18. ~Caspian~

Like clockwork.

There he was, just like every day without fail.

At least once he would come here, sometimes twice.

He’d remain in his vehicle for an entire hour in order to observe what he was so desperate to.

Well, not only just his vehicle now.

He’d added variety with numerous rental cars, foolishly believing that would dupe my surveillance team and render him seemingly invisible. Impossible. Those I employed were seasoned experts in their fields.

He was flirting with the boundaries I’d given him by continuing to come here for his daily voyeuristic activities.

And, while he hadn’t actually broken those rules, he had come at me through other means. As his irreversible nature dictated, those forging and enforcing rules were seen as not only unsavory obstacles to him, but also targets. When it came to me, it was too great a feat to openly challenge me.

So he’d gone the underhanded route and struck at what he perceived to be my point of vulnerability—my sentiment for Caleb. He’d unwittingly been given an opening to do so when Caleb had strutted into Haywire that night in a state.

I ground my teeth. I still couldn’t get the image of him spread out naked, drunk, and so vulnerable beneath that sick bastard.

“Damien had already agreed to shut it down just before you barged on in there.”

In Caleb’s mind, that had made it okay and nullified all the rest.

It was because he couldn’t admit the truth.

“It was sexual assault, Caleb.”

“No!”

I hadn’t really expected him to. I’d hoped for it. With some of the changes I’d noticed in him since his return, notably his strength and his much stronger independent streak, I’d hoped that this would be one such point that he’d evolved with too.

But it clearly hadn’t been. Things ran too deep for him there because of Hayley Rowland.

It was a blind spot for him. And, despite him no longer requiring my protection in the many ways that he had before he’d left and grown, this was one such way where he still did.

“Don’t retaliate, all right? It’ll just make everything worse—for all of us. Especially Bastian.”

Caleb had been right about that. If I retaliated—at least in an overt fashion—it would make things worse. However, not in the ways he believed. Not for Bastian. He was already well-protected by me from his older brother. So long as he didn’t pay any more mind to that one moment of sentiment he’d had for Damien a few weeks back, things would remain stable there with them kept apart.

No, the detriment in retaliation would come from losing him as an asset when it came to Jett Bane. While I could always force him to continue in that vein, it would invite the very real possibility of him double-crossing me and even allying himself with Jett, rather than working to undermine and keep tabs on him, something I couldn’t currently do using my own people because that sort of invasiveness would be picked up on too easily by Elijah. In this case, however, it was believed that Damien was my enemy. His unfortunate participation in that despicable sex tape scandal at Jett’s behest had seen to that, and I’d worked to solidify that belief so that it was actually public knowledge.

But, in spite of all of that, I couldn’t simply let it go either.

And I couldn’t loosen the slack on the leash I had him on. The last time I’d done that following me removing him from The Jackals, he’d turned and escalated all too quickly.

Some new information regarding his activities had also come to light, so I needed to ascertain his intentions there too. With Damien, the only way to do that effectively was face-to-face. He had the same tell as Bastian when he was lying.

What he’d done could either prove detrimental or the complete opposite, all depending on what his intentions were behind such acts.

I approached the sleek Jaguar—his latest rental.

He was so focused on peering through his binoculars, that he didn’t even stir or show any signs of registering my approach.

He’d taken to conducting his observations further back, several blocks from the main Luxe parking lot.

I took in the sight of Bastian sitting on one of the picnic benches with his laptop out, working away while also eating his dinner. He was working late tonight. With Skylar and Caleb back, he’d had some trouble focusing, wanting to spend time with them instead, which had pulled him away from his studies a couple of times. Fortunately, he’d had the wisdom to notice it himself, before I’d had to call him on it. And he’d remedied it quickly, now taking to finishing his work at the library at college, then stepping outside into the reinvigorating cool night air to eat dinner and push through for another couple of hours before heading home to us.

I reached the car, opened the passenger door, then slid inside.

“Fucking shit!” Damien cried, dropping his binoculars in his utter shock. He swung his head toward me, slapping a hand to his chest. “King, what the—you scared the living shit out of me!”

Excellent. He was already off-balance.

“This isn’t breaking your rules,” he followed up quickly. “I made sure of that. In fact, I’m even further back than I need to be.”

“I’m not here about that.” At least, not directly. In the end, however, everything I did always came back to my boys and, these days, Skylar too.

He tossed his binoculars onto the back seat, then shifted to face me, looking unsure.

Just the way I wanted him.

It cut a path through his usual extreme stubborn steak and arrogance.

“If this is about Caleb, I thought we already dealt with that. You know, with you making me your punching bag in my own home?” He gestured to his black eye that was still in the process of healing, and the deep gash beside his left eye that had required stitches. He then lifted his tacky white hoodie with the golden tigers to show me the stark bruising plaguing his ribs. “Not enough for you? Considering I stopped and everything when he wasn’t sure about where things were going and he showed hesitancy even being rock-hard for me, your response was overkill. Then again, jealousy can be a real bitch, right?”

