23. Damian

Damian stared at his phone, unable to actually comprehend the fact that the little brat had actually hung up on him. What the fuck made her think he would just leave her alone at his house when he had just told her earlier that she was still in potential danger. And now she told him no. Fuck that.

Barely resisting the urge to throw his phone across the room, Damian took in the deepest breath he could manage and counted to ten. Carly was still in potential danger, and he needed to keep her safe. He sensed something else was going on with her besides just being mad at him for snapping at her earlier in the day when they were at the scene with Nash, but that would have to wait until later to figure out. For now, he needed to get to her house, so there was someone watching her.

Fuck!

He was so pissed that his back teeth ached from grinding them so hard. Seeing her coming across the road to where he and Nash had been standing with those two scumbags had scared him, and when he got scared, he got pissed. She could have put herself in a dangerous situation, and that was enough to get him to see red.

Grabbing his keys, wallet, and gun, Damian left his house without even changing out of the clothes he had been working out in. He planned to drag Carly back to his house with him, and then he would shower. Before he backed his Jeep out of the garage, he looked through the contacts on his phone until he found Greyson’s name and pressed call.

“Hey, brother, what’s going on?” Greyson answered.

“Hey, man. I was just checking in. There was an incident today. Carly is fine. Pissed off at me but fine.”

Greyson chuckled, “Her being pissed off at you isn’t really a shock. What happened?”

Damian explained everything that happened with the two men following them and that they had admitted that James had paid for a hit on Carly. Greyson let out a long string of curse words, but Damian continued to tell him about what Carly had done and how she had left his house and gone home while he was doing a workout. More cursing.

“Fuck, she’s such a damn brat. You’re going after her?” Greyson asked.

“Yep. Headed over to her house now. Although she basically told me to stay the hell away from her, so we’ll see how well it goes over. If she won’t come with me and won’t let me come in and stay with her, I’m going to have to order some guys to sit on her house at all hours until James and Sandra are arrested.”

Greyson let out a deep breath.

“Throw her over your shoulder and haul her ass out of there,” Grey said with amusement.

Damian laughed at that.

“Yeah, I’m not really trying to go to jail tonight. She was pretty pissed when I called her. She thought I had left the house. I don’t even know why she’s so pissed at me in the first place. I explained to her that I snapped at her because it was still a dangerous situation.”

“Well, whatever it is, figure it out. You care about her.”

Damian rolled his eyes. Grey was being so helpful.

“What makes you say that?” Damian asked.

“I can tell. She cares about you too. She wouldn’t be pissed at you if she didn’t. Do you love her, Damian?”

He rolled that question around in his mind. He knew the answer before Greyson had even finished the question but admitting it out loud scared him. Being vulnerable wasn’t easy, and if he admitted it and she rejected him, he would be crushed. But Greyson seemed to think she cared for him too. Even if she did have a funny way of expressing it.

“Yeah, I do love her. She’s the perfect Little for me, and we have a special connection.”

“Well, fix it.”

Damian snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Right. Good talk, Grey. I’m pulling up to Carly’s. I’ll text you later.”

They ended the call, and Damian parked behind Carly’s car. Climbing out of the Jeep, he walked up to her front door and knocked. After waiting a minute with no answer, he knocked again. Getting nothing, he pulled out his phone and typed a text.

Answer your door now, little girl.

Staring at the screen, three dots appeared, and he waited for her response.

No, go away. Leave me alone, Damian.

He scowled down at the screen of his phone. He couldn’t wait until all of this was over, and he could paddle her bottom. She was in so much trouble and just digging herself deeper.

I’m not going away. You still need protection until we get confirmation that James is arrested.

It only took a moment for her response.

Well, since it’s just your “job” to protect me, do it from a distance and leave me alone.

He stared down at her text response with furrowed brows. What the hell did she mean by that? She knew his job was to protect her and whether it was his actual job or not, he was her Daddy, and he would protect her anyway.

Little girl, open your door. Now. We obviously need to have a talk.

He waited for several minutes before a response came back from Carly.

Leave me alone, Damian.

Sucking in a deep breath, Damian tried to ignore the ache in his chest at her calling him by his name. He had no clue how they had gone from her getting jealous over him earlier in the day to her basically telling him to fuck off.

Carly was his, and he would be damned if he lost her. His heart wouldn’t be able to handle it. He would convince her one way or the other, but he just needed to get security on her house for the time being.

He sent one last text before walking back to his car.

