Chapter 2: While We're Young

Bonnie was in utter shock when Damon suggested that they take a walk around the city. There was no cheesy hookup line. This was not what she was expecting.

She felt even more insulted when he said that they should take the subway to travel. He insisted that public transportation was quicker. Bonnie held onto the germ-ridden bar on the train with one hand and held onto her clutch even harder.

"You look completely out of your element there, boss lady," Damon noted the obvious.

"You think?" Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Nothing about this makes sense, what are we doing exactly?"

The train came to a halt. "Just be patient, I have a spot I want you to see."

"...STOP APPROACHING."

Damon allowed her to get out first and followed right behind her. Bonnie exhaled when she stepped off the platform. She prepared herself for a random night field trip sponsored by the stranger she agreed to leave with.

...

They stopped in Brooklyn Heights and Bonnie had a silent sigh of relief because it wasn't one of her old neighborhoods. Still, the city was her former stomping grounds. She held on to her coat nervously as Damon jubilantly led them to a roller rink.

A fucking roller rink.

Bonnie blinked rapidly as her eyes locked on the building. "You can't be serious."

"I am, I used to come here all the time as a kid, I wanna see if I can still skate," Damon said. "You coming in, right?"

"Well I can't...skate." Bonnie admitted hesitantly, looking down and picked her head up from the ground. "So, no I'm not going in there to fall on my ass."

"I'm an excellent teacher." She looked unconvinced. "Fine I guess you have to stand on the wall and watch me have all the fun."

"Wait," Bonnie touched his sleeve and he raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I'll skate only for one song and one song only."

He smiled and opened the door for her.

Bonnie may have promised one song to skate to but she didn't have to keep going for the next ten or so. Truth is, she was enjoying herself and learning how to skate with Damon's help. Fun like this did not come this often in her life.

She couldn't believe how close she had become with this man. Her entire family would have been both surprised and thrilled to see her on this equivalent of a date. Was it a date to him too or did he always whisk women out of the club to see a sacred place of his childhood?

The latter's probability was at a fat zero for Bonnie Bennett.

"It's not a walk, it's a glide," Damon instructed as she took huge strides across the floor.

"I have on shoes which means I sort of have to walk."

Damon shook his head and laughed. "With wheels on? You'll never learn, boss lady."

He sped up to taunt her as she trudged on. Bonnie rolled her eyes but then smirked to herself after he had his back faced to her.

...

After skating or rather after the roller rink closed for the evening, they walked to a nearby park surrounded by the East River. This was Damon's peace ground, he revealed to her. Bonnie watched him as he threw rocks into the water.

"You wanna throw some too?"

She shrugged and picked up a rock and threw it over her shoulder with force. Another one followed and then one more and she took a deep breath. He was completely immune to the cold weather while she shrunk her hands in her pockets in her warm, heavy coat.

"Sorry, I'm not talking much here - I guess I associate this lake with tranquility so this is the quietest you'll ever see me." He winked.

Bonnie could see he was clouding humor with his true emotions. "It seems like a quaint place to clear your mind," She noted.

They were too far apart for his liking and he could sense her analyzing him. He turned to face her and offered his best smile. "Ah, let's just forget my woes, how'd you like our night?"

"I did not expect this night out to be clean."

The dark-haired man furrowed a brow. "How so?"

"Like, I don't know I was expecting you to blindfold me and handcuff me on the way to your place and undo everything just to show me your secret red room." Bonnie revealed, half-serious.

He guffawed and she joined in on the laughter too, both fools laughing together in the night. Strangers saw from their periphery, confused but continued walking. Damon didn't give a damn and neither did Bonnie, who was always concerned about her self-image.

"Yeah, I think I give a bit of Grey vibes, hold the Edward Cullen undertone, though."

"I guess you do."

He looked at her smiling to herself. "You look happy."

"We were having too much fun, I guess I don't get my regular dose of serotonin in my real life," She said honestly and straightened her face.

"You know it's okay to smile, right?" Damon said.

"Not in my world."

"You know, I have made you laugh the entire night but I don't know much about you Mrs. Boss."

"For starters, I work 50 hours a week where I don't have to sometimes, I have a child and I am rightfully divorced." The woman revealed. "You?"

"So I am a sugar baby as you know, but I do enjoy other hobbies like playing the guitar, writing sheet music when I'm really bored and partying, if I feel like it. I do have a brother who is just a year and a half younger than me but I feel like he's younger."

"Aw, that's cute I have 4 siblings, my parents split and started new families so it automatically made me the big sister and peacekeeper of our families." Bonnie shrugged.

"How old were you when they split up?"

"Oh, I was four and happy, even then I knew how toxic and god awful they were. They were very young parents who's connection wasn't really intellectual but more so passionate," Bonnie said.

Damon laughed. "You remembered all of that at four?"

"My grandmother told me about their relationship and I was able to make my judgement from there."

"Hmm, having a passionate relationship isn't all bad," He stated.

"It has no foundation," Bonnie disagreed. "You can start with an intellectual connection and build up the passion later."

"Passion can't be created. It's like chemistry you either have it or you don't."

