Chapter 296: a terrible plan

Chapter 296: Chapter 296: a terrible plan

(Damian POV)

The polo field was already alive when Damian arrived.

It was just after nine in the morning, and another match was still underway. The sharp crack of mallets carried across the field while horses thundered over the grass, their riders leaning low as they chased the ball toward the opposite goal.

Damian stood near the edge of the field, watching for a moment.

His own match wasn’t until ten.

He should have been thinking about the game.

Instead, his thoughts kept returning to last night.

To Vivienne.

He had helped her straighten up the room first, making sure everything looked normal before Claire could return.

Then he had taken Vivienne out for supper.

He had made sure she actually ate, considering how little she had managed to eat earlier that evening. Afterward, he had stayed with her far longer than he had intended.

They had talked.

They had laughed.

He had fussed over her more than was probably reasonable, making sure she was comfortable, asking whether she was tired, and generally behaving as though taking care of her were somehow his responsibility.

And Vivienne, naturally, had let him.

She liked being spoiled.

Damian liked spoiling her.

It was a dangerously easy arrangement.

By the time he finally walked her back to the dormitory, it was already well past midnight.

He couldn’t stay.

He wasn’t supposed to be in the women’s dormitory in the first place, much less spend the night there, and eventually even Damian had to acknowledge that there were limits to how shameless he could be.

So, sometime around one in the morning, he finally kissed her goodnight and left.

He hadn’t wanted to.

That was probably the most embarrassing part.

Damian rubbed a hand over his face.

He was becoming pathetic.

And yet...

He didn’t particularly care.

Vivienne was nineteen.

She had just ended an engagement.

Now there was Anthony appearing again, Christopher somewhere in the picture, and everything seemed to be happening at once.

Of course she was confused.

She needed time.

He was older.

He could understand that.

He could be patient.

At least, he could try.

The thought almost made him laugh.

Damian Blackwood.

Patient.

He had never needed much patience with women before.

Mostly because there had never really been any woman he had wanted badly enough to need patience for.

Women had always been around him.

They flirted with him.

They sought his attention.

They made their interest obvious.

He simply hadn’t cared.

Until Vivienne.

She had been the first woman who made him want something for himself.

The first woman he had genuinely desired.

The first woman he had ever kissed and been intimate with.

And somehow, after that, he was completely finished.

Hopelessly, embarrassingly in love.

Damian had no idea when it had happened.

Perhaps it had been before they ever became intimate.

Perhaps it had been the first time she trusted him enough to let him close.

Perhaps he had simply been waiting for an excuse to stop pretending he didn’t want her.

Or perhaps it was simply because he was twenty-two, inexperienced, and completely unprepared for what it felt like to finally want someone this badly.

Whatever the reason, there was no going back now.

And that was probably why he was so terrible at this.

He had spent his entire life being the one women chased.

Now he was the one doing the chasing.

And he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

The realization should probably have embarrassed him.

Instead, Damian found himself almost amused by it.

He had everything people could possibly want—money, looks, a family name, popularity, opportunities.

And somehow, the only thing he actually wanted was a nineteen-year-old woman who wasn’t even sure she wanted him.

Ridiculous.

He smiled despite himself.

But he wasn’t completely without hope.

Vivienne hadn’t rejected him.

She had allowed him into her life.

She trusted him.

She had allowed their arrangement to continue.

And last night, even after everything that had happened, she had still let him stay with her for hours.

She had gone to supper with him.

She had laughed with him.

She had allowed him to fuss over her.

It wasn’t love.

He knew that.

It wasn’t proof that she had chosen him.

It certainly wasn’t proof that she had forgotten Anthony or stopped thinking about Christopher.

But it was something.

And compared with Anthony, who had years of history with her, and Christopher, who had somehow captured her attention so quickly, Damian had one thing neither of them knew about.

Vivienne knew what it was like to be with him.

He had been her first.

That thought gave him a small, dangerous sense of reassurance.

Not because it meant she belonged to him.

He knew better than that.

But because perhaps it meant she wouldn’t simply forget him.

He just had to make sure she continued wanting him.

Simple.

At least, that’s what Damian told himself.

He had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

But he was determined to learn.

"Where did you disappear to last night?"

Damian turned.

Anthony was approaching him, already dressed for the match.

Damian’s expression barely changed.

"I had plans."

"With your friends?"

"Yes."

Anthony gave him a brief look.

"You left rather suddenly."

"I remembered something."

Anthony seemed unconvinced, but he didn’t press.

Instead, his gaze shifted toward the field.

The two men stood in silence for a moment, watching the ongoing match.

Then Anthony said,

"I spoke with Vivienne."

Damian’s fingers tightened slightly around his gloves.

He kept his eyes on the field.

"Did you?"

"Yes."

A pause.

"I asked her to reconsider our engagement."

Damian said nothing.

He already knew.

He had heard every word.

But Anthony didn’t know that.

"So?" Damian asked casually.

"She needs time."

Damian nodded.

"Fair enough."

Anthony looked at him.

"She told me she likes someone else."

Damian’s jaw tightened.

He kept his expression neutral.

"Christopher?"

Anthony glanced at him.

"Yes."

Of course.

Damian looked back toward the field.

Christopher.

Again.

The name seemed to be everywhere lately.

He had heard Vivienne say it himself.

He had watched her with Christopher.

He had watched the way she looked at him.

And he had hated every second of it.

"And?" Damian asked.

"She wants to see where things go with him first."

Damian nodded slowly.

"Then I suppose you have your answer for now."

Anthony exhaled.

"I suppose."

There was no anger in his voice.

No attempt to argue.

If anything, he sounded strangely resigned.

Damian studied him from the corner of his eye.

Anthony seemed to be accepting it.

Or at least, trying to.

And Damian wasn’t sure whether that made him feel better or worse.

Because Anthony might have stepped back for now.

But Christopher was still there.

And Vivienne had already admitted that she liked him.

Damian knew exactly where he stood.

Or rather—

He knew where he didn’t stand.

He wasn’t the man she had chosen.

Not yet.

But he didn’t have to be.

Not right now.

He could stay close.

He could keep seeing her.

Keep treating her well.

Keep giving her reasons to enjoy having him around.

And perhaps, eventually, she would realize that she didn’t want to lose him.

Damian allowed himself a faint smile.

It was a terrible plan.

He knew that.

But it was the only plan he had.

And, unfortunately for him, this was his first time being in love.

He was going to have to learn as he went.

The whistle sounded from across the field.

Damian glanced toward the polo grounds.

His match would begin soon.

He slipped his gloves into his hands.

He would play his game.

And when it came to Vivienne, he would play by ear.

Whatever happened next, he wasn’t ready to let her go.

--

Tbc