Chapter 27: Claims and Consequences
Damon’s POV
I was already losing my mind wondering where my little Micah had vanished to. One second I was leading him through the front doors, and the next, a completely insufferable bunch of legacy nobodies had flooded my personal space. They were practically climbing over each other, desperately barking questions about the scandalous "Secret Sinner" article and demanding to know if I had unmasked the anonymous author yet.
I gave them nothing but empty, fake smiles. I should have known better than to let my guard down. Micah absolutely loathes suffocating crowds; he prefers to blend into the background, operating like an invincible ghost.
"Uh, excuse me," I muttered smoothly, cutting through the dense wall of bodies before any of them could try to follow me.
I began searching the estate. I scoured the chaotic living room first, my irritation ticking higher with every second he was out of my sight. When I finally strode out toward the pulsing light of the main pool area, my eyes locked directly onto him.
Micah was standing entirely rigid, his back pressed defensively against the stone railing. Just a couple of feet away stood Noah Miller, his hand tightly linked with the self-proclaimed queen bee of our campus.
I didn’t even know the blonde’s name. Frankly, I didn’t care enough to remember it.
What I did care about was the pure panic radiating off Micah. He was refusing to turn around, completely terrified to meet his brother’s eyes. He was in deep trouble.
Wasting no more time, I rushed forward and violently wrapped my arm around Micah’s trembling waist. With my other hand, I firmly cupped the back of his head, burying his flushed, hidden face securely against the solid plane of my bare chest.
"What exactly do you want with my boyfriend, captain?" I asked, my voice dropping into a dangerously calm, provocative purr.
Noah’s face darkened instantly, a heavy frown twisting his perfect features.
He was furious.
I could feel the raw tension rolling off him in waves, even though he was desperately trying to maintain his pristine, disciplined captain persona in front of the crowd.
The blonde girl beside him didn’t notice a thing. She only wrapped her arms even tighter around Noah’s bicep, leaning her body aggressively close to his as she tossed her styled hair over her shoulder.
"Oh, look, isn’t it Damon Silver?" she cooed, her voice dripping with an annoying, elitist whine. "It’s so incredibly nice of you to finally show up, even though you’re practically never present at your own estate parties."
"Ha!" A mocking, incredulous laugh escaped my throat. I cut my eyes down toward her, genuinely wondering why this bitch thought she had the right to address me. "I’m incredibly sorry, but... who exactly are you?"
The girl gasped loudly, her manicured hands dropping from Noah’s arm as her lips began to tremble violently. It was as if I had just committed a mortal sin by failing to recognize her existence.
"My father is the prime minister, you dog!" she shrieked, her cheeks flushing with pure humiliation.
"Yeah, great, that’s your father," I countered smoothly, not breaking a single beat. "I’m asking about you. Who are you?"
Before her trembling lips could utter another entitled syllable, Noah abruptly cut her off, his icy blue eyes staring hard at the mass of colorful silk fabric shielding the boy in my arms.
"I surely hope that is not Micah in your arms, Silver," Noah said, his voice dangerously low.
"Micah? Your fragile little brother?" The blonde queen bee immediately whined, tugging aggressively on Noah’s arm to pull his attention back to her. "Why are you totally concerned about him right now, Noah darling? You literally abandoned the last varsity party entirely because of him. You really need to stop obsessing over him and spend more time with me."
The moment the words left her mouth, I felt Micah’s entire body go completely rigid against my chest.
A sharp, possessive bolt of anger flared deep in my gut. He wasn’t just surprised... Micah was secretly excited. I could feel the subtle, thrill-seeking shift in his posture, a quiet wave of satisfaction washing over him at the revelation that his golden-boy brother consistently abandoned the world just to come home to him.
The fact that Micah was getting off on Noah’s twisted protectiveness pissed me off entirely.
My grip around Micah’s waist tightened to a bruising degree, anchoring him forcefully against my skin.
"I already told you, Miller. This is my boyfriend," I stated, flashing Noah a lethal, mocking grin. "Why? Are you saying you don’t believe me?"
Noah’s frown deepened, a dangerous shadow crossing his eyes. He looked completely trapped. It was obvious he suspected exactly who was hiding beneath my oversized silk shirt, but because Micah’s face was completely buried in my chest, he couldn’t prove it without causing a massive, public scene.
Amused by his helplessness, my hand slowly slid up Micah’s spine. I let my fingers hook into the hem of the colorful silk shirt I had borrowed him, deliberately gathering the fabric upward above my knuckles.
The movement exposed the smooth, bare skin of Micah’s lower back directly to the freezing night air of the pool patio. He let out a sharp, sudden shiver, his fingers clutching desperately at my waist.
"What... what are you doing?" Micah whispered frantically against my bare skin, his hot breath sending a completely different kind of shiver straight down my own spine.
"Shhh," I murmured back, leaning my head down so my lips brushed the shell of his ear. My voice was low. "You mustn’t say a single word, sweetheart. Otherwise... you are going to get caught."
Micah went entirely compliant, his trembling frame melting against me as he obeyed. I kept my hand moving, my long fingers tracing slowly up the curve of his back before lazily shifting to stroke the soft, burning skin of his cheek, keeping his face hidden from the world.
"I honestly never knew you were... into men, Damon Silver," the blonde girl spoke up again, her eyes wide with a mix of disgust and bizarre fascination as she watched us.
"I’m not into men," I replied flatly.
Slowly, deliberately, I lowered my head into the crook of Micah’s neck. I pressed my lips firmly against his pulsing, sensitive skin, planting a kiss right over his collarbone.
Micah shivered violently in my arms, and a soft, breathless moan escaped his parted lips, echoing perfectly in the tense silence between us and Noah.
I lifted my eyes, locking a dark, victorious gaze right onto Noah’s fracturing expression.
"I am only into him."