Chapter
3
“I Don’t Know You, But I Miss You”
Claudia
“I hate boys!” I say to Jade. I really do hate them. They’re stupid liars and cheats!
“I hear you babe. Boys are just good for two things; sex and money.” Jade says while checking herself out in the mirror.
“I mean how could he just lie to me like that? Did he really think I wouldn’t find out?”
“I think he just thought you were that dumb, but he should have known better. There is no way I would be best friends with a dumb ass.”
“No, you just date them.” I mumble.
“Exactly, the dumber they are, the easier it is to manipulate them.”
Jade has never been in a serious relationship. She didn’t believe in high school romance. I should’ve listened to her. If I did, I wouldn’t be in this situation.
“Listen, just forget about Eric. He was lucky you even gave him a chance. Remember you didn’t want him at first?”
Of course I remember. It was a year ago.
I didn’t want Eric at all. By December he finally grew on me. So, I gave him a chance. I was happy for a while, but then I realized how much of an asshole he really was. Then I found out he had been cheating on me with half the girls at our school. What a jerk!
“You will meet that one guy, don’t worry.” Jade says while trying out my scented body lotion.
“Remember when I thought I did.” I’m referring to the boy I met a year ago at Naomi’s party. The boy who had made me feel alive for a moment. Boy was I fool. Or maybe I wasn’t. I still have doubts that he played me. I always like to think something happened. Like maybe he lost his phone or something. I even thought the worst. I thought he died. The night of the party Christian Pierce, the son of mobster, Roman Pierce, was killed. I was scared that maybe the guy I met was the son of the criminal my father has spent his whole life chasing, but I was wrong. Once I saw his picture in the paper, I realized he was not the same guy. I even considered that maybe it was his other son, but it turned out that he was living somewhere else.
I thought about that guy for months. I even cried when I realized he was never going to call me. How pathetic is that? Finally I dropped it. He still crosses my mind sometimes. It’s like no matter what I do he pops in my head at least once a day.
“Yeah, I remember. That guy was an ass even though I didn’t meet him” She says while putting on her cherry flavored lip gloss. “So, what are you going to do when you see him at school?”
“Ignore his cheating ass.”
Christmas break was over and school was starting back. I spent the whole break avoiding him. He tried to get me to attend the annual Eastbrook New Year’s celebration with him, but thankfully I went out of town with Jade and her mom to their cabin in the mountains.
“Well, just know I’ll be there right by your side to kick ass if anyone tries to come at you including that slut, Ella Pierce.”
Ugh! I hate that name!
Ella Pierce is not only the daughter of Roman Pierce, but also one of the many girls Eric slept with. She is the one who actually told me they slept together. She just walked up to us in front of everyone in school and told me. Eric tried to deny it, but he is a horrible liar. Soon I found out he slept with half the girls at our school, including girls I associate with. Ella Pierce has hated me since she came here. I didn’t do anything to her but because of who my father is our fate was already written. Pierces and Stonems don’t mix and that’s that.
“Whatever, hopefully this year will be drama free.” I flip through the US Weekly magazine, but I’m not focusing on the latest Kardashian scandal or random pics of Blue Ivy right now. All I’m thinking about is a plan to avoid any unnecessary drama before I graduate in six months.
“Drama free, huh?” I turn around to see my dad, standing in my doorway.
“Hey, dad.”
“Hi, Mr. Stonem.” Jade says in a flirtatious tone. She thinks my dad is hot which is gross. She thinks he favors Tom Cruise because of his brown hair, that has a few gray strands poking out I might add, and his height. My dad is 5’9 maybe and Tom Cruise has to be shorter than that. She also thinks he has perfect teeth like him which he does, but still that’s gross. Now I can’t look at a picture of Tom Cruise without thinking of my dad.
“Hello, Jade.” He reverts his attention to me. “So, I take it you and Eric haven’t made up yet?” The fact that my dad said yet baffles me.
“Dad, Eric and I are over.”
“Sweetie I know he messed up, but he really cares about you.”
“Dad, the only person Eric cares about is himself.” My attitude begins to boil. Can he just drop it?
“Well, Claudia, men mess up. That’s what we do.” I can’t believe this is my father talking. I love him, but he kind of sucks sometimes. I understand the real world isn’t all fun and games, but damn can we at least be a little optimistic here.
