Chapter 40

Chapter 40

POV: “Adelaide*

“I’m home!” I called out as I took the first step into our home. It had been my little routine ever since I

had started living there. There was that I loved more than hearing Damon call. “Welcome back!” to me.

But today was different.

Silence, dark and familiar, met my ears as I stood in the hallway, taking off my shoes and coat.

Damon’s voice didn’t call back. In fact, no one did.

“Hello? Damon?” I called out, concerned.

I knew for a fact he was here. His car was parked in the driveway, though a bit more crooked than

usual.

“Damon?”

1 headed for the living room, the bad feeling in my gut multiplying by the second as I checked for my

husband’s whereabouts. But he was nowhere to be found.

“Damon!” I cried, fear twisting in my throat as I took the stairs two at a time, racing to our bedroom.

Damon had never failed to answer me back. not even once.

My heart pounded furiously, and I felt like it could race out of my chest like in one of those old cartoons.

I pushed open the bedroom door, and my heart skipped a beat, ice crawling up my blood in pure fear

as 1 spotted Damon lying perfectly still on the bed.

His shoes hung off the edge, and a hand was thrown over his face. There were no lights on, and I

couldn’t tell if he was still breathing or not.

“Damon!” I yelled, rushing forward as I threw myself onto the bed next to him, my hands immediately

checking for a pulse.

Faster than I could blink, a hand shot out, gripping my wrist like a vice. I jumped, feeling like I had lost

ten years of my life until I spotted the dark look on Damon’s face.

“What?” he asked, voice heavy and groggy. He’d probably been dozing off.

I grasped my chest where my pounding heart was ready to give out.

“Oh, thank god you’re okay!” I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Damon asked, moving to stand. Something was off about him, though. His words

were slightly slurred together, and he wobbled as he stood.

“Are you drunk?” I blinked in surprise, completely flabbergasted as I watched him struggle to kick off his

shoes, eventually just leaning down to pull them off.

“So what if I am?” he growled, grumpily heading for the bathroom.

1 frowned, completely taken aback by the sour mood he was in. Usually, he’d never speak to me like

that-like I was…

An enemy.

But then again, I’d never seen Damon truly drunk before. Tipsy, yes, but drunk?

Damon never allowed himself to get that far.

“Damon? What’s wrong?” I asked, pushing off the bed to follow him into the bathroom. He was

struggling to push the

toothpaste onto his toothbrush.

“What’s wrong is this stupid toothpaste doesn’t work!” Damon snapped, irritatedly as he used way too

much force. The poor tube of toothpaste looked like it was about to burst.

I raised an eyebrow, plucking the tube from his hand and unscrewing the cap. Damon blinked at it in

confusion when I handed it back.

“I knew that!” He snatched the tube from me, properly applying his toothpaste now.

“Did something go wrong at your father’s house?” I asked, stepping closer. I stretched out my hand,

ready to comfort him in any way I could, but Damon glared at me, pushing my hand away gently.

“Nothing happened,” he growled.

I stared open-mouthed at the hand he’d shoved away, the rejection stinging more than the touch. I

swallowed, heat gathering behind my eyes.

Never had Damon treated me like this. Not even when I thought we were enemies as kids. This was

beyond drunk behavior.

I hardened my resolve, glaring at Damon as my little bit of patience snapped like a twig.

“Something obviously happened, Damon,” I crossed my arms, unhappily. “Because you’re being a

complete *sshole right

now,”

“Leave it,” Damon snapped, dropping his toothbrush into the sink as he finished rinsing his mouth. He

turned to me, intent on leaving the bathroom, but I wasn’t going to let any of this stand.

“No, I won’t!” I planted myself in the doorway, facing him dead on. “I get that you’re drunk and in a bad

mood. But this is no way to treat me. Stop acting like a child, and talk to me like the adult that you are!”

“Of course!” Damon yelled, throwing his hands above his head as he glared at me with all the heat of a

burning star. “Everything’s my fault! Stupid Damon can’t do anything right, can’t please you to save his

f*cking life!”

1 recled back as Damon shoved past me into the bedroom. I knew I shouldn’t. I knew he was drunk

and just looking for a fight, but my temper got the better of me.

He’d always known just how to push my buttons.

“I never said that,” I snapped, following him into the bedroom. “I just want you to stop treating me like

I’m your enemy! I’m your wife.”

“For how long?” Damon spun on his heel, glaring at me. There wasn’t just fury in his eyes, but

something raw and angry and bruised.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snapped, stepping back as Damon towered over me. For the first

time, I actually felt intimidated by him.

“Exactly what I said,” Damon replied, coldly. “You were going to marry Ashton just because he was

handsome. You married me to spite your family. What if someone else comes along with a better deal?

Who’s to say you won’t change your mind when you decide I’m not good enough?”

1 swear I heard a crack somewhere as my heart snapped in two. As doubt and hurt and fear carved it

out until it was hollow enough to make their home.

“How could you even say that?” I whispered, wrapping my arms around my waist.

Damon faltered, his anger bleeding to sorrow and guilt, but in a flash, it was gone, replaced only by the

knives he coated in poison and called words.

Tears spilled down my cheeks as a crack formed between us, and I realized we’d built our relationship

on a faultline.

I swallowed the broken pieces of my heart, feeling like they were shards of glass as I took a single step

forward, reaching out. my hand one last time. A single offer of peace-the only kind of truce I could offer.

“I love you, Damon,” I searched his eyes, reaching for him. “You know that.”

I was relieved when he accepted my touch, as I pulled him toward me with a hand on his cheek,

wondering what the hell had happened in the last few minutes to get us to this point.

Damon’s eyes were tired, ringed with dark shadows as he pressed into my hand, and for one moment,

I thought it was okay.

I thought we could put this behind us, and we’d be all right.

But then his eyes opened-no longer the soft ones I knew but cold, molten steel.

“Maybe,” he whispered, as cold as the winter snow. “Or maybe I know you wish I was my brother.”

I reeled back as if he’d physically burned me, my hands trembling. Damon didn’t move an inch, simply

stared at me-a wall around him that I couldn’t touch.

The pieces of my heart hardened, the fire of my anger meeting his impassive ice.

“Fine,” I said, roughly, my tears evaporating under the burning heat I carried. “I’m going home.”

I turned on my heel and stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind me. For a moment, I

leaned against the door, hoping I would hear his footsteps chasing after me-hoping I would hear him

begging me to come back.

But there was only silence.

I bit my bottom lip, swallowing the sob that wanted to burst out of me as I ran out of the house that

once felt like home but now only felt cold.

The drive was long, and Damon’s words kept flickering around in my head, his icy eyes drilling holes in

me as I drove through the empty streets.

I opened the door to my apartment and dropped my keys into the ceramic dish by the door.

It was silent and empty.

Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring everything around me as I whispered, softly to no one.

“I’m home.”