Goddess Maid Service

I can’t seem to find my train of thought.

The totally justified response would have been… “Damon?! Get the hell out of here! Who do you think you are?!”

Or maybe, “hey ass hat! I’m busy!”

Instead, sadly, what makes it out of my mouth is “Angel?”

Like this is some type of wayward romance that your grandma and that one aunt likes to read, with the same dude on every cover in that white puffy shirt.

I hand to God went all “Angel? Is it you? Could it possibly be? Oh dear me. Whatever shall I do?”

Let’s cringe together now.

Damon was every bit of a dark horse standing in front of me. His eyes like black holes. His fingers bolted down into two tightly formed fists.

I notice a shake that slithers through his entire body.

The darkness of his stare sends a shiver through mine.

There is no sound. No cheers from the beer pong table or bounce of the plastic ball bonking into a solo cup. No music or rowdy teenagers below. There is not a squeak of anything to be heard.

The shine of Damon’s nose ring catches the light with every breath he exhales.

It almost looks like the bullring itself is trying to escape from his face in sheer terror.

When Damon’s almost black eyes switch from me to Reid, that’s when time seems to start again.

Like a spark catching heat, I finally erupt.

My demand leaves my body before my feet touch Reid’s bedroom floor. “DONT TOUCH HIM!”

Damon’s hands become unbolted, just to reform at the neck of Reid’s tender throat.

One lunge is all it took for Damon to have Reid up and hanging in the air, before the dark prince sentenced him back to earth.

I couldn’t catch him in time.

I tried.

But Damon moved faster than lightning itself.

You know the sound of the ball hitting someone’s face when dodge ball was played in P.E.? That sound is forever etched into your very soul.

The sound of Reid Daniel’s entire body being slammed into the floor is forever etched in mine.

“DAMON!” I roar out, finally catching traction as I bulldoze my elbow into Damon’s body before he could release the punch he had locked and loaded.

Both of us crash into the wooden desk, knocking over the flask I was gifted, pouring out its contents in a puddle right beside poor Reid.

Using Damon’s body like a squeegee towel, I end up dragging both of us off the desktop, slapping us on to the floor.

My knee bangs into everything it possibly can, mangling with every hard surface in what feels like this entire Goddamn house.

“Ow! Fuck! God Damn you Damon!”

I hiss out like my own version of a battle cry as my bad leg stings.

But the pain of it is soon extinguished by the new surfacing pain of me beating the ever loving shit out of the biker bitch under me.

Slapping and punching...doing my best to hold his hands down.

I didn’t realize it but I had stuck my good leg (a phrase I use loosely) out to act like a spindle axis in hopes of keeping me in place. Damon would have to break my fucking leg before I could be pushed off.

“AHHHH!” I scream in pure blind frustration.

My entire arm now aches with a shooting pain that bounces from the tip of every finger to the whole length of my spine.

Reid shifts beside us, finally drawing in a desperately needed breath.

It’s a distraction. Granted, a happy one. But a distraction nonetheless. It’s enough to throw off my attention, giving my opponent an opportunity to flip the script.

Damon has his hands laced at my waist and he drags me to my feet.

Plopping me on the bed I was about to use as a throne, I bounce twice before Damon crashes down onto my bum leg.

The painful gasp that leaves me now spares me none of my pride. The sound of true pain and anguish rings clear as day.

Damon backs off as my eyes swell with tears I didn’t mean to give life to. They just spring out on their own accord. My ears ring with pressure.

I hiss like a cold pot on a hot stove, loud and without abandon.

My first two fingers go to latch on each side of my knee, cupping my palms into half-formed circles so I can keep it straight and lift with a soft and practiced ease to take the stress off the artificial components stitched in.

“Oh no, Savannah?” I can faintly hear Reid’s voice.

I know I look like a broken little mess of a thing. A helpless broken girl. A teenager with the limb of a 90-year-old lady.

And then suddenly, someone else appears in the door frame.

“Percy.”

I can’t hide this.

I can’t cover this one up.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

What I really REALLY want to say is that I’m fine. That I didn’t pretty much break apart in front of these two.

But when Percy came into the room, he already knew what was up. He has seen this side of me more regularly this past year. He knew what was happening in my body at this very second.

That’s why he wasted no time in setting my knee in a position to get every ounce of pressure off of it. He got my jacket, my safety blanket, and tucked it under my hair so the chill of the leather could bring me back into the moment.

