The Third Park (Damien x OC (Ellie)) – Part 13

---

Although it was Sunday and Damien felt exhausted from all that late night activity – party + sex, and lots of it -, Eleanor woke up bright and early as usual. And of course she woke him up too.

“C’mon, we have more work to do!” – she pushed him to sit straight in the bed, talking too loud. He asked himself how the Park cousins could all be so energetic so early in the morning. Didn’t they have a switch off button? – “And I have to go back to Freddie! He doesn’t deal very well with loneliness—”

But out of nowhere, Damien turned and grabbed her wrists, pinning Ellie back onto the mattress, beneath him. Her surprised squeal turned into a moan when he bit her neck playfully.

“You smell so good, Ellie…” – he murmured and kissed behind her earlobe. Judging by the hard part of his body pulsing on her thigh, he was already wide awake.

“Yes, because I’ve already showered.” – she informed him, trying to resist his teasing. It was being really damn hard. – “Fuck, D, I’m not paying you to keep me in bed all day.”

He pulled out, chuckling softly, and picked some clean clothes from his bag.

“Nadia is right. You’re a workaholic.”

“Shut up. And go take your cold shower, Nazario.” – he still was laughing when he entered the bathroom.

 

As Ellie had predicted, Freddie didn’t appreciate being left alone for the night and destroyed one of her cushions. After changing into something more comfortable, she decided to take the dog for his morning walk and she and Damien had a breakfast in her favorite café, before they were finally back into her apartment again.

“So, what did we find out yesterday?” – she asked, after brushing her teeth.

Damien had already installed himself on her house. There were diagrams and notes scattered all over her dinner table and he was typing something on his laptop. He had even connected his computer to her printer.

“First things first, Robert Zucko is a complete jerk.” – Eleanor couldn’t agree with him more. – “Second, he’s a very protective guy. He has cameras all over his house and his property is heavily secured. But, there’s no cameras nor bodyguards near his office.”

“And he owns a fucking pistol.” – she plopped down on a chair, still terrified by the memory of it.

“Yeah, this too. But what I found the most suspicious was this.” – he showed her the table he made based on the picture he took from one of Robert’s documents. Ellie saw a bunch of names and schedules.

“What is this?”

“I think these are his employees names.” – Damien started searching all the locations listed there on the Google street view.

“Wow, this is an obsessive amount of names.”

“Exactly. Why there would be so many people working on a pub?”

“…Unless Robert is not just a pub owner.” – she concluded his thought. Damien grinned to himself. Eleanor Zhou could become a good investigator. She had great logical reasoning.

“My thoughts exactly. Do you have a map of Northbridge?”

Ellie came back a few minutes later and they both spreaded it on her dinner table. Damien started circling the places, the pub and Robert’s and Lucy’s house included. Apparently Robert Zucko had business all over the city.

He read the table again. One of the names ringed a bell, but he didn’t quite remember from where he had already heard it. He highlighted it anyway.

“D, look!” – she pointed to a line from the table. Danny Mars, July 28, 11AM, the docklands. – “Whatever the hell this means, this is going to happen this Wednesday.”

“You’re right.” – they analysed the paper further. – “So this is where Robert went yesterday.” – he pointed to the line above.

“When he said he had to go take a ‘package’?”

“You have a good memory, Ellie.”

“I try.” – she grinned back and he couldn’t help but lean in and kiss her softly on the lips. She giggled. – “Okay, so this is about suspicious packages, apparently. What’s the plan?”

“I’m going to follow Robert Zucko and see what’s going on.“ – his smile faded from his face. – “Listen, Ellie, I think that what we have in our hands is bigger than we imagined. More than Lucy. Maybe we can get him out of her life for good. But it might be dangerous. We still don’t know what and who we’re dealing with, exactly.”

She nodded, with a serious expression too.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to free her from this bastard.” – Ellie’s obstinacy and fierceness were thrilling.

He hadn’t been feeling that impressed since he and her cousins brought Eros down, two years ago. Yeah, it hurt like hell when Allen chose Hayden over him, but he had to admit that the love Allen and Nadia felt for those robots was inspiring.

