Hey lovelies! I hope you enjoy this chapter. The next update will be soon. :)
Twitter/X: RosabelReed
BRB. Breakfast.
Bonnie texted Meredith and Elena in the group chat once Damon had a tall stack of waffles set in the center of the table.
"Thanks, Damon," Frank was the first to say, digging his fork deep into the stack and plopping two onto his plate.
Mary giggled at her fiancé then poked her fork at the eldest Salvatore. "You better sit down and eat. Those muscles need nutrients."
Stabbing into the waffles, Bonnie paid no mind to the pesky blush crawling up her throat. Those muscles. His bare muscles. Encasing her, moving with her, rutting into her—stop. The waffles flopped from the fork, almost missing the plate as her hand shook.
"I promise to eat, Mary," Damon said. "As soon as the eggs are done."
The wink Bonnie didn't need to see shut down Mary's retort right on her tongue. Her sister huffed, slathering her waffles in butter.
"Do you want eggs, Redbird?" Her pseudonym sounded sweeter than maple.
Bonnie's fork clanged against the porcelain plate. Everyone at the table flinched, including her. Frank snickered, steadying the rocking bottle of syrup.
Her sister, on the other hand, drilled milky brown eyes straight into her. Bonnie ignored them, turning to Damon with a nickname of her own. But he was … laughing. That baritone chuckle he did when he thought whatever she'd done was "cute."
She wasn't cute. None of this was cute or funny or the slightest bit enjoyable.
Clamping her lips shut, she glared right into his pretty charcoal orbs. "No. I don't."
With a swipe of his tongue between the seam of his lips, his eyes shifted into something dark, something gritty that glinted under the surface of his mask.
It was a look that should've left her stumped, but instead she had a memory to match it to.
Damon forked a small helping of scrambled eggs right from the pan and into his mouth, taking time wrapping his lips around the prongs. Bonnie whipped her head back to her plate before the image could settle in, remind her of anything else. But through the breaks in her curls, she could see Mary's stare, narrower than it had been. Less confused and more curious. Too curious.
With a short huff, Bonnie faced her sister.
"What?" she mouthed.
"What was that?" Mary mouthed back, failing to keep her voice from breaking through.
Bonnie shook her head, rolling her eyes extra hard like her sister was crazy. She was crazy. She was.
Mary slumped, giving that 'I'm not stupid' look, chewing lazily, eyes unblinking in their deadpanned stare.
She wasn't stupid, unfortunately. Well … sometimes.
Mary leaned forward, poking a finger into her sister's cheek. Bonnie knew it was there. She could feel it.
"Stop." Bonnie swatted her hand away.
Mary chuckled, scooping up another bite of the thick, fluffy waffles taking up 90% of her plate.
Frank leaned forward, looking between the sisters. "What am I missing?"
Bonnie pinched the bend of her nose, knowing full well Damon could hear every word.
But there was no stopping Mary, who leaned toward her fiancé. "Turns out Damon hasn't always been so platonic with Bon."
Frank blinked in rapid succession behind his glasses. The end of his fork clanged against the frames as he pushed the spectacles up his straight nose. "Since when?"
Mary's fork stabbed her plate as she hocked an exasperated scoff. "She just told me last night that they've kissed like five freakin times."
Frank's brows popped up over his rims. His jaw rolled as he chewed, tongue smacking deliberately.
Bonnie tied the corner of her lips and threw the imaginary key over her shoulder.
Frank chuckled, going back to his waffles.
Mary turned to her. "It was just five, right? I bet it's more after last night …"
Bonnie coughed as a piece of waffle lodged near her windpipe.
Did she know? Had they been that loud?
Damon set a heaping plate of bacon and scrambled eggs in the center of the table. Bonnie had never been so glad for his interruption. She doubted she could explain any obscene noises her sister may have been prepared to bring up.
Sticking serving utensils onto the platter, Damon finally took his seat at the four-person table.
"Thank you, Damon," Mary was the first to say, giving him an exaggerated wink.
Was it too late to pretend to be sick?
"My man," Frank said, giving Damon a fist bump that the old vampire happily accepted. "You truly have a talent for cooking."
Ironic, considering he didn't eat.
"Thank you. It's the least I could do for you and the future Misses Walcroft for being so hospitable." Damon returned Mary's wink, and she could swear her sister could've leaped to the moon in her giddiness.
That horrid half-smile returned to Mary's lips, and Bonnie didn't need to be psychic to know it meant trouble.
"I'm sure Bon doesn't mind sharing her room." Mary tried to elbow her.
Bonnie dodged, flinging her sock-covered foot out toward her sister's shin.
Mary winced, glaring at her.
Whatever got her to shut up.
Ring!
The shrill tone of an old-timey phone vibrated Damon's phone.
Even after she'd spent an hour ranting over why the modern, melodic tones were so much better, he still hadn't changed it. What would he change for her?
Damon pulled it out of his sweats, huffing at the caller ID. "Excuse me for just a second."
His eyes glanced to hers as he stood. Bonnie could see everything she needed to. Fear, tension, sorrows that would never touch his lips.
She already knew who it was.
"Hey, love …" Damon's voice faded as he walked into the nook of a foyer the front door was nestled into.
Bonnie stabbed into her waffles so hard they split around her fork. Slathering the fat hunk with syrup, she shoved it in her mouth.
