Call You Mine (Servite Academy)

Chapter Twenty-One

DAMON

H ave I said it before? This woman is going to be the death of me. Everything about her calls to something so deep inside me, something that’s lied dormant my entire life, and it's terrifying.

This right here, my protective nature and how she just pulls it out of me instinctively, proves I’m way in over my head. Deeper and deeper I fall—with every kiss, every taste of her perfect mouth, every caress of her luscious body—at the risk of never being able to get out unscathed. She was right, the other night when she called me out on my bullshit. When she blamed me for pushing her away, constantly rejecting her with the excuse that she wasn’t being honest with me because I was scared.

I’m more than scared. I’m fucking terrified that this woman, this incredibly beautiful, sexy and fierce woman, is making me fall to my knees just to get an ounce of her attention. Like a desperate fucking bastard, I need her—to protect her, to claim her—in order to feel complete.

“If you want me, then man up and have me. If you don’t, then leave me the fuck alone. I don’t need you if it’s going to come with ultimatums. I know you care for me, but you’re also holding back because you can’t risk getting into something and ending up hurt. I want you, Damon, and I’ll take you in any way that I can. Even if you don’t want me the same way, I’ll do whatever it takes to be with you, even if it’s temporary.”

I’ve replayed what she said to me that night, repeatedly in my head, hoping I’d have responded with the truth and hadn’t used sex as a cop out instead of telling her how I really felt at that moment. Because yes, it scared, scared shitless that I was feeling things I never felt for a woman, especially towards a woman I knew I could never keep.

She said it herself, even if it’s temporary. We both know this thing between us is temporary, and the end date is in sight. Even if we are meant for each other, the way this relationship began, there’s no hope for longevity when our entire relationship has been built on lies and deception.

And the proof of that is standing right in front of me.

“I’ll only ask you this once more, mother. What the fuck are you doing here?”

I turn to face Willa Servite the moment Wynter is out of my sight and safely inside Jade’s house. I was harsh when I yelled at her and told her to go inside, then practically mauled her in front of her mother, brother, and all our friends when I couldn’t help myself and kissed her. Wynter brings out the worst in me—the most possessive, uncontrollable urges I have are always front and center with her. She tests me in every way—her defiance, her sass, her wild nature.

Though, this is for her own safety. Every time Willa comes around, I haven’t been able to truly gauge what it is she wants because Wynter’s always been near keeping her away from me. And I don’t know if it’s because she doesn't want me to find out why Willa’s truly here, or if in fact like she said, she’s trying to protect us all from the venom this woman spews, but that ends now.

I step up beside Ace, glaring down at the woman who looks so much like my Wynter, yet they’re nothing alike inside. Wynter is kind and passionate. She cares for those who mean something to her, and this woman, she is a monster who cares for nothing but herself. A wicked woman who uses her children for her own selfish needs.

“Didn’t I warn you to stay the fuck away from us? Did you not get the message or are you just that fucking dense?”

I watch as her icy blue eyes grow dark with anger. “I’d watch your tone, young man…” she says, but I don’t let her get any more out.

“No, you listen to me you fucking viper. I warned you to stay away from her. You are nothing but poison and whatever it is you’re trying to get out of her, I promise you, you won’t get a damn thing from her.”

“Is it money you want Willa? Are you here because of the inheritance, the sale of our manor?” Ace asks her, though he looks like he already knows the answer to that. “Because you won’t get a damn thing from me, or from her. Because it’ll never be enough for you. You’ll leave for a year or two till it runs out and then you’ll slither your way back into our lives.”

“Tell me, Damon,” Willa says, her blue eyes, eyes so familiar to me, look directly at me as she dares to take a few steps toward me. “You seem like a smart man. You made something out of nothing anyway, given it was handed to you, you still managed not to let it all go to waste. Do you not find it incredibly coincidental, or convenient depending on which way you look at it, that the moment I come to my daughter and ask her to give me what I’m owed or to prepare herself so I can use her to get it, she suddenly needs an incredibly wealthy beau?”

Willa’s fingers trail across my chest, toying with the collar of my shirt, but I hold back, because if I were to get my hands on her, I’m not responsible for what I do.