Maybe it was just another Park trait that he liked: their stubbornness.

“You know, seeing you all angry like this is such a turn on.” – he placed his hands on her hips, bringing her closer until they were pressed against each other.

Ellie chuckled as she enlaced her arms around his neck, feeling pressed between the table and Damien.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“You say this because I’m not angry at you.”

“Maybe.” – he smiled mischievously and then planted his lips on hers.

Eleanor immediately kissed him back, pulling him even closer. They deepened the kiss, savouring each other’s taste. When the moment hit both of them, Damien easily lifted her and put a giggling Ellie on the table, pushing Northbridge map and all the other papers aside.

“God dammit, you’re so damn addictive.” – he said, his breath already heavy, as he bent over her, who was already laying back onto the table. She grinned devilishly at him, with a leg hooked around his waist, pulling his body closer to hers. Oh God, she already felt that heat down there…

“And you’re insatiable, Damien Nazario. Do you know this?” – she told him as she put light kisses all over his face.

“Only for you, Eleanor Zh—”

Suddenly, her phone started ringing, interrupting them. The moment was completely gone. Again.

Damien let out a frustrated sigh as Ellie climbed down the table.

“Lucy? Is everything okay?” – she said with the mobile pressed on her ear. The man watched her while he picked the papers from the floor and put them back onto the table. – “Uh? Dinner? Yeah, we can… Okay, see you there.”

“What?” – he asked as she ended the call.

“Lucy invited us to a dinner Friday night… Apparently Robert wants to fix things between us.” – Eleanor rolled her eyes, visibly annoyed.

“…Well, this is a great opportunity. Maybe we can get some information from them.” – the corners of Ellie’s lips turned up in that devilishly smirk.

“That’s what I thought too. Come on, we have a plan to make.”

They spent the whole day planning on what would they do. Damien decided that he would follow Robert that week, maybe trying to find a pattern. Ellie wouldn’t be able to help much, since she had to go work. But they would work together on Friday night, at the dinner with the newly-engaged couple. He went back to New York that same night to pick new and clean clothes and get his trusty old muscle car, so he could follow Robert Zucko and Lucy James everywhere, more easily.

 

Damien Nazario: “I’m here. Just parked.”

Eleanor Zhou: “Okay! Meet you in 5.”

She put her phone back into her bag, and finished fixing her makeup. It was Friday night and they were about to have that dinner with her friend and that man. Ellie was feeling anxious about what would happen. She would have to spend the next couple hours of her life facing that pig that was Robert Zucko. She took a deep breath. For Lucy.

And she wasn’t alone. Damien was going to be there too. Knowing this made her feel a little calmer. God, since when she was so dependable of him? Stop it, Ellie. He’s just helping you. You hired him, did you forget it? She looked at her own reflex on the mirror, taking a deep breath, before going out.

Ellie left the Mortif Magazine building and easily saw the familiar old muscle car parked just across the street.

Ellie decided to ignore the little leap her heart took when she saw Damien there, casually leaning against his car, with his strong arms crossed over his muscled chest. He saw her too and she saw that stupidly charming smirk of his that made her feel all hot. They had decided to meet there, so they could pass on the plan one more time before the dinner. They haven’t seen each other since Sunday afternoon and she kind of missed him. God, what was happening with her?!

Stop it, Ellie.

You can’t. Not now. Not for him.

“Ellie!” – she heard Poppy Patel walking towards her. – “Glad I got to catch you! I’m going to a happy hour with my friends, do you want to come with us?”

“Thanks, Poppy, but I already have a plan for tonight…” – and then she quickly shot a glance to where Damien was. Poppy followed her gaze.

“Ooooh, he’s hot! Now I can understand why you declined ‘grabbing a coffee’ with Grayson Prescott, the most eligible bachelor of Northbridge.” – Eleanor just rolled her eyes. – “Hello, I’m Poppy!” – she  promptly greeted the man who approached them.

