*** The next part after that... xD This would be later in the day - like midday. Sun's definitely still up midday... ***

* Alright, a little risky (not really...) btw. *

* Just want to say sorry for the bipolar-ness you see in Damon. Well worth it I gotta say, though... *

*** Enjoy! ***

Ch. 10

"Well, well... Little Miss Sunshine has all her drinks in a row," a familiar voice jested.

After finally setting down the last bottle of bourbon, I looked up with a smile to see Damon sitting down on a stool so that he would be directly in front of me.

"I got six types of bourbon," I told him.

He nodded with a look of interest and what could only be described as Hmmm...

Lightly dragging my right forefinger across the bottles from left to right, I asked, "Which one ya want?"

"Hmm..." he replied.

"Well, this one," he pointed at the third one from the right, "is too soft on the kick. The kiddie version, if you will."

I laughed, but he continued anyway, "And this one," he pointed at the second one to the left, "This one is the one I prefer. The hardest kick..."

"Well, Mr. Hardest Kick," I looked at the bottle he was talking about, "I guess it's Kentucky Straight for you."

He smiled the most egotistical smile I've ever seen. I rolled my eyes and put each of the five remaining bottles away - one by one. Then I gave him a clean collins glass and let him have free reign of his bourbon.

"That's the last bottle," I told him with a knowing look, "Use it wisely."

He raised his filled glass and replied, "Bottom's up."

Then, like last night when we met, he downed it one, quick swig.

"Good for you," I said.

A man further down at the end of the bar motioned for me, so I said, "Be right back."

Without waiting for a response, I moved on down the line to the man. The man had black hair that kind of fell in his face like Damon's along with hard, dark brown eyes.

"Hey, Sweetie, how ya doing?" he asked.

"Just fine," I replied with a sarcastic smile.

"Don't be that way, Sweetheart," he said.

I mentally rolled my eyes and then asked irritatedly, "What do you want?"

He seemed to smile at an inside joke.

"What do I want?" he began to answer.

I sighed and said, "Call me over when you actually want a drink."

I turned to walk back to Damon, but he grabbed my arm. I stopped and glared at him.

"I want you, Sweet-cheeks," he replied.

I tried to yank my arm away from his grasp, but it was too strong. He then suddenly tugged on my arm so hard that it sent me flying towards him. Bent over the bar, I groaned in agony as the sting of pain eased away.

"That's more like it," the man said.

He leaned forward and kissed me hard. With my free hand, I tried to push him away, but like I said... No use.

Abruptly, his head pulled away from mine, and I opened my eyes to see Damon holding him by his black mane of hair. With his other hand, Damon easily pried the man's hand from my arm.

"You'll apologize to the woman for what you did. And you'll mean it," Damon instructed as he stared into the man's eyes.

He let go the man and stood there - obviously boiling over in anger. The man turned to look at me - his pupils hugely dilated.

"I'm sorry for what I did. I had no right," the man said.

I nodded - not knowing how to reply.

The man looked back at Damon only to have Damon tell him, "And you will stay away from her too or you'll be dead the instant you touch her. Understood?"

The man nodded and replied, "I understand."

"Good, now get out of my sight," Damon told him.

The man got up from his stool and walked right out of the bar.

"Are you okay?" Damon asked.

I could see that he was trying so hard to keep the venom from his words.

"Yeah," I said, "I'm fine."

"That's the last bottle," Selene said - giving me a look that said she knew what was going on, "Use it wisely."

I raised my filled glass and replied, "Bottom's up."

Then I downed it one swig.

"Good for you," she said.

She seemed distracted, but before I could ask, she said, "Be right back."

She turned around and walked down to the end of the bar. There sat a man with black hair that covered his head like a curtain. A curtain that needed to be desperately trimmed.

I smiled at the thought and poured myself some more bourbon.

"Hey, Sweetie, how ya doing?" I heard the man ask Selene.

"Just fine," she replied.

She was annoyed, I could tell.

"Don't be that way, Sweetheart," the man said.

So far, I didn't like how this was going.