“Where’s her clothes?” Percy was the one in charge now.

Growing up I had spent so much time with him that it was almost like we were twins.

Polar opposites sure, but because of how close we are in age and how close we are period, it was almost like we were brother and sister.

Growing up, most of the time I slipped into the leader role with him. But in the last year, Percy had become the one calling the shots. And now it didn’t feel so foreign.

“You need to leave now Damon,” Percy says. “You’ve done enough.” His tone is sassy.

Even with the thunder horses trotting down the base of my neck and the hurricane of leg pain that’s threatening to drown me, I manage out the start of a chuckle.

It’s very rare that Percy goes all “YoU’vE dOnE eNoUgH dAmOn”

Percy’s a good kid. He’s never once backtalked Uncle Jonah or a teacher. He’s always on the honor roll and has never had detention or a grade below a B+.

I can count on both hands the number of times Percy’s been feisty. I just never let him have the chance. I’m the one who steps in and mouths off before anyone else can...well...do anything else.

Straining my eyes, I look over at Damon.

“I’ll leave when I’m ready, Pussy,” he says. “We have some business to discuss. You listening to me, Shortcake? My place. Tomorrow.”

Percy scoffs at him for me.

“I wasn’t speaking to you, Pussy.”

I have to hold back a gag, but I manage enough strength to say, “I’ll kick your ass if you disrespect him again.”

“You forgetting our deal, Van?” Damon says. “Tomorrow. You can work on your debt to me. I’ll allow you to clean my room.”

His eyes cut across the floor to sweet Reid, who’s still on the floor.

“Since you like bedrooms so much…” Damon says, and then he disappears from the room.

***

School went well, no issues even at gym when Coach Kline insisted I was still dismissed for the year, but I didn’t listen to him.

I didn’t care, I know it has something to do with Damon.

When school let out, Sunshine was waiting at the front doors for me.

He stuck to my side and pulled me away from Percy behind a red brick divider that worked as hurricane protection for the front set of windows.

“What the hell, Sunshine? You can’t use your words? Touch me like that again and I’ll fill this whole school with uppercuts.”

I shoved him off me and straightened up.

“Savannah, today when you go to the bar you can’t bring your jacket. Also, Damon wants you to wear this.”

Sunshine pulled a black bag from his back pocket, handing it to me.

I scoffed, looking at it to see a matching black G-string bikini.

“Not in this fucking lifetime. I’m not leaving my jacket either. I’ll take it off before I go in.”

I toss the bag back at Sunshine and go to walk away, but he catches my elbow before I can make a successful escape.

“Today, King Lucien will be there. The jacket can NOT be seen. The patches will be a sign of disrespect and that’s a reason for action. Do not bring it in with you.”

I held tighter to it and looked at the original patchwork of it before running my fingers over the material.

“Then I’ll reschedule for a different time.”

I pull out of his hold and walk back to Percy.

I wanted to get home and get there fast. I felt an anxiety attack coming on and didn’t want to be in public any longer.

Percy asked what happened, but I didn’t answer. I shook my head, picking up my feet and walking faster.

It’s dumb, but just the thought of not having this jacket made me start hyperventilating.

About halfway home, I broke out into a full run, dragging Percy along.

When we got to the front door steps, Percy punched in the code, and I ran in, up to my room and crawled into my closet, my dad’s jacket snuggled safely to my chest as I rubbed the patches over and over again.

Percy didn’t say anything else. He took his time getting me some water and coming to sit beside me on the floor of my little two-shelf closet.

He laid his head on my shoulder before going on about setting a Grindr account up so he could meet some guys since his Tinder account apparently wasn’t doing very well.

I was hearing him out as a way to distract me when my phone started ringing.

Looking at the caller ID, I hit decline.

I didn’t want to hear Damon’s stupid voice right now.

But within 30 seconds, he called three more times, making me answer.

“What?” I snapped.

“You have a job to do, where are you?”

He didn’t seem to take the hint in my voice.

“None of your fucking business. I’m not coming today. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

His cold laugh made me halt on hanging up.

“I didn’t give you that option. Now, get over here before I come and get you myself.”

His tone held no amusement. If anything, I have only heard that cold tone once before when we first met and he thought I was stealing from him.

“Fuck off, Damon.”

I ended the call and shook my head.

He didn’t even know where I was.