“What are you trying to say, mother?” Ace suddenly seems suspicious of his sister’s relationship with me. I am not at all surprised since I know for a fact Wynter came to me because her mother threatened to marry her off to the highest bidder. But that just leaves the question I haven’t been able to answer. Willa won’t back off without the money, and if Wynter really doesn’t plan on giving her any of it, how else are we supposed to get rid of her?

“If it’s money you want, name your price. If I’m not mistaken, it turns out I have a lot more than you do. Yet you’re the one here making all kinds of demands and insinuations about things you have no right. My relationship with Wynter, as much as you like to believe the world revolves around you, has nothing to do with you.”

“Twenty million, for starters,” she says with not an ounce of shame.

“You’re fucking ridiculous mother,” Ace mutters under his breath.

“Oh come on sweetie, that’s nothing compared to what you two are about to receive from your inheritance, not to mention I hear the manor is in escrow.”

Reaching into my back pocket, I pull out my checkbook, one I conveniently carry with me. Twenty million will be a hit but nothing I won’t be able to recover from. I’ve given some thought to my current portfolio and selling my shares of Kingsman back to Clarissa seems to be in my best interests. Cutting all ties from her, from Willa. That’s the only way Wynter and I will ever be able to move forward.

“I’m sure you have a pen in that purse for moments like these.”

She nods, triumphantly, digging into her purse for one.

Ace rushes to my side. “Damon, don’t do this, not without telling my sister. You know she won’t like this, she won’t…”

I glare up at him, knowing damn well he’s probably right, but there’s no way Wynter would just stand back and let me do this. “She won’t let me do this, and you know that. Doing this is the only way we’ll ever get rid of her.” I take the pen from Willa and scribble the amount she’s asked for, twenty fucking million dollars, on the check. Tearing it out of the checkbook, I hand it to her, though I don’t immediately let go.

I tightly grip her wrist with my free hand. “This is it, Willa Servite. You take this from me right now, and you never set foot in Hillcrest Hills or anywhere near Wynter and I. You look down on me for being some parentless, troubled punk from the wrong side of town, not worthy of being in your presence, let alone dating your daughter, yet you don’t heed my wanting with the caution you should. Yes, I grew up amidst gangs and thugs, yet you continue to threaten me and the woman who belongs to me. I won’t give you a second warning. You come back here, and you will regret it.”

Pulling out of my grasp, Willa rips the check out of my hand with her slimy fingers and shoves it into her purse. “Keep your threats son, they mean nothing to me. I grew up around monsters viler than you and it made me immune to the kinds of threats you spew. I won’t come back because there’s nothing left for me here, but mark my words, the two of you will never find happiness. Because you don’t know my daughter, not the real her. Not the demons that lurk in her shadows—the secrets she keeps, the lies she tells, her haunted past which looms over her like a dark cloud and will for the rest of her life. That will be what keeps you apart, not me. You remember that when this little fantasy she’s concocted shatters to pieces and falls to the ground at your feet. Because it will, the truth always comes out.”

“What the fuck happened to you? When did you get so sick and cryptic?” Ace asks, but I understand Willa completely.

She knows. Willa Servite knows what her daughter is hiding from me, and it’s worse than I thought. She sees what I see, the impending end to whatever it is Wynter and I started, and I can’t fool myself into thinking things won’t end exactly as she said.

Without another word, Willa turns and walks away, leaving Ace and me alone for the first time in a very long time.

“What the fuck did you just do, Damon?”

“What needed to be done,” I say, turning and walking away from him toward my car in the driveway.

“That’s it? You’re just going to leave. Leave her here?” I ignore him and keep walking, but he quickly catches up to me, pulling me back by my arm. Big fucking mistake. “Then what she said is true. This thing between you and my sister, it’s not real?”

“Don’t fucking touch me again, Ace. I swear to God, you may have had the upper hand on me in the past, but right now, it’s just the two of us, and I assure you, you won’t get out of this one unscathed.”

“Oh fuck off, this isn’t the same as what happened between us in the past. I fucked up alright, and I paid the damn price for it. I nearly lost the woman I love, nearly lost everything for trusting a man who used me to do his dirty bidding. But this, you’re feeding into the poison she’s spewing. Believing her lies instead of going in there and talking to Wynter, allowing her to explain what the hell my mother was talking about.”

