Lie to Me (24 page)

He glanced over his shoulder, then back at her, his teeth clenched. “I’d love to take advantage of Sam’s condition and beat the piss out of him, but I’ll go with you.”

“I thought the two of you agreed to always fight fair.”

He looked startled.

She turned away from him again. “Just come on!”

She heard his footsteps and some gasping behind her and she knew his leg hurt, so she didn’t rush him. When he reached her, they stepped into the hallway, and he shut the door. The two of them haltingly made it to the elevator, where Damian rested his back against the wall, and they left the complex with him still limping.

“Lean on me,” she said, in a rough voice, not glancing at him, once they started down the walkway.

“I’ll manage.” His hard voice rankled her.

“If you fall down, don’t expect me to pick you up.” She tried to imitate his tone.

“I won’t fall down.”

They didn’t say another word all the way home, and didn’t break the silence even after they were in her apartment. Damian limped ahead of her, plopping down on the recliner she’d planned to sleep on.

Casey stood by the door; her back pushed against it; her arms hugging her body as she watched him pout like a spoiled brat. Like Miles. “You’re acting like a child,” she mumbled under her breath, but loud enough for him to hear. She could see him tensing, and then he grimaced and rubbed his thigh, looking at his hand, not at her.

Damn him for evoking her sympathy. She knew he hadn’t done it intentionally. He never liked her to see him weak. Tossing her hair, she strode up to the sofa bed, folded two thick blankets and placed them on an ottoman. Without a word, she carried the blanketed ottoman up to Damian, who was staring down, his fingers spread over his denim-covered thighs. She noticed, with a slight sexual stirring, that his hands were so big and looked so strong…

“Put your leg up on this,” she commanded, shaking off the sensual feelings.

“I don’t need to put my leg up, like some cripple.”

“You’re not crippled, but yes you do. Would you like me to put it there for you?” She felt the hard glimmer in her eyes.

“You won’t.” He met her gaze. “I’ll kick it over.”

She stared at him. He never acted this way. Angrily, she spun away from him. “Fine! You deserve to be in pain!”

“Sure I do. How dare I be angry that you went to see Sam by yourself? And why should I care that you made nice with him? After all, he only wants my wife, my kid, his perception of my place in my father’s heart—basically, he wants my ass on a platter—” He looked away from her.

“You’re wrong about everything. First of all, I’m not your wife—”

“It just slipped out.” His paused, while her heart contracted. She heard him draw in a breath. “Come to think of it, why were you by Alex’s room? Were you going to have a little chat with him? How close did the two of you get while I was gone?”

She turned toward him, feeling both confused and outraged. “What I do, and who I do it with, is none of your business, but Alex—I don’t even know what to say. I don’t owe you an explanation, but I can’t believe you’d think Alex and me—”

“I don’t think so.” His voice snapped. “I’m just pissed because you took care of and kissed my
other
brother—”

“Pecked him on the cheek!” She shook her head.
Is he jealous of that chaste kiss?

“I’m pissed you were even civilized to him. This is the brother that has me on his enemies list! Did he explain it? Is he planning to kill me? I wouldn’t put it past him!”

“Damian—”

“Yeah?” He kicked aside the ottoman with his good leg and pushed himself to a stand, grinding his teeth as he did so. It was hard to watch him put weight on his injured leg, because he grew so white she feared he’d pass out, but she didn’t dare go to him. He wouldn’t want that from her right then.

She wondered if his leg would buckle again.
Shit.
She had to calm him down and get him to sit again. She also needed to get him to quiet his voice. Alex or Miles could awaken. It was miraculous that they hadn’t already gotten up.

“Damian, you have to quiet down.”

“
I don’t ever want you going to see that asshole again
!”

She couldn’t hold it in, but she kept her voice at a reasonable level, even though she wanted to scream. “Will you shut up and listen to me?”

Damian crossed his arms, waiting. She could almost see smoke coming out of his ears. She knew him well enough to recognize his seething.

“I knew Sam was drunk.” The hair on her neck seemed to rise. “I went to talk to my
best friend Alex
, but he was on the phone with Sam, lambasting him for his condition. I remembered how talkative Sam gets when he drinks so I wanted to see what he’d tell me.”

