Faking it with Damian Black by Louise Jane

Chapter 35

-MILLIE

“Candice!” Lhissed, glowering at her as she strutted away.

Traitor! 1 helplessly screamed in my head. After everything I confessed. I was

hoping to have her on my side and not leavealone with Danman.

The pretty little witch winked at me, grinning smugly. I want to wipe that cun

ningly sweet smile off her face.

“Have a nice evening, Millie she sang.

“I hate you” 1 mouthed at her, pushing away this drumming in my ch*st cavity.

My pulse ran wild as Damian removed the distance between us. With his long

legs, it’ll only take him ten seconds to cross the street. I had ten seconds to

make a decision. Run or face my fear.

1 fidgeted where I stood. This felt like the first day of school where the teacher

madestand in front of the class to do a self introduction.

I don’t even know why I’m freaking nervous. Maybe it’s the way he’s looking at

me. Those green pools have always been intense, but this time, it was as if he

was trying to read me.

While I was contemplating, trying to assess my situation. I lost those ten

seconds. Damian stood before me. He was so beautiful I found it hard to

breathe.

“Millicent, his voice was rougher than sand. Dark bags circled his eyes, and his

hair was a mess, as though he’d raked his fingers through it repeatedly.

“Hey I stiffened when he leaned down and k*ssedon the cheek. His soft l*ps

lingered on the side of my mouth.

“Ready?” he asked, his tenor dropping a few octaves,

I blinked at him in dazed. “For what?”

“To go” his brows creased, the edge of his l*ps curling up in an amused smirk.

“Oh Damian, we already talked about this”

“Shh, he placed a finger over my l*ps “And I already told you. I’m doing this

because I want to.” He stole my messenge from my shoulder, his long fingers

sliding underneath the leather strap in a move so smooth and casual, he threw

an a over my shoulder and whiskedaway from the building towards his car.

“Just lettake care of you, alright?”

He opened the passenger side, and on the seat sat a beautiful bouquet of red

roses. My mouth goes dry. Damian picked and handed the fiowers to me.

“Thank you.” I meekly said, my head going in circles with what this could mean

When I signed up for this deal, sweet gestures like this weren’t on my list. I

mean, we were faking everything.

1 cradled the fiowers on my lap as Damian stepped on the gas; the car wheeled

away from our office building. He turned the raon and Elvis’ voice filled the

car. I was lost in my head while Damian’s lingers drummed on the steering

wheel. tapping to the tune of Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

“You mused the turn.” I reminded him when he kept driving past the

intersection to my house

“We’re having dinner,” he replied.

“Dinner?” I parroted, questioning eyes glued on lam

Chapter 35

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“Uh, yeah? The meal you have at night?” he seemed genuinely confused that I

didn’t know what dinner was.

Annoyed, I said. “I know what dinner is. What I meant was, why are we having

dinner? What for?”

A mischievous smile ghosted his l*ps. “I didn’t know a single word, and a

question mark could mean such an intricate question.

I bite down on my l*p, my checks burning as I try hard to suppress my smile,

Damian chuckled and explained. “My bad, Millicent. I should’ve asked you first.

So, would my girlfriend like to joinfor dinner?” he used a tone that was so

deep. that it madegiddy inside.

1

I couldn’t help but giggle. Damian laughed with me, and just like that, I felt at

ease again. I don’t know how he does that, but this feels so natural. No matter

how hard I try to ignore it, I am comfortable around Damian, like we’d been

doing this for a long time. Like we were meant to be in this situation.

G od. I wanted to crase that last thought. That was the little girl infangirling

over Damian all over again.

“Only if you’re takingsplace I’ve never been to before, babe,” I punched

back, putting on a sly smile.

Damian frowned. His eyes were glued to the street, deep in his thoughts. “I

might know a place, but we have to make a detour first.”

My brows arched. I was only teasing him. I grew up in this town, and I’m pretty

sure I’ve explored all the corners of Roslin City. But then again, I haven’t resided

here for the last decade, so maybe Damian really knew a place I hadn’t seen

before.

The detour he was talking about was at Simply Thai, a Thai restaurant in the city.

He leftin the car and returned with bags of takeouts. I was itching to tell

him it was okay for us to have dinner at that restaurant. I haven’t eaten Thai

food in a while, and I want to ch*ck out their menu.

“Don’t look atlike that,” Damian murmured, securing his seatbelt. I could

smell the spices from the takeouts permeating the air in his car. My stomach

was knotting in anticipation, my mouth salivating to taste what he ordered for

us.

“Like what?” I played coy, blinking at him innocently.

“Like you had a change of heart. I’m one hundred percent sure you’ll love this

place where I’m taking you,” he shoulder- checked and backed out of the

parking lot.

My shoulder fell. I threw my facade out of the window and admated what I truly

felt. “I was only teasing you earlier, and I haven’t eaten Simply Thai in like…

forever.”

“I’ll take you there again,” he murmured, pinningwith a sideways glance. “I

want to explore Roslin City with you.”

Fire kindled under my cheeks. I looked out the window, hiding how his words

affected me. The way he said it felt like this was a long-term thing. I had to

remind my heart to get too excited because, again; we are only on this deal for a

year. But what cout of my mouth was something my mind didn’t agree with,

but I think my heart did. “I think I’d like that too. Damian.”