“I don’t need any explanation. I’m getting in the car because I can't go back in there right now and deal with whatever shit they’re going to ask questions about. Go inside, tell your sister I’ll be waiting for her in the car, but don’t you dare say a damn word about the money I just gave your mother.”

“So what, is she just supposed to believe you scared Willa away for good with some threat about hurting her if she came back?”

“I don’t give a fuck what she believes. All I know is she will never find out the truth about what I just did. You hear me, Servite, not a damn word to anyone about this.”

A few minutes later I hear a lud thump against my car window. “Open the door, Damon,” Wynter shrieks, slamming her fists on the car window. I unlock it, immediately turning the engine on so I can drive away the moment she hops inside and shuts the door. “What the hell happened out there?”

“Nothing,” I say, reaching over and fastening her seat belt. I tug on the belt across her chest, pulling it tight to ensure she’s properly restrained. She gasps when I tug, her eyes going wide as they flick down to my lips. Fuck, my baby has some wild thoughts. How quickly she forgets her anger at just the mere thought of my lips coming down on hers.

She snaps out of it when I smirk, catching where her mind just drifted off to. “Bullshit. Ace won’t say a damn thing, and I know Willa wouldn’t have just walked away without getting what she came for.”

“Well, she did. I threatened her, let her know she’d regret coming back around and threatening you and she left, tail between her legs and all.”

Wynter’s hair is disheveled, like she let it loose and ran her fingers through it in frustration as she watched us from the back door slider. Her lips are plump and red from our heated kiss and I want nothing more than to take them in mine again, to watch how they stretch wrapping around my cock. “Damon, listen to me,” she cries out when she realizes I was entranced by her lips. “I’m not fucking stupid. I won’t just sit here and pretend that we’re talking about the same woman just giving up so easily.”

I take her hand in mine, bringing her closer to me until my lips fall against hers. But this time, it’s just a soft peck meant to silence her. “Just leave it alone, baby. Willa’s gone. She won’t be coming back. That’s all you need to know.”

I don’t drive us back to the house. I know if I do that, all she’s going to continue to do is ask questions I’m not willing to give her answers to. I could just answer back with the hundreds of questions I have running wild in my mind, especially after the seeds of doubt Willa just planted, watered, and is now watching sprout from the comfort of wherever she’s gone now that she’s twenty million dollars richer.

“Damon, where are we going?” Wynter asks, when she realizes we're headed in the opposite direction. I don’t immediately answer her, not until I’m pulling up to the valet of one of the best Italian restaurants in Hillcrest Hills, which is my favorite. Lasagna night at the foster house I grew up in was my favorite day of the month. I looked forward to it, even helped from time to time to prepare it though it never tasted as homemade and authentic as Domenico’s.

Clarissa brought me here once, shortly after we’d begun our arrangement. I hated going out with her in public, something we rarely did, but I sucked it up all because we were coming here and Luisa Domenico makes the best four cheese lasagna with a homemade Bolognese, a recipe that belongs to her great-great grandmother from Naples, Italy.

“Damon,” she calls out once more, but I simply exit the car and hand my keys to the valet, his partner opening Wynter’s door as I make my way around to her side. “Damon, I’m not dressed for Domenico’s,” she mutters under her breath. I think about ignoring her, but I’d really hate for her to feel embarrassed because she’s not dressed up enough for this five-star establishment.

I could give a shit about what she’s wearing. To me the short shorts and practically see thorough top are sexy as fuck, and I doubt they’d deny her entry given I’ve become great friends with the owner Luisa, but I’d hate for her to feel uneasy throughout dinner.

My gaze moves across the street to a small boutique named Lola’s . Without warning, I grab her hand and drag her with me across the street and up to the store that has exactly what I’m looking for.

“Here,” I tell her, stopping right at the front window display. There’s a red dress, the bodice fitted tight around the manikin and softly flowing out at the skirt. It’s sexy and something I’d definitely enjoy seeing worn on Wynter’s body. “That one. Go put that one on.”

She stares at me bewildered, but doesn't move. “You’re kidding me right?” she asks, but I simply tug her arm as I open the door and lead us both inside.