“Hello, I’m Damien. Ellie’s boyfriend.” – Ellie didn’t hide her smile when she felt his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. – “Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but we have a dinner to attend.” – she noticed that he was using that smirk of his that helped him get whatever he wanted. She couldn’t resist it herself.

“I see.” – Poppy grinned to Eleanor. – “Well, don’t let me take any more of your time, guys! Have a good date!” – and she winked to her friend, making Ellie chuckle.

“Thanks, Poppy. See you on Monday.” – and then Damien led her to his car, his warm and big hand on hers, their fingers intertwined.

“So, the Grayson Prescott asked you out?” – he asked casually.

“Were you eavesdropping us?”

“I’m a detective. Eavesdropping is basically my job.” – she rolled her eyes, but chuckled softly.

“Yeah… we met in that party at Prescott Industries that Poppy took me.” – she shrugged.

“And let me get this right: you rejected him?”

“Rejection sounds too harsh. I just gently declined his invitation.”

“Why? He’s handsome, hot and a millionaire. You can’t possibly be so attracted to me.” – he smirked at her and she felt her heart skipping a beat. Oh, if he only knew…

“Maybe my type is detectives with an inflated ego.” – he laughed loudly. She liked the sound of his laugh.

“Touché. Anyway, you always work this late?”

“Some nights.” – she replied with a shrug. It was past 7 p.m., although her working hours were due to 5 p.m.

…And that was a lie. She worked overtime most of the days. And Damien knew it too. He had noticed that she avoided looking to his eyes when she lied.

“Anyway, you dressed up nice, D.” – she smirked approvingly to him, changing the subject. Damien was wearing a slim button-up shirt and a blazer.

“Yeah, I figured that the restaurant we’re going to is one of the fanciest in Northbridge, so I had to step up a little today.” – they both climbed up on his car. – “You’re looking good too.”

“I work at a fashion magazine. People know how to dress up here.” – she said as she put her seatbelt. He started the engine and the car started moving through the city’s streets.

“Yeah, but I bet you’ll look even better when I take you out of your clothes later.” – Ellie giggled to his statement. God, she liked his flattering more than she should.

“You must think that you’re such a smooth talker, don’t you, Nazario? Anyway, how is the investigation going? Have you found something? What all those infos in that table meant?” – Danny Mars, July 28, 11AM, the docklands.

“I didn’t have much luck. Robert and a bodyguard went towards Northbridge’s docklands and met a guy, which I believe is this Danny Mars guy, and they exchanged a few words, but nothing else. The meeting was less than fifteen minutes long.” – he gave her a dossier and she saw a few pictures he took from Robert and two other strangers. – “It was a windy day and I didn’t have much space to hide myself, so the photos aren’t so good. Although there wasn’t any kind of ‘package’ this time, it certainly is suspicious.”

“And what happened afterwards?”

“Robert – and his man – went straight home and he just left his home on Thursday night, around 8 p.m. to go to Zucko’s Point and stayed there until little after midnight. Today, he went earlier to the pub, around 2 p.m. Although his pub was closed, he had some guests.” – she saw more pictures as Damien followed the GPS directions. – “They left the place after an hour. Robert was still there when I left to come pick you up.”

She put the pictures back into the dossier and looked at him.

“…And this is why you look so tired.” – she concluded. – “You’d been following him everywhere this week. Did you sleep at all?”

“Well, the backseat of this car can be very comfortable…”

“This is not a proper sleep, D! Why didn’t you checked in on a hotel? I know that Robert’s schedule is a mess, but I don’t want my private investigator passing out due to exhaustion!”

Damien grinned to himself, his eyes still on the road in front of them. It was silly, but he felt slightly happy to know that she was worried about him.

“You too. I know you work overtime, Ellie.”

“We’re not talking about me.” – she snapped back at him, with a frown, making him chuckle. He missed talking to her that week. They barely had time to even text each other, since he was following Robert Zucko around like crazy and she was stuck on work. – “And I don’t work that much.” – she completed, rolling her eyes.

