Taking without giving. Typical. How much more pathetic can you get, Cassandra?
My ankle gives me a stub of pain, pulling me from my angry reverie and I cry out. Great. Now because of him I can’t even fucking walk. Stupid, Cassandra. You’re so fucking stupid all the fucking time. Didn’t they warn you? Didn’t Layla and Dean and Jeremy warn you? How could I possibly let myself be so stupid? I want to put my head through a tree trunk when I remember how breathless I was, how needy. I begged him, fucking begged him to touch me. Oh, I was so fucking better off without men. So what if Damon turns me on like nobody’s business? Nothing a vibrator can’t fix.
I step on a branch with my swollen foot and another agonizing pain stabs me. Without warning, I’m being lifted up and held against a hard chest.
“Put me down,” I warn as he starts walking us back towards the cabin.
He doesn’t answer and just keeps on walking. And it makes me even more furious.
“Put me the fuck down, Damon,” I say again and slap his chest.
“Stop,” he commands but his voice doesn’t have the anger it did before. He has calmed down. And that pisses me off impossibly more.
I start flailing like a fish, trying to get down on my own. “You are such a caveman, Damon Sawyers. You need to put me down right this instance or—”
“Or what?” he yells and finally puts me down. But he’s not letting me go. He grabs my arms and tries to hold me still as I try to get out of his vice-like grip and slap him wherever my arms can reach at the same time. “Stop,” he warns softly and I scream out in frustration. How can he suddenly be all calm and collected when I want to bash his head into the ground? “Cassandra, stop!” he commands again more firmly.
I do because I’m fucking exhausted. I’m breathing hard, my foot hurts and I just want to scream and cry. “Just let me go,” I say tiredly.
“And where would you go, huh?” he asks softly and brings his hands up to brush some wild hair from my face. “I’m sorry, Cassandra. I know I was an asshole and I meant to be because I wanted to beat you at your own game. I wanted to be the one to break you because I was afraid if I gave in you would break me. And you’re so easy to give in to. It’d be so easy for you to break me.”
My anger slowly starts seeping out of me and I try to hold on to it for safety. “You hurt me, Damon. And I don’t mean emotionally. You hurt me. On purpose. I was so afraid at first when I didn’t know who you were, not knowing what you were able to do to me. And when I trust you, you do that?”
He takes a deep breath and lets it out loudly. “I know. And I’m so sorry about that. I wouldn’t do that, Cassandra. Please believe me. I was never gentle at sex but I would never hurt you. I wanted to scare you and I was mad with anger and lust.” He cups the sides of my face and his fingers tangle in my hair as he pulls me closer to him. “Please believe me.”
I bring my own hands up to put at his chest but I don’t push him away like I thought I was going to. I just rest them there. I think I just need to feel him. Feel his heart beating wildly under my palms. Feel his breath moving his chest as he breathes hard. “I do,” I say eventually, surprising myself just as relief washes over him. “I may be crazy but I do. But you need to understand one thing. I never tried to fool or manipulate you and I would never do that. I’ve told you before: you don’t know me. And that means you can’t judge me from your experiences with others. You need to judge me for who I am. And when I look into your eyes and swear that I would never do something like that, you need to believe me . Understand?”
He nods immediately. I can’t see him very clearly in the moonlight but it’s enough to know he can see me back, see the honesty in my eyes. “Now, can I get you back inside? You shouldn’t stand on that ankle.”
“Please,” I say immediately because
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