It’s fairly empty, just a few women shopping lonesome and a group of teenage girls giggling in the back as they try on some dresses that look like they could be for prom.

I lead us over to the woman standing behind the front counter and point to the dress I want displayed on the manikin. “We’ll take that one. The red one hung up on the window.”

“Damon,” Wynter whines, annoyed by my demands and lack of small talk. The woman nods and motions for her coworker to grab the dress and bring it over to us. It’s the perfect size. I obviously knew it would be. I know every single one of Wynter’s curves and could tell you with my eyes closed the exact measurements of her body.

The woman, Gina, scans it and packs it up for me in a sleek gold bag with the shop’s name written on the front. “That will be two hundred and fifty dollars.” I look down at Wynter’s feet and notice she’s wearing a pair of cute, strappy silver sandals. “We’ll take whatever pair of heels you think matches the dress too, size seven.”

“Damon,” Wynter squeals, not sounding incredibly frustrated with my lack of tact. Gina does as I ask, ringing up a simple pair of black heels with a thin strap that wraps around the ankles. They’re perfect and I’m nearly salivating at the thought of how this is all going to look on my girl.

“Total is now,” she looks down at the register. “Five hundred and eighty dollars.” How the fuck are the shoes more expensive that the dress? I brush it off and hand Gina my credit card, shaking my head when she wraps up the shoes. “No need. She’ll be wearing them out.”

Gina nods and hands me the dress and shoes. I turn around to Wynter as she finishes ringing me up. “Go.” I motion for the dressing room in the back of the store. For a second I think she’s going to object, her defiant nature getting the best of her, but she doesn’t. Wynter simply grabs the dress and shoes from me and stalks off toward the dressing room, a little extra pep in her step as she walks away from me, her ass swaying and making my dick incredibly hard.

“Here you go, Mr. Drake,” Gina calls out, handing me back my card and a pen to sign the receipt. As I set the receipt down on the glass counter, I notice a beautiful diamond necklace beneath it in the glass case. It’s stunning, simple and delicate, yet incredibly elegant with a design I’ve never quite seen before. Beside it are a few diamond rings of various sizes, engagement rings by the looks of it and my stomach recoils at the sight.

“See anything else you like?” Gina asks, the insinuation in her tone apparent. “Add the necklace, this one.” I point to it and she nods, running my card once more. After a few minutes, I thank her and walk over to the front of the shop to wait for Wynter to finish getting dressed.

A few more minutes go by, and I can feel the moment she approaches. The air around y grows thick with tension and my body buzzes with anticipation. Slowly, I turn and look at her. The gleaming lights of the shop above illuminate her gorgeous figure.

The sun is setting, yet the woman before me is as radiant as the sun at its highest and brightest peak in the sky. Gleaming like a full moon amidst the darkness of the night, twinkling like every single star on a clear night.

My breath hitches and I can see the effect this magnetic force between us has on her too, as her chest rises and falls with her labored breathing. “You look fucking breathtaking.” Her cheeks flush, the pretest tint of pink flashing across the bridge of her nose as she shyly looks down at the small box in my hands.

“Is that for me too?” she asks, though she doesn't sound like the same confident woman she was just hours ago as her gaze flicks back up to mine. The lust reflected in her gorgeous eyes almost takes me out and I have to reach for her to ensure she’s real and not just some figment of my wildest fantasies.

“Turn around.” She obeys and I take the thin delicate strand of diamonds and slowly place it over her neck, my fingers lightly grazing the skin of her nape as I secure it. It falls along her collarbone, instantly glistening in the room, which is romantically dim.

Wynter immediately turns back to me and an unreadable expression on her face as she wraps her arms around her neck and kisses me. This kiss is soft and slow, nothing like the ones we’ve had before. There’s no urgency, no desperate need to taste and devour one another. No, this was a simple thank you, a testament to what this insignificant gesture meant to her. Of what it meant for me to stand up for her and protect her against the woman who threatened to hurt her. This is a thank you for whatever I’d done to get Willa to walk away.

It’s too much, the thing in my chest aching to make sure she never feels scared or angry or hurt. I don’t know what it means. I don’t understand how I am supposed to feel. All I know is I want to bottle up this exact moment between us and hold on to it forever. Because I fear what’s coming will erase everything about it.