15: Sit-down order for Damon Michaels

**Jasmine**

I left Damon on the floor sleeping peacefully and covered in a thick, warm blanket. The blanket was not a portrayal of any kindness or compassion, but instead protection from myself against my own desires. I was right, I had outlasted him in the fight which meant I spent the rest of the night with my naked mate lying in the same room as me and hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. It was hard covering him up, especially considering he did have a body to brag about. I had the right mind to kick him out and contemplated it numerous times, but that would also have been too risky because I’d have had to touch him.

When I had arrived at work, Macy had a cup of my favourite tea- earl grey- and a gorgeous plate of breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, toast, chicken nuggets and a bowl of fruit ready for me. She always made me breakfast ever since she realised, I came to work having eaten nothing since I always woke up so late in the morning. "You look awful today, Quinn, late night studying?" She asked, referring to the large purple bags under my eyes.
"Um, something like that. I met an old friend, we spent hours talking."
By talking I meant me tying to prove my strength only to end up running myself into the walls numerous times. But again, she did not need to know that.
"Friend? Didn't think you really knew anyone here besides Macy and I." Hannah said. I replied to this by saying that this friend had travelled all the way here to come and see me. She however did not seem convinced but questioned me no further when I grabbed a butter knife and threatened her with it.
Once I had finished eating, I placed the dish in the sink for Hannah to hopefully wash. I highly doubted she'd get very far as there was a small stack of plates still left in the sink from the previous day. There were quite a lot of customers in the diner at this hour- the breakfast rush- and so I was extremely busy collecting plates here, filling up coffee cups there and giving out complementary smiles. In all honesty, I enjoyed my job. I loved meeting new people and serving them with a smile, and even though I did not get paid much, it was enough for me to live comfortably. The past had shaped me into this person- adaptable and agile. I was a survivor, but a survivor with deep scars, and in essence, I was deeply broken too. Then again, in this day and age, who wasn't. We were all just broken people, but that was what made us all strong- although we were broken, we still had strength enough to face another day.

It was exactly ten a.m. when the bell to the front door rang. As soon as he stepped inside, I smelled him- the scent of rosewood and... my soap.
"Quinn, cust-"
But she cut herself off as she gazed upon the Greek God of a man in front of her and began smirking and eyeing him up and down. "I can take care of this one if you want."
"No thanks, Hannah, this one is mine." I practically hissed at her as I stomped towards him. Great, now he was stalking me at my workplace.
"Hello sir, my name is Quinn Emerson, table for one?" I tried to be as civil as I could be. He smirked and immediately I knew he was up to no good.
"Quinn, you say? Table for two please."
For two? He was seriously not of the mindset that I would be joining him... right?
I led him to a table right in the corner, away from everyone else and began yelling at him lowly while slamming a menu down on the table.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Damon?"
"Getting breakfast, Jasmine!" He mocked.
I immediately hushed him and told him not to dare even say my name out loud and was about to grab him by the collar and violently shake him when I heard Macy's voice next to me.
"Damon? What are you doing here?" She smiled forming two cute, deep dimples within her cheeks.
I immediately froze and did a double-take as I realised that she had just called Damon by his name.
"You-" I pointed between the two "-know each other?"
Macy nodded and said, "Yeah, he's that famous CEO that owns Morningstar advertising-" she then paused, smiled brightly and said, "-we knew each other in high school."
If my jawbone was not properly attached to the rest of my face it would have fallen to the ground and shattered. This must have been how he found out where I was. If I was a vixen, then this man was a fox- downright sneaky.
"He’s actually a friend of mine too and a friend of the old friend I’m meeting up with this weekend."
I could not even contain my anger then. Damon Michaels was now not only interfering in my life, but in Macy's life too. Did he have absolutely no shame whatsoever? I took in a deep breath, trying to calm myself. It was a huge mistake and the strong scent of my soap which was now emitting from his skin wafted into my nose. He was a dead man!
"Macy, do you mind if I steal Damon for a sec?" I asked grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly. Macy eyed our intertwined hands curiously and then nodded with a smile. Once we were out of the door, I immediately slapped him across the face and said heatedly, "That, is for using my shower-"
"And this-" He cut me off grabbing me by the waist and pulling me into his lips as he kissed me deeply "-is for driving me fucking crazy." His hazel eyes turned darker and had a lusty glaze to them.
"Are you serious? Kiss me again without my permission and I will cut you with a fork."
He questioned my choice of utensil, but I refused to give him an explanation, still mad at him for claiming my lips. In all honesty it was a slip of the tongue. I meant to say knife, but he somehow made it difficult for me to string along a well-constructed sentence.
"You honestly cannot tell me that you do not enjoy it when I touch you."
For someone who once told me that I disgusted him so much, he was really being touchy with me. What shocked me the most was that he was in his human form and acting this way, and so I questioned him. "I thought I disgusted you... what changed?"
He raised an eyebrow and told me that his changes were none of my business and that all I needed to know was that I no longer disgusted him. I soon discovered however that I was beginning to lose track of what was actually important- the disaster he was clearly stirring up. So, after much interrogation and a lot more aggression he finally admitted exactly how he had found me and what his motives now were- they had changed of course, as a result of the previous night's antics.
Apparently, he and Macy had been good friends in high school. She however moved away but they kept in touch and talked daily. Although I found this hard to believe, I made no move to question it, Macy would confirm or deny it for me. Damon then told me that he'd seen me in a photo of Macy's- her cooking in the kitchen, and me washing the dishes (selfies were strictly forbidden and she knew that. Clearly, she had a death wish). That was when he immediately left home, adamant on bringing me home after two years of searching for me.

