The café was louder than usual—voices, clinking mugs, soft music—but Ava felt none of it.
Her hands trembled as she stacked cups behind the counter.She hated when they trembled.
She hated even more when people noticed.
"Are you okay?" Mia asked gently.
Ava forced a smile. "Just tired."
Another lie.The message from her landlord still buzzed in her mind—rent overdue.Again.
There was a pressure in her chest she couldn't shake.She blinked hard, willing the burn behind her eyes to fade.
Not here.Not in front of people.
Not where he could see her.
Because he was here again.
Damien Blackwood.
Sitting at the corner table like he owned the entire room, all black—black shirt, black watch, black gaze… pinned entirely on her.
Ava didn't look directly at him, but she felt him.
He was the type of man you felt before you ever realized he was near.
He had been coming in for days now,never ordering more than a black coffee he barely touched,never speaking much and never smiling.
Just watching.
She tried to focus on the counter, but a customer knocked over a tray, sending a loud crash across the café.
Ava's body jolted—too hard, too obvious.
Her breath stuttered.Her hands shook harder.
And that's when she heard a chair shift.Slow. Certain.
Footsteps approaching.
No. Not now. She was barely holding it together—
"Ava."
His voice.
Her name in that deep, cool tone of his.
She froze.
Damien stood on the other side of the counter, tall enough that she had to look up. Up close, his eyes were colder… sharper. Like he saw too much. Like he saw everything.
"Are you alright?" Damien asked.
She forced herself to straighten. "I'm fine."
"You're lying."
Her breath caught. "Excuse me?"
"You're shaking."His gaze dropped to her hands."You've been trying to hide it for the last ten minutes."
Heat of humiliation shot up her neck.
"It's not your business," she muttered.
A faint, dangerous smirk touched his lips. Not amused—more like he found something he liked.
"So you do snap back," he said quietly. "Good."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"That you're not as invisible as you pretend to be."
The words hit harder than they should have.
Ava stepped back, pulse quickening.She hated that he could read her.She hated that he noticed anything at all.
But worse…She hated that part of her wasn't scared of him.
"Ava," Mia called from the back, "your break is over—"
Before Ava could turn, Damien placed his palm flat on the counter—blocking her path.
Not touching her .Not quite.But close enough that her breath tangled.
"You shouldn't walk home alone today," he said softly.
Her stomach dropped. "Why not?"
His expression grew darker.Not angry—protective.Possessive.
"There are things you don't notice," he murmured. "Things happening around you."
"Like what?" she whispered.
He leaned in slightly, voice dropping lower.
"Someone followed you last night."
Ava froze.Her blood turned cold.
"What…?" Her voice barely came out. "How do you know that?"
Damien's jaw tightened.He straightened slowly, eyes burning with something she couldn't name.
"I'll walk you home today," he said."Whether you want me to or not."
Her heart pounded.Fear. Heat. Confusion.
"You don't get to decide that," she whispered.
He held her gaze for a long, suffocating moment.
"No," Damien said softly."I already did."