I will leave you be… for now… There will be security around your house until I know that you’re safe. Be good. I’m here when you’re ready to talk. – Daddy

Getting back into his Jeep, he watched her house for several minutes before sending off a group text to his employees to see who was available for an immediate job. He didn’t have his schedule before him, so he didn’t know who was already on an assignment.

Nash called him almost immediately.

“Hey, man. You need some help?”

He was thankful for Nash. The man had just gotten home from an assignment and had destroyed his car earlier in the day helping Damian, yet he was already offering to help.

“Yeah. Carly left my house and has holed herself up in hers. She’s being a brat.”

Nash let out a bark of laughter. So nice that his friend was finding his situation humorous.

“You threaten to spank her?”

Damian scoffed, “Obviously. She’s strong-willed.”

Nash snorted, “It’s about time someone gave you a challenge. Send me her location.”

“Dude, have you slept at all?” Damian asked.

“Nope. But I’m wired. Need a trip to the gym, but nothing like a night watch to make me sleepy.”

Damian sent Nash a text with Carly’s address.

“I’m on my way.”

He only had to wait twenty minutes before Nash showed up in his truck.

“Hey, why don’t you go home. I’ll sit on her house for tonight. It will give her time to cool down,” Nash offered.

Damian didn’t want to leave Carly, even though she wouldn’t see him. He wanted to be as close to her as possible, and it was killing him not to have her wrapped up in his arms while reading her a bedtime story. He needed a shower, though, and he hadn’t eaten since lunch.

“I just need to shower, change and eat, and then I’ll be back.”

Nash nodded and waited until Damian moved his Jeep out of her driveway before parking his truck behind her car. The entire drive home, Damian replayed the day in his mind. He couldn’t believe that James was such a piece of shit to actually order someone to kill his ex-wife. Damian had half a mind to go straight to James and kill him with his bare hands.

By the time he parked in the driveway to his house, he had a plot in his mind to actually kill James Wheeler. Not that he would actually do it, but it was sure satisfying thinking about it. When he walked into the house, the quiet of Carly not being there was notable, and he hated it. It felt like a museum. Quiet, boring, and lonely. He missed hearing her moving throughout the house, hearing her talk to her Barbies, and listening through the door without her knowing as she recorded her makeup tutorials.

A tightness settled inside of him, and he vowed that once all of this was over, he would sit her down and make her understand just how much she meant to him. Hell, he would take her directly to the courthouse to seal the deal between them if she would allow it. Not that he would suggest it because when the time came for her to change her last name to his, he wanted to give her the wedding of her dreams.

Damian took the quickest shower he could remember taking since his military days and went downstairs to scarf down whatever food he could find in the refrigerator. After eating a bunch of random finger foods, Damian made a cup of coffee and left his house to head back over to Carly’s. She may not let him into her house, and she may not even want to speak to him at the moment, but being near her, watching over her, that was where he belonged. She was his, and he would die to protect her.

When he pulled up to Carly’s house, Nash was standing outside of his truck, being yelled at by Carly. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he had a smirk on his face that made Damian chuckle. He knew Nash was just listening to her rant and would continue to do so while standing like a statue through it all until she got so tired of hearing her own voice that she would give up.

Jumping out of his Jeep, Damian strode over to where they were standing, and as soon as Carly saw him, she glared his way.

“You! You overbearing ass, tell Nash to go home! I don’t need him, and I don’t need you!”

If it hadn’t been for the slight break in her voice when she told him that she didn’t need him, Damian probably would have been hurt, but he had heard the emotion in her voice.

“Little girl, I suggest you get your butt back inside before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you in there. Now, Carly.”

Her mouth dropped open as though she didn’t really know what to say to that and when she glanced over at Nash, who was grinning ear to ear, her look of surprise turned to anger.

“You two are such overbearing assholes. It’s ridiculous!”

Just as Damian was about to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder, he heard tires squealing around the corner, and just as the wildly veering car started passing her townhouse, gunshots rang through the air. Damian instantly jumped for Carly, pushing her down to the ground while Nash pulled his gun from his holster and began running toward the car.

“Stay on the ground, Carly,” Damian growled.

She was too stunned to say anything but nodded her head. Her eyes were too wide, and when he stood up to go provide backup for Nash, she grabbed his shirt.

“No! I don’t want you to get hurt!”

Cupping both sides of her face, Damian pressed an urgent kiss to her mouth.

“I won’t. I’m practically bulletproof. Stay down, baby doll. I mean it, otherwise, you won’t sit for a month.”

When he finally stood and separated from her, she whimpered, and he could hear a sob escape from her that practically ripped his heart to shreds as he ran toward the danger to protect his little girl.