Raven sat up in bed, still breathing hard from the way Damian had just made her come. The black silk sheets were twisted around her legs. She watched him pull on his shirt, the fabric stretching across his shoulders.
"You're really leaving?" she asked.
Damian looked at her. His eyes were soft, but his jaw was tight. "I have to. Victor already called three times. Serena wants a public date tonight for some magazine shoot. If I don't show up, it'll look bad."
Raven pulled the sheet higher over her chest. "So you're going out with her while you still smell like me."
He stopped buttoning his shirt and walked back to the bed. He sat on the edge and took her hand. "It's fake. You know that. It's just pictures and smiles for the cameras. There's nothing real."
"I know." She squeezed his fingers. "Doesn't mean I like it."
Damian leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I don't like it either. But if I break the arrangement now, Victor will start digging. And right now we can't afford him finding out about us."
Raven nodded slowly and she hated how reasonable he sounded. "Just… come back after. Even if it's late."
"I will." He kissed her again, this time on the lips. "Promise."
She pulled him closer for a second, not ready to let go. "Be careful. And don't let her touch you too much."
Damian smiled against her mouth. "I'll try."
They kissed longer than they should have and when he finally stood up, Raven followed him to the door. She was still naked under the sheet she had wrapped around herself.
At the elevator, she stopped him one last time. "Damian."
He turned. "Yeah?"
She stepped close, rose up on her toes, and pressed her lips to the side of his neck. She sucked hard, just enough to leave a mark. When she pulled back, a fresh purple bruise bloomed on his skin.
"Now you carry me with you," she said quietly.
Damian touched the spot and let out a low laugh. "You're evil."
"You like it."
He kissed her once more, quick and rough. "I do. Too much."
The elevator doors closed and Raven stood there alone, with the sheet slipping off one shoulder. She already missed him.
Damian made it to the studio lot in record time and Victor was waiting outside his trailer, with his arms crossed.
"You're cutting it close," Victor said. "Serena is already inside doing her makeup. The photographer wants a couple shots in twenty minutes."
"I'm here," Damian replied. He kept his collar up to hide the fresh mark on his neck.
Victor narrowed his eyes. "You look like you haven't slept."
"I slept fine."
Victor didn't look convinced, but he let it go. "Just smile and look in love with the cameras. That's all we need today."
Damian walked into the trailer and Serena was sitting in the makeup chair, with her legs crossed, wearing a tight red dress. She smiled when she saw him, but her eyes flicked over his appearance.
"You're late," she said sweetly.
"There was traffic."
Serena stood up and walked over to him. She reached up to fix his collar and her fingers brushed the side of his neck, right over the bruise Raven had left and she froze when she saw it.
Her fingers traced the fresh bruise on his neck. "Who did this to you, Damian?"
Damian stayed quiet. His silence was the first real lie he ever told her and it tasted like Raven's lipstick.
Serena's eyes narrowed and she didn't pull her hand away. "It looks fresh. Like someone sucked on your neck not long ago."
"It's nothing," he said.
"Nothing?" She laughed, but there was no warmth in it. "We have a deal, Damian. You play the perfect boyfriend in public. That includes not showing up with another woman's mark on you."
Damian stepped back, forcing her hand to drop. "It's handled. Let's just get through the shoot."
Serena watched him for a long moment. Then she smiled again, the kind of smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Fine. But fix your collar. And maybe next time tell your little secret to be more careful."
Damian's stomach twisted and he turned away and buttoned his shirt higher. The makeup artist came in and started touching up his face. He sat still, but his mind was racing.
His phone buzzed in his pocket and he glanced at it under the cape. It was a text from Raven.
"I'm missing you already. Come back soon."
He typed back quickly: "I'm on my way to the shoot, also thinking about you."
Serena noticed him texting. "Important message?"
"It's work," he lied.
She didn't believe him and he could tell by the way she tilted her head.
The photographer called them outside ten minutes later and they posed together in a sleek black car, with Serena leaning into him, and her hand on his chest. Damian smiled for the camera, but every touch from Serena felt wrong.
"Closer," the photographer shouted. "Look like you're in love."
Serena pressed her body against his side. "Smile, darling," she whispered. "Or I might start asking more questions about that bruise."
Damian kept smiling, but his jaw was tight. The camera flashed again and again and when the shoot finally ended, he walked back to his trailer alone. He needed a minute to breathe, then his phone rang and when he checked the caller ID, it was Raven.
He answered on the first ring.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey. How did it go?"
"Long. Serena saw the mark you left."
Raven was quiet for a second. "Good."
Damian laughed despite everything. "You're going to get me in trouble."
"I like getting you in trouble." Her voice dropped. "When are you coming over?"
"Tonight. But I might be late. After I finish some scenes."
"Good. I'll be waiting."
They talked for a few more minutes about nothing important but just the sound of each other's voices and when he hung up, he felt calmer but the calm didn't last.
Victor knocked on the trailer door. "Damian, Serena wants to talk to you. In private."
Damian's stomach dropped. He stepped outside and Serena was waiting by her car, with her arms crossed.
"We need to talk," she said.
"About what?"
She stepped closer. "About whoever is leaving marks on my fake fiancé. I have a reputation too, you know. If people start talking, it affects both of us."
Damian kept his face blank. "There's nothing to talk about."
Serena smiled, but it was sharp. "I'm not stupid, Damian. And I'm not blind. You've been different lately. Distracted. Sneaking off. If you're seeing someone, you better end it before it blows up in both our faces."
He didn't answer.
Serena reached up and touched the bruise again and her fingers were cold. "Whoever she is, tell her to keep her mouth to herself. Or I'll make sure the whole world finds out what a liar you are."
Damian pulled her hand away gently but firmly. "We're done here."
He turned and walked back toward the set with his heart pounding. The lie sat heavy in his chest and he could still taste Raven's lipstick on his skin.
As he reached his trailer, his phone buzzed with a new message and it wasn't from Raven.
It was a photo from an unknown number and the picture showed him and Raven outside Obsidian Haven last night, kissing in the shadows near the service entrance.
Below the photo, one line of text:
"I see you."
Damian stared at the screen. His carefully built life had just cracked wide open.