41 - DAMON'S PART

41 - DAMON'S PART
Damon’s POV 
I paced along the edge of the backyard, my blood still boiling with rage.
Cheryl.
Aiden.
Together.
The image of them kissing on the balcony played over and over in my head like a sick fucking joke.
In my house.
At my party.
With the guy she swore meant nothing.
I shouldn’t be surprised.
I saw it. I saw the way she looked at him when she thought no one was watching. I saw the way her body reacted to him.
I saw it all.
And I ignored it.
Because I thought… I thought if I just gave her more, did more, loved her more—that she’d eventually love me back.
But she never did.
I clenched my fists, my knuckles aching from the punches I had thrown at Aiden. Not enough. I should’ve hit him harder. I should’ve made him bleed for taking her away from me.
The sound of footsteps made me turn sharply.
Cheryl.
She stood there, her arms wrapped around herself, her face pale in the dim glow of the garden lights.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice soft.
I let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “You’re sorry?” I took a step closer, my blood humming with something I couldn’t name. “You’re sorry that you let me throw you a party? That I put this house in your name? That I—” My voice cracked. “That I fucking loved you?”
She looked away. “I didn’t ask you to do those things and you can have it back. I would never be able to sleep here anyways”
I sucked in a breath, the words hitting me like a punch to the gut. “Right,” I murmured. “So what now? You’re going back to him?”
She lifted her gaze to me again, eyes glassy. “I - ” she opened her mouth to speak but no words escaped them
I studied her, my anger shifting into something deeper. Something colder.
“You love him, don’t you?”
Her breath hitched.
I stepped closer. Too close. “Tell me the truth.”
Her lips parted. She looked up at me, conflicted, torn, but she didn’t deny it.
That was my answer.
I scoffed, shaking my head. “Unbelievable.”
I turned away before she could see the raw pain in my expression, before she could see the way her silence had just ripped me apart.
She reached for me. “Damon—”
“Did you fuck him?”
The words spilled out, sharp and bitter and desperate.
She flinched. “That doesn’t concern you.”
That broke me.
Something inside me snapped, and before I could think—before I could stop myself—I grabbed her.
Her gasp cut through the night air as I pushed her against the wall.
“I loved you,” I whispered, my voice low, shaking. My fingers dug into her arms. “I gave you everything.”
She struggled against me. “Damon, let go.”
But I didn’t.
I leaned in, my lips hovering over hers. If she wanted Aiden, if she was so sure about him, then why was her breathing unsteady? Why was her pulse hammering beneath my fingers?
I wanted to prove something. I wanted to make her feel something for me.
My hands started to roam lower—
Then suddenly, I was yanked back.
Aiden.
The force of his grip ripped me away from her and sent me stumbling. Before I could react, his fist slammed into my face.
Pain exploded in my jaw, and I barely had time to recover before another punch landed.
“This is for the punches you gave me,” Aiden growled.
A second later, he landed another, harder one—so hard my head snapped back. My vision blurred.
“And that,” he sneered, shaking his fist, “is for laying your filthy fucking hands on her.”
I staggered, blood dripping down my chin.
I looked up at Cheryl, who was now standing between us, breathing hard, looking at Aiden like he had just saved her life.
And that was the moment I knew.
I had already lost her.

Chapter – Cheryl’s POV
The moment the words left my lips, I regretted them.
Not because they weren’t true.
Because they were.
Aiden stood there, his whiskey-colored eyes dark and unreadable. His jaw was tense, his fingers wrapped tightly around the glass in his hand like he needed something to anchor him. Like I was dangerous to him.
And maybe I was.
Maybe we were dangerous to each other.
But that didn’t stop me from saying it.
“I still very much want us to be roommates and I don’t want to lose you but -”
He exhaled sharply, setting his drink down on the bar with a quiet thud. His gaze stayed locked on me, burning into me, stripping me bare. But now that it all seemed real, it all seemed like Aiden was at my fingertips ready to be mine, it scared me more than ever. Damon’s vicious behavior had brought everything back, all those years of Aiden bullying me.
“You don’t want to lose me?” His voice was low, almost bitter. “That’s funny, Cheryl. Because it sure as hell feels like you already let me go.”
I swallowed. “It’s not that simple.”
“Bullshit,” he snapped, stepping closer. Too close. The space between us was so small now I could feel the heat of his body, could smell the faint scent of whiskey and his cologne. “You want me, or you don’t. You can’t have it both ways.”
My breath hitched. God, why did he have to make everything feel so intense?
I thought back to the kiss on the balcony. The way his lips had completely stolen my breath. The way his cold fingers had burned against my overheated skin. The way I had felt like I was flying and freefalling at the same time.
But then the lights had come back on, and the world had crashed down.
And Damon had seen us.
The image of his face—his betrayal, his fury, his heartbreak—was still burned into my mind.
“I need time,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
Aiden let out a humorless laugh, shaking his head. “Time?” His fingers curled into fists at his sides. “Time for what? To keep pretending? To keep playing house with Damon when you and I both know you don’t love him?”
I flinched. The truth in his words cut too deep.
“It’s not that – it’s not about Damon. It’s about you – all those years in high school – how you treated me. I thought I was over it but I was clearly not”
Aiden sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. When he spoke again, his voice was softer—but no less firm.
“Cheryl, I don’t do this.” He gestured between us. “I don’t do feelings. I don’t do… waiting. But for you?” He took another step closer, crowding my space, overwhelming my senses. “I’ve already done the one thing I never thought I’d do—I fucking fell.”
My heart stopped.
Aiden’s chest rose and fell heavily, like he had just confessed something he never wanted to admit. Like he had just given me a part of himself that no one else had ever touched.
And I couldn’t breathe.
Because it terrified me.
Because I wanted him just as badly.
But Damon—
The thought of him, the image of his face, snapped me back to reality.
I tore my gaze away from Aiden, wrapping my arms around myself. “I have to go.”
Aiden’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t stop me as I turned away