She was blaming herself again.
Charlotte looked away, her eyes flickering with guilt. It brought back mories of all the wrong choices she had made ... of the ti she had chosen Julian over Damon. A choice she had convinced herself was the right one at that ti.
But what hurt even more was the thought of Damon, who had been alone through all those years.
"Because I couldn’t do it," Damon whispered. "Even when I tried to convince myself it didn’t matter ... deep down, I knew it would never feel right."
"It felt like the universe kept telling to wait," He leaned in closer, until their faces were just an inch apart.
"I didn’t understand why I had to wait," he murmured, "because I thought ... I thought you had already found your happiness with Julian."
Damon gently caressed her cheek, his touch so tender it almost brought tears to her eyes. He lowered his gaze and guilt filled his heart.
"But I was wrong," he said softly. "Sotis, I bla myself for letting you go so easily. If only I had marked you from the beginning ... maybe you wouldn’t have had to suffer like that."
"No, don’t say it like that." Charlotte reached up and brushed the damp strands of hair from his forehead. Her touch was gentle, and her eyes softened as they t him.
"If you had marked by force back then," she said, half teasing, half serious, "I probably would’ve reported you to the Nocturnal Order instead of falling in love with you."
Damon chuckled softly. "Yeah ... you’re right."
Charlotte smiled, but then her expression shifted into sothing more thoughtful.
"Besides, I like this version of you better," she said, her fingers tracing lazy circles on his chest. "The one who treats gently ... who gives choices, who never tries to control . The one who supports on the hard days, even when I pretend everything’s fine."
She paused, then widened her smile. "And maybe ... not-so-gentle in bed."
Damon raised an eyebrow. "Maybe?"
Charlotte shrugged playfully, laughing. "Okay, you’re truly not that gentle these past few days."
For a long ti, Charlotte had carried the bla for everything.
She used to believe she deserved the life she ended up with. That the pain, the fear, the constant walking on eggshells were simply the consequences of her own bad choices.
Maybe if she had taken a different path ... if she had been more careful, more guarded, more aware, maybe she could’ve avoided all of it.
But Damon had told her over and over again that life doesn’t always offer perfect choices. That sotis, the road ahead is already broken before you even take the first step, and that making a mistake didn’t an she deserved to suffer forever.
"There will always be bad choices," he had once said. "So leave bruises, so leave scars, but none of them an you are the problem."
And he was right.
It wasn’t entirely her fault.
Charlotte hadn’t known just how far Julian could fall. She had seen the flashes of anger in him before, but she never imagined they would grow into sothing so cruel, so destructive. She hadn’t known he would turn into the kind of man who could break her spirit, piece by piece.
"Maybe," she whispered now, "the reason I had to go through sothing that terrible ... is because I couldn’t see the rainbow before the storm."
Damon tightened his arms around her, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.
"Or maybe," he murmured, "you were the rainbow ... and the storm had to pass so you could finally shine even brighter than before."
Charlotte sighed softly, then hugged him tighter and buried her face in the crook of his neck. "What a sweet talker," she mumbled.
Damon laughed softly and patted her back. "Only for you."
They stayed like that for a mont, hugging each other so tightly it felt like there was glue between them, like the universe itself didn’t want them to ever part.
Charlotte breathed in his scent, which now brought her comfort instead of desire.
Slowly, her eyes fluttered shut, and for the first ti in a long ti, she drifted into a deep, peaceful sleep.
After a week filled with nothing but wild sex, they finally could sleep in peace. It was so peaceful that they didn’t wake up until the sun was almost setting again.
Well ... at least for Charlotte because Damon had already woken up before her.
When Charlotte opened her eyes, sothing imdiately felt different.
She was no longer lying in their ssy bed. Instead, she was curled up on the big, soft couch in the living room.
The light here was gentler, the air cooler. The chaos of the bedroom—the ssy sheets, the scent of sex and pheromones—was gone.
’Did I sleepwalk?’ she wondered.
She sat up slowly, feeling a blanket slipping from her shoulders. She rubbed her eyes and looked down, only to realize she was now wearing an oversized sweater and a pair of soft short pants.
She hadn’t changed into them herself, it was definitely Damon.
He had cleaned her up gently, changed her clothes, and carried her out of the ss they left behind in the bedroom.
As she sat there in thought, Charlotte suddenly heard the sound of the microwave from the kitchen.
She looked over the back of the couch, eyes scanning the open kitchen and there he was.
Damon stood barefoot on the cool tiles, still shirtless, wearing only a loose pair of dark sweatpants that hung low on his hips.
His hair was slightly damp, like he’d splashed cold water on his face to chase away the last traces of sleepiness.
He moved slowly, occasionally stretching and yawning as he tried to keep himself awake.
It was clear his body hadn’t fully recovered after going feral for a week, but even so, he had pulled himself out of bed just to take care of her.
"Are we finally getting a chance to eat a warm al?" Charlotte called out teasingly, resting her cheek on the arm of the couch.
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