Page 52 of Deathless & Divided

“Did you?” Lily asked Damian.

“Yes and I hated it.”

Lily laughed. “Why?”

“I was a teenage boy with better things to do,” Damian said, grinning.

“Did you hate it today, too?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Lily believed him. But if she were honest, Damian spent more time staring at her during the ballet than he did watching the show. At least, it sure seemed that way.

“Damian was staying with us then,” Riley said offhandedly as he reached for a bottle of unopened wine chilling in a bucket. “For a couple of months around that time, I think. Wasn’t he, Mia?”

Mia Conti nodded. “Yes, he was.”

Damian stiffened, shooting his aunt and uncle a look across the table. Neither Laurent nor Serena seemed to notice the tension Riley’s statement seemingly caused for Damian. Lily had.

“You were quiet as a boy,” Riley added.

Terrance laughed loudly. “Ah, yes, Ghost preferred to be in the shadows even as a child, didn’t you?”

Damian’s tense back didn’t relax as he said, “Something of that nature.”

Joel scoffed down the way. “He’s still fucking quiet.”

“Joel,” Abriella chided. “Come on, watch your mouth at the table at least.”

“You’re one to talk,” Joel muttered. “Seriously though, Damian is still quiet now like he was when he was a kid. Makes a guy edgy sometimes; that’s all I’m saying. How far can you trust a quiet man?”

Terrance cocked a brow. “You might learn something from Damian, Joel, if you took the time to pay more attention. Like the fact that listening instead of running his mouth gets him a hell of a lot further.”

“To where, Grandpapa?” Joel tipped his chin in Damian’s direction. Lily felt second-hand offended just at the sight alone. “Where the hell has it gotten him, then?”

Damian reached for two over turned, cleaned wine glasses and handed one to Lily. “Well, I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“That’s supposed to be a feat?” Joel asked snidely.

“I’d say so.”

“Why is that?”

Damian took the opened wine bottle and poured a glass for him and Lily. His silence only seemed to irk Joel Trentini more.

“Damian, I asked a question,” Joel said.

Lily caught Damian’s smirk out of the corner of her eye before her fiancé said, “How many other men can say the same?”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Damian surveyed the guests at the dinner table as they ate, chatted, and discussed the upcoming events.

Like his wedding.

Thankfully, Lily took the discussions in stride and joined in when needed. He figured she was a lot like him in the way she didn’t like being the center of attention, not to mention she wasn’t entirely fond of everyone sitting at the table.

So yeah, he was grateful for her cooperation.