"Whatever, you know I was having a nice night prior to this pointless conversation. My parents are still broken up due to their terrible compatibility."

Damon licked his lips as he inched closer to Bonnie. Her feet, no her mind more importantly didn't back peddle at his forwardness. She was starting to like his bluntness. It challenged her and but also frustrated her because being that direct doesn't work in every social setting.

"You liked our night out, admit it Bonnie."

She looked up at him and they remained in their focused gaze. "And what if I did?"

"Well, boss lady that means I won tonight."

Here she was staring at his ocean colored eyes that ran deep with endless situations for them. He was picturing her nude in his covers screaming his name. Her eyes then drooped down to his lips where she wanted to close the gap.

Passion can't be created. His words and the way he said it was becoming a lustful chant in her head.

But it sure as hell could be stopped because a phone call interrupted them. Bonnie looked at her daughter's name on the screen and answered hurriedly. She turned away from Damon and listened to what the caller had to say.

"What do you mean you're not at your friend's house?"

"You're stuck where? Amaya Lee Martin, you cannot be serious right now! I'm on my way."

Bonnie quickly texted her driver and disclosed her address to him. "My daughter is stuck at some damn tattoo parlor in Manhattan because her friend ran out on her and now the people in there are trying to make her pay for both of them."

"And she needs you to bail her out? Classic. Sounds like my teen years with my parents."

"Look, we had a great night and all but you don't have to get strung up in my life," Bonnie said.

"Trust me, this is pretty mild, let me be there for you on the way there and you can drop me off after we go get her."

"Okay." Bonnie nodded.

She wrote a check for both tattoos even though Amaya's wasn't even completed. It was a half-drawn butterfly on her ankle. Bonnie being pissed could be an understatement. Amaya walked up to the driver's window.

"Wassup Armando?" He let the window down.

"'Sup, kid. Your moms pretty pissed at you, y'know."

The girl shrugged. "I was peer pressured, what the hell can I do?"

"You can say that again."

Amaya squinted to see a mystery man in the passenger seat. "How do you know my mom-"

"Amaya! Backseat, now."

The adolescent rolled her eyes and walked back.

Damon could feel the tension as the window rolled up in the backseat. Bonnie had to be

lecturing back there. He sat in silence on his phone as Armando drove to his place.

"Aye, you know you're the first guy, she's had in this car right. Señora must really trust you, you know."

Damon scratched the back of his neck as he recanted their beginnings. "Uh, actually, we met tonight at the club. Bonnie is gorgeous I'm sure she has some admirers."

"True, true,but like damn she had to really trust you to let you in and to be around Amaya even if it is for a few seconds, man."

"So how long have you been working for her?" Damon asked, changing the subject.

"Eh, two and a half years. I was in deep shit, man and my brother, Ricky, works for her firm. He was stressed about me breaking parole because he just bailed me out a few months before. Anyways, Bonnie was looking for a new driver and I needed a path down a straight road."

"It all worked out in the end," Damon replied. "What do you know about her ex?"

"Tall, brown skin, comes from one of them empire like families uptown, he's some hot shit lawyer, too. I've seen him on occasion though," Armando informed as Damon nodded.

"You think I stand a chance?"

"Oh, man sure you do, you being the first proves it." He looks at the light-post. "Fuck, I missed your spot. I can turn back around and go back if you want."

"Nah, you're good, I can walk back. Thanks." Damon turned towards the driver's seat.

"Tell the boss lady I said to dream of me,"

Armando laughed. "That sounds hella intimate, my guy but fine I'll relay the message. Be safe out there."

Damon was smiling and punching the air as he walked home. "The first guy, huh," He muttered to himself, happily as he got home.

Katherine sat on top of Bonnie's desk with a bowl of Chinese noodles and chopsticks on Monday afternoon. She offered some to her friend but she declined. It was lunch and still she wasn't eating.

"Mmm, so me and Mason spent the whole weekend together at my suite at the Radisson," Katherine said.

"Let me guess? You don't trust him in your house." Katherine nodded.

"We'll never get to that point but it got pretty heated after the club that I wanted to break my rule. I'll leave out the dirty details - or not."

"Please spare me." Bonnie took a sip of her now cold coffee. "Wait, what's your rule?"

"He can't be that deep in my life," The lawyer sighed. "If I let Mason in my home I'm opening Pandora's Box and I'm not ready for that."

"Right, yeah, that makes sense."

"So." Katherine threw her box in the garbage. "How'd your weekend go?"

"Amaya got in some trouble, she's lucky that those people didn't call the police."

"Aw, I'm sorry, looks like I need to talk to her again over a shopping spree," Katherine suggested.

"That won't help, but try it," Bonnie sighed. "I'm having Armando drop her off at Luka's after she gets out of school. She's too moody and won't talk to me."

"You two will get back close again, give it some time and effort."

Bonnie didn't say a word.

Katherine looked at Bonnie before leaving. "Don't give up on her, she's your only one."

The door shut softly which signaled that Katherine was long gone.

"I know," Bonnie muttered.

A/N: I think the chapters in this story will be short but concise? I hope everyone is enjoying the stories and that eventual questions will be answered as the story progresses.