Chapter 11: Heading To The City

Damon rubbed his eyes.  Then he said, "Did I end up in the wrong place?" It was Adeline lying on the bed.  She shot him a look and lowered her voice. "Why are you still standing there? Get over here." "Adeline, what are you doing?"  He shook his head. "I'm a decent man." "So I'm the indecent one?"  Adeline gazed at him with wounded eyes. "Be honest. If you had promised to come by tonight like you said, would I have gone to look for another man?" "Maybe... maybe you wanted two men at once?" Damon's mouth tugged into a small, teasing smile. "Yeah, right."  Adeline's arm snaked out from under the quilt.  "What would I do with two men? Do I look like that kind of woman?" She huffed. "We hadn't even really... and you were already yelling outside. After you left, the more I thought about it, the more it felt wrong. You must have figured something out, didn't you? You realized who I was hooking up with, so you deliberately..." "No way." Damon shook his head.  "Adeline, don't get me into trouble. I owe Griffin a lot, so you should head home." "I refuse." Her glare hardened.  "I'm staying here tonight. If you're a real man, then get over here and..." Damon turned on his heel and walked away. "Hey, where are you going?" Her voice shot up, sharp with alarm. "To find Griffin," he called over his shoulder. That snapped her upright.  She tossed the blanket aside and dashed after him.  She caught him by the arm in the doorway. "Fine, fine, I'll go home."  She looked at him, her mouth tightening with hurt.  "You... I was worried you'd blab. Promise me you won't say a word." "Why would I?" He gave her a level look.  "Besides, you paid hush money. I took the cash, so I'll keep my mouth shut." Adeline shot him one last dark glance. "So I'm really leaving? I'm throwing myself at you, and you still don't want me? Miss this chance and you won't get another." "Go home." Of course, Damon wasn't going to take her up on it.  What kind of joke was this? Adeline was bold enough to mess around with other men right under her husband's nose.  Why would he want a woman like that? Even if he had to hold in the lust, he wasn't touching someone like her. Adeline seethed. She almost gave Damon a sharp pinch in the side, but held herself back.  She gave her hips a swing and marched out, fuming. Damon let out a long breath. What a mess. He had once thought people in the village were simple, lights out by nine, asleep by the time the crickets began to sing.  Back when he lived here, that had been his routine too. He stayed at home, scrolling on his phone, never going out. Tonight changed that.  With his eyes and ears sharper than before, he had seen a different side of the village.  It turned out the village had an exquisite nightlife too, and it was a lot messier than he had imagined. None of that had anything to do with him. He cleared the dishes from the table and hurried into his room to sleep. He slept straight through to dawn.  After breakfast, he headed to Stefan's place. "Stefan!" He stopped outside the door and shouted.  "Are you up?" "Hey!" Stefan's voice came from inside, muffled. His mother, Camille, was not having it. She raised her voice from the courtyard.  "Damon, you little brat, what are you doing back here? You poured so much booze down Stefan's throat yesterday, and now..." "Mom, leave it... Ow, my head." Stefan groaned.  "Damon, we went too hard last night. My head is killing me." Damon strode in. "With a name like yours, you should be tougher."  He took one look at Camille, then headed into Stefan's room. Stefan sat on the bed, lightly patting his temple.  His face was flushed, and the smell of alcohol clung to him. "That bad?" Damon leaned against the doorframe.  "A little drinking and you're still hungover today?" "My head really hurts." Stefan sighed.  "I was going to go hang out with Bethany today. No, forget it, I still have to see Bethany." He tried to swing his legs off the bed. "Look at you. You can't go meet Bethany looking like that."  Damon pressed him back. "No." "But..." Stefan peered up at him.  "Then I'll at least ask if she's free. Better to set a time." He hadn't even managed to set a date. "Fine, but don't set too early. Afternoon at the earliest." Damon didn't trust Stefan to stumble out the door in that state.  He'd come to ask Stefan to enter the city with him.  He needed to go to the bank and deposit money into Ailee's account.  By the look of it, Stefan wasn't going anywhere. Stefan had fallen badly for Bethany.  He grabbed his phone and recorded a voice message, sending it off with a grin.  Within a minute, a voice message came back. "She answered!" Stefan lit up and tapped play. A soft, pleasant woman's voice chimed, "Stefan, I can't today, I'm working. How about in a couple of days? I'll take you to the movies then." "Listen!" Stefan nearly bounced.  "She said she'd treat me to a movie. I told you, I'm broke, so she's not after my money. Bethany isn't that kind of person." Damon grew more curious.  Just how pretty was this Bethany? He couldn't tell.  Her photos on the phone could have been photoshopped.  If she were really that stunning, why would she set her sights on Stefan?  Moreover, she was offering to pay for the movie. "I'll lie down a bit more," Stefan muttered, and fell back onto the pillow. "By the way, Damon," he added, "what did you come here for all of a sudden?" "To check you weren't dead." Damon glanced at him. "I'm off. Rest well." "You aren't heading to hunt wild boar, are you? Or..." "Not today." Damon cut in.  "I have to go out. You keep playing dead." He hurried home, grabbed the cash, and pedaled out on the family's old, beat-up bicycle, heading for the city. The road into town was muddy, rutted, and slick, though he made decent time.  As he rode, a horn chirped behind him.  A woman on an electric scooter pulled up, glanced over, and called, "Damon!" He turned, surprised. "Emmy?" Emmy looked him up and down with a smug little smile.  "I heard you used to hang out with thugs. So how did you end up like this? Still pedaling a bike to get around?"