"But it has now become evident-" He then swung a fist at my face which I caught with my hand and squeezed tightly "-that I cannot bring you back with physical force. So, instead I have made a decision to force you back home by making your life a living hell. I am going to make your life so unbearable that you will have no choice but to come back to me."
His plan was childish and quite petty. It would obviously never work on me at all, but if he was convinced it would, I had no reason to object. This would be a waste of his own time, and once he saw that, he would be back out of my life, hopefully move on, and live his own.
"Good for you Damon. So now who is going to look after your company? Who is going to look after your pack-"
"London."
So, he was okay with London, a female werewolf, being in charge of his business and his werewolf pack, but he was not okay with me being equal to him. This had me questioning whether the reason for him viewing me as inferior to him was truly because of my gender. But again, whatever his reason, I was not at all interested.

"So, let me get this straight, you came here to physically drag me home with you, and now that you've discovered that it won't work, you are going to annoy me into it? So, what the hell does Macy have to do with this?"
"Nothing, I just thought I would set her up with someone, considering she said she was quite lonely. I was just doing a favour for a friend."
I stared at him for a long time, unable to really process what he was saying. Was it possible that I had no clue who Damon Michaels actually was? The Damon Michaels I knew cared for no one. I had no clue whether I could trust him with Macy- then again, I had no clue what their relationship truly was. The man I knew had no friends. He never once smiled, not even at London who was his sister. He always tried to make me obey and submit to him despite my resistance. Yet I could not fail to notice, not once, but twice, a side to him that was different. First, was when he took my pain away the night of my transformation. That moment, although fleeting was something I could not forget, and yet another aspect of him which made it hard to hate him. The second time was now, seeing him be nice to someone without asking for anything in return. Let me not even get started on his eyes which now seemed to have difficulty concealing any emotion. Maybe Damon hadn't changed at all because I had failed to see what was beneath the surface in the first place. Or perhaps he had changed and was now trying to show me what lay beneath his cold exterior. Whatever it was though, it was nowhere near enough to make me fall into his trap. Although his eyes and behaviour had changed, his mindset had not. I was still not his equal. He still saw me as something to be claimed and kept hidden away, and until that changed, until he realised that I was my own person, we would not be able to move forward. He and I were, according to the laws of nature, mates. For me, it meant nothing. Maybe it would have meant something if we actually loved or even liked each other. For him, however, it meant everything, even without love or like. It was something I found difficult to understand- the fact that werewolves were forced into loving someone because their bodies said they had to. It went against everything that I had grown up believing. And so, as I thought this, and stood there, still staring at Damon, I couldn't help but blurt out, "You know love is supposed to be a choice, not forced, right?"
Damon looked at me confused and asked, "What does that have to do with anything?"
And all this did was prove me right.
"Well, if you can't figure that out, then it’s not even worth your time trying to force me into going anywhere with you. It’s clear you and I have totally different ideas of what a serious relationship is."
Damon kept quiet for a moment, eyed me closely, and then said, "You seem to think I need to love you and you need to love me for us to be mates. From my experience, being mates and being in love are mutually exclusive."
I snickered before saying, “And how far did the people you learnt that from get in life?”
He didn’t answer me, instead, he just grunted and then left. I knew I was supposed to have felt victorious after my little win, but the way he looked before he left put a damper on my mood. Perhaps I’d pushed a button unintentionally.