All Chapters of Shadows & Whispers: Chapter 181 - Chapter 190

193 Chapters

Chapter 182

Unsurprisingly, Cleo accepted my offer. She would be on the same money but with increased holiday entitlement and a progression plan with salary supplements for each goal completed. I decided to complete a review of each office employee's contract and job description to start with. Damian had started working from home a few days a week to review a lot of the paperwork I was sending him as when he was on site it was difficult for him to not get interrupted. Each time he signed new changes off, I headed to HR to set the wheels in motion for the requirements. It was good to sink my teeth into being in charge in the office and everyone was so welcoming to me and receptive to the changes that I wanted to make. At home Damian also felt distant. He seemed distracted all the time. I questioned it at first and he put it down to the new company and finding a new routine with it. I let it slide as it was a reasonable excuse. Cleo started about 2 weeks after her acceptance of the offer. I was

Chapter 183 – Damian POV

“Cleo, do you have a moment please?” I asked Cleo while Erin was on the shop floor attending to a job.She nodded and followed me to my office.“Close the door, take a seat.” I instructed.Cleo followed my instructions and took a seat. I was a bundle of nerves with how I was feeling, but I needed her help.“I would like your assistance, but I need this to be kept a secret from Erin.”“Hell no!” She exclaimed. “Have you not learned your lesson, Damian? Keeping secrets from Erin is not the way to go about anything.”I knew she was right, but I needed her to help me with this.“I know but this is an exception and I know she will forgive my transgression here.”“You need to start explaining yourself right now.” She demanded. “You know I love her, and I would do anything for her.”She interrupted, which frustrated me.“Then don’t lie to her again!”“Cleo, please let me finish.”She nodded and sat back in the chair, staring me down.“After everything that has happened, if there is one thi

Chapter 184 – Damian POV

The booking was for a cottage right on the seafront. It had a veranda that looked out over the sea with a pathway straight onto the beach. It was secluded with only a few other cottages along the seafront. I searched the local area for things to do and took Cleo’s guidance in mind. There were a lot of options for the area, so I printed off a few options but didn’t book anything up front. The decision was to try and drop hints into conversations about different things like going to a zoo, an aquarium, and doing water sports. And then see which ones Erin would be interested in and then go from there. I text Cleo with options as well to see if there was anything she thought might be worth looking at as well. There were a lot of messages back and forth from Cleo, she had a lot of interest, and I could understand that as Erin was her best friend. Work was a good distraction, but my mind refused to concentrate. Everything I did somehow made me think of Erin and our future. I was wal

Chapter 185

The message from Cleo to Damian made me nervous and upset. Sickness and anger bubbled inside me. I had to know what it was about. Was it as innocent as Damian made out and it was just a wrong number? I decided to phone Cleo. There was one thing I knew from recent events and that was to not let anything sit on my mind anymore. I needed to communicate and look after myself.“Hiya!” Cleo said happily down the phone.“Hey, what was with the message you sent Damian just now?” I tried not to sound harsh, but I could feel the strain in myself as the words came out.“Damian?” She questioned.“Yes, you said hope it goes well and you can’t wait to see him later.”“Oh shoot. I sent that to Damian?”“Yes!” I was getting snappy.“Sorry, that wasn’t meant for Damian. I was supposed to send that to Jack I must have hit the wrong number.”A small wave of relief washed over me. Her story matched Damian’s. A niggle in my mind was still nagging at me that something was going on. Maybe it was just from

Chapter 186

The grunt told me exactly what I needed to know. I repositioned to stick my ass out slightly as he returned from the bathroom. He grunted once more, which only increased my smirk. I continued to read innocently on my phone.“You can try as you might, but I will stay solid as a rock and won’t give in.” “Hmm, solid as a rock, you say.” I smirked as I stood from the bed and walked over to him.I reached up and placed a gentle kiss on his lips, and he hummed at the contact. My fingers danced under the hem of his shirt and along the bottom of his abs. I felt his body tense under my touch. I ran my hands further under his top and up around onto his waist and back. He hummed deeper at my contact. I smiled and turned to walk away. His arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me backwards against him. His chest was flush against my back, and I could feel his heat radiating against me. “You’re teasing me.” He growled in my ear before placing kisses along my neck.I wriggled my butt against him.