“Dad, don’t you want something better for me? Like you and mom?” My dad’s face falters for a moment.
He doesn’t like talking about my mom. I wish he did. I wish she was here because at least she brought the romantic side out of him. Now he’s purely ignorant when it comes to the topic of romance.
“Sweetheart, sometimes you have to step into reality, love isn’t like the movies.” And that is the fun fact for today from Henry Stonem…. My father.
“Well, I’m going to leave this deep and awkward conversation to you guys. See you tomorrow Claud. Bye, Mr. Stonem.” Jade says as she leaves out my room. Jade has never really cared about pointing out the obvious.
I remain standing in front of my dad while Julia walks in my room.
“Dad, I just want to be alone for a while, okay? I don’t want to date a guy just because of what his family does or because you approve of him.” I hope he can understand where I’m coming from with this.
“Claudia, William and I have invested a lot into you and Eric’s future together.” And there it is. The real reason why my father pushes me to be with Eric.
We’re interrupted by my dad’s cellphone, as always. He reaches into his pocket and pulls it out.
“Yeah” He answers. His face begins to slowly grin “Okay, I want surveillance on him as soon as he steps off the plane. I’ll see you in an hour.” He hangs up and slips the phone back into his pocket.
“What happened?” Julia asks him.
“Roman Pierce’s son has arrived.”
“Why is that important?”
“It’s for Security purposes.” Security purposes? What does that mean? “Why are you questioning me, you know I can’t discuss it.” I watch as Julia’s face falters.
My dad talks to her like she’s a little kid. I have sympathy, but also I’m annoyed by her now. I mean I’m not perfect when it comes to my dad’s bullshit, but he can’t just talk to me any kind of way.
“I have to go to the city; we will finish this conversation later.” He says to me.
“Will you be home for dinner tonight?” Julia asks as he passes by.
“Probably not, don’t wait up.” He doesn’t even look at her when he says it.
This past year my dad has been changing more and more and not only to me, but to Julia. Their marriage isn’t really going too well, which I kind of predicted would happen, but not like this. His obsession with Roman Pierce is starting to take a toll on this family. I mean I get it, he’s supposed to bring down the bad guys, but even I watch the news. There hasn’t really been any reports on Roman Pierce for a while. I figure the guy is tired of all the violence and killing. I mean, I would be if I lost a kid to it. The way Christian Pierce died was really sad and horrible from what I hear. They say his car was crashed a block away from his house and the people that did it shot him too. The worst part was that the kid had to drag himself to his own house where his parents found him.
I remember when Ella Pierce arrived at our school. I felt bad for her. To lose a brother really has to
suck. So, when she and I made eye contact for the first time, I just simply smiled at her. Just to let her know that there wasn’t any problems between us. Her response, “Get out of my way bitch.” And that ladies and gentlemen was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.
Great, now another Pierce is coming to my school. Ella is horrible, so imagine what her brother is like.
This is going to be a great year, Claudia.
Donovan
It’s been a year since I’ve seen my family. I expected maybe a couple of months, but not a whole year. After I left, Stonem went into full attack mode on my father.
A month after I was gone, the police did a raid at one of my father’s warehouses. This warehouse consisted of illegal weapons, foreign paintings worth millions of dollars, and counterfeit money. They charged my father and took him to trial, so I stayed back until things cleared.
Three months ago, it finally ended. According to Ella, Stonem lost the case and suffered embarrassment throughout the state of New York. He couldn’t pin any of it on my father. He couldn’t even bring him down for fraud because believe it or not my dad does pay his taxes. You see my great grandfather, Jack Pierce, wasn’t an idiot. When he started, he started out legit. He developed many fronts in London before stepping into the real gritty stuff. He created Pierce Manufacturing Company, a massage parlor, a bar, and a night club. Once my grandfather Dominic took over, he expanded it all. By the time my father became boss, we already owned three Manufacturing companies that are located in New York, Los Angeles, and England. We have probably a hundred bars located in all three locations along with massage parlors that are really brothels, casinos, and dock loading enterprises. Also, the fact that my family does not deal in drug trafficking really helps. The U.S Attorney, William Anderson, decided to leave my father alone and go after mobsters who do. One of them being Mickey Valentine. He’s a real psycho, but has had peace with my family for years, which is good. So after all that, here I am, back at Eastbrook.
