He took my hand and led me through the banquet hall
, ignoring everyone’s stares and whispers as we walked outside to a waiting limo.

“
Do not even dare think I would go home with you,” I challenged.

Daimon
stood silenced by my statement, his demeanor changing and his jaw muscles tightening. “No, Addie. I know you better than that,” he brooded. 

The driver opened the
door to limo and helped me in. Daimon slipped into the back seat and glanced over to me. 

“I knew you’d
deliver. You out did yourself, Addie. I guess where money is concerned you’d do anything, except sleep with someone. At least it’s nice to know you have some integrity,” Daimon said harshly.

“
You think I did that for money?” I fired back.

“
Addie, we’re alone in the limo now. Cut the bullshit,” he snarled. 

God
, I was so stupid. Here I was thinking about him, about his reputation and everything he worked hard for. Fuck him and the high horse he rode in on. 

“
You’re right. I saw my opportunity to make more money from you so I grabbed my chance,” I said flatly. 

“
Name your price,” he said coldly. 

“
You pay for an entire year for Sofia,” I blurted out. 

“
No. That, you will have to earn more brownie points for,” he fired back. “A car?” Daimon offered.

“I don’t need a
fucking car,” I argued. 

“
Fine, I’ll pay for one semester more,” he said, annoyed at giving in to my demand.

“
Fine,” I agreed.

It was relatively quiet at the bar, meaning no money. Elissa unfortunately had the night off, but that was okay since Jace and I were able to shoot the shit. The guy was fun to hang out with. He was laid back and enjoyed life. Jace said bartending was the best decision he ever made, not only did he get to hang out with awesome people in a fast-paced environment, but as he put it, he could get as much pussy as he wanted. I laughed nonstop. He was honestly on a roll.

“So
then this one girl, and I mean she was freaky.” Jace was telling me what had happened to him the night before. Trust me when I say the man didn’t leave out any details. “She invites me in. So I obviously go. I need to get laid. She calls out to her roommate who comes running out of her room. Hello Penthouse, we have a story.” He wiggled his eyebrows and I started to laugh.

“
Hey, Jace, you mind not flirting with my girl.” Daimon came up from behind me and placed his hands on either side of my body, pinning me against the bar. I tried to move, but couldn’t.

“
Do you mind?” I asked. I was still upset with him from last week.

“
No, do you?” he asked not bothered by our closeness. I hated that I was the only one affected by his touch. I hated it more than I actually admitted to myself. I finally was able to turn around and face him. His usual sexy little grin was plastered all over his face.

“
So how has my lover been?” Daimon asked, still smiling as he peered down at me.

“
Busy,” I answered as I pushed him off me.

“
Oh. Trouble in loversville,” Darren said as he sat down at the far end of the bar. 

“
She’s just pissed at me is all. It’s fucking hot when she’s angry at me,” Daimon smirked, but I rolled my eyes and walked away.

“
What are you going to do, Daimon? The girl looks pissed,” Darren laughed.

“I have my ways,”
Daimon said loud enough so I could hear him.

“
Hey, Addie, since you’re going to the back, can you go to the stockroom and get me some vodka?” Jace called after me.

“Yeah
, no problem,” I shouted back. Jace threw me his key and I headed to the back. 

“So this is nice
,” said an all too familiar voice. Upon hearing his words my whole body grew cold and froze. “Saw you on the society page with your new mister out there.” The voice belonged to Frank, my ex. 

If you could believe it
, Daimon was prince charming compared to him. Frank and I started dating a few years back. At first he was sweet and kind. Loving and adoring, but things changed. He lost his job and began to drink. Things were rough. I thought we could work it out, but I was stupid. He began to beat me. At first I kept giving myself excuses.
‘It’s okay, he’s stressed.’ ‘He needs help.’ ‘I love him, how can I just abandon him?
’ Each time he beat me, it was worse than before. Until one night when he beat me so badly I woke up in the hospital. He had attacked me with a beer bottle and beat me until I was unconscious. That’s how I got the scar. I looked at it as I constant reminder that I could never again trust anyone. 

“Come on
, Addie. No hello? I haven’t seen you since—”

“Since that night,
” I bit out. “What do you want, Frank?”

“I came here to see you and you
’re already thinking badly about me. You see that was always your problem, Addie. You always think the worst about everyone. You were always a stuck up bitch,” Frank said spitefully.

“
How the hell did you know I was working here?” I fired back.