She focused on chewing, listening to it and her family's awkward clangs of silverware, in hopes of drowning him out. But somehow, her ears still piqued to the sound of his voice, hearing it clearer than any other sound. Like it was on its very own frequency that only she was tuned to.
"No. No, I'm not upset. I know you just needed some time. I'm sorry for not coming back last night. I should've."
Bonnie teeth ground past the waffle. Because last night, he was right where he should've been. Buried inside her.
Maybe if she told Gemma how he'd been unable to stop himself, how many marks he'd left on her body, she'd go away. Maybe if she showed Gemma the imprint of his teeth in her skin, the girl would get so mad that she'd walk right out of Damon's life. Gemma would blame him, call him a cheater. Or maybe she would forbid him from seeing his Redbird. Would she try to cling to him?
Bonnie couldn't blame the girl if she did. She was doing the same.
No one in their right mind would let him go.
"I know. But it's ok. Tonight, I'll make it up to you."
Would he leave marks on Gemma too?
"Is everything ok?" Mary's hand brushed hers where it lay fisted on the table.
Bonnie flexed her fingers, taking them into her lap. "Fine."
Damon walked back in with his perfect smile.
It did nothing to calm the war raging inside her. The fine edges of her fork were still cutting into her palm.
"Some stuff came up. I'm gonna have to raincheck breakfast." He curled his fingers around the back of his chair, angled out from the table. A reminder of where he was supposed to be.
Bonnie couldn't help it, she snorted. A huffy, petty, tut-like snort. "Of course you are."
No one said a word, and she didn't bother looking up to check if anyone was looking either. She knew the awkward quirk that would be on Frank's heavy brows. She knew the buggy-eyed look her sister would be shooting from her peripherals.
None of it mattered.
Damon sighed.
She knew he would do that too. Probably paired with some apologetic yet snarky look in his eye that she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing.
She didn't deserve to be looked at like she was some haughty little brat whose irritation was insignificant, easily fixable with the right toy.
She wasn't some ridiculous child. He'd made sure of that.
Damon's shoes padded around to her back. She shuddered when he leaned down, encompassing her in his dark aura. Ghostings of fingers tickled her neck as he gathered her hair in a sweep slow enough to play on her mind for days.
He took those curls behind her ear, exposing it to the soft fan of his breath. "Walk me out?"
His knuckles were silk as they brushed along her jaw and down the side of her throat he'd imprinted with his fangs.
Before the rose flush on her chest could reach any higher, she stood, clearing her throat. "I'll be right back."
"Take your time," Mary chimed at her back.
Bonnie's eyes rolled with a force she hadn't known was possible as she hurried through the kitchen, Damon hot on her tail.
She didn't walk far, stopping at the top stair of the porch.
Damon walked around her, going down two more steps before he faced her. "I know you're upset with me. But you know why I'm doing this."
"And you already know I don't agree." Bonnie crossed her arms, barely able to look him in the eyes. The blackness there was a vortex, pretty pieces of night sky speckled with stars that threatened to dazzle any creature bold enough to look.
Damon braced either hand on the railings, stretching himself out like a rope. As if she was going to take off running from her own house. "I'm aware. Which is why … I'd like us to compromise."
"I'm listening." Unwillingly, she was listening.
"I'll split my time. I'll spend a few days of the week here. Like before. No more long gaps as long as you behave. Ok?"
It never was.
Bonnie felt her head nodding anyway. It was better than texting, and she'd have time to find out his weak spots, to make him give up this silly idea that not being with her would somehow protect her from all things bad.
How did he not know by now? He was the only thing that could truly hurt her.
Damon moved to take her in his arms, but she put a hand to his chest, easing him back down. "I'm compromising for you. So you have to do something for me."
For a split second, he was back in the dark dimension, looking straight into the eyes of the demon with fire for tails.
Bonnie's lips pursed. She was no demon, but her hair was just as fiery.
"Don't turn it off."
The momentary fear in his face substituted with pain, a wound he had yet to close. She could see the way it throbbed in his throat, twinged in the crow's feet forming at the edges of his eyes.
With a quiet tut, Damon closed the distance between them and took up her face in his hands. She went willingly, unable to think, unable to process anything but his proximity.
Soft lips landed at the corner of hers, only just brushing them with an intentional neglect. He kissed her hard, pressing into the lowest part of her cheek like he was trying to infuse her with his lifeblood.
Bonnie's heart sputtered, the remainder of her breath floating from her lips as he stroked her other cheek with his thumb.
He could feel it. He had to. He had to know how badly she wanted to kiss him. Because he wanted to kiss her too. She always knew by the way his eyes melted into black lakes, or by the way his hand would find its way to some piece of exposed skin.
This wasn't the same. It was stronger. Scarier.
It felt like a goodbye and a plea for more all at once.
She wobbled when he ripped himself away, only just catching her balance against the railing.
"I'll text you tonight." He was a blur as he ran off, her eyes barely able to keep up.
Had Mary not noticed he had no car outside, or had she just gotten really good at not asking questions?
Tonight, he'd promised. The same tonight when he was going to be "making it up" to Gemma?
She wished the tears brimming her eyes would leak inward. Fill her up and drown her instead. The image of him with someone else had always been unbearable, but now it was worse. Some unfathomable type of torture no human should have had to endure.
If only he could've been human for another day …