Chapter 31: Chapter 31

River

We'd gone back into town and picked up Rocky after dropping the black dress off at my house. Daimen had returned back to his normal self and hadn't said a whole lot as we drove to the park.

Rocky yipped in the back seat and I giggled as he slammed into Daimen's seat.

When we made it to the park Rocky hopped out of the car as we all got out. Daimen watched as he bounded off and shook his head muttering, "Crazy mutt."

We followed slowly and I looked at the large field and trees. The snow had melted and the place looked green and rejuvenated. There was a playground in the distance, but it was empty. The park was pretty empty as well except for two little girls and a woman who were together some ways off.

Rocky was currently trying to chase down a leaf blowing in the wind.

I walked around enjoying the scenery for a bit. My eyes watched Rocky for a little while before drifting to Daimen. He was glancing up at the sky, looking almost like he was searching for something.

Maybe I should go talk to him. I was going to do just that when a voice stopped me.

"Can you pway tag wif us pwease?" The voice said and I glanced away from Daimen and down to see one of the little girls looking up at me with her big brown eyes. I swallowed shot a look back to Daimen before giving a small nod.

"Sure, why not? If its okay with your mom." I said and she nodded pointing over to a tall blonde woman standing a little ways off. She gave me a thumbs up and I let out a breath.

"I'm Marina and that's my cousin Faith." The little girl said pointing to the brunette behind her. I looked at the two little ones and nodded softly.

"Nice to meet you Marina and Faith." I said and they beamed up at me.

Aww.

"Can he pway too?" Faith asked and I raised my eyebrows as she pointed at Daimen who'd been watching with a soft smirk. His smirk faded.

He looked shocked as I glanced at him and amusement flowed through me when he eyed the girls nervously.

"I'm tired." Daimen said and Marina squinted her eyes at him.

"Wiar pants on fire." She said and Daimen scoffed softly and shot me a look.

"Adults lie." He said to the kids and I gasped.

"Daimen." I scolded and he shrugged.

"What? Its the truth." He said.

"You're a meanie." Faith said and Daimen's mouth gaped slightly. He was quiet for a while.

"Fine I'll play." He grumbled and the girls jumped up and down.

"Yay! You're it!" Marina yelled tagging my leg and bounding away. I watched Faith run away and Daimen chuckled.

I looked over at him and he just raised an eyebrow before saying, "If you tag me I'll just tag you back." I made a move toward him and he just smirked and sprinted off. I watched him go then went after Faith.

I felt bad going after her, she was the slowest one but tag was tag and I wasn't going to stay it. I tagged her gently then hopped out of range and she giggled and went after Marina.

I looked on as she caught up to her cousin and tagged her. Daimen stood a bit ways off watching as well, a grin on his face.

"Wet's get meanie." I heard them say and I chuckled.

"Yeah go get Meanie." I said and Daimen shot me a look, the grin gone. He studied me for a bit the gave a sinister grin.

"Yeah, come get Meanie." He said to the girls and locked eyes with me. Uh-oh.

He smirked as the little ones ran after him and he made a show of "running" away from them. In actuality he was acting like he was tired and fell down as they got near him saying, "Oh no, you got me, I'm it."

The girls laughed and tagged him and he huffed as they crawled over him. He watched them with a smile as they tugged at his arms trying to do something to no avail. I couldn't help smiling fondly as I looked on. He was being so gentle with them and the way his laugh was floating into the air was making me feel lightheaded. His smile, his eyes, his voice, oh my all I could focus on was him.

Why do you have to make me feel like this? I thought as I gazed at him.

He finally shook the girls off and stood giving me a look and I felt the smile fade.

"I'm it." He said and I frowned.

"Daimen if you tackle me I swear on my life I'll kick your balls into your throat." I snapped.

"What are bawws?" Faith asked and my cheeks heated up.

"You know. Like a basketball or soccer ball." I said quickly. Daimen chuckled.

He made a move at me and I backed away. A smirk formed on his lips and I frowned.

"Run." He said and I shook my head.

"You're faster than me." I said.

"So? Its tag Princess." He said and I scowled at him before taking him by surprise and pelting off.

I looked back at him and yelped as he started chasing me. I tried a zig-zag and circling back maneuver but it wasn't very effective and soon he was right on me.

"Gotcha!" He said blundering into me and caging his arms around me. We jolted to a halt and he held my panting body against his.

His arms were around my waist and one of his hands rested against my stomach.

My heart hammered in my chest as he leaned his head on my shoulder and whispered into my ear, "You're it."

A shiver ran down my spine and I'm pretty sure Daimen felt my shudder, but if he did he showed no signs of it. He pulled away and ran back over to the girls who were giggling. My face heated as I made my way over.

"Come on girls." I jumped as the woman seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Aww! We wanna pway stiww." Marina said and Faith pitched in also.

"Not today say goodbye to your--oh." She suddenly recognized who Daimen was and she blinked. He tensed and met her eyes.

"Hmm Daimen Princeston. And you must be...?" The woman said looking at me and I inwardly frowned at the change of atmosphere.

"River Sparrow." I said and the woman nodded. Then she did something unexpected. She motioned us closer and pulled us in for a hug.

"Thank y'all. They'll sleep like babies tonight." She said pulling away and grinning at us.

"So are you two dating?" She asked and I shook my head.

"We're friends." Daimen said and I nodded.

"I see. Well thanks again. Goodbye. Say bye girls." The woman said and the girls gave choruses of byes as they walked away and to an expensive looking white Honda.

I smiled as I watched them go and jumped slightly as an arm wrapped around my waist.

"That was new." Slay said softly and I glanced up at him.

Daimen pulled me against him and led me toward a water fountain with a wolf statue in the middle, surrounded by oak trees. Good thing Rocky hadn't seen this.

He led me around the fountain, not saying anything just holding me close to him.

He abruptly stopped beside some of the trees and I gazed at him wonderingly.

He removed his arm from my waist and stood back his eyes studying me. I stared back at him in a confused sense of urgency.

I watched him as he moved closer. His dark eyes sparkled as he grabbed my hips and pushed me against the bark of a tree.

"Daimen, what are you doing?" I squeaked out and he shrugged before brushing some hair from my face.

His phone began ringing and I felt a chill go down my spine. He stood there eyeing me and I looked away from his drugging eyes to his pocket.

"You should probably get that." I said and the boy scoffed. He cupped my chin and moved my head up so our eyes connected and I felt the breath get sucked out of me. After some seconds I took in a shaky gulp of air. Daimen let go of my chin, combed his hand through my hair and leaned closer to the point that his warm minty breath blew out over my face. The indulging scent of his cologne wrapped around me and I blinked rapidly trying to shoo away the hot feeling rushing through me.

"Yeah I should." He said but made no attempt to grab his phone. For a moment we just stood there, locked in each other's gazes.

"Where's Rocky?" I asked trying to change the subject and Daimen shrugged.

"Running around. Doing dog stuff." He said and his voice was deep and sexy and my heart was pounding crazily. The phone stopped ringing.

"Shouldn't we go and check on him, h-" I began and Daimen slammed his lips against mine, cutting off my rambling.