“Whatever you say.” – he chuckled again. – “Anyway, here’s the plan for tonight. We’ll try to get as much information as possible about Robert’s life. Especially about his business. And how he and Lucy are doing. Although I’m pretty sure she probably is in heaven right now with this engagement thing.”

“You mean engagement bullshit. He did this just to lock her.”

“Ellie…” – he said with a warning tone on his voice at her as he parked the car. They had just arrived to their destination.

“I know, I know, I’ll behave, don’t worry.” – she said with a sigh before they both climbed down the car.

“I’m not.” – Damien answered her, his hand on the small of her back as he guided them towards the restaurant. – “I trust you, Ellie.”

And she grinned to herself.

 

“Ah! Ellie!” – Lucy James waved as they entered the fancy Italian restaurant. They walked towards the petite blonde woman and her fiancé. – “Right on time, we’d just arrived too.”

“Good night, Eleanor. Mr. Nazario.” – Robert Zucko greeted them with a tilt from his head. They did the same. – “My apologies, but I forgot to book a table for tonight and it’s packed here, so we’ll have to wait a little. Why don’t we go grab something to drink while we wait?”

“I need to go to the restroom first.” – Ellie said, her hands already clenched in fists.

“I’ll go with you!” – Lucy said and they left the men alone. Robert proposed to them to go grab their drinks while they waited for the ladies to come back. Damien agreed and they walked towards the bar.

Both men asked for a whiskey. Neat.

“Mr. Nazario, I feel like we started with the wrong foot last weekend and I wanted to apologise about my behavior on Lucy’s birthday party. I was being rude.”

“Please, call me Damien. And I think the one you have to apologise to is Ellie.”

He saw a mocking smile on Robert’s face, but the man just said:

“Of course. I will as well.”

Damien just glanced at the man next to him, holding himself to not punch that bastard’s disgusting smirk out of his face and both men sipped on their drinks, saying nothing else.

Both women were back soon and, thankfully, they got a table, so Eleanor didn’t have to make small talk with her best friend’s fiancé. As she and D presumed, Lucy was over excited about the wedding. While the women were in the restroom, the blonde one couldn’t stop talking about her plans to it. Ellie felt uneasy with all that talk but didn’t stop Lucy.

They settled down and no one said anything while they chose what to eat. After they have ordered their food – which both Damien and Eleanor noticed that Robert made the decision for Lucy and it made the Asian woman’s blood boil -, the newly engaged woman cleared her throat:

“So! While we wait for our orders, I guess this is the perfect time to announce this…” – she shared a smile with her fiancé. – “Robert and I had decided to marry in November .”

Ellie almost spilled her wine. November?!

“…But so soon?” – she couldn’t contain herself. Damien watched her cautiously by her side. – “I mean… I thought you would want to plan your marriage with no hurry…”

Four months. They had four months to free Lucy from that man’s claws.

“Well, we don’t need to plan much when everything’s already settled.” – Robert answered her. – “We already know the place and the day of the ceremony. Even the decorations are decided. And to where we’re going on our honeymoon.”

“Oh really? Care to tell us more about it?” – Damien asked.

While Robert listed everything, Ellie’s eyes were on her best friend, who just nodded at the man sitting next to her.

Eleanor knew Lucy well enough that it was far from ideal to her. Lucy James always told her that she wanted a big wedding like in those Hollywood movies. She wanted to go to Greece or Fiji on her honeymoon (and not stay in the U.S., like it seemed to be Robert’s plan). She even had created a ‘wedding moodboard’ on Pinterest when they still were in college!

“…Lucy just need to pick her dress.” – he finished his monologue.

Ellie’s hands rested on her lap, in fists. Her best friend clearly had nothing to do with that. With her own wedding. Robert Zucko decided everything. He controlled her and her life.

Eleanor felt like screaming. Her rage igniting inside her again. She fucking hated him so much.

She felt Damien’s large and warm hand on hers, squeezing it lightly. Ellie didn’t notice that she was shaking with anger. She took a deep breath and mentally thanked him. He already knew her so well. It was good having him there. He was so much more collected than her.

“And are you okay with this, Lucy?” – Damien asked her friend.