Our eyes locked for a beat. His were round with surprise while mine were wide

with this unnerving feeling I’ve ignored since New York.

“Good,” Damian said, shifting gears. I was startled when he reached for my hand

and laced our fingers together. And when he lifted my hand to his l*ps for a k*ss,

I nearly melted into a puddle in my chair.

“Is this the part where you confess your deepest darkest sins?” I said, ridges

deepening on the space of my eyebrows. I hesitantly took in the wrecked cars

lining the junkyard from left to right.

“What?” Damian chuckled, the car slowing to a crawl.

This was, in fact, the first tI’ve been to Tobby’s Salvage Yard. I’ve heard of

this place from Dad a few times when I was still in school. He was friends with

Tobias Watson, the owner of the yard.

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Chapter 35

“I’ve seen a lot of movies where they dump the dead bodies inside a car and let

the salvage yard do the disposal. This is the last place the authorities would

look for a missing person.”

Damian’s laughter filled the confines of his car. “Don’t giveideas, Millicent.”

I laughed with him. The smell of oil and old metal spread through the air, but it

didn’t give off that unpleasant junkyard smell. The cars lining each side of the

dirt path we took were surprisingly organized. Big machines and trailers were on

the far end of the yard, motorcycles and smaller vehicles were on our left, and

SUVs and trucks were on the right.

Damian drove through the yard until we reached a metal arch with a buff guy

manning the trailer on the left.

“D!”The guy beamed at Damian, offering his hand for one of those handshakes

where they pat each other’s shoulder. The guy had to reach over the trailer and

Damian’s jeep

“Jackie.” Damian replied with the senthusiasm. “How have you been, bro?”

Jackie spread his arms, gesturing towards the inside of his trailer turned office

and over the entire yard. “Business is doing good, so I’m good. You? I heard

you’ve taken over your old man’s company.”

Damian shook his head. “Aren’t we all destined to take over our old man’s

businesses,” he said. Both of them looked back at the pilling cars behind us.

“Let’s have a drink at Lukes on the weekend.”

“Sure, sure.” Jackie’s gaze slid to mine. Then he fiashed Damian a knowing smile.

“I never thought I’d see the day you’d visit my yard with a chick”

“Con. I’m trying to make an impression here.” Damian retorted.

Jackie hollered, throwing his head back. “You go ahead, man, this one’s on the

house.”

Through the rearview mirror, another car parked on the one behind us, and I

saw a few coming in our direction, too.

“Thanks, man. See you at Luke’s. Damian continued driving through the path.

Behind the junkyard was a huge parking space. Vehicles were already parked in

the lor, facing a wide screen with movie credits rolling.

I was surprised that a place like this existed in Roslin City. The salvage yard was

located on the outskirts of the city. Mt. Malyons famous sunset can be

witnessed here from a different angle.

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Once Damian found a spot for us, he reached for the bags of takeouts on the

back seat and took out the foo by one. Som tam, s pic y chili, basil fried rice,

tom yum soup, chicken satay, Bangkok-style drunken noodles rice pudding for

dessert.

“That’s a lot of food,” I commented, eyes skimming over the sc at tered food

containers on the dashboard and

“I’m freaking starving” Damian said, handing over a box of fried rice toalong

with a spoon and fork. He the chicken and laid them on top of my rice. “Eat up.”

The food looked delicious, and the aroma was mouthwatering, so I dug in,

moaning as the spices exploded on my my first bite. “This is really good. Go d. I

can’t believe I went away from this town for so long,” I said with a mouth ful

food as a new movie started to play on the widescreen.

The parking lot started to fill out, too, but we had a little privacy inside

Damian’s car.

s one

ricky

too,” Damian admitted, busying himself with filling his rice box with more

food. “When I was in school, all I wanted wa to get away from this place… and I

did. I was happy for a while, but since I cback, I appreciated the peace and

quiet of this place compared to the big cities I’ve resided for…” he searched for

words, “almost fifteen years.”

I lift my shoulder in a lazy shrug, enjoying my shrimp. “It’s cliche, but we only

understand the value of things until we lose

IL”

Damian lifted his intense eyes from his food to my face. “Are we still talking

about food?”

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Chapter 35

I pinned him with a sideways glance. “Are we?”

The air suddenly thickened, the temperature rose even if the air conditioning

was on full blast.

His eyes dropped to my l*ps, intense green pools dilating as he reached over

and swiped his thumb over my lower l*p. The satay sauce stained his thumb. A

pulse kicked in my lower region as I watched him lift it to his l*ps, gently

sucking on it. The movie on the screen faded. The cars parked around us

becinconsequential. All that I could think of was how those l*ps felt

sucking my own.

I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move. I don’t know if I was leaning toward Damian

or if he was the one leaning toward me, but our faces were inching closer.

I swallowed hard, licking my l*ps. He eyed the movement of my tongue over my

l*ps. We both got started when a car behind us blew its horn. I swear I heard

Damian growl a curse. In my nervous state, I giggled and fiattened my back on

my seat, resting my head on the headrest.

“What’s funny?” Damina asked, stabbing the food in his box.

1 sighed, still giggling to myself. “I thought you’re gonna k*ss me

“I was…” he murmured.