London was cool. It was peaceful. Me and my aunt Lana just watched TV and I read while she painted. I went to school there and didn’t really have a lot of friends. Everybody wanted to be my friend. The Pierce Mob is very well loved in London along with the Kray twins. Hopefully, my family won’t suffer the same fate as those guys. I had girls too. I figured I might as well use sex as a grief release.
In the end it didn’t matter. Nothing could take away the fact that my brother was still dead and I was still lost. If it wasn’t for the books I read and my IPOD, I probably wouldn’t be able to get through it. Music and books was the only thing that could get my mind off it. Although they could do that, the pain was still there. It was still there just spreading all through me. It’s still there and I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t think I will be able to ever do anything about it.
“We’re here, Mr. Pierce.” The limo driver informs me.
I look out the window and see the front gate. A flash of Christian hits me. Shit! I was worried that was going to happen. I know while I’m here all I’m going to think about is Christian’s death.
Once we pull up outside the house, I step out the limo to feel the fresh air. I can’t help but to picture his face as he was dying outside this house. I hate this house. I hate Eastbrook, New York.
I grab my duffel bag out of the trunk of the limo and walk towards the brown double wide doors to knock. Before I can knock, the door opens. It’s our maid, Millie. Millie has been with us since I was twelve. She’s not really our maid, seeing she’s like sixty now, but she has always been a part of the family. We kind of adopted her.
She smiles at me. “Donovan.”
I smile back. “Millie.”
She pulls me into a hug. She smells of her homemade caramel cake. She must have baked one for my arrival; she knows it’s my favorite.
She releases me and waves me inside. “Come in.”
“Your mother has been waiting for this moment.” Millie says to me as she removes my coat. “I’ll go get her.”
I head into the living room. I look around in the huge beige room and see our family portrait we took a year and a half ago hanging on the wall. I remember that day. Dad was pissed at me and Christian for being late, while mom was mad because we had bruised faces from our fight with some guys from school. Well, really, I started the fight and Christian jumped in. She had to put her make up on us to cover them up.
I feel someone behind me and turn around to see who it is. It’s my sister, Ella. She looks different. Older, I guess. Her hair is a little shorter.
She slowly grins at me. “Hey, Edward.” The name I hate, but in this moment, I couldn’t ask for a better greeting.
“Hey, ugly.”
She walks fast towards me and wraps her arms around my neck. I embrace her back as she lays her head on my shoulder. The last time we hugged like this was when we last saw each other.
“I’ve really missed you, jackass.” I chuckle at her name calling at this sentimental moment.
“I’ve really missed you too, butt face” I use to call her that when we were little.
“I never thought I’d look forward to the day you call me that. She laughs. “Just this once, you get a pass.”
She lets go of me and examines me as I do the same to her.
“You look different.” She says to me.
“You do too.”
“Well it has been a year.” We both turn around to see my mother. “A lot can change in a year.”
The closer I get to her the more my heart beats faster. I wrap my arms around her and pull her into a hug.
I’ve missed her hugs. Her hugs are…well they’re what a mother’s hug should be like, warm, gentle, and strong. It’s the first true comfort I’ve had in a year.
“My baby boy,” She cries, rubbing the back of my head. “God, I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too, mom.”
Our hug lasts for about a minute. She finally let’s go and cuffs my face in her hands gazing at me with her beautiful green eyes. The same eyes as my brother.
She gives me a sweet smile. “You’ve grown up.”
“I’m eighteen”
“I know” She softly brushes the top of my hair back repeatedly, still gazing at me. “I know”.
“Where’s dad?”
“He’s in his office with Benny. Why don’t you go say hi to him and then we’ll eat. Millie and I made your favorites.” I look forward to eating. I’ve missed their cooking.
I leave mom and Ella in the living room and walk across the foyer towards my father’s office. I knock twice on the door.
“Come in” I hear my father say.
I walk in to see Benny sitting in one of the chairs and my dad standing in the corner staring out the window. He turns around and sees me. He looks nervous. Benny, in his leather jacket, gets up and walks toward me. I missed him and his leather jacket.
Love and Hate (The Pierce Family Trilogy) Page 6