Chapter 17 A Refined Rascal
The ladies exchanged coy smiles, their hearts brimming with admiration for Damian, which they dared not reveal for fear of making a scene, “Damian, it's been a while since you've been around," they said with restrained enthusiasm.
Damian nonchalantly tossed his car keys onto the table, taking a seat across from Hayden while ignoring the women's flattering words, “Just you tonight?"
Ever daring, Hayden taunted, "Why, you feel like having an audience?"
"To watch you go from cocky to kneeling and crying for mercy?" Damian fired back.
Hayden coughed dryly, conceding the argument, "Jade's on a business trip to Sea City, back next week. Christian's running late, delayed by some fancy shindig his dad's throwing tonight. He's getting an earful about his latest blunders. Can't catch a break lately."
The ribbing about Christian's way of expanding business was a running joke among them.
Damian casually picked up the glass nearest him and took a sip, "Mama's boy."
Hayden's hand landed on the leg of the woman in red, squeezing it, "Well, when mommy's got the goods, why look elsewhere? Can't blame him when he's got the silver spoon, right?"
After his quip, he patted her gently, "Hey, our man Damian hasn't even had a drink yet. Top him off, why don't you?"
The lady in red moved over, bending to pour the drink, a hint of a show as her short skirt lifted slightly, "Your drink, Damian."
Damian's gaze slid past her, "How old?"
The club had strict rules about hiring, especially age-wise. The girl looked barely 20, a risk Damian was not willing to take. Why stumble over something so trivial?
Hayden was amused, "Wow, Damian actually inquiring about a lady's age? Now I've seen everything!"
"Beat it."
Damian lounged back, legs crossed over the coffee table, embodying a picture of indolent entitlement, “Where did you run into her?" he asked casually, referring to Ashley without even using her name.
Hayden played coy, "Take a guess."
"The champagne not to your liking?"
Hayden chuckled, "Chill, it's just a joke."
Worried that Damian might actually give up on the drink, Hayden poured another full glass, “Where else would I have met her but at the hospital? She had an injury on her back, admitted to general surgery. I saw her medical history, a blunt force wound that got infected. God, it was a gory mess, something that'd make even the toughest guy want to cry."
Damian's fingers idly traced the edge of his phone, not saying a word.
She had been hurt by his grandfather with an ashtray, and it hadn't healed after several days?
Hayden sighed deeply, his voice tinged with a mix of sorrow and empathy, “It's tough, you know? A woman, all alone without a family or relatives, coming back to her hometown feeling like a stranger. No one to take care of her when she's hurt. Even the male doctor treating her couldn't bear to see her in pain, wanted to make house calls just to apply her medication."
At last, Damian lifted his lazy eyelids, “Male doctor?"
Hayden replied with utmost seriousness, “Hey, a doctor doesn't see gender, don't make us out to be sleazy. It's just a back, not like it is in gynecology."
Ashley's wound was lower down on her shoulder; to apply the medication, she'd have to take off half her clothes... That would be...
Damian felt a blaze of nameless anger inside, and it only grew as he glanced at Hayden, who was comfortably flanked by admirers. Yet his face remained inscrutable as he enunciated clearly, with a laid-back drawl. What a "refined rascal".
Unfazed and determined to stir the pot, Hayden lifted his champagne flute towards Damian, “Upset?"
Damian didn't even look up, his expression cool and unreadable, “Hardly worth it."
"It's just so boring with you always hiding your feelings. If you're mad, be mad. Overdoing it with the poker face isn't always great, makes it impossible to tell what you're thinking."
Damian responded dryly, "Is that insight worth a bottle of liquor?"
With an air of cocksure confidence, Hayden stretched out one leg, most of his 6'1" height being in them, nearly matching Damian's stature. He propped his foot on the table, straight and firm, elevating his presence, “I told her something about you."
Damian replied with mild interest, "Oh?"
"You remember how you secretly did a good deed, saving her life? She didn't know, did she? Well, I might have accidentally let it slip in conversation, sounded completely natural, no way she could suspect it was on purpose."
Leaning forward, Hayden pressed, "So, what do you think? Does my assistance earn me that bottle?"
Damian's caressing of his phone paused for a moment, “Did I ask for your input?"
"Is that an admission that you care about her?"
Damian answered flatly, "No."
A 'no' without explanation.
Hayden, at a loss, pushed back, "Man, what's your endgame? You say you don't care, don't love, yet you keep getting close to her. If you're as done as you claim, why the hell are you bringing her a case? Aren't the sharp minds of KM capable enough? How often do you guys get wrapped up in international lawsuits, and when have you ever lost?"
Damian felt irritation gnawing at his ears, tired of the incessant chatter, “Nothing much, just a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
Hayden wasn’t buying it. Couldn’t he coax out a word of truth?
“You guys spent three years together, man. Enough time for feelings to develop. And putting everything else aside, her looks, her figure, her aura; she’s head-turning by today’s standards. Haven’t you taken a second glance?”
Damian replied, “No time for feelings to grow if there haven’t been long enough days for them.”
Hayden smirked, his eyes crinkling into slits, all teeth, “What, you two just share a blanket and be polite to each other?”
“No need to dodge the question; we don’t share a bed,” Damian stated plainly.
Hayden let out a dramatic sigh, slapping his thigh in mock despair, “What a pity! Ignoring the beauty beside him, the man doesn’t know what he's got.”
In their three years of marriage, he and Ashley had barely been intimate enough to count on one hand. He loathed her constant, simpering eagerness to please and even more her lack of sensuality, her awkwardness, her inability to enjoy the moment. She would cry out in pain when he was too rough, and lie there stiff and unresponsive when he slowed down.
How much had he detested Ashley? Just one glance would irritate him for half a day.
Hayden was persistent, “That was then. What about now? Three years apart, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed Ashley has changed. Hey, be honest, she’s not the same person she used to be. If you’ve got any feelings left, you better act fast, or you might just miss out on your chance.”
Damian's tone was frosty, “I'm not one to pine for the past.”
