Dominated

Chapter 18

Damien had been reading a document on his laptop for the last hour when his phone rang, disrupting the silence in the room. Beside him, Amelia stirred, so he quickly grabbed the phone off the nightstand to silence it and looked at the screen. His brows furrowed when he saw Evelyn's name and looked at the time on his laptop. It was only 6 AM on a Sunday, and he rarely heard from her past noon on a normal day, so he had to assume something was terribly wrong.

He glanced at Amelia who was burying herself under the covers and leaned over to kiss the top of her head. Not wanting to disturb her any further, he left the room and waited until he had reached the top of the stairs to accept the call.

"What's up, Evie?" he said into the phone as he made his way down to the living room. "Are you okay?"

Evelyn grunted on the other side of the line, a clear indication that she was unhappy. "Guess who I just bailed out of jail. I'll give you a hint. She talks a lot, thinks she's grown now that she's legally an adult, and she can be as insufferable as you sometimes."

Damien sighed as he sat on the couch and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What did Zoey do this time?"

"She fled from a police officer," she answered. "She called me to come get her, and now she's crying in my passenger seat. Do you want to talk to her?"

"Please," he said.

"I don't want to talk to him," Zoey whined. Her voice was muffled, but Damien could still hear her clearly through the speaker. "Please don't make me, Evie."

"Either you talk to your brother or I'm calling your dad," Evelyn demanded. A moment of silence passed before she spoke again. "Alright, I'm coming over."

"Right now?" he asked. "It's not really a good time."

"She's your sister, Damien. You're not gonna turn her away, are you?"

"Fine," he said, dragging a hand over his face. "Bring her over. I'll see you in a bit."

Damien ended the call and set his phone on the coffee table. He sat for a moment longer before getting up and turned to the stairs, only to find Amelia standing at the bottom in his t-shirt that hung loosely off her hourglass frame and the leggings she had been wearing the day before.

"What are you doing up?" he asked her. "You should be asleep."

She sighed contentedly when he kissed her temple and leaned into him. "I heard you get up, so I figured I should too."

"I'm sorry, love," he said as he walked to the open kitchen. "Now that you're awake, we can finally get some food in you."

"I think I've overstayed my welcome," she told him. "Besides, I thought you had company coming."

"My sweet girl, you're always welcome in my home," he said, clicking his tongue. He was obviously dissatisfied with her remark. "And I do have someone coming over — my sister. You can meet her if you'd like, but she can be pretty intense."

Amelia wrung her hands in front of her and followed him, but she didn't continue past the island table. Instead, she leaned against it and crossed her arms over her chest as she watched him rummage through the refrigerator. "Maybe that's not a good idea."

He turned to look at her and raised a brow. "Why not?"

"My mom and uncle think we're together," she answered. She looked down at the floor, intimidated by his challenging gaze. "I'm sure Wes thinks the same, and I just don't want anyone asking questions once this arrangement is over and we never see each other again."

He smiled but only briefly before it faltered and then faded. "I don't think I'd be okay with never seeing you again."

Her eyes flickered to him. "But you said—"