"What do you want?" Selene irritably asked.

"What do I want?" he replied with a smirk in his voice.

No... I didn't like how this going at all.

"Call me over when you actually want a drink," Selene spat back.

That was my girl.

I smiled and downed my second pouring of bourbon.

"I want you, Sweet-cheeks," he replied.

This man was obviously trying to get on my nerves.

Next thing I know, I hear Selene groaning in what sounded like pain. I looked over to see her bent over the bar. Her face clearly showing pain. But what stopped me was how the man had his hand tight around her arm.

"That's more like it," the man said before forcing a kiss on her lips.

In an instant, I was off of my stool and by his side - grabbing his black mop of hair and yanking his head away from Selene's. With my other hand, I ripped his hand off of Selene's arm.

I let go of him and looked deep into his eyes.

Pushing my will onto his, I hissed, "You'll apologize to the woman for what you did. And you'll mean it."

He looked at Selene and said her, "I'm sorry for what I did. I had no right."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Selene just simply nod.

He then looked at me, and I told him, "And you will stay away from her too or you'll be dead the instant you touch her. Understood?"

The man nodded and answered, "I understand."

"Good, now get out my sight," I told him.

Before I rip your pretty boy neck open and suck you dry. Before I break your lovely white hand into a million pieces. Before I rip your beautiful mop of a head off and...

I looked at Selene.

Her eyes followed the man out of the bar and then looked back at me like a deer in the headlights.

Trying to keep the poisonous venom from my voice, I asked her, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I'm fine."

Thank God..., I thought.

My shift for today was over. It was finally time to leave this dump.

I punched my card and grabbed my stuff.

Home, here I come, I thought once again.

I walked out of the back room and back into the restaurant. Damon was waiting patiently on the same stool as before. As I stopped beside him, he turned to look at me with his charming, signature smile.

"Time to go already?" he asked.

I nodded and he pretend to frown.

"But I don't want to go," he whined.

I laughed and asked him, "How much have you had to drink? I think you're drunk."

He scrunched his face in thought and then answered by raising his right hand to show a small distance between his thumb and his forefinger.

"Just a little," he said aloud.

I glanced at the bottle to see it empty.

"Holy - Did you drink all of it?" I asked him.

"No, of course not," he then pointed at another guy at a table and said, "He came over and drank like a third of the bottle."

Damon then muttered under his breath. I could only assume that it was a string of curse words meant to be aimed at the guy.

"Alright, we're going," I told him.

He took a last, finishing swig of his bourbon and set the glass back on the table.

He got up and walked out of the bar with me following after him. For drinking as much as he did, he walked pretty straight and talked pretty good - no slurs or drunk b-line or anything. The only indication of his intoxication was his breath which reeked of alcohol.

"Give me your keys," I told him.

He looked at me and then shrugged. Pulling out his car keys, he gave them to me.

"Thanks," I told him again.

He got in the passenger side of his blue 1967 Chevy Camaro convertible while I just stood there and shook my head. I got in, started the car, and began driving to the boarding house.

"You're a very strange girl, you know that?" Damon said - his voice starting to slur.

I sighed and began to protest, "Damon..."

He held up his left pointer finger to silence me.

"But, oddly enough... I think-" he slurred before hiccuping.

I rolled my eyes and then tried to speak up again, "Damon, just- Can we not go there right now?"

He smirked and replied, "Just hear me out."

I opened my mouth to protest once more, but he quickly spoke before I could.

"I think..." he paused and looked at me.

It was a look of longing. A child's longing. Like he had been walking around this earth aimlessly for years... All hope abandoning him... And now, here he was, a small glimpse of hope once again beginning to shine through the small and numerous cracks of the many walls he had built up to protect himself.

But just as easily it was a look of disbelief - that this newfound hope would just disappear. That it was all just another lie in this "game" called Life.

"I think I love you," he told me.

*** So there it is... Damon shows and tells Selene just how much he cares for her. Sorry, not much of Selene's story unraveling here. ***

*** Food For Thought: I really do love those little reviews you guys post! ; ) Just saying... ***