I ignored his transparent attempts to strike an emotional chord with me.

Typical tricks employed by sociopaths, which I was very well-versed in with him.

Instead, I responded calmly, “Why did you stop?”

He frowned for a moment, jolted from the lack of ammunition I was providing him. “I just told you why.”

“You’ve told me what you think I want to hear. What’s the real answer?”

“Fuck, you really don’t think anything of me, do you?”

“No.”

He glared at me, but couldn’t hold it for more than a moment, before he looked away and started tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “I guess, I knew if I went through with it, he’d regret it once he’d sobered up.”

“And why would that matter to you, Damien?”

“Because.” He sucked in a breath. “I wanted it to be real. I didn’t want him to deny it or brush it off as some drunken mistake.” He tugged at his shaggy hair. “I didn’t want any part of it to be about you for him either. Not some solace because he was hurting over you at the time.” He looked back at me. “And, above all, I don’t want to lose Cal as a… connection. I can’t really call us friends with everything that’s happened, but it’s still something I’m hoping for one day. I didn’t want that night to be something that would always be a barrier to that ever happening.”

Interesting.

“It also occurred to me that it might make things worse for Seb too, if it came out that his best friend had fucked his brother.”

“You apparently demonstrated a lot of foresight and strategic thinking there, yet that seemed to be nowhere to be found when it came to Skylar. Did it not also occur to you that it could make things worse with Bastian through the fact that you were providing the love of his life the means to embark on a suicidal vengeance crusade?”

He jolted. “What?”

“I know it was you who provided her the intel on Jett Bane’s whereabouts.”

He cursed under his breath.

“Why?” I demanded. “To what end?”

“I had to, King.”

“Had to?”

“Yeah, after she found out that Jett wasn’t only alive and had recently woken up from a long coma, but that he wasn’t even secure and off the board in your custody because of Elijah’s underhanded extraction operation, she was livid and desperate. She did her research and found out about my connection to him. I owed her, King. For what I did to her in that ring and with that sex tape bullshit. This was the only way I could make amends, so I took it.” He shifted his weight. “But with you knowing that much, you’ll also recognize that the intel I provided her was lagged. I made sure she was always just behind Jett, hitting a place that he’d already left a couple of days beforehand. She needed to feel like she was doing something and on the right track, but I wouldn’t let her actually get to him, because that would ruin my agreement with you.”

“All right.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Really? Just like that?”

“Yes. Continue doing what you’re doing there. Don’t change anything, don’t acknowledge that we’ve had this conversation.”

“She’s back in the city, yeah?” When all he got was a blank look from me, he went on, “I’ve seen a change in Seb. He’s had that same look in his eyes that he’s only ever had with her in his life. That bright, happy look that breaks up all the rest—that muted demeanor and then the struggle I can see all over him some days too.” He held up his hand when I moved to speak, adding quickly. “Nobody is gonna hear about it from me. I know you don’t believe it, but I am on Seb’s side now. I’m not gonna do anything to fuck with that. My goal is to make amends.”

“You’re right, I don’t believe it. But seeing as though I’m monitoring your every move, I’m not concerned about you revealing confidential information.”

“Because you’ve set it up where I actually can’t?”

“Absolutely.”

He blew out a breath. “You don’t need to go to these lengths, King. I’m not your enemy.”

“That remains to be seen.”

“Come on.”

I moved to open the door to climb out, but stilled and turned back to him. “Keep your distance from Caleb. I can assure you he’ll be doing the same.”

“Seriously? You’ve ordered him to stay away from me? He’s not exactly one for following orders. He’s way too free for that. And defiant.”

“You’ll never have a sexual relationship with him, so erase that notion entirely.”

“What if you’re there too?”

“Excuse me?”

“In a supervisory capacity. I’m sure Cal wouldn’t mind you watching. In fact, that’s right up his alley, isn’t it? And I certainly won’t mind either. As for you, I’m sure you’ve imagined such a thing over the years.”

I stilled for a moment at his brazen offer that brought some very vivid imagery to mind.

He smirked. “Think about it.”

“The answer is no,” I ground out. “As for your apparent loneliness that Caleb has reported, you own a nightclub now, you’re surrounded by people. Cultivate some friendships there.”

“King, I just want—”

“I know what you want. Continue in this same vein, this path toward the redemption you claim you desire so badly.”

“And then you’ll let me back into Seb’s life, let me become friends again with Cal?”

“One step at a time.”

The last thing I saw from him was a smile before I climbed out of the car and shut the door.

Hope was a powerful thing.

And, in Damien Thorn’s case, a prime motivator.