“He loves you.”

Casey flinched. She hadn’t expected that. “So what? I don’t love him.” She laughed. She couldn’t help it. “You don’t honestly think I went there because I like him that way. If so, you need help.”

He sucked in a deep breath and his gaze hit the ceiling. When he spoke again, he was slightly calmer. “It drove me nuts when I saw you kiss him.”

“And I kissed him because he has nothing to do with what’s been going on! Nothing.”

“How do you know that?“ He threw it out as a challenge, his eyes growing dark and stormy.

“Sam wasn’t thinking hard about what he said. If he’d done it, he would have told me.”

“You don’t know how much control he had—”

“I know how much control he
didn’t
have.” She really wished she could yell. Since she couldn’t, she held the urge inside and her body shook. “Damian, Sam told me that he’d worried about you after your accident, actually wanted to go see you to apologize and try to help. Alex wouldn’t tell him where you were.” She watched as Damian flinched and then blinked at her, confused.

“Really?”

She didn’t bother answering, and she still shook. “He also told me that, although he resents you, he worries about you and loves you too. Yes, don’t look at me that way. He actually said he loves you, although he did say he’d deny it if you asked him about it.” She saw his eyes mist up and he dropped his gaze. “There’s no way in hell he’d ever want you hurt.”

“Wow.” He looked up at her, his eyes now dry, but full of wonder.

She nodded at him and her voice softened. “I took care of him when he got sick, and I kissed him. I did that for you, because he really does care about you.”

“I need to sit back down.”

“Are you sane again?” she asked, feeling emotionally depleted, but relieved that it was out, and that he’d seemed to believe her.

“I’m sane again.”

She walked to a dazed looking Damian and helped settle him back in the chair, and then righted the ottoman and put the blankets back on it. As she gently elevated his leg, she said, “Sam isn’t the one.”

Damian sank back to the cushion, his eyes still glazed as he watched her. “He wrote a lot of letters about wanting me gone, and then there’s the matter of the enemies list.” His brown furrowed.

“I asked him about that list, figuring he’d never remember what we talked about the next day, but he got sick first. I still don’t believe he meant to harm you, although he did say you were his enemy. He loves and hates you at the same time.” Unable to resist, the worst of their confrontation over, she grinned. “I know how he feels.”

Damian tried hard to hold in a smile. She could see his lips twitching. Finally, he gave in, smiled, and grasped her hand. Tugging, he said, “Sit on my lap. Just be careful not to bounce on my leg while you’re getting there.”

Her grin widened. “You’d deserve it if I did.”

“I know.”

“You were being obnoxious.”

“Me?” He faked innocence.

She used his good leg to climb into his lap, and her hands wrapped around his neck. His arms automatically clutched her close to his body, and he smelled like his leather jacket and felt warm and wonderful. “Are you ready to hear everything that Sam and I talked about?” She set her head on the thin t-shirt material covering his muscled shoulder. Now she could also smell an earthy musk and red-hot male. He was Damian again, not some demon that’d possessed the man she loved.

He rested his cheek atop her head. “I don’t know how well I’ll listen. I’m still in shock that Sam would express any affection toward me.”

“Try to listen.”

“I’ll do the best I can.” His lips played in her hair. “I guess I need to apologize for flipping out and making assumptions—I was—jealous.”

A thrill shot through her. She’d known that, but for him to say it—who knew? Maybe it was progress. She launched into the story, noticing that, at the same time that she spoke, his heart beat strong and steady and that her head, still resting on his shoulder, rose and fell with his now even breathing. He felt delightful.

“Sure he wasn’t being drunkenly maudlin?” Damian mumbled, after she finished her monologue. His hand slid to the denim that covered her slender thigh, coming close to her crotch.

She kissed him quickly on the lips, her body responding in spades to even that tiny intimate gesture. “No, he was spilling his guts. He wouldn’t try to hurt you, dear. Run you out of town by underhanded tactics, yes, but nothing that would harm you. He still feels that brotherly connection.”

Damian shook his head, obviously touched. “After the accident, Alex never told me Sam wanted to see me.” He let out an audible breath. “Of course, I made it clear to Alex that I didn’t want to hear anything about either Dad or Sam.”