Lucy slightly looked surprised. She quickly glanced to Robert, who watched her, calmly, before looking back to Damien, who was waiting for her answer:

“Of course!” – she forced a laugh, clearly feeling embarrassed.

“Because to me it feels like you didn’t get much say about this…” – Eleanor had to control herself to not kiss Damien right there. She sipped on her drink instead.

“No! I mean, you got it wrong. Of course I agree with all this! Why wouldn’t I? I’m marrying the love of my life!” – and she and Robert exchanged a grin. Ellie had to hold herself back to not roll her eyes so hard so she could see her own brain.

“And I didn’t get to decide everything. Tell them about it, babydoll.” – Robert said while the waiters put their plates in front of them.

“Oh yes!” – the blonde woman squealed excitedly on her chair. – “Ellie, would you be my maid of honor?”

 

Eleanor shouldn’t be so surprised with it. She kind of had a feeling that Lucy would ask that to her anyway.

…But she never thought that it would be with her marriage with someone like Robert Zucko.

“I…” – she took a deep breath. – “It would be my greatest honor.” – and forced a smile.

“Thank you so much, Ellie!” – Lucy was so happy that she even had to hug her best friend. Ellie just wanted to scream. Again.

“As you can see, this wasn’t my decision.” – Ellie glared at Robert. She perfectly understood what he meant with that comment.

“Talking about decisions…” – Damien intervened, his hand on Eleanor’s thigh, holding her back onto her seat, forcing her to not slap that rat’s face. She decided to focus on her food instead. D was working and her getting all annoyed with Robert wouldn’t help him. – “Ellie told me you own a pub, Zucko’s Point, right?” – the other man nodded to him. – “You see, my favorite pub back in New York, Archer & Hopps, is not doing so well…”

“Oh, I heard about it. We pub owners know each other. Old man Archer had been losing a lot of money on gambling, right? And everything went worse after Hopps’ death.”

“Yeah, exactly… And, well, I’m a regular there and was thinking about helping them… maybe become a partner, you know? But I don’t know if this is a good idea and wanted to talk to a pub owner first before I make my decision. Is it too much work?” – Robert laughed to Damien’s frown.

“Well, it depends. Archer & Hopps is not a big pub, so yes, you probably would become their manager besides one of their owners. In Zucko’s Point, I have trusty men to manage it to me, although there are some things that only the owners can do, of course. But how responsibility for keys, money, inventory, etc is worked out, it is up to you. There are many different ways to handle it.” – and then he started talking about the logistics of having a pub business. Lucy and Ellie ate their food in silence, each of them lost on her own thoughts.

“Do you have many employees?” – Damien kept asking, recording the whole talk on his phone. Robert Zucko seemed too pleased talking about himself, so it was easy leading him to where Damien wanted him to go.

Zucko had far less employees than all the names listed on that table they got on his office. In reality, what he said mismatched with what Damien had collected about him. Working hours, number of employees, etc.

It was definitely suspicious. Robert Zucko was more than a pub owner.

After what it seemed an eternity to Ellie – her ears were tired of hearing Robert’s stupid and super boring babble -, they were finally ready to go home.

“Thank you so much again, Ellie!” – Lucy hugged her tightly, once again. She patted the petite blonde woman on the back. D was the one who led the ‘interrogation’, but she was the one who felt exhausted. She just wanted to take a shower and go to sleep.

“Talk to you soon, right, Lucy?”

“Of course!”

“I hope the food was up to your tastes.” – Robert extended his hand to Damien, who shook it firmly.

“It definitely was.” – the detective had that charming grin back onto his lips. – “And thanks for the talk. It was very educational.”

“It was my pleasure. Make sure to show up in Zucko’s Point any time. You’ll see that our booze is way better than Archer & Hopps… or should I say ‘Archer & Hopps & Nazario’?” – both men shared a laugh.

The two couples parted their ways. Damien and Ellie returned to his car and waited for a couple of minutes until they saw Robert’s Porsche passing through them, heading to the northern and richest part of Northbridge.