Chapter 187

The next 2 weeks flew by at work as my excitement grew over the weekend away. I had looked up the Blue Reef aquarium, but it turned out that there were several in the country. I guessed that Damian knew that which is why he offered me that snippet of information. He was telling me where we were going whilst also keeping it a secret. It was the perfect bit of information to share. I didn’t push for any more information as in part I didn’t want to ruin his surprise. He still seemed distracted as we were getting close to going away although he was very attentive to me. He had already instructed me to hand everything over on Thursday evening and not work on Friday morning, but there was a big meeting that I had scheduled with the office week’s prior to knowing about the getaway. Damian pleaded with me to move the meeting to Tuesday, so I did. I could see for some reason how much the weekend meant to him, although I didn’t understand why. I bid everyone a goodnight on Thursday evening;

Chapter 188

The drive home was quiet, but Damian’s hand rarely left mine. It was only when he needed to change the gear on the car that he let go.“Everything ok?” He asked as we stopped at traffic lights.“Something my mum said about remembering how much I love you this weekend. Is there something going on that I need to know about?”“Hm, no. I mean maybe she just wants you to have fun.”“Hm, maybe.”I went back into my head. Something was going on and everyone seemed to know about it apart from me. Although, I had some worries inside that was mainly scarring from previous experiences. I reminded myself that no one was warning me; no one was pushing me to stay away. This time everyone was encouraging me to go.I grabbed my journal when I got back and curled up on the sofa and started writing. It was something that I had done since the retreat. Any thoughts and feelings that were getting muddled or any uncertainty I had, I would write it all down and look through it. Sometimes it helped and it ma

Chapter 189

Finally sleep took hold of me and I drifted into a dream. Only to be awakened a few moments later by the sound of Damian’s alarm. I grunted, rolled over, and pulled the covers over my head. “Come on,” he kissed my cheek before rolling out of bed.I grunted and closed my eyes pretending it was not happening. “You can sleep in the car. It’s a 5-hour drive anyway.”I threw the covers off and looked at him. That was the first real bit of information that he had shared. He smiled and walked away to get dressed. I quickly tried doing the calculations in my head. Where from us would be around a 5 hours' drive away. 5 hours was a lot of distance to cover. I could only think of Scotland or Cornwall. Because we were based in the midlands, most places were accessible within 3 hours, maybe 4 hours at a push. This spurred me to get up and dressed. I was dressed and ready before Damian was done. I perched on the edge of the bed as I stretched and rubbed sleep from my eyes. Damian smiled, know

Chapter 190

Damian crept up behind me while I was lost in the peacefulness of the surroundings. “What do you think.” I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him in for a deep kiss. “It’s perfect.” I smiled. There were a couple of other houses that were visible on the little cove. I rested in Damian’s arms while taking in the view. “Do we get to just stay here and do nothing else?” I laughed a little. “Well, I didn’t officially book anything. So, if you do want to hide away here all weekend then we can do.” “It seems a shame to waste it.” I smiled. “We do need to find a local shop so we can get some food in, unless you want to starve and dehydrate for the weekend.” He laughed lightly. I pouted at him, which only made him laugh louder. “How about I find the shop while you explore the beach?”“Are you sure?” I asked.“Yes, go.” He nodded after nuzzling my nose.I beamed at him and grabbed my bag from the boot of the car. It made sense then why he had got me to pack a mix of

Chapter 191

On Friday night, Damian cooked up a storm for us. He had brought so much food at the local store in the village that I had to wonder whether we would actually manage to eat it all over the weekend or not. We sat and ate in the dining room due to a cool brisk wind. Damian put the fire on and found a film for us to watch on TV. As the adverts hit, he disappeared into the kitchen and came back with cake for both of us. “That looks delicious. But I don’t know if I am going to be able to manage it.” “How about we share one piece and save the other for tomorrow then?” He offered.I accepted the offer and let Damian feed me between his bites of the cake. It wasn’t long before the heat and coziness of the room and my full stomach that I was falling asleep in Damian’s arms. He nudged me as the film came to an end as he needed to get up to go to the toilet. I settled back onto the sofa and drifted back off to sleep.“Hey, sleepy head.” He rocked me gently. I grunted; I didn’t want to mov

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