Damon's P.O.V
I answer honestly. Wilona stares at me, eyes softening before the crinkle, her lips tugging into a smile despite the way she tried to stop it. "You don't seem blind at all but you're also the first blind person I've met so maybe that's it."
"I'm partially blind." She explains, taking the step back making my heart squeeze, my entire body wanting nothing more but to be that close again, even if it was caused by anger. "I can see objects and people enough to get around and if they're close enough, it's easier."
I nod slowly as understanding drapes itself over me. It explained why her reaction to Blaze and the little pieces of our interactions that didn't make sense, like the automatic frown she had when she saw me before it cleared with recognition.
"Why didn't you tell me before now?" I ask searching those tortured eyes that looked at me with so much hurt I wished to take away and replace with happiness.
"People usually react in a way I don't like." She says dismissively. I decide to let it slip, knowing I'd already pushed her enough today. "For some reason, yours was better."
"The ignorant response?"
"Yup." She replies with a helpless chuckle. She bits her lips as silence reigns between us, my mind running too fast with the need to equate the Wilona I'd known with someone who couldn't see. It seemed almost impossible and distracted me from comforting her. "Does this.... does this change things between us?"
"What?" I ask with utter confusion. Where the hell did that assumption come from?
"Does me being blind, change things between us? This friendship we're building, does it affect that?" She asks, clarifying the question as much as she possibly could.
I tried my best to get past the way my insides twist at the mention of a friendship. Every bone in me rejected it and wanted to vomit, needing her to recognize us as our mate. A mate meant for things that friends didn't do or felt. Meanwhile, my brain rejoiced with glee, not ready to be the target of affection or lustful touches no matter how much my instincts wanted them.
I push away the new onslaught of worries that made themselves known and instead focus on my mate.
A bundle of frantic nerves looking up at me, blue eyes practically sparkling with hope as her question hung in the air. Disappointment hung behind her gaze, lingering there as if she already expected a response from me that would shatter the desire for simply someone to trust. It was so faint I nearly didn't catch it, so faint my heart ached to bring it back to life.
"Why the fuck would that change anything between us?" I reply with a smirk meant to ease the tension in her muscles. "Just because you're 'partially blind' doesn't change jack shit, it just explains why you don't know how great Blaze is - you can't see her."
Wilona's eyes slowly fill with tears making me freeze as agony slips into my bones and tears me apart from the inside. Panic flaring up loud and clear while Theo screamed at me to fix it and not say anything so stupid again.
"It was a joke." I scramble taking a step forward only to jump back five more when I realize that just made shit worse. "I-I thought a joke would make things better. Shit. Fuck. Shitfuck! I'm so fucking so-"
"It's okay Damon." Will cuts in, a wobbly smile taking her lips as she rubs her tears away. "It did, it really did."
Then why the fuck are you crying?!
I swallow my question fearing it would trigger more tears and instead nod my understanding. Will closes the space between us as if coming to hug me but stop, I glare at the teasing action but then snort when I realize she probably couldn't see the glare. Or could she...
My eyes narrow with suspicion but fade instantly when Wilona looks up at me with a fondness in her eyes that made my spirit fly. My heart leaped with joy at the happiness wielded by my mate, directed to and caused by me.
The look alone brought enough pleasure to make me melt to her feet, my instincts steering with the need to mark her and make her mine and me her. The need to feel her lips against mine, to test of they were as soft as they felt, to claim her in every possible way.
Fuck I was losing it.
"Thank you, Damon," Will says softly basically sending me off the edge at how fucking sweet she looked, smelled and sounded. I was facing a losing battle and I knew it.
Dear Goddess, help me...
----------------------------------
Wilona's P.O.V
I push the back door to the small yard space behind Blue's, just wide enough to sneak a glance at Damon.
Kindling foolish disappointment, I find his back faced towards me blocking me from even a blurred view of his face. He was squatted to the floor, his body placed only a few inches in front of Sassy's.
Sassy sat perfectly still, seemingly staring him down the same way he appeared to be staring at her. I was too far to know if he was speaking to her but if he was, she seemed completely unphased with her front legs holding her up tall.
I bite my lip to capture a laugh and let the door close gently behind me as I made my way back to the forefront of the shop.
When google responds to my quick question, informing me I had another half hour before I could close up the shop, I slump back into the chair, letting my fingers caress my bottom lip as my mind works overtime with a desperate need for answers.
I had actually told him about my eyes.
Something so simple seemed monumental in my mind as I let the memory spill over in my mind. I'd actually gone and told him about one of the many pieces of me that made me so weak, admitted my greatest fault to a relative stranger.
Yet, Damon didn't give a single damn.
At least he didn't appear to, he seemed unphased and unbothered. Two things that seemed to be his general attitude from what I could see. Somehow he quelled my greatest fears to nothing more than a stupid worry that seemed foolish now to have received such a large amount of energy hiding.
Damon didn't act any different. He, in fact, brushed off the matter as if it was nothing, somehow sensing my need for him to do just that. I couldn't see his facial expressions to know if I was right but I could tell he wanted to ask more, but he held back. Held himself back and carried on, asking me when I was finishing up here and then if he could stay with me when I told him it was soon.
I felt almost guilty now, for even thinking that Damon would react any differently than he had. Somehow annoying yet comforting, wrapped together in a warmth that made me smile. He seemed to have that effect on me, making me feel light and comfortable in a manner I hadn't experienced in months.
But there was no way for me to know that, there was still so much about Damon I didn't know. Too much for me to completely follow my instincts to trust him where I couldn't trust anyone else and discount the way experienced argued against that.
I'd still told him and ever let my eyes fill with tears when I couldn't control the way my heart sang at his somewhat innocent reaction.
I release a strained groan at the memory, burying my face in my hands while I spun in the familiar chair. My groan only loudens when my heart sings at the thought of him in such a lovely light. He made me vulnerable, made me want to try to trust when I knew I shouldn't. He, in some way, embodied everything I needed in my life at this very moment. Which made no sense seeing how I only spoke to him on a number of occasions, but it was true.
God, he made my mind spin without even trying.
"Is this what you do for a job?" Damon's voice asks so close and sudden that I basically leaped from my chair, before settling with a raising heart. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He says as he circles to the opposite side of the counter to put some space between us, knowing I needed it.
"It's okay," I say through my labored pants before letting my eyes sneak up to take him all in and God Almighty if he didn't make my heart beat a little faster.
"Something is seriously wrong with your dog." He continues, pulling me from my momentary daze. I watch cautiously as he props himself against the counter on his side, with enough of an angle to leave the majority of his frame facing me. "Something you should know is that all animals love me, worship the ground I walk on and listen to everything I say. All but that damn dog."