Tossing that peasant to the back of my mind, I got up, helping Percy with the chores we had, simple things like changing the trash, making tea, sweeping the floors, and wiping down the countertops.

When I took a wipe to the living room coffee table, I heard the sounds of a motorcycle pulling up.

That loud roar that they make and the sound of it so close to the window that it rattled the glass.

“Percy, go to the pantry, everything is fine, it’s just Damon on some bullshit. I’ll handle him. Stay there, okay?”

I pushed him in and smiled before going to the front door where this asshole was ringing the doorbell over and over and over again.

Swinging the door open, I screamed “WHAT?!” right in his face.

“Time to go to work, Shortcake.”

His cocky smirk was enough in itself to make me start firing off on him, I didn’t even need the attitude.

“You should see about getting your hearing checked, your Majesty. I said not today.”

“You owe me four favors, I’m cashing one in, which you don’t get a say over.”

He leaned in more, the arm he had on the door frame fell over his forehead and brushed the black strands of his thick black locks out of the way.

“I’m not going to your shitty little rinky dink bar to clean your nasty ass room today. Get the hell off my porch before I send your nuts up into your chest cavity.”

I sneered, climbing to my tippy toes to meet him eye to eye.

But his smirk grew to a lazy, lopsided grin that did nothing but make him look more like a pain in the ass than ever before.

“Your uncle won’t be home for dinner then.”

He winked.

My heart fell out of my ass and I saw red.

“Threaten my family and it will be the last thing you will ever do, that I promise.”

I growled, fisting my hands at my side, ready to rain hell on this smug son of a bitch.

“It’s not a threat, he will have too much work to make it. After I send him a little video of his darling niece stealing from my family’s warehouse.

“What a mess he will have to clean up for you, again.”

He tsked and looked at me like he had hit the winning blow.

“I didn’t steal anyth— ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!”

I shoved at his chest, fuming at his blackmail, knocking him back, but he didn’t stumble far.

“I’m not, actually. Now, go get some shoes on, grab your keys, get in the car and come on before I accidentally hit send and it’s too late.”

He grinned wickedly, walking off the porch to the grass he was messing up.

~He got me!~

~He had a video of me taking the backpack from the warehouse!~

Shutting the door behind me, I charged Damon and tackled him to the grass.

“You dirty gutter snipe! Piece of biker trash, royal wannabe—”

I hit his back and was flipped, landing on my stomach with Damon crawling over me, his hands pinning my wrists just like he had done on the wall.

His dick sniffing my ass through our jeans and prodding my cheeks.

“What is it, Van? Didn’t think about what I could do with a handy little video like that?”

He thrust his hips to my ass and split them with his knee.

“Didn’t you wonder how all of that worked or were you too busy thinking about fucking Reid Daniels to care?”

His words were meant to hurt me, but all they did was make me see what was happening right now, to him and why he was acting this way.

“Oh my poor Angel.”

I poked my ass up, grinding my jean-clad cheeks to his hard on and swaying as much as I could on it.

“Is someone jealous? How cute.”

I teased and taunted.

“Jealous? You must really be broken to think that,” he spat, pulling away from me.

This time his words did hit something.

“You must really be broken to think that,” will forever echo around my mind and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Damon Henley’s words would ping off the shattered and desolate halls of my mind forever.

I couldn’t tackle it, trap it, bind it or clean it out. I was stuck with this forever now and nobody would know but me.

Getting off the grass, I turned to face him.

“If you’re not at the bar in thirty minutes, your piggy uncle is getting this video. That I promise you.”

He seethed, climbing on his bike and revving his engine to life.

Pulling off the grass and disappearing from sight.

~Oh this…~

~This…~

~THIS DUMB MOTHERFUCKER IS FIXING TO GET IT!~

Stomping back into the house, I grabbed my phone and went to check on Percy.

I waved him to come out before heading to my room to get out of my grass-covered things.

I sent a text to Damon.

Savannah

I’m coming, but I’m walking so its going to take more than 30 min

I grabbed my bag and jacket.

Taking it and turning it inside out.

I told Percy I had to handle something but it wouldn’t take long.

When I walked out of the house, Damon was outside waiting for me.

“I said I was coming!” I popped down the stairs, holding onto the anger inside me before I actually killed this smug asshole in front of me.

“Get on, I’ll take you.” He held out his helmet to me.

~Oh no.~

~No.~

~No.~

~No.~

~Absolutely not.~