 

Eleanor didn’t say a word on the way to her home. She just kept staring out of the window, lost in thoughts. Damien could tell that she was frustrated with the dinner. They didn’t get much information, but he was used to it. Investigating took time. They had to be more patient.

But Eleanor Zhou wasn’t exactly the patient type.

He parked the car outside her apartment building. Ellie climbed down his car. She noticed that Damien wasn’t doing the same.

“Aren’t you coming?” – those were the first words she said since they had left the restaurant. He nodded and followed her.

Freddie greeted them with a wriggling tail. The woman gave him a night snack and headed inside her bedroom, undressing herself carelessly as Damien still locked the apartment’s door. He stroked the big dog’s yellow fur while Ellie showered. Damien Nazario didn’t know what to do.

Eleanor opened her bathroom door again, wearing her pajamas, a big old T-shirt she had since her college times. Slowly, she saw Damien’s reflex beside her on the mirror. She gave him enough room to use her sink to do his own night time hygiene routine. He watched her cautiously while they both brushed their teeth. She looked so far away, as if she was on automatic mode. She didn’t say a thing. She didn’t look at him.

“Are you okay?” – he asked when they walked back into her bedroom.

Ellie finally looked back at him.

“Just feeling a little frustrated. I thought we could get more information.” – she shrugged. – “And Lucy’s request shook me more than it should.” – the detective nodded and gently pulled her into a hug.

“Yeah, I could tell.” – he said on her ear, before looking into her face, his brown eyes meeting hers. – “But don’t worry, we’ll get this bastard, Ellie. Just be a little more patient.” – the woman found herself slowly less tense. Somehow, his cocky smirk was reassuring.

A small smile tugged on the corners of her mouth.

“I will. Thanks, D.” – she said as she cupped his face and kissed him softly. She chuckled when he groaned against her lips. – “Are you going to sleep all dressed up?”

Damien grinned back at her and they quickly discarded his clothes, until he was wearing just his boxer briefs. They both climbed on the bed.

“Thanks for letting me stay here, Ellie.” – she giggled to that smirk of his, his big hands already on her hips, caressing the skin under her oversized t-shirt.

“Of course, I won’t let you sleep in you car for another nig—” – and then Eleanor felt his mouth on hers, shutting her up.

She kissed him back and felt a shiver when his hand brought her closer to him as the other traveled down her body, squeezing her thigh hungrily, his tongue already inside her mouth.

Ellie tried to lose herself on the sensation of his hands caressing her body, his warmth enveloping her, his taste, his smell… But it was useless. She just couldn’t stop thinking about the dinner. How happy Lucy seemed.

…And how fake it felt.

She softly pulled out, stopping kissing him.

“D… I’m not in the mood tonight.” – she sighed. – “I’m sorry.”

“Hey… You don’t have to feel sorry about anything, Ellie.” – he grinned reassuringly to her, caressing her cheek. – “I’m sorry if I pushed you. Do you want me to go sleep on the couch?”

“No, it’s okay. Stay with me, I missed you all week.” – he saw her cheeks slightly turning pink and he had to hold himself to not kiss her. – “…Can we just cuddle?”

“I don’t see why not.” – that smirk of his was back into his face, making her chuckle.

They both laid down onto her bed, grinning at each other. Eleanor scooped closer, his arms still around her. It was a nice sensation, just feeling him there. Knowing that he was there.

With all her past partners, Ellie always felt a bit anxious the morning after their first night together. And during the whole night, actually. She always ended up staring at the ceiling. It was a strange experience sleeping so close to someone, even though if they were her boyfriend or girlfriend.

But with him was different. Since the very first night they spent together, Damien Nazario had this strange but welcoming calming effect over her. She slept like a baby hearing his soft snore and feeling his presence there, right next to her.

He felt like home, even though they hadn’t known each other for too long.

“Thank you, D.” – she murmured, feeling her eyelids getting heavier and heavier as Damien rubbed her back in a comforting way.

“Good night, Ellie.” – Eleanor heard him saying before she fell into a dreamless sleep.