Damien (Slater Brothers #5)
L.A. Casey
Six Years Ago ...
Being everyone’s friend sucks donkey balls.
I thought about it as I twirled the ends of my black hair around my fingers and stared up at the ceiling. The bed I was lying on suddenly dipped, pulling me from my thoughts and causing me to flinch at the disruption of my peace and quiet. I glanced at my best friend, who had one hand on her bed to balance herself while she slid her high heels on with the other.
Bronagh Murphy was my opposite in every way. When she wasn’t pretending that she was invisible, she was loud, sassy, and had a solid backbone. She was funny too, and though she didn’t think so, she had a banging body.
My pairing with Bronagh was an odd one because we hadn’t always been friends. In fact, it was only over the past few weeks after Bronagh defended me from an attack by the school bully that we decided to give the friendship thing a real go. After that, we quickly found we were, in fact, BFFs and just had to hang out all the time.
We were a work in progress for Bronagh, though, because I wasn’t exactly a social butterfly. I could make friends easily enough when I wanted to, but Bronagh couldn’t. She had trust issues, so even landing a spot as her friend was a miracle. I had been in her class for the whole of secondary school and often saw her around primary school, but I never really knew her. No one did ... until Nico and Damien Slater moved to our town, got lumped into our tutor class, and quite literally, cornered her until she had no choice but to come out swinging.
Damien Slater. My mind drifted. Where do I start with Damien Slater?
I licked my lips.
Damien was ... my God, he was perfect. He was drop-dead gorgeous, super tall, lean with muscle, had an accent, and he made me laugh. He had an identical twin, but to me, he was nothing like his brother Nico. I knew from the moment I saw him on his first day in school a few months ago that I would secretly obsess over him. I just didn’t know I’d be obsessing twenty-four-bloody-seven over him.
I had never had a real crush on a lad before Damien entered my life. I thought some lads around school and town were good looking, and hot celebrities obviously drew my attention like any other red-blooded teenage girl, but I had no one who I really fancied myself being with. That all changed when I first saw Damien. Even though he was very closed off, I could tell that his personality was larger than life, and as cheesy as it sounded, he looked like he was carved by angels. He was one of those perfect people you instantly knew would never even glance in your direction.
Ten seconds after I clapped eyes on him, I was imagining our wedding. My stomach somersaulted when I pictured his white blond hair standing out against his black tuxedo as we said, “I do”. How his grey eyes would stare into mine as he declared his undying love for me to the world. How his plump rosy lips would feel like velvet as they claimed mine in a heated kiss. How his smile would erase my every worry and fear and replace it with hope. How his large hand would hold mine when we strolled down the street.
It took a further ten seconds for me to realise I never stood a fecking chance. Nearly every girl in our class, and probably the whole bloody school, most likely had the same thoughts as I did because they jumped to be the first one to grab and hold his attention.
It was mortifying to admit it to myself, but Damien consumed a huge part of my life, and we were barely even friends. If that didn’t label me as pathetic, then I didn’t know what would. Thankfully, no one knew about my embarrassing infatuation ... except for Bronagh, who was too attentive for her own good.
“Alannah.” She bumped my leg with hers. “What’re you sighin’ for?”
I turned my attention to her. “Huh?”
“You keep sighin’.”
I do?
“Sorry, I’m just thinkin’.”
Bronagh stared at me with a perfectly shaped brow raised in question.
“About Damien?”
I felt my cheeks burn with heat. Bronagh was my best friend, but that title was new, so she didn’t really know the depth of my feelings for Damien. No one did, and if I had my way, no one ever would.
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “About Damien.”
Bronagh simpered. “You’re so cute when you blush.”
‘Cause that’s what every eighteen-year-old girl wants to be viewed as. Cute.
I playfully kicked at her. “Leave me alone.”
“Sorry,” she said, amusement gleaming in her bright green eyes. “I forget how ... much of an introvert you are.”
“I’m so not an introvert. You are.”
“Me?” Bronagh gleefully laughed. “Are you serious?”
I nodded. “Which one of us kept to ’erself for years?”
“I was purposely blockin’ everyone out, though; you weren’t.”
I didn’t reply, so Bronagh raised her brow once more and stared at me, a knowing grin on her rose-coloured lips.
“Fine,” I grumbled. “I’m a little bit of an introvert, but it suits me fine. When I try to be outgoin’, it fails, so keepin’ to one’s self is a safe bet.”
“When did it ever fail?”
When hadn’t it failed was the real question she should have asked.
I rolled my eyes. “With Damien.”
My friend frowned. “You’re his friend, his only female friend apart from me, and that’s only because I’m with his brother. If I wasn’t, he’d probably try to pull me, then never talk to me again when he realised I wasn’t interested.”