“
Ah little Sofia, I’m guessing you never told her anything since she so willingly told me you’re working here.” He was right, I never did tell Sofia and neither did my dad. She was young and I was afraid of what it would have done to her to see me that way. Dad told her he had sent me to see our family back home to cover up my time in the hospital.

“You stay the hell away from her. Do you hear me? Stay the hell away from Sofia!” I shouted. 

“Addie?” Daimon called, finding us in the corridor.

“Hello,
” Frank said to Daimon. 

“Who
the hell are you?” Daimon asked, not too pleased seeing me with him.

“Just an old friend, isn’t that right
, Addie?”

T
he way he said my name, made me shiver uncontrollably as bad memories came flooding back. Daimon came closer, closing the gap between us.

“Well
, I'm her boyfriend. Daimon,” he said curtly. 

“Interestin
g and I'm her ex. Frank,” he told Daimon. “Well, it was nice seeing you again Addie.” Frank lowered his head so I could see his face and the stupid grin he wore. “See you around.” Frank waved at me and walked off. 

The moment he left I was able to bre
athe again. I reached up and placed my hand on the wall, trying hard not the let the world around me spin out of control. 

“
Addie? Who the fuck was that?” Daimon barked. 

“
No one,” I said under my breath. 

“
No one? No one? Well it appears this no one came here just to see you. What Addie? The money I’m giving you isn’t enough? You need another hand out?” God, Daimon always had a way with his words. He knew exactly how to hurt someone and was rarely sorry for it.

I slinked into the female bathroom and
walked into a stall to cry. I had cried so many goddamn times in my life that I knew how to keep silent. My tears were always my own as I lamented my life and its constant pitfalls. What I hated the most was Daimon was the only one in my life who had been close enough to see me breakdown. Mainly because he knew how to take apart everything and find the one thing which could hurt me. I finally composed myself, washed my face and headed back out. At this rate, there was no way Darren would keep me. 

“Addie?” Jace called out. 

“Baby girl, if that asshole Daimon hurts you, you tell me,” Jace said bluntly.

“
Why?” I asked quietly.

“Are you being serious here? F
irst off, look at you; you look like he attacked you ‘Daimon style.’” Jace always referred to Daimon’s sharp cut-like words as his style; to Jace he was seriously an asshole.

“
Where is he?” I asked so I could avoid him the rest of the night. 

“
He left.” Jace looked annoyed. “The asshole stormed out of here.”

“
Oh.” I bit the inside of my lower lip, nervous that I might actually lose this job. “Is Darren around?” I asked, looking around for him. 

“
He went after Daimon,” Jace offered. “Don’t worry, just go to work. Okay?” Jace winked and smiled.

“
Okay,” I nodded.

“If Frank ever calls you again
, I want you to promise me that you won’t pick up. If you ever see him, you walk away, okay?” I literally begged Sofia. 

“Why? Y
ou loved him and he loved you. He says he still loves you and wants to see if you guys can work out your issues,” she frowned. 

To
Sofia, Frank and I were the perfect match and she had a hard time understanding why we had broken up. She was young and had grown attached to him, like he was her big brother.

“
Sofia, I'm serious. Do not speak to him.” I nearly ripped her head off.

“Look
, Addie, maybe you need to talk to him and see, you guys might be happy again,” she almost begged. 

“
Sofia, let me ask you this. Would you like it if I involved myself in your future relationships?” I asked knowing she’d hate it. 

“No
! But he says you’re dating some asshole and I don’t want you to get hurt,” she fired back. Fuck, he told her about Daimon.

“What did he say? Exactly,
” I waited. 

“He said he’s some big
shot and you’re blinded by his money and he treats you badly,” she frowned. 

“He doesn’t treat me badly. He’s good to me
. So please, Sofia, don’t get involved.”

It had been two
days since I heard from Daimon. Our scheduled date didn’t happen and I grew worried. Our contract said that under no uncertain circumstances did we let others know we weren’t in a relationship. I was afraid he thought I might have told Frank. I didn’t want him to back out on me now, after I promised Sofia she could go to school. I was going to text him, but I was too busy with work. My father was having yet another relapse and this time it was bad. I made him broth and hoped he would be able to eat it and keep it down. I forced him to stay home. Sofia would come in to help, but I would mostly work open to close. I was overworked and under so much stress but I needed to keep it together for just a few more weeks. By then Sofia would be getting ready to go to school, and I could finally convince my father we should sell, that’s if the diner didn’t close by then.