“Alex kept his word then.”

“Yeah, he knew it had really hurt when Dad and Sam disowned me.” His ran a thumb down her cheek. “There’s still a slight chance it’s Sam.”

“No.” She pulled back. “There’s no chance it’s Sam, although he thinks somebody is making it seem like it’s him.”

“Who? Some mill worker who hates him maybe?”

She shrugged, but nodded, thinking it was a good guess. “I’m sure he has tons of enemies. Even the ones not on his list.”

Damian laughed. He peered at her as she stared at him from the close distance of his warm lap, and finally sobered. “I guess it’s time to figure out who else it could be. I trust your judgment.”

She was glad she’d gone. “If I thought there was any chance it was Sam, I never would have given him even that chaste kiss.”

“That chaste kiss.” He made it sound distasteful. “You know, I would probably have reacted the same way if I’d seen you near any man, not just Sam. I feel possessive of you.” His gaze lowered.

Her heart pounded. “I feel possessive about you too, Damian, but there’s no point. We don’t have the right to care if the other is with somebody else. It’s none of our business what the other one does.”

“I want that right. The right to care what you do.”

She froze, gaping at him.
What does he mean? Probably nothing.
She watched him closely. He had a strange look on his face, which flustered her. “Explain what you mean.”

“I’d carry you to the sofa bed, but my leg won’t cooperate.”

So he’d ignored her. He probably hadn’t meant anything important. She forced herself to sound lighthearted. “I can’t carry
you
either. If you want to move, you’ll have to walk.”

“Help me up. We can get more comfortable than this.”

She rose as her heart fluttered in her throat, and then she bent her knees until he could grab her around the shoulders. They staggered toward the sofa bed, with him mumbling about how embarrassing this was. They both fell onto the mattress and landed side by side, Damian making sure he fell on his uninjured leg. He leaned on his forearm and stared at her with adoration. “Damn,” he said. “Damn, you’re something.”

Casey felt a buzz vibrate through her body and tossed her arm over him, mischievousness overtaking her. “Got you where I want you,” she said, gazing at him, feeling naughty. “You’re my sex slave now. You’ll do as I say.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, rolling to his back. While he cradled his head and stared at the ceiling, she remained in place, steadied by her elbow, her hand circling his rock hard abs and finally resting on his thigh so she could massage him. He let her do it for a few minutes, barely moving, and, as she stared down at him, emotions overwhelmed her.

He finally broke the silence. “You should have been a nurse.” He turned his head toward her and flashed her a beautiful smile. “I love you so much.” He ran his finger along her lips. Catching her gaze, he sobered and said, “Case, we need to have a talk.”

“That’s a first.” She shuddered, anticipating. She felt certain that this would be something she’d want to hear.
No, mustn’t get your hopes up…

He once again pulled to his elbow and faced her, smoothing his hand through her hair, his expression still full of adoration and softness. “It’s been over four years since I’ve had a drink.”

She nodded, starting to tremble inside. “I’m proud of you.”

“I often want to drink, it can be overpowering. When I smelled the whiskey at Sam’s place—sobriety is a battle I constantly fight.”

She saw a look in his eyes that seemed so vulnerable that she snuggled into him to soothe him. He wrapped his arms around her and clasped her tightly to him. Her heart was racing, she could feel it.

“I don’t want to drink again, Case.”

She could feel the vibrations in his chest as he spoke; they transferred to her and caused body to once again quiver. He took in a deep breath. “I remember how shitty it felt to wake up with a hangover, half the time not even home, sometimes not remembering days at a time. I don’t ever want that again, not for me…” He paused a long time and narrowed his stare on her face before quietly saying, “And not for you and Miles.”

She pulled back and stared at him, a jolt convulsing her body. Swallowing hard, she ran her fingers down the side of his face, daring to hope this time, daring to hope… “Where are you going with this, Damian?”

He smiled at her, his grin lighting the room, her world, and the universe. “Maybe I
should
stop punishing myself for what used to be. What do you think?”

She feared moving, even taking a breath. Finally she said, just above a whisper, “You know what I think.”